I’ve always felt that stories are important.  Since the mythical caveman, stories were a way to understand the world and to pass on that knowledge around the campfire.  In the modern day, we still have storytellers … authors of books and plays.  Though plays are often now recorded in the form of films and TV shows.

That led me to ponder what stories influenced me growing up and as a young adult. From my Dad’s sizable collection of science fiction books by authors such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, A.E. Van Vogt, E.E. Doc Smith, Frederick Pohl, Murray Leinster, Frank Herbert, et al., to TV shows like Doctor Who, Star Trek, U.F.O. Space:1999, Blakes 7, and many more.

One show I’m fond of is Red Dwarf, a British science fiction sitcom that started in 1988. If you’ve never seen this series, I recommend watching it for the jokes but then take time to contemplate the deeper philosophical points the show sneaks in.

With the main character, Dave Lister, waking up from suspended animation to find himself alone on the spaceship Red Dwarf, three million years into deep space, isolation and loneliness are central themes.  He is the last human alive and must rely on a hologram, a creature that evolved from his pet cat, and a senile ship’s computer A.I. for company. Though they are joined by an android in later seasons.

Within this microcosm, the show explores issues of class and social hierarchy (Lister was the lowest-ranking crew member and the hologram was a snobbish junior officer), and human nature and morality (ethical dilemmas, the consequences of human actions, the nature of good and evil, and the moral choices people make in extreme circumstances).  But it does so with a quirky and surreal sense of humour, frequently incorporating absurd scenarios, bizarre creatures, and unusual settings … often parodying the conventions of more traditional science fiction.

Yet despite the diametrically opposed worldviews of the main characters, over the course of the series, they nonetheless overcome their differences and gradually develop strong bonds of friendship and loyalty. Themes of camaraderie and the importance of human connection are prevalent as they face various challenges together.