I liked this episode because it's a rimmer episode that isn't about how much rimmer sucks. They did that way too often. It's nice to see rimmer in a more positive light every now and again.
Defo. That's why I loved it in Gunmen of the Apocalypse when he got to beat up a bar full of men as Dangerous Dan Mcgrew - bare-fist fighter extraordinaire! It's a sign of a great character that we care this much about him
Oh god Inquisitor, another of my favorites. Inquisitor: "There is only one way to ensure a fair trial. Therefore your judge shall be...*removes mask to show RImmer face*...yourself." Rimmer: "Oh smeg..." Inquisitor/Rimmer: "Oh smeg INDEED matey!"
It is so refreshing to see a show analyse these episodes as in-depth as you do. I got into Red Dwarf a few years ago. Bought the entire box set and marathoned it. I assumed the show was obscure because I certainly hadn't heard of it before I watched it, but sure enough, a lot of my friends, it turns out, are Red Dwarf fans too. There's no point to that story... I just felt like sharing. Anyway, thank you for making these videos. They're hella cool and I'm looking forward to more. This episode, I feel, is one of the more memorable ones of the season. I love episodes that explore the lore of the Red Dwarf universe, like how holograms work and Kryten's past and such -- so, that's what made this one memorable to me. It felt like character development for Rimmer, whilst simultaneously exploring the world of holograms. Anyway, keep up the good work.
My favourite moment from that show is when Danny says “fish” but says it in his cat voice instead of Dwayne’s voice. I like to think he did that on purpose.
I was always amused that Rimmer, the dead guy, has all of the sex in the series and not Lister, the guy with all the confidence and experience with women
4:39 - the delivery of that line is so pitch-perfect. If you listen to the commentary, you can hear everyone imitating it to compensate for Craig’s absence.
I enjoyed this review. The characters are lot more rounded than some give them credit for. They aren't just 1 note. the nearest is the cat, but his primary note is embodying the negative traits of felines, which makes sense, also his somewhat stunted personality makes sense given his rather harsh backstory.... in-fact now that i think about it everyone has harsh backstories. suffering a keep part of comedy i guess.
You forgot to mention this episode came hot off the heels of Chris Barry announcing his departure from the show. This episode was most probably a red herring, as the audience was waiting for him to leave and thought this was it, right up until the end. British shows love to do that, Eastenders have done it with just about every departing character, Doctor Who did it twice with the 10th doctor and later again, several times, with Clara.
I'm not asexual, but I'd bet their bodies function like others do. In a society where sex is recreational, they probably treat it with the same respect as dancing or sports.
Every time I watch this episode and Rimmer says "..we just won't be together." then pulls a face which shows how disgusted he is with his own words. I always wish he didn't also say "I can't believe I just said that". Chris's amazing face just says it all, it's not needed.
The computer keyboards on the Holoship are Commodore Amiga keyboards, and they had to cover up the prominent AMIGA logo in the top-right corners with those bits of plastic. However, the keyboards are unmistakeable for Amiga users like me who used them back when this was broadcast. It seems Season 5 of Red Dwarf had a lot of Amiga stuff in it.
given that rimmer consistently refers back to his one night stand with a concussed mcgruder it's bizarre that he never mentions his conquest of the beautiful and brilliant nirvanah to the others. you'd have thought he'd have been ramming that down lister's throat for the rest of eternity.
I never realised Lister ate that cigarette until it was pointed out at 5:00, that outtake is classic and now one of my favourite improv moments on TV; it's great binge-watching these after having just done the same for the actual show.
Here's something I just thought of. Even if Rimmer stayed on the Holoship, he would have effectively been useless as a navigations officer. Unless traces of the mind patch remained, he would have been horribly under-qualified for the position and likely would have been shunned or outright deactivated unless he learned as he went.
Speaking of Star Trek, Voyager series did the same thing where they came across holographic beings and used the holodeck to interact with them. Or something, It's been a while.
