Ever wonder why we never saw the Matter Paddle again after this episode?
Maybe - and I'm stretching a lot here - they somehow hooked it together with the time machine in Tikka To Ride so they could travel across space and time, rather than just time like they did at the end of season six.

The Matter Paddle was used in the construction of the Triplicator in Deamons & angels.

Summary nit: Kryten didn't invent the Matter Paddle he fond it in a lab on Z Deck.

Why does Kryten tell the others that he & Lister will meet them in Starbug? Yes, it leads to the gag about ending up in the bathroom, but aside from that there is no other reason. Kryten could have easily explained what he did anywhere on the ship, even Lister & Rimmer's room.

Earlier when Kryten explains how the Matter Paddle works he says it converts someone to digital information and sends them as light, but in Starbug he says the Paddle can send them instantaneously 500,000 light years away. Clearly his first statement is wrong.

Kryten says that it would take Starbug billions of years to travel the 200,000 light years to the planet they go to. Assuming a minimum of 2,000,000,000 years I would estimate that Starbug's top speed is about 67,062 miles an hours. (That's probably wrong, but maybe someone reading this can figure out the correct estimate.)

When Rimmer first appears on the planet, you can see his breath.

Kryten says, "I've seen better dinosaurs given away..." (can't remember the rest). Dinosaurs? Giant birds, perhaps, but certainly not dinosaurs.

When Hitler orders the others to get Lister and the Cat out of the chimney, why didn't Lister hit the control on the paddle?

Missed Opportunity: Lister apologizing to Hitler for taking his briefcase in Timeslides.

Kryten has to follow Rimmer's orders because of his programming, but in White Hole Kryten said, that a live human outranks a hologram. Lister could have ordered Kryten to stop obeying Rimmer.

Did Lincoln get killed on the way back? I don't remember seeing him after the escape from the jail cell? (Or was he transported to the planet Excaliba in the 23rd century to meet Kirk?)

When they use the matter paddle at the end they do a slow fadeout as opposed to the *poof* disappearances earlier.

Maybe Rimmer has holographic breath as well, given he is simulation. Does this ever happen with the Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager?

If it would take them Billions of years to travel 2000 Light Years then how does Starbug get anywhere in RD VI? Did they go into stasis between episodes? Convert the Matter paddle into a stardrive? or did the wiping of The Inquisitor rewrite history so Starbug was fitted with more powerful engines, or between Back To Reality & Psyrens they found some better engines?

Where did the footage of those "Dinosaurs" come from? It looks like a 50s-60s Japaneese Monster film.

The between scenes mix is right out of The Man From UNCLE.

How does Rimmer know about Waxdroids? or was there a Waxworld in the solar system in the 23rd century? (& later there where more built as space was colonised.)

If the Matter Paddle transforms people into light-beams, how come it doesn't take 2000 years to make the 2000ly journey to the waxworld?

I wonder why they didn't use that paddle to try and get back to Earth.

Re: the wax droids

(Principal Skinner) I'm up to my knees in half the original cast of MASH! (Principal Skinner)

Where did the footage of those "Dinosaurs" come from? It looks like a 50s-60s Japaneese Monster film.

It did come from such a movie.


Judging from this debacle, I can see why Rimmer never became an officer!

I was switching channels a few days ago and came across a Japanese monster movie and thought, "Those look like the monsters from Red Dwarf", but thought it was merely an inspiration.

It seems to have been a movie called Gappa: the Colossal Beast a.k.a Gappa: The Triphibian Monster a.k.a. Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (1967).

Yeah, that might have been the movie they grabbed the footage from.

Of course, Kryten points out how unconvincing the monsters look

Apparently Gappa was a parody in the original Japanese, but that got lost in the English translation.

Kind of fitting.

Of course, when those "monsters" appear, Rimmer shatters the sound barrier in running away.

Caligula is the best part of this episode. The Cat keeps insulting him and he slaps *Lister* instead!
Wonderful performance by Tony Hawks (The Fifth Dwarfer)

Indeed, that was a funny scene.

Caligula in this episode shows how it's better to NEVER adulterate your insanity

Mind you, this wasn't the real Caligula, just an android recreation of him. No doubt based on the popular perceptions of him.

No doubt based on the popular perceptions of him.

It's a theme park so all of the Waxdroids are one-note caricatures of the real historical figures and celebrities (Elvis loves eating, Stan Laurel in overly-emotional, Marilyn Monroe is sex personified (the real Marilyn was both intelligent and an anti-segregationist who was disgusted to be reduced to nothing but T & A in popular perception))

Of course, Rimmer gets all the wax droids killed.

I suppose the wax droids could be repaired, but none of the Dwarfers has the technical know how.

none of the Dwarfers has the technical know how

Yeah it's seldom remembered anymore that Kryten is merely a sanitation droid who is programmed with a degree from Toilet University (just a piece of software but, as Kryten noted to Lister, he did have to pass an exam to prove that the software was correctly installed).

Rimmer gets all the wax droids killed.

Well, destroyed as they weren't technically alive in the first place.

Although considering how much bigger the monster waxworks were compared to the human-sized ones, wouldn't it have taken longer to melt their wax?
Maybe they're still stomping around somewhere on the planet.

Although considering how much bigger the monster waxworks were compared to the human-sized ones, wouldn't it have taken longer to melt their wax?
Maybe they're still stomping around somewhere on the planet.

Those were probably all that were left, once Rimmer was through with the place.

TIM: Of course, Kryten points out how unconvincing the monsters look :-)

(paraphrased) "I've seen more convincing dinosaurs given away free with a packet of Wheetie Flakes". Classic Kryten.

Yet, and it's part of the clues that makes the crew realize that not is all as it seems here.

the Lincoln actor's fake mid-western USian accent makes "Rasputin" sound more like "Rice Pudding".

Of course, no one knows what Lincoln actually sounded like.

The earliest US presidents for which recordings of their voice exist are Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland sounds like the Mayor of Munchkinland in The Wizard of Oz.

They used Lincoln in this episode because he's one of the well known U.S. Presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Teddy Roosevelt being others).

If they had gone for Millard Fillmore, most of the audience would have said "Who?"

The posts about the Elvis actor have been moved here:

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