Tikka to Ride
Encyclopedia
"Tikka To Ride" is the first episode of science fiction
sit-com Red Dwarf
Series VII and the 37th in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British
television channel BBC2 on 17 January 1997. Written by Doug Naylor
and directed by Ed Bye
, it was the first episode not to involve co-creator and writer Rob Grant
.
makes a video explaining how the crew survived their battle with their future selves. If the future crew had killed their former selves, they would have eliminated their own existence, and therefore not have been able to destroy themselves. (See temporal paradox
.) Therefore, time has reset to a point before the crew picked up time drive.
Unfortunately disaster has struck - Starbug is still damaged from the battle and as a consequence all the Indian food supplies have been destroyed... not even a single papadum
survived. Lister proposes that the crew obtain the time drive again and go back in time to an Indian take-away and order 500 curries. Rimmer
, Cat
and Kryten
are against the idea and oppose going back in time having seen the kind of people they could possibly become. Lister argues that they can use a time drive and avoid that consequence if they don't abuse it like their future selves did however he finds himself outnumbered and seemingly concedes defeat. However, Lister removes a guilt chip from one of Kryten's spare heads and swaps them, telling the new guilt-less Kryten to reassure the crew that it will be okay. The next morning, Rimmer and Cat are confused when Kryten serves them high-calorie breakfasts, starts smoking and using phrases like "you bet your ass". However, when Kryten assures them it'll be ok to pick up the time drive the two assent and board the ship containing it again intending to go back to the 21st Century to one of Lister's favourite curry houses to pick up a large order.
Their time-travel calculations are a little off and they find themselves in Dallas, Texas
on 22 November 1963. They appear at the Texas School Book Depository
just as Lee Harvey Oswald
is firing at U.S. President John F. Kennedy
. They inadvertently knock him out the window where he dies by hitting the ground, thereby preventing Kennedy's assassination. Police arrive and attempt to arrest the crew for the murder of Oswald as well as the attempted murder of the president. However, the crew escapes by using the time travel device, which sends them three years forward to 1966.
Arriving, the crew find Dallas deserted. Wandering the streets, they find a man who has been trampled to death indicating people left in a rush. Reading a nearby newspaper, Kryten finds out what has happened...
The crew attempt to correct the situation by returning to the day of the shooting and driving Oswald to a higher floor in the building, but this plan still fails to lead to Kennedy's death; by sending Oswald up another floor, the shot's trajectory is now so steep that Kennedy was merely wounded. Lister suggests getting a second gunman to shoot from behind a nearby grassy knoll. With none of the crew willing to shoot the President themselves, Lister travels to Idlewild Airport
in 1965 and persuades a post-impeachment Kennedy to travel back to 1963, become a "second gunman" on the grassy knoll, and shoot himself to restore his place in history. The plan works: Kennedy shoots his past self and the timeline is restored. Kennedy grimly thanks the gang for the chance to restore himself to his proper place in history, and fades away as a result of the resetting timeline. Lister, too late, realises he forgot to ask Kennedy for the name of a good Indian take-away. Having seen that Lister has learned absolutely nothing from the experience, the other members of the crew give him a well-deserved beating in return for all he's put them through.
being wrongly imprisoned on charges of rape
, Chris Barrie
making no secret of his desire to leave the show, and most notably Rob Grant deciding to leave the series, ending his and Doug Naylor's long-standing writing partnership. Naylor was left with the choice of either ending or continuing the series. Although tempted to end it, he later agreed to write two more eight-episode series of the show, as this would allow the episode count to reach 52 and therefore be eligible for syndication
. In 2008-2009 he also wrote a three-part special called Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
, making the episode count reach 55.
"Tikka To Ride" ushered in new production values. The cinematic quality and filming of the new episodes meant that the studio audience was no longer viable (however the show was shown to an audience at a later date and their laughter was added). Also the special effects were increasing every series and the majority of the episodes were pre-recorded. One of Naylor's desires for a seventh series was the prospect of international syndication and a movie. This vision was helped with the return of Ed Bye
to the director's chair, having previously left due to a scheduling clash with directing his wife Ruby Wax
's new TV show at the time. He agreed to return to helm the seventh series, his first Red Dwarf episode since Series IV's "Meltdown".
The arrival of the seventh series was also promoted by the show making its first appearance of the front cover of the Radio Times
.
Guest stars included Michael J Shannon who played John F. Kennedy, Toby Aspin as Lee Harvey Oswald, Peter Gaitens as FBI Agent and Robert Ashe as Cop.
" by the Beatles
, in accordance with the theme of curry on which the storyline focuses, tikka being an Indian spice marinade.
