THE EXPLANATION FOR THE TIME DRIVE,
TRANSPORTING THE RED DWARF POSSE, BACK TO EARTH, IN TIKKA TO RIDE: EPISODE I:
RED DWARF VII, AS WELL, AS: THE HEADY MEDIEVAL ATMOSPHERE
OF FIFTEENTH CENTURY: DEEP SPACE!
HOLD ON TO YOUR WAGE PACKETS!
BY MARIE BIRCH
So, this is what, all you Red Dwarf fans, have been waiting for! An
explanation of the above! And, I think, that I may be able, to help you out,
there! So, without any further ado, here goes!
I think that I may be able to offer a plausible explanation of how the
time drive was capable of getting the Boyz back to
Earth in Tikka To Ride, Episode I, Red Dwarf VII, when it was specifically
stated in Out Of Time, Episode VI, Red Dwarf VI, that the time drive was only
capable of taking the Boyz back in time, to the heady
atmosphere of medieval fifteenth century deep space! Well, I don't think that
the fans have been listening to the Boyz Future
selves! But fear not, it took me some time to work it out, myself! But the
point, that I am making is this: The future Dwarfer's
inform the present Dwarfer's, how they have great fun
in meeting the Hapsburg's, the Hitler's, the Goering's and Louis The Sixteenth
and his wife Marie Antoinette, who is a bit of a cutie! But from my point of
view, I would understand, for the future Dwarfer's to
meet those charming people, that the time drive would
have had to have been capable of taking the future Dwarfer's
back in time to Earth, somehow? Now, I admit that the future Dwarfer's hailed from fifteen years in the future, but at
the start of Tikka To Ride, Episode I, Red Dwarf VII, Lister mentioned that the
timelines had been interfered with and that they were all three years older and
in the meantime, Kryten and Lister, would have had a
bit of time to repair the time drive, which Rimmer
blew up in the first place (and no one has mentioned that, so far!), and
somehow, they would have worked some way out of making sense of it's calibrations or settings, that would enable them to be
capable of taking them to Earth, but not back to their own time, which was
explained in Tikka To Ride (extended version), Episode I, Red Dwarf VII, and I
think in Out Of Time, Episode VI, Red Dwarf VI, they also discussed, that they
had got, a time machine, that would have to be looked at, a bit more carefully,
at a later date, anyway! So, there you have it! What I truly think, is a
plausible explanation, of the time drive, been capable of getting the Boyz back to Earth! It is as simple as all that, really!
But I must admit, that I had to think it through, very carefully, myself, but I
daresay, that there will always be other fans of Red Dwarf, who will either
agree with my personal opinion, or either have opinions of their own, where
that is concerned! It's usually the way, as Holly, would say!
AN ADDITIONAL FOOTNOTE
As somebody has been so kind to comment on my explanation of the time
drive in transporting the boyz from the Dwarf to
Earth in a very limited capacity, via the alt.tv.red-dwarf
newsgroup, I thought that I would add his comments to my work, as they seem to
be quite constructive. I do not have an email address for the person named
Rich, but if you do happen to come across this report Rich, then I can assure
you that your comments were most welcome, and if you would like to keep in
touch with me, via email, then please do not hesitate to do so. But just for
the record, here are your comments, anyway.
It's really very obvious.
1. The information Kryten got on the time
drive was what was in the records: These records were incomplete for security
reasons (assumption).
2. The present Kryten contacted the future Starbug, and (probably) his opposite number. He learned
from the Future Kryten, either:
(a) How to modify the the time drive to handle
special displacements as well.
(b) That the time drive also handled spacial
displacements if you did thus and so.
3. He, of course, communicated the information to his spare heads for
safety, so spare head 2 knew how to use the device, but never had done it for himself.
That explains why the time drive was capable of transporting them
temporally and spatially in "Tikka", and why they ended up going to
the wrong place and time.
Rich.
Marie Birch
October 1998