"Quarantine" is the fourth episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series V and the twenty eighth in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 12 March 1992. The episode, fifth to be filmed, was the first one to be solely directed by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor. The episode has Rimmer contracting a holo-virus and turning against the rest of the crew.

Plot

Red Dwarf receives a distress call from the hologram Dr. Hildegarde Lanstrom. The crew take Starbug to visit the Viral Research Centre where Lanstrom had been working on a theory that viruses can be negative or positive and had isolated several positive viruses, including ones that grant whoever contracts it extreme good luck. However, when the crew - minus Rimmer who is requested to stay on board Red Dwarf - arrive at Lanstrom's lab she proves to have contracted a holo-virus that causes her to become insane. She passes this virus on to Rimmer before dying. On their way back to Red Dwarf Rimmer takes no chances of contracting any virus and commits the others to three months in quarantine.

There, in Bay 47, nothing gets in and nothing gets out, not even a molecule. The only things the internees have to entertain them are a knitting magazine and a video entitled Wallpapering, Painting and Stippling - a DIY Guide. Predictably, Lister, Kryten and Cat soon start getting on each other's nerves - much to Rimmer's delight.

However, it turns out that Rimmer is the one that has been contaminated with a holo-virus and as a result appears wearing a red and white checked gingham dress and army boots, teams up with a glove puppet named Mr. Flibble and sentences his naughty shipmates to two hours W.O.O (With Out Oxygen). Things look pretty bad, but by using the good luck virus taken from the Viral Research Department, Lister is able to get them out of Quarantine, and his luck holds out as they manage to defeat Rimmer.

Production

Due to Juliet May leaving as director, the remaining episodes were directed by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. Quarantine, which was fifth to be filmed in the series, was the first one to be solely directed by the co-creators. Although supposed to be the simple 'dialogue' episode for the series Grant and Naylor found it hard going. The main scene of the Cat, Lister and Kryten arguing in the quarantine bay took a grand total of 57 minutes to record, the cast either breaking up with laughter or else having trouble with dialogue that had only recently been delivered.

The original idea was to have each of the crew infected with Psi-powers, but this was later changed to the positive viruses story. Time constraints, coupled with the fact that it was pitched as the cheap show, meant that the script wasn't developed as well as Grant and Naylor had hoped. It was the cheap show so that the others were affordable.

Maggie Steed agreed to wear a prosthetic face mask to appear as the dying hologramatic Dr Lanstrom.

Cultural references

Dr Hildegarde Lanstrom references Schopenhauer's "Life without pain has no meaning." quote.

The character of Dr Hildegarde Lanstrom may be a reference to the molecular biologist Dr Hildegarde Lamfrom.

Reception

The episode was originally broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 12 March 1992 in the 9:00pm evening time slot, and was considered as one of the better episodes from the series, just behind "Back to Reality". 'Reviews by Gavrielle' stating that "the episode develops into a classic".

The episode proved popular enough with the BBC to head one of the two Series V video releases. The BBC had decided to ignore the original running order and used the most popular episodes from Series V to maximise sales of the videos. The episode that featured on the other Series V video release being "Back to Reality".

External links

• Red Dwarf: Quarantine - TV.com
• Episode Guide - Series 5

References