Top 10 Episodes of Red Dwarf

Red Dwarf has always been one of my favourite TV shows. To those who don’t know it’s a show about some goofballs on a mining ship in space 3 million years after a radiation leak on the ship lead to everyone on the ship dying.

That is to say, it killed everyone except slobbish scouser Dave Lister (Craig Charles) as he was in stasis at the time for smuggling a cat on board. But he is not alone on the ship. There’s also a hologram of his dead bunkmate, the extremely up tight and anal Arnold J. Rimmer, BSc, SSc (Chris Barrie) and an evolved descendant of his cat, um, Cat (Danny John-Jules). These members of the ship are constant, but others include Holly, the ship’s AI (Norman Lovett for series I, II and VIII, and Hattie Hayridge for series III-V), Kryten, an android (one episode in series II by David Ross, then by Robert Llewellyn) and Kristine Kochanski, Lister’s crush (permanent member of the crew for series VII and VIII, played by Chloë Annett).

The show follows these characters as they try to get back to Earth, if only to find out what has become of it. It’s a brilliant premise and there was an amazing amount done with it. The science fiction aspect is great, but isn’t so complex as to alienate the non-scientifically minded of us. It’s funny, dramatic, intense, but mostly funny. The characters work so well together and their relationships feel real.

And there’s another series coming. The special Back to Earth I found to be rather disappointing, but it got enough buzz around it that another series was commissioned. I am so excited. So, with the new series coming soon it’s time to celebrate Red Dwarf with a top 10 list of my favourite episodes.

10. The End (Series I)

How fitting that the first episode on this list is the very first episode of the entire show. The End was the introduction to the entire series. Whilst it didn’t have a lot of the science fiction fun and adventure of Red Dwarf it is still a brilliant episode and probably one of my favourite introductory episodes to a series.

In this episode we are introduced to the rocky relationship between Lister and Rimmer, who quite clearly do not get on. We also get introduced to their characters, Lister not particularly caring about his job and is slobbish whilst Rimmer takes it seriously and is incredibly fussy. Everything feels very organic and when the show advances to 3 million years later Lister seems to take everything in his stride, but still feels sad for his dead companions.

A brilliant set up for the series with some brilliant jokes, this list would not be complete without it.

9. Back in the Red (Series VIII)

Okay, I’m kind of cheating here because there are three parts to Back in the Red, but I’m including them all in this one entry. Personally, I feel that you can have one episode without the others, so I guess I’m justified there. Also, this is my list, so my rules!

Series VIII isn’t entirely well received amongst Red Dwarf fans and I can understand that, though I still like it, even though it isn’t as good as other series. Regardless, the Back in the Red episodes were brilliant, though sometimes a wee bit self-indulgent. After tracking the big crimson one through space after they lost it (long story) and having Kryten’s nanobots rebuild it and the crew (long story) the Dwarfers are arrested for stealing and crashing a Starbug, one of the ship’s transport vessels.

The following events follow the posse as they try to escape from Red Dwarf so they are not thrown in the brig with incredibly violent inmates, whilst a recently resurrected Rimmer tries to cheat his way to becoming an officer. The episodes are hilarious and call back to a lot of favourite Red Dwarf episodes throughout every series. They are also quite dramatic at times with some amazing scenes and brilliant plot twists.

Though Series VIII was lacking I do love this episode, though most others would probably disagree with it being on here.

8. Confidence and Paranoia (Series I)

This is considered one of the weakest episodes of the early series, but I really enjoy it. Lister contracts a mutated strain of pneumonia from looking around an area of the ship that hadn’t been decontaminated. Due to this, he gets solid hallucinations, such as raining fish or the 1546 Mayor of Warsaw spontaneously combusting. He also creates the embodiment of his confidence and paranoia. Confidence is a tanned game show host, whilst Paranoia is greasy and looks like Stan Laurel.

The fact that these ideas are embodied into what Lister views as confidence and paranoia is really interesting to me and sets up some great jokes. It even shows the lengths Rimmer has gone to to preserve himself rather than let Lister be with a hologram of Kochanski. It’s also possibly the only time we see the characters on the exterior of the ship during an episode.

7. Backwards (Series III)

Series III is one of my favourite series of Red Dwarf and it is in part due to this episode. This is the first episode that Kryten is a main part of the show and for his first adventure they send him and Rimmer through a time hole to the future-past... thing. Let me explain: time is backwards on Earth, with people being paid for spitting tea into teacups and getting jobs as dish-dirtiers. It takes place in the past for the Dwarfers, but technically it is in the future, after the Big Crunch (The opposite of the Big Bang. It’s a serious theory, too). Of course, shenanigans ensue.

Kryten and Rimmer realise that their forwards ways are a novelty, so become srehtorB esrsveR lanoitasneS ehT whilst Cat and Lister, who are searching for the others, think they are in Bulgaria.  This leads to some really intelligent use of the backwards footage, as well as the concept of feeling the effects of a fight that hasn’t happened yet (which is incredibly fun to watch). There’s even some hidden fun that can only be found when watching Backwards, uh, forwards (?), which is found on the Series III DVD.

6. Meltdown (Series IV)

If an AI breaks its programming and thinks independently does it now have a right to life? This is what Red Dwarf asks in the episode Meltdown. Not particularly a fan favourite, but a favourite of the cast, this episode has the crew go to a planet that is overrun with wax droids, like a robotic Madame Tussauds. Rimmer and Kryten go there first and are immediately taken captive by Elvis Presley and the Pope. Then Lister and Cat go there and appear in the company of Adolf Hitler, who then captures them. Yep, these things happen.

