Refresh For The Memory: Series XI Byte 2

[Jonathan Capps]

You asked for it. Ahead of the extremely imminent 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 OFFICER RIMMER, KRYSIS and CAN OF WORMS. 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
Series VI Byte 2
Series VII Byte 1
Series VII Byte 2
Series VIII Byte 1
Series VIII Byte 2
Back To Earth
Series X Byte 1
Series X Byte 2

Series XI Byte 1

[Jonathan Capps]

Can of Worms is shit.

[Stilianides]

Officer Rimmer
This episode kind of washes over me and when I rewatched it a couple of days ago, I found it difficult to think of much that was noteworthy. 
Kryten’s “Best guess” is a real leap for him to suddenly deduce that a member of the other ship was in the process of being printed.
The Captain’s make-up work is impressive, but I can’t say that I find his interactions with the crew all that hilarious.
Obviously an amusing idea to have the barbershop quartet of Rimmers.
Elsewhere, I wish again that Chris’s performance was as strong as in days of yore.
Generally speaking, I find the episode curiously joyless and the ending is another that feels abrupt.
Not terrible, by any means, but not up to the standard of Twentica and Give and Take.

[Warbodog]

Officer Rimmer

My slight favourite from XI the first time (maybe into XII too), and still so far at least, it was mainly notable for feeling at points like I was watching an authentic lost episode from the 90s.

That’s also a back-handed compliment about how derivative it is of the classics, maybe more than any other Dave episode (Back to Earth included), but it has the concepts and entertainment value to rank alongside some of those old timers. Admittedly, ones I tend to consider the weakest of their series (I’ve got it between DNA and Meltdown), but that’s impressive enough for this kind of revival.

– Bio-printing and genome flogging is top-notch topical tech satire, with some inevitable but earned ‘mainstream’ gags and some good body horror played for laughs (the Rimmer Monster’s rubbish by comparison though).

– Lister being adept at the space stuff while Rimmer still flounders after all this time brings the old Esperanto gag into practice.

– Starbug’s ‘mining torpedo’ gets the relevant context into its name, unlike the bazookoids which we needed novel clarification for.

– My main issue with the episode (more than it being a remix) is that the Rimmers don’t feel like they’re real people, which diminishes the powerful notion of the slave Listers. I guess the missing clarification I needed this time was whether they really are fully-rounded individuals (we don’t see enough of Captain Herring to know) and if they’re designed to be subservient (to an extent – it seems the call centre Listers hate their jobs and the Rimmer waiter looks bored) or have some equivalent of the Silicon Heaven belief chip keeping them in line and not caring about their expiry.

– I only realised when typing that out that it’s quite Severance.

– Funniest: The first class lift. Rimmer having a ball and Lister suffering is always fun to watch.

– The Pac-Man gag is stupid, but so were the baby Skutters.

– Rimmer asking “I’ve got faults?” was annoying after he seemed more self-aware by Back to Earth.

– The ending is bad, but still doesn’t bother me as much as most people, maybe because I’ve started to get bored by that point, so just want it over.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Can of Worms is shit.

[Stilianides]

Krysis

The opening scenes go over old ground with Lister trimming his toenails and Kryten something of a caricature.

I’m not sure watching these episode in quick succession does them any favours, as it feels like there’s a real lack of purpose for the characters by this point. In the early series the general aim was to get back to earth and in VI and (to a lesser extent) VII they were trying to locate Red Dwarf. By XI, Lister seems to have largely forgotten about Kochanski and most episodes could be broadcast in any order.

‘The Best of Mozart’ is a really old joke that brings to mind Alan Partridge, and bungee jumping is so predictable and lame. 

Kryten in his new suit feels very Series VIII.

The heavily populated universe thing has become a little ridiculous by now. It feels much too easy for them to casually go into stasis until they get to the Nova 3.

Dominic Coleman gives a very strong performance, but the writing is all very predictable and obvious. Butler as a character outshines the regular crew.

The inclusion of the GELFs is too rushed and again adds to the overpopulated feel. The script isn’t allowed to breathe as too many ideas are crammed into too short a time.

I said recently that I would try not to mention Frasier too often, but the “It’s in the throat” scene feels very similar to a moment in that show. Admittedly, this Dwarf scene goes on for much longer and takes things to a different level.

Stumbling across the Universe is, once again, a huge concept that is casually crowbarred into the show. It feels like a sketch idea and Kryten’s sudden love speech is incredibly forced. If there had been some dramatic incident in the episode that showed him how lucky he is to have friends, I would understand it more.

There are some good moments in Krysis, but the plotting is all over the place. I know Doug has complained about the rules that Rob put in place, but they did mean that most early episodes focused on one thing and didn’t feel so rushed or confused.

[Warbodog]

Krysis

This ranked a respectable 4th in series in the Pearl Poll, and I remember it having a fairly positive (though not unanimous) response on G&T. I was surprised, because I came away loathing it.

I thought that might have been me overreacting to all the crazy continuity (in Red Dwarf??? No fucking way!), but on considered rewatch, I still think it’s mainly shit. It’s like an Idea for an episode synopsis that won a competition.

– The minor revelation that Lister’s been living several hours behind real time is the tease for the more monumental reveal that this episode is taking place in precisely 2,978,340 AD. Getting an actual date should have been pleasing, but learning that they’d been rounding UP to three million all this time annoyed me intensely. Round DOWN, for god’s sake.

