Red Dwarf/Kryten

Kryten
Season 2, Episode 1
Airdate	September 6, 1988
Written by	Rob Grant, Doug Naylor
Directed by	Ed Bye
← 1x06 Me²	2x02 → Better Than Life
Red Dwarf — Season Two

Kryten is the first episode of the second season of Red Dwarf, and the seventh episode overall.

Guest Stars: David Ross (Kryten), Tony Slattery (Android actor), Johanna Hargreaves (Esperanto Teacher)

Plot Overview

Rimmer is struggling with his Esperanto lessons, and because Lister has a much better grasp of it than Rimmer, Lister keeps giving the correct answer before Rimmer can respond. Not that Rimmer knows the right answer.

They get a distress signal from a ship called the Nova 5. The ship's service mechanoid, Kryten, tells them that all male crewmembers were killed in the crash, but three female crewmembers survived and need medical attention.

Kryten then transmits images of the three gorgeous women. Suddenly everyone is on the pull. Lister wears his least slobby clothes, the Cat wears a gold spacesuit, Holly adds a toupee, and Rimmer wears his best dress uniform with a pair of socks stuffed down his trousers!

Rimmer asks Lister not to put him down, when they meet the women. He even asks Lister to build him up; call him "Ace"; tell them that he's had lots of girlfriends; etc.

When they finally get to see the women, they are appalled. The women are skeletons and have obviously been dead for centuries, but the android, Kryten, hasn't noticed this.

They take Kryten with them back to Red Dwarf where Rimmer puts him to work cleaning, fixing, and generally doing every chore imaginable. This doesn't sit well with Lister, who doesn't like the concept of a master/servant relationship, so he tries to get Kryten to think independently by showing him movies like Easy Rider and Rebel Without a Cause.

Just when we think that Rimmer has complete control over Kryten, Kryten rebels by painting Rimmer in his dress uniform ... with no pants! To top it off he calls Rimmer "smeg for brains", gives him the finger, and tells him to "swivel on it!". Finally, he borrows Lister's space bike, and goes on a joy ride.

Notes

Whilst this episode introduces the character of Kryten, he is played by a different actor from the rest of his appearances on the show (Robert Llewellyn being the usual actor). This is Kryten's only appearance in this series, though he would return for series 3–8.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Lister went to Art college ... for a full 97 minutes! He dropped out because they had lectures "first thing in the afternoon".
• Lister admits that driving Rimmer nuts is what keeps him going.
• Kryten tells Lister that he likes the soap opera "Androids".

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Rimmer refers to Kryten as an adroid version of Norman Bates.

Memorable Moments

• Lister's dressing scene: The things he does to try to make himself look presentable are hilarious.
• The scene where Kryten is told that the women of the Nova 5 are in fact dead.

Quotes

• Lister is drinking a cup of milk, while they are investigating the distress signal ...
  Holly: Cow's milk. Ran out of that yonks ago ... fresh and dehydrated.
  Lister: What kind of milk are we using now?
  Holly: Emergency backup supply ...
  Holly (as lister is drinking): We're on dog's milk.
• When Kryten leaves them alone "to get aquainted", Lister leans over to the girls and speaks so that everyone can hear:
  Lister: You know girls, I don't know if it's the right time or place to say this, but my mate Ace here is incredibly, incredibly brave!
• And when Kryten comes back, Rimmer points out to him that the women are all dead.
  Kryten: Oh my God, I was only away two minutes!

Reviews

• Overall Grade: no reviews yet
• Review Breakdown: A+: 0 A: 0 A-: 0 B+: 0 B: 0 B-: 0 C+: 0 C: 0 C-: 0 D: 0 F: 0