Kryten
Encyclopedia
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. Barrie play The Admirable Crichton
.
In their original plan for the series, Rob Grant
and Doug Naylor
had specified that there would be no aliens and no robots. However, following the success of the first appearance by the Kryten character, Naylor convinced Grant to bring him back.
In the character's first appearance, originally only intended as a one-off, Kryten was played by actor David Ross
but the popularity of the character meant that Kryten was introduced as a regular in Series III. The intention was to bring Ross back to play the role, but he was not available at the time and the position was filled by Northampton
-born actor Robert Llewellyn
, whose performances as Kryten in series III-VIII resulted in even greater popularity of the character. David Ross later returned to voice Talkie Toaster in a series IV episode.
ic servant — and is quite neurotic
. He is very humanoid
, with the exception of the flat cubic planes visible on his face and head, and stands at 6 feet tall. Kryten's design is mostly plastic, but there are some slight organic elements in his construction.
Kryten was built by the corporation DivaDroid International in 2340; one of a number of Series 4000 models based on a design by Professor Mamet, a roboticist (played by Jenny Agutter
). This design was actually intended as a joke on Mamet's ex-fiancé, John Warbuton, the mechanoids being a caricature
of his fussiness and pomposity. All negative emotions such as jealousy
, guilt
, envy
, frustration
, and insecurity
build up in a "mind negadrive", which when full would cause the head of the Series 4000 mechanoid to literally explode. This was supposedly a likeness to when Warburton would "blow".
Kryten is hard-wired to obey all of Mamet's orders without question, so when a Psiren
impersonated Mamet and ordered Kryten to crush himself in a garbage compactor
, he had no choice but to comply. His reply upon emerging, having been compacted into a cube: 'I'm almost annoyed!'.
Before Kryten left the Solar System
, he was made to attend "toilet university", as he would remind people. This was however revealed by Kristine Kochanski
to be merely a piece of software which ensured Kryten was thorough in his cleaning of lavatories
. Nevertheless he still had to take an exam to ensure that it was properly installed.
Kryten originally left the Solar System aboard a ship destined for "Deep Space", the SS Augustus, and served aboard the vessel for decades. Not much is known about these years of Kryten's life, except that the human crew of the SS Augustus all died of old age, leaving Kryten alone for an unspecified amount of time.
Sometime after this, Kryten was picked up by the crew of the Nova 5 and he became the personal servant of three female crew members of this vessel. The Nova 5 crashed into an asteroid
and for millennia, perhaps even millions of years, Kryten refused to believe the crew were dead and continued to wash and iron their clothes, dress them, and put out meals in front of their remains, all the while preserving their skeleton
s. It was from these long years alone that Kryten developed a phobia
of being left alone, or human crews deserting him. Kryten's rigid belief in "Silicon Heaven
", the electronic afterlife, kept him going — the idea that he would be rewarded for his servitude in the afterlife, where humans would instead become the servants. Kryten was eventually rescued by the crew of Red Dwarf where he is now reduced to serving the slobbish Dave Lister
(to some extent at least), the only surviving human crew member on that vessel.
It is possible that Kryten was inadvertently responsible for the accident aboard the Nova 5. In the first Red Dwarf novel, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, the Nova 5 crashed because Kryten washed the navigation computer with soapy water. However, it is unclear whether or not this is canon
in the Red Dwarf universe. It is mentioned by Dave Lister
, however, in the television series that the accident aboard the Nova 5 was Kryten's fault.
Kryten (as portrayed by David Ross
) was introduced in the first episode of the second series, in which he was only supposed to be a guest star. Initially, Arnold Rimmer
took advantage of his servility, getting him to paint a grand portrait of Rimmer. Dave Lister
however persuaded Kryten to rebel against his programming (which included showing him the movies Rebel Without a Cause
and Easy Rider
) and to become independent. Kryten changed the portrait of Rimmer to make it appear as though he was sitting on the toilet, and then poured soup onto Rimmer's bed sheets. Kryten took Lister's space-bike
and went out to find a planet
with an S3 (or Earth
-like) atmosphere
he could grow a garden
, which had always been a dream of the robot's.
Kryten did not appear in the rest of the second series. However the character proved popular amongst fans of the show, and so the decision was made to bring him back at the beginning of the third series and make Kryten a permanent member of the Dwarfers. David Ross
was unavailable, and so Robert Llewellyn
was brought in to play the character.
