Only the Good...

Only the Good... is the final episode in the eighth series of the British science fiction series Red Dwarf. It was first shown in the UK on April 5 1999 in the 9:00pm BBC2 time slot, written by Doug Naylor and directed by Ed Bye.

Plot

The episode begins with a few lines of text explaining that the starship Hermes has been destroyed by a synthetic, highly corrosive micro-organism. An escape pod from the ship carries a lone survivor, Talia Garrett. The pod and the woman are picked up by Red Dwarf, but is also revealed that the microbe has also been brought on board when part of the empty escape pod dissolves away.

Now some time into their prison sentence, the Dwarfers have been put on probation for good behaviour. Arnold Rimmer is attending to Captain Hollister as he recovers from Yellow Fever. Hollister notices that Rimmer has tried to slip in a form pardoning him from all crimes. Rimmer explains his ambition to become an officer someday, perhaps even a Captain. Hollister tells him he is not officer material and dismisses him as Talia enters. It seems that the Captain and Talia know each other from the past. Rimmer, disgusted at the Captain's success with woman and his own failure, leaves. In the corridor he attempts to steal some chocolate from the vending machine, only for the AI of the machine to berate him.

Meanwhile, back in The Tank, Kryten tells Lister that he is changing Miss Kochanski's calendar, as she had earlier complained to him that it was "The wrong time of the month". Lister realises what is going on and instructs Kryten secretly on how to behave. Kochanski returns to her cell and discovers Kryten has attempted to celebrate her period with a banner that reads 'Have A Fantastic Period'.

Later, in Lister and Rimmer's cell, they discover that Kryten has hidden Baxter's illegal moonshine in their cell, just before Holly informs them of a cell inspection. With the water tank full they have no choice but to drink the hooch. When Baxter finds out, believing his hooch was stolen by Rimmer and Lister, he threatens to finish off the two, now in sickbay, sleeping off the stomach pump. The two decide they need to escape. Kryten and Kochanski pretend to be ill to land in sickbay, while the Cat disguises himself as a nurse. As the Dwarfers escape they find that the microbe from the Hermes is now eating away at Red Dwarf.

Kryten and Kochanski devise a plan which involves entering a mirror universe where everything is opposite; negative becomes positive and a virus becomes an antidote. Kryten builds a prism laser and directs it at a mirror to create a dimensional gateway. Rimmer crosses over, only for the prism to break and trap him in the mirror universe. He realises he is not a failure in this universe but is instead Captain, and berates the alternative Hollister, now a 2nd Technician, for being useless. When Talia comes in, Rimmer, thinking she is his lover, snogs her, only to be told she is his spiritual advisor. Rimmer quickly goes to the science lab to talk to the professor, the alternative Cat, and gets the antidote (Cesiumfrancolithicmyxialobidiumrixydixydoxidrexidroxhide).

When Rimmer returns to his universe he finds the other Dwarfers have repaired the prism and followed him into the mirror universe. By now Red Dwarf is a flaming inferno and falling apart. Rimmer tries to return to the mirror universe, but the microbe has eaten away the laser. He tries to create the antidote, but the dispensing machine reveals that the formula from the mirror universe is now the formula for the virus, having reverted into its mirror opposite. After exchanging insults, the machine sends a can flying towards Rimmer, knocking him unconscious.

The episode ends with the Grim Reaper, played by series director Ed Bye, coming to claim Rimmer as Adagio for Strings plays in the background. Rimmer kicks Death in the crotch and runs off down the flaming corridor, claiming that "only the good die young" as Death winces "That's never happened before..." The episode ends with an ominous "The End" caption, but is soon refuted with its sudden erasure and replacement with "THE SMEG IT IS". The plot is continued 9 years later, in Red Dwarf: Back To Earth.

Production

This episode had a notorious production, having gone through numerous re-writes and re-shoots. The original climax, titled "Earth" was to have the Red Dwarf crew arrive back to Earth only for the ship to accidentally trash through the world's major landmarks. This was deemed too expensive to film, so a different finale was written altogether. One proposed ending was to feature Arnold Rimmer's dashing and heroic alter-ego Ace Rimmer returning to save the day (in reality, the "original" Arnold Rimmer). However this ending was not filmed. This, too, was changed at the last moment and the character of Death itself was introduced.

The conclusion of this episode was a cliffhanger although the ending of this last episode is open to interpretation.

Tony Slattery - who had played an android in the soap of the same name featured ten years previously in Kryten - took on Rimmer as the voice of the vending machine, sitting behind the unit and speaking his lines live on set. Other guest stars included Mac McDonald as Captain Hollister, Graham McTavish as Governor Ackerman, Heidi Monsen as Talia, Ricky Grover as Baxter and David Verrey as Big Meat.

Alternate filmed ending

An alternate ending where the Dwarfers clearly survive, and indeed even find themselves in a similar situation to the earlier series of Red Dwarf, was scripted and filmed but strangely cut at the last minute. However it is available for viewing on the series VIII DVD special features.

In this version of the episode, the bumbling Arnold Rimmer successfully remembers the antidote to the microbe that is eating the ship. It takes him over two hours to memorise the name of the antidote, as he has to alternate between the mirror universe and back to read the name of the antidote (which becomes the chemical name of the microbe in our universe as the opposite of the antidote.) However Rimmer memorises the antidote just in time for Kryten to make up some of the chemical antidote up and use it to destroy the microbe, with irony included with everyone else already knowing its name.

Red Dwarf having been saved from destruction, Rimmer takes up residence in the captain's quarters. Lister, Cat, and Kris party and celebrate at having survived, and due to the fact they are no longer imprisoned in The Tank and once again have free run of the vessel. Kryten resumes his ironing duties.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Red Dwarf crew - Captain Frank Hollister and the rest of the flight officers - look on Red Dwarf helplessly from their fleet of Starbugs and Blue Midgets with which they escaped the disintegrating mothership. Kryten peeks through a porthole at the fleet and asks Rimmer if they should perhaps slow down Red Dwarf, so that the rest of the crew can dock in the hangar bay and come aboard. Rimmer, reminiscent of Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 (in accordance with his military fantasies), replies "Full speed ahead, Mr Kryten, I see no ships!"

The alternative ending concludes with Rimmer paying the money he owes to the dispensing machine he stole from earlier. However, the machine still fires a can at Rimmer's head, knocking him unconscious.

Reception

Viewing figures peaked over 8 million.

External links

• Only the Good... at IMDb
• Red Dwarf: Only the Good... - TV.com
• Episode Guide - Series 8 at RedDwarf.co.uk