– Maybe I’m being too abstract, but if I had the comforting knowledge of an infinity of universes that these guys do, I don’t think I’d spend so much time worrying about my infinitesimal corner.

– Rimmer failing to bluff Mozart knowledge is the same gag we’ve had before, but still terribly relatable.

– We’d already seen Kryten’s pimped shell, which could have been funny otherwise (even in a shocking “oh shiiiiiiit” kind of way). The rest of the extended midlife crisis joke is just weak and unconvincing, but this already felt like one of the stagier episodes before that.

– After those series VIII type gags, we go into a plot reminiscent of that other classic episode, Nanarchy. But with nicer space shots.

– Butler is a less funny, more annoying Ace Rimmer.

– It finally picks up near the end when they get to the research station. I really don’t like the implications again, but I do appreciate the bold weirdness, and Mr Universe and the midlife crisis are both great jokes, just saving this from my bottom 10.

[Rudolph]

It’s a small thing, but naming a robot butler Butler feels quite weak. I’ve always liked that Kryten is an obvious reference to The Admirable Crichton and Hudzen comes from Upstairs, Downstairs. True, this naming convention went out the window with Able, but still.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

– Butler is a less funny, more annoying Ace Rimmer.

What did you just say about my boy

[International Debris]

Officer Rimmer

Dream stuff at the start is pretty terrible, not quite X level but one of those really broad standup routines that doesn’t work at all. 

Printer stuff feels a bit dated but is very funny. A great undercutting of the dramatic machines and obviously the actual reveal of Herring’s face is tremendous. Total crew is half is also very good. 

Lots of decent plot stuff for a while, but there’s a lack of memorable gags here. 

Officer and grunts lifts are pretty good. 

More than a hint of Queeg to the shitty quality of life going forward. 

Stop using the same bloody musical sting! 

The change to Rimmer’s officer uniform really bugs me. The wonky tie looks awful, but generally the collar of the version from the first two series works much better for me. 

Skitters in hard hats are cute. 

Can’t help feeling Lister’s sold genome would be a more interesting plot than Officer Rimmer. 

Kryten hanging a lampshade on the fact that this isn’t the most original plot always feels a bit uncomfortable. 

Rimmer being the superior officer on the ship and he’s working at the door in his own officers club. 

I forgot the monster comes about because Rimmer gets impatient to print bouncers to remove Lister and Cat from his club. It’s not the tightest plotted episode really, is it? 

Rimmer Monster is the strongest idea in the episode. Visually brilliant and genuinely quite creepy. Why is one of the faces someone else though?!

Everything around the resignation is really uncomfortable: the swipe where he suddenly becomes taller, the whole concept of him just saying he resigns, leaving the gate open and having a very casual conversation as if the threat has just gone. 

I think “we always have a pen” is the only Dave-era  callback that really works. 

Oh God the ending. It really feels like 30 seconds of the episode has been awkwardly sliced out. 

Yeah, that doesn’t hold up to rewatching very well. Some really plotting and pacing issues and not enough top drawer gags to make up for them.

[International Debris]

Krysis

Ingrown toenail not a great start. 

Breakfast is much better. And, of course, cloche.

Good Cat entrance. 

Blackberry gag. Hmmm. 

Mechs lasting six million years really doesn’t work. 

Oh that fucking sting again. 

Kryten’s sportscar outfit walks the fine line between funny and VIII. It comes down on the funny side, just, because it’s got a purpose rather than pointless nonsense. The funniest bit is his running through in the background.

Lovely ship flyby during the stasis. And now they’ve come out, Kochanski is definitely dead. RIP. 

Amazing that the Nova 3 has the same design as Rimmer’s officer corridors. 

I really like the idea of them taking Kryten to gloat over another mech and it backfiring. Probably not the most original plot but it really works. 

Lister’s response to Butler’s novel is great. 

There’s a touch of Legion to Butler, especially Rimmer wanting him to come with them. 

GELFs with a proper language! 

Maargh still makes me laugh like an idiot. 

Kryten’s smugness at Butler’s failure is wonderful. 

Universe on hold on a crap old phone is funny. 

For some reason, the universe doesn’t actually bother me. It really, really should, but it doesn’t, although they should really ask it more questions. 

It’s a character-led episode with something new for Kryten, a comparatively tight plot and not many cringey jokes. It’s not the most funny episode ever but it feels much closer to the later bubble episodes than most Doug Dwarf for me. I have a real fondness for it. 

[International Debris]

Can of Worms

Personality tuck machine is a really strong idea that sounds like it could have come from the bubble. What a waste of opportunity. 

A hologram having its brain changed using a laser. Great writing. 

“Wimpoplasty” is a good comedy word. 

Lister being asleep during the alarms is great. I forgot about “it’s Monday, sir” and the screwdriver. 

Cat’s long running lie about having two lady cats on Z deck is a nice bit of worldbuilding. 

Prisoner given a death sentence, why are they so keen to rescue them? 

I wish the life signs gag hadn’t been spoiled by the trailer. 

Another fantastic looking pumping station scene. 

Rimmer’s self-belief tape is a nice bit. 

It’s sad that as soon as a female cat appeared I began to worry how she was going to be written out. 

