PLOT INCONSISTENCIES PROJECT v.7.1

Version 7.00: This is going to be the last revision of the PIP before the debut of Series 7 (hence the catchy version number). A lot of work was done on this version. There were some extensive formatting changes made to the document. Some old entires were re-written and/or shuffled to more appropriate places in the PIP. We went to great lengths to get the carrier page information up to date and as accurate as possible. The PIP was given a meticulous once over. There are also plenty of new entries as well. The numbering of the versions will henceforth be changed as well. Posted to group. (8/30/96 - 11/17/96)

Version 7.1: Heh. Events conspired to let this one take a bit longer to come out than we had planned. This was to be the post-Series 7 version. Once Series 7 had aired, various real world problems kept pushing back publication of the document. The carrier information has been given the once over again. Plenty of new information has been added, especially about Series 7. For Americans and others who have not seen seen Series 7, you are on official *SPOILER ALERT* for all sections pertaining to the new season. There have been slight information shifts between the two parts for balance. Note the changed contact information for Annette and myself as well. (11/17/96 - 6/1/97)

Long answer:

The Plot Inconsistencies Project (PIP) is an attempt to compile, record, and resolve all of the various plot inconsistencies for the British television show, "Red Dwarf." The writers, Grant Naylor, are famous for changing established facts when it suited their plots. Through fan efforts, we are attempting to go through all the available episodes and make this list of plot holes and problems, and then fix them ourselves. Any blatant contradiction, minor flub, disappearing plot lines, or any solutions to any of the above are welcomed. The project has expanded to also include technical and production errors from the series. See section 4.0 on how to contribute.

Short answer:

It was a post I made to the Red Dwarf Newsgroup about an idea I had, and it got out of hand. *Way* out of hand.

Some extra explanation has been added into this section due to more recent divisions, as more stringent definitions are required. A Plot Inconsistency (PI) is a part of the plot (facts, technology, etc) which contradicts or does not fit with that which came before it, or it is a part of an episode which cannot be explained with just the information in the episode itself. It can also be a hypothetical question that was not actually part of the episode, or a question that arises from actions not consistent with the normal functioning of a crewmember. For example, information in two episodes which says that Lister had more than one appendix is an inconsistency.

The main feature of PIs is that, with proper application of dubious logic, they can be explained away rather nicely within the confines of believability through suspension of disbelief. The inconsistency should actually require some sort of explanation, and events of obvious comic exaggeration and intended misdirection are not included.

Some Production Errors can also be PIs if there is an explanation for them that fits into the plot of the series. The door-opening panels that activate before they are touched are an example of this. They are listed in both sections. There is a full description of Production Errors (PEs) at the beginning of section 3.0.

The PIs will be listed by series, by episode. Each inconsistency will be listed, and if a resolution exists for it, it will be included below it.

Kryten (2-1)

• People who speak Esperanto are referred to as "Esperantinos." They are really "Esperantists."
  • Rimmer can't speak the language. It is no surprise he can't name its speakers either.
• Rimmer said that this is the first contact with intelligent life in three million and two years. What about the Cat race?
  • Considering it is Rimmer saying it, the statement is not surprising given his extremely low opinion of the Cat race.
• How can Rimmer's eyes tear about Lister's boots if he is a hologram and cannot smell?
  • Rimmer's sensors can pick up smells and then translate them into the appropriate responses.
• After three million years, the skeletons should be dust, not still skeletons.
  • Kryten may have put the corpses into stasis and taken them out a while ago. Perhaps Kryten's meticulous care also preserved the skeletons.
• Kryten disobeys and insults Rimmer before his programming is broken by Lister in Camille (4-1).
  • This may have been a temporary lapse or partial break in his programming, that, while he probably felt very, very guilty about it afterwards, would soften up his defenses for their formal breakdown in Camille (4-1).
  • Lister broke Kryten's programming in this episode, but then had to do it again after Kryten's subservience programming was restored by repair after Kryten's accident (Backwards, 3-1).

Better Than Life (2-2)

• How did the mail ship *ever* track and catch up to the Red Dwarf?
  • It is possible that it tracked the postal-pod homing beacon all the way, but it can't have expected so long a journey. The fuel consumption must be really low and it could work on maneuvering thrusters. It also had less distance to cover once the Red Dwarf turned around.
• Rimmer appears to be putting on a normal helmet like the others, yet he shouldn't be able to touch it, and if it was put on his head, it would fall right through him.
  • It is probably a hologram projected by Holly. Holly does such things, for example, in Thanks For The Memory (2-3) and Parallel Universe (2-6).
• Cat says that he always licks someone when they give him food, yet he never did it before, and will never do it again.
  • Let's look at the previous times the Cat has been fed. In The End (1-1), Lister puts Krispies on the floor for Cat, and Cat is repulsed by it, so it is not likely he would lick Lister over it. In Waiting For God (1-4), Lister again gives Cat food, but Cat is generally repulsed by *Lister* himself, so he's not likely to be doing any licking of Lister (for whatever reason). In Polymorph (3-3), the Cat is again repulsed during the dissection dinner. Again, not a likely lick situation. The only other time is in Legion (6-2), and by this time Cat may have broken himself of the habit due to Lister's chastisement now, or just the passage of time with people who do not do it.
• In this episode, Rimmer gets news that his father dies, but in Future Echoes (1-2), there is "that unfortunate suicide business."
  • It is never actually stated that Rimmer's father killed himself.
  • It may have been an attempted suicide.
• Why did Rimmer have the "H" on his forehead when he was grabbed and hit by the hammer? If he was tangible, he would not have the "H" on his forehead. If he was intangible and justifiably had the "H" on his forehead, he should not have been able to have been grabbed and hit.
  • Rimmer's "H" reappeared before he "left" the game, presumably to signal a return to truth and bad times. The incident of the shipboard game was one last stab at Rimmer by his own subconscious. In order to make the incident most cruel, Rimmer's "H" must be present to support the illusion that it is reality, and something good is happening to him. The realisation comes that he is still playing the game, where he *is* a tangible form (and can thus be hit), and after this, the presence or absence of the "H" is no longer relevant.
• By this episode, the ship has turned around. Yet, in Future Echoes (1-2), it is said that it will take 4000 years for the Red Dwarf to turn around.
  • The ship had approximately two years to slow down, and then went into orbit around a celestial body (Kryten, 2-1). Using this method apparently allowed the ship to turn around faster than it would have in the other case.
• Rimmer doesn't seem to know who Marilyn Monroe is, yet there are pictures of her in his locker.
  • It's a shared locker, so the posters are more likely Lister's. Even if not, Rimmer being Rimmer would not necessarily get the name right (eg. "Wilfred" Shakespeare in Waiting For God, 1-4).
• Rimmer's "Admiral" outfit is the same as his "Captain" outfit in Kryten (2-1). Why couldn't Holly give him a proper uniform?
  • Holly isn't responsible for Rimmer's uniform in the TIV Better Than Life, so the fact that Rimmer is wearing what appears to be a Captain's uniform is entirely the doing of his own psyche. The simplest explanation would be that the uniform is that of Captain, but a favorite style that Rimmer gets Holly to make for him (even though he has no rank claim to it). In BTL, his psyche can make things the way he wants it, therefore he can be wearing his same favorite uniform but have it designated Admiral to suit his fantasy (in a TIV the rules of reality don't necessarily apply).
• The Red Dwarf's address is given as "Deep Space," yet the pod had been following them since they left Earth. If that's so, then the message was originally mailed *before* the accident, so they weren't in "Deep Space" yet.
  • This can be related to the one above about the pod tracking the Red Dwarf for so long. The pod, in good postal service bureaucratic tradition, could keep updating the addresses "to ensure proper delivery." If it was built to track the Red Dwarf for any length of time, it probably had this capability as well.

