Back to Reality story

rd1988e5x06 · 1992-03-26

The crew take Starbug down into the watery depths of an ocean to investigate the wreck of the SSS Esperanto. They find that the ship's crew have committed suicide, then escape to try and avoid attack from a sea monster, the "Despair Squid". The crew suddenly wake up to find they are not who they think they are; Red Dwarf and Starbug did not exist, and they have in fact been playing a virtual reality computer game for four years. Directed by: Juliet May & Grant Naylor. Story by: Rob Grant & Doug Naylor.

16 total · 9 major · 7 minor

Theme	Level	Motivation
being ashamed of who you are	major	The crew seemingly discovered they were other people than they thought they were, and more over they were polar opposites of who they thought they were. Cat discovered he was ugly, the nice guy Lister that he was an amoral, high-ranking fascist, etc.
despair	major	The crew fell into despair and ultimately tried to take their own lives in the aftermath of getting exposed to ink from the Despair Squid.
felinoid being	major	The cat-man Cat.
humanoid robot	major	The humanoid robot Kryten.
speculative virtual reality	major	The crew came to understand that Red Dwarf and Starbug did not exist, and they had in fact been playing a virtual reality computer game for the past four years.
suicide	major	Each crew member of the SSS Esperanto had committed suicide in a different way. Kryten was going to use his last bullet to shoot not only himself in the head, but also Lister, Rimmer, and Cat, whose heads were all lined up like ducks in a row.
the universe is a simulation	major	It is suddenly revealed that the previous five seasons of Red Dwarf tales were in fact a VR game.
virtual person	major	The Rimmer hologram.
what if I found out I was a different person than I thought I was	major	The crew woke up from a virtual reality game to find that they were not who they thought they were.
bank robbery	minor	Rimmer speculated about a bank robbery.