RD: Queeg

From Tongue Tied

Contents 1 Overview 2 Summary 3 Notes 4 Noteworthy Dialogue 5 Background Information 6 References

[edit] Overview

A maniaical backup computer takes over Red Dwarf.

[edit] Summary

Holly (Norman Lovett) addresses the crew but forgets what he was going to say. Soon after the whole ship shakes under a tremendous impact. Holly now remembers that he had meant to warn the crew that the ship was about to be hit by a meteor. Rimmer's (Chris Barrie) legs start going walk abouts on their own and Holly asks Lister (Craig Charles) to go down to the Hologram Simulation Suite to repair the damage. However following Holly's advice Lister connects the wrong cables and causes an explosion which makes him fly over the consoles.

Holly's increasing mistakes start to irritate the crew. After all he's supposed to have an IQ of 6,000. Then a mysterious face appears on the monitor screen where Holly's face is usually seen. Rimmer thinks it's aliens, but he introduces himself as Queeg 500, the Red Dwarf back-up computer. According to Queeg he is to replace Holly for gross negligence leading to the endangerment of personnel, and assumes control of the ship.

The crew, initially pleased at the efficiency of their new ship's computer, soon grows dissatisfied, as Queeg requires them to work hard and follow the Company's regulations to the letter. Holly, prevailed upon by the crew to return, challenges Queeg to a game of skill (Queeg chooses chess) to determine which of them will run Red Dwarf and which one will be erased. Queeg wins easily, and declares that Holly is to be wiped immediately from the ship's systems. Holly says his goodbyes to Lister, Rimmer, The Cat and slowly disappears from the screen. However moments later, Holly returns, and explains, to the crew's extreme surprise and exasperation, that he was Queeg all the time and it was all merely an elaborate prank, and that they should appreciate what they have.

[edit] Notes

• An early draft of the script for Queeg included the Wilma Flintstone exchange between Lister and Cat, which will be later seen in "Backwards".

[edit] Noteworthy Dialogue

• Rimmer: You are a total, total...a word has yet to be invented to describe how totally...whatever it is you are, but you are one, and a total, total one at that!
  Holly: Alright, keep your hair on.
  Rimmer: I'm lucky if I can keep my legs on with you in charge.

• Holly: Our biggest enemy is going space crazy through loneliness. The only thing that helps me maintain my slender grip on reality is the friendship I share with my collection of singing potatoes.

• Holly's
• Holly: Yeah, right on!
• Queeg: Is THAT what he told you? It has a six in it, but it's NOT six thousand.
  Lister: Well what is it then?
  Queeg: Six.
  Holly: Do me a lemon, thats a poor IQ for a glass of water.

• Holly: We are talking Jape of the Decade! We are talking April, May, June, July, AND August fool! That's right: I am Queeg.

• Holly: And the moral of the story is appreciate what you've got, because basically, I'm fantastic.
• Lister: Is there any damage?

     Holly: I dunno the damage report machine has been damaged.

[edit] Background Information

• Craig Charles performed his own stunts in this episode where Lister is thrown from his bunk and then when he flies over the console in the explosion.

• Red Dwarf music composer Howard Goodall sings the theme from High Noon as Holly approaches his confrontation with Queeg.

[edit] References

• Holly's computer senility will later come to a head in the Series V episode, "White Hole".
• In Back to Earth, there appears to be a similar clause regarding holograms that requires a replacement if the current one has commuted acts of gross negligence leading to endangerment of personnel.