A very fast scrolling text at the beginning of the third series (a parody
of the Star Wars opening crawl
) explains that Kryten smashed the space-bike into an asteroid
. Lister found Kryten's remains and had to rebuild him from scratch, and so was unable to recreate him exactly. This was intended to explain the differences between Ross' portrayal of the character and Llewellyn's, as well as Lister needing to help Kryten break his programming all over again. Most noticeably, whereas he previously had an "English butler
" voice, he now spoke with what Llewellyn admits to be a bad Canadian accent
.
In the episode DNA, Kryten is briefly transformed into a human being (played by Llewellyn, minus his usual make-up) using the organic material used in his construction as a template. However he quickly decided to change himself back into mechanoid form, because he didn't like his time as a human. This was due to the fact his nipple
s couldn't pick up radio waves
(specifically "Jazz FM
"), his eye
s didn't have a digital zoom
capability, power leads didn't fit in his anus
properly when he tried to recharge himself, and he got erection
s when looking at photos of kitchen appliances.
In the seventh series, Kryten discovered that he has a "brother" named Able as they both had the "same motherboard" (also played by Robert Llewellyn
, who co-wrote the episode), named in reference to the Biblical Cain and Abel
. Kryten originally rejected the wastrel, drug-addicted mechanoid before an act of supreme self-sacrifice convinced him of his brother's worth.
In the eighth series, Kryten becomes a prisoner in Red Dwarf's Tank along with his friends. He is classified as a woman due to his lack of male genitalia and sent to the woman's wing. He becomes friendlier with Kristine Kochanski
while there, but is still desperate to correct the situation. He builds himself a makeshift penis
from an old electron board
, a toilet roll, some sticky back plastic, and an Action Man
's poloneck
jumper
. He names his penis "Archie", and tries to teach it by getting it to jump through hoops. "Archie" however runs around the prison wings and many prisoners mistake it for a haywire mouse
.
In the final episode of the series, Red Dwarf is attacked by a corrosive chameleonic virus. Kryten and his fellow Dwarfers are abandoned aboard the rapidly decaying Red Dwarf. To develop a solution, Kryten builds a prism
based laser, which if concentrated on a mirror, creates a portal to a reverse universe, in the hopes of discovering an alkaline to cancel out the virus' effects. The machine successfully transports Rimmer to a reverse universe but breaks soon afterwards. As the damage to the ship becomes irreparable, Kryten, Lister, Kochanski and the Cat fix the machine and cross into the mirror universe to escape, Rimmer would later become stuck onboard the dying Dwarf as the virus destroys the prism.
". The dichotomy between these two aspects of his personality has led to Rimmer naming him things such as "Captain Bog-bot" and "Commander U-Bend".
Kryten has also extended his emotional range, which has led to him deactivating his shutdown disk (DivaDroid believes in planned obsolescence
), although the crew were then forced into a showdown with his would-be replacement. His greatest ambition is to be human, and to this end he has attempted to learn to lie and insult people (mostly Rimmer), although he has trouble with the words "smeg head" (the best he can manage is "smeeeeeeee heeeeeeeee").
Perhaps the most significant element of his personality is guilt. When his ability to feel guilty for his actions is compromised in some way, he can become careless, rude and even aggressive. This guilt is not necessarily balanced out by a sense of pride in the good work he does — in the episode 'The Inquisitor', he believed his selflessness was purely a matter of programming and therefore he had not led a worthwhile life. In the series 5 episode "Back to Reality, Kryten almost commits suicide when under the belief that he took the life of a human (which he later found out was just an illusion created by the despair squid.
Kryten had at least three spare heads, one of which has droid-rot (a condition similar to computer senility) that gives it a Lancastrian
accent. The spare heads can engage in conversation with Kryten. Once, the other heads held a poll and voted Kryten as the ugly, big-eared one, upsetting Kryten. The others took turns being head head. All of these were destroyed due to the final step of Mamet's joke; eventually a 2X4B mechanoid will "blow its top" (due to Lister wanting to put ketchup
on a lobster
). The "negadrive" which caused this has been removed, and, luckily, Kryten's personality chips survived and were placed in a new head. It is not made clear whether or not the personality chips of his spare heads were destroyed.
