Refresh For The Memory: Series VI 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 EMOHAWK – POLYMORPH II, RIMMERWORLD and OUT OF TIME. 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
Series IV Byte 2
Series V Byte 1
Series V Byte 2
Series VI Byte 1

[Warbodog]

Watching Emohawk again on video (in a very brief window between discovering eBay and ceasing purchases when the DVDs were announced), my perception of Series VI being the ultimate incarnation of Red Dwarf was shaken for the first time. The parts I remembered fondly were still great, but then there was the other stuff.

I think the general opinion is that at least the “first half” of the episode is good, but I’d narrow that down to just the GELF stuff, based on how derivative of Legion the cockpit scenes are, maybe the most formulaic bit of all Red Dwarf. I don’t know if that stood out when watching weekly, but it really did on DVD. It doesn’t help that that 2D materialisation effect is so crap.

There are still enough good points that I don’t outright dislike the episode, but it’s dropped below the likes of Parallel Universe to the very bottom of the bubble. It feels borderline VII already, so might even get beaten by some of them.

– Imagine an episode being as spoiled by the opening titles as this one today.

– I miss the old bunkrooms, as we should. Maybe Holly’s doing an epic April to March fool to make them appreciate their lot?

– Rimmer can now change the alert bulb himself, so naturally it’s on the appropriate level.

– There are some decent additions in the cockpit scenes, at least (“Sorry, I was looking at the wrong panel”)

– A second grassy knoll reference before that episode.

– Lots of action and danger that appealed to an 8 year old. Hiding from the law with ‘savages’ who live in huts and shoot arrows – it’s a space western again. Which then randomly turns into a Polymorph sequel.

– Grant Naylor are obsessed with moons as opposed to planets. I don’t know whether that’s good science (statistically more common) or bad science (less likely to have these atmospheres and environments?)

– Emotions being a prized trading commodity is good universe building, since you’ve got a mix of AIs and genetically-engineered rejects out there. Incorporating the sperm trading from Last Human would have been funny too, but it’s good that we were spared Lister’s rape.

– Funniest bit: Tie for Cat’s mental arithmetic and the hopping footshake.

– Is “not a chance in hell” / “I do” the series’ first bicycle joke?

– They’ve started turning into popular characters from earlier episodes and my enthusiasm for taking notes has dried up for some reason.

[Flap Jack]

Emohawk – Polymorph II – Undeniably a messy hodge-podge of a plot, but still a solidly enjoyable episode overall. I don’t know why I didn’t feel this before, but on this rewatch I agree with Warbodog: the early cockpit scenes are weak with how many repeated or derivative jokes are in them. I actually like the Emohawk parts, so the cockpit scenes are probably the worst part of the episode for me. Still some good moments in them though, and otherwise the episode is a fun ride. I’m filing this one in the “not as good as Parallel Universe, better than Stasis Leak” folder.

– Very generous to the USA for Rimmer to count the Vietnam War as a draw. Very uncomfortable for him to accuse the “Indian Nation” of losing because they had long hair.

– The combination of “Kryten doubts Cat’s smelling again” and “Kryten offers to sacrifice himself again” are the most obvious ways the cockpit scenes feel like the writing was on autopilot.

– People remember it kind of but kind of not being a sequel to Polymorph, but I forget that it teases being a sequel to Justice as well at the beginning there. The chance of them running into an automated police ship, and that happening right near an area with a huge GELF population… deep space sure is busy these days.

– Cat saying “Looks like you do have to tell me twice” re the “hit the reheat” instruction really kills the gag. Classic over-explaining blunder.

– I’m sure the damage report machine being damaged is a repeated joke as well. I guess the damage report machine exploding right in the middle of the Cat speaking about it gives it something of a new twist.

– It feels unintentional how little effort Cat had to put into snapping Lister’s guitar. They really don’t make authentic Les Paul copies like they used to.

– Cat saying “I was expecting to get a lot more from that” after his arrow analysis is another joke ruined by over-explaining. Frustrating.

– “A plan with no drawbacks” <- Rare case of Rimmer delighting in the prospect of The Cat’s death, instead of the other way around.

– How did the Emohawk sucking out Cat and Rimmer’s emotions also change their hair/teeth? Duane-Cat even says he can smell spot cream and such.

– Really noticeable this time round how close Chris is to corpsing in his dialogue scenes with Duane Dibbley. He’s smiling when the character surely wouldn’t be.

