Red Dwarf

[Neon Ignition]

Better Than Life
"He passed away peacefully in his jeep... sleep"
This one has always stood out both because of the book version but also because like Future Echoes it provides the ideal material in terms of concept to humour. It's nice that the episode doesn't deep dive into the game element, instead spending half its time just focused on set up with the story of Rimmers father and the eventual pay off to that. Also again showing just how much even Rimmer hates himself on top of those around him. It's another showcase of why the show is so good, so many hit comedies are known for their famously quoted lines or moments from their runs but Dwarf contains so many within a single episode or at times scene.

Thanks for the Memory
"It's a state of the art sarny" "It's the state of the floor I'm worried about"
I do enjoy this episode but never as much as the others in series two and it's hard to say why, I think partially it's because it feels like despite the good lines it feels like it takes a while to tell a tale that as the viewer is very quickly obvious. Not the ideal way of looking at it but for some reason it makes it feel a little less on point.

[QualityChimp]

I mean, we all laugh at Rimmer, but did anyone else know, before Red Dwarf that gazpacho soup was served cold?

[Yakumo]

I mean, we all laugh at Rimmer, but did anyone else know, before Red Dwarf that gazpacho soup was served cold?

Lol, I never even knew what it was or a black tie party

[eastyy]

I had Gazpacho soup and to be honest...it tasted of cold soup and i prefer my soup hot lol

[Asura]

I mean, we all laugh at Rimmer, but did anyone else know, before Red Dwarf that gazpacho soup was served cold?

The joke isn't that, though, right? It's that when it arrives, Rimmer immediately assumes a mistake has been made and (again I might be confusing the book and series here) he's a dick to the server and gets them to warm it up, then eats it hot while others at the table laugh at him.

A normal person would say "oh, this is ice cold" and another person at the table would say "you've never had gazpacho before?" and you'd move on. You might feel a bit embarrassed but not humiliated, and if people at the table were genuinely unpleasant about you not knowing this in the first place, you could laugh it off because a stronger person wouldn't care what a bunch of dickheads think.

Rimmer victimises someone who he believes has made a mistake, acting like he knows better than those around him, so rightfully, he gets roasted for it.

But we empathise with him because it's clear from his flashbacks and such that Rimmer has never really experienced much kindness in his life, from anyone - even his family.

[Neon Ignition]

That's actually something I forgot about Thanks for the Memory, it's probably the first distinct time where Lister does something to Rimmer out of the belief that it's a kind act so therefore a first real suggestion some fondness might exist between the two even if the idea is horribly misconceived as Rimmer tells him later.

[QualityChimp]

I get the joke, cheers.

I was just asking if anyone knew if gazpacho soup was served cold before they heard about it in Red Dwarf, because that's where I learned.

[Neon Ignition]

I didn't, till recently I also didn't know it's supposed to be specifically Gazpacho Soup that Kryten slings into Rimmer's bunk in the opening series 2 episode. Brutal

[teddymeow]

Have you had Vichyssoise?

[Dogg Thang]

Keep it clean, guys.

[QualityChimp]

Have you had Vichyssoise?

I had to send it back until it was piping hot.

[teddymeow]

It's different from classic "leek & tater"!!

[Asura]

I get the joke, cheers.

I was just asking if anyone knew if gazpacho soup was served cold before they heard about it in Red Dwarf, because that's where I learned.

Funnily enough, I did. But I can't claim some kind of superiority; I learned it from a similar joke in The Simpsons.

[Neon Ignition]

Stasis Leak
"Wow! I've never been this close to a woman before. It makes me want to do something, I don't know what, but whatever it is I want to do a lot of it!"
This feels like another stable mate for Future Echoes, Lister and Rimmer bickering their way through a sci-fi concept. This is also notably the first time that the show both breaks seriously from an established canon and also where they have a means of going home and simply ignore it. It's a nice concept for an episode, some decent lines mixed in too but I recall it being a tad sharper than it is.

Queeg
"I flamingoed up"
Even knowing the set up and pay off for this episode it still holds up thanks to giving Holly more of a showcase and shaking up the dynamics by giving the crew a common foe. Even after all these years Queeg is still bad ass.

Parallel Universe
"You know you make me tongue tied..."
Given Dwarf's cavalier attitude to canon it's nice that Future Echoes gets a direct pay off in this episode with its closing joke scene. It's a nice call back that plays well on both the plot of that episode and the one here. The female alt cast do a decent job as well though the main call out definitely goes to the female Rimmer.

In the end I think RDII > RDI

Backwards
"Are you crazy?! You can't go in there! Orange... with this suit!?"
On to the third series and the arrival of the shows best aesthetic era. Backwards is another of those pure gem episodes, it's stuffed with fun jokes and great lines that work brilliantly as long as you don't think about the backwards concept too much as it's utterly broken within the plotting of the episode.

Marooned
"Twelve?! Twelve?! You lost your virginity when you were twelve years old?!... you couldn't have been a full member of the golf club then"
Always a fave but watching this back again now I think it probably would have to rank as one of the very best all time episodes. It's absolutely on point and probably Lister and Rimmer's most purest episode. Not one moment of their back and forth sags whilst they also both get times to showcase small redeeming elements of their characters as well as the more selfish elements we already know of. Sheer brilliance.

[Neon Ignition]

Polymorph
"And I think it comes down to a choice between 'The League Against Salivating Monsters' or - and this is my personal preference - 'The Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society'. Erm, one drawback with that - the abbreviation is..."
This ep always stood out for fans but it's also notable for being the first time that we seem to really move into the monster of the week model that the show uses a lot going forward as well as having the spot on tone that defines much of three, four and five. The Polymorph itself isn't even near the best bit, it's scenes like Kryten rescuing Lister from his boxers as Rimmer walks in or finally meeting Rimmer's mother and her 'wild stallion' of a lover.

Bodyswap
"Urine should only be green if you're Mister Spock"
I love the opening with self-destruct sequence, it also feels like in this episode we reach the point where they've settled into how they're going to portray Kryten moving forward. The initially over obedient droid who increasingly becomes wracked with guilt.