Red Dwarf/Cassandra

Cassandra
Season 8, Episode 4
Airdate	March 11, 1999
Written by	Doug Naylor
Directed by	Ed Bye
← 8x03 Back in the Red (3)	8x05 → Krytie TV
Red Dwarf — Season Eight

Cassandra is the fourth episode of the eighth season of Red Dwarf, and the forty-eighth episode overall.

Guest Stars: Geraldine McEwan (Cassandra), Mac McDonald (Captain Hollister), Graham McTavish (Ackerman), Jake Wood (Kill Crazy)

Plot Overview

Due to gross naivety on Lister's part, he signed up himself and everyone else (Rimmer, Kochanski, Kryten, and the Cat) for the Canaries -- he thought the Canaries were a singing club. The Canaries are actually a team of expendable prisoners who are sent into dangerous situations to see if it's safe, before the "important" people go in. Their reward is a few extra privileges.

Captain Hollister briefs the Canaries. Their mission is to board the S.S.S. Silverberg, sunken on the bottom of an ocean moon. There is no trace of the crew and no bodily remains.

They board the ship, armed. Rimmer, Kochanski, Lister, Kryten, and the Cat meet the ship's mainframe computer, Cassandra. She is able to predict the future with an accuracy of 100%. Anticipating Rimmer's unspoken question, she predicts Lister's death (at age 181). She also tells them that a bulkhead has given way and that all the Canaries will be dead in one hour with the exception of Rimmer ... who will be dead in 20 minutes.

Since Cassandra has, up until this point, only called him "Arnold"; Rimmer tries to cheat fate by spilling his drink on Mr. Knot (a guard) and changing jackets with him. He then introduces Mr. Knot to Cassandra, pretending that Mr. Knot is "Rimmer". Cassandra predicts the new arrival's death (by heart attack in four seconds time), and as predicted Mr. Knot dies of a sudden cornoary. Rimmer is overjoyed, but Cassandra hasn't been fooled. She knows who Rimmer is, and she still predicts his death. He gives her the finger and leaves in a huff.

Kryten theorises that becuase Cassandra has predicted that they do not die, that they have the equivalent of temporary invulnerability. Using that power, they plan to protect Rimmer and usher him back to safety. Unfortunately on the way back to the airlock Rimmer and Kochanski become separated from the others and are forced to return to Cassandra. She predicts that Rimmer will be killed by Lister while he's making love to Kris Kochanski. Rimmer is overjoyed when he hears the news!

Kochanski is appalled. She simply cannot believe it, and is repelled by the very notion. But eventually, through an unfortunate series of events, Kochanski ends up in bed with Rimmer, still dismayed by the situation.

Lister shows up an hour earlier than Cassandra predicted, putting an end to Rimmer's hopes of having sex with Kochanski. Kryten worked it all out: Cassandra made it all up to punish Lister for something he hasn't done yet -- for destroying her. Amused, he finishes with, "See you "lovebirds" later" and leaves. Rimmer apologizes to Kochanski, and then makes a quick to joke to ease the tension.

He confronts Cassandra alone. He gives her a high-minded, moral speech about pre-determinism and how he doesn't believe in all that. Satisfied that he's finally made his point, he sticks his gum to the wall and turns to leave. This is the beginning of the end for Cassandra. The gum comes loose, falls onto a reading lamp which then nods downward, pressing a button. The button starts a fan, which blows the gum across the room, where it hits the drink Lister had left when he entered the room. The drink spills onto a power conduit, and Bzzzt! Cassandra is destroyed while Lister sheepishly (and apologetically) looks on.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• From the episode on, Rimmer's relationship with the other characters seems to improve (compared to the one his hologrammatic predecessor had).

Referbacks

• After Cassandra predicts Rimmer's death, Lister points out there is still hope -- they've been in a similar situation before with future echoes.

Trivia

The Show

• Cassandra lied to Lister and the others about numerous things, so her predictions are all suspect.
• Cassandra predicts Lister's death at age 181: he will choke to death trying to remove a bra with his teeth.
• Cassandra predicted that Lister would kill Rimmer with a spear gun, after catching him in bed with Kris.

Allusions and References

• Holly comes up with a plan to shorten Lister's sentence: since dog years are 7 times shorter than human years, all he has to do is become a dog. He claims the 20th century newspaper The National Eqnuirer called the operation a "roverostomy."

• Kryten, Kochanski, Lister, Rimmer, and the Cat all sing the Stevie Wonder song You are the Sunshine of My Life to try to get out of the Canaries.

Memorable Moments

• Holly tells Lister that he's found a loophole in the prison regulations that would allow Lister to server out his 2 year sentence in just 14 weeks. The only problem is that he would have to become a dog. You see, dog years are seven times shorter than human years.

• Kryten theorises that the ship was sent here on auto-pilot by the Space Corps to get rid of Cassandra. To abandon her on the bottom of a lunar sea. The others marvel at his powers of deduction and ask him how he did it. Holding up a sheet of paper, he explains that he read it on the mission directive.

Quotes

• Kockanski still has grave misgivings about making love to Rimmer:

I'm not sure about this. This is the first time I've ever been seduced by predeterminism theory.

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