Ouroboros (Red Dwarf episode)

"Ouroboros" is the third episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series VII and the 39th in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 31 January 1997. Written by Doug Naylor and directed by Ed Bye, it was the first episode not to feature Arnold Rimmer (although he does make a minor cameo in a flashback), and also the first to feature Kristine Kochanski as a regular character, having only appeared previously as a minor recurring character.

This episode opens with a flashback to the Aigburth Arms pub, in Liverpool, 2155, where we see a baby being discovered by a man named Frank under the pool table. On the cardboard box in which he is found is written "OUROB OROS": the barmaid present deplores the fact that his unknown parents couldn't even decide what name to give him (or how to spell it), interpreting the writing as a misspelling of "our Rob or Ross". The barmaid declares

Back in the present, on Starbug, Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) shows Lister (Craig Charles) that he has found some new clothes for him, including a rather feminine looking dressing gown, which he says he can alter so that Lister can wear it. Cat (Danny John-Jules) comes in and tells them there is something strange on the scan, but he's reluctant to commit himself as to whether it's a "wibbly thing" or a "swirly thing". In the drive room, Lister, Kryten and the Cat see that what is before them is a sort of temporal disturbance. There is no way to outrun it, and so they head straight into it.

As they pass through it, they discover a temporal rift in normal space, through which they encounter an alternative Red Dwarf crew, with some small differences: in this reality, it is Lister who is the hologram, having failed to survive the accident that wiped out the crew. He explains to our Lister that in their reality, Kochanski (Chloë Annett) found out that he had smuggled Frankenstein on board ship and took the cat away from him. As a result, Lister was not put into stasis, as he was not caught breaking quarantine regulations. In fact, it was Kochanski who ended up in stasis, and to Lister's delight, she is alive, and with the alternative crew. Rimmer is not, of course, Lister having been brought back as a hologram to keep Kochanski sane. Kryten is there, and the Cat is there as well.