Twentica
| "Twentica" | |
|---|---|
| Red Dwarf episode | |
 Cat, Kryten, Lister, and Rimmer disguised in period clothes | |
| Episode no. |
Series 11 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Doug Naylor |
| Written by | Doug Naylor |
| Original air date | 22 September 2016 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
"Twentica" is the first episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf series XI,[1] originally broadcast on the British television channel Dave on 22 September 2016, and made available early on 15 September on UKTV Play. The show again continued in its "classic" format of six standalone half-hour episodes, initially returned to in Series X four years previously. The episode is an ensemble adventure in the vein of Series V and VI, following the crew trying to overthrow a regime of Exponoids who have travelled back in time and enslaved humanity, outlawing technology to prevent them from ever becoming a threat.
Plot
While exploring deep space in Starbug, the crew loot an abandoned former Simulant death ship. There, they salvage an artifact which they use to prop up their wonky pool table.
On their way back to Red Dwarf, the Dwarfers are hailed by another Simulant ship, this one commanded by Expanoids. The Expanoids, unlike other Simulants, desire to enslave humanity instead of wiping them out. They offer a trade, the crew's newly-acquired artifact in exchange for their prisoner, Rimmer; who at the same time is on Starbug. When Lister questions how they'd be able to trust them, the Expanoid's spokesman, 4 of 27, explains he would not betray them as he is a "warrior and high born" and nothing like "3 of 63".
The crew agree to the trade and eject the artifact out to the Simulants, while the Rimmer still on Starbug is teleported, but is brought back seconds later. What was a few seconds for the rest of the crew was hours for Rimmer, who while imprisoned on the Simulant ship overheard that the Expanoids plan to use the artifact to go back in time to enslave mankind. The crew decide to give chase, and follow the Expanoids down their time hole.
They reach an alternate history Earth, however an EMP knocks out Starbug and the crew crash-land somewhere in the southwestern United States. After restarting Kryten and rebooting the auxiliary drives, bringing Rimmer's light bee back online, the crew venture out into the city where they discover a "Prohibition Act" is in-place; however alcohol seems to be perfectly legal there. Kryten concludes that technology - not alcohol - has been made illegal due to the Expanoids. Moments later, a group of smugglers in possession of contraband toasters are gunned-down by the police. Lister is handed a device by one of the dying smugglers, who tells him to give it to a Harmony de Gauthier at the Lady Be Good Club; an underground speakeasy where scientists conduct experiments and research.
When the crew arrive at the club and give her the device, Harmony reveals it to be one half of an EMP capacitor, with her having the other half. However, she doesn't know how to connect the two parts of the device together and all the other great minds - such as Einstein, Hubble, and Edison - are all dead or posing as bums on the streets. After hearing Einstein is around posing as a bum, they go off in search of him. After discovering who they think is Einstein, they bring him back to the Lady Be Good Club to help figure out how to connect the device; only to be informed they picked up a random homeless man named "Bob" instead.
The bouncer arrives and announces the club is being raided by the cops. The scientists quickly disguise the club as a bar as the Dwarfers go incognito as members of the bar's jazz band. The cops arrive, however they seem to be onto the scientists' ruse, and identify Harmony as Professor Baldwin. The police question the Dwarfers, with Kryten explaining he went "bobbing for apples in the cement mixer" as reason for his oddly-shaped head. However, the disguise falls through when Lister accidentally drinks using a Erlenmeyer flask and the cops call-in their overlords, the Expanoids.
The Expanoids explain they were created by humans who had come to the conclusion mankind was not yet ready to handle advanced technology, and hence sent the Expanoids to prevent the future from taking place. Lister buys some time by recalling how 4 of 27 insulted his lieutenant, 3 of 63, when they were trading. As the Expanoids begin arguing, "Bob" is able to connect the capacitor and shoots the Expanoids, knocking out their systems. In the midst of the confusion, the Dwarfers grab the Expanoids' fallen weaponry and the police flee from the club.
Harmony prepares to link the EMP capacitor to a global transmitter, which would shut down Kryten and Rimmer as well as Starbug preventing Lister from returning back to Red Dwarf. While the crew contemplate this, Harmony activates a countdown to the capacitor and transmitter giving the crew 15 minutes to get off the planet. Rimmer in response yells "Leg it!" As the crew run back to Starbug, Kryten takes back the artifact from the Expanoids' and joins along.
The crew pilot Starbug through the time hole and back to their original dimension and timeline. Back on Red Dwarf, Lister concludes humanity should be more careful with technology and not allow it to takeover their lives, at the same time Kryten gets him undressed and brushes his teeth for him.
Production
Twentica was the last episode shot for Series XI.[2] The brief final scene takes place in the sleeping quarters aboard Red Dwarf. This was in fact shot during production of Series XII as Doug Naylor did not wish to overrun into Christmas. The lighting is very minimal, no doubt to hide the fact that the quarters have been redesigned.
References
- ↑ "Running Order". reddwarf.co.uk. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
- ↑ Richard Naylor [@RichardDGNaylor] (25 August 2016). "@bromley001 6,5,1,4,3,2" (Tweet) – via Twitter.