HELLO SMEGHEADS!
Its the new season - SEASON 2 - to be exact. Yes I know I should be saying "Series" as I am British, but the American way actually makes more sense. A "Series" is ALL of Red Dwarf; a "SEASON" is part of that Series. For once I will concede language to our transatlantic cousins!
This episode we see the introduction - albeit brief - of future Daniela favourite KRYTEN! Yes the mechanoid that fills in all the exposition when Red Dwarf episodes get a bit too sci-fi, Kryten appears as one of the only survivors of the crash of a spacecraft named NOVA 5. The crew of Red Dwarf go to rescue what they believe to be 3 female survivors, but it turns out to be a Texas Chainsaw Massacre X Psycho situation where Kryten has been caring for the rotting corpses of the crew and basically became Space Crazy.
I played this VHS to Death! this looks like a slightly newer version of the one I had though which was all black.
Kryten then joins the crew of Red Dwarf and Rimmer takes to ordering him about - presumably because Lister isn't so compliant - which Kryten is only happy to do. Lister however encourages him to rebel which leads to the video below.
In this episode Daniela and I discuss how much David Ross' version of Kryten freaks her out. She says its the S&M style costume they've given proto-Kryten to wear, but I thinks its mainly the heavy goth style lipstick.
SMEGHEADS EXTRA:
Deleted scenes
Kryten leaves Red Dwarf on the space bike after being taught to be a rebel by Lister
As available for viewing on the Series II DVD:
- The full, uncut credits to Kryten's favorite show Androids, including the entire theme tune to the show - a mock-up of the theme tune to the real-world, long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours. The lyrics to the Androids theme song discusses how mechanicals can develop feelings - foreshadowing what does eventually occur with Kryten when he later becomes one of the boys. The full Androids scene was trimmed for the broadcast episode, for time.
- The Cat performs a disastrous musical duet with Talkie Toaster with theskutters in the disco on keyboard. Whilst the Cat screeches and wails, Cat complains of Talkie Toaster's musical ineptitude and tone deafness, with Talkie Toaster saying that he "doesn't understand Cat music". This was cut for time.
- Kryten leaves Red Dwarf on the flying space bike. It causes an explosion of sparks as it rides out of the airlock, and is seen flying off into nebulae in space. This was cut for timing reasons. Partly re-instated for the Red Dwarf Remastered version of the episode. Available for viewing, in full, on the Series II making-of documentary, "It's Cold Outside" on The Bodysnatcher Collection.
Notes
- Kryten returns in the Series III opener "Backwards" after apparently crashing Lister's space bike into an asteroid. Between Series II and III, Lister rescues and rebuilds Kryten, and Kryten becomes a permanent character.
- David Ross played Kryten only in this episode (he was later replaced by Robert Llewellyn). Ross later returned to voice Talkie Toaster in Series IV's "White Hole".
- Red Dwarf's second series introduces the small ship-to-surface vessel Blue Midget. The creation of the transport vehicle was to enable the Dwarfers to leave the ship and explore space, leading them to meet Kryten and party away Rimmer's death on a moon. The larger Starbug will be created for Series III and beyond, it becoming a major part of the 6th and 7th seasons.
- In a deleted scene, the Cat is shown singing a duet with Talkie Toaster. The idea that Cat sees himself as a great performer is also explored in Parallel Universe where he watches himself on the Dream Recordersinging Tongue Tied, with the rest of the Dwarfers as back-up dancers.
- This episode sees Rimmer's first disastrous attempt at learning Esperanto, the language which much of Red Dwarf is signed in.
- This episode is believed to show a first in science fiction, where an automaton gives a human the finger.
- Lister says it's been 3,000,002 years since any of them have seen a woman, indicating it's been at least two years since Lister was revived from stasis.
- When Kryten first contacts Red Dwarf he claims that the male officers of the Nova 5 all died on impact. He then sends the medical details of the three "surviving" female crewmembers (who are actually skeletons too but Kryten has convinced himself they are still alive). The medical cards are shown on screen, but go by very fast and so are easily missed. Their pictures reveal attractive women, and the information reveals their names are Anne Gill, Tracey Johns, and Jane Air. All three are "mapping officers", in their early-to-mid twenties.
- Kryten's departure is not exactly clear in the episode as broadcast, with only the start of Series III indicating that he actually left Red Dwarf in a space bike. Up to this point in the series there has been no indication that Lister's bike was capable of flying in space, and a scene showing Kryten actually leaving was cut from the final episode.
- This is the first episode in which the passage of time since Lister was put into stasis begins to be bent a little. Kryten views weekly broadcasts of an apparent Earth-made soap opera called Androids - which Lister is familiar with - even though 3 million years into the future there should be no such broadcasts. It's also suggested that the Nova 5 crash occurred within the last few centuries, suggesting human life still existed relatively recently, contrary to statements made so far indicating Lister is the last human being alive. (It's possible Kryten is watching Androids on reruns, and Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers says he has them all on disc).
- The episode does not explain how it's possible for Rimmer to exist outside both Red Dwarf and Blue Midget. Although based on later episodes we can assume it's because of his light bee.
Background Information
- The producer and director of "Androids", Kylie Gwenlyn, is named after the former head of the BBC, Gareth Gwenlan. The term "Gwenlan" was also used occasionally by Rimmer in the earlier series of the the show as a mild insult.
