BBC Week: Red Dwarf

Greetings you tossers!!!  Hmm still not sure if I am getting the lingo down but nevertheless welcome to BBC Week and I thought it best to kick this shindig into high gear with some Sci-fi Comedy, so don your space suit, prep our bazookoids and get ready to dive into the smeg.  This is Red Dwarf.

My God, it is the product of man and gerbil.

Holly: It was John Paul Satre that said, Hell is being stuck in a room for all eternity with your spoilers.

Lister: Holly, all Satre’s mates were French.

Far out in the reaches of space, a mining ore vessel known as Red Dwarf passes through the known galaxy raiding mineral deposits and taking on precious cargo to the human race making its demands.  To keep this vessel running tip-top it clearly falls on the shoulders of Second Technician Arnold J. Rimmer (Chris Barrie of Spitting Image, The Legends of Treasure Island, The Brittas Empire, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Back in Business) a hapless doofus with a Napoleon complex that feels that one day he will be up the echelons of command and never again have to clap his eyes on the slobbiest entity on the human race David Lister (Craig Charles of Business as Usual, Captain Butler, The Colour of Funny,  Red Dwarf and Doctors) a slacker that never aspired to do well…much of anything other than smoke, eat Indian food and somehow not create flatulence that would cause the entire ship to vacate with or without space suits.   This nitwit gets sent to a stasis chamber (frozen in time but not in space) because he refuses to relinquish a cat that has not been through quarantine.

What do you say, little buddy?

The whole ship is controlled and monitored by the ship’s artificial intelligence Holly (Norman Lovett of Asylum, Red Dwarf, The Criminal, Feedback and The School That Roared) detects an impending radiation surge and attempts to seal the breach before it is too late.  Alas the entire crew is…no more.

Lister wakes from stasis to find Red Dwarf quieter than a tomb full of mimes and no idea what is going on.  Holly explains that massive cadmium radiation obliterated everyone in its path but Lister given he was sealed away and that it has been over 3 million years before he could be released.   Lister has to know come to terms quite possibly that he is the last human being alive.   Holly in his ultimate wisdom to keep Lister sane resurrects Rimmer as a hologram to nag, nitpick and snark at him every turn. 

The two encounter a humanoid that evolved from the domestic housecat.  Three million years of evolution brings us the being they simply call Cat (Danny John Jules of Labyrinth, Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, The Tomorrow People, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels).  Lister demands they return to Earth and get back on with their lives.  Rimmer is not certain of this endeavor but he is still busy being dead and death does have its perks. 

I had a few comments on this series.  BBC’s budget as always has a bit of a stranglehold making writers to come up with creative gags, clever dialogue and interesting stories which most sitcoms cannot muster.  This particular series incorporates Star Trek, Star Wars, Krull and even Hawk the Slayer references so there is something for most of the nerds out there to enjoy.  From a personal note while I love the series and have every episode I do feel it jumped the laser guided space shark around season 3 but that is just one fellow’s opinion.

Dead and still a twit.