Well done for bringing a Polymorph on board. Great work. 

“No, kinder eggs” is lovely. 

David Attenborough impression is such a shit hokey gag. No need. 

Cat’s pregnancy is another potentially excellent plot for an episode that’s wrapped up so quickly. I’m not convinced Doug would be the best person to write it, but again it adds to this episode’s patchwork feeling. 

Birth scene is pretty funny. Their cute disguises even more so. 

God this final act is nonsense. Why the diesel decks? They’re dark and labyrinthine. The personality tuck idea lasts about a minute before being wiped from the plot.  At being barely alive doesn’t remotely fit him supposedly being barely alive. The mama always knows her kids conclusion is nonsense. 

The triple Mexican standoff is a really good joke and evidence of another potential major plot that never happened. 

Ah yes, the ending. Hmmm. 

Not a great end to the series, is it?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Rimmer being the superior officer on the ship and he’s working at the door in his own officers club. 

He likes to be control doesn’t he.  He’s taking great pleasure in keeping Lister out of his club rather than actually enjoying the space himself.

[International Debris]

“ At being barely alive doesn’t remotely fit him supposedly being barely alive.”

This was meant to read something like “Cat being barely alive doesn’t remotely fit him just running around like he’s fine” but my brain switched off halfway through.

[Warbodog]

Can of Worms

I probably would have hated this if we’d been back to potential weak series finales again, but with the security of more episodes in the bag, I didn’t mind it at all. There’s not much between the Polymorph sequels for me, though that’s faint praise.

– I thought Officer Rimmer might be the most derivative Dave episode, but the cockpit scenes felt very Emohawk, the prison ship bit is quite Back to Reality / Back to Earth part 1, and the second half is another Polymorph sequel combined with Dad, so it’s probably this.

– Good call to have the characters in a geek show with youth appeal mocking virgins. I definitely would have appreciated that as a teenager.

– The life signs bit worked well as an intro to this series (and to Dave Dwarf in general), though it’s probably the misleading highlight of the episode.

– The Vampire GELF mention broke my brain, since we do come across a GELF who looks like a vampire, but it’s a Polymorph doing a Cat. I thought that might have been a hint about myths getting twisted over time, then remembered she only looks like that because Cat’s there. Probably not the best introductory episode on reflection.

– Lots of nice silly gags in this one. Kryten sitting on the screwdriver was a welcome subversion of a tedious GELFspeak reprise. Lister being miles away was my biggest laugh. Cat’s bazookoid going off prematurely gets no reaction.

– They don’t even bother with suspense, telling us it’s a Polymorph right after it comes on board. I’d listened to the RHLSTP (RHLSTP) where Ray Peacock spoiled the Polymorph for some people, but I thought he was talking general trivia, so I wasn’t spoiled until some point during the series when G&T commenters reckoned the pineapple in the intro was going to be the polymorph that we knew was appearing, and this was the only episode left.

– The Omega 4 space monkeys: good populated universe!

– I liked the “ain’t kissing and telling” gag, before (predictably) proceeding to describe his night in proud detail, which went to less predictable areas that couldn’t be shown for reasons of budget and taste (until we get the novel version). I know it’s Cat getting raped, but… okay, I actually typed that.

– Draining your emotions to take on a Polymorph is both smart and stupid, as they soon realise. The stand-off could have been made extremely tense with the Listers indiscriminately shooting (why did he stop?), or even all the Rimmers and Krytens shooting their counterparts who they know or pretend to know are imposters. It could have all been better executed, but the Boys from the Dwarf vs. immature mutants is supposed to be bumbling. There’s just not much to it, then it lazily ends. Still better than the second half of Emohawk though.

– On first watch, I loved the cheek of the lady cats reveal and was disappointed it was a dream. Despite the ramifications that I was so petty about with Krysis. My responses to Red Dwarf aren’t consistent.

my brain switched off halfway through.

[Stilianides]

Can of Worms

The personality tuck machine is a really big concept to be casually introduced in the opening minutes. Rimmer’s behaviour is fairly predictable and Kryten’s line about moving faster than light is a weak scene-ender.

Danny is overacting like crazy during the whole discussion about virgins.

A couple of terrible simile gags that are reminiscent of Series VII. “Weaker than the San Marino reserve team” and “Nuttier than a vegetarian breakfast.” Awful.

The Mercenoid idea could have been interesting, but it’s abandoned so quickly. There also may have been an explanation for how the voice recorder was converted into a deadly weapon but if there was, I missed it.

Quite a fun performance from Dominique Brown, but her role is essentially to repeat lines from earlier series. That might not be fatal in itself, but with the episode also being (another) sequel, it means there is way too much recycled material here.

Two sequels is too many in one series and it spoils much of the rest of the episode. Cat describing his sexual experience would be much funnier if the Polymorph idea weren’t 25+ years out of date. His pleas of, “It still counts” are also repeated too many times.

Again, quite an amusing birth sequence (including Robert’s very obvious ADR line), but the episode was simply a bad idea to begin with.

A couple of other reused gags with Lister’s dumb face from Bodyswap (though this one is quite well done), and Rimmer and Kryten running away in the wrong direction. 

There is then no consistency of character as Lister is one minute a psychopath and the next moment unwilling to risk killing the wrong person. 

