Red Dwarf: S05E05: Demons and Angels

The show opened with an amazing experiment to duplicate a strawberry using an adapted Matter Paddle. The duplicated signal is split three ways, thereby triplicating the object. In this case a strawberry (the last one in the universe according to Lister).

The GOOD strawberryRimmer is a little more skeptical and poo poo’s the idea. The experiment however, works! They taste the duplicated fruit, one is unbelievably delicious, the other is maggot ridden and rancid. Kryten considers that the triplicator has taken all the goodness and put it into one and all the badness in the other. The excited Lister attempts to find out what happens if the little triplicator machine is reversed. He soon finds out! Red Dwarf begins to self-distruct!

Cat joins a flustered Lister, Kryten and Rimmer in the science room. “They’re playing my tune, The awooga waltz.” He says, “Anyone care to join me in a quick-step?

The crew manage to escape in Starbug before Red Dwarf explodes. They head for the nearest oxygen-supporting planet only to find that they don’t have enough air or fuel to get there. The GOOD and BAD Red Dwarf Things are looking pretty black when Kryten notices that there are two duplicate copies of Red Dwarf.

He explains that there is a ‘good’ copy of Red Dwarf and a ‘bad’ copy. Cat wonders if the good ship will be better than the old but Kryten explains that the copies of the original, no matter how good, have a life span of only one-hour. Their one chance of survival is to collect the triplicators’ parts from both ships and re-assemble the original Red Dwarf from the two copies.

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They head for what looks like the good copy of Red Dwarf – it’s all bight and quite clean looking from the outside. Inside however, it looks like something from a Star Trek Dream sequence. The corridors are bright and cheery, there is a faint sound of soothing music in the background and it even smells nice!

The GOODy Lister and Cat

Lister and Cat even try the ultimate test. They order a pot noodle. Both have a taste and from the expressions on their faces, it tastes divine! “I’ll tell you one thing!” says Lister, “I’ve been to a parallel Universe, I’ve see time running backwards, I’ve played pool with planets and I’ve given birth to twins – but I never thought in my entire life, that I’d taste an edible pot noodle!”

Then they see the divine Lister and Cat. Somewhat taken aback by their clothes (white monk habits), the normal Lister and Cat follow them to join Kryten and Rimmer in the Meditation Chamber.

There they see the divine Rimmer explaining, “Philosophy, poetry music and study. That is how we spend out time, trying to expand our minds and unlock our full potential in the service of human kind.”

“Wadda pair of losers!” Says the normal Rimmer.

The divine crew attempt to entertain the ordinary Red Dwarf crew with some poetry recital and ‘self flagellation’ when the Divine Holly receives a distress signal from the bad Red Dwarf. Kryten tells the ordinary crew that he has only managed to recover about half the triplicator parts that he requires. The ordinary and the Divine Red Dwarf crewmember set off for the Bad Red Dwarf.

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BAD Cat (like the teeth!)Bad Red Dwarf looks like something out of a horror Sci Fi movie! Worse still, the Bad Lister looks like a snivelling weasel with a laugh like a Hyena. Kryten is just some thug, Cat has long and unmanageable black hair and eats raw meat! But Rimmer looks great! Totally evil and full of malice! He looks like a cross between Donald Pleasance and Frankenfurter from the Rocky Horror Show.

Bad Rimmer finds ordinary Lister and introduces himself, “I want to hurt you….. because…… I’m not a very nice person. I’m going to lash you to within an inch of your life….. and then…. I’m going to have you!” He then begins to lash Lister with his holo whip.

Bad Boys!The bad Red Dwarf drew insert a mind control device into Lister’s neck. It allows them to manipulate Lister’s psychomotor responses but allows him free thought and speech. They demonstrate the device by making him poor boiling water over his crotch and eat a living Black Widow spider!!! The baddies want to get hold of the other ship. They arm Lister and set him off to kill the others.

Lister strangles Cat Lister reaches the divine Lister and stabs him! The divine Rimmer is then destroyed when Lister reaches inside his body for his holo Light drive. He then leaves for the rest of the ordinary Red Dwarf crew who manage to incapacitate him (basically Kryten chloroforms him). They find the other Triplicator parts and make their way back to Starbug.

The unconscious Lister is lying in the hold while the rest of the crew attempt to fly Starbug off the bad Red Dwarf. Unfortunately, Lister wakes up and tries to scupper their attempts to leave. Kryten manages to take out Lister’s implant and Kryten assembles the Triplicator thereby reconstituting the Normal Red Dwarf from the two copies.

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Cat keeps control of Lister Lister recovers and exhausted from his ordeal, he sits down – on the spinal implant! He immediately gets up again and tries to kill the rest of the crew. A quick thinking cat (!?!) shoots a locker in which the bad Lister was hiding. Bad Lister was controlling ordinary Lister from inside the locker – but he’s dead now!

As they head back to Red Dwarf, Cat picks up the radio control device and asks Kryten to let him have one week. The show end as Lister smacks himself across the face repeatedly. A giggling Rimmer and Cat look on. “Boy, this is going to be fun!” says Cat.

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This episode review is © 1999 – 2019 Tony Fawl.
Not for reproduction without  the authors express permission

The Red Dwarf names, characters and everything else associated with
the series are the property of The British Broadcasting Corporation,
Rob Grant & Doug Naylor.  All rights reserved.

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