Refresh For The Memory: Series IV Byte 2

[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 WHITE HOLE, DIMENSION JUMP and MELTDOWN. Have at it!

Previous threads:

Series 1 Byte 1
Series 1 Byte 2
Series 2 Byte 1
Series 2 Byte 2
Series III Byte 1
Series III Byte 2
Series IV Byte 1

Topic

[Dave]

– That would be terrible.
– I know, Eskimos look like twats in jumpsuits.
– Don’t say that, Tim, that’s a word that hates Inuit people.
– What, “Eskimo”?
– No, jumpsuit. This would be better if someone had made a Spaced equivalent of the Smega-Drive.

So it was less of an Eskimo trying on a jumpsuit than jumping right Inuit.

[International Debris]

So, confession time, Dimension Jump isn’t one of my favourite episodes. I can’t actually fault it, but there’s just something about the atmosphere that never sat totally right with me. See also: Confidence & Paranoia, most of III.

Black holes and nebulae, they’re very much in deep space here, then? 

Rimmer’s self-delusion is so strong that he immediately believes they weren’t going without him, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Really quite sad. 

“Time fabric continuum.” Another example of the spot on science found in Red Dwarf that everyone always talks about. 

Why does Starbug have an in flight magazine?

“Have you done my leg yet?” is such a naff gag. 

How is Rimmer supposed to reroute Kryten’s circuitry when he’s a hologram? 

“Something a bit sissy – blackout.” Nice bit of toxic masculinity from Ace, there. 

Speaking of which, Rimmer is at Peak Cunt here. 

Cat feels more clothes-obsessed here than he has been in ages. 

Good old micro-bollington. 

Ok, so the ending definitely isn’t tight. The way this differs from XI/XII is that they tried, though. If it was made recently it would have ended on Ace shaking his head.

[Dave]

“Have you done my leg yet?” is such a naff gag.

I love it for that reason. One of those gags where you know exactly where it’s going but the performance is so perfect that the anticipation actually improves it somehow.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the only thing Rimmer has ever taken away about Eskimos is that they did this thing once or twice, and it made an impression on him as he probably admired it in some way.  So he’s created this fake history of them in his mind that they always chucked their elders out to die.

[Unrumble]

 “Have you done my leg yet?” is such a naff gag. 

Having just rewatched, I thought much the same, but the performance just about sells it for me. 

Slightly less successful is the “horny dog at a Miss Lovely-legs competition”, where it just sounds like Craig trying to cram an overly-wordy gag into a too-short space. It’s also not that funny. 

[Unrumble]

How is Rimmer supposed to reroute Kryten’s circuitry when he’s a hologram? 

It does seem a little incongruous from Ace, given that he’s already acknowledged his dead/hologram status. Unless there’s some skutters lurking around to help that we don’t see on camera. 

I think I’ve tended to read it as Ace being so capable/confident, that his brain can’t quite accept how useless this other version of himself is, so is on auto-pilot in assuming Rimmer can take care of things he considers straightforward, despite all evidence to the contrary. I hope that made sense. 

[Unrumble]

Dimension Gumph

– “gonna see Jaws”. Great face from Kryten at Listers’ crap lie.

– Cat’s insensitivity in this scene has echoes of The Promised Land, though not nearly as blunt. 

– a Kryten/Rimmer cockpit scene to rival the one from Camille. Another beautiful delivery of the word ‘git’.

– great ‘driving while crashing’ acting from Robert

– they do a good job of creating a ferocious storm environment outside Starbug. Certainly looks like it wasn’t much fun to film, I recall them saying as much on the DVD commentary.

– slight ‘urgh’ reaction from the audience to “brown-tongued his way up the ranks”. 

[Flap Jack]

Dimension Jump – Good stuff. In my memory, this episode was seriously overrated due to how slight its plot is, but after rewatching it… well, it still kind of is, but it’s better than I remembered. Ace Rimmer is just such an entertaining and well-realised presence, and the in between bits like Rimmer catching the others sneaking off and the Starbug crash procedure are good too, so it’s solidly funny throughout.

