Red Dwarf/Stasis Leak

Stasis Leak
Season 2, Episode 4
Airdate	September 27, 1988
Written by	Rob Grant, Doug Naylor
Directed by	Ed Bye
← 2x03 Thanks for the Memory	2x05 → Queeg
Red Dwarf — Season Two

Stasis Leak is the fourth episode of the second season of Red Dwarf, and the tenth episode overall.

Guest Stars: Clare Grogan (Kochanski), Mark Williams (Petersen), Morwenna Banks (Lift Hostess), Glynis Barber (Woman Returning from Leave), Mac McDonald (Captain Hollister), Sophie Doherty (Kochanski's Roommate), Richard Hainsworth (Medical Orderly), Tony Hawks (Suitcase)

Notes

The episode opens with a flashback three million years to show us Rimmer in Captain Hollister's office reporting Lister for putting titan mushrooms in his breakfast. When Hollister gives Lister only two weeks of PD, Rimmer complains: "With respect sir, you've got your head right up you big fat ass." Rimmer just can't understand why he gets eight weeks PD and Lister only gets two.

Later, alone in his quarters Rimmer gets a visit from a head (his own head) which pops up out of the table. The head's incoherent ramblings are nonsense to Rimmer.

Back in the future, our Lister has read Rimmer's diary and figured out that the head that Rimmer saw in the past was in fact Rimmer himself come from the future as a hologram.

Lister reads from Rimmer's diary:

• The head came through the table and said "I'm from the future. I've come to save your life. We found a stasis leak on floor 16."

Curiosity overcomes them and they take an "XPRESS LIFT" down 2567 floors to floor 16. The trip is so long that they even have an in-transit meal (chicken).

When Lister walks through the stasis leak, he ends up in a shower in the past, but unfortunately, anything they bring back ages three million years in an instant and turns to powder. So Lister and Rimmer each devise competing plans to go back in time and alter the past to benefit themselves personally.

When Lister goes back, he spots his old friend Olaf Petersen trying to impress two women with the pickup line "My name is Olaf Petersen. I am very good in bed." Lister is so glad to see him alive that he grabs him, kisses him, and promises to come by his room later. Since Lister's outburst is probably hurting Olaf's chances with the ladies, Olaf responds "Lister, you'll die for this!"

Back in time before the accident, our Rimmer pops out of the table and tries to convince the still-living Arnold Rimmer that he is here to save his life. One problem though: Rimmer belives that the head is a halucination left over from the titan mushrooms he ate that morning.

Just after the future Rimmer disappears, Captain Hollister comes in, dressed as a chicken for a party. He has come to apologize for giving Rimmer eight weeks of PD.

Rimmer lets his true colors shine, "Did you indeed? How sad for you Captain Paxo!". Believing the chicken to be just another halucination, Rimmer knees Captain Hollister in the groin, "Now kindly cluck off ..."

Grimacing with pain, Hollister gives Rimmer eight years of PD.

Lister traces Kochanski to the Ganymede Holiday Inn. She is in room 008, the honeymoon suite. She is already married! Holly tries to console Lister, telling him that he too had been in love once: a Sinclair ZX-81. She was cheap, stupid, and wouldn't load for him.

Kochanski sees them in the corridor and invites them in. She shows off her wedding ring, and generally makes Lister feel bad. Then we see that she has in fact married another Lister (from five years in our Lister's future).

When our Lister asks for a frenchie (kiss) from his future bride, the future Lister decides that enough is enough and kicks them out of the room.

After they call each other smeg heads through the door, we see that the Cat has at least salvaged something from the situation. He has taken a bottle of wine from the other Lister!

Arc Advancement

Characters

When Rimmer is sulking about how everyone always leaves him, he tells Lister that he had a pet lemming once. He built a little wall for him to hurl himself off of. It wanted for nothing. Then one Christmas he reached in the cage to give it a piece of mince pie. It sunk its teeth into his finger, and wouldn't let go. In the end he had to smash it against the wall.

Trivia

The Show

At the Ganymede Holiday Inn we see numerous mechanoids working as hotel staff.

Allusions and References

• Holly's prologue makes reference to Felicity Kendal.
• Holly tells Dave that it's better to have loved and to have lost than to listen to an album by Olivia Newton-John.

Memorable Moments

• When Rimmer is reporting Lister to Captain Hollister, he also reports that while under the influence of the mushrooms, he (Rimmer) attacked two senior officers believing them to be giraffes who were armed and dangerous.
• Lister, back in time from the future, spots his old friend Olaf Petersen trying to impress two women with the pickup line "My name is Olaf Petersen. I am very good in bed." Lister is so glad to see him alive that he grabs him, kisses him, and promises to come by his room later. Lister's outburst has probably hurt Olaf's chances with the ladies. Petersen growls, "Lister, you'll die for this!"
• When Lister and the Cat are in the honeymoon suite, the explanation about which Lister is from which timeline confuses that Cat. Through it all, the Cat manages to focus on what is important (to him) ... his chicken.
• The final scene (from three million years ago) where a haggard Rimmer is confronted with two Rimmers and two Listers from the future, all of them vying for his attention. This is too much for him. He believes they are halicunations, so he covers his ears and screams "Go away" as loud as he can.

Quotes

• When Holly doesn't know what a stasis leak is, Rimmer grumbles:
  Rimmer: ... he's supposed to have an IQ of 6000.
  Holly: 6000's not that much. It's only the same IQ as 12000 car park attendants.
• In their quarters:
  Lister: You don't even like me.
  Rimmer: That's what you think is it?
  Lister: Yeah.
  Rimmer: I will tell you something that'll probably stun you rigid.
  Lister: What?
  Rimmer: You're right. I don't like you.

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