The Rimmer salute is the perfect ending to an episode!

You'll see that Hattie is an excellent Holly. She channels Norman's performance and is an expert in the deadpan. Her facial expressions are priceless. The bigger budget and excellent practical effects really make the show work and bring it a quality that most sitcoms would only dream of.

I think a large part of why series 3 is regarded as the point where the show "became good" is because of many of its episodes (especially the first half) being such fan favourites. Marooned is a really popular episode, not just with the fans, but with the creators too, as both Chris Barrie and Craig Charles have named it as one of their favourites. And it's easy to see why, the whole thing is basically a two-hander between Lister and Rimmer, with the pair engaging in various conversations of both a humorous and emotional nature. And it's also one of the very few episodes where we can genuinely feel sorry for Rimmer by the end, so that alone makes it quite a special one

I don't know who told you that _Red Dwarf_ "gets good" at series 3, but they did you a disservice, if it made you expect some kind of miraculous jump in hilarity. _Red Dwarf_ was good from the start. Series 3 is just where it first hits on the "vibe" (and production value) that it kept for the rest of its run.

One of the few episodes that makes me feel bad for Rimmer.

If you’re wondering why the sleeping quarters are different, it’s just they have moved to the officers quarters

Series 3 is where Red Dwarf settles in with its main cast, which creates a much greater set of interpersonal dynamics. Series 1 and 2: Lister doesn't like Rimmer, Rimmer doesn't like Lister, and Cat doesn't much listen to anybody. Series 3: Lister has a sometimes-ally in Kryten (who serves humans), as does Rimmer (because Kryten follows rules). Cat is slightly more interactive with the others, and Rimmer and Lister have more of a frenemy-type relationship. As a consequence of the change in relationships, the show gets a lot "bigger" in terms of the stories it can tell.

'Twelve?........................................................................................ You can't of been a full member of the golf club then' 😂

"Say goodbye to Holly" - What are you talking about? She's still there!

Of course no-one warned you about anything, we wanted to avoid spoilers.

In this episode you really see the better side of Rimmer, and how all his time with Lister has started making him a better person. He's still... well, Rimmer... but he's evolving in to the well-rounded character fans know and love.

Adding more colour is exactly the reason why they had a costume change for Rimmer, I do have a suggestion for a sign off for you, involving kippers, but it won't make sense to you guys for another series and a half 😂

Even though the series changes drastically starting in series 3, the scenes and dynamic of the Lister/Rimmer bunk room relationship seen in series 1 & 2 are really the heart of the show

One thing you notice on rewatches is that Robert Llewellyn still doesn't quite have Kryten figured out yet. His voice pattern is off.

In the books, the story about Rimmer losing his virginity while in the back seat of a Bentley is revealed to be a massive twist of the truth. He did base it on a real event in his life, but changed the ending. I guess Lister was too stressed to remember Rimmer told him he'd only made love once.

Rimmer and Lister had the most awkward of bromances. This classic episode bringing them together shows that Lister was the closest thing to a friend for Rimmer whereas to Lister, Rimmer was a necessary evil in his life.

Very British of the subtitles to mention "speaking in a foreign language" every time time Rimmer speaks in French.

Polymorph is the next episode and its one of my favourites!

Remember all that stuff i said in earlier videos about Lister's nobility underneath his shiftless, unambitious, often-disgusting exterior? In this episode, we see him sink to probably his lowest point, morally, while ironically, Rimmer rises to make one of his most selfless acts, and his speech just twists the knife into Lister, deeper and deeper; Craig Charles does a lot to sell how much Lister feels like a rat for what he did. And I don't think you ever see their relationship recover from this. P.S.: NOW!....

Maybe my favourite episode of the show, just an amazing character piece of Lister and Rimmer. I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Barrie (Rimmer) and talked to him about this episode, he said it was his favourite of the show because it felt like a play. Like waiting for godot in space, such a lovely man too!

