Red Dwarf - Lemons

[daibhidc]

Another good one.

I'm always uncertain about Red Dwarf time travel episodes; yes, they're always fun, but a voice in the back of my mind keeps thinking "If they can go back to Dallas in 1963, why can't they go to Mimas Docking Port about a week after the accident, and all go home?"

Well, this time we get two answers to this; firstly the rejuvenation shower only allows time travel because it's badly made, so it's unsurprising there isn't much scope for fine tuning. And secondly, Lister has A Mission; he wants to get back to 3M in order to search for Kochanski, who is apparently out there somewhere.

Speaking of continuity, as a nitpicker I should probably object that Rimmer's parents are supposed to be Seventh Day Advent Hoppists who took the Bible completely literally, but the combination of Dan Brown, Philip Pullman, and just plain insanity that Mrs Rimmer is now supposed to believe is so funny I'll let it pass.

(As a former Celtic Civilisation student I should also be a bit annoyed about the portrayal of the Britons, but that was funny as well.)

The storyline was nicely done; I saw "Jesus, inventor of the bag" coming a mile away, but I thought that would be the point where history changed. But of course it isn't, because it's not that Jesus. (It occured to me afterwards that it's very hard for "history to change" from the perspective of 3 million years in the future; you can do "the ship never existed, so we're stuck here" [Tikka to Ride], or you can do personal changes [Timeslides], and that's about it.)

One nitpick I would make is about the setting. Yes, fair enough, they point out that it doesn't make much sense for Jesus to be in India. But it also doesn't make much sense for the Roman legions to be there ... or for there to be lots of people called Jesus ... or for everyone to believe in the Ten Commandments. Honestly, they'd have been better setting it in Judea and glossing over the lemon thing.

But apart from that, a very good episode.

Comments

[sabremeister]

All those little nit-picks can be handwaved with something simple-ish. What gets me though, is that Kryten suddenly only needs to look up for a few seconds during broad daylight and divine their location, year, and local name for the place where they end up. In all the previous episodes involving sudden vast travel, they need to use a psi-scanner, or look at a paper, or ask someone, to find out that sort of thing.

[mrs-tribble.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that too. Perhaps there's been a bit of behind-the-scenes upgrading going on?