Sunday, June 2, 2013

Red Dwarf Review, Series II Episode 1: Kryten

Airdate: 6 September 1988


Synopsis: While Rimmer is trying to learn Esperanto, Red Dwarf receives a distress call from the wreck of the Nova 5, sent by the service android Kryten (played by David Ross). The crew are lured to rescue the crew due to the three girls aboard the ship. Kryten, however, does not realise that the three girls are dead, and have been for centuries. Rimmer takes Kryten aboard, and makes him do menial tasks. Lister tries to convince Kryten to rebel, but initially seems doomed to failure. However, apparently, Lister's attempts at rebellion against Rimmer work, as Kryten messes up Rimmer's portrait, throws soup on the bed that Kryten made, and calls him nicknames as he takes off in a space bike.

Review: This episode is really the first sign that Series II had evolved from the flaws in Series I. The pacing in this episode is better then in series I. This episode is chock FULL of character development between Rimmer and Lister. The twist on the "saving the ladies from the spaceship" into making them all dead is brilliant. And the ending. Oh, god, the ending! That is how you do a rebellion! It's amazing how Red Dwarf can be intelligent enough to quote one of the best movies of the 50s, yet also mix in the perfect amount of sophomoric humour. The comedy was brilliant, with characters driving a good 90% of the humour.

The scene with Esperanto did drag on a bit, as well as the "Lister is a slob" scene and the scene where we first learn that the ladies are dead. That drags the episode a bit. Also, Kryten did seem a bit to similar to C3PO. And, this is minor, but I just can't get used to David Ross playing the role. He did a good job, but he just does not fit perfectly into the role. To me, Kryten will ALWAYS be Robert Llewellyn.

Favourite Scene: The ending. Just the ending. Especially the "Wham Lines".
Rimmer: "What are you rebelling against?"
Kryten: "....what d'ya got?"

Score: 8

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