When the second shooter fires at Kennedy from the Grassy Knoll, Lister, Rimmer and Cat are dressed up as tramps, an outfit which the normally vain and shallow Cat would not be seen dead in: "Superficial is my middle name". Three tramps are reported to have been found in a boxcar
behind the Grassy Knoll when the police searched it after the shooting, but were later released. For many years, conspiracy theorists assumed that they were part of the assassination plot.
The concept of the crew travelling backwards in time and accidentally saving someone's life, leading to a change for the worse in history, was also used in the Star Trek
episode The City on the Edge of Forever. In each case the person saved was actually an advocate of peace; however, there were few other similarities between the episodes.
In the commentary for the Series III episode "Timeslides
" when talking about Kryten's shouting "Duck!" at the Grassy Knoll line, they note how their characters actually did something similar later on.
", in which they were spared from a gratuitous, self-indulgent future because their future selves destroyed their younger selves, thereby destroying their own histories in a temporal paradox.
After Lister explained this exact loophole and how it resulted in the canonical cast being spared, the episode goes on to contradict itself by allowing Kennedy to assassinate himself without creating the very same paradox that allowed the crew to survive their encounter with their future selves in the last season.
In a consistent manner, Kennedy's future self should have eliminated his own ability to commit the murder, thereby preserving the younger Kennedy and correcting the timeline.
In the previous episode it was made clear that the time drive was only a time drive and not a time and space drive, so the crew could travel any distance forward or backward in time but were still stuck in deep space. It was not explained in this episode how a spatial component had been added—or why, given that they could travel to 1963 Earth, they did not simply travel back to 21st century Earth as per their original plan.
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 VII and the 37th 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 17 January 1997. Written by 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...
, it was the first episode not to involve co-creator and writer 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....
.
Plot
ListerDave 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...
makes a video explaining how the crew survived their battle with their future selves. If the future crew had killed their former selves, they would have eliminated their own existence, and therefore not have been able to destroy themselves. (See temporal paradox
Temporal paradox
Temporal paradox is a theoretical paradoxical situation that happens because of time travel. A time traveler goes to the past, and does something that would prevent him from time travel in the first place...
.) Therefore, time has reset to a point before the crew picked up time drive.
Unfortunately disaster has struck - Starbug is still damaged from the battle and as a consequence all the Indian food supplies have been destroyed... not even a single papadum
Papadum
Papadum, also known as papad in Northern India, , pappadam in Malayalam, happala in Kannada, appalam in Tamil, appadum in Telugu, pappadum or poppadom in the UK, is a thin, crisp Indian preparation sometimes described as a cracker. It is typically served as an accompaniment to a meal in India...
survived. Lister proposes that the crew obtain the time drive again and go back in time to an Indian take-away and order 500 curries. 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...
, 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...
and 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...
are against the idea and oppose going back in time having seen the kind of people they could possibly become. Lister argues that they can use a time drive and avoid that consequence if they don't abuse it like their future selves did however he finds himself outnumbered and seemingly concedes defeat. However, Lister removes a guilt chip from one of Kryten's spare heads and swaps them, telling the new guilt-less Kryten to reassure the crew that it will be okay. The next morning, Rimmer and Cat are confused when Kryten serves them high-calorie breakfasts, starts smoking and using phrases like "you bet your ass". However, when Kryten assures them it'll be ok to pick up the time drive the two assent and board the ship containing it again intending to go back to the 21st Century to one of Lister's favourite curry houses to pick up a large order.
Their time-travel calculations are a little off and they find themselves in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
on 22 November 1963. They appear at the Texas School Book Depository
Texas School Book Depository
The Texas School Book Depository is the former name of a seven-floor building facing Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas . Located on the northwest corner of Elm and North Houston Streets, at the western end of downtown Dallas, its address is 411 Elm Street. The building is notable for its connection to...
just as Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
is firing at U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. They inadvertently knock him out the window where he dies by hitting the ground, thereby preventing Kennedy's assassination. Police arrive and attempt to arrest the crew for the murder of Oswald as well as the attempted murder of the president. However, the crew escapes by using the time travel device, which sends them three years forward to 1966.
Arriving, the crew find Dallas deserted. Wandering the streets, they find a man who has been trampled to death indicating people left in a rush. Reading a nearby newspaper, Kryten finds out what has happened...
The crew attempt to correct the situation by returning to the day of the shooting and driving Oswald to a higher floor in the building, but this plan still fails to lead to Kennedy's death; by sending Oswald up another floor, the shot's trajectory is now so steep that Kennedy was merely wounded. Lister suggests getting a second gunman to shoot from behind a nearby grassy knoll. With none of the crew willing to shoot the President themselves, Lister travels to Idlewild Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
in 1965 and persuades a post-impeachment Kennedy to travel back to 1963, become a "second gunman" on the grassy knoll, and shoot himself to restore his place in history. The plan works: Kennedy shoots his past self and the timeline is restored. Kennedy grimly thanks the gang for the chance to restore himself to his proper place in history, and fades away as a result of the resetting timeline. Lister, too late, realises he forgot to ask Kennedy for the name of a good Indian take-away. Having seen that Lister has learned absolutely nothing from the experience, the other members of the crew give him a well-deserved beating in return for all he's put them through.