– Interesting how “Ace-ized” Rimmer is so willing to kill The Cat. I’m quite confident that the ‘real’ Ace would never do that, so it’s more like that’s how Rimmer imagines a brave and pragmatic hero would behave.

– The Duane Dibbley appearance is obviously just fanservice, but still, it is cool to get a sense of what Duane would actually be like, rather than just Cat reacting in horror and disgust at being in Duane’s body.

– Grant Naylor are obsessed with moons as opposed to planets. I don’t know whether that’s good science (statistically more common) or bad science (less likely to have these atmospheres and environments?)

It’s weird, because isn’t a moon by definition a celestial body that orbits a planet? So every time they encounter a moon, a planet should be nearby. I guess moons having Earth-like atmospheres and environments is in Star Wars tradition, with its Yavin 4s and its Endors and such.

Makes it seem extra silly for one of them to give a moon a name with the word “planet” in it, though. Thankfully that will never happen. I don’t even know why I even brought the possibility up.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

There are still enough good points that I don’t outright dislike the episode, but it’s dropped below the likes of Parallel Universe to the very bottom of the bubble.

I’ve always rated Mohawk highly, regardless of the back 10mins.  I like a bit of fan wankery from time to time and whilst it may not be quite earned at that point, especially with Duane first appearing only 4 episodes earlier, I don’t think it’s egregious and mines the two characters together for some great comedy.

I did some preliminary rankings on a train at the weekend and have it at 17!

> Is “not a chance in hell” / “I do” the series’ first bicycle joke?

Off the top of my head “we are not on the pull”, cut to Lister getting ready to go on the pull.

[si]

Mohawk. Ah yes, the punk episode. 

[Warbodog]

> Is “not a chance in hell” / “I do” the series’ first bicycle joke?

[International Debris]

Emohawk 

Ah yes, the low point of the bubble. 

Scramble is a good opening scene. 

Where did the toast come from? 

The Space Corps has the death penalty?! 

Why wouldn’t a probe follow them into GELF space? What’s it afraid of? 

You don’t have to tell me twice is one of those great really naff jokes. 

Otherwise, not a classic opening scene. 

Cat’s damage report but feels like he’s already gone into Dibbley mode. 

Amazing model work again. 

Mr. Lister’s second guitar. 

“It’s a good sign they haven’t killed us?” – yes, Rimmer, unless you’d prefer to be killed. That line has always baffled me. 

The GELF moon has definite similarities to Terrorform. Definitely an improvement on Meltdown. 

“Oh dear” is brilliantly read. 

Five hannuka is maybe my favourite joke here. 

And the handshake. A friend and I used to do that at school. 

A full episode based around the Kinitawowi scenes, ending on “leg it!” would have made for a series highlight. Instead… 

Three sequels in one. I don’t think any of these things needed to come back. They were all used to explore the characters in their original stories, here they’re just part of a cluttered runaround. And even in a show with few consistencies, victims having their physical form changed is absolutely nonsense. 

Where the fuck does Duane get those clothes from?! 

“It’s the wall” and the final gag are excellent, but otherwise this half has very little to offer. 

[International Debris]

– It feels unintentional how little effort Cat had to put into snapping Lister’s guitar. They really don’t make authentic Les Paul copies like they used to.

Its since they started making them look like Telecasters that they stopped being so sturdy.

Guitar necks are actually pretty bloody flimsy things. I’ve broken more than one.

[Flap Jack]

Had an annoying few minutes there where I absolutely could not remember what the internet’s preferred name for “bicycle joke” was.

[Jenuall]

It’s a great comedic device when used well to be fair, and I think the Emohawk instance definitely counts.

“The actual chances of it blowing are 1 in” *cut to ship exploding* “…1” is a lovely example of similar principles as well

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

“see you in 18 months” *cuts to everyone being dead*

[International Debris]

Kryten saying he’s lying followed by him being taught how to lie is my favourite. 

[Flap Jack]

Why wouldn’t a probe follow them into GELF space? What’s it afraid of?

Maybe the probe isn’t afraid as such, but it’s programmed to recognise and respect GELF legal jurisdiction. It doesn’t know that there’s (probably) nobody left who would actually be at risk if the probe provoked the GELFs.

[Warbodog]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

It took me an embaressingly long time to realise they were two different scenes and I was reading it left to right

[Dave]

Amazing stuff.

[Stilianides]

Emohawk

An episode of two parts…

A lot of fine lines at the start and Rimmer’s theorizing about short haircuts is inspired lunacy. Not to mention the Cat’s, “I do have hair like yours, just not on my head.”

