View source for Pete (Red Dwarf)

{{Infobox television episode
| series         = [[Red Dwarf]]
| image          = Pete (Red Dwarf).jpg
| caption        = The crew attempt to feed Pete cow curry so they may re-obtain the Time Wand
| series_no      = 8
| episode        = 6 & 7
| director       = [[Ed Bye]]
| writer         = [[Doug Naylor]] (Part 1)  <br> Doug Naylor & [[Paul Alexander (British writer)|Paul Alexander]] (Part 2)
| airdate        = 7 March 1999 (US), 25 March 1999 (UK)<br>7 March 1999 (US), 1 April 1999 (UK)
| guests         = 
* [[Mac McDonald]] as Captain Hollister
* [[Graham McTavish]] as Warden Ackerman
* Shend as Warden Knot
* [[Jake Wood]] as Kill Crazy
* Andrew Alston as Mex
* [[Holly Earl]] as Young Kochanski
* Perri Michael as Young Cat
* [[Ricky Grover]] as Baxter
* Ian Masters as Birdman 
| prev           = [[Krytie TV]]
| next           = [[Only the Good...]]
| episode_list = List of Red Dwarf episodes
}}

"'''Pete'''" is a two-part episode from the [[science fiction]] [[Situation comedy|sitcom]] ''[[Red Dwarf]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s [[List of Red Dwarf episodes#Red Dwarf VIII (1999)|eighth series]].  Part I was first broadcast in the United States on 7 March 1999 and then on the British television channel [[BBC2]] on 25 March 1999.<ref name="BBC – Programme Catalogue – RED DWARF – PETE, Episode 1">{{cite web | url =http://catalogue.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/programme/ICEA449N | title =BBC – Programme Catalogue – RED DWARF – PETE, Episode 1 | publisher =BBC |access-date =2007-12-18}}</ref> The second part was broadcast the same day as the first part in the US and on 1 April for the British broadcast.<ref name="BBC – Programme Catalogue – RED DWARF – PETE, Episode 2">{{cite web | url = http://catalogue.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/programme/ICEA450H | title =BBC – Programme Catalogue – RED DWARF – PETE, Episode 2 | publisher =BBC |access-date =2007-12-18}}</ref> The first part was written by [[Doug Naylor]] and the second was written between Naylor and [[Paul Alexander (British writer)|Paul Alexander]].  Both parts were directed by [[Ed Bye]]. The two parts (the second in particular) are often collectively cited as among the weakest examples of a Red Dwarf story in the show's history.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ganymede.tv/2018/02/the-pearl-poll-results/ | title=The Pearl Poll Results – Ganymede & Titan }}</ref>

==Plot==
===Part One===
The story begins with [[Dave Lister (Red Dwarf)|Lister]] and [[Arnold Rimmer|Rimmer]] being escorted to [[List of Red Dwarf characters#Captain Frank Hollister|Captain Hollister]]'s office. Hollister is with Mr Ackerman on whom they played a prank. The prank in question concerned Ackerman and a truth serum; Hollister reports him "rushing onto the bridge this morning, apologising for being late, saying he had been having '[[sexual intercourse|jiggy jiggy]]' with the science officer's wife and had not allowed enough time to change out of his [[Batman]] costume." Their punishment pits a team of their choice against Ackerman and the prison guards in a game of [[Basketball]].

After the first half, the crew are losing badly. Lister's team consists of him, Rimmer, [[Cat (Red Dwarf)|the Cat]], [[Kryten]], and [[Kristine Kochanski|Kochanski]]. Rimmer and Lister tell the others that their opponents' half-time drinks had been spiked with a sort of [[Viagra]]. This is noticed in the next half, with the crew winning against the guards, who are forced to bend over to cover their [[erections]].

The next day, Rimmer and Lister are back in Hollister's office, caught out after the captain also sampled the drink. They are given 'spud duty' for the next two weeks. Spud duty involves peeling a mountain of [[potato]]es. That evening, Rimmer finds out that Lister has been using Bob the Skutter to get things Lister wanted, such as curry and lager. Rimmer asks Lister to get them a programmable virus which they can set to eat potato skins, meaning they would not have to do any work.

Meanwhile, Kryten, Kochanski, and the Cat are taken to another ship on a [[Cassandra (Red Dwarf)|Canaries]] mission to find an earlier team that went missing. They find a team with a strange 'time wand' which is found to download and digitize time. Kryten realises this could hold the key to getting out of prison, as they could use it to hit ''Red Dwarf'' with a two-year download so it would appear they've served their sentences. He wipes the memory of the previous Canaries team and sneaks the time wand back.

On the first day of spud duty, Bob delivers the virus to Lister. Not only are the potatoes skinned; the duo's clothes and hair are also removed. They are taken to Hollister, stark naked. Hollister tells them that they'll sent to the hole if they do anything wrong again. In shaking their superior's hand the virus is passed on and Hollister quickly begins losing his hair and clothes. He sentences them to two months in the hole.

Rimmer and Lister enter the hole (a small square cell) to find they're sharing it with a fellow prisoner called Birdman and his sparrow, Pete. However their stay in the hole is not long as Bob the Skutter breaks them out. The three walk through ''Red Dwarf'' to find everyone frozen except Kryten, Kochanski, and the Cat who are waiting for them in the cargo bay (with Kryten using the time wand to restore Lister and Rimmer's hair). However it seems the excitement of escaping has killed Pete, and Birdman is upset to lose his friend. Kryten decides to use the time wand to restore Pete to life, however it goes badly wrong as Kryten accidentally reverses the sparrow's evolution and turns it into a massive [[Tyrannosaurus]]. Birdman is promptly eaten, before Pete starts to chase the Dwarfers.