Kryten thinks that his middle name "2X4B" is jerky, but says he once knew a "poor sucker" of a mechanoid whose middle name was "2Q4B". He also knew a robot called Gilbert, who suffered from computer senility, who preferred to be called 'Rameces Niblick III, Kerplunk, Kerplunk, Whoops Where's My Thribble'.
Kryten formed an irrational dislike of the new Kristine Kochanski
when he first met her, mostly out of a fear that she and Lister would fall in love and abandon him. However he grew to respect her (although not necessarily like her) after she saved Lister's life from the Epideme virus.
accent, he, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor considered Swedish and American. Llewellyn discovered the Canadian accent while spending time in Vancouver
, British Columbia
, Canada
; which he describes as being a cross between Scottish
and American
. The Kryten make-up was a constant source of discomfort for Llewellyn, as the prosthetic rubber mask required him to be in make-up for up to six hours. By Series VII, this had been reduced to two hours.
Llewellyn was the only British cast member originally invited to participate in the American version of Red Dwarf
, though Chris Barrie
was, later, also approached to reprise his role of Rimmer as "no American actor could hate themselves" quite so well as the character needed. Barrie declined. In this series, Kryten was owned by the ship's Captain prior to the disaster that wiped out the crew, and passed the three million years by reading an EXIT sign. The Kryten costume and make-up was redesigned so Robert Llewellyn was more comfortable while inside it.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in 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...
science fiction
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...
situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
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...
. 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. Barrie play The Admirable Crichton
The Admirable Crichton
The Admirable Crichton is a comic stage play written in 1902 by J. M. Barrie. It was produced by Charles Frohman and opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 4 November 1902, running for an extremely successful 828 performances. It starred H. B. Irving and Irene Vanbrugh...
.
In their original plan for the series, 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...
had specified that there would be no aliens and no robots. However, following the success of the first appearance by the Kryten character, Naylor convinced Grant to bring him back.
In the character's first appearance, originally only intended as a one-off, Kryten was played by actor David Ross
David Ross (actor)
David Ross is an English actor who has worked in theatre, cinema, and television.His best-known roles include playing the first appearance of Kryten and the voice of the Talkie Toaster on the science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf, Elgin on the BBC sitcom The Green Green Grass, and as Mr...
but the popularity of the character meant that Kryten was introduced as a regular in Series III. The intention was to bring Ross back to play the role, but he was not available at the time and the position was filled by Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
-born actor Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn is an English actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known as the mechanoid Kryten in the hit sitcom Red Dwarf, and for his role as presenter of Scrapheap Challenge.-Early career:...
, whose performances as Kryten in series III-VIII resulted in even greater popularity of the character. David Ross later returned to voice Talkie Toaster in a series IV episode.
Life
Kryten is a Series 4000 mechanoid or "slave 'noid" — a robotRobot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
ic servant — and is quite neurotic
Neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms. It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic...
. He is very humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
, with the exception of the flat cubic planes visible on his face and head, and stands at 6 feet tall. Kryten's design is mostly plastic, but there are some slight organic elements in his construction.
Kryten was built by the corporation DivaDroid International in 2340; one of a number of Series 4000 models based on a design by Professor Mamet, a roboticist (played by Jenny Agutter
Jenny Agutter
Jennifer Ann "Jenny" Agutter is an English film and television actress. She began her career as a child actress in the mid 1960s, starring in the BBC television series The Railway Children and the film adaptation of the same book, before moving on to adult roles and relocating to Hollywood.She...
). This design was actually intended as a joke on Mamet's ex-fiancé, John Warbuton, the mechanoids being a caricature
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
of his fussiness and pomposity. All negative emotions such as jealousy
Jealousy
Jealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...
, guilt
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...
, envy
Envy
Envy is best defined as a resentful emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."...
, frustration
Frustration
This article concerns the field of psychology. The term frustration does, however, also concern physics. In this context, the term is treated in a different article, geometric frustration....
, and insecurity
Insecurity
Insecurity is a feeling of general unease or nervousness that may be triggered by perceiving of oneself to be vulnerable in some way, or a sense of vulnerability or instability which threatens one's self-image or ego....
build up in a "mind negadrive", which when full would cause the head of the Series 4000 mechanoid to literally explode. This was supposedly a likeness to when Warburton would "blow".
