DNA (Red Dwarf episode)
Encyclopedia
"DNA" is the second episode of science fiction
sit-com Red Dwarf
Series IV and the twentieth episode in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British
television channel BBC2 on 21 February 1991, although it was planned to be broadcast as the fifth episode, it was moved forward in the schedule by the BBC. Written by Rob Grant
and Doug Naylor
, and directed by Ed Bye
, the episode revolves around the genetic engineering technology that the crew discover.
quickly assumes is alien, and the crew board it to investigate. Kryten
and Rimmer discover a three-headed skeleton, but it appears to be a mutated human. Meanwhile Lister
and Cat
find an unusual looking console, which, despite Lister's warnings, Cat fiddles about with. The machine turns Lister into a chicken, as Kryten and Rimmer approach detecting a huge power surge. Kryten deduces that it is a DNA
modifier and asks Cat what buttons he pressed to turn Lister into a chicken. Cat retraces his steps and accidentally catches Kryten in the machine's beam. Cat panics and frantically presses the buttons and Lister is restored. However Kryten changes into a human.
Kryten is ecstatic about being human, but soon discovers the downside—having no zoom function in his eyes, his nipples don't work and he is repulsed by the looks of the male member. Being human soon loses its charm and, having insulted his own spare heads, Kryten decides to revert to his old self.
Whilst preparing the DNA modifier console, Rimmer suggests they try the device on a test subject. Lister has a mutton vindaloo
dish on hand and places the tray in the beam; however, rather than turn it into a chicken vindaloo, Holly accidentally creates a "mutton vindaloo beast". It seems indestructible as their bazookoid blasts have no effect on it. They have little choice but to run off, but it won't be long before it finds them. So that they can defeat the beast, Lister asks Holly to turn him into a "super human — man plus". It nearly works as he becomes a Lister/Robot hybrid, but he is also shrunk to about one foot in size. Lister inadvertently discovers that a spilled lager
can inflict pain on the beast as it stands on the liquid ("Of course, lager! The only thing that can kill a vindaloo!"). Using this knowledge Lister throws a can of lager into its mouth, shoots the can and the monster explodes in a shower of vindaloo.
. It is established that they had been dating and that she broke up with him, an idea which had been introduced in the novel Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
. Doug Naylor and Craig Charles
explained that Lister's infatuation with Kochanski, despite barely knowing her, was unrealistic.
With the tail end of production and finances running low the DNA ship's set was rushed and was not as had been expected. However the grungy looking corridors and rooms were better than nothing which may have been the case.
Paul McGuinness, a member of the effects team, wore the Vindaloo Mutant outfit. He also produced the three-headed corpse that Kryten and Rimmer discover on board the DNA ship. Richard Ridings
voices the D.N.A. Ship Computer.
A cast-inspired gag came in at the end of the scene with Rimmer planning to clone himself from his own dandruff. Timing it just right into the rehearsals, Danny John-Jules
sneezed on the microscope at the right moment - and it had just made the rehearsal.
Blue-screen techniques was used to produce the transformation of Lister to a 1 foot (0.3048 m) "super-human" man plus. Craig Charles was shot in front of a bluescreen to make him appear one foot tall, while this was added to the other crew's footage, who were also involved in blue screen, as they run by the small Lister.
is referenced by the Cat regarding the way he looks when he cannot use an electrical socket to blow-dry his hair.
Rimmer initially concludes that the spacecraft encountered is alien and that it is attempting to contact the Red Dwarf crew in order to return Glenn Miller
. This references the alien abduction myth of Miller, whose plane went missing in 1944 and was never found.
Lister attributes Popeye the Sailor Man's saying "I am what I am" to Descartes (in reference to the latter's famous line, "I think, therefore I am
"), but the attribution is corrected by Rimmer. (Kryten later makes the same mistake.)
Using the DNA modifier, Holly turns Lister into a super-human fighting machine "Man Plus". The result transforms Lister into a small replica hybrid of RoboCop
from the 1987 film of the same name.
When Lister is being chased by the vindaloo mutation he parodies Bruce Willis
' line from Die Hard 2
(1990); "How can the same smeg happen to the same guy twice?", referencing the previous series when he was attacked by what he thought to be a Shami Kebab
in "Polymorph
". Jaws
is then parodied in the final scene when Lister disposes of the vindaloo mutation by throwing a lager can into its mouth and then shooting at the can, making it explode along with the mutation.
hostilities at the time, which meant that "Dimension Jump
", originally the series' opener, and "Meltdown
" were held back.
