Red Dwarf Review, Series II, Episode 5: Queeg.

Airdate: 4 October 1988

The greatest battle in the history of humanity... or at least a decent battle within a science-fiction sitcom.

Unlike normal, this synopsis will NOT contain spoilers.

Synopsis: Holly has been making one too many mistakes on board Red Dwarf. Upon missing a meteor, to messing up Rimmer's hologram, to confusing wires, the crew are at their breaking point. Enter Queeg 500 (professional dancer Charles Augins), Red Dwarf's backup computer, who declares Holly too incompetent to operate, demoting him to night watchman.

"From now on... Red Dwarf is run by Queeg 500!"

Queeg then works the rest of the crew to the bone, giving them very limited food and making them work like dogs. The crew quickly get sick of Queeg, and demand Holly back. Holly initially refuses, as he heard the crew insult him. However, he eventually declares a duel with Queeg: a game. Winner gets control of Red Dwarf, loser gets erased. The ending...

... I will not give away. However, it is brilliant.

Review: This is Holly's finest hour. The humour that involves him is BRILLIANT! This gives him fantastic character development revealing just how senile he has gotten. And yet, he does something that I just can't reveal. Queeg is a FANTASTIC character, who helps bring in the lesson "you don't know what you've got until he is demoted to night watchman". And Craig Charles manages to do one of his finest stunts ever!

On a slight negative, the humour with the other characters seems to be slightly weaker, although not totally terrible. Also, the depressing fact remains that this episode is Holly's biggest role in the show, and the only episode where he has a centre role. From this point on, the show shifts away from him, especially as a certain character is reintroduced in Series III. By the end of Series V, the character is basically there for the occasional joke, being written out by series VI (although the character does come back for series VIII).

Still, FANTASTIC episode.

Favourite Moment: Queeg explains Holly's IQ.

Queeg: "It's got a 6 in it, but it's not 6000." 

Cat: "What is it?"

Queeg: "Six."

Holly: "Six? Do me a lemon! That's a poor IQ for a glass of water!"

Final Score: It's got a 5 in it, but it isn't 5. What is it? 8.5.