Beyond a Joke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Red Dwarf episode | |
| "Beyond a Joke" | |
| Image:Beyond a Joke (Red Dwarf).jpg | |
| Episode № | 6 |
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| Airdate | February 21, 1997 |
| Writer(s) | Robert Llewellyn and Doug Naylor |
| Director | Ed Bye |
| Guest star(s) | Don Henderson as Simulant |
| Series VII January 17 – March 7, 1997 |
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| List of all Red Dwarf episodes... | |
Beyond a Joke was the sixth episode to air in the seventh series of Red Dwarf.
[edit] Synopsis
Starbug passes an old derelict spaceship, the SS Centauri, which Kryten scavenges for supplies. He finds some live lobsters in stasis and brings them aboard Starbug to cook a fine supper. This is convenient, since it is exactly five years to the day since Kryten was rescued from the wreck of the Nova 5 and he was looking for a way to celebrate the anniversary (unbeknown to the rest of the crew who have forgotten what day it is).
Meanwhile, Kochanski does some scavenging of her own on the SS Centauri, and finds some new software to use with the virtual reality suite aboard Starbug she believes may come in useful. Kochanski is fed up with the juvenile activities of Lister and the Cat, and so decides to educate them on the finer points of etiquette by introducing them to a virtual reality rendition of "Pride and Prejudice Land" in "Jane Austen World". Meanwhile Kryten's plans for a lobster supper he had been preparing all day are scuppered by this.
Kryten's jealousy gets out of hand (in previous episodes of the series, his behaviour has becoming increasingly erratic), and he enters the virtual reality simulation and begins assassinating the virtual characters. He then loads a T-72 tank from a World War 2 game, and blows up the lakeside gazebo in which Lister, the Cat and Kochanski are having tea and crumpets.
Back in Starbug, whilst having their lobster supper, Lister suggests brown ketchup to go with it. This is too much for Kryten and he goes beserk, literally blowing his top - his head explodes. After fitting Kryten with a spare head, that head too blows up. This happens numerous times until all Kryten's spare heads have exploded. Kochanski does not know why this is happening, and Lister suggests that they board the SS Centauri again and look for some spare mechanoid heads there and perhaps any technology which may explain why this is happening to Kryten. However they discover a Rogue Simulant captain (played by Don Henderson) has since commandeered the Centauri.
Kochanski and the Cat come aboard the Centauri pretending to be GELFs and dressed as Kinitawowi tribesmen with whom the Simulants have an alliance with, and enter trade negotiations with the Simulant. They bring Lister on a leash and pretend as though he is their slave. Meanwhile a real Kinitawowi tribesman, a partner of the Simulant, ransacks Starbug and steals the remains of Kryten. The Simulant and the GELF then escape with Kryten aboard the 'Centauri. The other crew cannot catch up as the Centauri is much faster than Starbug, travelling at warp speed, which Starbug cannot do.
On board the Centauri, Kryten has the defect fixed which caused him to blow up his heads (although it is still not at this point explained why this was) by the Simulant. Kryten is then prepared for market as it seems the Simulant intends to sell the mechanoid to the GELFs. Kryten meets another mechanoid named Able who is a servant to the Simulant and who, it turns out, is from the same batch as Kryten (a 4000 series) and carries the same serial number. This means that Kryten and Able are, in effect, brothers. However Able is a "zoney" - he is addicted to a narcotic known as "outrozone" that is specially designed for mechanoids. Abuse of this drugs has corrupted Able's circuit boards. It takes Able about twenty seconds to recall his own name.
Kryten learns some depressing truths about his creator, Professor Mamet, and some truths about his model of mechanoid. Kryten, along with the entire 4000 series of mechanoid, were in fact designed as an insult to John Warburton, a bio-engineer who was once engaged to Professor Mamet. After Warburton jilted Mamet the day before their wedding, Mammet designed the series 4000 mechanoid in his image for revenge. The series 4000 mechanoids were bumbling buffoons; a caricature of his fussiness and pomposity. All negative thoughts and emotions (such as jealousy, guilt, envy, frustration, and insecurity) build up in a "mind negadrive", which when full would cause the mechanoid's head to blow up. This was supposedly a likeness to when Warburton would "blow".
The pair of mechanoid brothers escape to Starbug.
In the end, the Centauri attacks Starbug but the Dwarfers are saved by Able, who sacrifices his life for them. Able uses an escape pod to fly out to the attacking vessel, and activates Kryten's "mind negadrive", projecting Kryten's pent-up negative emotions onto the Centauri. The negative emotions envelop the attacking vessel in electronic form. The Simulant captain, overcome with grief and despair because of the effect, sets off the auto destruct sequence aboard the Centauri. The force of the explosion causes Able's escape pod to crash into an asteroid with some force, killing him instantly.
Kryten mourns Able, but at the same time is happier knowing that he had a brother, and that in the end Able gave Kryten reason to be proud of him. Kryten realises that he has evolved into something "beyond a joke".
The episode ends with Kryten rewriting the "Jane Austen World" virtual reality scenario to "Curry World". The food becomes too hot even for Lister's single remaining tastebud.
[edit] Trivia
- Robert Llewellyn (who plays Kryten) helped Doug Naylor write this episode.
- Robert Llewellyn wrote this episode with the intent to feature very little of Kryten due to his increasing dislike for the application of the Kryten makeup. After numerous revisions of the script, Kryten unexpectedly became an integral part of the episode, and Llewellyn also had to play the part of another droid, Kryten's brother, called Able. This meant he had to wear the Kryten makeup twice as much, as Able was played by Llewellyn in the same costume coloured green instead of black.
- This was the last episode of Red Dwarf to feature two popular villanious races of the franchise: Rogue Simulants and GELFs both make their last appearances in the show.
- Whilst filming the "Pride and Prejudice World" scenes in the lakeside gazebo, Danny John-Jules lost his "cat teeth" as he ate grapes. Production had to be halted whilst the cast and crew searched for the fake fangs.
- The model for the Rogue Simulant battle cruiser was made from old answering machines.
- The Rogue Simulant captain was played by late veteran British actor Don Henderson. Science fiction fans may remember Henderson from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) in which he portrayed High General Tagge.
- This episode proved to be Don Henderson's last work in the world of acting, and he died weeks after shooting his scenes for this episode. Henderson was in the latter stages of terminal throat cancer during filming, and his husky voice was not a special effect as many viewers believed but due to his condition. The crew and cast of Red Dwarf recall their fondness for Henderson on the commentary for the Red Dwarf series seven DVD, in which he is referred to as a "sweet and friendly old man".