Cat’s, “A momma always knows her kids” is a simply dreadful way to conclude this section and smacks of Doug simply not knowing how to get himself out of the situation that he found himself in.

I will be generous to Cat’s dream scene and not focus on the fact that all 3 lady cats in the episode were half Danny’s age. Doug probably wanted to include Lister’s little speech about virginity not being anything to be embarrassed about and felt this was the best way to do it.

[Frank Smeghammer]

Officer Rimmer is just a bit odd. Not quite as funny, plot a bit flimsier, characterisation a bit off. Nobody really acts like themselves.

It’s been said before, but Herring just promotes him to simply “Officer”. Not Navigation Officer. Just Officer Rimmer. And from a 3D printed dude a nose on his head. What authority does he have to just go around saying people he’s never met are now “Officer”. Then when he does meet him, he makes him Lieutenant. Why? Is the bar that low? Also, once again, do you really have that authority?

Then a whooooole lot of “fling a joke at the wall and see what sticks” happens. And to be fair, some do land. I found myself laughing a fair bit. Barbershop quartet in particular is great. Sometimes RD works best when it’s just quickfire jokes sandwiched into a thrusting plot, so I appreciate this episode, even though the plot falls apart under any inspection and the jokes don’t land more often than not. Still, I like the formula. The formula is good!

This episode deserves some nuance as an episode that could have been much better but goes down as a noble attempt that fell short in the flesh. The next two deserve no such nuance…

Krysis is an abomination. Simply the second worst thing ever to taint the Red Dwarf name (the worst thing is coming up next season). If they were going to do “What if Ace Rimmer was an android and gave Kryten a complex?” then Butler could at least have been likable. The midlife “Krysis” goes as quick as it comes and makes no development until the Universe scene which I’ll come onto.

This is all upside down and inside out. Surely it would make more sense for Kryten to have met Butler first, and then had his Krysis? I.e. I’m not as accomplished as Butler but at least I’ve got a sick new Ferrari Red paint job. At least I’m still cool. Rather than just “oh that’s what happens when you’re 3 million years old”

?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!????!!!????

Please don’t draw attention to the fact that’s an obscene life cycle for a mechanoid?! What are you doing Doug, have you lost your mind?!

And then the Universe scene. Crap. Beyond crap. Beyond a joke perhaps even. Nonsensical.

This is a soapbox moment but I just hate when the show does things that don’t feel true. I know it’s Sci-Fi but it has to have a believability to it. After all, it’s Science Fiction. Why doesn’t Lister simply vanquish his enemies with Laser Vision? I know he doesn’t have Laser Vision but he is his own father and its set in a show where there are genetically engineered shapeshifters and a gestalt entities made of nothing but the mere presence of others. Why would Lister suddenly discovering Laser Vision be so farfetched? Well because it just would feel false. The crew meeting “THE FUCKING UNIVERSE” doesn’t feel true, neither does Butler calling him “Unie”. All feels so false.

Also, worst of all, its not funny for a single second.

Oh yeah, also there was a random GELF attack in the middle of the episode out of nowhere dressed in some of the worst costumes in the history of the show. The BEGGs looked better and that’s saying something.

It’s not just unfunny, which would be bad enough. It actually makes me cringe. I feel awful subjecting my wife to this show when this episode comes around. I feel the need to apologise when it inevitably comes around in the rotation.

Can of Worms is better. It at least has half-decent pacing. It moves along at a fair speed. This episode is one that I don’t want to talk about too much. The flaws are at least not so glaring and it’s fatal flaw is just repeating old material. It ain’t the first time and this ain’t the most egregious count of self-plagiarism the show has ever displayed. All in all it’s relatively enjoyable if you shut off your brain. Unlike the shows lowest moments, that is possible with this episode. I can’t do the same with Krysis.

If I watch the episode as an idiot, it passes the sniff test

[Warbodog]

Looking at my Coral Canvass, I scored Series XI 32 points and Series X 31 points overall, so that conclusively proves it is slightly better, even if I still have a softer spot for X in theory. It’s those “cute” “little” flaws that keep a guy interested.

(Like I could stop counting after that: 47 45 44 48 51 44 26 19 9. All looks exactly right, almost like it’s based on my actual opinions somehow).

[Flap Jack]

Officer Rimmer – A very enjoyable episode, even if it is very unfocused and has a few major missed opportunities. The interactions with the Nautilus, the grunts’ lift/corridor and the officers’ club scenes were the highlights for me. The biggest issue is that it splits the plot between Cat, Lister and Kryten being impacted by Rimmer’s new status, and Rimmer becoming obsessed with creating subservient clones, and doesn’t give either the development needed – and then they sideline both for “Rimmer accidentally created a monster”. So this is fun throughout, but it doesn’t feel like a cohesive story.

– This is not about the episode itself, but I switched from Blu-ray to DVD for this Byte, so I could more easily watch while staying with my family for the holidays, and the bastard disc was scratched and wouldn’t play! So I had to resort to using UKTV Play, like some common non-physical media owning pleb. (No offence to common non-physical media owning plebs.) It was convenient to have that available though. Thanks UKTV!

– Captain Herring’s eyes never blink. The poor guy must be in agony.

