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Old 01-22-2013, 11:56 AM   #23 (permalink)
Trollheart
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Season 1: "Three million years from Earth..."

Episode 3: "Balance of power"

Holly's joke at the opening: "In the 3 million years we've been away, it is my fond hope that mankind has abolished war, cured all disease, and gotten rid of those little western saloon doors you get in trendy clothes shops."

It's Saturday night (even though they're in deep space and the planet upon whose rotation the days are based is probably now dust) and Lister wants to have some fun. Rimmer's idea of fun --- ship's inventory --- is not what he has in mind! After arguing with his dead superior, Lister heads off to the ship's disco on his spacebike, where he sits alone, remembering all the good times he used to have there with his friends. He finally decides, after remembering a conversation centreing around Kristine Kochanski, his crush, that he wants to go on a date with her. Trouble is, she's dead.

No problem. All he has to do is get Rimmer to agree to be switched off for twenty-four hours, and he can take Kochanski's personality disc, replace Rimmer's in the hologram and hey presto! The love of his life will live again. Well, for a day anyway. Only problem is, Rimmer ain't having it. He knows Lister hates him, and fears that should his bunkmate get a chance with Kochanski he'll have no reason to return Rimmer to the hologram. Which is probably true. Plus Lister doesn't know where the hologram discs are kept, and Rimmer's unlikely to tell him.

The only solution to the problem Lister can see is to somehow become Rimmer's superior. The one thing Arnold worships above all else is authority, and even if it was Lister, were he a rank higher than Rimmer the hologram would have to obey him. So Lister decides to study and take the officers' exam, in order to become Rimmer's superior. Laughing at such a notion, Rimmer says he's not worried, as he knows the extent of Lister's dedication to study. Nevertheless he keeps a close eye on him.

He soon has other things to concern himself about though, when he wakes and finds that "somehow" his hologram disc has become corrupted, and one of his arms has been replaced with that of Olaf Petersen, one of Lister's laddish mates. The arm seems to have a life of its own, and attacks him. After being poked and punched by it, he apologises to Holly --- whom he had insulted earlier, thus leading to the "corruption" of the disc and the wayward arm --- and his own arm is reinitialised. Still smarting both physically and emotionally, he goes to see what Lister is up to.

Finding him in the teaching room, he ridicules Lister's preparedness and his lack of knowledge, until he realises that Dave is not sitting the flight navigation exam, but the chef's. Disbelievingly, he asks Lister does he really want to be a chef, which Lister admits he does not: he just wants to outrank Rimmer so he can get the disc he wants. In a final attempt to stop Lister taking --- and god forbid, passing! --- the exam, Rimmer gets Kochanski's disc and has Holly swap it with his, then goes to Lister telling him "she" never loved him, and so all his preparation and studying is for nothing, so he might as well give up. But Lister is suspicious, and sees through Rimmer's plan.

Rimmer needn't have worried though, because true to form, Lister couldn't pass an exam if he was given all the answers beforehand. But he pretends he does, just to get up Rimmer's nose.

Best lines/quotes/scenes

There's a lot in this episode that became cult quotable Red Dwarf but does not really relate directly to the episode. Here are some of the best ones.

Rimmer, in the exam room: "And Lister, what's this? Learning drugs? They're illegal, matey! I'm afraid you're in very serious, grave, deep trouble, Lister. Where did you get them? I want names. I want places. I want dates."
Lister: "Arnold Rimmer. His locker. This morning."

Arnie is attacked by Petersen's hologrammatic arm:
Rimmer: "And when are you going to give me my own arm back? I refuse to walk around all day with Petersen's arm. You know what he was like. God only knows where this arm's been!"

The arm suddenly slaps him in the face.

Rimmer: "Ahh! What's he doing?"
Holly: "Beats me, Arnie. Seems to have a mind of its own."

The arm sticks out two fingers and goes for Rimmer's eyes. He grabs it with his other hand and tries to stop it.

Rimmer: "Tell him to stop it!"
Cat: "What is this? Cabaret? Entertainment while you eat?"
Rimmer: "No, no, no!"
Cat: "Hey, can you place bets? My bet is on this arm! (pointing at Petersen's.)

The arm finally succeeds in jabbing Rimmer in the eyes.