Kryten is hard-wired to obey all of Mamet's orders without question, so when a Psiren
Psirens
"Psirens" is the first episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series VI and the 31st in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 7 October 1993. Written by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor and directed by Andy de Emmony...
impersonated Mamet and ordered Kryten to crush himself in a garbage compactor
Compactor
A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to reduce the size of waste material or soil through compaction. A trash compactor is often used by homes and businesses to reduce the volume of trash....
, he had no choice but to comply. His reply upon emerging, having been compacted into a cube: 'I'm almost annoyed!'.
Before Kryten left the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
, he was made to attend "toilet university", as he would remind people. This was however revealed by Kristine Kochanski
Kristine 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...
to be merely a piece of software which ensured Kryten was thorough in his cleaning of lavatories
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
. Nevertheless he still had to take an exam to ensure that it was properly installed.
Kryten originally left the Solar System aboard a ship destined for "Deep Space", the SS Augustus, and served aboard the vessel for decades. Not much is known about these years of Kryten's life, except that the human crew of the SS Augustus all died of old age, leaving Kryten alone for an unspecified amount of time.
Sometime after this, Kryten was picked up by the crew of the Nova 5 and he became the personal servant of three female crew members of this vessel. The Nova 5 crashed into an asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
and for millennia, perhaps even millions of years, Kryten refused to believe the crew were dead and continued to wash and iron their clothes, dress them, and put out meals in front of their remains, all the while preserving their skeleton
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
s. It was from these long years alone that Kryten developed a phobia
Phobia
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational...
of being left alone, or human crews deserting him. Kryten's rigid belief in "Silicon Heaven
Silicon Heaven
Silicon Heaven is an afterlife concept from the British science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf. It is where electronic equipment goes after death....
", the electronic afterlife, kept him going — the idea that he would be rewarded for his servitude in the afterlife, where humans would instead become the servants. Kryten was eventually rescued by the crew of Red Dwarf where he is now reduced to serving the slobbish Dave 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...
(to some extent at least), the only surviving human crew member on that vessel.
It is possible that Kryten was inadvertently responsible for the accident aboard the Nova 5. In the first Red Dwarf novel, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, the Nova 5 crashed because Kryten washed the navigation computer with soapy water. However, it is unclear whether or not this is canon
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
in the Red Dwarf universe. It is mentioned by Dave 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...
, however, in the television series that the accident aboard the Nova 5 was Kryten's fault.
David Ross (actor)
David Ross is an English actor who has worked in theatre, cinema, and television.His best-known roles include playing the first appearance of Kryten and the voice of the Talkie Toaster on the science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf, Elgin on the BBC sitcom The Green Green Grass, and as Mr...
) was introduced in the first episode of the second series, in which he was only supposed to be a guest star. Initially, Arnold Rimmer
Arnold 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...
took advantage of his servility, getting him to paint a grand portrait of Rimmer. Dave 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...
however persuaded Kryten to rebel against his programming (which included showing him the movies Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments...
and Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
) and to become independent. Kryten changed the portrait of Rimmer to make it appear as though he was sitting on the toilet, and then poured soup onto Rimmer's bed sheets. Kryten took Lister's space-bike
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
and went out to find a planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
with an S3 (or Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
-like) atmosphere
Atmosphere
An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
he could grow a garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
, which had always been a dream of the robot's.
Kryten did not appear in the rest of the second series. However the character proved popular amongst fans of the show, and so the decision was made to bring him back at the beginning of the third series and make Kryten a permanent member of the Dwarfers. David Ross
David Ross (actor)
David Ross is an English actor who has worked in theatre, cinema, and television.His best-known roles include playing the first appearance of Kryten and the voice of the Talkie Toaster on the science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf, Elgin on the BBC sitcom The Green Green Grass, and as Mr...
was unavailable, and so Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn is an English actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known as the mechanoid Kryten in the hit sitcom Red Dwarf, and for his role as presenter of Scrapheap Challenge.-Early career:...
was brought in to play the character.
A very fast scrolling text at the beginning of the third series (a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the Star Wars opening crawl
Star Wars opening crawl
Each film in the Star Wars series opens with a crawl of text which provides an explanation of the backstory and context of the film...
