Since I'm one of the people in Philadelphia who get to view RD8 before its broadcast in Britain, I guess it's up to me to post a plot outline and nits.

Plot: Rimmer and Lister complain about being prisoners. Lister signs the gang up for an assignment called "The Canaries" for extra privileges not realizing that they were named for canaries that were lowered into mines to test for noxious fumes. In other words, they get risked so that the rest of the crew stays safe. Their first assignment: The SS Silverberg was spotted nearby with no crew, no signs of life, no skeletons, etc. The Canaries have to investigate. They find a computer named Cassandra that can prdict the future with 100% accuracy. One of the first predictions: all of the Canaries on board die except Lister, the Cat, Kochanski, and Kryten. Cassandra further states that Rimmer will die of a heart attack within the hour. Our heros are depressed saying that the future cannot be changed citing the 1st season episode "Future Echoes". Since Rimmer doesn't know of that episode, they suggest he use his blissful ignorance to prevent the prediction. A guard named Knot shows up and Rimmer switches jackets with him. When Knot-"Rimmer" hears the news he'll die, he gets scared and does die. Next prediction: Arnold dies when Lister shoots him with a speargun when he catches Arnold and Kochanski in bed together. Events start to unfold where Arnold and Kochanski are in bed and Lister shows up with a speargun. Instead of killing them, he says it's a trick that Cassandra pulled trying to prevent Lister from destroying Cassandra. Cassandra repeats to Lister that she is going to die at Lister's hands. He tries to prevent the future by just walking away but accidentally destroys her anyway.

Nits:
If Cassandra can predisct the future with 100% accuracy, should she lie?

Rimmer figures out that he can change the future because no one calls hime "Rimmer". But no one calls him "Arnold" either except Cassandra and no one calls anyone else by name either. How could she know anyone's name?

Shouldn't she have been able to foresee the Knot/Rimmer identity swith?

General nit about shows like this: Why doesn't anyone ever ask detailed questions when someone predicts the future?

Lister interrupts Rimmer and Kochansky in bed and tells them he's not going to kill Rimmer as Cassandra predicted. Nit: Lister wasn't in the room when Cassandra made that prediction.

How on earth did Kryten jump to the conclusion that Cassandra was lying to provoke Lister? All her predictions were correct up to that point, so what was the clue?

Lister should definitely know better about fate vs. free will; he's seen many examples of his actions changing the future (for instance, the end of season 6, and the events of "Tikka to Ride").

When they said the Silverberg was sunk on an ocean moon, did anyone else think about Back To Reality and the Despair Squid?
I liked Killcrazy.
Why is Cassandra so glad to see Arnold? It's never explained. I thought maybe her programmer had known Arnold or that Arnold would free her, but no.
I loved Rimmer's reaction to finding out that he is going to die while making love to Kachanski! Priceless.
I should think that knowing the future with 100% accuracy would make existance so boring that Cassandra would be glad to die.

She gets their names from their uniforms. Kudos to the TPTB- Rimmer was wearing a jumper thing over his name patch.

Nit- I doubt a computer could be destroyed by spilling water on a cord. Also, couldn't Cassandra have shut off the ship's atmosphere or sent a skutter to kill Lister?

Didn't Cassandra say that only Lister, Cat, Krytan and Kochanski would survive? What's Killcrazy doing alive on the bathescape (or whatever it is)?

Didn't Cassandra say that only Lister, Cat, Krytan and Kochanski would survive? What's Killcrazy doing alive on the bathescape (or whatever it is)?

I agree that Cassandra wanted to die.

This is why she's so happy to see Arnold. She knows her existence is finally near the end. (It would make sense for her to be happy to see Lister, but it's mentioned that her attitude towards Lister is one of the things that tips Kryten off to her lies, which leads to her destruction.)

At first I figured Cassandra was fooled by the Rimmer/Knot switch because she could only see the future in her immediate area. However, she calls Kochanski "Kris", though no one refers to Kochanski as "Kris" or "Kristine" during their stay on the Silverberg; so she must be able to "see" the future at great distances to some other time/place when Kochanski is referred to as "Kris".
(Similarly, Cassandra refers to Cat as "The Cat", though his uniform simply says "Cat", and he's referred to as "Cat" during their stay on the Silverberg.)

This also means that she knows about the Rimmer/Knot switch and is just playing along (again, because she knows the desception leads to her destruction).

And this explains why she doesn't give any hints to Lister about how he destroys her. Lister didn't want to kill her, so a simple, "Then don't put your gum there," or "Don't set your drink there," etc., would have easily stopped the accident.

She could also have saved herself by telling them that only Lister, Cat and Kryten survive. When they escaped in the sub, Lister's logic for going back was that Cassandra said Kochanski survived, so they _had_ to go back.

Or by telling them the truth (that all five of them survived). Then they wouldn't have been so preoccupied with getting Rimmer out safely that they may have made it to the sub without him falling.

To sum up: I think Cassandra wanted to die and was lying left and right to ensure that events led up to her destruction...

Keith Alan Morgan: Yup! I thought "Despair Squid" too...

Richard, that is possibly the most convoluted and yet coherent explanation of what's going on that I've yet heard... Nice One!

That was a big fall. How come they didn't hear Rimmer falling?