– Who exactly is running all of these live TV channels that Cat and Lister watch? The All-Droid Shopping Channel was inexplicable enough in Trojan. You’d think they’d just have access to a library of archive recordings, rather than it being a schedule. Possibly another example of Doug not being willing or able to adjust a joke to the setting.

– Funny to never get talking lift characters, and then get them 2 episodes in a row.

– I wonder how long Kryten was waiting in the officers’ lift for. It’s especially harsh that Rimmer won’t even let Kryten go up in the lift with him, when he’s only there to pamper him. Not sure he’s got the hang of the concept of lift attendants.

– Lister being in the bio-printer’s database feels like a missed plot opportunity to do something with clone Listers, though I’m not sure exactly what the story would be. It does also bring attention to the alarming human rights implications of creating people purely to work, which doesn’t get explored at all. That could have had interesting parallels with holograms too.

– Kryten says he can’t disobey Rimmer now he’s a Flight Lieutenant, but surely that doesn’t make a difference? Rimmer has always outranked Kryten and bossed him around.

– Kryten and Lister deleting the bio-printer database just to prevent Rimmer from creating a new crew seems like such a waste. Those were some of the last known records of the human race, you cunts.

– Rimmer being able to clone himself is surprisingly easy (though not as surprisingly easy as in Rimmerworld), so you’d think they might try to fix the bio-printer and try using it again in the future.

– I like that the Officer’s Club has a remix of the Rimmer Munchkin song playing in the background.

– Biggest missed opportunity of the episode for me is that nothing is made of the other Rimmers being happily subservient to Rimmer Prime. A Rimmer uprising felt like the natural direction the story was going, and it would have fit with the themes, but instead the plot just has a Rimmonster dropped on it.

– As has been mentioned, Rimmer’s desperation to create bouncer Rimmers immediately is incredibly weak. There was no actual urgency, and even if there was, he could have just ordered the dozens of existing Rimmers to team up to eject the others. There ought to have been a better contrivance for the Rimmer monster to happen.

– How does the Rimmonster “absorb” the other Rimmers, and is implicitly capable of absorbing Rimmer Prime? It feels like the Rimmonster just has magical powers out of nowhere. Maybe Doug envisaged the monster violently killing/eating the other Rimmers, but realised it would be too grim for TV?

– Yep, the ending is bad. Although the issue isn’t just that it cuts off too soon, the issue is that it builds up as if they’ve come up with a clever plan to defeat the Rimmonster, tricking it into defeating itself… or something. But then they just shoot it. There was no reason to use Rimmer Prime as bait if they were just going to shoot it. If anything doing that made it more difficult because they needed to separate Rimmer from the monster first. I remember this being suggested in other threads, but it would have been way more satisfying if they’d tricked it into thinking Rimmer Prime had already been absorbed (maybe confused by him being a hologram?), and make it turn back into paper because it thought its purpose had been fulfilled. Still, at least it doesn’t feel like multiple full scenes are missing, like Samsara did.

[Unrumble]

Can of Worms is shit.

[Formica]

Surely the better ending:

– It establishes earlier on that bio-printed organisms expire immediately upon fulfilling their purpose – even if printed improperly – when Captain Herring melts.

– All Rimmers were explicitly printed to serve as officers under the command of Flight Lieutenant Rimmer.

– Rimmer’s demotion should expire all these clones, including the Rimmonster. This is a better mechanic for convincing Rimmerwto demote himself as well.

Has this been brought up before? It feels like this was supposed to be the ending it built to and they maybe technically couldn’t make it work, or Doug just didn’t know what to write to end the episode after that?

[Flap Jack]

Krysis – A solidly funny episode. The obvious drawback is that the continuity is RIDICULOUS (mechanoids having an expected lifetime of 6 million years, it having been less than 3 million years since Lister went into stasis by a lot, them going into stasis for hundreds of years, them finding the universe’s creator???), but the mid life crisis story works well for Kryten, so it just about gets away with it. Red Dwarf can get away with bad continuity as long as the core of the story and the jokes are good. Contrast Ouroboros, which isn’t very funny, and the stupid continuity is the story. Here I didn’t even mind how schmaltzy Kryten’s speech to Uni was.

– Any clue as to why a spaceship would have daylight savings time shifts? America is already in the process of the getting rid of it right now, and they actually have daylight and seasons.

– Other than it being absurd for mechanoids to have such a specifically massive lifespan as 6 million years, this kind of contradicts The Last Day. Even if you reason that mechanoids are built for 6 million years, but will be replaced by newer models after a much shorter period of time, wouldn’t Kryten experience his mid-life crisis when he was halfway to being replaced, not when he was halfway through his full runtime? Perhaps he first experienced a mid-life crisis when he was on the Nova 5, but got over it quickly due to realising that Divadroid wouldn’t be catching up to him after the crash, and this is his second mid life crisis? Either way, the premise of Kryten becoming depressed and insecure about his life’s achievements works regardless of whether the crisis is specifically related to mid-life or not.

– Kryten reminds us that he isn’t waterproof, a piece of good continuity from Dimension Jump (although I’m sure he’s got wet and been fine before).

– Rimmer says that Mozart wrote ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’, which is a recycled point from Lemons. Also, it’s not true. I guess Lemons wasn’t great for historical accuracy, with both that and the “they didn’t have bags in 23AD” point.