===Part Two===
While running from the dinosaur he accidentally created Kryten throws the Time Wand to Bob the Skutter, who then gets eaten by Pete. After hiding in a room next to the cargo bay, Lister consults [[Holly (Red Dwarf)|Holly]] who gives them the expert opinion of ''"You're finished"''. Meanwhile, in Pete's stomach, Bob presses buttons on the Time Wand which unfreezes everybody else on the ship. The Dwarfers then decide to make a cow curry with roughage in it. After Pete eats it, they find out it was too hot for him. All the yelling from Pete gets the others caught.

Lister and Rimmer are, for the fourth time, seen returning to Hollister's office. They find out that all of Hollister's favourite foods have been eaten by Pete who then burped, farted, vomited, and had a diarrhoea attack on the people who were trying to capture him (with Bob being ejected this way, landing on the Captain's head). Hollister returns to them the Time Wand and tells them to turn Pete back into a bird.

The Canaries are deployed to attempt to turn Pete the Dinosaur back into Pete the Sparrow. Then two inmates, Kill Crazy and Baxter, stop Lister and Rimmer and steal the Time Wand and accidentally put their bodies on a separate timeline than themselves. Kill Crazy and Baxter end up trying to beat Rimmer and Lister up but nothing happens to them.

Meanwhile, Kochanski finds out Kryten made a [[penis]] to get out of being classified as a woman. But his penis, Archie, had run away. Eventually, they find out Archie had ended up in the Cat's pocket and woke up, trying to burst out of his Canary uniform.

Rimmer and Lister are back in Hollister's office. He tells them to recover the Time Wand. But before they leave, the effects of being beaten up by Baxter and Kill Crazy catch up with them, and they are beaten out of the office.

It turns out Kill Crazy and Baxter, unable to use the Time Wand, had turned themselves into gorillas. They recover the Time Wand and bring back Birdman and evolve Pete back into a sparrow. Rimmer tells Lister to destroy the Time Wand and he does. Walking back, they notice a dinosaur egg, leading Rimmer to tell Lister to repair the Time Wand. After they fail to that, two legs break out of the egg's shell. The egg runs into a lift up to a floor Hollister's in. When the lift returns, the egg is broken. Hollister, enjoying a massage, is licked by the dinosaur who then roars.

For the sixth time, Rimmer and Lister are back in Hollister's office. He is so traumatised that he can only communicate with paper with writing on it. Rimmer and Lister appear to be given a year in the Hole, but as they leave, Hollister reveals that the isolation is for him. The episode ends with Hollister showing them a piece of paper with "See ya in twelve months" written on it.

==Production==
Originally titled "Captain's Office", the episode was re-written as a two parter. Cut scenes from "[[Cassandra (Red Dwarf)|Cassandra]]" were included in the episode.<ref name="Red Dwarf series VIII Writing">{{cite web | url =http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/deck05/series_8/writing.html | title =Red Dwarf series VIII Writing | publisher =Red Dwarf.co.uk |access-date =2007-12-17 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071015104913/http://reddwarf.co.uk/deck05/series_8/writing.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-10-15}}</ref>

The Pete dinosaur was created using computer generated software similar to the ones in ''[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]''. The CG Pete dinosaur was combined with interactive animatronic parts; a huge foot and head were produced for close up shots.<ref name="Red Dwarf series VIII Effects">{{cite web | url =http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/deck05/series_8/effects.html | title =Red Dwarf series VIII Effects | publisher =Red Dwarf.co.uk |access-date =2007-12-17 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071015104835/http://reddwarf.co.uk/deck05/series_8/effects.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-10-15}}</ref>

Some scenes had to be cut from the final episode, which included a fight sequence between the Pete dinosaur and Kryten. Another scene cut was Rimmer's attempt to compose an ode to the Captain.<ref name="Red Dwarf series VIII Production">{{cite web | url=http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/deck05/series_8/production.html | title =Red Dwarf series VIII Production | publisher =Red Dwarf.co.uk |access-date =2007-12-17 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071015104857/http://reddwarf.co.uk/deck05/series_8/production.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-10-15}}</ref>

[[Mac McDonald]] appeared as Captain Hollister, [[Graham McTavish]] played Governor Ackerman, Andrew Alston played Canary Mex, [[Holly Earl]] as Young Kochanski, Perri Michael as Young Cat, [[Ricky Grover]] played Baxter, Shend played Warden Knot, [[Ian Masters (actor)|Ian Masters]] appeared as Birdman, and [[Jake Wood]] as Kill Crazy.

==Cultural references==
*During the basketball game, the song ''[[Stomp! (Brothers Johnson song)|Stomp!]]'' by [[The Brothers Johnson]] is played.
*Bob The Skutter whistles the tune from ''[[The Great Escape (film)|The Great Escape]]''.
*Kryten's penis Archie wriggles up [[Cat (Red Dwarf)|Cat]]'s top and then bursts out, in a scene parodying ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bpm4d "Pete: Part 1"], {{BBC episode|p00bpm58|Part 2}}
* [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0684170/ "Pete: Part 1"], {{IMDb episode|0684171|Part 2}}

{{Red Dwarf episodes}}

[[Category:1999 British television episodes]]
[[Category:Red Dwarf VIII episodes]]
[[Category:Television episodes about dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Television episodes about time travel]]