How come Kochanski is the only female canary? Simply Lister's stupidity for putting down everyone on the form? Watch when they do the singing bit... Chloe Annett is trying just a bit too hard.
Fourth episode in and I'm asking myself: where is Peterson? My girlfriend then asked: Well, where is Todd Hunter then?
The only explanation we could come up with is that their ashen remains, as seen in the first season, must have been removed before Red Dwarf was lost and the nanobots would have had nothing to reconstruct them with. Maybe Lister thought he was using pepper one drunken night when he was adding that powdery substance to his curry...

As I understand it, the Dwarf is now bigger than it was, thus more space for people to be in.
Given that only the first three eps were outside the Prison Decks anyway, and much of the material for those was in a ratther dodgy cyberspace environment, it's highly likely that they're around the ship, somewhere, we just haven't had the opportunity to meet them.

Or, maybe the actors didn't want to come back.

Well, obviously, the actors didn't want to come back but that's not a reason in the context of the show's storyline.

Cassandra could read minds to find out the information she knows but has not been told

Chris Thomas: (Ultra nitpicky moment) It's Todhunter, not Todd Hunter.

BTW, rhe look Cassandra gives Lister at the end is priceless.

Is that written on a security pass somewhere or something? Actually, in Australia Todd Hunter and his brother Marc were in a band called Dragon, big in the late 70s, and originally from New Zealand.

Cheis: Written in the ending credits of The End.

Hmmm... going by that rationale the lead character in another sci-fi series is called Doctor Who then, not the Doctor, despite the fact that's what everyone calls him. :))))

"Didn't Cassandra say that only Lister, Cat, Krytan and Kochanski would survive? What's Killcrazy doing alive on the bathescape (or whatever it is)?"

Kill Crazy never boarded the Silverberg, so perhaps Cassandra didn't count him.

The Canaries are sent in to potentially dangerous areas because they are expendable, but what does this say about Knott? Knott is apparently an officer. How does (did) he feel about leading what could be a suicide mission?

When Lister grabs the harpoon gun, he removes what appears to be a cork from the arrowhead. A cute bit, but if it really is a cork, then how much safety will this provide? The bolt can pierce bone. I would think the cork would be split with no trouble whatsoever.

Peterson is on Red Dwarf. He sends Lister a letter in Krytie TV, so he couldn't be dead or he'd be too busy with the funeral.

Now I'm not exactly a harpoon gun expert, but for some reason I seem to recall seeing harpoon guns in other television series or movies that do indeed have corks on them when they're in storage. The reason seems quite obvious, it's to prevent someone from accidentally poking themselves with it. Obviously the cork probably wouldn't help much if the gun is fired at you, but if you're just holding the gun and handling it carelessly, then having that cork to prevent you from stabbing yourself by accident would certianly be a good thing.

Rimmer's name seems to be much bigger on his vest than anyone else's name on their vests.

Maybe Kryten realized that Cassandra might be lying when they found Killcrazy still alive on the bathescape? (For that matter, maybe some of the Canaries died because the Red Dwarf posse were told the other Canaries died? Posse heads back to the crimson short one, while the other Canaries get to the airlock & say, "Hey! Where's the ship?")

The mark of the door frame on Killcrazy's head looks too curved and also extends down too far. At most there should be a slight curve across his forehead, not going down his temples.

If Cassandra can be destroyed so easily, why did the people who came before send the Silverberg to the bottom of an ocean? Why not just destroy her as Lister does?

Has Red Dwarf always had that Thunderbird 4-like underwater craft or is the nanobots at work again?

Aren't the crew of Red Dwarf and Captain Hollister remotely interested in the fact they're 3 million years out in space - they don't want to go back to Earth or see if it still exists?

You can see the neck of Holly's black skivvy in some shots.

Kochanski says she's soaking wet. I doubt it, given the canary uniform is mostly a plastic-like material.

I too thought that about Kochanski's uniform. Guess she's one of those people who just really don't like wet skin.

Kryters does make a big ol' leap of logic, doesn't he?

Good point about Killcrazy not actually making it in, let alone out.

I guess it could be Todd Hunter (after all, it's never confirmed on screen, is it?), but even if it is, it's a two-piece surname then, because in The End, his first name's Frank, not Todd.

I too thought that about Kochanski's uniform. Guess she's one of those people who just really don't like wet skin.

Kryters does make a big ol' leap of logic, doesn't he?

Good point about Killcrazy not actually making it in, let alone out.

I guess it could be Todd Hunter (after all, it's never confirmed on screen, is it?), but even if it is, it's a two-piece surname then, because in The End, his first name's Frank, not Todd.

His surname is one piece (Toddhunter). Just look at the credits for The End.

Didn't Rimmer mention something about bringing a canary into the sleeping quarters in an earlier episode? Lister seemed to know what one was then.

Rimmer mentioned this in bodyswap when talking about Listers bad habits (!), you never know with the timelines being rewritten since then....

Frank Todhunter...

So what is a todhunter anyway? I doubt the name developed for people who hunted people named Tod. Could it have originally meant Toad Hunter???

Foxhunter, actually, Keith. Don't ask me why - I looked it up and that's what it said!

"Tod" is German for "Death".

>So what is a todhunter anyway? I doubt the name developed for people who hunted people named Tod. Could it have originally meant Toad Hunter??? >

Where do you expect Frog legs to come from? Tofu mines?

Thanks.

Ccabe, I also considered the possibility that it might be someone who collects those toads with the drug on their back that some people lick.

A Todd is an old term for a male fox.

Another computer that was functioning perfectly for three million years.

They sure built things to last in the century that the Dwarfers came from, didn't they.