The episode was considered to be one of the better episodes from the fourth series, however it did receive some criticism for moving the humour away from the characters and into situation-based comedy.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
sit-com Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
Series IV and the twentieth episode in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television channel BBC2 on 21 February 1991, although it was planned to be broadcast as the fifth episode, it was moved forward in the schedule by the BBC. Written by Rob Grant
Rob Grant
Robert Grant is a British comedy writer and television producer, who was born in Salford and studied Psychology at Liverpool University for two years....
and Doug Naylor
Doug Naylor
Douglas R. Naylor is a British comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer.Naylor was born in Manchester, England and studied at the University of Liverpool. In the mid-1980s, Naylor wrote two regular comedy sketch shows for BBC Radio 4 entitled Cliché and Son of Cliché...
, and directed by Ed Bye
Ed Bye
Edward Richard Morrison Bye is a British film and TV producer and director. He is best known for his work with Grant Naylor, Harry Enfield and Jasper Carrott, and has worked with many of British TV's best known comedians and comedy actors...
, the episode revolves around the genetic engineering technology that the crew discover.
Plot
Red Dwarf encounters a drifting spacecraft, which RimmerArnold Rimmer
Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character in the science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf, played by Chris Barrie. He is unpopular with his crew mates, and is often the target of insults or pranks...
quickly assumes is alien, and the crew board it to investigate. Kryten
Kryten
Kryten is a fictional character in the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf. Kryten's registration code on Red Dwarf is "Kryten additional 001". The name Kryten is a reference to the head butler in the J.M...
and Rimmer discover a three-headed skeleton, but it appears to be a mutated human. Meanwhile Lister
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...
and Cat
Cat (Red Dwarf)
The Cat is a character in the British science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. He is played by Danny John-Jules.-Character development:According to Danny John-Jules, the character of Cat is based on a combination of Little Richard's look, James Brown's moves and Richard Pryor's facial...
find an unusual looking console, which, despite Lister's warnings, Cat fiddles about with. The machine turns Lister into a chicken, as Kryten and Rimmer approach detecting a huge power surge. Kryten deduces that it is a DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
modifier and asks Cat what buttons he pressed to turn Lister into a chicken. Cat retraces his steps and accidentally catches Kryten in the machine's beam. Cat panics and frantically presses the buttons and Lister is restored. However Kryten changes into a human.
Kryten is ecstatic about being human, but soon discovers the downside—having no zoom function in his eyes, his nipples don't work and he is repulsed by the looks of the male member. Being human soon loses its charm and, having insulted his own spare heads, Kryten decides to revert to his old self.
Whilst preparing the DNA modifier console, Rimmer suggests they try the device on a test subject. Lister has a mutton vindaloo
Vindaloo
Vindaloo is an Indian curry dish from the region of Goa. It is popular globally in its Anglo-Indian form as a staple of curry house menus, often renowned as a particularly spicy dish, though it is not necessarily always the hottest available. The name Vindaloo is derived from the Portuguese dish...
dish on hand and places the tray in the beam; however, rather than turn it into a chicken vindaloo, Holly accidentally creates a "mutton vindaloo beast". It seems indestructible as their bazookoid blasts have no effect on it. They have little choice but to run off, but it won't be long before it finds them. So that they can defeat the beast, Lister asks Holly to turn him into a "super human — man plus". It nearly works as he becomes a Lister/Robot hybrid, but he is also shrunk to about one foot in size. Lister inadvertently discovers that a spilled lager
Lager
Lager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
can inflict pain on the beast as it stands on the liquid ("Of course, lager! The only thing that can kill a vindaloo!"). Using this knowledge Lister throws a can of lager into its mouth, shoots the can and the monster explodes in a shower of vindaloo.
Production
"DNA", official full title "Do Not Alter", changed the continuity of the relationship between Lister and Kristine KochanskiKristine Kochanski
Kristine Z. Kochanski is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf. Kochanski was the first console officer in the navigation chamber on board the spaceship Red Dwarf...
. It is established that they had been dating and that she broke up with him, an idea which had been introduced in the novel Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is a best-selling science fiction comedy novel by Grant Naylor, the collective name for Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, co-creators and writers of the Red Dwarf television series, on which the novel is based...
