// SPACE.COM — SPAZIO & SCIENZA
10 times 'Red Dwarf' beat other TV shows and movies to brilliant sci-fi ideas
The British sitcom has always been a breeding ground for memorable genre concepts.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
For a show with no aliens or faster-than-light travel, "Red Dwarf" has crammed an awful lot of sci-fi concepts into its 13 seasons.
Frequently as smart as "Star Trek" — albeit on a much smaller budget — Rob Grant and Doug Naylor's BBC sitcom always punched above its weight when it came to big genre ideas. In fact, many of its stories were truly ahead of their time, built around concepts that have since turned up in hit American shows (including the recent "Strange New Worlds" season four finale) and even Christopher Nolan movies.
Below we've picked out 10 sci-fi storylines and premises (and one honorable mention) where Dave Lister, Arnold Rimmer, Kryten and the Cat got there first…
Episode: "Confidence and Paranoia", "Red Dwarf I" (1988)
In "Red Dwarf": Lister goes down with a bout of space pneumonia, which has the unlikely side-effect of making his fever dreams a reality. In a twist that would give Sigmund Freud a field day, his confidence and paranoia manifest as actual humans — the former played by ex-"The Late Late Show" host Craig Ferguson.
In "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine": With a plot that feels more like a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" outing, "DS9" season one episode "If Wishes Were Horses" sees the crew's imaginations literally coming to life. The station is soon invaded by out-of-time baseball stars, fairytale villains, and unseasonal snow, all created by aliens eager to understand the concept of imagination.
In "Red Dwarf": The crew immerses themselves in a total immersion reality game named "Better than Life". Using some headgear that looks nothing at all like a bicycle helmet, they enter a virtual world indistinguishable from reality — though, of course, Rimmer doesn't deal with happiness well, and manages to ruin it for everyone. (Similar virtual reality tech later appeared in "Red Dwarf VI" episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".)
In "Ready Player One": Yes, the holodeck turned up in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" a year before — and the "Recreation Room" appeared in "The Animated Series" a year before that — but they're simulations you walk into. The OASIS in "Ready Player One", however, is undeniably a descendant of the "Better than Life" tech, an all-encompassing virtuality experience built to transport you away from the drudgery of everyday life.