Turns out that this planet, Wax-world, has two warring factions: the good side and the evil side. Rimmer, being a lover of the military, decides that it is his time to shine and commands the good droids to help them defeat the evil droids. It’s clear Rimmer has gone quite insane, wishing to lead a charge under the cover of daylight. This leads to a final fight that is both funny but kinda hard hitting if you get into the plot enough.

The episode has a great balance between jokes and drama and seems to be a really under-rated episode that deserves more recognition.

5. Dimension Jump (Series IV)

Ace Rimmer. People familiar with Red Dwarf should already be thinking “Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast” and “What a guy!” at the mere mention of the name. Ace Rimmer is probably the best character in all of Red Dwarf simply because he is so freaking cool.

Dimension Jump does something great with the idea of a multiverse, having a new version of Rimmer who is better than him in almost every respect because of one choice in his life. Because of this choice he is completely different. Now he is heroic, confident, charming and modest. You know, the opposite of Rimmer.

If only for Ace this episode is brilliant. The episode itself is brilliant, but there isn’t a massive amount of plot, mostly focussing on the idea of the multiverse and pulling it off fantastically.

4. Quarantine (Series V)

Remember when I said that Series III is one of my favourite series? Well, Series V is my favourite. Partially thanks to this episode.

This episode has Rimmer contract a holo-virus and go slowly insane whilst also using the Space Corps Directives that Kryten has been using on him to his own advantage. Rimmer’s descent into insanity is laugh-out-loud hilarious, having Chris Barrie wear a gingham dress with military boots on. It also introduced a fan favourite character, Mr. Flibble, a penguin glove puppet that is sadly never seen again.

Quarantine also introduces the idea of positive viruses, such as luck, which gives the infected incredible amounts of luck until the immune system fights it off. The idea just really speaks to me and seems like brilliant science fiction.

The episode is probably one of the funniest episodes in all of Red Dwarf, with fantastic lines, an amazing performance from Chris Barrie and a perfect ending.

3. Marooned (Series III)

Rimmer and Lister don’t get on. At all. So why not have an episode where they are stuck together and have to make conversation!

Marooned is a brilliant episode. I wouldn’t say so for the humour value (it is funny) but rather the story. Through the characters’ conversation the characters are a lot more fleshed out and it really seems that they may have got off on the wrong foot initially, that had circumstances been different for both that they would have got along rather well.

It’s a really introspective episode that studies these characters, individually and as friends. You can tell that they do at least care about each other in some regard.  Well, that is unless it means Lister burning his guitar...

2. Queeg (Series II)

There aren’t many episodes that focus on Holly. The AI is always just kind of there, not really doing a massive amount, only chiming in for exposition and comic relief. He’s really taken for granted at times.

That’s essentially what Queeg is all about. After messing up multiple times the crew get increasingly pissed off with Holly. Suddenly, a new face shows up on the screens where Holly is usually shown: Queeg 500, the ship’s back-up computer. He’s there in case Holly’s actions endanger the crew.

At first the crew enjoy having Queeg around, but they slowly tire of him sticking strictly to regulations. He ultimately crosses the line when he forces both Lister and Cat to work for food. It’s then that they wish they had defended Holly when Queeg tried to take over.

This episode is absolutely hilarious from beginning to end with a fantastic twist that will just keep you laughing. In fact, it seems Norman Lovett was having trouble trying to fit his lines in at times due to the audience laughing so much. This is classic Red Dwarf at its finest.

But of course, there’s still one more episode to choose. Of course, it has to be:

1. Back to Reality (Series V)

Have a poll among Red Dwarf fans and it’s pretty much inevitable that Back to Reality will come out as number 1. I didn’t even realise that this episode was this popular before I started doing some research for this list. Back to Reality has always been my favourite episode of Red Dwarf and it isn’t hard to see why so many others love it either.

The final episode of Series V, it really raises the stakes and pulls out some brilliant comedy and drama. The fact that it changed the setting for the entire episode was a massive gamble, and would leave people wondering what the hell was going on. I’m getting ahead of myself a little here.

See, in this episode the crew crashes after discovering a squid that causes people to try to commit suicide, killing them all. But not really, as it turns out that they have been in the total immersion video game “Red Dwarf”. That’s right, everything up to this point has been in a video game and have spent the last four years playing it. The crew are no longer who they were before, but rather a random foursome who must now work together their real identities.

These identities are nothing like their characters. On top of that, an attendant to the game, played by Timothy Spall giving a spectacular performance, lets them know that they have done terribly, missing out on most of the clues within the game and only scoring 4%.

The rest of the episode involves them trying to get to grips with their new identities, such as the fan favourite Duane Dibbley, the dork that Cat has now become. It’s dramatic, dark and hilarious, but this is never jarring. It also has probably one of the best chase sequences ever, but you’ll have to see that for yourself, I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Back to Reality is just a brilliant episode. Probably the best written episode of the lot with a lot riding on it. It was risky, but it paid of incredibly well.

So there you go, my top 10 episodes of Red Dwarf. Of course, many of you will have a different opinion to me and that’s fine. Some of those episodes I know many don’t like, but I still really enjoy them. Also, there are many that I left off that I wanted to put on there, such as Holoship, Future Echoes, White Hole and Stasis Leak, and if this list was longer they would all be on there. But I challenged myself to put up only 10 and these were the ones I chose.

If you have any other episodes you prefer then please do comment.