Refresh For The Memory: Series III Byte 1

[Ian Symes]

You asked for it. Ahead of the forthcoming 35th anniversary poll, the G&T community is embarking on a big old rewatch, tackling half a series (or one feature length special) per week. This is your designated thread to make notes, share observations and start pondering your rankings.

This week, we’re watching BACKWARDS, MAROONED and POLYMORPH. Have at it!

Previous threads:

Series 1 Byte 1
Series 1 Byte 2
Series 2 Byte 1
Series 2 Byte 2

Topic

[Jonathan Capps]

Excellent

[Ian Symes]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Rushy]

Anger-free Rimmer is one of the all-time great comedy characters and performances. Not an original observation, but one that deserves repeating.

I don’t know how Chris Barrie did it, but this entire character is a direct imitation of my current uni professor, right down to the goatee, the voice, the cadence and the physical movements. 

[Rushy]

Another bizarre Kryten reaction, where he sees Lister writhing on the floor with a kebab round his neck and goes “oh, so you like it that much, huh”. Genuinely what is even the train of thought there.

I think he’s being sarcastic. He was disgusted by the kebabs earlier, so when Lister tries to eat one and starts spazzing out, he thinks “oh, the smeghead finally realised he’s cocked it up a bit”

[Jenuall]

I think the inference is supposed to be that Kryten thinks Lister is playing around, doing a prank on him kind of thing.

[Warbodog]

I think it’s just naïve Kryten believing this is the normal reaction when the incomprehensible human deliberately eats a meal that can hospitalise people. I don’t think he’s supposed to see it actually being around his neck as clearly as we do.

[Rushy]

Backwards: I’ll never be very comfortable with how the reboot is handled. It’s totally jarring every time, with the visuals, character dynamics, format all being so changed. If I detach myself from that, well, I have to be in the mood. Sometimes I have the frustration over how little actual sense this episode makes. It’s the closest that Red Dwarf comes to capturing a Saturday morning cartoon vibe (especially with Rimmer’s hat lol). 

Marooned: It’s alright. I kinda wish Rimmer and Lister had more substantial conversations, but this is one I can put on and enjoy anytime. 

Polymorph: is an episode I always want to enjoy way more than I actually do. I love the atmosphere. That dark echoing cargo bay is a core Red Dwarf memory. It doesn’t seem to go as far as it could, though, and I have some other issues (the crew’s afflicted selves aren’t thought through, and that skit with the medical equipment is more Backwards cartoon logic). 

It’s an unsteady Byte. Nothing egregious, but an acquired taste.

[Warbodog]

Sometimes I have the frustration over how little actual sense this episode makes.

Here, is Rimmer looking in the wrong direction for a truck he can hear but not see, because of the effects of backwards sound, or did they intentionally get him to look the wrong way bEcAuSe BaCkWdS?

[Moonlight]

Polymorph is genuinely one of the silliest episodes of the show, and I’m including Series VIII. It’s just much better written than that. It was an all-timer for me as a kid but I’ve gravitated more towards the likes of episodes like Holoship, The Inquisitor, and Thanks for the Memory as an adult. Still a good time though.

Sometimes I have the frustration over how little actual sense this episode makes. Here, is Rimmer looking in the wrong direction for a truck he can hear but not see, because of the effects of backwards sound, or did they intentionally get him to look the wrong way bEcAuSe BaCkWdS?

I have no idea what’s going on with that. It’s very odd.

[Rushy]

Polymorph is genuinely one of the silliest episodes of the show, and I’m including Series VIII. 

The basketball match is untouched for its silliness

[Moonlight]

I am not convinced it’s much sillier or more cartoony than Cat running away from the bazookoid homing shots, or the shrinking boxer shorts.

[Technopeasant]

I mean, erection drugs are real and people do have shame, so it at least is perfectly possible.

If they had actually shown Hollister stop the lift however…

[Ben Saunders]

I mentioned this before but when I was 8 or whatever I thought they got boners so hard it hurt, rather than them being embarassed

[Moonlight]

It’s only a shame they didn’t give the half-time juice to Pete. Think of the extended, painful routine we could’ve gotten from Hollister recounting that.

[Warbodog]

[Dax101]

I am not convinced it’s much sillier or more cartoony than Cat running away from the bazookoid homing shots, or the shrinking boxer shorts.

Id call the Cat running away from the bolts and the shrinking boxer shorts at least Fun. The erectile drug so the Dwarfers can win a basket ball game i find to be uncomfortable unfunny.

It probably feels more sillier because of what it is. Its a basket ball game with people desperately hiding their erections.

[Technopeasant]

It’s only a shame they didn’t give the half-time juice to Pete. Think of the extended, painful routine we could’ve gotten from Hollister recounting that.

Not to be a boner downer, but t-rex presumably had cloaca?

[Moonlight]

I know that. But do Doug Naylor and Paul Alexander know that? And more importantly, would being correct be worth more than the immense comic potential of Hollister being slapped around with a giant cock?

If you sink low enough it wraps around to peak quality.