However, the episode does really feel like it’s lacking something. It sets up lots of potential ingredients for a good climax that ties the character arcs to the story, but then nothing happens basically. Rimmer never learns to appreciate Ace, Ace never learns to appreciate Rimmer, no emergency occurs in which Rimmer is able to demonstrate his worth as a crewmember (either by channeling his inner ‘Aceness’ or by applying knowledge or skills that only our Rimmer could have), no emergency occurs in which Ace’s obsession with bravado and self-sacrifice actually makes things worse, Lister, Cat and Kryten don’t end up being more earnest with Rimmer about how they feel about him, and Rimmer doesn’t become any more self-aware about how his ego and self-interest (and boring hobbies) puts people off. Ace just helps them out of the jam he got them into, and then he leaves. The End. In a way it’s good that the show avoids all of these cliches, but their absence is still felt, and honestly cliches become cliches for a reason. They’re just fine as long as they’re well executed, as I’m sure Red Dwarf does in other episodes. I get where the comparisons to ‘Marooned’ come from, but ‘Dimension Jump’ doesn’t have anything equivalent to Lister burning Rimmer’s trunk in terms of emotional stakes.

Still, that Ace Rimmer, eh? What a guy! Shame they never brought the character back.

– Nice detail that young Rimmer has “Bonehead” written on him – and that Rimmer’s mum is played by the same actor from Polymorph.

– Wow, so Robert Llewellyn gets out of the Kryten prosthetics 3 times across just 6 episodes.

– The way the parallel world sequence is edited makes it seem like Ace genuinely did launch that afternoon as he jokingly suggested, but realistically it would have been ages later. I mean, he wouldn’t want to miss the party with Spanners and Padre!

– With both Bungo and Holly being attracted to Ace, is that 2 confirmed bisexual characters in the same episode? I’m counting it.

– Quite sweet that despite his usual bluntness, even The Cat instinctively doesn’t want to hurt Rimmer’s feelings.

– Seems to me they had multiple minutes after being warned before Wildfire actually crashed into them. Why couldn’t they have taken some evasive action?

– The model work with the water is really impressive.

– It’s weird that Kryten isn’t waterproof, given how much cleaning and washing he does. Maybe he’s just “water resistant”. But it’s even weirder that he can be knocked out with a punch to the face, even if it was a punch from Ace.

– Kochanski, Jim and Bexley, Rastabilly Skank, Rimmer not getting along with a duplicate of himself? It’s like Series 1 all over again! Shame there wasn’t a Petersen reference, that would’ve completed the set.

– How does Ace find out what the point of divergence between him and Rimmer was?

– Although it’s not a substitute for a story, I do like how Ace genuinely hates Rimmer. It would be boring if he was just a saint.

– This episode might be the one where it’s most obvious that Rob and Doug keep forgetting that Rimmer is a hologram while writing. Even after Lister points out that Rimmer can’t touch things, Ace is still shocked he doesn’t volunteer to come help him repair the ship, even though he ultimately needed Lister to dangle him upside down. Then he tells him “Smoke me a kipper, can you do that?” as like a joke menial task for him, but Rimmer literally couldn’t do that, not without the skutters around or a voice activated kitchen. Bit cruel to mock Rimmer for being dead like that.

[Warbodog]

the episode does really feel like it’s lacking something.

So it’s great that Rob took the opportunity to address all of this in the novel version! (It was even a stretch to infer there was some influence in how they responded to subsequent threats there).

Definitely more of a thought experiment launching point than a well-rounded story, they’d just end up cutting gags to make room for plot. Rimmer just doesn’t really learn or grow, or does so very slowly / spontaneously for a cliffhanger.

It’s weird that Kryten isn’t waterproof, given how much cleaning and washing he does. Maybe he’s just “water resistant”.

I decided it must be this after his Meltdown shower.

How does Ace find out what the point of divergence between him and Rimmer was?

He’s always known/reasoned that being kept down is what made him, so he looked up Rimmer’s graduation year or other history to confirm it, some time around Kryten’s piano lesson.

But if they’re sure it was only this single point of divergence, as they emphasise, Lister should realise that his fate is somehow Rimmer’s fault, as per novel. No time!

slight ‘urgh’ reaction from the audience to “brown-tongued his way up the ranks”.