Thanks For The Memory (2-3)

• The Projection Cage is used for Rimmer, even though it is established in later episodes that he has the light bee, and therefore doesn't need the cage.
  • The light bee might have arrived on the mail ship from Better Than Life (2-2) and was not found until they sorted through all the extraneous mail.
  • Perhaps this was before they had explored the entire ship and found the science section with the light bee.
  • Maybe the light bee sometimes does not work properly in non-S3 planetary environments. However, this might be contradicted by the crew deciding to send Kryten and Rimmer to see if the atmosphere is toxic in Meltdown (4-6).
• "Mr. Fat Bastard 2044": Is 2044 just a number, or a reference to a year? The year would conflict with times established in Stasis Leak (2-4).
  • Maybe it is the number of times Hollister scooped the title.
  • He may also be the 2044th Mr. Fat Bastard.
  • It could be a made-up year when Hollister supposedly first won the title.
  • Captain Hollister may have spent a period of time in stasis, in which case he could have been a Fat Bastard in 2044 and still be commanding Red Dwarf in the 21st/23rd Century. The stasis booths were used during interstellar travel. It is indicated that Todhunter experienced this (The End, 1-1), so quite possibly Hollister did too.
• Lise Yates says, "I love you, Rimmer," when she should have called him "Arnold."
  • Since it was Lister's script, it is what Lister would call him.
  • When you get right down to it, Rimmer has mostly been called Rimmer, even by family. The letter from his mother in Better Than Life (2-2) begins, "Dear Rimmer." Only on specific occasions has he been referred to as Arnold.
• When Lister and Rimmer are discussing Lise Yates, Rimmer's attire goes from scruffy (shirt and tie undone) to all correct (everything buttoned and tied).
  • Holly probably snapped up Rimmer's appearance, in keeping with how fastidious Rimmer usually is.
• Lister protests at being told how many times Rimmer has had sex, yet the likely figure had been indicated previously (Confidence And Paranoia, 1-5; Me², 1-6; Better Than Life, 2-2).
  • Lister probably dreaded hearing the awful, detailed "truth" truth from Rimmer.
• Lister, while in the sleeping quarters (Level 348), says, "I went down to the Hologram Simulation Suite." To be correct he should say "went up" as the Suite is on Level 592.
  • Lister is Lister. Knowing which way is "up" is not a requirement.
  • *However*, Lister *should* be right, as every single ship in history has been numbered top-down instead of bottom-up. This does not seem to be the case, however, as the Xpress Lifts on the ship confirm a bottom-up numbering (Stasis Leak, 2-4).

Stasis Leak (2-4)

• Wednesday, 2nd March, 2077: This date conflicts with later 23rd Century references. It is also stated as three weeks before the crew dies, and thereby conflicts with Rimmer's diary entry from Me² (1-6).
• March 2, 2077 will be a Tuesday.
  • The calendar as we know it today may be rearranged in order to accommodate a space-faring society. This is supported by the use of the new month "Geldof" by the newscaster in Better Than Life (2-2).
• Rimmer and Lister are in the Captain's Office three weeks before the events of The End (1-1). Yet Lister doesn't know where the office is.
  • Perhaps he is pretending so he can flirt with Kochanski.
• Rimmer laments that "Everyone always leaves me in the end: girls, parents..." Rimmer divorced his parents, so he left them. What girls is he talking about?
  • Rimmer probably thought that his parents deserted him first.
  • Well, he did have *some* women: McGruder (Confidence And Paranoia, 1-5) and Lorraine (Parallel Universe, 2-6) for example.
• The crew routinely wander between levels 100-something (The End, 1-1: Level 159) and 500-something (Queeg, 2-5: Level 592). Yet they have to travel down 2567 levels in the Xpress Lift to get to Level 16 in this episode. What in the hell were they doing on Level 2583?
• As a corollary to the above, if the Red Dwarf was four miles deep, with 2583 levels at least, they would be 8.1 ft (2.48 m) each.
  • If the floors are staggered in front and back (see below), this would not be the case and also explain some short staircases seen in certain episodes.
    

    Diagram 1
    
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• The photo at the end of the episode is different from the photo in the beginning.
  • Perhaps it is some "Back To The Future" retro-history change.
• The crew do not go to the parallel universe in three years' time, nor do they go back in time so that Lister can marry Kochanski five years from then.
  • The passage of "real" time and "awake" time is really subjective here, so it still may be accurate.
• Rimmer hides under a table, passing completely through it in the process. How is that possible with the solid light bee in conjunction with the fact that Holly couldn't be projecting him?
  • This lends credence to the theory of sometime-use of the really small light bee.
  • Present-Holly might have warned past-Holly that a hologram was slipping through time. Past-Holly, not having a hologram to support yet (McIntyre wasn't dead), took over projection of Rimmer.
• The soap "ages" three million years going forward in time, but the crew does not age negative three million years going back, or three million years when they come back. If it doesn't work on organics, what about their clothes?
  • Nothing "ages." Apparently, something can enter a past environment (eg. the crew back to 2077), but something cannot enter a future environment where it did not originate (eg. the soap). Trying to shift something against this time-grain causes its disintegration. Thus the crew and their accompanying inorganics are safe because they move to a past environment and then back to *their own* future one.
• If Rimmer mentioned the head popping out of a table in his diary, why did he not also mention the two other Listers or the other Rimmer?
  • He may simply have stopped writing about his "hallucinations," especially if he thought these details were just too crazy and he wanted to forget them.
  • Maybe he did write about the other Listers and Rimmer, but Lister never read that far.
• The Cat identifies his question, "What are you talking about, dog-breath?" as "a wise old Cat saying." However, the Cat apparently had no knowledge of dogs before Future Echoes (1-2), so how would he know of this saying?
  • The Cats as a species obviously knew of dogs. It is perhaps improbable that the Cat did not encounter or remember dog references before Future Echoes (1-2), but not impossible, given his lonely life before meeting Lister and company. At any time after this episode, the Cat could have come across a reference to this saying (which would then have some meaning for him), especially as his "investigations" among Cat artifacts had been stimulated by Lister (eg. the request to find the Holy Book in Waiting For God, 1-4).
• When Lister is looking for Kochanski at the Ganymede Holiday Inn, he and the desk clerk apparently consult the guest register to find her room. If Kochanski is now called Mrs. Lister, then Lister may not be able to find her in the register at all, or he may be alerted to the temporal incident (by finding his own name) or the marriage situation (by finding either name listed for the Honeymoon Suite).
  • Room 008 may not be identified in the register as the Honeymoon Suite. Also, Kochanski being married is no guarantee that she has changed her name, and the name of Kochanski (as opposed to Lister) may even be registered in order that the Future Lister can have his joke at his younger self's expense. In addition, the room must necessarily not be in Lister's name, in order for the temporal events to play as they do.