Some of the biggest (possibly too big) explosions and best model shots make the chase scene stand out.

The “sacrificing poultry” line is an early example of explaining the joke too much.

Great scenes with the Kinitawawi, including the american football celebration.

After the band plays their new material, the greatest hits are brought out…

I don’t dislike the last 10 minutes at all, but I think it is slightly dangerous when any show starts to cannibalize itself (as has since been proven by the diminishing returns of Ace, the Polymorph and the Dibbley family).

There are several laughs, but it feels very forced to bring back those characters – especially the Polymorph sucking out all of Rimmer’s negative qualities to turn him into a formiddable enemy.

Still a strong episode and comfortably in the top half of the entire run, but not a highlight of Series VI.

[Warbodog]

Is “not a chance in hell” / “I do” the series’ first bicycle joke?

it teases being a sequel to Justice as well at the beginning there.

Emohawk: Legion Justice Polymorph Back to Reality Dimension Jump II

Cat saying “Looks like you do have to tell me twice” re the “hit the reheat” instruction really kills the gag.

It just reminds me of the much superior “stay alert” smeg-up.

A full episode based around the Kinitawowi scenes, ending on “leg it!” would have made for a series highlight.

Nice idea, but you have to fill the time. There’d probably have to be rival GELF tribes (more expense) to sell the danger of GELF space, and to prevent the Kinitawowi from becoming the stock ‘GELFs’ hereafter. If it wasn’t too risque for TV, the sperm trading from Last Human could be funny, which would backfire when they present some to the non-sterile Kinitawowi, so Lister has to marry their daughter as penance or something (can’t remember). Then they’d escape, pursued by the various GELFs they’ve pissed off, but the enforcement probe would be waiting and there would be a clever callback involving the reversed speech malfunction that results in all the baddies blowing up, concluding with some kind of gag about escaping married life.

[Flap Jack]

Watching Emohawk just a few days after Gunmen made me wonder: is this the biggest quality drop between 2 consecutive episodes across the whole show?

So out of curiosity I put the Pearl Poll numbers into a spreadsheet, and it turns out… yep! Emohawk ‘leads’ with its 37 place drop compared to Gunmen.

Runners up are Queeg to Parallel Universe which was a drop of 31 places (though this honour really should have been given to Thanks for the Memory -> Stasis Leak, let’s be fucking real here, people), followed by Future Echoes -> Balance of Power, with a drop of 30.

On the other side, the biggest episode-to-episode quality increase was Timewave to Mechocracy, which was a jump of 27 places. Closely followed by Demons & Angels to Back to Reality and Dear Dave to The Beginning, which were both jumps of 26 places.

This means that Gunmen > Emohawk is the biggest quality change between consecutive episodes of either type, as far as the 2018 fanbase is concerned.

For posterity:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f7eoG7VTn1EdrBkr_98_PoQFXaXPRyPdIJqapQQp364/edit?usp=sharing

[Ian Symes]

Now kicking myself for not having thought of plotting the places in a linear graph before, and making a note to steal your idea for the Coral Conflab. Excellent contributions to this thread from Warbodog and Flappo.

[International Debris]

Nice idea, but you have to fill the time.

Yeah, I’ve been trying to think of ways for that to happen. The opening section could be longer, there could even be an attempt at bartering with the Space Corps Automated Capital Punishment Bastard. They could be hunted by one tribe of GELFs and then saved by the others, which would make their debt to them higher and better justify the price of Lister’s hand in marriage. The wedding could be longer and sillier, there could be an after-wedding party, then extend the bedroom scene and head into leg it. Either way, whatever they put in I’m sure it would have been better than the second half of Emohawk.

[Stilianides]

Out of Time to Tikka to Ride has to be the biggest drop in quality imo, but interesting to see the stats nevertheless.

[International Debris]

Rimmerworld

My VI off airs were from the 1996 repeat run, meaning I didn’t have this. In fact, I didn’t see it between either ‘93 or ‘94 and the DVD release. So this is by far the freshest of the BBC era. 

The only character-specific VI episode, I suppose. 

Return to the Simulant ship? Are they going in circles? 

God there’s not many top drawer gags in the Starbug stuff here. 

Hard light remote belt. More complications. 

“That’s why I skipped chillis for breakfast” – not the fact that there’s no food.

Kryten’s “brains larger than a grape” line is one of my all-time favourites. 

Lister’s horniness on overdrive here, asking a Simulant out. 

They teleport back to just before Gunmen, right? Gives an idea of how compact VI’s timeline is. 