Thanks, I remembered that, but can’t hear it any more on my crap laptop speakers.

Lines from The Young Ones that sound etc.

[Warbodog]

Meltdown

Still a fun outdoors episode at the end of the series/byte, but a big step down after so many rich concepts in a row. I remembered it being a particularly funny one to justify itself, but not really. Lister describing unseen events is the only scene I’d consider a proper classic, and DNA beats it for the double polaroid scene.

The first explore-a-planet story since Backwards, it feels very conventional and ‘silly Star Trek’ (it’s as much ‘The Savage Curtain’ as ‘Clues’ is Thanks for the Memory, also the Nazi planet episode) with a tedious guest crowd and a battle straight out of Monty Python.

So it’s sunk to fairly low bubble for me, where it can hang out with above-average Dave episodes.

– Rimmer going on about Risk reminds me of my brother going about Linux in his teens. (Though he also said Rimmer reminded him so much of me back then that it made the series unwatchable).

– With the matter paddle being capable of crossing such vast distances, I found it odd that they don’t mention trying to get back to Earth, even in a hopscotch-with-planets way. It must mean Red Dwarf’s not in the Milky Way any more, and they know this wouldn’t cut it with the empty gulfs between galaxies. Or that Rob and Doug love huge numbers and don’t really think these details through, but surely not.

– The dynamic of mad warlord Rimmer and reluctant henchman Kryten is enjoyable, and reminiscent of Bodyswap, even if it’s hampered by Kryten’s independence continuity from Camille.

– Lister’s anti-war speech is easily the best of his series IV sermons, but that’s not hard.

[Dave]

Seems to me they had multiple minutes after being warned before Wildfire actually crashed into them. Why couldn’t they have taken some evasive action?

[Warbodog]

Yeah, but Ace’s ship has emerged for a while before they crash and he’s supposed to be an amazing pilot. The jump knocked out manual controls or sensors for a while, something like that.

[Dave]

I always headcanoned it as Ace’s jumps being tied to each universe’s Rimmer, with the ship locking on to that version’s location to make its jumps.

It’s a very Red Dwarf twist that such sophisticated technology ultimately leads the Wildfire to crash into wherever that alternate Rimmer happens to be.

[Flap Jack]

What Warbodog said. We know the portal was following them, but Wildfire emerged before all of the crash procedure carry on.

And it doesn’t ring true to me that the “destiny lock on” applies to the ship itself, not just the portal. If so, why does it consider the crash enough proximity? Shouldn’t Wildfire just keep being drawn to Starbug until the FTL drive is physically kissing Rimmer’s light bee?

But if they’re sure it was only this single point of divergence, as they emphasise, Lister should realise that his fate is somehow Rimmer’s fault, as per novel. No time!

Although the Lewis Pemberton stuff was well thought out detail in Backwards, I don’t think it naturally follows that all of the differences are due to Rimmer being held down a year. If every possible decision outcome creates a different universe, then presumably all the combinations of different decisions are unique universes too. Lister becoming Spanners could be unrelated.

[Unrumble]

This episode might be the one where it’s most obvious that Rob and Doug keep forgetting that Rimmer is a hologram while writing. Even after Lister points out that Rimmer can’t touch things, Ace is still shocked he doesn’t volunteer to come help him repair the ship, even though he ultimately needed Lister to dangle him upside down. Then he tells him “Smoke me a kipper, can you do that?” as like a joke menial task for him, but Rimmer literally couldn’t do that, not without the skutters around or a voice activated kitchen. Bit cruel to mock Rimmer for being dead like that.

Can’t tell whether this is sincere? Find it hard to believe that they would actually ‘forget’ for the purposes of a scenes-worth of dialogue.

Reposting my comment as an alternative suggestion (headcanon, to use the word of the moment):

It does seem a little incongruous from Ace, given that he’s already acknowledged his dead/hologram status. Unless there’s some skutters lurking around to help that we don’t see on camera. 

I think I’ve tended to read it as Ace being so capable/confident, that his brain can’t quite accept how useless this other version of himself is, so is on auto-pilot in assuming Rimmer can take care of things he considers straightforward, despite all evidence to the contrary. I hope that made sense. 