The reason Kryten sounds so weird in this episode is it was his first time (I think) playing the character, and they hadn't figured out the accent yet. Hence the kind of cod Canadian thing he's got going on Glad this one hit better, since it's one of the best episodes of the show. It's really Red Dwarf distilled - Lister and Rimmer in a confined space, wearing on and sniping at each other. At the same time, it's good that they expanded the show a little from here, especially adding Kryten as a second (effective) physical presence. It increases the number of types of episodes they can do exponentially

One way to look at the whole new look of the show, Galifrey Gals, is this. Red Dwarf is a huge ship !... HUGE HUGE HUGE ! So it stands to reason that the two lowest ranked crew members had the shabbiest accommodations on board and... well... let's face it... Lister isn't the most motivated individual... so three years in, he and Cat are just getting around to seeing the nice bits and since having the run of the ship now choosing the nicer crew bedrooms. Same with Blue Midget and the new Starbug. Remember "Thanks For the Memory" that Blue MIdget was a chugging old clap-trap of a vehicle that Lister may have attained permission to fly before "The End"... but Starbugs... see how robust and versatile they are ? They would have been kept well away from the joyriding Lister and unauthorized non-crew. And Rimmer... well his promotion prospects have been proven nil so he might as well have a spiffy new uniform and hat ! And Holly changing from a male AI to a female AI... well Norman Lovett didn't want to come back didn't he ? You just imagine it that way and pause the title crawl at the beginning of "Backwards" and it's all good...

Some of the best comedy is just two people trading jokes for a while. They switched it around to make Lister the bad guy for once.

By the way, Mike Tucker who was a model maker and props effects expert from Classic Doctor Who and new Who put a model of the TARDIS in the shuttle bay of Red Dwarf, which is visible in this episode. Did you spot it? (It is very small but it's there)

I always felt that series 3 is where they felt they could start experimenting. the 1st series was locked due to low budget and they had to establish that it could work, the 2nd was where they started to feel comfortable and were able to set stories outside of Red Dwarf itself in some capacity but were still limited. the 3rd series, thanks to being established, having a larger budget and new filming location, was able to start trying new things and seeing what new things they can bring in and expand their (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) writing chops. We can see this by the virtue of all 6 episodes of series 3 having different vibes to each other built upon the same core, episode 1 being the most explorative and experimental while episode 2 is more tightly closed and much more like a 1st series episode. You can see this more with series 4 which takes what was learned via the ratings and opinions of these episodes and brings everything in closer to the new 'status quo' that is fundamentally kept this way until the 7th series which changes the rules of the show but tries to keep the same type of writing and flow. Even the 6th series feels the same way as previous, just further evolved at the point on what works and doesn't work and gives us some of the best rated episodes the show has ever produced (such as the all time fan favorite "Gunmen of the Apocalypse"). I understand the point of jumping into the 3rd series feeling a bit like getting whiplash, especially if you go straight from zero Dwarf knowledge to binging the first 2 series and jumping straight into the 3rd. Those of us who grew up with the show were excited about these changes as we'd had almost a year to wait for a new series back during it's airing. I find that people who grew up with the show enjoyed the series 3 upgrade much more of what series 8 does, which had that whiplash effect on most of us even though you could say series 7 tried to prepare us for the changes we got. Those who binge the show seem to have similar issues with series 3 as the gals do, but by comparison find it much easier to jump into and enjoy series 8 so... just one of those things I suppose. Personally, I'm one of those Dwarfers who much prefer series 1 through 6, with 7 and up being disappointments... though I really loved 'Back to Earth' and consider it one of the shows many highlights and even enjoyed 'The Promised Land' which in all honesty FEELS like a 6th series episode stretched to a movie length to me (and considering it's technically based on a scrapped 7th series episode makes sense in that regard).

There is a bit of Ret-Con here because this is after the writers published a book called Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers. Their first novel. And a great story taking elements of the first two series as if there were no TV production limitations. So elements of the book have ended up in the series.

You may not have got the 5 turn up at once joke, because that’s a reference to public transport (specifically buses) in cities

This is an episode that could easily have fit in the first two series, because it's pretty much all on one set and all about the Rimmer-Lister relationship. You can basically sum up the difference between series 1 & 2 and series 3-on by saying that the show was originally a relationship-based comedy in a sci-fi setting, and it became a sci-fi comedy that features a dysfunctional relationship. It's a change of emphasis, not a completely new show. But the change is quite significant as a viewing experience.

So, I wasn't even recommended this channel on KZfaq. It was randomly on my GOOGLE feed. Needless to say, I am very much enjoying your reactions to this show. It is hands down my all-time favorite! There are SO many good moments coming, and I am very excited to be along for your journey!