) explains that Kryten smashed the space-bike into an asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
. Lister found Kryten's remains and had to rebuild him from scratch, and so was unable to recreate him exactly. This was intended to explain the differences between Ross' portrayal of the character and Llewellyn's, as well as Lister needing to help Kryten break his programming all over again. Most noticeably, whereas he previously had an "English butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
" voice, he now spoke with what Llewellyn admits to be a bad Canadian accent
Canadian English
Canadian English is the variety of English spoken in Canada. English is the first language, or "mother tongue", of approximately 24 million Canadians , and more than 28 million are fluent in the language...
.
In the episode DNA, Kryten is briefly transformed into a human being (played by Llewellyn, minus his usual make-up) using the organic material used in his construction as a template. However he quickly decided to change himself back into mechanoid form, because he didn't like his time as a human. This was due to the fact his nipple
Nipple
In its most general form, a nipple is a structure from which a fluid emanates. More specifically, it is the projection on the breasts or udder of a mammal by which breast milk is delivered to a mother's young. In this sense, it is often called a teat, especially when referring to non-humans, and...
s couldn't pick up radio waves
Radio waves
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light. Radio waves have frequencies from 300 GHz to as low as 3 kHz, and corresponding wavelengths from 1 millimeter to 100 kilometers. Like all other electromagnetic waves,...
(specifically "Jazz FM
102.2 Jazz FM
102.2 Jazz FM was a local jazz and soul music station for London run by GMG Radio. The station was based and broadcast from Castlereagh Street in London to around 15.5 million people within the broadcasting area...
"), his eye
Human eye
The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...
s didn't have a digital zoom
Digital zoom
Digital zoom is a method of decreasing the apparent angle of view of a digital photographic or video image. Digital zoom is accomplished by cropping an image down to a centered area with the same aspect ratio as the original, and usually also interpolating the result back up to the pixel...
capability, power leads didn't fit in his anus
Anus
The anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
properly when he tried to recharge himself, and he got erection
Erection
Penile erection is a physiological phenomenon where the penis becomes enlarged and firm. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular and endocrine factors, and is usually, though not exclusively, associated with sexual arousal...
s when looking at photos of kitchen appliances.
In the seventh series, Kryten discovered that he has a "brother" named Able as they both had the "same motherboard" (also played by Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn is an English actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known as the mechanoid Kryten in the hit sitcom Red Dwarf, and for his role as presenter of Scrapheap Challenge.-Early career:...
, who co-wrote the episode), named in reference to the Biblical Cain and Abel
Cain and Abel
In the Hebrew Bible, Cain and Abel are two sons of Adam and Eve. The Qur'an mentions the story, calling them the two sons of Adam only....
. Kryten originally rejected the wastrel, drug-addicted mechanoid before an act of supreme self-sacrifice convinced him of his brother's worth.
In the eighth series, Kryten becomes a prisoner in Red Dwarf's Tank along with his friends. He is classified as a woman due to his lack of male genitalia and sent to the woman's wing. He becomes friendlier with Kristine Kochanski
Kristine 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...
while there, but is still desperate to correct the situation. He builds himself a makeshift penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
from an old electron board
Electron
The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
, a toilet roll, some sticky back plastic, and an Action Man
Action Man
Action Man is an action figure boys' toy launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "moveable fighting man": G.I...
's poloneck
Polo neck
A polo neck or turtle neck or skivvy is a garment—usually a sweater—with a close-fitting, round, and high collar that folds over and covers the neck...
jumper
Sweater
A sweater, jumper, pullover, sweatshirt, jersey or guernsey is a garment intended to cover the torso and arms. It is often worn over a shirt, blouse, T-shirt, or other top, but may also be worn alone as a top...
. He names his penis "Archie", and tries to teach it by getting it to jump through hoops. "Archie" however runs around the prison wings and many prisoners mistake it for a haywire mouse
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
.
In the final episode of the series, Red Dwarf is attacked by a corrosive chameleonic virus. Kryten and his fellow Dwarfers are abandoned aboard the rapidly decaying Red Dwarf. To develop a solution, Kryten builds a prism
Prism (optics)
In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. The exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application. The traditional geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a triangular base and rectangular sides, and in colloquial use...
based laser, which if concentrated on a mirror, creates a portal to a reverse universe, in the hopes of discovering an alkaline to cancel out the virus' effects. The machine successfully transports Rimmer to a reverse universe but breaks soon afterwards. As the damage to the ship becomes irreparable, Kryten, Lister, Kochanski and the Cat fix the machine and cross into the mirror universe to escape, Rimmer would later become stuck onboard the dying Dwarf as the virus destroys the prism.
