Tikka to Ride

"Tikka To Ride" is the first episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series VII and the 37th in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 17 January 1997. Written by Doug Naylor and directed by Ed Bye, it was the first episode not to involve co-creator and writer Rob Grant.

Series VII was the first series to have extended episodes.

Lister makes a video explaining how the crew survived their battle with their future selves. If the future crew had killed their former selves, they would have eliminated their own existence, and therefore not have been able to destroy themselves. (See temporal paradox.) Therefore, time has reset to a point before the crew picked up time drive. Lister's explanation is too convoluted for the video camera to handle and it explodes. Kryten dismisses the whole incident as "garbled" and more "boring than an in-flight magazine produced by Air Belgium."

Unfortunately disaster has struck - Starbug is still damaged from the battle and as a consequence all the Indian food supplies have been destroyed; not even a single papadum survived. Lister proposes that the crew obtain the time drive again and go back in time to an Indian take-away and order 500 curries (even though Out of Time established that travel to other places (such as Earth) would also require a star drive). Rimmer, Cat and Kryten are against the idea and oppose going back in time, having seen the kind of people they could possibly become. Lister argues that they can use a time drive and avoid that consequence if they don't abuse it like their future selves did; however he finds himself outnumbered and seemingly concedes defeat. However, Lister swaps Kryten's head for one of his spare heads and removes the guilt chip from it, having the now guiltless Kryten reassure the crew that it will be okay. The next morning, Rimmer and Cat are confused when Kryten serves them high-calorie breakfasts, starts smoking and using phrases like "you bet your ass". However, when Kryten assures them it'll be ok to pick up the time drive the two assent and board the ship containing it, intending to go back to the 21st Century to one of Lister's favourite curry houses to pick up a large order.