– I know that Lister shouts “Kryten!” to be heard when Kryten is playing the music through his subwoofer, but I swear on this rewatch I heard “Brian”.

– Did Kryten and Rimmer go into stasis with Lister and Cat for their journey to the Nova 3, or did they just switch themselves off? If Kryten had stayed on and awake the whole time, he would have had so much time to think that he probably would have got over his mid life crisis before they even got there.

– True, if they go into stasis for hundreds of years, Kochanski is probably dead by the end of it, but if they ever decide to pick up the Kochanski thread again (if they decide to ever make any new Red Dwarf in general), we can just reason that she happened to be in stasis at the same time. Also, until the show contradicts me, I’m sticking to my fan theory that they found Kris and managed to get her back to her home universe in between Series X and XI. Hence why they stop mentioning her, and hence why going into stasis for hundreds of years isn’t considered objectionable… Lister’s wife probably is dead now, though.

– It was cool that they never do the obvious thing of revealing that Butler is a fraud in some way to give Kryten an easy win. Butler genuinely being that brilliant and accomplished, and Kryten having to come to terms and be happy with his own life anyway is a better story. Although Butler does make that one mistake with the EM booster, and I’m glad they don’t twist that to reveal it was someone else’s fault either. Butler can be amazing, but he shouldn’t be completely infallible.

– I consider myself pro Butler, in that I don’t find his constant humblebragging about his achievements especially annoying. In my view the part was played very well, because he’s smug enough to rile up Kryten, but the overall impression to me is that he doesn’t realise he’s coming across as pompous and is simply proud of his work and happy for the chance to share it with others, and to help people.

– Lister recalling his 5 minute mid life crisis is funny, though wasn’t he going through a much more textbook mid life crisis in Dear Dave? Possibly in the beginning of The Promised Land too.

– I can’t disagree that The Universe as a sentient deity character feels way off base for Red Dwarf, but it is funny, and Doug leaves some wiggle room to rationalise your way out of it. Rimmer presses him for proof that he’s the real deal, but he never gives it, so it could be an AI or something that merely believes himself to be The Universe.

– If Butler had already been regularly speaking to Uni, what was with the whole “call waiting” deal when they arrived? I guess The Universe calls the space station regularly, not just for first contact. Or Butler set the whole thing up to make Kryten think he was the first.

[Stilianides]

Krysis – It was cool that they never do the obvious thing of revealing that Butler is a fraud in some way to give Kryten an easy win. Butler genuinely being that brilliant and accomplished, and Kryten having to come to terms and be happy with his own life anyway is a better story. Although Butler does make that one mistake with the EM booster, and I’m glad they don’t twist that to reveal it was someone else’s fault either. Butler can be amazing, but he shouldn’t be completely infallible. 

I could be wrong, but my understanding of the conclusion was that Butler didn’t make a mistake. “You purposely expanded our EM circuit so I’d meet him?”

[Flap Jack]

I could be wrong, but my understanding of the conclusion was that Butler
didn’t make a mistake. “You purposely expanded our EM circuit so I’d
meet him?”

That’s a possible interpretation, but I took that line to mean he made the general EM Booster improvements so that they would be able to easily get to the space station, not that he put in a deliberate fault to achieve that.

If Butler had designed the ship to break down and crash like it did, then it was only luck which stopped that action from killing them all, which I would class as “not particularly clever or kind”.

[Stilianides]

I could be wrong, but my understanding of the conclusion was that Butler
didn’t make a mistake. “You purposely expanded our EM circuit so I’d
meet him?”

That’s a possible interpretation, but I took that line to mean he made the general EM Booster improvements so that they would be able to easily get to the space station, not that he put in a deliberate fault to achieve that.

If Butler had designed the ship to break down and crash like it did, then it was only luck which stopped that action from killing them all, which I would class as “not particularly clever or kind”.

As I said, I could be wrong (and I’m not suggesting that I think it’s great writing) but I think the implication is that Butler knew the only way that they would be able to avoid crashing would be to land at the space station.

That fits in with the tone of the end of the episode, and otherwise Butler could had had no guarantees that they would have travelled 9 hours in that specific direction. 

[Warbodog]

them going into stasis for hundreds of years

I didn’t get the impression it was all that long, since an epic time skip deserves to be stated aloud (unless that’s the heavy implication of stasis already), but that’s hardly conclusive.

They find Lister’s spaced guitar from Fathers and Suns in Siliconia, but that’s hardly conclusive.

[Flap Jack]

As I said, I could be wrong (and I’m not suggesting that I think it’s great writing) but I think the implication is that Butler knew the only way that they would be able to avoid crashing would be to land at the space station.
That fits in with the tone of the end of the episode, and otherwise Butler could had had no guarantees that they would have travelled 9 hours in that specific direction.

Well, he would have needed to design the fault in such a specific way to guarantee that it would only become a problem when they were in range of the space station and able to reach it before the ship failed entirely, and on top of that he would have been depending on them to realise the station could save them. So maybe those things are possible, but it wouldn’t reflect well on Butler. And I came away from the episode thinking that Butler was a good person, not a near-manslaughterer, so I’m inclined to believe the EM booster fault was just a mistake.

Also, if he was determined enough to guarantee that they meet Uni to do all that, he could have just… recommended they go there. Or he could have just called Uni himself and handed Kryten the phone, apparently.