Production
Even though the previous series had ended on a cliffhanger, fans had been forced to wait three years for the resolution. This was due to a number of factors, which included Craig CharlesCraig 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...
being wrongly imprisoned on charges of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, 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...
making no secret of his desire to leave the show, and most notably Rob Grant deciding to leave the series, ending his and Doug Naylor's long-standing writing partnership. Naylor was left with the choice of either ending or continuing the series. Although tempted to end it, he later agreed to write two more eight-episode series of the show, as this would allow the episode count to reach 52 and therefore be eligible for syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
. In 2008-2009 he also wrote a three-part special called Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth is a three part TV miniseries continuation of the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, broadcast on the British television channel Dave between 10 April and 12 April 2009 and subsequently released on DVD on 15 June 2009 & on Blu-ray on 31 August 2009. It was the first...
, making the episode count reach 55.
"Tikka To Ride" ushered in new production values. The cinematic quality and filming of the new episodes meant that the studio audience was no longer viable (however the show was shown to an audience at a later date and their laughter was added). Also the special effects were increasing every series and the majority of the episodes were pre-recorded. One of Naylor's desires for a seventh series was the prospect of international syndication and a movie. This vision was helped with the return of 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...
to the director's chair, having previously left due to a scheduling clash with directing his wife Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax is a BAFTA nominated American comedian who made a career in the United Kingdom as part of the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s.-Early life:...
's new TV show at the time. He agreed to return to helm the seventh series, his first Red Dwarf episode since Series IV's "Meltdown".
The arrival of the seventh series was also promoted by the show making its first appearance of the front cover of the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
.
Guest stars included Michael J Shannon who played John F. Kennedy, Toby Aspin as Lee Harvey Oswald, Peter Gaitens as FBI Agent and Robert Ashe as Cop.
Cultural and historical references
The title of this episode is a piece of word-play based on the name of the song "Ticket to RideTicket to Ride
"Ticket to Ride" is a song by The Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 and released two months later. -Composition:...
" by the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, in accordance with the theme of curry on which the storyline focuses, tikka being an Indian spice marinade.
When the second shooter fires at Kennedy from the Grassy Knoll, Lister, Rimmer and Cat are dressed up as tramps, an outfit which the normally vain and shallow Cat would not be seen dead in: "Superficial is my middle name". Three tramps are reported to have been found in a boxcar
Boxcar
A boxcar is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry general freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, since it can carry most loads...
behind the Grassy Knoll when the police searched it after the shooting, but were later released. For many years, conspiracy theorists assumed that they were part of the assassination plot.
The concept of the crew travelling backwards in time and accidentally saving someone's life, leading to a change for the worse in history, was also used in the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
episode The City on the Edge of Forever. In each case the person saved was actually an advocate of peace; however, there were few other similarities between the episodes.
In the commentary for the Series III episode "Timeslides
Timeslides
"Timeslides" is the fifth episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series III, and the seventeenth in the series run. It premiered on the British television channel BBC2 on 12 December 1989. Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye, the plot deals with Lister's desire to...
" when talking about Kryten's shouting "Duck!" at the Grassy Knoll line, they note how their characters actually did something similar later on.
Plot Inconsistencies
The plot of this episode is heavily flawed. The crew of the Red Dwarf had, in the very same episode, been saved from the previous season's finale, "Out of TimeOut of Time (Red Dwarf episode)
"Out of Time" is the sixth, and last, episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series VI and the 36th in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 11 November 1993...
", in which they were spared from a gratuitous, self-indulgent future because their future selves destroyed their younger selves, thereby destroying their own histories in a temporal paradox.
After Lister explained this exact loophole and how it resulted in the canonical cast being spared, the episode goes on to contradict itself by allowing Kennedy to assassinate himself without creating the very same paradox that allowed the crew to survive their encounter with their future selves in the last season.
In a consistent manner, Kennedy's future self should have eliminated his own ability to commit the murder, thereby preserving the younger Kennedy and correcting the timeline.
In the previous episode it was made clear that the time drive was only a time drive and not a time and space drive, so the crew could travel any distance forward or backward in time but were still stuck in deep space. It was not explained in this episode how a spatial component had been added—or why, given that they could travel to 1963 Earth, they did not simply travel back to 21st century Earth as per their original plan.