All in all a 100% successful trip is a series V-worthy line. 

Girlfriend: “can’t he just turn himself off?” 

The bleakness of Rimmer’s situation and the scale of the story is pretty V. 

Given that holograms are made of light, where does he get DNA from? He’s just a belt and forcefields, right? 

The kiss is a fantastic visual gag. 

As with the GELFs in Emohawk, there’s so much more to be made of the Rimmer population. There’s a hint of exploration of a coward-led society, but it’s barely touched. 

Rimmer in the cell is a great scene. “Me, Derek and Titan,” is great, and obviously the teleporter gag is an all-time great. Top ending too. 

Yeahhhh… it’s another weak one. The last ten minutes are good and there are a handful of excellent gags, but it feels fairly shallow and has a lot of jokes that don’t land. The formulaic elements are getting very tired by this point too. 

[Flap Jack]

Rimmerworld – I kind of remembered this one as being a pretty low down bubble episode, but contrasting it with Emohawk on this rewatch, it feels much more in line with the quality of the rest of Series VI. The title concept is unavoidably derivative of Terrorform, but it’s different enough and such a small part of the episode in terms of runtime that I’m OK with it. The episode being about Rimmer’s stress based medical condition and his cowardice (and his negative traits in general) also makes this the most character focused episode of the series so far. Although they don’t really do anything with that, so it’s still a far cry from better Rimmer episodes of previous series. If Rimmer’s condition or his lack of bravery had tied into the latter part of the story or was developed in any way, this would be a great episode. As it is, it’s just a good episode.

– Rimmerworld is a mixed bag when it comes to continuity. It being a pseudo sequel to Gunmen and the female Simulant returning is great for making the episodes feel connected, but the fact they’re doubling back on themselves (and combined with the detour they have to take to rescue Rimmer) makes it seem like their Red Dwarf chase has totally failed, when you consider how close they were in Psirens and Legion. Yet this does not get remarked on.

– On the subject of continuity, is the ocean moon crash which destroyed the reserve fuel tank something which happened in an episode, or off screen? “Ocean moon” will always make me think of Back to Reality, but I suppose it could be just a weird way to describe Emohawk?

– Why is the navicomp processing the results of Rimmer’s medical? Do they not have a separate computer for that? If the navicomp is just the main computer on Starbug and it handles everything, then those times when the navicomp was damaged would be even more dire.

– Rob and Doug managed to not repeat their Meltdown mistake by only giving the teleporter a limited range… but instead they gave it casual time travel powers. This slightly dulls the impact of the time drive in the next episode, I think.

– Not only is Cat wearing the same outfit as he did in GotA, he’s also wearing that same outfit in the “last week” scene. His wardrobe situation on Starbug must be getting serious. I also wonder why past-Rimmer was in his softlight red outfit.

– I’ve never really thought about how similar Rimmerworld is to Garbage World. It’s weird in novel continuity that Lister spent 34 years on Garbage World and then eventually ends up in something of a status quo without this prolonged isolation and trauma being something that’s dwelt on, but it’s even weirder for Rimmer to spend 600 years on Rimmerworld, and then things are totally normal next week.

– How did Rimmer have any of his own DNA to clone from? He must have scooped up some of his remains back in Series 1, and has been carrying bits of it with him ever since he got hardlight, and had skutters load it onto Starbug before even then.

– I love Lister’s reaction to the Emperor Rimmer ordering their deaths. Not terror but more an aside looking “oh FFS”.

– “Who can forget the famously insane European monarchies of the 19th and 20th centuries?” <- Lol, get rekt Lizzie (rip).

[Flap Jack]

[Dave]

How did Rimmer have any of his own DNA to clone from? He must have scooped up some of his remains back in Series 1, and has been carrying bits of it with him ever since he got hardlight, and had skutters load it onto Starbug before even then.

Post Timeslides, it could be as recent as Series III.

(And we already know that he was able to locate some of his old dandruff in DNA.)

[Unrumble]

And we already know that he was able to locate some of his old dandruff in DNA

Bad luck that there doesn’t appear to have been any medicated shampoo on Rimmerworld, then 

[Warbodog]

Rimmerworld

Possibly the most self-conscious filler episode so far, but still a much better episode than it’s generally given credit for, I reckon. Not an underdog to champion like Waiting for God, more a Confidence and Paranoia that has more going on than people tend to remember (i.e. more than the teleporter line).

I’ve got defensive about it in the past when it’s been dismissed as a “shit” episode where “nothing” happens (they don’t even get to Rimmerworld for most of it!). But then there are the people who overrate it based on it being the one with the Arnold Rimmer song in it, so it probably works out.