I didn’t get the impression it was all that long, since an epic time skip deserves to be stated aloud (unless that’s the heavy implication of stasis already), but that’s hardly conclusive.
They find Lister’s spaced guitar from Fathers and Suns in Siliconia, but that’s hardly conclusive.

That’s a good point about them not actually saying aloud how long the stasis is going to be, but I do feel that going into stasis does heavily imply a long time. All periods of deep sleep or stasis in the past have entailed multiple lifetimes worth of a wait.

Plus there’s the implausibility that a Nova series ship would conveniently be, say, less than a year’s travel away, which it seemed like the usage of stasis was meant to cover up. If the Nova 3 was meant to be close, Doug may as well have not bothered with the stasis detail, and made it so their coincidental discovery of the Nova 3 is what gave Lister the idea to take Kryten there to make him feel better.

As for the guitar recovery, potentially they went into stasis again at the end, to return to where they were?

[International Debris]

Yeah, the stasis thing could be six months or a year or something I suppose. I always had it in my head that it was longer but no idea where that came from.

[Flap Jack]

They also mention in the same scene that the Nova 3 left 100 years before the Nova 5, so maybe that puts the idea of centuries in your mind.

[Warbodog]

I don’t think the stasis in Nanarchy was considerable either, since compared to pre-Psirens they were going in a straight line with much faster engines. Anywhere from a few years to a few decades is my guess.

[Stilianides]

Well, he would have needed to design the fault in such a specific way to guarantee that it would only become a problem when they were in range of the space station and able to reach it before the ship failed entirely, and on top of that he would have been depending on them to realise the station could save them. So maybe those things are possible, but it wouldn’t reflect well on Butler. And I came away from the episode thinking that Butler was a good person, not a near-manslaughterer, so I’m inclined to believe the EM booster fault was just a mistake.
Also, if he was determined enough to guarantee that they meet Uni to do all that, he could have just… recommended they go there. Or he could have just called Uni himself and handed Kryten the phone, apparently. 

Well, either way I think it was all rather forced and, as you say, Butler could have just told them about Uni which rather undermines the end of the episode.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I don’t think the stasis in Nanarchy was considerable either, since compared to pre-Psirens they were going in a straight line with much faster engines. Anywhere from a few years to a few decades is my guess.

I get your point, but it’s really frustrating that they never went in straight li es in VII as that gif demonstrates. Always fly at a planet and turn. Which you’d never do.

[Flap Jack]

Can of Worms – A hugely underrated episode, in that it’s… OK. Granted, the story is a mess, the immature gags about Cat’s virginity are cringeworthy, and it’s hard to completely overlook the disappointment of this not actually being about the Cat race (and only barely an episode about Cat), but it’s a fun watch. Easily the worst of Series XI, but definitely better than Entangled or Dear Dave. On the whole. while I like Series X a lot and miss aspects of its aesthetic and ambitions for continuing narrative (not that it really achieved those ambitions), XI left it in the dust.

– What is Kryten talking about when he says the personality tuck machine was salvaged from the “Medistation”. He can’t be talking about Asclepius’s station, can he?

– The personality tuck machine is a bit of a missed opportunity early on, as there must be some ways a full episode could be about it. It’s there to set up Lister removing his emotions to fight the polymorphs later, but they didn’t even really fully commit to that. In the opening it kind of feels like a retread of Rimmer’s introduction in Psirens.

– This episode really highlights how much Starbug has upgraded its alert system since Legion (I mean, it’s not the same Starbug because that one blew up in Back in the Red, but you get what I’m saying). Shame they don’t have to change bulbs anymore, but I do like “NOT ALERT”.

– I think the idea of Cat being insecure about his virginity isn’t an inherently bad premise, but it would have been played better if everyone else was just dismissive of the idea that being a virgin even meant anything and it was only Cat who thought it did, without any of the crap “virgins smell of desperation” type gags. Also the scene goes on too long.

– They actually explain pretty well why they’re determined to rescue the prisoner with the possibility that they might be human, and so it’s worth saving their life even if they’re bad or dangerous. But the plot does require them to be especially naive in not interrogating why the Mercenoid would be deliberately killing itself and the prisoner, given it’s not exactly rare for them to encounter monsters. Maybe the Mercenoid should have been stated to be a sub-type of Simulant, with their hatred of humans recapped. That way it would have seemed more likely that the prisoner could have been a (relatively) innocent human.

– The Mercenoid is potentially another missed opportunity. Not for a whole episode probably, but they were well performed, so they could have had a bigger presence.

– To think, all this could have been avoided if the Mercenoid had been less precious and just said “Guys, it’s a polymorph, and its crime was draining people’s emotions and killing them. Go away.”

– Ankita (who I don’t recall being named in the actual episode?) says “who doesn’t have a name?” when they ask her, so is this the point where the idea of felis sapiens not having individual names is discarded (ahead of The Promised Land), or is this a subtle clue that she isn’t really a cat?

– The way they find out that Ankita is a polymorph is extremely underwhelming. They could have had some scenes where they – particularly Cat – got to know her better first, they could have included clues, they could have done a cool transformation scene, but nope, cut away, cut back and Kryten is saying “hey, turns out that lady was a polymorph”. Weak.