Queeg (2-5)

• Lister claims that the tape of "Robert Hardy reads..." that he and Cat are listening to got twisted, but they are listening to a CD.
  • Maybe it is some futuristic tape/CD combo.
  • When Lister claims the tape is "twisted," he could be making an aesthetic judgment, not a physical one.
• Rimmer is thrown back by the force of the explosion. Why would this happen to an intangible hologram? Also, he falls onto, not through, the table.
  • The light bee might have gotten jolted by the explosion, though the effect should have been different. The bee may be able to sense the explosion and make an appropriate simulation. There *is* a pause before Rimmer gets thrown. The bee might also try and project an image consistent with physical reality, so Rimmer ends up slumped on top of the table instead of falling through it.
• Rimmer's legs walk off without him. How?
  • The light bee could have malfunctioned. The positive Z coordinates might be alright, but the Xs and Ys of the negative Zs got messed.
  • If Holly was projecting Rimmer, then he could go off in two directions at once.
• Rimmer turned into Cat, but Cat was not in the original crew, so he wouldn't be stored on disk.
  • Rimmer might have been able to do it from his memories of the Cat.
  • They could have stored Cat's personality on disk during Thanks For The Memory (2-3) before or after Lister uploaded parts of his memory into Rimmer.
• Queeg says that they've been going in circles for 14 months, when there are other things outside of his word that indicate otherwise. How come no one picks up on this?
  • Since Queeg is Holly's joke, he doesn't have to tell the truth.
• When Lister, the Cat, Rimmer, and Holly arrive at the Hologram Simulation Suite, Holly (in his monitor) enters first. Holly's monitor clearly has a thick cable running from it. Why should Holly, who can project himself remotely quite easily (Stasis Leak, 2-4, for example), need a connector cable to his monitor?
  • Perhaps the added involvement of the whole Queeg ruse made Holly cut corners in other areas such as remote projection of himself as opposed to a hard connection, which would take less effort.

Parallel Universe (2-6)

• Why didn't Hilly and company hop at the same time Holly and company did?
  • Perhaps the universes are not mirror equivalents.
• How could Lister still be pregnant in his own universe when it is physically impossible there?
  • As the amazing pseudo-science of the movie "Junior" showed, it is technically possible for a man to be pregnant. With Holly's help, it is feasible.
• Cat spells "B-A-T-H" but never learned to spell.
  • He might have learned some of his favorite words in English so he knew where to find his grooming goods on the ship.
  • The Cat's forefathers must have known how to spell because in Waiting For God (1-4) it was said they had translated the Laundry List. Their comprehension, on the other hand...
• "If we don't go now, we won't be able to get back at all." How did they get Lister's kids back then?
  • Perhaps on the way back, Holly figured out the way back with the Holly-Hop.
• The pregnancy-test packet shows that a dark pink color signifies a negative result, while a positive result is indicated by either of two shades of very pale pink. Yet just a minute later, the crew state that blue is for not pregnant and red is for pregnant.
  • This is our favorite crew we are talking about. Just screwing up the colors is a great achievement.
• After using the Holly-Hop drive, Holly says there's nothing out there but space, then he notices the other ship. There is a camera shot of the ship, in the foreground of which is obviously a planet or asteroid. Why didn't Holly report the planet/asteroid?
  • Holly was too busy searching for Earth to notice a small asteroid.
  • When he said there was "nothing" out there, he wasn't including "useless" space debris such as a small asteroid.
• There are baby skutters in this episode. There is absolutely no practical, definable need for baby skutters at all, or any reason for skutters to reproduce by making smaller version of themselves.
  • The convergence of eons of time for their remedial AI circuits to evolve and being under the direction of the increasingly dim-witted Holly could have resulted in the emergence of a skutter society where the skutters produced smaller versions of themselves for no good reason.

In between Series 2 and 3, many changes took place in the show. The actors who portrayed Holly and Kryten were both changed, and continuity between Series 1 and 2 and all things after it is very tenuous at best. It is all explained away in the opening montage of Backwards (3-1), where a description of why everything is the way it is now is scrolled quickly on screen. For a complete transcript of this, refer to the Red Dwarf FAQ. The important bit is at the end, where it says: "- the same generation - nearly." This implies that the things that happen before Backwards (3-1) and after it can occur in slightly different universes. Apparently, Grant Naylor have used this excuse themselves.

However, I find it to be a lame cop-out. It is presented here for completeness, and because some inconsistencies defy all explanations but this. Whenever there is a discrepancy between facts before and after Backwards (3-1), you can rest assured that there is at least one reason for it all.

Backwards (3-1)

• When Kryten accidentally ejects Rimmer during his flight test, the ejector seat should have just flown through Rimmer, leaving him sitting above open space in Starbug.
  • If Rimmer was under light bee power, it would have been physically thrown out with the ejector seat, and would have projected images to reflect this. If Rimmer was under Holly's power, she probably simulated what would have happened, just to annoy Rimmer.
• During Kryten's test in Starbug, it is said that when traveling at half the speed of light, it takes four years and three months to stop. This seems excessive, seeing as how Red Dwarf took under two years to decelerate from light-speed (Future Echoes, 1-2) to slow enough to enter orbit around a planet (Kryten, 2-1).
  • Maybe the stopping times/distances are different for Starbug and Red Dwarf. The two ships are vastly different in everything: size, sophistication, purpose, etc. Seeing as how the test is being taken in Starbug, it is reasonable to assume that the capabilities being discussed are specific for Starbug, which may operate under an inferior, slower acceleration/deceleration system than Red Dwarf. Even taking into account its greater speed, the Red Dwarf may still be able to accelerate/decelerate in less time than Starbug due to Red Dwarf's much more efficient and technologically-advanced machinery and capabilities.
• If Holly can be on all vehicles and machinery from Red Dwarf any time she wants to, as seen in other episodes, why can't she tell the others where Kryten and Rimmer went?
  • Over long distances and time dilations, Holly has to splinter to do all her jobs, so one part is not necessarily up to date with the other parts.
  • Holly may have lost them after they went into the whirly thing and then computer senility prevented her from finding them again.
  • Holly's consciousness can only be in one place at one time due to her senility, and she thought it better to stay with the rescuers in case Kryten and Rimmer got hopelessly lost and she couldn't find her way back.
• How does Rimmer change into the Reverse Brothers outfit?
  • The light bee can make changes in Rimmer's appearance without Holly's assistance.
• Why would Rimmer, a hologram, be scared of a fist-fight?
  • He could fear damage to his light bee.
  • This could just be Rimmer's natural cowardice taking effect.
• When Lister gets off Starbug and feels his physical injury before it happens, he should also be wet and drying off, as he later goes into the lake. He is dry when he comes out *after* the event, so, in keeping with the timeframe, he should be wet *beforehand*.
  • In keeping with backwards reality, after stepping off Starbug, Lister would actually be "dry and wetting on," as the water from the air condensed onto his body. He would then progressively get wetter up to his entering of the lake. There is no indication of the time taken from finding Starbug 1's signal to Lister entering the lake, so this could be sufficient time for his backwards wetting to occur.
  • The backwards force may be *trying* to operate perfectly on the crew, but does not always succeed due to them being alien to the reality. There are many examples of the backwards force working inefficiently when events involve the Dwarf crew. To name a few: Starbug's crash-landing, Lister and Cat's bicycle ride, the firing of Rimmer and Kryten from the pub, the order of events of the barroom tidy, etc. All of these make no sense if played in forwards. The backwards force operates properly on the backwards Earth natives *alone*, but can encounter problems whenever trying to work on any events involving the Red Dwarf crew in any way.
• The words are backwards in this universe, but not all of the individual letters and numbers, as would be logical.
• Lister says he is 25, yet in Future Echoes (1-2), one to three years earlier than this, he also says he is 25.
  • Lister's age is *extremely* subjective. He has physically existed for over three million years. His "actual" age has been affected by such things as the stasis booth, reverse time, etc, so it is entirely possible that he still *is* 25 several years after first stating this.
  When undertaking long trips unpreparedly, and with few frames of reference, keeping and comprehending an accurate representation of the passage of time is extremely difficult.
• In this episode, it is shown that Starbug has a cloaking device that makes it invisible. Why is this cloak not used in any of the myriad of circumstances when it would have been invaluable (ie. Bodyswap, 3-4; Terrorform, 5-3; Back To Reality 5-6; etc.)?