Rimmer: "Aagh!" A bit late, he finally thinks of putting his hand over his eyes. The other arm continues trying to jab at them. "Holly, you're absolutely gorgeous and handsome and delicious, please tell him to stop it!"
Holly: "All right. Just give me a couple of seconds."

Petersen's arm gives up jabbing at Rimmer's other hand, trying to reach his eyes.

Rimmer: "Ah, look at that. I've outwitted him. He's given up. Look, he's given up."

The hand suddenly jabs Rimmer in the balls.

Rimmer: "OOOOOO!!!"
He doubles up in pain, and the arm takes the opportunity to punch him in the head.

Holly: "There. Done it. Just in time."
Cat: "Hey! That was good! You should have finished on a song, it would have been perfect!"
Rimmer: (Still doubled up on the floor) "I hate everything."

Rimmer has shown the Cat how to get his own meals from the dispenser, in return for giving him back Lister's cigarette stash, which the feisty feline had found earlier. He is sitting at one of the consoles, eating. He finishes the meal and goes over to the food dispenser for another.

CAT: "Mmm-mmm!"
DISPENSING MACHINE: "Hello. How can I help you?"
CAT: "Fish!"
DISPENSING MACHINE: "Today's fish is trout a la creme." (Produces a dish.)
"Enjoy your meal."
CAT: "Fish!"
DISPENSING MACHINE: "Today's fish is trout a la creme." (Produces a dish.)
"Enjoy your meal."
CAT: "Fish!"
DISPENSING MACHINE: "Today's fish is trout a la creme." (Produces a dish.)
"Enjoy your meal."
CAT: "Fish!"
DISPENSING MACHINE: "Today's fish is trout a la creme." (Produces a dish.)
"Enjoy your meal."
CAT: "Fish!"
DISPENSING MACHINE: "Today's fish is trout a la creme." (Produces a dish.)
"Enjoy your meal."
CAT: "Fish!"
DISPENSING MACHINE: "Today's fish is trout a la creme." (Produces a dish.)
"Enjoy your meal."
CAT: "I will!"

Rimmer wakes up late, leaps out of bed, and begins some jumping jacks. "Lister! Rise and shine, el slobbo! Come on, I've been awake for hours, Lister! Up, up, up! Come on! Exercise, Lister! Exercise, sonny boy!"
He finally notices that Lister's bunk is empty and looks at the clock.
"Quarter to two? I didn't set my motivator! I was supposed to be up at seven! Why didn't he wake me? He knows I'm a heavy sleeper. Have I got to remind him to do everything for me? He's so irresponsible!"

A "Black Card" situation...
Lister: "Look, what is it, man? Don't you trust me?"
Rimmer: (Mimes holding up an imaginary card) "Black card, Lister. I'm holding up a black card. Conversation over."
Lister: "I've always been crazy about her. I never did anything about it."
Rimmer: "Oh, Lister, you've forgotten the colour code. White. The white card is to continue the discussion, but this is a black card situation. Discussion over."
Lister: "Listen..."
Rimmer (singing): "Da da da, black card, black card, black card, da da da, black card..."
Lister: "I was talking about something else!"
Rimmer: "White card. Go on."
Lister: "Right, for a start, I want to stop all this black card and white card smeg, it's driving me crazy!"
Rimmer: "Black card!"

Rimmer: "I think I've gone video-blind. Is that painting yours? It's rubbish!"
Lister: "It's a mirror."

Lister is listening to his favourite, Rastabilly Skank. Rimmer is not impressed.
Rimmer: "Why don't you listen to something really classical, like Mozart, Mendelssohn, or Motorhead?"

The Cat checks his look:
" Aaaoooww! Ooh, babe! Hey Yeah! Jump back! Come back! Hep!" (Stops) "How'm I looking?" (Pulling out a little mirror) "I'm looking nice. My hair is nice. My face is nice. My suit is nice. I'm looking really nice! Aaaooowww! Jump back! Hoo! Ack! Hey!" (Stops again) "I wonder how I'm looking now?" (Pulling out the mirror) "Still looking nice. My hair's still nice. My face is still nice. My suit -- I'm just nice, period. Aaaoooww! Jump back! Get down! Hoo!"

