"Queeg" is the fifth episode of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Red Dwarf
''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...
'' series two
and the eleventh in the series run.
It premiered on the British television channel
BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
on 4 October 1988. Written by
Rob Grant
Robert Grant is an English comedy writer, television producer and co-creator of ''Red Dwarf''. Since ''Red Dwarf'', Grant has written two television series, ''The Strangerers'' and '' Dark Ages'', and four solo novels, his most recent being '' F ...
and
Doug Naylor
Douglas Rodger Naylor (born 31 December 1955) is an English comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer.
Life and career
Naylor was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, and studied at Chetham's School of Music ...
, and directed by
Ed Bye
Edward Richard Morrison Bye (born 12 June 1955) is a British film and TV producer and director. He directed the episodes of the Science fiction, science-fiction British sitcom, sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' from List of Red Dwarf episodes, Series I-IV and V ...
, the plot features a backup computer named Queeg that replaces
Holly. The episode was
remastered
Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used.
Mastering
A ...
, along with the rest of the first three series, in 1998.
Plot
After ''Red Dwarf'' survives an impact from an asteroid, and
Dave Lister
David "Dave" Lister, commonly referred to simply as Lister, is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy ''Red Dwarf'', portrayed by Craig Charles.
Lister is characterised as a third-class technician (the lowest r ...
narrowly avoids being killed repairing the damage it did to the Hologram Simulation Suite, he,
Arnold Rimmer
Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character in the science fiction sitcom ''Red Dwarf'', played by Chris Barrie. Rimmer is characterised as a second-class technician (and de facto leader) of the mining ship Red Dwarf. Portrayed as snobbish, peda ...
and
Cat question how safe they are with the assistance of the ship's computer,
Holly. His lack of intelligence, despite the fact he is supposed to have an IQ of 6,000, and his increasing mistakes soon irritate them. In response, the pair find Holly's computer screens being occupied by a mysterious face they haven't seen before. The face identifies itself as Queeg 500 (
Charles Augins), the ship's back-up computer,
[Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 57.] and announces that it is retiring Holly for his gross negligence leading to the endangerment of the ship's personnel. As a result, Queeg assumes control and demotes Holly to the ship's night watchman.
[Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 58.]
While the group are pleased at the intelligence and efficiency of the new computer, they soon regret the change when Rimmer is made to wake up early and do exercises, while Lister and Cat are forced to clean the ship in order to acquire any food. Finally understanding how lenient Holly was towards them, the group beg him to return. Holly agrees and issues a challenge to Queeg, leading both to compete in a game of chess to determine who runs ''Red Dwarf'' and who is erased. Queeg wins easily and announces Holly will be erased. Lister, Rimmer and Cat prepare themselves for Holly's erasure and Queeg's rule. However, to their surprise and exasperation, Holly reveals himself to have been Queeg all along, having played a prank on the group so that they could learn to appreciate what they have.
Production
The script was nearing completion when the writers were having problems thinking of a satisfactory ending. Eventually Rob Grant came up with the ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'' spoof of Holly singing as he gets erased.
Quickly earning himself a reputation for doing his own stunts, Craig Charles flew over a console table in the aftermath of a huge explosion. His reasoning behind doing the stunts was that as a
Scouser he could be dropped on his head with no problems.
To achieve the effect of flying up and over the exploding console, Charles bounced off a small trampoline—that was out of shot—and this was matched up to the earlier establishing shot.
was brought in to choreograph the Tongue Tied sequence for the next episode "
Parallel Universe", but the writers were so impressed that they offered him the role of Queeg as well.
Cultural references
The theme tune from ''
High Noon
''High Noon'' is a 1952 American Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in real time, centers on a town marshal whose sense of ...
'' plays as Holly goes off to face his showdown with Queeg.
Queeg is named after Captain Queeg from ''
The Caine Mutiny'', but Holly's "This is mutiny, Mr Queeg" quote is from ''
Mutiny on the Bounty''.
The song Holly begins to sing as he is erased is "
Goodbye to Love
"Goodbye to Love" is a song composed by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis. It was released by the Carpenters in 1972. On the '' Close to You: Remembering The Carpenters'' documentary, Tony Peluso stated that this was one of the first power balla ...
" by
The Carpenters from their 1972 album ''
A Song for You
"A Song for You" is a song written and originally recorded by rock singer and pianist Leon Russell for his first solo album '' Leon Russell'', which was released in 1970 on Shelter Records. A slow, pained plea for forgiveness and understandin ...
''.
Reception
The episode was originally broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 4 October 1988 in the 9:00 pm evening slot.
Norman Lovett, who played Holly, stated, in the Series II documentary ''It's Cold Outside'', that the episode was one of his favourites.
It came in 9th place in a ''Red Dwarf Smegazine'' readers' poll with 4.4% of the overall votes.
[Readers survey results, ''Red Dwarf Smegazine'', p. 27., issue 10, December 1992, Fleetway Editions Ltd, ISSN 0965-5603]
Remastering
The remastering of Series I to III was carried out during the late 1990s.
Changes throughout the series included replacement of the opening credits,
giving the picture a colour grade and
filmising
Film look (also known as filmizing or film-look) is a process in which video is altered in overall appearance to appear to have been shot on film stock. The process is usually electronic, although filmizing can sometimes occur as an unintentional ...
,
of ''Red Dwarf''
and many more visual and audio enhancements.
Changes made specific to "Queeg" include sound effects on the meteor impact have been enhanced. Video and sound effects have been added to the original live-action footage of Rimmer's hologrammatic form malfunctioning.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
Episode Guide – Series II at RedDwarf.co.uk
{{Red Dwarf episodes
Red Dwarf II episodes
1988 British television episodes