Paula, were you away from your seat when Rimmer & Kryten were talking outside the Starbug? Starbug was clearly established to be a shuttle stowed *inside* Red Dwarf!

There are some notable jumps, made all the more noticeable because you've gone straight from season 2 right into 3. Originally, the gap between seasons was fairly long. Plus, a lot of fans jumped on at S.3 because it got a better time slot, so more people discovered it then

I think the suggestion that this should have been the season opener is a fantastic shout. Your logic for it was solid & I'm totally sold.

I'm so glad you're both feeling more reassured now that the show hasn't changed so much that you no longer care for it. 👍 I had a feeling you would. There are actually multiple Starbug shuttles on board Red Dwarf, as well as other varieties of shuttlecraft such as the Blue Midget, which they previously used in Thanks For The Memory. Having lots of shuttle craft was a necessity when the ship had a full complement of crew members who needed to travel from the Dwarf to either Titan or Earth as the spaceship itself was too big to easily make planetfall. A bit of trivia pertaining to this episode, the dog food Lister eats is actually tuna doctored up with a meat jelly to make it look like dog food (which to me sounds only marginally less disgusting than eating actual dog food would have been). And Alexander the Great's Chief Eunuch was a Persian named Bagoas, who was one of the sexually versatile Alexander's lovers.

My head canon reason for Rimmer’s costume change is that as Red Dwarf is now heading homeward and picking up mailpods etc, the ship got a hologram hard/software update plus news of JMC updating its uniforms.

Please keep reacting to these! Red Dwarf was a massive thing for me growing up and its cool seeing people get into it. Season 5 is so fucking good. Especially the last episode.

I have such nostalgia, I remember watching this late night on PBS of all places. Got me hooked on Britt culture. This and Mighty Boosh.

It's cool, as long as you have your towel theres no need to panic about Kryten

That was my favourite reaction of yours so far. You are so right that this should have been the first episode of the series, it's one of the top 10 episodes IMO. I am so happy you are doing 2 episodes a week, i look forward to these uploads so much, you are both so awesome and i love watching you... Girls From The Dwarf!

Someone at the BBC loved Backwards - It got bumped up the show order for the series. - Red Dwarf nailed their name to the concept of a backward time loop long before Benjamin Button. The Marooned episode had its charms Cat was back to himself and Lister and Rimmer had more time to grow -A Les Paul copy made from Camphor wood - just irreplaceable. Lister was exposed as having the same flaws he saw in Rimmer.

Don't be surprised with no warning about Kryten being different.. .you have been EXCEEDINGLY clear on your thoughts about spoilers, so it's hardly surprising. RD is a great series, but it does suffer from tone shifts between series. It's a reflection of time passed between some series and the behind the scenes nightmare production issues... just to get it made. (not so much drama... just difficult)

This is IMO one of the best episodes of Red Dwarf. It's mostly just Lister and Rimmer, and there's no major action, but the story it tells is so impactful. Craig Charles has confirmed - no - it wasn't actually dog food that he ate, it was tuna and jelly, but he says it was so revolting it may as well have been dog food. :) The line about dogs licking their testicles - I actually read in the novel before I saw the episode. I was at school and absolutely lost it.

yay! still with us lol

The set change was explained away by more of the ship becoming decontaminated, and lister and rimmer moving into officer quarters

One of my favorite episodes - pulling Rimmer apart mentally and checking what makes him tick

Great reaction video Gals, this is one of my favourite episodes, I think I am correct in saying that this was the first episode of series 3 they filmed but there was not much of Kryten in it so they decided to swap them around to introduce Kryten as a new main character in the series, expect to see them exploring more with Starbug in future episodes, there are a lot of interesting concepts to come as well as great episodes.

This was always one of my favs because it relied so heavily on sitcom dialogue, narrative between Lister and Rimmer

This was a good one, a real return to form. I remember at the time £24,000 seemed a lot (it'd be the equivalent of about £74,000 today) but in 2077 it wouldn't be worth that much - and it'd be worth pennies three million years on. The virginity bit seems a continuity error, but you can imagine that after Thanks For The Memory they redid the mind wipe stuff, and that Rimmer is lying here. Bigger continuity issues are him being able to touch the communication button and be able to smell. But I'm glad the two of you have this take on the show, the core concept is better IMO.

