Kryten has a new invention, derived from the Matter Paddle, which he hopes will solve any supply problems that might arise on Red Dwarf. It is called a triplicator, and can create two copies of anything placed within its field. The prototype machine soon manifests several flaws. Firstly, the copies have a lifespan of exactly one hour. Secondly, while one copy exhibits all the best qualities of its original, the other has all the worst. Finally, when Kryten tries to reverse the procedure, Red Dwarf explodes, although this is explained by the mistake Kryten made by reversing the field of the beam, capturing the rest of Red Dwarf.Lister, Cat, Kryten and Rimmer escape in Starbug, where they discover that the triplicator field has been projected outward, generating two copies of the ship. Kryten proposes to restore Red Dwarf by using the triplicator to amalgamate the two copies. They go first to the 'high' copy, where everything works perfectly and the crew – clad in monastic robes – are kindly, helpful, and spiritually enlightened. However, the 'low' ship, which holds the other half of the triplicator components Kryten needs to restore Red Dwarf, is a derelict crewed by perverted psychopaths. The most interesting of these is a fishnet-clad transvestite version of Rimmer, who promises to 'have' Lister after he is done torturing him.
Trivia
- The working title for this episode was "High and Low".
- For the making of this episode, the visual effects department blew up their only model of the Red Dwarf ship.
- The "Matter Paddle" from which the triplicator was adapted is the device discovered by Kryten in "Meltdown". It is also possibly combined with the time drive in "Tikka to Ride".
- There appears to be a continuity error in this episode. Lister recalls at one point how he has played pool with planets (a reference to the episode "White Hole" from Series IV), but this took place during a timeline which ceased to exist when the white hole was blocked. This should, according to Kryten, have left the crew with no memory of these events.
- This is the final episode to feature the Red Dwarf ship until the end of series VII five years later.