. Doug Naylor and Craig Charles
Craig Charles
Craig Joseph Charles is an English actor, stand-up comedian, author, poet, radio and television presenter, best known for playing Dave Lister in the British cult-favourite science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf...
explained that Lister's infatuation with Kochanski, despite barely knowing her, was unrealistic.
With the tail end of production and finances running low the DNA ship's set was rushed and was not as had been expected. However the grungy looking corridors and rooms were better than nothing which may have been the case.
Paul McGuinness, a member of the effects team, wore the Vindaloo Mutant outfit. He also produced the three-headed corpse that Kryten and Rimmer discover on board the DNA ship. Richard Ridings
Richard Ridings
Richard Ridings is a British actor and is best known for his portrayal of Allan Ashburn in the ITV television drama Fat Friends, and for playing Bernard Green in the BBC1 comedy-drama Common as Muck. He trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.Ridings was born in...
voices the D.N.A. Ship Computer.
A cast-inspired gag came in at the end of the scene with Rimmer planning to clone himself from his own dandruff. Timing it just right into the rehearsals, Danny John-Jules
Danny John-Jules
Daniel "Danny" John-Jules is a British actor, singer and dancer. John-Jules attended Rutherford Comprehensive School, Penfold Street, Marylebone, from 1972 to 1977. He is best known for portraying Cat in the television programme Red Dwarf.-Dance and song:John-Jules is a baritone...
sneezed on the microscope at the right moment - and it had just made the rehearsal.
Blue-screen techniques was used to produce the transformation of Lister to a 1 foot (0.3048 m) "super-human" man plus. Craig Charles was shot in front of a bluescreen to make him appear one foot tall, while this was added to the other crew's footage, who were also involved in blue screen, as they run by the small Lister.
Cultural references
The 1935 film Bride of FrankensteinBride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American horror film, the first sequel to Frankenstein...
is referenced by the Cat regarding the way he looks when he cannot use an electrical socket to blow-dry his hair.
Rimmer initially concludes that the spacecraft encountered is alien and that it is attempting to contact the Red Dwarf crew in order to return Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
. This references the alien abduction myth of Miller, whose plane went missing in 1944 and was never found.
Lister attributes Popeye the Sailor Man's saying "I am what I am" to Descartes (in reference to the latter's famous line, "I think, therefore I am
Cogito ergo sum
is a philosophical Latin statement proposed by . The simple meaning of the phrase is that someone wondering whether or not they exist is, in and of itself, proof that something, an "I", exists to do the thinking — However this "I" is not the more or less permanent person we call "I"...
"), but the attribution is corrected by Rimmer. (Kryten later makes the same mistake.)
Using the DNA modifier, Holly turns Lister into a super-human fighting machine "Man Plus". The result transforms Lister into a small replica hybrid of RoboCop
RoboCop
RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop"...
from the 1987 film of the same name.
When Lister is being chased by the vindaloo mutation he parodies Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
' line from Die Hard 2
Die Hard 2
Die Hard 2 is a 1990 action film and the second in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by Renny Harlin, and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane...
(1990); "How can the same smeg happen to the same guy twice?", referencing the previous series when he was attacked by what he thought to be a Shami Kebab
Shami kebab
Shami kebab or Shami Tikka is a popular Pakistani and Awadhi kebab, that is composed of small patty minced mutton or Beef, ground chickpeas and spices....
in "Polymorph
Polymorph (Red Dwarf episode)
"Polymorph" is the third episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series III, and the fifteenth in the series run. It premiered on the British television channel BBC2 on 28 November 1989. It is considered by some to be the series' best. Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed...
". Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
is then parodied in the final scene when Lister disposes of the vindaloo mutation by throwing a lager can into its mouth and then shooting at the can, making it explode along with the mutation.
Reception
"DNA" was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 21 February 1991 in the 9:00pm evening time slot, although it was intended to be broadcast fifth in the series run - as seen in the repeat showings in 1992 and 1994. The change in the scheduling was affected by the Gulf WarGulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
hostilities at the time, which meant that "Dimension Jump
Dimension Jump (Red Dwarf)
"Dimension Jump" is the fifth episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series IV and the twenty-third episode in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 14 March 1991, written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye...
", originally the series' opener, and "Meltdown
Meltdown (Red Dwarf episode)
"Meltdown" is the sixth, and final, episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series IV and the twenty-fourth episode in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 21 March 1991. Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye...
" were held back.
The episode was considered to be one of the better episodes from the fourth series, however it did receive some criticism for moving the humour away from the characters and into situation-based comedy.