Back to Earth
In the 2009 special Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, after battling a female version of the despair squid that they encountered many years ago, Kryten, along with the rest of the crew, hallucinate an alternate reality in which they are fictional characters and that their lives are just a TV show that they have somehow escaped from.Personality
Having lost his obedience programmes, Kryten has been able to better himself. While he continues to be a sanitation droid, and to enjoy cleaning and serving others, he has also become the science expert amongst the Dwarfers, often leading missions such as their search for Rimmer on the psi-moon in "TerrorformTerrorform
"Terrorform" is the third episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series V and the twenty seventh in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 5 March 1992. Written by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor, and directed by Juliet May...
". The dichotomy between these two aspects of his personality has led to Rimmer naming him things such as "Captain Bog-bot" and "Commander U-Bend".
Kryten has also extended his emotional range, which has led to him deactivating his shutdown disk (DivaDroid believes in planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design is a policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete or nonfunctional after a certain period of time...
), although the crew were then forced into a showdown with his would-be replacement. His greatest ambition is to be human, and to this end he has attempted to learn to lie and insult people (mostly Rimmer), although he has trouble with the words "smeg head" (the best he can manage is "smeeeeeeee heeeeeeeee").
Perhaps the most significant element of his personality is guilt. When his ability to feel guilty for his actions is compromised in some way, he can become careless, rude and even aggressive. This guilt is not necessarily balanced out by a sense of pride in the good work he does — in the episode 'The Inquisitor', he believed his selflessness was purely a matter of programming and therefore he had not led a worthwhile life. In the series 5 episode "Back to Reality, Kryten almost commits suicide when under the belief that he took the life of a human (which he later found out was just an illusion created by the despair squid.
Kryten had at least three spare heads, one of which has droid-rot (a condition similar to computer senility) that gives it a Lancastrian
Lancaster, Lancashire
Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
accent. The spare heads can engage in conversation with Kryten. Once, the other heads held a poll and voted Kryten as the ugly, big-eared one, upsetting Kryten. The others took turns being head head. All of these were destroyed due to the final step of Mamet's joke; eventually a 2X4B mechanoid will "blow its top" (due to Lister wanting to put ketchup
Ketchup
Ketchup is a sweet-and-tangy condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and an assortment of...
on a lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
). The "negadrive" which caused this has been removed, and, luckily, Kryten's personality chips survived and were placed in a new head. It is not made clear whether or not the personality chips of his spare heads were destroyed.
Kryten thinks that his middle name "2X4B" is jerky, but says he once knew a "poor sucker" of a mechanoid whose middle name was "2Q4B". He also knew a robot called Gilbert, who suffered from computer senility, who preferred to be called 'Rameces Niblick III, Kerplunk, Kerplunk, Whoops Where's My Thribble'.
Kryten formed an irrational dislike of the new Kristine Kochanski
Kristine 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...
when he first met her, mostly out of a fear that she and Lister would fall in love and abandon him. However he grew to respect her (although not necessarily like her) after she saved Lister's life from the Epideme virus.
Playing Kryten
Robert Llewellyn writes in his book The Man in the Rubber Mask that before settling on a CanadianCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
accent, he, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor considered Swedish and American. Llewellyn discovered the Canadian accent while spending time in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
; which he describes as being a cross between Scottish
Scottish English
Scottish English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Scotland. It may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language. It is always considered distinct from Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language....
and American
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
. The Kryten make-up was a constant source of discomfort for Llewellyn, as the prosthetic rubber mask required him to be in make-up for up to six hours. By Series VII, this had been reduced to two hours.
Llewellyn was the only British cast member originally invited to participate in the American version of 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...
, though Chris Barrie
Chris Barrie
Chris Barrie is a British actor. He first achieved success as a vocal impressionist, notably in the ITV sketch show Spitting Image...
was, later, also approached to reprise his role of Rimmer as "no American actor could hate themselves" quite so well as the character needed. Barrie declined. In this series, Kryten was owned by the ship's Captain prior to the disaster that wiped out the crew, and passed the three million years by reading an EXIT sign. The Kryten costume and make-up was redesigned so Robert Llewellyn was more comfortable while inside it.