Marooned (3-2)

• Rimmer has "The Complete Works Of Shakespeare" with his valuables, but he didn't know Shakespeare's first name in Waiting For God (1-4).
  • The book does not specifically mention Shakespeare's first name on the cover, and it is pretty obvious that Rimmer hasn't actually read the book, but kept it only for status. Thus he wouldn't know the first name.
• Starbug 1 seems to have been recovered and repaired since Backwards (3-1).
  • The "1" could have been added to another ship by the crew. Maybe there is a Space Corps regulation that says there has to be a Starbug 1. Then Rimmer would have insisted upon it.
  • The "1" may be a model number, but it has been said before (Backwards, 3-1) that the controls on both ships are exactly the same.
• Rimmer, a hologram, is pressing the com button while doing the "Mayday" message.
  • It may be a light-sensitive panel to accommodate holograms.
• How can Rimmer smell when he's a hologram?
  • The light bee is able to analyze the air.
• Rimmer talks about his first sexual experience in a car, but in Thanks For The Memory (2-3), he drunkenly admits he has only had sex once, with the ship's female boxing champion, Yvonne McGruder.
  • The book versions do deal with this, but we can deduce some things without them. First, given Rimmer's character, he would never admit to something that embarrassing unless he was drunk. Either he was admitting the horrible truth under the effects of alcohol previously and is lying here to cover it up (since obviously neither Rimmer nor Lister seems to remember the incident), *or* he was lying while drunk to get sympathy, and he is telling the truth here. Either way fits in with his character.
• When Lister puts the snapped "guitar" into the barrel of burning books, the split end of the guitar's neck is visible. Yet in the next shot, it is the other end of the guitar neck that is visible.
  • There is a continuity break between the two shots and a small passage of time is implied. Even though the guitar neck should be burning and Lister *probably* would not be fiddling with the wood, it is not possible to say for sure that he didn't in fact move it.
• When Rimmer looks at the guitar-shaped hole in his camphorwood trunk, a "free area" is clearly apparent around the trunk. Yet a split second beforehand (when Kryten lifts the lid), the trunk is seen to be flush against the wall, where Lister put it to hide the hole he had made.
  • Kryten's action of lifting the lid does in fact create a small gap (probably no more than an inch) between the trunk and the wall. As the "free area" is indicated only by the fact that light is shown to be falling on the hole-side of the trunk, a gap of this size could be enough to let light through between the trunk and the wall.
• Lister says that his guitar has only five strings and that three of them are G. The sizes of the actual strings on the guitar show that only a maximum of two of them could possibly be G.
  • Considering the quite bad musical knowledge/ability that Lister has, it is not surprising that he doesn't know which string is what.

Polymorph (3-3)

• The polymorph touches Rimmer even though he is a hologram.
  • The polymorph can transform into anything, and could have transformed into another hologram to touch him.
  • The polymorph could have latched on to Rimmer's light bee, although if it did and stopped it from moving, Rimmer shouldn't be projected correctly.
• Rimmer, Kryten, and Cat decide that running away, rather than fighting the polymorph, is the best option. Why then in the next scene do they appear to be actively hunting the polymorph through the cargo decks?
  • Rimmer says "...let's load up Starbug and get out of here" and "He'll (Lister) be safe here (the medical bay) until we're ready to go." This indicates that the getaway is not intended to be immediate, and that supplies will be needed for the trip in Starbug. Thus it makes sense that they then have to go to the cargo decks to get these supplies. They are kitted up with bazookoids probably on the idea that should they meet the polymorph (likely *it* is hunting *them*), the best form of defence is attack. Also some time has definitely elapsed between the two scenes, as needed for the weapons and inventory organization, and of course for the Cat to change into a different outfit (as he is wont to do several times a day, for all occasions, probably including meeting polymorphs).
• To go through the pipe/tap, wouldn't the polymorph turn into a freer-fitting form (water for example), rather than obviously taking a form which has a hard squeeze through the plumbing?
• When the polymorph takes on the appearance of Rimmer's mother, she quite obviously holds her son's arm, even though it is out of shot.
  • In a moment, the polymorph will attack and drain Rimmer, necessitating being able to touch him (see the question on that above). The polymorph was probably already in this form when it grabbed Rimmer.

Bodyswap (3-4)