[Flap Jack]

Can’t tell whether this is sincere? Find it hard to believe that they would actually ‘forget’ for the purposes of a scenes-worth of dialogue.

It is. I’m not saying that Rob and Doug outright forgot, just that it’s not guaranteed to be at the forefront of their minds when they’re writing, because they primarily think of Rimmer as a person.

Like I’m imagining they write him as they would write anyone, but every now and then think “ah, wait, fuck, he can’t pick up that prop, can he? OK, rewrite that bit”, but they sometimes don’t catch everything.

Consider that this is the same episode where they wrote that Rimmer would have a bunch of fish fall on him as the last gag of the show, and only realised this didn’t make any sense when it actually came time to shoot it.

[Unrumble]

I’m not saying that Rob and Doug outright forgot, just that it’s not guaranteed to be at the forefront of their minds when they’re writing, because they primarily think of Rimmer as a person.
Like I’m imagining they write him as they would write anyone, but every now and then think “ah, wait, fuck, he can’t pick up that prop, can he? OK, rewrite that bit”, but they sometimes don’t catch everything.

Fair enough, I see where you’re coming from. They created the world, they don’t necessarily view the ‘rules’ the way we the viewers do, or think of the constraints they may have imposed on themselves in previous scripts. 

I’m reminded of Ed Bye’s “but we made the time-drive up! ” from the VII doc. 

[Warbodog]

I don’t think it naturally follows that all of the differences are due to Rimmer being held down a year. If every possible decision outcome creates a different universe, then presumably all the combinations of different decisions are unique universes too. Lister becoming Spanners could be unrelated.

That’s how it comes across, but when you allow for more possibilities and their butterfly effects, it gets impossible to credit/blame everything in someone’s life on one action they took (Rimmer’s changes alone presumably mean the crew of Red Dwarf is still alive in that dimension).

So I’ll headcanon that the reality drive had the same narrow/wide divergence settings as the novel version, the only change was Rimmer being kept back a year, and Spanners is a post-Dwarf Lister a few years on from series 1 in real time (where else would he have met Kochaski?)

If there are any inconsistencies that can’t be explained, that’s just Red Dwarf.

[Flap Jack]

A reasonable headcanon for sure! Rimmer being kept down being the only divergent point makes sense in both continuities – I’m just saying that it’s not something Lister should realise. He doesn’t really have enough information to easily make that deduction.

[Ian Symes]

Extremely strong Byte IMO.
My favourite’s either this or the Quarantine byte. But having realised just how great Justice is, I don’t think there’s a fake byte of three consecutive episodes as strong as Justice – White Hole – Dimension Jump. It’ll come down to how much I love Terrorform.

This has been bubbling in my head, so based on the Pearl Poll positions, here are the top ten Fake Bytes. Note that I’ve included Fake Bytes that roll across two different series, so we’re looking at the best run of three consecutive episodes regardless of which series they’re part of.

10= Kryten, Better Than Life, Thanks For The Memory (Average position: 14.33)
10= DNA, Justice, White Hole (14.33)
9. Better Than Life, Thanks For The Memory, Stasis Leak (14)
8. The Inquisitor, Terrorform, Quarantine (13.67)
7. Marooned, Polymorph, Bodyswap (12.33)
6. Psirens, Legion, Gunmen of the Apocalypse (11.33)
4= Quarantine, Demons & Angels, Back to Reality (10.67)
4= Back to Reality, Psirens, Legion (10.67)
2= Thanks For The Memory, Stasis Leak, Queeg (10.33)
2= Justice, White Hole, Dimension Jump (10.33)
1. Backwards, Marooned, Polymorph (9.33)

So the best Byte is in fact a Real Byte, so I suppose it’s technically accurate to say that Justice/White Hole/Dimension Jump is indeed the (joint) best Fake Byte.

Unsurprisingly, the worst Fake Byte is the Petes and Only The Good with an impressively high average of 71 in a poll of 73 episodes. The best outside of the first six series is Mechocracy/M-Corp/Skipper with an average score 37.33. Although that’s some way behind the rollover Fake Bytes that would include a post-bubble episode or two alongside a bubble episode or two – Rimmerworld/Out of Time/Tikka To Ride is on 26.67, and Out of Time/Tikka To Ride/Stoke Me A Clipper averages 31.

