Villordsutch reviews Red Dwarf XII – Skipper…
Well this is it. The final episode of Red Dwarf XII and it’s safe to say that this latest series for one of the UK’s longest running sci-fi comedies, has been a winner for Dave. Practically every episode in this twelfth series – from Doug Naylor – has had standout moments, which will be remembered amongst the Red Dwarf community for a long time (obviously I’m ignoring Timewave). It’s now left to Skipper – the last episode – to wrap Red Dwarf XII up with a shiny red bow and we can call this series smegging perfect.
With Kryten and Lister trawling through the old ship’s records they come across Captain Hollister’s crew appraisal file, within which Rimmer discovers that even the Captain of the JMC vessel didn’t see any potential in Arnold Judas Rimmer. This information brings Rimmer down and he promptly allocates blame to the company he keeps.
Later as Rimmer and Kryten are working are in the control deck, our faithful Mechanoid highlights a strange anomaly [see: weird] on the scanner, penetrating the universe. Numerous oddities then cause the Dwarf Posse to behave strangely, including Cat becoming Lister’s maid, and it’s revealed that this lesion may have been caused by Kryten’s latest experiment, a Quantum Skipper.
With numerous dimensions now available to access, created by past decisions chosen, Rimmer decides to up sticks and leave his shipmates in search of a better life – one where the right decision was made. Though this may not be as easy as he believes.
Skipper is quite possibly one of the best Red Dwarf episodes to date. Granted not one of the most original ideas, “Holly Hop – Kryten’s Quantum Skipper” and it does appeal – on occasion – to fan service, but with this pushed to one side and ignored you’ll find yourself enjoying every moment of this episode.
From the Hollister’s Crew Report, Cat making the wrong decisions, Rimmer disliking the word “anomaly” and his goodbye speech, Kryten’s desire if he could skip back and of course the brief return of Holly and Capt. Hollister, this episode is Red Dwarf at its best. The episode obviously doesn’t end there, it stays on course being brilliant. There’s nothing within Skipper that any long-time fan of Red Dwarf can dislike. I can imaging Cheshire Cat grins everywhere whilst watching this.
Doug Naylor has shown us that Red Dwarf maybe nearly thirty years old, but it’s still funny as hell and can truly make people laugh. Skipper is smegging fantastic, it’s the perfect closing episode to Red Dwarf XII, and come the credits you’re scouring the web looking for news on Red Dwarf XIII as you want this show to go on forever.
Rating: 9/10
