Canon-Strike XIV: Red Dwarf

[CMcK]

I’m a bit late to this thread but I do really like clsssic Red Dwarf. Been years since I’ve seen a lot of it though. Still got the old DVD box set which needs digging out after reading this lot. I guess the BBC era will be locked into Britbox these days?

[Neon Ignition]

Looks like it's on Amazon Prime and UKTV Play, I think it veered away from BBC platforms when Dave got involved

[Neon Ignition]

Episode 25 - Holoship
The crew are taken by surprise when a hologramatic ship suddenly appears and steals Rimmer, sending another hologram to assess the rest of them and their vessel. Rimmer finds himself amongst the holograms of the very best minds, a science vessel where the crew explore the depths of space, challenge each others minds and have scheduled relationship free physical relations with each other - his heaven. Cheating his way aboard, Rimmer's only problem is facing an unexpected price to be paid...




Are criticisms that the episode veers to much away from classic Dwarf fair?

[QualityChimp]

I’m a bit late to this thread but I do really like clsssic Red Dwarf. Been years since I’ve seen a lot of it though. Still got the old DVD box set which needs digging out after reading this lot. I guess the BBC era will be locked into Britbox these days?

Yeah, so it's split up a bit.
We're watching the earlier stuff via the NowTV app on PS4. (All 13 series)
It also appears to be on UKTV Play. (Up to S12)

It left BritBox in 2021
It's not on Amazon (without buying)
It's not on Netflix
Its not on BBC iPlayer

I mentioned before that I started to watch the show again a few years back and during my couple of months of dipping in, I went through Netflix, Prime and eventually just yarred it through a modded Firestick.

I got up to the final series before the Dave reboot which was all meta as Lister met Craig Charles on the set of Coronation Street.

[QualityChimp]

I like Holoship and think it's one of those rare episodes where Rimmer gets to show he's not a total goit.
Fair play, if Jane Horrocks was all seductressy to me, I'd probably sacrifice my place too.

[Neon Ignition]

I don't mind the direction they went in with Rimmer in Holoship, I don't even find it that out of character for him. The whole basis of his character is that a part of his bitterness is that he's never had anyone care for him so I think if he ended the episode on a selfish note then it would have been worse. He has to have some trace of likeability, its the same thing that makes it easy to go along with his transition to Ace in S7. He uses his life as an excuse for being horrible but to a fair extent he's not actually wrong, he's genuinely had a bad run and having those rare glimmers of good in his life make an impact keep him on the right side of likeable. Especially here where he's arguably not even making that big of a sacrifice as in reality it would be around 20 minutes till the rest of the crew realised he knew nothing and ejected him back to Dwarf anyway.

[Neon Ignition]

Episode 26 - The Inquisitor
A mech, who survived to the end of time itself, travels through history replacing those who have wasted their lives with those who were never given the chance to live. When it arrives on Red Dwarf the four crew members are put to judgment. The episode only received a mixed response at the time due to how much heavier leaning into sci-fi concepts it was but has since won over fans more.




Did this episode bring pleasure to your world?

[QualityChimp]

I get a bit mixed up with Justice and The Inquisitor, but they're both great episodes and when it's revealed who The Inquisitor really is, there's some comedy gold in the way they react.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, I always liked this episode with it erring slightly darker with stuff like Kryten's death etc but it definitely peaks in the first half between the set up, the initial panic and then the judgements themselves. The Inquisitor is a bit harsh on Kryten but I suppose part of it is the offence taken by being morally questioned by him.

[Neon Ignition]

Episode 27 - Terrorform
Crashing on a shapeshifting moon, the environment is formed by Rimmer's mind leading the others to mount a rescue effort through the worst that Arnold's self loathing, selfish nature can conjure. Well received by critics, it was not as strongly received by fans.




Did you appreciate the Rimmer love in?

[Asura]

Episode 26 - The Inquisitor
A mech, who survived to the end of time itself, travels through history replacing those who have wasted their lives with those who were never given the chance to live. When it arrives on Red Dwarf the four crew members are put to judgment. The episode only received a mixed response at the time due to how much heavier leaning into sci-fi concepts it was but has since won over fans more.
Did this episode bring pleasure to your world?

OK, so early in the thread I mentioned this, and I'm happy to see we've finally reached it!

This is, in my opinion, the show's most underrated episode, because it shows just how well outlined the characters really are.

Firstly, every one of the characters' encounter with The Inquisitor is well-done.

Cat's is funny just on its own merits, showing that his conceit and self-love aren't an act; he genuinely believes it. It's not arrogance or a failing to him, it's genuine.

Rimmer's immediate panic upon realising he's going to judge himself, being the kind of self-loathing, its a great laugh. But it gets poignant, when it shows that he genuinely believes that yes, he's an insufferable person - but that's actually several rungs of the ladder up from how he started. And he's right, too; it shows that he knows he can change, slow as it is.

Lister's thing that deep down, really, he knows he could've achieved more - but also, his response to "himself" at pointing that out is fantastic.

And finally, Kryten's is the perfect one on upon which to end the scene. "Perhaps, but it is not our place to judge them. I wonder why you do."

And then there's the twist. That you expect Kryten and Lister to be cleared and Cat/Rimmer to go down, but the Inquisitor tells them that Cat and Rimmer, pathetic though they are, can justify themselves and their lives within their limited worldview - but Lister and Kryten could've been more, and they both know it.

Honestly, it's just wonderful, and it's one of the episodes that gets to the heart of why a show liked Red Dwarf is good, and why that comedy show Hyperdrive was middling.

[Neon Ignition]

I don't know how anyone could get that confused by the set up either, the opening sets it up really well within around 2 minutes of run time.


"Thomas Allman, you have been found guilty of having wasted the gift of life. You have failed to achieve all that was possible with the opportunity that you were given and now your life force will be expunged and given to another who was denied that opportunity"

"... is that you mother?"

[Neon Ignition]

Episode 28 - Quarantine
Having escaped a dying, crazed hologram the majority of the crew find themselves quarantined together in a single room by Rimmer who says that he wants to protect himself from catching her holovirus. The episode was done as a cheap effort to afford the budget necessary for the other episodes but despite this it went on to become a fan favourite.




A fan or dare you risk making Mr Flibble very upset?

[QualityChimp]

I like this episode, but I think people latch on to it a bit too much, so I subconsciously kick back against it.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, I like it but the entire fandom around it is pretty much solely due to the dress and puppet rather than the episode itself. It's fairly light on classic lines. I think the best in it is the line of questioning about the magic carpet that ends in Rimmer turning it back on the others.