• Lister mentions using the White Midget shuttle, but it is obviously the Blue Midget that they use.
  • Lister made the mistake in his eagerness to get going, or he may have changed his mind.
• At the beginning of the episode, when Lister accidentally sets off the Autodestruct Sequence, Rimmer asks Holly for advice. She offers three realistic alternatives: "Sit here and get blown up; stand here and get blown up; jump up and down, shout at me for not being able to think of anything, then get blown up." Yet, once the countdown reaches zero, the ship fails to blow up because Holly got rid of the bomb ages ago. She seems perfectly aware of this fact, telling Rimmer that she didn't mention it because, "You never asked!" If there was no bomb, and she knew it, how could anything ending with them getting blown up have been considered a realistic alternative?
  • Holly has galloping computer senility. She gets confused. She still has her pride though (eg. Backwards, 3-1), so rather than admit she's stupid, she hides behind the "You never asked!" response to cover her failing faculties.
• Once Lister's mind is swapped into Rimmer's body, he asks Holly to change his clothing to look more like his traditional black leather garb. She complies, having done this for Rimmer on numerous occasions. Still, if he really wants to look more like himself, why doesn't he ask Holly to change his appearance to look like Lister? As a hologram, he should have that ability: Rimmer gets Holly to make him look like Kochanski in Balance of Power (1-3).
  • Lister, although he has seen Rimmer do things in the past, is new to the whole hologram thing and may not have thought of it.
  • The added stress of the bodyswap plus the hologram projection might preclude Holly from doing full-scale imaging changes.
  • In Balance Of Power (1-3), Rimmer could be Kochanski only by getting data from her disk (Rimmer-Kochanski: "Okay Holly, swap disks"). If Rimmer has hidden Lister's disk and Holly has no access to it, then Holly would be unable to make Rimmer's body into Lister's.
• A person's voice is a product of the size and shape of their vocal cords, as well as some other factors. It is almost unique to each individual, and is used for identification purposes in this episode. If so, why does the voice travel with the mind whenever someone bodyswaps?
  • For anyone in the hologram body, it is a simple matter of reprogramming the hologram to imitate the voice of the person inhabiting it. When in other "real" bodies, the mind in charge probably tries to imitate its original voice as much as possible as a matter of course. Rimmer is a talented mimic, so it is not beyond him to reproduce his own voice. Also, the physiological changes brought about by the bodyswap are unknown, and Cloister knows what biological changes may be stimulated after the brain pattern is overwritten.
• The Bodyswap technology is based on hologram technology, yet the Cat is able to bodyswap. How is this possible, considering that he was never an official member of the Red Dwarf crew, and thereby never had a personality disk of himself made?
  • It is *based* on hologram technology. The personalities are actually stored on the tapes seen throughout the episode.
• When the Cat and Lister (in Rimmer's body) are playing Scrabble, Cat puts down three letters for Lister to start the game. Cat then has his seven letters (JOZXYQK) which he says is a word. However, he can't put them as is down on the board, needing one of his letters to already be there for him to build on.
  • It's not possible to tell if one of Lister's three letters is one the Cat can build his word on (perhaps he's just pointing out the word to Lister before he plays it). Alternatively, it is obvious from Better Than Life (2-2) that Cats have gotten the rules of golf slightly wrong; the situation with Scrabble may be no better.

Timeslides (3-5)

• Lister's locks, cut off by the swapping Rimmer in Bodyswap (3-4), have grown back.
  • Lister may have sewn his locks back on.
• The photos of Kryten's party are obviously aboard the Nova 5, *before* Lister completely rebuilt him, so it should be the *old* Kryten we see.
• In the picture of Frank's wedding, he is a lot less than the 6'5" that Rimmer said he was in Better Than Life (2-2). From White Hole (4-4), we know Kryten is about 6", which makes Lister about 5'6" - 5'9". Frank is not taller than Lister by enough to sustain the 6'5" claim.
  • Rimmer's envy and adulation of his brother caused him to exaggerate his height.
• In entering the photo, Lister becomes reversed.
  • Kryten put the slide in backwards.
• How could a young Lister not recognize Rimmer as a hologram, since the technology *must* have existed when he was that age?
  • Lister is Lister. The technology may have only existed for the Space Corps, *but* in Better Than Life (2-2), a hologram is shown doing a news report.
• Lister, as Tension Sheet inventor/millionaire, does not remember Rimmer even though he met him in the pub when he was 17.
  • Given the state and attitude of the young Lister, this isn't surprising, though Rimmer did like "Om," so you'd think even Lister would remember him.
• How can hologram Rimmer, controlled by the ship's computer, travel back in time with no connection to Holly?
  • The light bee is able to operate independently of Holly.
• When the crew enters a photograph and becomes part of its reality, they should be able to see the photographer who took the picture. Yet, except for the wedding, not only does the photographer not seem to be around, but any photographer at all seems unlikely.
  • Even though they become part of the photograph, the crew are still operating under slightly different rules than are the original photograph contents (eg. left/right movement outside of the photograph confines). Thus, while the photograph originals *may* be able to see a photographer, it does not necessarily follow that the crew can.
  • The existence of the photographs at all shows that each had a photographer. People just take photographs of strange things.
• After Lister goes back to become the Tension Sheet inventor, why do Holly and Rimmer even remember Lister and the Cat? Since history was changed, they should not remember either of them, as, in the changed reality, they never met them. Also, the mutated developing fluid would be gone as well, as the conditions that created it would never have happened.
  • People outside of the photographs may be in a "neutral" reality where events can change around them, yet they remember what the previous, unaltered reality was like.
• The newsclip that Holly uses to send Rimmer back to Tension Sheet Lister's mansion only shows the front of the mansion, yet Rimmer shows up in the dining room, which is outside of the photograph.
  • The dining room is contained within the house, which *is* within the photograph. The photographs have been made three-dimensional (else the crew would not be able to enter them); presumably this effect allows entry to any house within a photograph. Also, the point at which a crew member appears in the photograph reality may not be strictly precise.
• Why don't the crew use the technology to get back to Earth? They could presumably get an orbital photograph of the planet, and thereby have free reign of the planet.
  • They probably ran out of the mutated developing fluid before they thought up this plan.
  • Once inside a photograph, the crew proportionally alter to match the environment. However, the photograph must be initially made big enough (eg. as a slide projection) for them to enter in the first place. Perhaps they could not find a way to *clearly* enlarge an orbital photograph of Earth such that Starbug could enter (once proportional adjustment was made, Starbug would be needed to travel from the entry point into the photograph, ie. somewhere in space, down to the Earth's surface). However, if they got the idea, and clarity was retained, they could go into a shuttle bay and project the image from the far wall, thus making it large enough for the Starbug to enter.
• When Kryten was developing his photographs, he had pictures of his birthday and a car driving down the street. As it is known from Backwards (3-1) that Kryten has never been to Earth, why would he have photos of an Earth street with a painfully obvious 20th Century car in it?
  • It is not impossible that 20th Century Earth vehicles were used wherever his birthday party was. It may even have been a 20th Century theme park. Also, even though it was Kryten's film, it's not possible to know how long the film had been in the camera, how many places the camera had visited, or even who might have borrowed the camera and taken it anywhere.
  • Kryten might have taken some pictures during Backwards (3-1). The car in the photograph could travel forwards as the pictures were developed in a forwards reality.
• In Backwards (3-1), Kryten spends three weeks performing in a pub as part of The Sensational Reverse Brothers. Yet in this episode, when the crew enter the photograph of Smeg And The Heads playing in a pub, Kryten doesn't appear to know what a pub is, apparently calling on his databanks after Rimmer answers his question of: "What is this place?" Kryten should be able to recognise a pub layout for himself immediately.
  • Kryten's brain handles and remembers information much differently than a human brain. Being in the backwards universe could have casued him to forget things before he learned them, or perhaps he was unable to "read back" his memories recorded in the backwards universe, as they would turn up as gibberish.
• In "Lifestyles Of The Disgustingly Rich And Famous," Blaize Falconburger says, "But like many people who appear to have everything, Dave's life has been tinged with tragedy. Well actually it hasn't, but we can only hope." This Lister was still abandoned in a pub as a baby -- wouldn't this constitute a personal tragedy that might be worth a mention?
  • By "inventing" the Tension Sheet at the age of 17, Lister has had seven or eight years in which to become Disgustingly Rich and Famous (as he seems to be in his mid-twenties at the time of the program). We know from The Last Day (3-6) that his abandonment as an infant affected him deeply, so it's not unreasonable to think that in this time, with all his wealth and fame, he was able to track down his natural parents and effect a touching, joy-triumphs-over-initial-heartbreak reunion. This is not the sort of scenario that bears mentioning if one is looking to cite instances of unhappiness.
• After the time line has been changed, shouldn't Holly go back to having a man's face, since they would have never visited the Red Dwarf's twin in the Parallel Universe (2-6) and Holly would've never met Hilly, the model for his head-sex change?
  • There's every evidence that Rimmer and Holly *did* take a trip to the parallel universe at some stage, as Holly's head does remain female. The changed pasts don't need to be greatly different from the original: the parallel universe trip has still occurred, but obviously just not in the same manner as previously.

