Psirens is a pitch-perfect introduction to the new adventure-themed era of Red Dwarf.
PLOT
Red Dwarf has been stolen, forcing the crew to pursue it on their remaining Starbug shuttle. In order to catch up with it, they must make their way through a starship graveyard populated by 'Psirens' - creatures that shapeshift into seductresses in order to devour brains.
ANALYSIS
I was actually caught offguard by how much I enjoyed this story. I think it's the pacing that really makes it click. More often than not, Red Dwarf will just throw you into the story and then there's like four or five other crazy twists along the way. Psirens is very patient. It takes its time to familiarise you with the new setup. Then we take another while to explore the graveyard. Slowly, the Psirens are set up as antagonists. And then the climax is as action-packed and funny as one could hope for. It feels refreshing. The absence of Red Dwarf (and the fantasy elements being toned down by quite a lot) introduces an element of danger that's never really existed in the show before. Knowing that the crew can't go back home at the end of each episode makes me so much more aware of their surroundings. Everything matters a lot more. What they can scavenge and what they'll encounter is more important. The smaller Starbug sets also create a welcomed sense of claustrophobia harkening back to the isolation of the first two-three seasons. All in all, the show feels more compelling and less manic now.
CHARACTERS
It's interesting to observe how the actors respond to the new format. I feel like Craig Charles and Robert Llewelyn thrive the most. Craig gets to portray Lister in a more overtly heroic fashion (although the traditional slob gags are still there) while Kryten has never been more invaluable to the crew, being single-handedly responsible for all the maintenance and sciencey stuff. They make most of the decisions and get all the best lines.
The Cat is reinvented as an ace pilot with the wonderfully impossible ability to sniff danger through space. It's all good fun, but he is also so far removed from what Cat used to be that it could almost be a different person. The amusing selfishness, the dancing, it's gone. Instead, his dimness is dialed so far up that his contributions to the dialogue mainly consist of "we're deader than corduroy" style jokes.
Poor Chris Barrie. Poor, poor Chris. Rimmer is by design a neurotic incompetent, which doesn't translate well to the professional atmosphere of a space cockpit. I find it difficult to believe that the man who failed the astro-navigation exam 11 times has anything useful to contribute, and indeed it's never really explained what his function is on the ship. Cat and Lister pilot, Kryten scans, Lister also deals with weaponry. Rimmer seems like a spare. His insane ambitions, his rivalry with Lister and his paranoia have all been tucked away, leaving Barrie with the role of acting like a grumpy prat while looking vaguely uncomfortable. It's not hard to see why he left the following season.
NOTES
- It was a joy to see Clare Grogan one last time, still with that iconic pinball smile and Scottish groove.
- Kryten claims to prefer 'partnership whist' to sex. I had no idea what partnership whist is, so I looked it up. Apparently it's a card game from the 18th-19th centuries. What a nerd.
- Canonically, Psirens is meant to take place directly after the mission to Esperanto in the previous episode, so where did they get the extra seats and consoles for the cockpit?
- Why do the crew not panic when the meteor (that's bigger than King Kong's first dump of the day) is about to smack the ship? I know Lister had a plan, but the rest of them act totally uninterested despite saying they're about to die. Poor direction.
- Pete Tranter's sister was haaaaaaawt.
- What was the reason for having Rimmer absent from the climax (due to power failure)? It did at least convey that they're deprived of resources, but apart from that, he could've easily been there.
- Kryten must be incredibly well designed to survive as a cube. That whole bit was incredible, by the way.
- Lister hallucinates Kochanski fighting alongside their twin sons, Jim and Bexley (but not the same Jim and Bexley that Lister himself gave birth to in Parallel Universe).
- Kryten suggests Red Dwarf may have been captured by 'rogue droids, genetically engineered life forms or figments of Mr Lister's imagination made solid by some weird space ray", alluding to the events of Justice, Camille and Confidence and Paranoia respectively.
- Holly is mentioned.
- Kochanski's boyfriend Tim was first mentioned in the novel Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers.
RIMMER: "Gentlemen, as we're all aware, we have lost Red Dwarf. This is not the time for small-minded, petty recrimination. The time for that is when Lister is court-martialled after we get back to Earth."
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