Four Very Good Reasons Why I Like Red Dwarf

Red Dwarf is a British comedy set some years in the future. It made it's debut in 1987 on british airways. The characters are both clever and ridiculous at the same time. The show centers on four main characters for the first two series with a small amount of guest appearances. It takes place in deep space on the mining ship Red Dwarf sometime in the future. Much of the humor is of an adult nature but it's done in a way that most children wouldn't understand. Dave Lister is put into stasis (a form of suspended animation which time does not effect) and awakens 3,000,000 years later to find that the entire crew has been wiped out by a radiation leek. The only creature, apart from Dave, which survived was his pregnant cat. In 3,000,000 years the decendants of that cat have evolved into a humanoid life form and all but one have deserted Red Dwarf to find their god Cloister, which is in fact Lister.

The ships computer Holly, which has an IQ of 6000 and a unique personality, is capable of projecting one hologram. A hologram is a light image of any member of the crew which retains that persons personality. Holly decides to project Lister's bunkmate Rimmer. The two do not get along but doing things that drive Rimmer crazy is the only way Lister retains his sanity. Lister and Rimmer are the bottom of the chain of command, Rimmer being just slightly above Lister. According to Lister, even the service droids outrank them.

A Cast of Unforgetable Characters

Dave Lister, played brilliantly by Craig Charles, is a slob. He drinks too much, smokes too much (much to Rimmer's disgust) wears ratty and stained clothes, and bites his toenails off. He rejects authority in any form and questions everything. He prides himself on his morals and will always bail a friend out of trouble. Arnold Rimmer, wonderfully portrayed by Chris Barrie, is Lister's polar opposite. Where Lister is slovenly Rimmer is neat and tidy. Where Lister reject authority, Rimmer worships it. Where Lister is skeptical, Rimmer believes in aliens. Where Lister will always be there for a friend, Rimmer is a coward. Rimmer hates himself almost as much as he blames others for his shortcomings. Still you can't help but feel sorry for his character who always seems to fail.

Cat, done beautifully by Danny John-Jules, is vanity personified. His main concerns are his appearance and himself. He is always well dressed and tidy. You see Cat's priorities most when something threatens them. For example if Cat is badly injured he's more concerned that his blood will clash with his clothes than he is about the pain. Cat is not brave or fearless, he's opportunistic and self-serving. Holly, played in seasons one and two by Norman Lovett and replaced by Hattie Hatridge in series three through seven, is the witty and wacky computer. He/she (depending upon which series you're talking about) is a little strange. He doesn't get along with Rimmer (who does) but seems to like Lister.

Kryten, introduced as a guest role in series two (played then by David Ross) is a main character in the remaining series and is played by Robert Llewellyn who does a fantastic job. Kryten is a mechaniod, a humanistic robot programed to serve. Among other things Kryten beleives in silicone heaven, the final resting place for all machines. Lister struggles to break Kryten's programming which forces him to serve even obnoxious Rimmer. Lister teaches Kryten to lie, insult people and disobey humans.

Brilliant Writing

Apart from having a wonderful cast, the whole thing is beautifully written. Each episode has a theme. The special effects corny by today's standards but for it's time it was state of the art. The comedy is sheer genius by it's very absurdity. One might compare Lister and Rimmer to an eighties Odd Couple in outer space they are so dynamically opposite. Take for instance the time when hologrammic Rimmer demands a haircut from Holly when he's busy doing something else. Rimmer, being his usual self, insults Holly when he says he hasn't got time and demands a very short haircut. What Holly does as revenge for this rude behavior is priceless visual humour. You see appear on Rimmer's head a haircut worthy of Marie Antoinette herself. Rimmer doesn't realize what Holly has done and walks around strutting his new haircut, even bragging about it to Lister.

Another example of the comic brilliance of Red Dwarf is the episode Polymorph. In this episode a creature, capable of changing shape, boards the ship. The storyline is that the creature is a man-made genetic mutant which feeds on negative emotions. After posing as one of Lister's sausage, the mutant attacks him. Kryten, having witnessed the sausage leap off of the plate to Lister's throat, watches as Lister screams in agony then says "Oh, it's a good one eh? Do you really like them that hot sir?" After getting the creature away from his throat and noting that it has somehow disappeared, Lister dons his boxers which immediately begin to shrink. Kryten is trying to remove them in order to save Lister when Rimmer walks in behind them. To anyone who hasn't witnessed the previous events it looks very much like they are engaged in some kind of sexual activity. That's what makes it so hilarious. The look on Rimmer's face when he sees this is absolutely priceless as is his unforgetable line. "I can't say I'm totally shocked! You'll bonk anything, won't you Lister?"

Timing is Everything

The actors seem to have a knack for perfect comedic timing. Each character has it's own element but none are so perfectly matched as Rimmer and Kryten. They insult each other in perfect succession. They play off each other remarkably. They each know the essence of timing. In the episode Terrorform, when the crew has just escaped the clutches of a hidious monster, Kryten begins recalling a famous Android quote in binary language. When he is finished the rest of the crew have left and we get a laugh as he translates it: "Don't stand around yaking when you're in mortal danger." Later in the same episode Kryten begins insulting Rimmer as an experiment to see if what's going on in his mind at present effects the phy-moon which has adapted its terrain to fit Rimmers mind. After each insult they get sunk a little deeper into quicksand and Kryten simply says "Interesting!" and tries another one.

I enjoy the several idiotic suggestions that Cat makes and Kryten's simple yet effective way of combating them. "Why don't we just fire our lazer cannons at it?" Cat suggests when they see an unexplained object directly in their path. Kryten's response is "That's an excellent suggestion sir with only two minor flaws. First, we don't have any lazer cannons, and second, we don't have any lazer cannons. Now I realize that's technically only one flaw, but I thought it was such a big one it deserved to be mentioned twice." The line itself is not half as funny as the delivery. Timing truly is everything in comedy and the Red Dwarf actors have it down to a tee.

In Conclusion

I began watching Red Dwarf on PBS as a teenager. Now nearly ten years later I'm still enjoying every minute of it. I like the comedy, I like the characters I think it's fair to say I like the whole show. Red Dwarf is one of those timeless television classics. Even though it was originally a British comedy, it's avid fans are spread all over the globe.