Nanarchy story

rd1988e7x08 · 1997-03-07

Lister tries to cope with the loss of his arm. Meanwhile Kryten searches for his nanobots – incredibly advanced microscopic robots, which can alter forms of matter at the sub-atomic level – so that he can rebuild Lister's arm. Kryten finds the nanobots in Lister's laundry basket, and also discovers that it was the nanobots who stole the mothership Red Dwarf in the first instance. Kryten gets the nanobots to rebuild both Red Dwarf and Lister's arm. Red Dwarf makes an appearance, but with one problem – its size. Directed by: Ed Bye. Story by: Paul Alexander, James Hendrie & Doug Naylor.

12 total · 4 major · 8 minor

ThemeLevelMotivation
felinoid being major The cat-man Cat is a main character.
humanoid robot major The humanoid robot Kryten is a main character.
missing hand major Central to the story was Lister coping with having lost his left arm.
speculative nanotechnology major The story led up to Kryten's nanobots reconfigured the Red Dwarf vessel into a planetoid. Kryten's nanobots reconfigured Lister to have the physique of a bodybuilder.
anger minor Kryten explained that Lister had a lot of pent up anger that repeatedly caused him to punch Kryten in the nose with the new prosthetic arm.
appearance altering technology minor Nanobots turned Lister's formerly corpulent physique into that of a bodybuilder.
artificial body part minor Lister was installed with an artificial arm, albeit briefly. [arm]
sentient computer minor The crew was reunited with the Red Dwarf computer Holly toward the end of the episode.
speculative spaceship minor The story is largely set aboard the futuristic spaceship Starbug.
suspended animation minor The crew were placed in suspended animation before departing for the voyage back to the vessel Esperanto.