Red Dwarf XII: Siliconia

"Siliconia", the second episode of Red Dwarf XII, was recorded in front of a live studio audience on 29 January 2016, back when we all thought David Bowie and Alan Rickman dying in the same week was going to be the absolute low point of that particular calendar year. It was the first, and likely only, chance I would ever get to be in the audience of a live sitcom recording, let alone Red Dwarf (the holy grail, as far I was concerned). The episode's plot was something I had been in the audience to hear Doug talk about when he first confirmed Series XI & XII at the Dimension Jump convention in May 2015, so to actually be in the audience for it eight and a half months later was an added thrill.

Four months on from its 12 October 2017 release on UKTV Play, and on the day of the show's 30th anniversary, I've finally cobbled some thoughts I've mostly already posted elsewhere into an article...

At the start of the recording series co-creator, writer and director Doug Naylor mentioned that Chris Barrie had been ill during the week, and there had been some stuff they hadn't been able to film. However, on the broadcast version of the episode, there is nothing that wasn't seen by the audience on the night. When Kryten leads the mech-converted crew into the machines to get their original bodies back, I presumed there was a scene missing where we saw them become human again. Instead the scene ends (very abruptly, on both the recording night and broadcast ep) and we cut to Starbug leaving the ship – it feels very much like there’s something obviously missing in a similar way to the monkey turning into Professor E in “Entangled”, and I wonder if they had to give up shooting whatever was missing. (Not least because the plot of Rimmer wanting to stay a mechanoid is now completely abandoned.)

Everything where Rimmer, Lister and Cat are mechs were pre-recorded, and everything else was done live in the studio (more or less), with the exception of the first scene, which was also a pre-record to avoid spoiling the reveal that Lister's sitting just feet away from Kryten. For the Krytenification scene, they first showed it to us as a VT, then they also did the bits that didn't require showing the mech crew live in studio.

There's a big deleted scene at the end back on the ship, which you can see on the DVD's deleted scenes - after Kryten leaves Lister reunited with his guitar, Rimmer and Cat enter, still under the influence of being Krytenified despite being back in their original bodies, and Lister gets them to provide backing vocals for his performance of "Don't Be Ovulating Tonight". I was very annoyed to see this had been cut, as it was filmed several times on the night and was getting a great reaction from the audience every time, but in retrospect it's perhaps something that doesn't work quite so well when it's not being done live in front of you. (I can imagine some of the scenes I dislike in Series VIII seeming and feeling very different if you were in the audience for them.)

However, part of me still wishes it had stayed in, because the "soundproof airlock" gag is such a weak joke to go out on, and it annoys me you can still hear the applause the deleted scene got at the start of the credits when the new final line really doesn't deserve it. It's also quite odd that we never even see Rimmer and Cat returned to human form in the episode, just the implication that they were - although Rimmer's plot never gets properly resolved, at least with this scene there's some degree of closure by seeing him back in his own body and being pissed off at having to take orders now his own personality's restored. (The scene does beg the question as to why Lister isn't still walking like Kryten and having to obey as well, mind you.)

There were a few very small cut lines from the Krytenification scene which aren't on the DVD's deleted scenes - when Areto announces they're going to receive new bodies, the Cat is initially excited that his new body might be even better than his current one. When he sees his mech body, before the line about swapping a Savile Row suit for a mankini, he originally had another line which was, paraphrased, "you're going to swap this for that?" I can't remember any other cuts.

The sequences with Lister's guitar in space and its retrieval hadn't been completed at time of recording, so we had mock-ups and storyboard sequences in their place at the recording, which can also be seen on the DVD. The shot of the Diva-Droid Upgrade Station (aka the titular Siliconia) had a temporary placeholder on the night, namely a clip of the Death Star with the words "DIVADROID UPGRADE STATION" written over it. (It must be said this made what it was rather clearer than the final version, where the same words are still on the ship, but much smaller and only fleetingly visible.)

You can distinctly hear me laughing in the "Rimmering" scene, which was also the source of my favourite ever Smeg Up, as also seen on the DVD ("Have you noticed there aren't any cameras following us?") I think it was even funnier on the night when we actually couldn't see them and were watching a blank monitor (the corridor set was out of sight of the audience), but that would be harder to do on the blooper reel.

I also have a horrible feeling I am the one person who claps at the "It's a pair of golfing slacks!" line, which I swear I didn't do deliberately...