Big test next episode - gives a better idea of the future direction of the show than Backwards did, but less jarring because it's all set on Red Dwarf.

If I remember correctly, this was actually the first episode of series 3 filmed and is why Kryten has so few lines. There was also a comment in the DVD cast commentary where Chris Barrie (I think) said this always seemed like a perfect 2-man act to perform on the small stage.

In his first few episodes, Robert Llewellyn is struggling to find the correct tone of speech and mannerisms for Kryten. Or else the show runners were struggling with how they wanted him to act. Either way, he'll soon settle down into the Kryten persona we Dwarfers all came to know and love. It's not quite the same as Kryten in that original Season 2 episode, but it's great. You'll see.

Your reactions to Red Dwarf have mirrored mine so far and like you I was shocked, confused and worried by Backwards (while still finding it funny) and was anxious as to whether the series I loved was gone. This episode was a much needed reassurance and kept me on board. Or off-board and crashed on an ice moon. Whatever.

This episode is pure GOLD, absolute classic, If you're looking for another British Sci fi show to react to take a look at "Life on Mars (2006-2007)".

How do you not see the difference in the way Lister is dressed? Season one and two, he was dresses in ship issue pants, boots and jacket with various t-shirts or Hawaiian shirts. Season three on, he wears a leather biker jacket with airbrushed image of Wilma Flintstone riding a rocket on the back and adorned with various badges, patches and pins, with black pants with bandana around the leg. and then eventually motocross style boots and pants as well. not to mention the hat gets way more furry.

I can get why you would have wanted to see this as the first episode of series 3, and easing in, but the other way, sort of being thrown into the deep end and then coming back with this story, lets viewers be reassured that the heart of the show is still the same, like it did for you. The new Kryten will grow on you!!

If you guys wanna use a different name for the Red Dwarf reactions there is one that you can use. It's something that'll come up in the later series but it can be used. The Girls from the Dwarf or Dwarfers

This episode reminds me alot of the porridge episode a night in as its mostly 2 characters talking and you really get to know them after just a half hour.

I love see you late alligator... in a while crocodile to sign off and i think adding the Rimmer salute is the icing on the cake for the perfect end to a reaction

Rimmers outfit change is a thing because they wanted to show that prim and proper Rimmer from the first two seasons has started to mellow out a bit his costume will change as tbe series goes on but it's not a bad thing

OH BOY ! "Marooned" and "Me²" I think are tied fro the number two spot in my favorite Red Dwarf episodes ! Looking forward to this !

Most of the costume budget went on cat's clothes at least one per episode while Rimmer being a hologram doesn't need clean clothes so only changes one per season kryton doesn't wear clothes and Lister only changes his when they start to stink.

Love how you both take on the salute as fun. I think at school no one would ever want to be Rimmer. But it’s not really a show that you want to play out it’s sort of be there with them.

Funny that you said that this should have been the first episode, this was Robert Llewellyn's first scene he recorded for the show as Kryten when he says "Blue Midget is loaded".

Great episode as it shows a great chemistry between Rimmer and Lister even though they have different viewpoints i have to disagree though that this would had been a good starting point to Series 3 because the previous episode helps people get settled too the changes sooner rather than later i like Series 1 and 2 but you have to remember they were on a lower budget now that Series 3 is more of a higher budget the creators can do what they wanted to do with the show originally and i think "Backwards" was the perfect starting point to show off what they can do. In regards to Rimmer's uniform change you might want to get used to that as it constantly changes as the series goes on without explanation. Holly is still there it's just that it's a different actor so no goodbye was needed lol.

There was some other thing I couldn't discuss before, what was it? Oh!! You two predicting Rimmer would be humanized! Yeah, you nailed that. I wanted to say "oh! Wait until you get to 'Thanks For The Memory' and 'Marooned'"! But you're here now. So. Yeah.

This is one of my favourite episodes, certainly of series 3, because it feels like a return to tight scripts of series 1, the majority of it basically being a one set, two character piece. It has a good pace to it, a good balance of humour and pathos, and explores the relationship between Rimmer and Lister like the first few episodes did. If any episode could be an act in a stage play, it's this one. It is for these reasons that it is amongst the fan favourites.

