Retconning Red Dwarf -- Series VII onwards
So this is another less intensive AU episode guide for an alternate version of the 'lesser' Red Dwarf seasons. This is how I would retcon VII and VIII, doing it in a way that would end the series in 1999, allowing Doug Naylor to put the sitcom to rest while moving on to the (still ill-fated) Red Dwarf movie.
AU from VII onwards:
Series VII (1997)
Back in Time
Tikka to Ride
Ace in the Hole
The Linkway
Duct Soup
Beyond a Joke
Epideme
Nanarchy
Chris Barrie initially only wants to do two episodes but is talked into doing four with the promise of one of them being an Ace episode, one being a spiritual sequel to ‘Marooned’ and Rimmer going out on a heroic note. As such, Rimmer only ‘stars’ in Episodes 2, 3, 5 and 7, while ‘appearing’ via deleted footage in Episode 1 and brief ‘voice only’ cameos in Episodes 4 and 6.
Episode 1 guest stars Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle as the ‘Time Police’ who arrest Lister, Cat and Kryten for their future selves’ Crimes Against Causality. Rimmer can not be present as he is trapped at the ‘heart’ of the paradox.
Episode 2 is most similar to ‘our’ version of Tikka, albeit the crew traveling back to 1963 via different means
Episode 3 – Ace returns to our dimension with serious injuries, so he and the others force Rimmer to pose as Ace during one of his heroic missions. Hilarity ensues, but maybe Rimmer, spurned on from his heroics in 'Out of Time', manages to pull it off, if only temporarily.
Episode 4 – Clare Grogan returns as Kochanski for a one-off (no offense to Chloe Annett, but in this timeline, Rimmer's not being replaced). More focus is put on the Alternate Lister and how much he had to change to be in a relationship with her, making ‘our’ Lister question everything about his infatuation with her. Rimmer is absent, having to power down due to dwindling energy supplies.
Episode 5 – The crew are forced into the ductwork by a small cybernetic creature (similar to a Cybermat from Dr Who, represented by a POV camera chasing them).
Episode 6 – Rimmer is absent again, having taken the escape pod to go ‘moon hopping’. Similar plot, but Kryten’s nega-drive is activated thanks to a trap laid by the Simulant. Able is portrayed by David Ross.
Episode 7 – Potentially Rimmer’s final episode. He gets Epideme to infect him (as he did in Paul Alexander's original script), saving Lister, but the virus damages his light bee in retaliation. Rimmer’s image is deactivated, leaving the virus vulnerable enough to be eradicated by Kryten.
Episode 8 – Lister’s depression is now from a lack of arm and the loss of Rimmer. They still retrace their steps and find that the nanobots stole Red Dwarf, reuniting with Holly in the process. We end with the possibility that the nanobots can repair Rimmer’s light bee, but they aren’t sure…
So that gives a different exit for Rimmer, who -- should Barrie decide not to return -- at least gets a heroic exit, sacrificing himself to save Lister. Of course, Barrie enjoyed VII so much that he apparently agreed to return for VIII before VII had completed production.
Now we go to a version of Series VIII that does not resurrect the crew. I'm not necessarily against that plot line (I like the idea of each series kind of having its own individual feel -- V being more horror-themed, VI searching for Red Dwarf, VII being a dramedy, etc), my main objection was the prison story line, but I'm more interested in the idea of them simply going back aboard Red Dwarf and getting back to the status quo.
So, because most of the episodes from canon!VIII wouldn't work here, I've picked (what I think are) some of the better Dave-era eps to fill the slots.
Series VIII (1999)
Back in the Red
Cassandra
Tempus
Lemons
Give and Take
Krysis
M-Corp
Twentica
Rimmer is successfully reactivated in the first scene of Episode 1, and the episode is about the crew on a Super-Sized Red Dwarf.
Episode 2 – Standard derelict raiding episode.
Episode 3 – Similar to Paul Alexander’s original idea wherein Lister wakes up one morning aged into an old man with no clue how it happened, with the eventual reveal that the Time Wand is being used by some unscrupulous person to ‘save time’ for himself.
Episode 4 – Similar to the Series X episode (maybe the Time Wand is utilized instead of being destroyed).
Episode 5 – Similar to the Series XI episode.
Episode 6 – Similar to the Series XI episode, but with a different series of events. The crew meet Butler at the beginning of the episode, but he’s a younger model than Kryten aboard the Nova 7, and Kryten is dismayed at how much more he’s accomplished in half the time, kickstarting the midlife crisis.
Episode 7 – Similar to the Series XII episode.
Episode 8 – Similar to the XI episode.
Now, at this point, Doug Naylor was looking to end the series to make Red Dwarf: DA MOVIE, but he wanted that to be a continuity reboot (similar to the novels), so he should really be thinking about ending the sitcom at this point. So, rather than make a Series IX, he decides on an hour long special to wrap things up...
Hour-Long Special (2001)
Back to Earth
Hour long series finale to wrap things up. The Boyz find a Faster Than Light Drive that will propel Red Dwarf back to Earth in a matter of hours. The special ends with them successfully making it back and going into orbit around the planet, but they have no idea what’s down there. The final shot is them flying Starbug down to the planet’s surface while Red Dwarf is left behind – empty.
And the credits roll over that image, similar to the End Credits for S I - IV