[clem]

It’s only a shame they didn’t give the half-time juice to Pete. Think of the extended, painful routine we could’ve gotten from Hollister recounting that.

If they’d decided to do that instead of the diahorea story, some of the dialogue could have even stayed the same.

[Moonlight]

[Rushy]

Watching these episodes again, this tune seems like the unofficial main theme of series III

[Ben Saunders]

Stahhppp, stahhppp!

[Rushy]

Why do the Officers’ Quarters have an embryo refridgerator?

In fact, the whole place looks more like an infirmary than quarters. 

[Professor Flibble]

It’s weird cause it’s always been the cosiest bunkroom set to me. 

[Dax101]

Presumably it wasn’t built it and listen brought it in to use it.

[Ian Symes]

Why do the Officers’ Quarters have an embryo refridgerator? 

[Ben Saunders]

An answer for everything, this guy.

[Warbodog]

I figured Rushy hadn’t missed that, since it’s the basis of the whole scene and Cat reacts to the refrigeration unit like he doesn’t see it all the time, so he was pointing out that there should already be a standard fridge or that it looks too built-in or something? I don’t know, I tried to work it out and failed.

[Unrumble]

I figured Rushy hadn’t missed that, since it’s the basis of the whole scene and Cat reacts to the refrigeration unit like he doesn’t see it all the time, so he was pointing out that there should already be a standard fridge or that it looks too built-in or something? I don’t know, I tried to work it out and failed.

This was my thought-process too. Considering the fridge doesn’t look portable, I guess we have to assume Lister either installed it with Kryten/the skutters help, which seems like a lot of effort to go for a meal, or decided to slap a sticker on the existing fridge as a warning… which doesn’t really make sense either, as he’s using the ‘gear’ he swiped, not actually storing embryos, and therefore a ‘regular’ fridge should suffice.

We can’t even check previous episodes to establish if a fridge was present in that space before, as the only previous look at this version of the sleeping quarters is a tight shot of the bunks in Backwards.

I too have failed.

[Warbodog]

Why does the bunkroom’s decor inexplicably change during the course of this episode?

[Dave]

Slightly awkward error here where they clearly forgot to apply Rimmer’s H for a scene.

[Professor Flibble]

I mean, they forgot to apply the H for an entire series

[Doomitron]

They forgot the comedy too.

[clem]

Can’t believe they accidentally left in this shot of the stunt performers.

[Ian Symes]

A copy of the script is just about visible on the set in this scene:

[Dave]

There’s also that awful continuity error at the end of Polymorph where Craig Charles walks past the camera twice.

[clem]

“Joureny”?? 

[Ben Saunders]

Did you know that all of the scenes with Human Kryten in the episode DNA were improvised? Robert Llewellyn simply forgot to get into his costume before filming so they had to make something up on the night.

[International Debris]

To be fair, the scene in Polymorph is a bit daft if you think about it for more than a couple of seconds. Lister wants to have a meal with a bit more class, so instead of going to the officers’ club or the catering deck or wherever, he goes to the medical unit to get scalpels to eat with. 

I mean I get it’s for the joke, but it is pretty ridiculous.

[Rushy]

he goes to the medical unit to get scalpels to eat with. 
I mean I get it’s for the joke, but it is pretty ridiculous.

Rob and Doug are also unaware of the fact that scalpels are disposed of immediately. 

[Warbodog]

Rob and Doug are also unaware of the fact that scalpels are disposed of immediately. 

In-universe, the Smart Party just didn’t know that.

[Dax101]

No one said Lister was a hygienic or classy guy when it came to decisions.

[Rushy]

Also on the continuity front – Lister unashamedly enjoys wine, when in both II and IV he dismisses it on principle. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

he goes to the medical unit to get scalpels to eat with. 
I mean I get it’s for the joke, but it is pretty ridiculous.

Rob and Doug are also unaware of the fact that scalpels are disposed of immediately.

there are presumably unused scalpels still available 

[Dave]

there are presumably unused scalpels still available 

Lister should tell Cat that when he suggests that it might have been used to chop the end of someone’s knob off 

[Dax101]

 there are presumably unused scalpels still available 

Everyone knows only a certain number of scalpels were ever made. They probably went extinct long ago.

[Warbodog]

I never rated Polymorph that much, but always enjoyed the “it’s clean” skit, seeing a pre-Timeslides Lister not realising he’s got too deep into a dumb idea and taking it way too far, like all their strange games.

[Moonlight]

I never rated Polymorph that much

“Your Unpopular Red Dwarf Opinions”

I enjoy Polymorph well enough but it’s dropped singificantly from its former status as my favorite episode when I was like 12. I maintain that it is easily the cartooniest the show ever got pre-Stoke, which is probably a big reason why it appealed to me so much as a kid.

I also think at one point around that time my favorite episode was Ouroboros which is probably an inferior choice.

[Rushy]

It feels like a Rob skit to me, it’s something so specifically weird yet oddly realistic for isolated people to come up with. 

[Author]

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