I do agree that season 3 is really jarring at first. I still feel that way when watching in order now. Then again I still think season 2 is one of the very best seasons.

Can't think of red dwarf without thinking about the dog food scene. More great episodes to come. Great video ladies.

Craig Charles & Chris Barrie always wanted to do this as a 2 man live stage show.

As far as Rimmer's outfit goes - and this isn't really a spoiler, depending on how much you want to know you might rather not know this. If so don't click the "Read more"... I'm pretty sure it's just something different at this point and it becomes canon later that that outfit (or rather a variation of it) is the default hologram outfit. But that canonization only really happens once a certain episode happens. Only after that episode they cement that the outfit (sort of) is part of the hologram and there are aspects of it that represent different things.

This is one of the actor's favourite episodes.

Us people that like series 1-2 better had to explain "yes, the effects budget and set budget gets better, but Holly goes away, and Kryten is a different actor, and the tone feels a little different, and you'll have to adapt a bit, and blah, blah blah" but all of that is spoilers. The "it gets better" people were allowed to be vague, so they seemed louder.

I think the best way to look at the first episode of season 3 is like a soft reset, a way of introducing long term cast changes and elements like Starbug.

You are going to love the next episode, its one of the best of the series.

got to love starbug

Rimmer's outfit changes color as the seasons roll on.

I think Backward was to try and grab new viewers with the increased budget . This was character based and back to basics giving Craig and Chris an entire episode . Kryten will gradually add a new dimension to the crew although he hasn't done a lot so far . Good to see you are settling down to the new format , there is some great sci-fi and comedy coming up .

This is still my all-time favourite episode of Red Dwarf. 🙂

And now polymorph. Oh yes.

One of the best episodes of TV

You make a decent point that as far as introducing the audience to the new look and tone of S3 is concerned, this might have been a better opening to the season. However, Backwards introduced Kryten far better. I can just imagine if this had been S3E1, perhaps you'd have said _'...but Kryton hardly said or did anything, is there a point to him? And if so, why didn't they introduce him better?'_ 🤷

I agree Backwards was too avant garde for a 1st episode of a season

Each episode has some ups and downs, but in the end you'll always love it. Salute!

I remember feeling the same way back in the day, but excellent episodes like this one Marooned, showed the series was still on track with the core of what made it great with 1&2. If I'm being honest I never cared too much for the aesthetic change in the style of the show, but there were still many funny episodes to come so it didn't matter too much.

As for upgrades to the ship and Rimmer I always said to myself that it is due to upgrades made by the scutters between seasons, instead of budget, because in theory the scutters are always updating and fixing the ship, like when the vending machine had a lisp and it was reported to the scutters so it would not be beond the realms of possibly that they update the whole ship as and when necessary.

I know it might be too early for you to say if you're still enjoying it or not, but it was cool of you to give it a chance in the first place. It's been fun to share it with you.

I'm pretty sure this episode was filmed first for the series because you can clearly hear Robert Llewellyn is still trying to work out his Kryten voice.

There's actually jobs for dog food tasters. I remember seeing on the TV one employed by a supermarket to taste the dog food that they sell.

Woah, loving the speed of these Dwarf reaction vids. Keep it up, Gal pals!

Please continue with the Dwarf 😊

This is one of my favorite episodes.

I was Alexander the Great's chief eunuch!

If you listen to the closing theme, you'll see it's also subtly different from season 1-2.

G Gals, I know you are busting for more Kryten. There is a similarity with a Terminator & Kryten in that they both have learning computers. K learns to rebel more at times, develop rudimentary emotions, lie and be an annoying dork.

Nice review Robin Softshoes and co.

Keep going ladies👍🏽❤️❤️

Another quality marooned cat video!

This episode has the best script

On a sidenote… Both old and new Holly, (both of wh names escape me at the moment), or stand-up comedians, and if you take a look at the work away from Red Dwarf you'll be amazed just how similar they are in real life.

I might be wrong, but I think this was the first episode that was shot for S3... I seem to remember Robert Llewelyn saying that the first lines he ever spoke on the show as Kryten were where he appears at the end. I think the main reason this wasn't used as an opening episodes was simply because Cat and Kryten are barely in it.

Top 5 episode for me - Craig Charles and Chris Barrie just kill this little one act play.