At the disco, in the past...
Rimmer: "Ha ha ha. Lister, where's my revision timetable?"
Chen: "Sure, it's Saturday night!"
Lister: "Come on, no one works Saturday night!"
Rimmer: "You don't work any night. You don't work any day!
Lister: "Skive hard, play hard! That's our motto!"
Rimmer: "Look, I've got my engineering re-sit on Monday. I don't know anything. Where's my revision timetable?"
Lister: "Wait, is this the thing in all different colours, with all the subjects divided into study periods and rest periods and self testing time?"
Rimmer: "It took me seven weeks to make it. I've got to cram my whole revision into one night."
Lister: "Hang on, is this the thing with the note on it in red which said, "Vital. Valuable. Urgent. Do not touch on pain of death?"
Rimmer: "Yes!"
Lister: "I threw it away."

And prior to that, Rimmer's less-than-graceful entry into the disco (you really have to see this one...)
Rimmer: "Excuse me, please. Could you please excuse me? Some of us have more important things to do than wiggle our posteriors. Could you move please? Please? Thank you. Could you move? Excuse me, please. Excuse me. Excuse me, please. Excuse me!"

He runs into Kochanski, who drops her purse. Rimmer picks it up and
throws it away.

Rimmer: "If you want to dance, do it over there!"(Calling in the direction he threw the purse) "Sorry!"

Holly explains to Lister how he worked out who to bring back to keep him sane:
Lister: "Holly, why Rimmer's hologram? Why did you have to bring Rimmer's hologram back? He was the most unpopular man on board this ship. I mean, he even had to organise his own surprise birthday parties!"
Holly: "And who should I have brought back, then?"
Lister: "Anyone! Chen. Petersen. I mean, Hermann Goerring would have been more of a laugh than Rimmer! I mean, OK, he was a drug-crazed transvestite, but at least we could have gone dancing!"
Holly: "I brought Rimmer back because he's the best person to keep you sane.
Lister: "Oh, crap!"

(A panel on the wall swings around to reveal a toilet. A sign over the
toilet reads, "NOW IRRADIATE YOUR HANDS.")

Lister "Not you!"
Toilet: "I do apologise, I wasn't paying attention. See you later!"
Lister: "What about Kristine Kochanski? You could have brought Kristine back."
Holly: "In your entire life, your shared conversations with her totalled 173 words."
Lister: "So?"
Holly: "In terms of wordage, you actually had a better relationship with your rubber plant."
Lister: "I know, but Rimmer?!"
Holly: "He's the person you knew best. Over 14 million words in all."
Lister: "Holly, 7 million of those were me telling him to smeg off, and the other 7 million were him putting me on report for telling him to smeg off!"
Holly: "Jean Paul Sartre said Hell was being locked forever in a room with your friends."
Lister: "Holly, all his mates were French."

And finally... four thousand, six hundred and ninety-one irradiated haggis!

Rimmer is standing, Lister sitting with his feet up on a console. He's
checking things off on a clipboard as Rimmer lists them.

Rimmer: "140,000 rehydratable chickens."
Lister: (Extremely bored) "Check."
Rimmer: "72 tons of reconstituted sausage pate."
Lister: "Check."
Rimmer: "4,691 irradiated haggis."
Lister: "Oh, Rimmer, it's Saturday night! I've had enough."
Rimmer: "4,691 irradiated haggis."
Lister: "Rimmer, it's Saturday night! I want to boogie on down!"
Rimmer: "4,691 irradiated haggis."
Lister: "We've been doing this for four hours! Let's have a break!"
Rimmer: "4,691 irradiated hag-g-gis."
Lister: "Rimmer, will you stop saying 4,981 irradiated haggis and speak to
me!"
Rimmer: "4,691 irradiated haggis."
Lister: (Beginning to lose his temper) "Rimmer, I want to go for a
drink!"
Rimmer: "4,691 irradiated haggis!"
Lister: "I want to have some fun!"
Rimmer: "This is fun! Are you mad?"
Lister: "You read something out. I say check. Where's the fun?"
Rimmer: "All right. We'll put you in command for a few seconds, Capitaine. (Salutes.) What's the plan, sir? Come on, lickety split!"
Lister: "Go back to Earth."
Rimmer: "And in the meantime?"
Lister: "I don't know, generally slob around, have a few laughs."
Rimmer: "Excellent plan, Lister! Excellent plan! Brilliant plan! There was me thinking you hadn't thought about it, when clearly you have. Right, I'll just stand over here and laugh slobbily, shall I?"
Lister: "Rimmer, I'm going for a drink."
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Last edited by Trollheart; 04-17-2015 at 01:26 PM.
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