Red Dwarf

Polymorph - S3-E3

Factual error: The polymorph goes through a metal pipe and a tap which bulges and becomes mis-shapen. The tap then changes back to its original shape, which is impossible. (00:18:00)

Dwarf

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Suggested correction: It's impossible using today's technology, but maybe not in the future. Maybe they have metallic-like materials that flex back to a previous form after deformation.

Timeslides - S3-E5

Factual error: The writer's understanding of the history of Nazism and its leaders is a bit shonky. Claus von Stauffenberg did not plant a bomb in Hitler's briefcase - he put it in his own briefcase which he planted in a meeting room next to Hitler (some berk moved it). This was in July 1944, while the last Nuremberg rally - which Lister visits, bringing back the briefcase - was in 1938. Stauffenberg didn't even join the anti-Hitler conspiracy until 1943. Red Dwarf is not an 'alternate history' - they correctly identify elements of the Stauffenberg plot and the Nazi regime, they just get them wrong.

Justice - S4-E3

Factual error: The justice computer states that Rimmer is guilty of 1,167 counts of 2nd degree murder, each carrying a sentence of 8 years, giving a total of 9,328 years. This is equivalent to 1,166 counts. 1,167 counts would be 9,336 years. (00:14:00)

Craig Bryant

Meltdown - S4-E6

Factual error: 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?

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Suggested correction: Kryten says that the paddle sends them via subspace, so they will reach it almost instantaneously (rewatch the scene, he never says they'll travel at lightspeed).

Back To Reality - S5-E6

Factual error: While it is true that lithium carbonate can be used to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders, it cannot be administered in gaseous form. It is a very stable salt and only starts to form vapour at 1,310 degress Celcius. Spraying it about as a 'mood stabliser' at that temperature, as Kryten does, is going to kill everyone on the spot.

Epideme - S7-E7

Factual error: When Kryten revives Lister with the defibrillator paddles, he places them on the clothing he is wearing. Defibrillator paddles need to be applied to bare skin for the electricity to get through. (00:27:35)

Casual Person

Lemons - S10-E3

Factual error: At the very end of the episode right before the Dwarfers sees Jesus and Judas, there is a plastic cup on their table. The episode is set in 23 AD.

M-Corp - S12-E5

Plot hole: Cat wasn't manufactured by the Jupiter Mining Corporation and had no connection with them, being born three million years or so after they lost control of Red Dwarf. The takeover by M-Corp would mean nothing to him. Why, then, does he become invisible to Lister?

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Suggested correction: Lister can only see M-Corp products and M-Corp employees. Cat is not an employee of JMC or M-Corp, so he disappears. Lister is the only member of the crew who is employed by M-Corp at this point.

Suggested correction: Cat was a descendant of the cat Lister brought aboard Red Dwarf. Would it be possible that the new owners might have stricter security controls, and Lister was sent to Stasis for a different reason?

Andy Benham

Inventing Deux ex machina explanations for a plot hole doesn't make it any less of a plot hole. M-Corp erases all of the Jupiter Mining Corporation's equipment, personnel and infrastructure from Lister's life. In no way is Cat a part of that. He has no connection at all to the Jupiter Mining Corporation, and until he meets him in Episode 1 no connection to Lister, either.

If M-Corp only erased JMC equipment from Lister's life, then Kryten, who belongs to DivaDroid and not the JMC, wouldn't have disappeared either. He disappears as he doesn't belong to M-Corp, not because he belongs to the JMC. Cat has no connection to M-Corp, as he wasn't a part of the JMC (as you pointed out), and is therefore erased for Lister.

More mistakes in Red Dwarf

Nanarchy - S7-E8

Lister: What, they fixed your core program and then decided they'd be better off without you?
Holly: Yeah, it was shortly after they met me.

More quotes from Red Dwarf

Meltdown - S4-E6

Trivia: "Meltdown" was originally planned to be the first episode of Series IV of Red Dwarf. However, the militaristic tone of this episode - and in particular Dave Lister's strident anti-war speech near The End of the episode - meant it fell foul of the BBC censors. The original planned transmission date (Feb 14 1991) coincided with the outbreak of "Operation Desert Storm" - the Gulf War...and the BBC felt that an "anti-war" episode of Red Dwarf would be inappropriate for a country at war with Iraq.

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Kryten - S2-E1

Question: When Holly is saying about how he has changed music he says that because of the 2 new notes he's made instruments would be bigger. "Triangles will have four sides. Piano keyboards the length of zebra crossings. Course, women will have to be banned from playing the cello." I don't understand the joke about the cello part. Could someone please tell me what he means?

Answer: The cello is a large four-stringed instrument, which, when it is played, stands vertically on the floor between the player's legs (assuming they are seated). If it is to grow as large as the other instuments mentioned will, it would require a rather unseemly lack of femininity to be able to encompass it with the legs.

Rooster of Doom

More questions & answers from Red Dwarf