Red Dwarf/Out of Time

Out of Time
Season 6, Episode 6
Airdate	November 11, 1993
Written by	Rob Grant, Doug Naylor
Directed by	Andy DeEmmony
← 6x05 Rimmerworld	7x01 → Tikka to Ride
Red Dwarf — Season Six

Out of Time is the sixth episode of the sixth season of Red Dwarf, and the thirty-sixth episode overall.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

Rimmer appoints himself morale officer. To that end he declares that once a week they will have a meeting to get any problems they have off their chests. Rimmer goes first. He insults everyone in rapid succession; and then satisfied with a job well done, he leaves.

An alert sounds! Starbug has flown into a stellar fog. There is a powerful jolt; and Lister is knocked out. They take him to the Ops room where they Kryten is astonished to discover that Lister is not human. He is a droid, a series 3000 made in Taiwan. This means that Kryten technically outranks him. X-rays confirm it!

Kryten breaks the news to him, after he wakes up. Then he shoves a laundry basket at him, and starts ordering him around. Kryten even takes Lister's seat in the cockpit.

They feel another jolt, promping Kryten to do some research on stellar fogs. Some Space Corps test ships were outfitted with reality mindfields, which are pockets of false reality intended to disorient and drive off potential looters. Kryten now realizes that Lister is not actually a droid, the unreality pockets only made it seem that way. Kryten is beside himself apologizing for his behavior.

There is another jolt; and for a moment the Cat can see everyone else, but nobody can see him. After another bump, everyone can see that Cat again. A couple of jolts later, the ship disappears entirely, leaving them flying through the blackness of space with only each other for company. They have only been in the mindfield for a few moments and the pockets are getting denser as they go. It will take them three days to get through. Enough is enough; Kryten puts a stasis field on the Deep Sleep units, allowing everyone to simply sleep through the ordeal.

Inside the field they find a 28th century derelict, the entire crew dead from a 20th century influenza virus. It was on its maiden voyage. They strip out the ship's time drive and install it in Starbug.

They conduct their first time drive test, and encounter a Starbug from the future sending an SOS. Kryten does not want them to have any contact. "The human brain is not designed to cope with knowing its own future," he says. He alone will make contact.

The future Starbug's time drive has malfunctioned—it can only go forward in time. They need to copy some parts and settings to repair it. After a brief communication with them, Kryten begins pampering Lister, hugging him, and even crys. Lister knows something bad is going to happen to him, but Kryten won't tell him what it is. So Lister works out a way to use the MediScan unit to spy on the meeting.

The future Dwarfers come aboard. Rimmer is fat, grey, and still a hologram. Cat is old, balding, and wearing plaid. Kryten is wearing a toupee and carrying ... Lister's (living) brain in a jar. Upstairs looking through the MediScan, Lister's spirits are crushed by what he has seen.

Their future-selves travel through history enjoying the best that time has to offer: dolphin sweet meats, roast suckling elephant, baby seal hearts stuffed with dove pate, etc. They socialize with all the greatest figures in history: the Habsburgs, the Borgias, Louis XVI, the Hitlers, and the Görings to name a few.

Kryten (from the present) points out that these "great" figures are nasty, oppressive villains. The others callously remark that throughout history the finer things tend to be in the hands of those who are a "bit dodgy". "Dodgy!" Kryten (from the present) is outraged and expresses his utter disgust for what they have become.

At that moment there is blast from the top of the stairs as a hatchway door explodes. The present crew (Lister, Rimmer, and the Cat) come down. Lister, brandishing a bazookoid, gives them two minutes to leave the ship. They will not get the calibration data they need to repair their time drive. They must leave.

Embittered, the crew of the future Starbug uses missiles against the present Starbug. Rimmer surprises them all by encouraging them to take a stand and rebel against their own future. The others quickly agree, and a battle ensues, killing Lister, the Cat, and Kryten. In the midst of the battle, Rimmer realizes the solution: destroy the time drive. It is the only way to prevent their future selves from existing. He braves the collapsing ship and destroys it with a bazookoid.

Starbug explodes.

THE END.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• As of this episode, they have lost all trace of Red Dwarf.

Characters

• Revolted by his future self, Rimmer wants to fight rather than become that person. This is a big milestone for Rimmer.
• With Lister, Kryten, and the Cat already dead, Rimmer destorys the time drive, desperately hoping that it will somehow set things straight. Starbug blows up, leaving us with a cliffhanger ending.

Trivia

The Show

• According to Cat in the series 7 episode Tikka to Ride, the name of the ship where they found the time drive was the Gemini 12.

Allusions and References

• The date chosen for Starbug's first time travel test was August 17, 1421. Their actual arrival date was August 16, 1421. This is likely a reference to the Hundred Years' War, seeing how it was also referred to in the previous episode, Rimmerworld.

• Kryten is keeping a secret from Lister. But Lister wants to know what happens, so he tells Kryten, "Don't Nixon me, man!"

• Historical villains that the future Dwarfers socialize with:
  • The Habsburgs
  • The Borgias
  • Louis XVI
  • The Hitlers
  • The Görings

Memorable Moments

• Starbug has flown into an artificial, stellar fog that contains a reality minefield, which are pockets of false reality intended to disorient and drive off potential looters. The pockets are getting denser as they go.

Cat: It's to weird in here. Let's quit while we can.

Lister: What we gotta do is keep our heads.

At that moment there is a bump as they enter another pocket of unreality.

The Cat now has a reindeer's head, Lister and Rimmer both have furry canine heads, and Kryten's head looks like a rooster.

Quotes

After fitting Starbug with the time drive, they travel to August 16, 1421; and the following words are exchanged ...

Lister: I don't get it. We're still where we were.

Kryten: Of course. We're still in deep space, sir, only now we're in deep space in the 15th century.

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