The Last Day (3-6)

• In this episode, Lister tells about being abandoned in a pub as an infant. Yet in several previous episodes (Future Echoes, 1-2; Kryten, 2-1; Better Than Life, 2-2), he talks about knowing both of his parents.
  • In all of those cases, Lister is probably referring to his foster parents.
• How did Kryten's company find him when they could not have known he was on the Red Dwarf as opposed to the Nova 5?
  • The replacement ship tracked him down from the wreck. Kryten may have a built-in homing beacon for his replacement to follow.
• How could Kryten put all his parts back into the original case when the introduction to Series 3 says that Lister completely rebuilt him?
  • It is the *case* which is the original, not the parts. Also, there would be no sense in returning "original parts," as these may have been replaced during routine maintenance anyway.
  • Kryten is not *grossly* different from Series 2 (Kryten, 2-1), so it is a fair assumption that even his rebuilt parts would fit in his original case.
• If Lister completely rebuilt Kryten at the beginning of the series, he at least should be able to do something simple like disable the shutdown switch.
  • The shutdown switch might have defence-mechanisms to prevent this from happening.
  • Lister probably rebuilt Kryten with help from the Owner's Manual and the self-repair unit (Psirens, 6-1). It is unlikely that either of these sources would supply information about how to disable a feature designed to allow the company to charge the owner for an upgrade at a later date.
• Kryten lies to Hudzen 10 *before* his truth routine is broken in Camille (4-1).
  • Mechanoids may be able to lie to other mechanoids.
• Lister said he'd been sick off the Eiffel Tower and the result landed in Montmartre, five miles away. The distance is no more than three miles.
  • Considering he had been drinking previous to this incident (thus precipitating it), it is no wonder he got the exact distance wrong, and should be applauded for his close approximation, given his state of mind.
• Kryten says, "I don't see an orange switch," when examining the bazookoid. It is directly behind the red switch that Kryten admits he can see.
  • If the switches are designated by the flashing lights, then there is indeed one that flashes orange. The flashes are intermittent though; Kryten in his panic may not have noticed the switch when the light was actually on.

Camille (4-1)

• Lister should see Camille as Kochanski. While it may seem too obvious, Lister was fooled by it in Psirens (6-1).
  • He already knew her name was Camille, so even *he* wouldn't be fooled.
  • There is a difference between your true love and your ideal mate. The GELF might have taken the information for Lister's ideal mate out of his head, but Lister may not even be aware that he knows this.
  • The episode credits show that the GELF was *supposed* to be Kochanski. Most likely, the GELF scanned Lister's mind for what his idea of the perfect woman was, which was Kochanski. The GELF may not have known exactly what Kochanski looked like, but could roughly simulate someone with close to her personality type and appearance.
  • Lister presumably only fell in love with Kochanski because he thought she was attractive, but he didn't really know her that well. So although he was in love with Kochanski and the thought that he would get her back was one way that he stayed sane, when he met Camille, he saw somebody who had all the same characteristics that he would have liked Kochanski to have.
• Why does Lister have to break Kryten's programming again considering he already did it in Kryten (2-1)?
  At the beginning of Series 3, it is stated that Lister's rebuilding of Kryten was "unable to recapture his former personality." Assuming that Kryten's self-repair unit (mentioned in Psirens, 6-1) helped out the clueless Lister, this would explain why and how Kryten's non- rebellious programming was restored.

DNA (4-2)

• How can Kryten have his replacement heads, since he was completely rebuilt at the beginning of Series 3?
  • Lister, not "a qualified service agent," screwed it up and had parts left over. It could explain the accent of head 3.
• Kryten says all human cells have DNA. Not true. Mature red blood cells in adult humans are hemoglobin-filled, disk-shaped bags lacking their DNA organelles.
  • This may have changed. Since Lister is the only human left, one of the adventures might have caused a mutation to make this statement true. So when Kryten says that *all* humans have it, he is technically right.
  • Kryten is a service mechanoid. He makes mistakes about medicine.
• How does the DNA machine cope with all the inorganics it manages to transform (Kryten's body, clothes, etc)?
  • Perhaps the transmogrifier has an auxiliary reserve component to deal with the companion inorganic parts of the organic substances it transforms.
• Kryten says this is his first meal, yet he has eaten in The Last Day (3-6) and Backwards (3-1).
  • Well, his first meal as a human.
• Lister talks about the time after his break-up with Kochanski. In Confidence And Paranoia (1-5), it is shown that they never went out.
  • Given the amount of fuddling the crew has done with the future/past/alternate dimensions, it is not surprising that some memories are muddled and definitive truth may just be out the window.
• Kryten says his right nipple-nut regulates temperature. In Polymorph (3-3), it is shown that mechanoids don't give off any heat.
  • It may be a cooling system, and that is why they do not give off any heat.
• Spare head 3 says that he is 30,000 years old. That would place his creation in about the year 2,972,000, long after the extinction of the human race. Kryten has also implied that he himself is only thousands (as opposed to millions) of years old when he commented on how long Hudzen 10 had been tracking him (The Last Day 3-6).
  • Head 3 has droid rot.
  • He may not be counting the time he was turned off.
  • The human race may still have been in existence 30,000 years ago (although further evolution should probably have taken place). It is only assumed that the human race is extinct, even though the evidence for this is only indirect (ie. three million years is long enough for several species to rise and fall, using the Earth's history for examples).
  • Kryten may be only about 30,000 years old (to match the age of spare head 3); however, it *is* possible that he is indeed about three million years old, and that the Nova 5 had a transport system to allow it to get three million years into deep space in a much shorter time.
  • If the Nova 5 had some form of faster than light drive, time dilation would have taken effect, and while only a small amount of time passed on the ship, a great length of time would have passed in the "normal" universe. Thus the head could be as young as it says it is.
• The spare heads should look like the old Kryten.
  • Lister may have fiddled with them, or the self-repair unit may have had a hand in this.
• Kryten as a human doesn't appear to know basic human anatomy or physiology (eg. eye functions, nipples, and he definitely should know that humans would *never* charge themselves with electricity). As a mechanoid, Kryten knows human anatomy to the extent where he discusses human cellular composition.
  • Perhaps the transformation process affected his brain to cope with his new genetic situation, or just the sheer novelty of the situation caused Kryten to go a little batty.
• If an individual's DNA is altered in any way, death will occur if the body's immune system attacks the new proteins created from the modified genetic code (along the same principles as a body rejecting transplanted organs). Maybe this wouldn't have affected Kryten, but it would certainly have affected Lister.
  • The fantastic future technology has overcome this problem by virtue of the fact that the machine is actually a *transmogrifier*, which converts one form *totally* to another, including rewriting the body's immune system to match its new DNA (no mix of old and new means no autoimmune syndrome). On a purely *modifying* level, there would still be these problems, which the gruesome failures strewn about the vessel are probably testament to.

