Highlight: Red Dwarf I

Future Echoes. Lister prepares to die.

After three years of development hell and an electrician's strike that nearly killed the series before it had began, the first series of Red Dwarf began broadcasting in February 1988. The first series was the one that stayed most true to the series' brief, as well as being the one in which the relationships between both characters and actors were most raw. My highlight from the first season isn't a tricky decision. Sure, The End is a great pilot, and Me^2 is a great character piece, but when I look at the first series, the episode I remember the most fondly is Future Echoes. Blending a high-concept sci-fi idea surrounding predestinative time-travel with great character moments, Future Echoes blatantly defies the contraints of Red Dwarf's brief and, despite the way that it breaks up the narrative of the series, it still acts as one of the best second episodes of anything, ever.

Thanks.
Written 9/6/12