
Kryten tells everyone that the matter paddle transmits matter in digital form from one place to another at the speed of light - he is very clear on this point. He then locates Waxworld, which is 200,000 light years away. Okay - so when they use the matter paddle to transmit themselves to Waxworld, why doesn't it take them 200,000 years to get there?
The actor who plays the original Kryten, in 'Kryten', also turns up later as the voice of Talkie Toaster.
7 mistakes in Beetlejuice you never spotted
A new menu and more - thoughts welcome...
Chosen answer: It can, but that doesn't mean that it's supposed to. At the time of the episode, Red Dwarf's thrusters have been firing continuously for millions of years, accelerating the ship until, in this episode, it finally achieves light speed. This is not a speed that the Dwarf was ever intended to attain, hence the need to slow it down again before the stresses tear it apart. If they wanted to hit light speed again, it would take the same sort of length of time to accelerate back up to that speed. Technically possible, but not exactly practical.
Tailkinker