In the scene where Rimmer meets the captain, the captain is preoccupied with two translucent strips. Watching this ep again the other night, it's as though he is giving Rimmer the V-sign with these strips! Anyone one else notice this? Honestly, he keeps holding them at the same angle - is he silently dissing Arnie J? (In this upload you see a very brief shot of what I mean at 5:26 👍)
love to hate seems to be part of some types of comedy. Timon from the lion king, Alex P. Keaton from family ties, the painter in Caroline and the city he also looked a bit like Rimmer, almost everyone from Will and Grace, most from community, Anderson and Mary seem to fit this role in Sherlock.
Wow, a Valentines Day episode where a main character who is consistently unlucky in love actually finds real true love but loses it in the end. Reminds me of the Johnny Bravo episode where Johnny fell in love with Heather who was his perfect match but they couldn't be together because she was a spy and it would endanger him.
I wonder why the Holoship took Rimmer on board in the first place. Did they just want to say hello? Or did they always plan to offer him a place on the ship as part of the crew? I would assume it's the latter, but when they first meet him they're not that impressed, as he's not an officer and he's old technology.
The weird thing to me about series V is that the American release, in addition to coming several years after series VI, was out of order in the VHS version. They started with, of all episodes, Back to Reality, which was possibly the best of the lot (and explained a few gags from VI), but really only works as a series finale - the central premise of the episode fails quickly when you know there are five more episodes coming. Holoship was tucked into one of the more forgettable slots in the middle. I think V has some of the best episodes, but having had to wait so long to see them made the end result seem a bit more disappointing than it should have.
I never understood why they brought Rimmer aboard. They obviously didn't think much of him after they met, and they're...well...dicks. Why would they contact a hologram in the wild at all?
The only other television character I can think of that seems mostly irredeemably unlikable and yet somehow comes off as sympathetic is Dan Fielding from Night Court. Dan was misogynistic, greedy and classist...and yet ever so often a good person shown through hard shell of crap that his personality was coated in. There was even an episode of the show where they examined Dan's background as the son of a poor as mud bayou family and that much of his arrogance, sexual promiscuity and pursuit of wealth was largely a result of his desire to distance himself from the restrictions of his upbringing and childhood environment. ...although, to be fair, even as an asshole Dan was largely more likable than Rimmer on day to day basis.
I think DCI Gene Hunt also fits into that mould. He's a violent, alcoholic, sexist, homophobic, sexually juevenile dick, but he's so incredibly likeable (and weirdly sexy as fuck) that it's genuinely confusing, hah.
Interesting point about asexuality, Dena. Hadn't considered that. To that point, I'm polyamorous & when I first saw this episode, the concept behind the sexual recreation deck on the Holoship sounded entirely rational, if not inspired. Obviously this wouldn't appeal to many/most people, & I'm sure the writers meant it as a joke, but for the crew of a ship to have a designated area to relieve sexual tension just seemed logical to me
Nothing wrong with having the deck. What tickled me was when she said "Then what do you do when you want to have sex?" as if she couldn't fathom the idea that anyone could have sex without one, hence why I said "It's called a bedroom". I think, in the end, the joke is that this is this is all stuff that compensates for Rimmer's insecurities--the fact that everyone has to have sex and it's rude to turn anyone down, so he wouldn't ever have to worry about rejection. But over-analyzing how it wouldn't work in reality is kind of amusing.
Celibate is a behavioural choice, asexual is an actual sexuality, much like heterosexual or homosexual, except it means sexually attracted to no-one. You can be a celibate person who is still attracted to people, but asexual people aren't sexually attracted to anyone. However, some asexual people still have and enjoy sex on a purely physical level.
I liked this episode because it's a rimmer episode that isn't about how much rimmer sucks. They did that way too often. It's nice to see rimmer in a more positive light every now and again.
