Backwards

The way they work this senario is just brilliant and I could probably watch it several times in a day without getting bored of it. Red Dwarf episodes like this one which explore some weird timey wimey things are some of the best in my opinion.

Huge fan of Red Dwarf though I've always been since it first appeared on British TV back in the 80s, I've never been able to enjoy this episode much, going all the way back to the very first time I watched it on "live" TV back in 9891 (and there's a hint right there).

It's basically just one gigantic continuity error. Nothing, but nothing, hangs together - just like Philip K Dick's book Counter-Clock World, which I'd read some years earlier (or did I un-read it some years later?). I've always been a huge fan of his, too, but the book drove me mad for all the same reasons this episode does.

A major plus is that Kryten makes his first regular appearance, played by the excellent and ever-likeable Robert Llewellyn. Interesting to be reminded that the character just reappeared one whole series later with no explanation whatsoever - I like that! Saves bothering with a back story when it's a thorougly silly and quite surreal show in the first place, even allowing for its basic premise.

But you still need to be able to suspend disbeilef for silly and surreal! This one is just silly for all the wrong reasons.

The crew go through a portal into a universe where space and time is contracting.

This is a fairly enjoyable episode with a clever premise and some funny sight gags, but the concept of everything happening in reverse isn't really enough to generate strong humour consistently throughout the episode.

Series 3 introduced a new dynamic with the departure of Norman Lovett and the introduction of Robert Llewellyn and Hattie Hayridge who star as Kryten and the female face of the ship's computer Holly respectively. I think they make a seamless transition and work well to bring more variety to the show. In addition the visuals feel more colourful and vibrant due to the costuming and location changes.

The sci-fi concept is pretty good. Doug Naylor and Rob Grant had obviously read A Brief History Of Time around about the time this was written and picked out something from Hawking's theories of the universe they thought would make a cool episode. Yes, it is a good concept for the show, but for me the comedy associated with it is pretty hit and miss over the course of thirty minutes.

My favourite part is the cleverly filmed and edited barroom brawl sequence that we see happen in reverse and one very funny part near the very end involving the Cat.

All performances are as strong as ever and this is a decent start to the third series.