Cultural References
A Star Wars style scroll is used to explain all the occurrences that had happened between Series II and III. (See also Dad (Red Dwarf episode)). In the opening scene between Lister and the Cat, they discuss whether The Flintstones' Wilma Flintstone is sexy or not. They come to the conclusion that they are insane for discussing such things, since she would never leave Fred.
Kryten's spaceship examination, which includes registration reading, "if you'd like show me to your vehicle", "in your own time", direction instructions, recognition test and stopping distances all mirrors the same examination that UK citizens take with DSA examinations.
Both Genghis Khan and Doug McClure are referenced by Rimmer when trying to ascertain the time period.
Lister sings the line, "I didn't come here looking for trouble, I just came here to do the Red Dwarf Shuffle", an obvious homage to the 1985 Chicago Bears song Super Bowl Shuffle.
The Big Bang theory, as well as expansion and contraction, is explained by Holly as the reason why this universe is running backwards. To look inconspicuous Kryten walks into the cafe wearing a Ronald Reagan rubber mask. The newspaper that Kryten is titled Yadretsey, or Yesterday forwards — a parody of the Today newspaper that was published at time of production. Kryten reads a headline from the paper, about a bank robbery committed by a man named "Michael Ellis" - a recurring character in the Monty Python series.
Kryten and Rimmer think that the backwards world is wonderful, pointing out that when the second world war comes around again, millions of people will come back to life, and Hitler will retreat across Europe, liberating France and Poland. Lister though looks at the other side of the argument and states that in this universe St. Francis of Assisi is the petty-minded little sadist who maims small animals and that Santa Claus is a big guy who sneaks down chimneys and steals all the kids' favourite toys.
Read more about this topic: Backwards (Red Dwarf Episode)
Famous quotes containing the word cultural:
“They’re semiotic phantoms, bits of deep cultural imagery that have split off and taken on a life of their own, like those Jules Verne airships that those old Kansas farmers were always seeing.... Semiotic ghosts. Fragments of the Mass Dream, whirling past in the wind of my passage.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)