Cassandra

Rimmer, Lister, Kryten, Kochanski, the Cat and Holly are all imprisoned in the Tank for two years for misuse of confidential files and due to a misunderstanding are also signed up for "the Canaries", a group of expendables who go first into dangerous situations and not as Lister thought, the prison choir. (The joke in the show is that the group name is an acronym, standing for: Convict Army, Nearly All Retarded, Inbred, Evil, Sheepshaggers.) Their first mission is aboard the wreck of the SSS Silverberg, a prison ship for its computer, Cassandra, who can predict the future with 100% accuracy (which Rimmer, Lister, Kryten, Kochanski and the Cat try to get out of by singing you are the sunshine of my life).


Trivia

• This episode was broadcast in the United States before being shown in the UK.
• As observed by Danny John-Jules in the DVD commentary to this episode, the name and appearance of Cassandra were given an homage in the recent revival of the popular sci-fi television series Doctor Who.
• In Season 5, Episode 1 - Holoship, the holoship Enlightenment's computer (Stocky) can predict the future, but unlike Cassandra, has a 95% accuracy (100% - 5% error margin).
• Cassandra is a reference to the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy whose beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy. However, when she did not return his love, Apollo placed a curse on her so that no one would ever believe her predictions.