Editing Red Dwarf (section)

==Setting and plot==
[[File:The Red Dwarf sapce ship as seen in series 10.jpg|thumb|left|''Red Dwarf{{'}}''s design from Series X (2012) and onwards]]
The main setting of the series is the eponymous mining spaceship ''Red Dwarf''.<ref name="Series I at Sci Fi Dimensions">{{cite web |last=Snider |first=John C. |title=DVD Review: Red Dwarf Series I |url=http://www.scifidimensions.com/Feb03/reddwarf1.htm |date=2003 |website=ScifiDimensions.com |access-date=6 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017101712/http://www.scifidimensions.com/Feb03/reddwarf1.htm |archive-date=17 October 2012 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> In the first episode, set sometime in the late 21st century,{{efn|Later revised to the 23rd century, according to the 1991 episode "[[DNA (Red Dwarf)|DNA]]", or the 22nd century, according to the 1997 episode "[[Ouroboros (Red Dwarf)|Ouroboros]]".}} an on-board [[radiation]] leak kills everyone except lowest-ranking technician Dave Lister, who is in suspended animation at the time, as punishment for [[smuggling]] a cat aboard the ship. The cat, Frankenstein, who is revealed to be pregnant, is safe in the cargo hold.<ref name="Prog Guide p45">Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 45.</ref> Following the accident, the ship's computer [[Holly (Red Dwarf)|Holly]] keeps Lister in stasis until the radiation levels return to normal—a process that takes three million years.<ref name="Prog Guide p45"/> Lister therefore emerges as the last human being in the [[universe]]—but not alone on board the ship.<ref name="Prog Guide p46">Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 46.</ref> His former bunkmate and immediate superior Arnold Judas Rimmer (a character plagued by failure) is [[Resurrection|resurrected]] by Holly as a [[volumetric display|hologram]] to keep Lister sane. They are joined by a creature known only as [[Cat (Red Dwarf)|Cat]], who was initially thought to be the last member of a race of humanoid [[Felidae|felines]] that [[Evolution of mammals|evolved]] in the ship's hold from Lister's pregnant cat during the three million years that Lister was in stasis.<ref name="Prog Guide p46"/> In series 1 episode 4 '[[Waiting for God (Red Dwarf)|Waiting for God]]', it was revealed that the cat priest had also survived, and was living in the hold of the ship.

The series revolves around Lister being the last human alive, after three million years of travel from [[Earth]], with his companions. The crew encounter phenomena such as [[Time distortion theory|time distortions]], [[faster-than-light]] travel, [[mutant]] [[disease]]s and strange [[lifeform]]s (all evolved from Earth, because the series has no aliens) that had developed in the intervening millions of years.<ref name="Series I at SciFi.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw9510.html |title=Red Dwarf Series I DVD |date=3 March 2003 |website=Sci-Fi Weekly |access-date=6 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817030011/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw9510.html |archive-date=17 August 2007}}</ref>

Despite the [[pastiche]] of science fiction used as a backdrop, ''Red Dwarf'' is primarily a character-driven comedy, with science fiction elements used as complementary [[plot device]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tor.com/2016/09/22/welcome-back-to-red-dwarf-the-best-running-joke-on-uk-television/|title=Welcome Back to Red Dwarf: The Best Running Joke on UK Television|last=Stuart|first=Alasdair|date=2016-09-22|website=Tor.com|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-31|archive-date=31 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131182552/https://www.tor.com/2016/09/22/welcome-back-to-red-dwarf-the-best-running-joke-on-uk-television/|url-status=live}}</ref> Especially in the early episodes, a recurring source of comedy was the ''[[The Odd Couple (film)|Odd Couple]]''-style relationship between the two central characters of the show, who have an intense dislike for each other yet are trapped together deep in space.

In Series III, the computer Holly changes from male ([[Norman Lovett]]) to female ([[Hattie Hayridge]]), and the [[mechanoid]] Kryten (who had appeared in [[Kryten (Red Dwarf episode)|one episode]] in Series II)<ref>Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 52.</ref> joins the crew and becomes a regular character.<ref name="screenonline: Red Dwarf"/>

In Series VI, a [[story arc]] is introduced where ''Red Dwarf'' has been stolen, and the crew pursue it in the smaller ''Starbug'' craft, with the side effect that the character Holly disappears.<ref name="Series VI review at Sci-Fi Weekly">{{cite web |url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw1823.html |title=Red Dwarf Series VI DVD |date=28 March 2005 |website=Sci-Fi Weekly |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304092932/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw1823.html |archive-date=4 March 2009}}</ref>

Series VII is also set in ''Starbug''. Early in series VII, Rimmer departs (due to actor [[Chris Barrie]]'s commitments) and is replaced by [[Kristine Kochanski]], Lister's long-term love interest, from an [[Parallel universes in fiction|alternate universe]].<ref name="Series VII review at DVD Active">{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/red-dwarf-vii.html |title=Red Dwarf VII UK - DVD R2 |first=Peter |last=Martin |date=October 2005 |website=DVD Active.com |access-date=20 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011075340/http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/red-dwarf-vii.html |archive-date=11 October 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Kochanski becomes a regular character for Series VII and VIII.

At the end of Series VII, Kryten's service [[nanobot]]s, which had abandoned him years earlier, are revealed to be behind the theft of the ''Red Dwarf'' at the end of series five. At the beginning of the eighth series, Kryten's nanobots reconstruct the ''Red Dwarf'', which they had broken down into its constituent atoms.<ref name="Series VIII review at Sci-Fi Weekly">{{cite web |url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw13179.html |title=Red Dwarf Series VIII DVD |first=Adam-Troy |last=Castro |date=13 July 2006 |website=Sci-Fi Weekly |access-date=20 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720213246/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw13179.html |archive-date=20 July 2006}}</ref>

As a consequence, Series VIII features the entire original crew of ''Red Dwarf'' resurrected (except for the already-alive Lister and Kochanski), including a pre-accident Rimmer and the original male Holly. The series ends with a metal-eating [[virus]] loose on ''Red Dwarf''. The entire crew evacuate save the main cast (Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Kryten, and Kochanski), whose fates are unresolved in a [[cliffhanger ending]].<ref name="Episode Guide at Britannia.org&nbsp;— Series 8">{{cite web |url=http://www.britannia.org/tvarchives/dwarf/episodes/series8.php |title=Red Dwarf Series VIII Episode Guide |first=Andrew S. |last=Harris |website=The Britannia TV Archives |access-date=6 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619143101/http://www.britannia.org/tvarchives/dwarf/episodes/series8.php |archive-date=19 June 2013 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Series IX onwards revert to the same four main characters of Series 3–6 (Lister, Rimmer, Cat and Kryten), on ''Red Dwarf'' and without Kochanski or Holly; Rimmer reappears as a hologram once again. While it was left unmentioned whether the Rimmer on board ship is the one who originally left, the revived version, or a third [[incarnation]] entirely (episodes have alluded to him remembering events from both previous incarnations' lives); with the release of ''The Promised Land'', series-creator [[Doug Naylor]] confirmed in 2020 that the Rimmer from ''[[Red Dwarf: Back to Earth|Back To Earth]]'' onwards is the original Rimmer, having returned from his time being Ace Rimmer.