This doesn’t include The Promised Land, which I wager might alter some of those latter stats, should it rank significantly higher than Mechocracy.

[Dave]

I think of Promised Land as a big Byte on its own.

Either way, I hope Fake Bytes Analysis can now be an additional consideration in the Coral Canvass/Jade Judgement/Cinquitrentinal Census.

[Stilianides]

The “horny dog” gag was mentioned earlier and I think that type of humour was a really important part of Dwarf at this point. I wouldn’t want the show to be entirely dark or disgusting, but that grimness was an interesting element in the first six series. 

[Jenuall]

FWIW I checked the Dimension Jump Wildfire crash timeline, there are approximately 50 seconds between Ace emerging and him crashing into Starbug.

Definitely agree that this is a very strong byte, WHITE HOLE is probably the best of the three for me but both DJ and MELTDOWN have a lot going for them as well.

WHITE HOLE

We’re truly into “firing on all cylinders” criteria with this, the character work, humour, creativity, visual design, performances – everything is really singing at this point in the shows run. There are so many quotable/meme-able parts of this episode, most of which have already been mentioned so I won’t go into it again, but one line that I always adore which never gets much of a look in is: “look, it’s just not possible to fry an egg using a bicycle powered hairdryer!” – the ridiculousness of it gets me every time.

If they need Holly to run the ship and her shutting down causes such devastation to their situation – how exactly have they coped being back on the Dwarf for the Dave era without her?

DIMENSION JUMP

Another wonderful episode, though always feel this sits just short of that true “top tier” of episodes for me. Regarding how Ace knows where the timeline split happens – I always assumed that some readout from the dimension jumping drive would give feedback to indicate the origin/divergence point of the universe he has hopped into?

MELTDOWN

This, along with Camille, is one of those episode which occupies a bizarre space in my head where my instant recollection is “oh, this is one that doesn’t quite do it for me” but whenever I watch them I am reminded that no, these are great episodes with some truly hilarious scenes/moments in them! I have no idea what it is that has messed my mind up in this way but it has always been the case from back in the VHS days. The Risk campaign book stuff is great, Rimmer inspecting the troops, Sergeant Presley, “Pawn sacrifice”, Winnie the Pooh firing squad, “silence scum” Caligula .. there is so much good stuff here! I guess you could argue that the slightly out of the norm setting and scattershot nature of the plot in general might be what hurts it, but overall this is WAY better than it’s reputation for me.

[Loathsome American]

I’d always been a bit distracted as well by Ace asking Rimmer to do things that he physically couldn’t no matter how competent he was. Just part of the show at this point increasingly feeling like it’s “outgrown” the premise of Rimmer being a hologram in the same way it’s outgrown the “last human” and “no aliens” premises and increasingly has to find workarounds.

Dimension Jump […] However, the episode does really feel like it’s lacking something. It sets up lots of potential ingredients for a good climax that ties the character arcs to the story, but then nothing happens basically.

The entire episode is a lot of setup to get Ace in our dimension and then attending to the emergency he’s caused, and then he leaves almost immediately, so it does feel like there’s a missed opportunity for at least one more scene of Ace and Rimmer interacting to really sell the repulsion.

But I do ultimately think the episode actually has a really strong character/theme payoff with the “twist” that Ace was the one held back. That’s the actual brilliance of the episode, to me, beyond just the fun of seeing Chris get to play against type. Because with the opening scene you are set up to assume Ace got the lucky break…and then you learn that he didn’t…and then even Ace concedes that maybe it WAS ultimately the lucky break. That’s the kind of real chewy complex character bit that’s a big part of the reason Red Dwarf occupies so much space in my brain beyond being a funny comedy about spaceships and robots.

[Dave]

it does feel like there’s a missed opportunity for at least one more scene of Ace and Rimmer interacting to really sell the repulsion.

I imagine the complexity of doing extended double-Barrie scenes might have dictated the amount of contact they had.

[International Debris]

Meltdown

I’ll never understand why this is as unpopular as it is. Always loved it, a brilliantly daft concept that only Red Dwarf could do. 

