Originally published September 30, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
Villordsutch reviews Red Dwarf XI Episode 3 – Give and Take…
After the brilliant ‘Samsara‘ hopes are high that the rest of the Red Dwarf XI, including next week’s episode ‘Give and Take’, will follow suit. Red Dwarf has already returned to form and it was truly brilliant last night as it sang back to classic Dwarf fantastically well, yet Doug Naylor made sure that people were aware that this too was a brand new series; praise for Red Dwarf XI is being already being echoed all across its loyal fanbase.
With Rimmer engaged in a petty argument with a lift on Red Dwarf, which ends in said the lift being fired and Rimmer walking off with a Scutter, we discover that a completely hung-over Lister has spent the past two days in Rimmer’s bunk asleep. His beer-filled head is rudely awoken as it appears a technologically advanced ship has been located and it’s soon to be destroyed in an asteroid storm.
With the boys from the Dwarf flying over in Starbug, Kryten and Rimmer come across what they believe to be a highly advanced medical bot called Asclepius; meanwhile both Lister and Cat find a skeleton that bizarrely has a dagger in it’s back, which seems to have been placed there by victim himself. It’s during the pondering of the skeleton that the actual highly advanced Asclepius bot, which has gone somewhat insane, captures both Lister and the Cat and sets to work of removing pieces of the space Scouser.
Once again in this latest episode of Red Dwarf science fiction plays a significant part and I’m over the moon that it does – especially when it can be smartly balanced with an excellent stroke of humour. A key scene here is where we discover how the knife ended up lodged within the skeleton, along with the crew’s snob-like disgust at SNACKY’s “four-buttons” and the classic Lost in Space design given to it. Hearts are clearly being worn on sleeves for the love of sci-fi here.
‘Give and Take’ doesn’t succeed ‘Samsara’ in“which episode is the funniest!?”, though there are some moments which are real Red Dwarf classics from Rimmer picking out who he wants to scout the ship with, Kryten’s placing of Rimmer in his filing system, Cat’s comeback about Listers’s kidney problem and Rimmer amd Kryten breaking the news at Lister’s bedside. It doesn’t all manage to hit the mark though; Listers medi-bay scenes seem to be ever so slightly to long and the resolution to the episode seems to be over that bit too quick.
You’ll still be finding ‘Give and Take’ enjoyable even with the above being said, and there are some other excellent moments to take note of like the lift closing at the beginning, the return of the scutters, and SNACKY knows Rimmer’s past work colleague Flight Coordinator Ronald Littlewood, although that’s not expanded on – could we see more of him the future? Along with some fantastic special effects, all in all this mash of sci-fi and comedy makes Red Dwarf the show to be watching on Dave right now.
Red Dwarf: Give and Take is available now to watch on UKTVPlay.
SEE ALSO: Follow all of our Red Dwarf coverage here at Flickering Myth