Defo. That's why I loved it in Gunmen of the Apocalypse when he got to beat up a bar full of men as Dangerous Dan Mcgrew - bare-fist fighter extraordinaire! It's a sign of a great character that we care this much about him
Oh god Inquisitor, another of my favorites.
Inquisitor: "There is only one way to ensure a fair trial. Therefore your judge shall be...*removes mask to show RImmer face*...yourself."
Rimmer: "Oh smeg..."
Inquisitor/Rimmer: "Oh smeg INDEED matey!"
Rimmer is my favorite character
I like to think of this as a moment Rimmer grows up a little.
"I don't know why I f'n et that cigarette."
I think he got lost in the moment of trying too hard to be cool lol
Yeah. It's a bad idea to eat a cigarette. Much worse than smoking it.
Rimmer displays plenty of characteristics of the tsundere.
Am i the only one who loves it when ace comes out of rimmer once and awhile
No, I do too XD
I want to believe that after Rimmer left to become Ace, the first thing he did was find the holoship and reunite with Crane.
Notice how the holoship uniform bears a close resemblance to the Star Trek Movies Uniform from the first 2 movies, the shoulder clasp etc
It is so refreshing to see a show analyse these episodes as in-depth as you do.
I got into Red Dwarf a few years ago. Bought the entire box set and marathoned it. I assumed the show was obscure because I certainly hadn't heard of it before I watched it, but sure enough, a lot of my friends, it turns out, are Red Dwarf fans too. There's no point to that story... I just felt like sharing. Anyway, thank you for making these videos. They're hella cool and I'm looking forward to more. This episode, I feel, is one of the more memorable ones of the season. I love episodes that explore the lore of the Red Dwarf universe, like how holograms work and Kryten's past and such -- so, that's what made this one memorable to me. It felt like character development for Rimmer, whilst simultaneously exploring the world of holograms. Anyway, keep up the good work.
Just realized that Nirvanah is Jane Horrocks and Binks is Don Warrington.
Also Don Warrington & Danny John Jules are also in "Death in Paradise"
@RubberFistFight ...Did you just assume my favourite time lord?
Binks (Don Warrington) and Cat (Danny John-Jules) were co-stars in "Death In Paradise."
My favourite moment from that show is when Danny says “fish” but says it in his cat voice instead of Dwayne’s voice. I like to think he did that on purpose.
I was always amused that Rimmer, the dead guy, has all of the sex in the series and not Lister, the guy with all the confidence and experience with women
Not to mention physical genitalia made of solid matter
And they amp it up to 11 in season 8 with the sexual magnetism virus.
smart Rimmer reminds me of Sheldon from TBBT, but he's actually funny
"...Lister to Red Dwarf..." Easily in the top 13 funniest bits of the show...
Don Warrington, who played Commander Binks, is pretty famous for being in Rising Damp, and was also in Doctor Who.
and CATS Eyes
4:39 - the delivery of that line is so pitch-perfect.
If you listen to the commentary, you can hear everyone imitating it to compensate for Craig’s absence.
And the holoship idea and visuals were quite good, well done!
I enjoyed this review. The characters are lot more rounded than some give them credit for. They aren't just 1 note. the nearest is the cat, but his primary note is embodying the negative traits of felines, which makes sense, also his somewhat stunted personality makes sense given his rather harsh backstory.... in-fact now that i think about it everyone has harsh backstories.
suffering a keep part of comedy i guess.
Someone once said that comedy is laughing at the suffering of others.
Comedy = Tragedy + Timing
as the old saying goes
No one ever expects the inquisition
I'm disappointed I didn't think to make that pun XD
Well I was thosing up weather to make a Babylon 5 reffance or monrty pinion...my dame I pad won't let me spell what I mean
You forgot to mention this episode came hot off the heels of Chris Barry announcing his departure from the show. This episode was most probably a red herring, as the audience was waiting for him to leave and thought this was it, right up until the end.
