Skipper is thoroughly artificial, from beginning to end.
PLOT
Kryten gifts Rimmer with a Quantum Skipper, a device that enables him to freely travel in the multiverse so that he might find a world where he could finally be happy.
ANALYSIS
'Artificial' was the word that went through my head the whole time as I was watching this. Every line of dialogue the cast say to each other is now so transparently designed to lead to a punchline or plot point. The cast themselves are so self-aware of the audience that they might as well be winking at the camera.
I mean, I know that what I've just said is technically true of the show since its beginning, but I feel like there used to be at least a token attempt at making these characters seem like real people with real emotions, wants and needs. As opposed to puppets.
All the dialogue in Skipper (both in good scenes and bad) goes something like this:
CAT: “Woooow, this thing is happening!”
KRYTEN: (cue Robert open-mouthed in shock)
RIMMER: (unnecessarily loud) “DAMN, this thing is happening! And it’s because of YOU!” (jabs finger)
KRYTEN: (cue Robert looking indignant)
LISTER: “This thing is happening, so we’ve gotta fix it, guuuuys!”
KRYTEN: (cue Robert nodding along)
Now that I've got that out of my system, let's address the storyline itself. Or rather, the two storylines, because this is one of those old-fashioned Red Dwarf scripts that decides to become a completely different thing in the second half. Although that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
The first half focuses on the crew dealing with a phenomenon where the opposite of all their choices happens. To put it bluntly, this is quite funny material when Craig and Danny are onscreen, and incredibly laboured when Robert and Chris are onscreen. More on that below. But suffice to say that about half of this could have been cut out.
The second and more interesting half focuses on Rimmer travelling through the multiverse. Now, while I don't think that the opposite choices skit should have been left out or lengthened, I do feel that having it in this particular episode takes away valuable time from a concept that's absolutely bursting with potential. Rimmer exploring different Red Dwarf realities.
I mean, really, the possibilities are infinite here. But maybe it's better that I was left absolutely craving for more? I suppose the episode did its job there. Still, that's more down to the concept than the execution.
But let's analyse these realities!
1) Basically a revisit to series 1, as an excuse to dress Chris Barrie up in the old JMC uniform and meet our old pals Norman Lovett and Mac MacDonald. It's cute fan service, but unfortunately it's also the weakest hour for both of the returning actors, especially Lovett. The decision to have Barrie standing on the side of the screen so that Lovett never looks directly at him was strange.
2) A universe where the Cat is the Rat. This was genuinely a very funny skit, I loved it. It's certainly the most creative one.
3) A series of briefly seen universes, none of which are particularly interesting save perhaps for the one where the crew are trying to sacrifice Rimmer in some satanic ritual. I could have spent a few more seconds there. Alas, Doug somehow forgot about the Skipper's need to recharge between jumps when he was writing this episode.
4) Another revisit to series 1 (!), where Lister and Rimmer are back at Earth, Rimmer is a married officer with children and Lister is the ship's captain. This skit took me offguard, because it's the first time the show featured some genuine pathos since... I dunno, Krysis? Series 10? Anyway, it's been a while.
Something about seeing these two in the old bunkroom and near Earth awoke feelings inside me. It's like a little tease of a happy ending after all this time, which is then cruelly snatched away by Rimmer's inability to cope with Lister being his senior. My only regret is that it's not Lister himself who sees Earth.
It's also worth noting that this entire story depends heavily on the audience completely ignoring series 7-8 when it comes to Rimmer. Ace is not even alluded to. I know Doug likes to be loosey-goosey with continuity, but given how much time was spent on Rimmer's development in those years, it does stand out.
CHARACTERS
The gulf of quality between the performances of Craig & Danny and Chris & Robert has become too immense to ignore. Even when the dialogue is poor, the first pair can save it and come across perfectly naturalistic, effortlessly funny.
Meanwhile, Robert has succumbed to the same 'background overacting syndrome' that plagued Craig in the first year. He makes a stupid face every single time someone says a line. It's incredibly distracting. And I've no idea what Chris is doing with Rimmer now, randomly roaring words that don't seem to need any emphasis. It feels so awkward and amateurish, two words that I never expected to associate with Chris Barrie.
As I said above, the best skit of the episode is Rat World, and it's carried entirely by Craig doing his best posh voice (he loves doing that, he keeps using that voice in interviews and commentaries) while Danny is going nuts in the amazing rat outfit. It's just comedy gold.
I've said many times on this blog how much I adore Norman Lovett as Holly. He's my favourite part of Red Dwarf, bar none. But he is just sad to watch here. Frail performance, stilted line delivery. He looks oddly shy (rusty? Sickly?). Even the way he's lit is poor, somehow.
Mac MacDonald seems somewhat tired too, although he does at least imbue his mediocre lines with some energy. The gag about Hollister abandoning ship is old hat, but at least worthy of a faint smile.
NOTES
- Doug seems to have forgotten that Lister and Rimmer already read Hollister's (different) crew appraisal files in Waiting for God.
- Hollister's files mention that Rimmer's three brothers are hugely respected members of the Space Corps. Wasn't Howard a vending machine repairman? I thought it was a lie that Howard told his family only. How did he fool the rest of the Corps?
- I liked the joke about "the chick with the really calm voice", but I would have preferred a recording of Holly tbh. It was always Holly who made the announcements. Sigh.
- There has to be a better descriptor for a terminal than 'wall console'. Rimmer makes it sound like he's handling a prop.
- "As Louis the XVI might have said, had he been in the exact same situation: "Et?" is one of the Chris Barrie lines that he delivers absolutely perfectly.
- If we're dealing with the multiverse here, why are all the decisions the crew make their exact opposites? Shouldn't it be random? When Kryten throws an apple, shouldn't Rimmer catch a Czecho-Slovakian traffic warden?
- Apparently, the Quantum Skipper works much like Quantum Leap, so it's strange that nobody questions the absence of the Rimmers from the other universes. Do they all visit our Rimmer's universe?
- I wonder why the final universe's Lister wasn't with Kochanski? They don't dwell on it, but there's such a sadness to the idea of Lister being married to a stripper named Kriss. Maybe Rimmer was right not to stay there. I feel like things went badly wrong somewhere. Or maybe it's the result of Lister adopting Rimmer's "up the ziggurat" philosophy?
- Two of the realities heavily reference The End.
- Kryten suggests a reality where he returns to the Nova 5 to reunite with his old crew, seen in skeletal form in Kryten.
- Rimmer briefly recaps the history of the Cats, which they learned in Waiting for God.
- Kochanski is mentioned. She was last seen in Back to Earth.
- The cultist versions of the crew hum Lister's Om song from Timeslides.
- The final version of Lister got rich off of Helium-7, the mineral discovered by the crew in Timewave.
- The crew play 'match-sticks' at the end, the same version of poker they played in Cured.
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