– My main criticism is that it gets too similar to the not-very-long-ago Terrorform at one point, or at least you could get the two episodes with Rimmers in historical battle dress mixed up.

– There’s a lot of recycling generally, especially from Cat. Kryten was on to something when he suggested he shut up.

– Hologram illness and the health consequences of his stressful adventures bring Rimmer closer to humanity, even if the episode later demonstrates his immortality and doesn’t really commit to the psychological impact of imprisonment beyond one funny line.

– Sorry guys, but it’s very satisfying to me that you’re having to eat asteroid moss. Does that count as alien life? I expect they were from an Earth seeding pod that crashed in the belt, weren’t they?

– I’ve never had a clue what the Welsh fish and chip shop dig is about, but it’s funny anyway.

– Actually seeing them board and loot a derelict for once is pretty cool, especially a scary baddie ship!

– The direct continuity to Gunmen is a satisfying bonus, I didn’t consider that it’s awkward like others have. I don’t remember making the specific link as a kid, probably just assumed it was another off-screen adventure.

– I’m glad they masked the reuse of the Red Dwarf landing bay explosion a bit, it’s over so fast that they get away with it.

– Funniest line: “What the hell, I just wouldn’t tell her.”

– Epic time skips are a Red dwarf specialty.

– Rimmerworld is treated a bit flippantly for a living colony of Rimmer’s abandoned descendants, but it makes a nice change to see a flesh and blood society rather than just figments of Rimmer’s psyche. You don’t have to think hard to realise why we don’t see more of it.

– The teleporter gag is a classic, of course, but I was always tickled by the phrasing and delivery of “rope weaved from strands of this hessian.”

– Should this have come straight after Gunmen, or does it benefit from the break? I felt like watching it fourth, but that was mainly to delay having to deal with Emohawk.

Hard light remote belt. More complications.

If that’s the calculator thing he wears, he gets that when Legion upgrades him. He seemingly wore a soft light version beforehand.

[Warbodog]

They teleport back to just before Gunmen, right? Gives an idea of how compact VI’s timeline is. 

Taking dialogue literally, I make it at least five months from start to end:

– At least a couple of months between Psirens and Legion (“Derelict a couple of months back”)

– At least 3 weeks between Legion and Gunmen (“You haven’t been off this machine in a month” vs. “You’ve worn it out in nearly three weeks” – in Legion, Lister was still passing the time with magazine quizzes and crap movies)

– Knocked out for “three weeks” during Gunmen

– Rimmerworld is “a couple of weeks” after they totalled the Simulant ship in Gunmen (so let’s say Emohawk was in between)

– At least 8 days during Rimmerworld? Rimmer’s pod “should make planetfall in four days,” they chase after it in the slower Starbug (possibly more days), then presumably the same time back to the wormhole

– Unspecified weeks between Rimmerworld and Out of Time (“Rimmerworld was weeks ago” – obviously, the future scene from Rimmerworld can’t actually take place during Out of Time, but even as the joke originally intended, it presumably has to happen before the series cliffhanger rather than messily during VII)

– “Three days” of deep sleep during Out of Time

[Rudolph]

It’s a remarkable stroke of luck that, despite losing damn near everything in the crash on the GELF moon, that a change of clothes identical to what the Cat once wore in a drug-induced hallucination two-hundred years ago, manages to survive the crash intact and, indeed, is on Starbug in the first place.

[Warbodog]

Out of Time
Not my absolute favourite, but maybe my ultimate Red Dwarf comfort watch (or tied with Gunmen). When I rested the show for a few years after overwatching the DVDs, this was the one I chose to break the fast.

It may not have the cosier Red Dwarf sets, but it’s still one of those tight, minimalist ones like many of my favourites. Just the three of them on the regular sets with great gags, the most ominous baddies of the run and a classic childhood cliffhanger.

– The morale meeting is a nice mirror to the briefing from Psirens, but dropping in the exposition update more casually.

– Has hard light given Rimmer previously undisclosed superhuman strength as well as the durability?

– Cat saying ‘force-feed’ and ‘diet’ makes it clear that the fridge was going in the mouth, not up the arse.

– I probably didn’t notice Robert’s autocue in the 90s, but I haven’t been able to unsee it since the DVD. Distracting, but not episode-ruining. Cute, even.

– As Dave pointed out recently, the discovery that Lister’s unknowingly a droid and the background of the rogue Series 3000s is just Blade Runner.