British shows love to do that, Eastenders have done it with just about every departing character, Doctor Who did it twice with the 10th doctor and later again, several times, with Clara.
I'm not asexual, but I'd bet their bodies function like others do. In a society where sex is recreational, they probably treat it with the same respect as dancing or sports.
Sex-repulsed asexuals are a thing.
Every time I watch this episode and Rimmer says "..we just won't be together." then pulls a face which shows how disgusted he is with his own words. I always wish he didn't also say "I can't believe I just said that". Chris's amazing face just says it all, it's not needed.
Great review, Dena, as always. :)
Can't wait for Inquisitor, that's one of my absolute favorite eps of the series.
The ship's salute is the sign of the horns! 🤘
Good thing that Matt Smith's Doctor didn't say 'geronimo' for the same reason...
Speaking of wardrobes, I really like what the Cat's wearing...
What I love is that starbug eventually will be fitted with weapons when it was upgraded by the simulants.
Series 5 is my favourite series! And this is one of my favourite episodes, it's just superb. RD at its best.
The computer keyboards on the Holoship are Commodore Amiga keyboards, and they had to cover up the prominent AMIGA logo in the top-right corners with those bits of plastic. However, the keyboards are unmistakeable for Amiga users like me who used them back when this was broadcast. It seems Season 5 of Red Dwarf had a lot of Amiga stuff in it.
That's funny. I didn't have much access to computers when I was a kid, so I just see keyboards. Thanks for pointing that out.
given that rimmer consistently refers back to his one night stand with a concussed mcgruder it's bizarre that he never mentions his conquest of the beautiful and brilliant nirvanah to the others. you'd have thought he'd have been ramming that down lister's throat for the rest of eternity.
True XD
But if he actually cared for Nirvanah it's not too surprising he didn't brag and detail the event to Lister. McGurder was a conquest.
Also true.
@@ShonMoccles to be fair it did seem like he cared about McGruder in the books.
Maybe he genuinely loved her.
I never realised Lister ate that cigarette until it was pointed out at 5:00, that outtake is classic and now one of my favourite improv moments on TV; it's great binge-watching these after having just done the same for the actual show.
Thanks, glad you like 'em ^.^
Just realized that Rimmer is similar to Daffy Duck
Never thought of that before, but I can totally see it now XD
@@Cyborcat Blinks and Cat both co stars in death in the paradise
Binks had a key role in another great BBC series "Death In Paradise" and Nirvana was "Bubble" in Ab Fab!
Here's something I just thought of. Even if Rimmer stayed on the Holoship, he would have effectively been useless as a navigations officer. Unless traces of the mind patch remained, he would have been horribly under-qualified for the position and likely would have been shunned or outright deactivated unless he learned as he went.
That's true. He really didn't think too far into that plan, did he?
Honestly surprised Kryten didn’t bring that up, I can already hear the insults he’d put into his warning
Chris Barrie is great in this episode. I mean he’s always great but I find this is, if not his best, among his best performances as Rimmer
i love british humor so dry and punctual
Anyone know what film the "we won't be apart, we just won't be together" quote comes from?
It's from the fake movie they were watching in the beginning of the episode.
He was almost Ace at the end there.
Speaking of Star Trek, Voyager series did the same thing where they came across holographic beings and used the holodeck to interact with them. Or something, It's been a while.
In the scene where Rimmer meets the captain, the captain is preoccupied with two translucent strips. Watching this ep again the other night, it's as though he is giving Rimmer the V-sign with these strips! Anyone one else notice this? Honestly, he keeps holding them at the same angle - is he silently dissing Arnie J? (In this upload you see a very brief shot of what I mean at 5:26 👍)
love to hate seems to be part of some types of comedy. Timon from the lion king, Alex P. Keaton from family ties, the painter in Caroline and the city he also looked a bit like Rimmer, almost everyone from Will and Grace, most from community, Anderson and Mary seem to fit this role in Sherlock.