The Caligula scene is a contender for my top five scenes. Craig’s “shut up” is possibly my favourite phrasing of that phrase ever.  

’Pat Boone’ is one of the moments where the smeg up is the version in my head. 

“And that someone… is me! Over to you, Kryten,” is a very under appreciated line. 

Where the fuck does Rimmer get a holo uniform and motorbike from?

”Ok, matey,” is a very weird line from Holly. Are that and ‘you do have a small physical presence’? her only lines in the episode?

[Unrumble]

it does feel like there’s a missed opportunity for at least one more scene of Ace and Rimmer interacting to really sell the repulsion.

I imagine the complexity of doing extended double-Barrie scenes might have dictated the amount of contact they had.

[Jenuall]

 ”Ok, matey,” is a very weird line from Holly. Are that and ‘you do have a small physical presence’? her only lines in the episode?

Pretty much, she has about 3 lines during the exposition – “this thing will home in on atmosphere bearing planets” etc. But that’s pretty much it for her sadly.

Hattie always does her best to get the most out of her dialog and screen time but there’s only so much you can do to zhuzh up “Ok, matey”

[Dave]

That “OK matey” has always made Holly seem weirdly complicit in what’s going on. Like she’s going along with it all as a bit of a laugh.

[Flap Jack]

But I do ultimately think the episode actually has a really strong character/theme payoff with the “twist” that Ace was the one held back. That’s the actual brilliance of the episode, to me, beyond just the fun of seeing Chris get to play against type. Because with the opening scene you are set up to assume Ace got the lucky break…and then you learn that he didn’t…and then even Ace concedes that maybe it WAS ultimately the lucky break. That’s the kind of real chewy complex character bit that’s a big part of the reason Red Dwarf occupies so much space in my brain beyond being a funny comedy about spaceships and robots.

Totally agree with you that it’s a brilliant revelation, but it was just too isolated to that one Ace/Lister interaction for me. If Rimmer had learned about it, and that news had affected his sense of self (however temporarily), that would have done the work of making it into a full character story.

I’m imagining them getting in some more peril, and Rimmer plucking up the courage to save them, because he realises that ‘Ace Rimmer’ was ultimately made through self-motivation not more fortunate circumstances, and he does have those same qualities somewhere within him. Something like that.

… I do realise I am essentially just asking for ‘The Beginning’. But still.

[Dave]

[Warbodog]

I’ll never understand why this is as unpopular as it is.

Meltdown being unpopular is more of an early to mid 90s fan perception that became well-known and stuck. When the series was gaining traction as a sci-fi show, probably going from strength to strength in the eyes of most fans through series IV and V at least, and there hadn’t been any actual bad ones yet, so ending a year on an oddball, goofy one would have seemed like more of a waste, or just an exaggerated letdown.

It’s done fair enough in modern G&T polls, I think (31st and 29th, above average).

[Unrumble]

Meltdown 

– Love Cat’s gleeful look at the revelation of Rimmer’s ‘small physical presence’

– I know we’ve already had a couple of ‘bastards’ by this point, but referring to Goering as a “fat bastard” seems a little off

– everything set in the jail cell is peerless Dwarf. This is something everyone should have to see.

– the wax droids speak in their native accents… except Pythagoras, who appears to be British.

– I think I’ve only encountered Pat Boone as a reference in one other place than this episode. Was it a bit of a dated reference even in 1991 (when I would’ve been 4 years old), or is it just a gap in my cultural kno wledge?

[International Debris]

It’s done fair enough in modern G&T polls, I think (31st and 29th, above average).

Still quite low for a bubble episode, though. I’ve always rated it very highly. 

Love Cat’s gleeful look at the revelation of Rimmer’s ‘small physical presence’

Oh yes, I was going to mention this, it’s superb.

[Dave]

I think I’ve only encountered Pat Boone as a reference in one other place than this episode. Was it a bit of a dated reference even in 1991 (when I would’ve been 4 years old), or is it just a gap in my cultural kno wledge?

Pretty sure that when I first saw Meltdown I thought it was a reference to Boon, the ITV show starring Michael Elphick and Neil Morrissey.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

– I know we’ve already had a couple of ‘bastards’ by this point, but referring to Goering as a “fat bastard” seems a little off 

Is it okay to fat shame a Nazi?