– Is “unforgettabibble” intended panic or a smeg-up? I treat it as the former and it’s long replaced the standard word in my own vocabulary.

– “Deep space in the 15th century” is a brilliant subversion gag, BUT the setup reinforcing that expectation is sneaky. They reference the drive’s previous owners visiting 20th century Earth, which puts that in our heads, before they sent it into deep space via an unrelated space drive. So… does the ship have that too?

– Why are they still in Starbug after 15 years? Based on Rimmer’s disgust at the environs, have they just massively pimped it?

– I always enjoyed VI picking on Lister for laughs, especially after so much Rimmer focus in previous series.

– Funniest: The chocolate finger log cabin and “ohhhhhhh dear.”

– After surviving GELFs, Simulants, pan-dimensional liquid beasts and enforcement probes, their ultimate foes are themselves. Admittedly in the form of unlikely future versions. Still cool though.

– Excellent ending, but I liked it more as a kid, when I somehow blinked and missed the blast from Future Starbug that blew up Present Starbug. My interpretation was that Rimmer blew up the engine or some other vital component (I didn’t recognise it as the time drive specifically), in the hope that this would reset things to before the encounter, but accepting the possibility that they’d simply be better dead than smeg. I think my version – reliant as it was on not noticing two key details – was superior. Either way, the resolution was obvious, it was just the bloody wait.

– Even if Rimmer’s actions were ultimately futile, sitting around waiting for death would have given the Future Selves (just Rimmer by that point?) time to board and steal/inspect the time drive, so effort was necessary to thwart them.

– Would Rimmer’s light bee be destroyed in the explosion or would his hard light body protect it? Maybe the end should have been Rimmer spinning towards us as a 2D image rendered on an Amiga with aliasing and we go into his silently screaming gob.

– I like the urine recyc edit from Smeg Ups, omitting as it does the “smeg, I’m a hero” cringe (even if it was only because that bit didn’t have completed effects).

[Dave]

“Deep space in the 15th century” is a brilliant subversion gag, BUT the setup reinforcing that expectation is sneaky. They reference the drive’s previous owners visiting 20th century Earth, which puts that in our heads, before they sent it into deep space via an unrelated space drive. So… does the ship have that too?

Kryten says that they contracted the flu, then programmed the autopilot for deep space and set up the reality bubbles to prevent it falling into anyone else’s hands. So it’s carefully worded, but the suggestion seems to be that it has been travelling out from earth under normal propulsion methods for millions of years to get to this point, rather than having been somehow warped into that area of space from the beginning.

[Dave]

Excellent ending, but I liked it more as a kid, when I somehow blinked and missed the blast from Future Starbug that blew up Present Starbug.

I don’t know if this is just a weird Mandela effect thing, but I’ve always been convinced that the laser blast wasn’t on the original broadcast as I don’t remember it at all either. And it changes the feel of the ending quite a bit.

[Dave]

Funniest: The chocolate finger log cabin and “ohhhhhhh dear.”

This. And also “as for the Cat, what an unbelievable git.”

[Unrumble]

Is “unforgettabibble” intended panic or a smeg-up? I treat it as the former and it’s long replaced the standard word in my own vocabulary.

It’s never occurred to me that it’s anything other than 100% scripted 

[Warbodog]

the suggestion seems to be that it has been travelling out from earth under normal propulsion methods for millions of years

Didn’t consider the long way around for some reason, that fixes it.

I’ve always been convinced that the laser blast wasn’t on the original broadcast

I watched it on the ’94 and ’96 repeats, didn’t think to tape either of them, but I wrote about the ending and Rimmer blowing up Starbug in my 1996 diary. The sentiment was so strong, it negated the evidence of my senses.

[Ian Symes]

The “original ending” version on the Smeg Ups tape may be the source of this confusion. The model shot used there is different to the broadcast version. The broadcast has the laser beam hitting, the Smeg Ups has no laser beam and has another Starbug visible in the background after the explosion. Broadcast version implies it’s our Starbug being blown up by the future selves (as per Lister’s explanation in Tikka); Smeg Ups version implies it’s the future Starbug being blown up as a consequence of Rimmer destroying the Time Drive.

[Stilianides]

Rimmerworld

I think Chris and Robert were pretty close to the top of their game at this point and that helps scenes like the opening one tremendously. The “buttock sandwich” line is a standout.

I personally like the “Why on Io…?” style dialog as it differentiates the show from other sitcoms and helps it to avoid cliches.

