M-Corp has a fantastic premise, but it's one of Doug Naylor's most slapdash scripts.
PLOT
Red Dwarf's software is finally updated, revealing that the JMC was bought out by a company known as M-Corp. M-Corp sinks its hooks into Lister, forcing him to purchase basic amenities like water and the ability to speak, and charging in his lifespan.
ANALYSIS
As a villain, M-Corp is one of the show's best. A spot-on satire of Apple (incidentally, Apple has been compared with Big Brother since the 1980s, very appropriate for Red Dwarf), a timely parody of global conglomerates taking over our lives and monetizing everything. Aniter with her sickly sweet personality is a terrifying avatar for the company, reminiscent of your typical advertiser. It's a threat straight out of Black Mirror, a warning about how something we recognise and live with can go totally amuck. It should work. The blueprint for a classic episode is absolutely there, especially with Lister being reminded of his loneliness when the rest of the crew disappears.
The problem is everything around it. There are a shocking amount of plot holes. Like, why is Lister the only one affected? Surely M-Corp would want to sell products to holograms, if not mechanoids? Why does it turn the Cat invisible? The Cat is not owned by anyone (unless M-Corp regards the Cat's ownership of himself as competition?).
And speaking of ownership, why does it turn Rimmer invisible? Rimmer is surely owned by JMC, which is owned by M-Corp. Actually, why does anything on Red Dwarf turn invisible? Most of it is JMC-owned! How did Lister go from being forced to buy things to happily asking for them? Where is the M-Corp facility supposed to be, and who maintains it? Why does Chippy's old software cause his monitor to explode? It's called software for a reason. And if it died, how can it install new software?
Chippy - and the entire heart attack plotline - is only part of the episode so Doug can reboot Lister's brain for fan service. It looks like the episode might have been about Lister's old age for a draft or two, given the way it starts and how M-Corp ages him. The compulsive buying (which comes back into play in The Promised Land) might be a reference to pensioners? But whatever theme Doug was going for there is muddled and lost.
It's really a shame, because if you ignore that none of it makes a lick of sense, there is so much value there. There's definitely a Rob Grant influence in the satire, it's got teeth. M-Corp is very effectively creepy and insidious in its advertising. But it's got so many basic logic issues that I can't look past it. Maybe I could if the tone was closer to series 8, which operates entirely on cartoon logic. In an episode that's clearly aiming for a more sober tone, though, no.
CHARACTERS
Helen George is the standout as M-Corp's ever-smiling, ever-helpful AI interface. I mean, it's not exactly an innovative character, but she plays it spectcularly well and I'm honestly just relieved that the role is performed without veering into camp.
Ian Boldsworth's Steve bears a striking resemblance to Jack Black's Steve from the Minecraft movie. Probably played the role the same way too. I don't know, I'm never watching it. But Boldsworth was a goofy hobbit, as Lister put it, and that's Jack Black to a tee.
I'm not a fan of Rimmer celebrating Lister's heart attack. I know there are plenty of moments he did something similar in the older seasons, but to be honest, I never liked those moments either. Rimmer's best reaction to something happening to Lister is in Confidence and Paranoia, where he is desperately urging the Cat to get off his behind and help him. He should be concerned. Even leaving aside basic decency and the fact that Lister is the reason he's switched on, they've been together for years now. I just don't buy the over-the-top gleeful attitude, even as a joke.
Though the story is supposedly about Lister, I can't say I've got much to say here, because pathos is avoided here like it's the plague. Even that one montage that everyone talks about is pretty much just a comedy sketch being carried by Howard Goodall's mournful score.
NOTES
- Danny John-Jules can still dance like nobody's business.
- For some reason, the M-Corp teleportation effect isn't used in the scene where they send all the products to Red Dwarf. So the boxes just pop into the set.
- Lister's memory wipe is very Uhura-esque. Remember when she lost her memory in that one episode of Star Trek, and the crew had to teach her how to read? It's remarkable what tropes survive into this day and age.
- I loved the Cat stealing Lister's food. Honestly, there could have been way more gags about Lister running into the invisible crew and not having a clue what they're doing.
- M-Corp is really just Norweb when you think about. Crazy to think that a throw-away joke in series 1 is now an entire episode in series 12.
- Also, unless I missed something, the episode seems to be implying that M-Corp was behind humanity's destruction? I'm surprised they didn't focus more on that.
- Fan service aside, why would the memory-wiped Lister be dragging a cart full of tools around?
- Kryten reboots Red Dwarf using something he found in Captain Hollister's lead box.
- Rimmer mentions having a Space Cadet lunch box. He previously talked about being a cadet in Marooned and Meltdown.
- The Cat reminds Rimmer that he already told the crew the story about how Uncle Frank kissed him. This took place in The Last Day.
- The final scene recreates the first scene of The End.
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