The crew of Red Dwarf receives a distress call from a mechanoid named Kryten. He informs them that three women of the crew of the Nova 5 have survived a crash. However, on arrival the crew, who took special effort to look their best to meet the girls, are shocked to find Kryten has been looking after, clothing and feeding three skeletons ever since the crash many years previously. Eventually they take Kryten back to Red Dwarf; Rimmer then gives him a list of chores to do while Lister attempts to teach him to rebel against Rimmer by making him watch the films Rebel Without a Cause and Easy Rider. It seems Lister's attempts are unsuccessful — until Kryten paints a picture of Rimmer on a toilet in his admiral uniform, throws a container of liquid (including the contents) onto his bed and insults him while doing so. He then dresses up in leathers and borrows Lister's space bike.Trivia
- David Ross played Kryten in this episode; however later in the series when the character returned he was played by Robert Llewellyn. Ross later appeared in the Series IV episode "White Hole", as the voice of Talkie Toaster.
- Parts of storyline and dialogue from this episode were later included in the Red Dwarf Radio Show (an audio version of the book Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers), voiced by Chris Barrie who plays Rimmer in the TV series.
- At the beginning of this episode, Rimmer is seen learning Esperanto (via the audiolingual method), with little success. This might be an homage to science fiction author Harry Harrison, whose influence is evident on the show, and also made a lot of references to the language.
- As Kryten is escorting the three aboard his ship, they pass a hanging plant. Rimmer accidentally brushes the plant's leaves, disturbing them slightly (being a hologram, Rimmer is supposedly unable to touch real objects).
- Before boarding the Nova 5, Rimmer asks Lister to refer to him in front of the women as "Ace". Ironically, this is a clear link to Ace Rimmer (who hadn't been introduced to the series at that point), a version of Rimmer from a different dimension, who Rimmer comes to hate.
- In the DVD commentaries, Norman Lovett comments on a conversation he had with David Ross over lunch. In particular, Norman remembers David asking him whether he was "legit" (i.e. has Norman ever been involved in a stage production?) Norman was somewhat furious over the question. He will recall the conversation again during the series VIII DVD commentaries.
- First appearance of Kryten, who wasn't originally intended to become a main character (this is why he leaves at the end of the episode)
- This is the first episode where we see Rimmer actually touch something. Normally, Rimmer should be able to touch hologrammatic things, but the admiral's hat he is wearing isn't marked with an H and he is still able to touch it.