Not the strongest space corps directive gag with the punchline in the middle of the joke. Maybe if the wording could have been changed slightly, it might have brought a bigger laugh.

The Welsh fish and chip shop joke is an incredibly niche bit of observational comedy which was doubtless inspired by Rob and Doug’s writing stints in Wales. Despite being from North Wales myself, I can’t say that I ever considered most chip shops to be all that different to other parts of the country.

Great idea to use the worry balls as a running gag through the episode.

Smart to introduce Rimmer’s concerns at the start of the ep as it makes his cowardly behaviour slightly more forgiveable.

Brilliant explosion of the simulant ship and it’s sad that the golden era of model shots was nearly at an end by this point.

I do have an issue with any “a huge amount of time later” story and they sacrificed character a little for this half hour. To have Rimmer’s personality completely unchanged after hundreds of years is not remotely believable.

The whole idea of a planet of Rimmers is reminisicent of overly populated later Dwarf and I think Series VI was just nudging towards that area.

The teleporter gag is still a classic and while Rimmerworld isn’t an absolutely top episode, it’s another that’s comfortably in the top half imo.

[Dave]

The “original ending” version on the Smeg Ups tape may be the source of this confusion. The model shot used there is different to the broadcast version. The broadcast has the laser beam hitting, the Smeg Ups has no laser beam and has another Starbug visible in the background after the explosion. Broadcast version implies it’s our Starbug being blown up by the future selves (as per Lister’s explanation in Tikka); Smeg Ups version implies it’s the future Starbug being blown up as a consequence of Rimmer destroying the Time Drive.

This must be it.

[Warbodog]

The “original ending” version on the Smeg Ups tape may be the source of this confusion.

I didn’t have Smeg Ups until 1999, so it didn’t inform how I’d intepreted the cliffhanger before VII came out, but it probably convinced me further that Tikka was a retcon rather than just modified shot for a while.

[Unrumble]

Watching Rimmerworld yesterday, something I’ve always noticed and wondered about:

At the end of his medical, Rimmer makes very clear to Kryten he doesn’t want the others to know about his stress/health issues. 

This seems like a standard setup. Characters trying to keep a secret from others, badly, comedy results from the ensuing confusion. 

However, there is no real attempt to make anything of this. 

Only two scenes later, Rimmer is having a massive panic attack in front of Lister, with Kryten imploring him to ‘grind those balls’, which he is openly doing. 

He starts grinding again when they board the simulant ship, eliciting only vaguely curious puzzled looks from Cat & Lister. Neither of them ever comments on it. 

Not saying there’s necessarily anything wrong with any of this, just think it seems slightly odd to make a point of introducing the ‘secret’ element and not have it be of any relevance later. 

[Dave]

Not saying there’s necessarily anything wrong with any of this, just think it seems slightly odd to make a point of introducing the ‘secret’ element and not have it be of any relevance later. 

I think it serves to enhance the comedy of all the bad stuff happening later, with Rimmer’s reactions being worse than Lister or Cat would expect. But yeah, there’s no big payoff later and obviously the whole thing is forgotten about after the episode.

(Maybe Rimmer’s tiny balls at the end are meant to show that he’s come to terms with it over his hundreds of years away?)

[International Debris]

Out of Time

Ah, the saving grace of VI. 

The opening morale meeting has a sense of tension that immediately makes this feel different to a standard episode. 

Why is Kryten so keen to offload the cleaning duties when in Legion he found cleaning “hog’s heaven”? 

I’m always surprised how short the Lister is a droid plot is. 

Cat’s utter glee when Kryten is criticising Lister’s sandwiches is marvellous. 

Time drive. Go back to the last place you knew Red Dwarf was, go back in time and wait for it. 

“We all could if it was you” is an overlooked Cat woofer. 

It’s not the most in-depth character study but it’s almost as good as Back to Reality in terms of horror created out of differences to the familiar characters. After a series of monster of the week episodes, it’s great to have a story that depends entirely on the four regulars.

“Ohhhhh dear” is superb. 

The fight section is tremendous, more tension than the show has had before or since. 

Always loved the music as Rimmer runs to the time drive. 

To be continued… yeah, it’s an exciting, dramatic ending, and more effective than the Rhine recyc one, but I’d happily take the happy ending if it meant VII got rid of the time drive nonsense in Tikka and Stardisbug. 