– I think I’ve only encountered Pat Boone as a reference in one other place than this episode. Was it a bit of a dated reference even in 1991 (when I would’ve been 4 years old), or is it just a gap in my cultural kno wledge?

He was a very unconvincing young scot in the 1959 film version of Journey to the Centre of the Earth, a regular favourite of my childhood. So profound was the effect it had on me that for a considerable period of my adolescence, I referred to any set of trousers with detachable zip-off legs as ‘Boone trousers’.

[Flap Jack]

Is it okay to fat shame a Nazi?

How does it go? Hermann Goering won’t see your mean joke about him in your sci-fi sitcom, but your fat friends and family members will.

[Warbodog]

We know the portal was following them, but Wildfire emerged before all of the crash procedure carry on.

I just watched the scene again, and it might make more sense if they’d been hit immediately and then gone into the crash procedure as they start to descend.

Maybe that’s how it was written, but they decided that breaking up the long crash procedure scene made it more engaging. We’d also lose out on “look out everybody, here it comes!”

The Wildfire’s reckless autopilot that can’t be tamed by a top pilot and Rimmer complaining about Kryten’s driving proficiency is typically prescient self-driving car satire from Grant Naylor. Understandably Chris Barrie’s favourite ep.

[Jenuall]

Maybe going through dimensions using the jump drive disengages the main flight power and it takes a while to fire up the slumbering beast once he arrives? 

[Stilianides]

Meltdown

This is an episode filled with many great moments, but I think the whole is slightly less than the sum of its parts. That said, I would still rank it around 20th in the show’s entire run.

Some of the highlights include Rimmer’s Risk story (and how it ties into the rest of the episode), Winnie the Pooh, Caligula, and the character of Elvis (I’m only talking about the character here) including using him to sing the closing theme.

I really like the episode rather than love it, and there are a couple of main reasons. Partly it’s the focus on so many guests stars while, at the same time, there is relatively little of the 4 Dwarfers together. I also think the general structure of the episode (not the content) is a little more predictable than most Dwarf eps. Character behaves really badly, it has negative repurcussions, and he gets his just rewards at the end. I don’t have an issue with how Rimmer is portrayed throughout, but perhaps the ending could have been more interesting.

It’s also true that with a bigger budget and a location that appeared more like a remote planet, the whole thing might have looked a lot more impressive.

[Rudolph]

Lister’s evolution into an enlightened, 23rd Century Guy continues with his happy acceptance that, somewhere in time and space, there’s a Dave Lister who made something of himself and is a happily married family man.

I get the argument that Ace is a bit smug, but I never got the feeling that he was anything but genuine and good humoured. Although there should naturally be, deep down, some similarities beyond the physical. Is Ace still a Reggie Wilson fan and a Morris Dancer?

[Flap Jack]

Meltdown – And so we complete the overrated sandwich made with underrated bread that is Series IV Bite 2. Although it is making an incredibly subtle point about the futility and cruelty of war, the episode’s main strength is purely in the comedy. It’s just one fun and crazy set piece after another, and the heightened absurdity of the premise gives it a really unique feel. It’s in the somewhat rare “off-ship, non-outer space adventure” mould of which I’m pretty sure Backwards was the only previous example, but this still stands out even now.

– Slightly odd how in Dimension Jump Lister was protective of Rimmer’s feelings somewhat, and didn’t want to tell him how boring he was, but now he’s confidently ranting about how boring he is to his face. Guess these Risk recaps really push you.

– Have to agree that they way overdid the matter paddle’s range. 500,000 light years is probably most of the journey back to Earth in one jump! Except they say the planet 200,000 light years away would take billions of years to get to normally, which really doesn’t add up. Granted, that measure was for Starbug not Red Dwarf, but still. There was no need to make it so powerful just for this episode. They could have just been getting close to Waxworld already.

– Speaking of the matter paddle, that’s one useful bit of kit! I can’t wait to see how they take advantage of the powerful ability to teleport around at will throughout Series V.

– As well as being about robots that look and act like historical figures, both Hitler and Messalina are referenced. So Cured really was a sequel to this.