Justice (4-3)

• It is said there are at least 1,167 people on the Red Dwarf, as opposed to the 169 quoted in The End (1-1).
  • These numbers might not take into account crewmembers who were off-ship for whatever reasons at that point in The End (1-1).
  • The 169 may only refer to the technicians.
  • The larger number may include all personnel on the ship (miners, etc), which would be counted when charging someone for their deaths, but the smaller number may just refer to officers or enlisted Space Corps personnel.
  • Because Red Dwarf is such an enormous ship, individual sections of the vessel may be called "ships." Thus, in The End (1-1) when Todhunter said, "There are 169 people on board *this* ship," he may have been referring only to the current section where he was.
  *
  • There are two "crews:" one is from the Jupiter Mining Corporation, and the other from the Space Corps. The Space Corps could provide all the technical and piloting crew, while the Jupiter Mining Corporation provides all the grunt laborers for the actual mining functions.
• Lister says the Cat has never met a real woman. Yet in Stasis Leak (2-4), Cat meets Kochanski and her roommate.
  • Maybe he means a real *Cat* woman.
  • Depending on your definition of "meet," Cat never did meet them. He certainly never talked to them, and the Lord only knows what the promiscuous buggers consider "meeting" to entail.
• Rimmer is charged with 1,167 counts of murder. Why is he only sentenced for 1,166 counts?
  • Rimmer's mind could have inflated the figures, along with his culpability.
  • Perhaps the law at this time counts killing oneself through negligence as murder. However, Rimmer being dead may constitute punishment for his own death, therefore he only needs to be sentenced for the remaining 1,166 deaths he caused.
• When the Justice Computer says that Rimmer caused the deaths of the entire crew of Red Dwarf, it is incorrect, as Lister wasn't killed, he was in stasis (and the Justice Computer should have picked this up from probing Rimmer's mind).
  • The Justice Computer may have been making a general speech, based on possibly picking up from Rimmer's guilt-feelings something like: "I killed them all."
• Kryten says that Rimmer failed his astronavigation exam 13 times. This contradicts *everything* ever said on the subject before this. In The End (1-1), Rimmer is taking an engineering exam. In Waiting For God (1-4), it is said he failed his engineering exam 11 times. In Future Echoes (1-2), it is said he took his astronavigation exam nine (ten) times.
  • Given Rimmer's bizarre test record (as well as activity during tests), it is not surprising that these numbers are messed up. There are probably contradictions in what actually counted as Rimmer attempting a test, or showing up, and all that.
  • Rimmer took two types of exams: astronavigation and engineering. All the stuff about engineering exams adds up. The only previous time that astronavigation exams are mentioned is in Future Echoes (1-2), when it is said that he failed the exam ten times. In Balance of Power (1-3), Lister takes the chef's exam and pretends that he passed. Before Rimmer finds out that Lister was lying, perhaps he retakes the astronavigation exam to try and outrank Lister, and fails again. In total, he takes the exam three more times, and then when he finds out that Lister was lying, he doesn't bother any more.
• What is the purpose of sentencing a hologram to a prison term? He's dead already and would surely "live" forever anyway, so why not just turn him off? Also, why not just alter the programming of his personality disk to prevent the crime from happening again?
  • Since Rimmer is an active and sentient being, "turning him off" may be seen akin to murder, and this may be prohibited by law. This would lead one to believe Rimmer had the right to exist. If he has this right, than altering his programming is probably also seen as an infringement on his right to exist.
  • Alternately, if Rimmer was just turned off, he would not experience the full effect of the punishment: the loneliness, the restricted movement and environment, etc.
• When talking about Rimmer's "friends," Lister said Rimmer had "Only one, but she's got a puncture." However, in Timeslides (3-5), we hear about Rachel and the puncture repair kit, and in Queeg (2-5), we hear about Inflatable Ingrid.
  • Perhaps Ingrid or Rachel got too badly "damaged" to be repaired, leaving Rimmer with just one friend.
  • Rimmer renamed his one "friend" over and over again because he wanted to appear popular, even if only with the inflatable set.
• Holly tells the crew to hang around for 24 hours to see who's in the pod, yet the pod has over 29 hours' defrosting to do.
  • Perhaps by the 24th hour, the identity of the person in the pod would be readily apparent even though it wasn't fully defrosted.
• The Cat says of the escort boots, "I'm supposed to wear these? These look like Frankenstein's hand-me-downs." Given that Frankenstein is one of the holiest figures in the Cat religion, and any belongings of hers would be sacred relics, this statement by the Cat seems horribly inappropriate.
  • As indicated elsewhere (The End, 1-1; Waiting For God, 1-4), the Cat does not seem to be particularly religious. At some point he has obviously picked up the reference to Mary Shelley's work (see also Quarantine, 5-4). His apparent inability to define Frankenstein as the creator and not the monster notwithstanding, it is most likely Shelley's Frankenstein to whom he was referring. As such, his distaste at the fashion blasphemy that the shoes represented would be greater than any distaste at any religious blasphemy he was committing.
  • He may only be referring to the *age* of the shoes, ie. his statement could mean that the shoes are so old (and out of style) that the last time they were in fashion was when Frankenstein (the cat) was alive.
• What exactly is it that the Justice Field punishes: intention, ability, or action? Lister lights the sheets on fire and his jacket catches fire, but physically, his leather jacket shouldn't burn. He is punished for his intention (arson) by a reciprocal action (fire). When Lister attacks the simulant, he tries to murder him. However, instead of being killed himself, he just suffers the effect of his action, but not as it would affect the simulant (his attack would have little or no effect), but as the attack would affect him. When the simulant counterattacks, he is not murdered for his murderous action, but suffers the damage that his attacks would on *Lister* instead of himself (where the gunshots and knife wounds would have had little effect). Cat tries to knock out the simulant with a shovel, and he receives the effects as if it was the Cat that had been hit. Add to this that Lister goads the simulant on, in effect trying to kill the simulant, but he is not punished for these actions.
  • It seems that the Justice Field is very simplistic. It cannot take action based solely on intent at all, just physical actions. You can *think* about doing crimes all you want, and cause criminal things to happen, but as long as you don't physically do it yourself, no action can be taken by the Justice Field. When a physical act happens, the field acts to bring an equivalent consequence to the perpetrator as to what would have happened to his victim, even if it should be physically impossible (if this were not so, then those of superior strength/fitness/construction would be able to escape many of the effects of the Justice Field and so the field would not be a fair mechanism, nor would it be able to achieve its rehabilitation aims). Lister sets fire to something, so something of his gets set aflame. Lister tries to hit the simulant, and gets the effect of being hit. The simulant tries to shoot Lister, so the simulant suffers a gunshot as Lister would. However, Lister, figuring this out, can manipulate the field by *intending* to kill the simulant, and tricking the simulant into doing it himself; yet Lister suffers no ill effects because he didn't do any criminal physical actions himself. This does not mean that the Justice Field can be manipulated into murdering someone at another's behest. After all, an innocent individual making no murderous actions will be safe.
• Rimmer says that he has never done anything slightly illegal, but in Balance of Power (1-3), he is shown using illegal learning drugs. Why didn't the Justice Computer find Rimmer guilty of that as well?
  • The Justice Computer let Lister off for the minor offences that he was both punished and unpunished for. The computer may be making the same allowances for Rimmer (who may have been punished for taking the learning drugs in the past), but it also would hardly be worried about something so trivial in light of the larger crime that needs addressing.
• Rimmer's "crime" is manslaughter, not murder. Although his own mind would not make any distinction, the Justice Computer would know the difference.
  • By the laws of our time, this is correct. However, this is also on a spaceship and in the future. Shipboard law is much harsher than land law, and incompetence leading to death can be judged murder. Also, in the spacefaring future, in order to avoid incompetence by lowly crew members that could lead to thousands of deaths, incompetence leading to death might also be designated murder.

