From: sasse@netcom.com (Ellen J. Sasse)
Subject: Re: Questions (No Vindaloo, please; I'm driving)
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 23:33:58 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 

In article <1992Jul28.133212.9116@news.media.mit.edu> tsmaster@media.mit.edu (David LeCompte) writes:

>(Oh, SPOILER ALERT!)



>1)	In "Thanks for the Memory", Rimmer mentions that he was an
>	orphan, even though his parents were alive. One might infer

That was because Lister had implanted his memories of Lise Yates,
so Rimmer would have "had" the experience of being in love. When
Rimmer finds out, he suddenly realizes why he was an orphan even
though his parents were alive, why he developed a sudden interest
in rastabilly skank, why he started smoking and drinking... etc.
Because all of a sudden he had six months of Lister's life: his
memories of "him" were actually of Lister (who was an orphan... etc)

>	that Rimmer's parents lived long enough to see him "ship out"
>	on the Red Dwarf. In "Better than life" Rimmer's mother writes
>	to him to say that Rimmer's father died peacefully in his
>	Jeep.
>
>	However, in season 1 (balance of power?) where Holly gives
>	Rimmer the "really short haircut" (not!) Rimmer says something
>	to the effect of "My father always used to say, 'with shiny
>	boots and a spankin' short haircut, you can cope with
>	anything'... until that suicide business"
>
>	I had interpreted this as Rimmer's father committed suicide,
>	and I don't think that the joke is as funny if it's
>	interpreted differently. 

I think you're right about that, and I agree it is a continuity flaw.
However, in an exercise of rationalization, I decided that "that
awful suicide business" COULD theoretically have been a suicide ATTEMPT:
a lot of attempted suicide victims feel like they are such failures
they couldn't even succeed at dying; and so it could still have been
referred to as "that awful suicide business". And, in a sick way it is
still funny: someone who was very successful and always in control
would probably be very embarrassed to be "caught out" trying to
kill themselves and look like a "failure" and then have to
answer for it.


>	Is this just one of the continuity errors that I have just
>	begun to see, and everyone else knows all about this, and is
>	bored with it? Or am I misinterpreting it?

>2)	What is a "bog roll"?

That guy's just pulling our leg; a bog roll is a roll of toilet paper.
I guess he didn't see enough posts about Indian food and wanted to
generate a flood more! (Actually, he was probably just laughing his
head off picturing some poor American going to get a curry and asking
for a bog roll with it)

>3)	Oh, another continuity question, I guess: Rimmer exits the Red
>	Dwarf in Season 3. In "Thanks for the Memory" he was able to
>	do this by means of a hologram projection cage. Is there any
>	explanation to how he manages it in, oh, say "Backwards"?

Personally, I think this is a sortof continuity flaw as well. I can't
come up with a rationalization for this one, but it's not one that bothers
me that much. I recognize the writers don't know their scripts as well
as we do ;-)

>4)	What is this (Imagine me holding up a yellow fruit that you
>	unzip and eat the white bits out.) :)

Ooh, I wish I could rememher the right quote. "A small off-duty
Czechoslovakian traffic warden"?? I LOVE Kryten's "lies"; they are
so elaborate!

>5)	How cool was Talky Toaster? Easily one of my favorite
>	characters.

I am probably alone in this, but I like John Lenahan's toaster best.
"OH, you're not busy eating TOAST are ya?!" and counting the days since
they last had toast, like some poor forlorn wife counting the days
since they last had sex. Or when he tells Lister Lister can't sing
(Actually I think Craig Charles CAN sing, and I love his voice. He
had to deliberately try to crack his voice to make it sound bad) and
Lister hits him to shut him up. Or, Lister:"What's LS?" Toaster:"Light
speed. User your loaf!" Lister: "Smartass!" Those exchanges crack me up.
The other toaster reminds me too much of Douglas Adams's self-satisfied doors
on the Heart of Gold. Although I have to admit I also crack up when Hattie
Hayridge is getting frustrated with the toaster for asking her "bready,
curranty questions" after her intelligence boosting and shortened life span.


>I think that there's one question that I'm missing, but that'll do for
>now. I'll end with a bit of my favorite dialog.

>From "Confidence and Paranoia"
(funny bit deleted)

Speaking of "Confidence and Paranoia", does anyone know who is that
guy who plays "Confidence"? He is so funny, but he has an air like
someone who does something else for a living rather than being an
actor. Who is he? If he is an actor, what other kinds of things has
he done?

-Ellen