"Stasis Leak" is the fourth episode of the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

Red Dwarf ''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...

'' series two and tenth in the series run. It premiered on the British television channel

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

on 27 September 1988. Written by

Rob Grant Robert Grant is an English comedy writer, television producer and co-creator of ''Red Dwarf''. Since ''Red Dwarf'', Grant has written two television series, ''The Strangerers'' and '' Dark Ages'', and four solo novels, his most recent being '' F ...

and

Doug Naylor Douglas Rodger Naylor (born 31 December 1955) is an English comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer. Life and career Naylor was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, and studied at Chetham's School of Music ...

, and directed by

Ed Bye Edward Richard Morrison Bye (born 12 June 1955) is a British film and TV producer and director. He directed the episodes of the science-fiction sitcom '' Red Dwarf'' from Series I-IV and VII-VIII. Early life Ed Bye is the son of Royal Marine Co ...

, the crew travelling back in time, before the accident had wiped out the crew of ''Red Dwarf''. The episode was re-mastered, along with the rest of the first three series, in 1998.

Plot

Arnold Rimmer Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character in the science fiction sitcom ''Red Dwarf'', played by Chris Barrie. Rimmer is characterised as a second-class technician (and de facto leader) of the mining ship Red Dwarf. Portrayed as snobbish, peda ...

becomes annoyed when he finds

Dave Lister David "Dave" Lister, commonly referred to simply as Lister, is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy ''Red Dwarf'', portrayed by Craig Charles. Lister is characterised as a third-class technician (the lowest r ...

reading his diary. Lister stipulates it was essential when he reveals he found a wedding photo in the quarters of

Kristine Kochanski Kristine Z. Kochanski is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy '' Red Dwarf''. Kochanski was the first console officer in the navigation chamber on board the spaceship ''Red Dwarf''. As well as appearing in the ...

(

Clare Grogan Claire Patricia Grogan (born 17 March 1962), known professionally as Clare Grogan or sometimes as C. P. Grogan, is a Scottish actress and singer. She is best known as the lead singer of the 1980s new wave music group Altered Images, as well as ...

), in which he was her groom, suspecting time travel is going to happen soon. Rimmer questions why reading the diary is essential, to which Lister points out it might be linked to his entry regarding the hallucinogenic mushroom incident – three million years in the past, Lister had been reprimanded by Captain Hollister (

Mac McDonald Mac McDonald (born Terence McDonald; June 18, 1949) is an American actor. He is known for playing Captain Hollister on the BBC TV series '' Red Dwarf'' and frequently plays American characters in other British TV shows. He has also had many mov ...

) for giving Rimmer hallucinogenic mushrooms that led to him attacking two officers. Lister points out that Rimmer wrote about seeing himself as a hologram coming out of the table in their quarters, when he returned from the Captain's office, and hearing him state that he had come to the past from a stasis leak they had found. Lister determines that it really happened and not a hallucination as he assumed, and that they should investigate where the leak was found, after

Holly ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

(

Norman Lovett Norman Lovett (born 31 October 1946) is a British stand-up comedian and actor best known for his portrayal of Holly (Red Dwarf), Holly, the ship's computer in ''Red Dwarf''. Career Lovett became a stand-up comedian in his thirties, initially ...

) can't give any information on the subject. The group traces the stasis leak and find it is a passageway to the past, to around three weeks before the Cadmium 2 accident that wiped out the crew. Discovering that the stasis leak prevents anything from the past being brought to the present,Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 56. Lister and Rimmer each decide to use it still to make their futures better. While Rimmer uses it to find his past self and warn him of the upcoming accident, thus hoping he will get into stasis and avoid dying, Lister opts to find

(

) and have her use the ship's other stasis cell. Lister soon tracks her down to a hotel with

Cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

, he finds her already married to his future self from five years into the future, much to his confusion. When they rejoin Rimmer, they find him unsuccessfully convincing his younger self he is real. When future Lister and Kochanski arrive alongside future Rimmer, the matter becomes so complicated that past Rimmer decides to accept it only as a hallucination and asks them all to leave him alone.

Production

With its multiple views of the future, "

Future Echoes "Future Echoes" is the second episode of the science fiction sitcom '' Red Dwarf'' series one, and was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 22 February 1988. It was written by co-creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and dire ...

" had been one of the better liked episodes from series I. With this in mind writers, Grant and Naylor, showed their desire to return to this story element with another sci-fi heavy story. The "Crowne Plaza Midland Holiday Inn", in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, was used as "The Ganymede Holiday Inn" where Lister and the Cat search for Kochanski. Grogan was released from the production without filming the final scene which involved her character Kochanski. Assistant floor manager Dona DiStefano stepped in to double as Kochanski, wearing a large hat to disguise the fact.Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 9. Returning pre-accident crew members include

as Captain Hollister, C. P. Grogan as Kochanski, Mark Williams as Petersen, and Sophie Doherty as Kochanski's friend.

Morwenna Banks Tamsin Morwenna Banks (born 20 September 1961) is a British comedy actress, writer and producer. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy sketch show '' Absolutely'', and wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film ''The Announcemen ...

appears as the on-screen Lift Hostess, while

Tony Hawks Antony Gordon Hawksworth, MBE (born February 27, 1960), known professionally as Tony Hawks, is a British comedian and author. Early life Born in Brighton, Sussex, Hawks was educated at Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School and Bright ...

makes his third ''Red Dwarf'' guest appearance as the talking suitcase.

Reception

The episode was originally broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 4 October 1988 in the 9:00 pm evening slot. It received average television ratings. Fans considered the episode to be one of the better efforts from Series II, coming at 12th place overall in a ''Red Dwarf Smegazine'' readers' poll with 3.3% of the votes.Readers survey results, ''Red Dwarf Smegazine'', p. 27., issue 10, December 1992, Fleetway Editions Ltd, ISSN 0965-5603

Remastering

The remastering of Series I to III was carried out during the late 1990s. Changes throughout the series included replacement of the opening credits, giving the picture a colour grade and

filmising Film look (also known as filmizing or film-look) is a process in which video is altered in overall appearance to appear to have been shot on film stock. The process is usually electronic, although filmizing can sometimes occur as an unintentional ...

, computer generated

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...

of ''Red Dwarf'' and many more visual and audio enhancements. Changes made specific to "Stasis Leak" include the caption "Three million years earlier" has been removed from the opening flashback scenes. The stasis leak sound effects have been added. The split-screen wipe — with the older Lister shutting the door on his younger self — has been re-done frame by frame to remove previous errors.

References

External links