– The scene transitions are quite funky. I assume that they’re a reference to something I’m not picking up on.

– Rimmer is wearing some really bright green boots in this episode. Are they always there for Series 3 and 4 and I just never spotted them, or are they a Meltdown special?

– Rimmer really is over the top evil in this episode, even more so than he was in Bodyswap. Both his actions and his cartoonish impressions of military caricatures support the idea that he’s not fully himself, though the half-attempt at an explanation of it being due to Lister chewing his light bee is pretty weak. It’s just about worth it for the jokes, but it’s seriously pushing it. (Maybe Rimmer’s exaggerated behaviour even started in the first scene with his chirpy obliviousness to Lister’s insults – usually Rimmer would be a bit spikier than that.)

– Between Rimmer’s “steers and queers” line and the repeated jokes about Goering being a transvestite, this maybe isn’t the absolute best episode for the LGBTQ audience.

– One of the wax droids is the “Dalai Lama” but they don’t say which one. I guess it’s just the current one, unless he’s more like the generic idea of a Dalai Lama.

– With Rimmer complaining about “lefty, wishy-washy liberals”, is this the first time he explicitly marks himself as right wing? How many more times does that happen?

– I’m confused about how Lister does the “Holly, give me his light bee” command at the end, when they’re still 200,000 light years away from Red Dwarf. Could he have just said that when Rimmer was throwing him in prison and saved all the wax droids’ lives??? It’s strange enough that Rimmer even has the power to sustain himself when he’s so isolated from the ship.

[Warbodog]

It’s in the somewhat rare “off-ship, non-outer space adventure” mould of which I’m pretty sure Backwards was the only previous example

Also has the separated Rimmer/Kryten and Lister/Cat teams, Tony Hawks and a prominent guest cast generally. Like Better Than Life too, actually (sans Kryten). And they all look fairly grim.

Rimmer is wearing some really bright green boots in this episode. Are they always there for Series 3 and 4 and I just never spotted them, or are they a Meltdown special?

My thing I hadn’t really noticed before was how often they use handheld camera, which I only really associate with Marooned. I noticed it in White Hole’s power cut scene, then the Dimension Jump crash, Rimmer addressing the troops…

Maybe Rimmer’s exaggerated behaviour even started in the first scene with his chirpy obliviousness to Lister’s insults – usually Rimmer would be a bit spikier than that.

Looking forward to “how early did the holovirus manifest” in Quarantine.

[Dave]

Speaking of the matter paddle, that’s one useful bit of kit! I can’t wait to see how they take advantage of the powerful ability to teleport around at will throughout Series V.

[Dave]

I’m confused about how Lister does the “Holly, give me his light bee” command at the end, when they’re still 200,000 light years away from Red Dwarf.

Holly does seem to be hanging around on Waxworld, somehow. She’s present in Rimmer’s holo-motorbike. Maybe she’s operating remotely via Kryten like she did in Backwards. 

[Warbodog]

My thing I hadn’t really noticed before was how often they use handheld camera, which I only really associate with Marooned.

Thinking back, also stuff like that menacing shot of the Simulant from below and obviously all the moving corridor scenes.

[Unrumble]

Slightly odd how in Dimension Jump Lister was protective of Rimmer’s feelings somewhat, and didn’t want to tell him how boring he was, but now he’s confidently ranting about how boring he is to his face. Guess these Risk recaps really push you.

I can really believe they would, no matter how tolerant and compassionate you’d become. 

Perhaps there was an intention to show character progression for Lister, had Meltdown actually been broadcast first. But I imagine I’m clutching at straws there. 

[International Debris]

I suppose there’s a difference between telling someone to shut up because they’re telling a boring story, and letting one of the four people you live with know that everyone absolutely despises  him. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

My thing I hadn’t really noticed before was how often they use handheld camera, which I only really associate with Marooned.
Thinking back, also stuff like that menacing shot of the Simulant from below and obviously all the moving corridor scenes.

Inserts gif of the Curry Monster camera crew Smeg Up

[Rudolph]

It was years before I learnt who Messalina was, possibly even Cured. I always thought it was the incredibly hammy actor pronouncing Mussolini in a pretentious manner.

[Author]

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