White Hole (4-4)

• The figure "345" is displayed on Holly's monitor when she is calculating her remaining run-time, yet when Talkie Toaster quotes this later he says "3.41 years." Holly then reiterates this number as minutes.
  • Talkie Toaster first says the figure of 345 years ("...better than a kick in the bread tray"). Holly then says, "Where's the decimal point?" Presumably Talkie Toaster then looks back at the monitor to see where the decimal point is, before quoting 3.41 years. Then, before he can query why the "5" has now become a "1," Holly replies that it is not years but minutes.
• Two minutes of Holly's run-time are stated to have been used up, in less than one and a half minutes of real time.
  • Holly is very angry and being very sarcastic here, and is possibly exaggerating her crisis (she contradicts herself twice) to make her point to Rimmer (who is being incredibly stupid).
• Kryten agrees with Lister because Lister is a human and a human outranks a hologram. In that case, why doesn't Rimmer follow Lister? He's explained many times that he follows his superiors, no matter who they are.
  • This may only be the case for Kryten, where a living human would take precedence over a hologram human for a mechanoid. This may be core mechanoid programming as opposed to Space Corps policy, which may allow a dead crew member to outrank a living one.
• In the same vein as above, Kryten is siding with Lister here because: "It's in my programming sir. A living human outranks a hologram." Yet, in Bodyswap (3-4), Kryten chloroforms Lister against his will ("It's in my programming to obey all humans, no matter how insane"), and in Meltdown (4-6), Kryten stood by while the Elvis waxdroid tied up Lister and Cat, even though he knew that they wanted to stop Rimmer.
  • In this episode, Kryten is told to choose for himself who to vote for, and in this case, the living human's *wishes* outrank the hologram's (because neither gave Kryten a direct *order*). This may be Kryten's core mechanoid programming. However, once *direct* orders are given (as in the other two instances), another level of mechanoid programming must come into effect whereby the mechanoid now obeys according to an *external* ranking system governed by Space Corps policy, ie. Rimmer as Second Technician is superior to Lister as Third Technician.

Dimension Jump (4-5)

• Why is the Cat wearing the fish-shaped earring that he gave to Kryten as a present (The Last Day, 3-6) when he supposedly hates / can't stand it?
  • It is *not* the same earring. The earring here is much shorter and more planar than the one from The Last Day (3-6), and presumably does not offend the Cat's aesthetic sensibilities the way the one he gave to Kryten obviously did.
• How can Ace expect Rimmer to fix the engine when Rimmer can't touch anything? Ditto re-routing Kryten.
  • Perhaps hard-light bodies (seen in Legion, 6-2) are common in Ace's dimension, and so he assumed Rimmer would be able to perform the tasks. If hard-light bodies have long superseded soft-light, then Lister's comment of "He can't touch anything" may have initially gone unnoticed by Ace as it wouldn't have meant anything to him.
• Kryten is identified as a Series 4000 mechanoid, when in The Last Day (3-6) he is called a Series III.
  • Perhaps his reconstruction by Lister caused him to make this mistake. It is possible as well that Kryten's self-repair unit which may have helped Lister was directed to upgrade the unit in case of massive damage.
  • The "Series III" and "Series 4000" could be referring to two different aspects of the same model, like body type or memory capacity, for example.
• Kryten is not supposed to be waterproof, but he has gotten wet in Meltdown (4-6) and Backwards (3-1).
  • This may be a result of his rebuilding by Lister.
• The Cat can read English in this episode, yet the Cat language was all in smells with no words.
  • It is conceivable that somewhere down the line the Cat learned to read English, if only to search the fashion magazines to find a way to do the impossible and make himself more attractive.
  • We can once again point to the fact that the Cat's ancestors at one time did know how to read English (Waiting For God, 1-4), so he may have learned it previously.
• Ace travels from his dimension to that of the Red Dwarf. The dimensions are supposedly parallel. Yet for this to be true, Ace would be three million-plus years old and most likely dead like our Rimmer, since it is three million years since both Rimmers were born.
  • It has been shown that time dilations and abnormalities can occur when travelling between realities (eg. Backwards, 3-1; Rimmerworld, 6-5), so this is not unlikely.
  • Ace's craft was an experimental prototype, so abnormal effects like radical time shifts between dimensions are not unthinkable.
  • There is a problem due to perception, which is necessary for measurement. Ace's timeline could be exactly the same as our own temporally, with the exception that their development happened three million years later than our own. While the lives are nearly parallel, the relative timeframes in which they developed could be radically different.
• If Ace cannot go back to his own dimension, how are Bongo and the others going to know whether he successfully dimension-jumped, or died in the trying?
  • Engineering may have instruments which can tell them whether the jump was successful or not; after that, Ace is on his own. If however every possibility is played out in the other dimensions, it's not impossible that Ace might one day jump to a dimension in which the technology *has* been developed which could get him home.
• In Ace's dimension, how can Kryten and Holly have *human* counterparts?
  • While Spanners *is* actually another Lister, if there is an infinite number of dimensions, then no matter how *improbable*, it is not *impossible* that this is a dimension in which some of Ace's friends look like, but are otherwise unconnected to, the other Red Dwarf crewmembers.

Meltdown (4-6)

• In some of the outdoor scenes, you can see Rimmer's breath. Holograms don't breathe.
  • If the program is sophisticated enough to reproduce a human being, it is sophisticated enough to simulate breath condensation in the air.
• Where does the teleportation paddle go to after the episode and why don't they use it to get back to Earth?
  • There are several reasons: the Red Dwarf can't be teleported, the paddle can't be used more than 500,000 light years from the ship, and they are more than 500,000 light years from Earth.
  • The teleportation paddle became the triplicator in Demons And Angels (5-5).
• How can Rimmer ride the motorbike around, when as a hologram he can't touch anything?
  • The motorbike is also a hologram, projected by Holly (see Better Than Life, 2-2).
  • The motorbike is real, but controlled by Holly (her consciousness is projected on the bike's headlight), not by Rimmer. Rimmer is projected as if he were riding the motorbike. When Rimmer wants the motorbike to actually move, he tells Holly: "Let's go Holly," and Holly replies, "Okay Matey." *Then* the motorbike moves off.
• Kryten says that the teleporter translates the person into data and transmits them as light beams. Thus they can go to the most interesting planet in range (200,000 light years away) instantly. However, it will take a light beam 200,000 years to travel 200,000 light years.