Timeslides - S3-E5
Question: At The End of 'Timeslides', even though all has returned to normal, Rimmer has altered history sufficiently so that he is now alive rather than a hologram. As the Dwarfers walk through the cargo decks Rimmer excitedly yells "I am alive.", The End of which is punctuated by an explosion that presumably kills him. The question is: What in God's name causes this explosion? And why do Lister and the Cat appear completely uninterested that one of their crewmates has just been killed?
Chosen answer: Rimmer pounds his fists on two large crates labelled "Explosives", which causes the explosion. The others had wandered off by the time Holly and Rimmer realised he was alive, so they heard Rimmer yelling followed by the explosion but didn't know Rimmer had been harmed, as they didn't know he was alive to start with.
Question: Why was there dog food on board in the first place? I thought that Red Dwarf wasn't meant to have any animals on board- so why was it needed?
Answer: It's entirely possible there were animals on board. Lister mentions lab mice, there could have been other lab animals too, or pets. Lister got in trouble with the cat because it hadn't been quarantined or vaccinated.
Timeslides - S3-E5
Question: At The End of this episode we see Rimmer accidentally create a reality in which he is alive. He then kills himself by punching boxes full of explosives shortly after. So why, in future episodes, do the other guys still claim that Rimmer died in the explosion that killed all Red Dwarf staff? Wouldn't they remember it as Rimmer killing himself in this new way instead?
Chosen answer: Although Rimmer is dying a different way in this episode, the crew were not paying attention to his death. When Lister, the Cat and Kryten are brought back due to Rimmer changing the timeline, they are too puzzled to pay attention to anything that is going, so they did not notice that Rimmer was alive. After the explosion that kills Rimmer, the Cat asks Lister "What was he saying?" to which Lister shrugs his shoulders, implying that he did not know. Assumedly, Holly would have brought Rimmer back as a hologram once again shortly afterwards and the crew probably wouldn't have known that he was alive after changing the timeline.
Chosen answer: In-universe, after leaving Red Dwarf after his first appearance, Kryten managed to crash Lister's space-bike into an asteroid. Lister found his remains and decided to rebuild him, however, due to the high level of damage and Lister's questionable repair skills, he was unable to recreate Kryten exactly, leading to changes in appearance, personality and accent. In reality, the original actor wasn't available, coupled with presumably practical concerns about one-off makeup as opposed to makeup for a regular cast member, so some visual changes were made.
Tailkinker ★