Jane Horrocks looked so hot
Wow, a Valentines Day episode where a main character who is consistently unlucky in love actually finds real true love but loses it in the end. Reminds me of the Johnny Bravo episode where Johnny fell in love with Heather who was his perfect match but they couldn't be together because she was a spy and it would endanger him.
I wonder why the Holoship took Rimmer on board in the first place. Did they just want to say hello? Or did they always plan to offer him a place on the ship as part of the crew? I would assume it's the latter, but when they first meet him they're not that impressed, as he's not an officer and he's old technology.
3:50 What are you going to now, Mr. Rigsby?
Thanks for the ace acknowledgement! I'm sex-repulsed and this future always sounded like a complete nightmare to me.
The weird thing to me about series V is that the American release, in addition to coming several years after series VI, was out of order in the VHS version. They started with, of all episodes, Back to Reality, which was possibly the best of the lot (and explained a few gags from VI), but really only works as a series finale - the central premise of the episode fails quickly when you know there are five more episodes coming. Holoship was tucked into one of the more forgettable slots in the middle. I think V has some of the best episodes, but having had to wait so long to see them made the end result seem a bit more disappointing than it should have.
I never understood why they brought Rimmer aboard. They obviously didn't think much of him after they met, and they're...well...dicks. Why would they contact a hologram in the wild at all?
Lister Vs Bink I love the screen.
12:26 Would you call Rimmer an asshole? I'm not sure that's the term I'd use.
Rimmer is many things, but, yes, asshole is definitely one of them, IMO XD
"I mean, maybe ace-hole"
Don Warrington Rising damp
I had a crush on Don when he was in Rising damp .
9:36
Pretty much sums up my exams
Jane Horrocks of Little Voice fame. Not using her real accent.
And Don Warrington of Rising Damp.
Hey Dena I love your vides so much
The only other television character I can think of that seems mostly irredeemably unlikable and yet somehow comes off as sympathetic is Dan Fielding from Night Court. Dan was misogynistic, greedy and classist...and yet ever so often a good person shown through hard shell of crap that his personality was coated in. There was even an episode of the show where they examined Dan's background as the son of a poor as mud bayou family and that much of his arrogance, sexual promiscuity and pursuit of wealth was largely a result of his desire to distance himself from the restrictions of his upbringing and childhood environment.
...although, to be fair, even as an asshole Dan was largely more likable than Rimmer on day to day basis.
I think DCI Gene Hunt also fits into that mould. He's a violent, alcoholic, sexist, homophobic, sexually juevenile dick, but he's so incredibly likeable (and weirdly sexy as fuck) that it's genuinely confusing, hah.
Yes!
Interesting point about asexuality, Dena. Hadn't considered that.
To that point, I'm polyamorous & when I first saw this episode, the concept behind the sexual recreation deck on the Holoship sounded entirely rational, if not inspired.
Obviously this wouldn't appeal to many/most people, & I'm sure the writers meant it as a joke, but for the crew of a ship to have a designated area to relieve sexual tension just seemed logical to me
Nothing wrong with having the deck. What tickled me was when she said "Then what do you do when you want to have sex?" as if she couldn't fathom the idea that anyone could have sex without one, hence why I said "It's called a bedroom".
I think, in the end, the joke is that this is this is all stuff that compensates for Rimmer's insecurities--the fact that everyone has to have sex and it's rude to turn anyone down, so he wouldn't ever have to worry about rejection. But over-analyzing how it wouldn't work in reality is kind of amusing.
why the fuck did asexual become the word to use rather then celibate which means abstinence from sexual activity?
Celibate is a behavioural choice, asexual is an actual sexuality, much like heterosexual or homosexual, except it means sexually attracted to no-one. You can be a celibate person who is still attracted to people, but asexual people aren't sexually attracted to anyone. However, some asexual people still have and enjoy sex on a purely physical level.