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Me²
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Red Dwarf episode | |
| "Me²" | |
 |
|
| Episode № | 6 |
|---|---|
| Airdate | March 21, 1988 |
| Writer(s) | Rob Grant & Doug Naylor |
| Director | Ed Bye |
| Guest star(s) | Mac McDonald |
| Series I February 15 – March 21, 1988 |
|
| List of all Red Dwarf episodes... | |
Me2 is the sixth and last episode of series one, from the science fiction comedy programme Red Dwarf. It premiered on 21 Mar 1988 in the 9:00pm BBC2 time slot.[1]
Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye. The script was written following an electrician's strike at the BBC and filmed as the new climax to the first series.[2]
Contents |
Rimmer moves out of Lister's sleeping quarters to live with his counterpart "Rimmer²", whom he tricked Lister into activating in the previous episode, and who after some time even he cannot stand. Eventually one of them has to go. This gives Lister the opportunity to find out why his last words were "gazpacho soup".
When Red Dwarf first went into the studios at BBC Manchester, Me2 didn't exist. It was originally planned to end the series with Confidence and Paranoia, but after the BBC electrician strike disrupted the production. This gave the writers, Grant and Naylor, a chance to write a different finale to the series. They discarded one of the middle stories, about Rimmer stealing body parts from Lister to build a new body for himself, and wrote Me2.[2]
The two Rimmer scenes were shot using a split screen process, meanining that Chris Barrie would do a take on one half of the screen and then go over to the other half and do another take. The takes would be spliced together in the editing process.[2]
Rimmer's embarrassing and reputation-damaging incident with gazpacho soup is based on a real incident that was only narrowly avoided by writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. At a meeting at Thames Television, the pair were bewildered when they received cold soup, but fortunately they refrained from saying anything about it as something in the back of their head said that it was meant to be cold, so they didn't send it back. They breathed a sigh of relief afterwards upon discovering that gazpacho soup which is meant to be served cold, and by not complaining they had averted much embarrassment.[2]
Mac McDonald returned to play Captain Hollister.
Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane is referenced both directly and indirectly during this episode. Lister tells Rimmer that he and Cat are going to be watching Citizen Kane at the ship's cinema. The more subtle references appear in Rimmer's death scene, where he drops a snow globe, thus mirroring Kane's death in the film, and utters his cryptic last words "gazpacho soup" which hold importance in the episode. Kane's last word, "Rosebud", was the theme of the film.
'My Diary, by Arnold J.Rimmer' was Rimmer's journal of his thoughts and deeds. He had hoped it would someday be placed alongside his historic heroes' own work; 'Napoleon's War Diaries' and 'The Memories of Julius Caesar'.
To elaborate on an April fool joke, Holly wears a Groucho Marx comedy glasses-nose-and-moustache.
Both Grant and Naylor consider Me2 as one of the successes of the first series. Grant stating that it is one of his favourite shows and the idea of how you would react if you met yourself was an intriguing story.
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers - The first Red Dwarf novel which expands on the episode's premise.
- TV.com entry for Me²
- "Red Dwarf" Me² (1988) on IMDb
- Red Dwarf Episode Guide for Series I on Silicon Hell, which includes a transcript of this episode
- Red Dwarf Episode Guide for Series I on britannia.org