The End (Red Dwarf)
| "The End" | |
|---|---|
| Red Dwarf episode | |
Lister is frozen in stasis, shielded from a radiation leak which kills the crew of the Red Dwarf ship.
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| Episode no. |
Series 1 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Ed Bye |
| Written by | Rob Grant & Doug Naylor |
| Original air date | 15 February 1988 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The End" is the first episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, which was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 15 February 1988. The episode introduces the main characters and sets up the story backbone of the series. On the mining ship Red Dwarf, Dave Lister is placed in stasis for refusing to give up the whereabouts of his forbidden pet cat. When he emerges from stasis, three million years later, he discovers that everybody has died from a radiation leak.
The episode was written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, directed by Ed Bye and starred Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules and Norman Lovett. The script was rejected by the BBC three times before it was given the go ahead three years later. An electricians strike at the BBC prevented filming and production on the series halted, only going ahead after the dispute was resolved.
The broadcast episode differs greatly from the originally filmed version. Grant and Naylor felt that scenes from the episode did not work, so with a spare filming slot additional scenes were added and previous scenes filmed again. Gaining over five million viewers on its first showing, the episode is considered as one of the best from the first series by fans. It was later re-mastered, along with the rest of the first three series, in 1998.
On the mining vessel Red Dwarf, Dave Lister (Craig Charles) and Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie) go about their daily routine of maintenance. Rimmer takes the maintenance duties very seriously while Lister would rather be slobbing around and drinking with his ship mates Petersen, Selby and Chen. But it is not always about slobbing and drinking, he has a plan which he tells his pregnant cat Frankenstein. When he gets back to Earth he is going to start a farm on Fiji and bring the only true love of his life, Kristine Kochanski (Clare Grogan). Rimmer on the other hand is more concerned with his career and prepares for his latest engineering exam by copying notes and equations onto his arms and legs.
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