- At the beginning, Kryten is watching his favourite television show Androids. The theme song for the program is a spoof of the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours, a big hit in Britain.
- In all releases of this episode, the "Mc" in "McNugget" is edited out of the dialogue.
Noteworthy Dialogue
- Holly: We're getting a signal. It's probably nothing but I just thought I'd mention it.
- Rimmer: Aliens.
- Lister: Oh God, aliens... Your explanation for anything slightly peculiar is aliens, isn't it? You lose your keys - it's aliens. A picture falls off the wall - it's aliens. That time we used up a whole bog roll in a day, you thought that was aliens as well!
- Rimmer: Well, we didn't use it all, Lister. Who did?
- Lister: Rimmer, aliens used our bog roll?
- Rimmer: Just 'cos they're aliens, doesn't mean they don't have to visit the little boys' room. Although they probably do something weird and alien-esque, like it comes out of the top of their heads or something.
- Lister: Well, I wouldn't like to be stuck behind one in a cinema!
- Holly: They're from Earth. Hope they've got a few odds and sods aboard. We're a bit short on a few supplies.
- Lister: Like what?
- Holly: Cow's milk. Ran out of that yonks ago. Fresh and dehydrated.
- Lister: What kind of milk are we using now?
- Holly: Emergency back-up supply. We're on the dog's milk.
- Lister: Dog's milk?!
- Holly: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness, full of vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type of milk, dog's milk.
- Lister: Why?
- Holly: No bugger'll drink it. Plus, of course, the advantage of dog's milk is that when it goes off, it tastes exactly the same as when it's fresh.
- Lister: Why didn't you tell me, Holly?
- Holly: What, and spoil your tea?
- Lister: Drop dead, Rimmer.
- Rimmer: Already have done.
- Lister: Encore!
- Rimmer: How did you get into Art College?
- Lister: The normal way you get into Art College. The same old, usual, normal, boring way you get in: Failed me exams and applied. They snatched me right up.
- Rimmer: Well, for starters don't call me Rimmer.
- Lister: Why not?
- Rimmer: You always put the emphasis on "Rim" in Rimmer. Makes me sound like a lavatory disinfectant.
- Lister: Well what do you want me to call you? Rim-MER?
- Rimmer: What about the nickname I had at school?
- Lister: What, bonehead?
- Rimmer: How did you know my nickname was bonehead?
- Lister: I was only guessing.
- Rimmer: Well I meant the other one: Ace.
- Lister: Get outta town. Your nickname was never Ace. Maybe Ace-hole.
- Lister: [The girls Kryten is waiting on are revealed to be skeletons] I don't know if this is the right time to say this, girls, but my mate Ace here is incredibly, incredibly brave!
- Rimmer: Smeg off, Dog food face!
- Rimmer: Anything the matter? They're dead!
- Kryten: Who's dead?
- Rimmer: THEY are dead!
- Kryten: Oh my god ... but I was only away two minutes!
- Rimmer: You only have to look at them! They've got less meat on them than a Chicken McNugget!"
- Cat: You'd never get a cat to be a servant. You ever see a cat return a stick? (To an imaginary stick-thrower) Hey, man! You threw the stick -- you go get it, yourself! I'm busy! If you wanted the stick so bad, why'd you throw it away in the first place?
- [Lister finds Kryten ironing in the sleeping quarters, now decorated like something from Pride & Prejudice]
- Lister: What the smeggin' hell is going on?
- Kryten: Good afternoon, Mister David, sir.
- Lister: [Holds up a pair of boxer shorts] What are these?
- 'Kryten: Your boxer shorts, Mister David, sir.
- Lister: No way are these my boxer shorts, these bend! What have you done to the place?
- Kryten: I've done a spot of tidying up.
- Lister: But where is everything? Where's me coffee cup with the mould in it?
- Kryten: I threw it away, sir.
- Lister: But I was breeding that mould! His name was Albert! I was trying to get him two foot high!
- Kryten: Why, sir?
- Lister: Because it drives Rimmer nuts! And driving Rimmer nuts is what keeps me going.
- Lister: [To Kryten] Mr Arnold isn't his name. His name's Rimmer, or 'smeghead', or 'dinosaur-breath', or 'molecule-mind', or on rare occasions when you wanna be really mega-polite to him, and we're talking mega polite here, on those exceptional circumstances you can call him... arsehole.
- Kryten: I have strange thoughts when I am asleep.
- Lister: Yeah, they're called dreams. [After Kryten tells him dream of growing a garden] So find an S3 Planetand do it.
- Rimmer: [After seeing that Kryten has drawn his portrait - on the toilet]WHAT are you rebelling against?
- Kryten: Whadd'ya got? [throws gazpacho soup all over Rimmer's bunk]Dinosaur-breath! Molecule-mind!
- Kryten: [To Lister] Need to borrow your bike.
- Lister: You got it!
References
- The way that the female officers of the Nova 5 were arranged by Kryten and the way that he interacts with them is most likely a reference to the movie "Psycho", this is reinforced by Rimmer's observation that Kryten is "the android equivalent of Norman Bates".
- The music playing during the montage of Kryten doing Rimmer's chores in the Series II episode "Kryten", is the same music as the one when the Dwarfers are constructing the Rejuvenation Shower in the Red DwarfSeries X episode "Lemons".
THANKS from Daniela and I, don't forget to leave notes on iTunes and Subscribe if you havent already. See you Later SMEGHEADS!
Jed & Daniela
xxx