Yeah, my feelings on VI remain unchanged. A lot of good gags, including some classics, but for the most part it lacks the depth of the earlier series. Not only do barely any of the plots relate to the characters at all, but they themselves are often reduced to caricatures; other than a couple of snarky likes from Cat there’s no real tension between Rimmer and the others, while Lister’s main drives have become curry and sex. Kryten is the only one who retains a little of his more interesting side. The formulaic gags are stronger at the start and become tiresome by the end. 

Legion and Out of Time are great, the rest is good bits surrounded by stuff I don’t like. 

I can see why Rob and Chris wanted to leave. After some wonderful stuff in V, he’s given very little to do here other than Space Corps directives, one liners, exposition and ‘I’m a coward’ gags. Only Rimmerworld hints at the layers we got before. With the promise of either a difficult cliffhanger and continuation of the VI format, or a return to the show’s previous status quo, I can also understand why Rob wanted to move on. 

Bye bye bubble. It’s a bumpy ride from here on in.

[Jenuall]

They teleport back to just before Gunmen, right? Gives an idea of how compact VI’s timeline is. 
Taking dialogue literally, I make it at least five months from start to end:
– At least a couple of months between Psirens and Legion (“Derelict a couple of months back”)
– At least 3 weeks between Legion and Gunmen (“You haven’t been off this machine in a month” vs. “You’ve worn it out in nearly three weeks” – in Legion, Lister was still passing the time with magazine quizzes and crap movies)
– Knocked out for “three weeks” during Gunmen
– Rimmerworld is “a couple of weeks” after they totalled the Simulant ship in Gunmen (so let’s say Emohawk was in between)
– At least 8 days during Rimmerworld? Rimmer’s pod “should make planetfall in four days,” they chase after it in the slower Starbug (possibly more days), then presumably the same time back to the wormhole
– Unspecified weeks between Rimmerworld and Out of Time (“Rimmerworld was weeks ago” – obviously, the future scene from Rimmerworld can’t actually take place during Out of Time, but even as the joke originally intended, it presumably has to happen before the series cliffhanger rather than messily during VII)
– “Three days” of deep sleep during Out of Time

It’s a reasonable length of time, but still very full of activity. It’s amazing that Kryten managed to track the vapour trail for 200 years without encountering anything similar really!

Or maybe he did and there’s a Big Finish style spin off just waiting to happen where we get to discover all of Kryten’s wacky adventures during that time!

[Stilianides]

I can also understand why Rob wanted to move on. 
Bye bye bubble. It’s a bumpy ride from here on in.

I wonder how much being sick of Dwarf really was a deciding factor for Rob.
He and Doug split up while working on The 10%ers which ought to have been the chance to do something completely different.

I agree entirely about the bumpy ride that we have ahead of us, though. :)

[Unrumble]

Out of Time 
(some of my points are pretty much the same as International Debris a couple of posts up, but I’d done me notes before I saw his, so in they go)

This episode absolutely kicks bottom from start to finish, so I’ll just pick out a few choice morsels rather than risk simply regurgitating half the script. 

– everything about the Cat’s disappearance is fantastic. Exquisite timing on: 
“then how come we still remember him?”
 “remember who?” 
“I don’t remember”

– Kryten’s utter delight at the ‘success’ of their journey to pre-renaissance deep space is hilarious.

– “what if we discovered one of us was dead, who could handle that?” 
“we all could if it was you.”
They’re all on fire, but shout out to Danny for consistent excellence, where previous eps in VI have seen him overly saddled with material like the repetitive ‘deader-than’ jokes. 

– “ohhhhhhhhhhhhh dear”. Absolutely dropping with glee from Barrie there. 

– the final battle scene is laugh-free, but such incredibly well-done drama, and one of the best scenes in the entire shows run. I get goosebumps almost every time I watch it. Everybody’s dead! 

[Warbodog]

VI’s smeg ups are the best, right?

I can see why Rob and Chris wanted to leave. After some wonderful stuff in V, he’s given very little to do here other than Space Corps directives, one liners, exposition and ‘I’m a coward’ gags.

Having started with VI, I saw him as the closest thing to the straight man, a serious but inept bridge officer who was occasionally allowed to be silly. Eventually getting to the novels and earlier series, it was like a different character who actually had character. I love this era in its own way, but remember Rimmer?

[Unrumble]

I love this era in its own way, but remember Rimmer?

Two R’s, one at the front, one at the back? 

[Warbodog]

– the final battle scene is laugh-free 

Speak for yourself, Patrick Stewart was laughing all the time.

[Unrumble]

“And at once, to my horror and outrage, I realised it wasn’t clear whether Rimmer or the future selves were responsible for blowing up Starbug”

[Author]

Posts