– If we’re going to entertain the social construct of virginity, then I’m with The Cat on this one: the polymorph does count.

– The explanation that they can’t surgically remove the morphlings from Cat straight away because they instinctively turn into tumours is clever (although it’s not like surgically removing tumours is a procedure unknown to science), but it feels sloppy how this shifts the goalposts. Beforehand, they were confident that Cat giving birth in the “natural” way would kill him, and maybe just having the morphlings inside him for too long would do the same, but then he just does that and it’s totally fine?

– Not that it really makes a difference, but I wonder if Cat was pregnant for an extended period of time, or this is a sped up Alien-style situation. Speaking of Alien, it’s funny that their previous chestburster homage in Pete also chose Cat as the victim.

– Rookie error leaving Cat alone to dispose of the morphlings. It’s like they haven’t seen any movies. Honestly, given they knew what was coming, it’s incompetent that they would even be slowly carting them in an open-topped container to the airlock, rather than having Cat give birth directly into an incinerator or something.

– Lister being emotionless is a solid idea, but they half-ass the execution. First they go with him to the deck where the polymorphs are, which completely defeats the point of him being emotionless for stealth, and then once they split up and meet back up again, Lister has emotions again. This could have been a clue that the emotional Listers were the polymorph ones, but they don’t mention it, so Doug/Craig probably just didn’t think about that.

– I’ll let “a momma always knows her kids” slide on its own, but the way Cat goes from chill to ruthless polymorph killer on a dime is really jarring. Maybe him showing up and acting totally nonchalant was a trick, so the polymorphs wouldn’t see him as a threat? Though that might be giving the direction – and The Cat – too much credit.

– Nice that Lister reassures Cat about his virginity concerns at the end, but then it was undercut by it being only a dream. So only in Cat’s dreams is Lister realistically mature about this subject I guess.

[Warbodog]

What is Kryten talking about when he says the personality tuck machine was salvaged from the “Medistation”

The Deep Space Nine thing they’re flying away from in the establishing shot.

[Flap Jack]

Ah, OK, thanks. I guess I’m not used to the show doing that, and referring to an unseen expedition as if we know what they’re talking about.

No establishing shot, and then “Mr. Rimmer, sir, do you remember the mysterious machine we salvaged from that medical derelict a few weeks back? Turns out it was a personality tuck machine!” would be the norm.

[desbug]

Most of Krysis – OK.

The bit where the universe is a sentient being? By some considerable distance the worst thing that has ever happened in Red Dwarf. 

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Most of Krysis – OK.

The bit where the universe is a sentient being? By some considerable distance the worst thing that has ever happened in Red Dwarf. 

You’re absolutely right. Giving the universe conscious thought is definitely the nadir of Red Dwarf. Not the offensive stereotypes or horrifically out of touch social commentary, not the episode that devoted half it’s runtime to objectifying women or making fun of therapy groups, not even the obnoxious episodes of hastily cobbled together filler. It’s definitely, definitely a 5-minute scene about talking to the universe and the universe talking back in an otherwise okay episode.

[Unrumble]

[Dave]

[cwickham]

As far as the ‘big picture’ is concerned, the bit where the universe is a sentient being is by some considerable distance the worst thing that has ever happened in Red Dwarf and I shall be continuing to remind readers of this psychopathic management of decline as we go forward.

[Flap Jack]

Considering the episode does provide the wiggle room to interpret Uni as not actually being the real deal, in my opinion the Infinity of Ace Rimmers, Lister being his own dad, and the crew all being resurrected by nanobots all do orders of magnitude worse damage to the integrity of the setting.

[Warbodog]

Probably a tie between Mex (the overacting mime / overmiming actor in Pete Part 1) and the Medibot (from Fathers and Suns).

[Stabbim the Skutter]

I’m confused about this “it’s less than 3,000,000 years in the future” thing people keep mentioning – Kryten was created AFTER Lister went into stasis, according to VIII. Why are we acting like Kryten MUST have been created first? Have I missed something?

[Warbodog]

Kryten was created AFTER Lister went into stasis, according to VIII.

He was only created one, two or three centuries later, depending on your reference for Lister’s time. Negligible for the 20,000+ year difference.

Though some early episodes weirdly reference Kryten’s age in “centuries” or “thousands of years,” which would frankly have been a more credible retcon for the setting generally.

Getting hung up on a weird continuity reference in Red Dwarf eleven series in is a bit of an overreaction, granted, but undercutting three million just feels like it’s taking something away.

[Stabbim the Skutter]

Ahh I see now. I should really start doing my research before posting in these threads!

Still, I don’t think I’ll lose any sleep at night over the revelation that Red Dwarf is only 2,980,000 years after Lister’s time rather than 3,000,000

[Warbodog]

Something I hadn’t considered is maybe Doug retconned 2340 and wanted to extend the Lister-Kryten gap, which was supposed to be the remainder from the stock 3,000,000. Though I like that even less, so what am I even doing.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

The story so far:

In the beginning, the universe was given a consciousness and the ability to communicate in the Red Dwarf episode Krysis. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

[Formica]

Hey gang!

Watch this bit right here. You might need your brightness up just a little to see it through the Smega-Drive noise.

Crazy, hey?

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

What am I supposed to be looking at?

[Formica]

What am I supposed to be looking at?

The S. I. U. text.

[Author]

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