"Time for your species to check out, Davey!"
When Lister catches a sentient, mind-absorbing virus, he is forced to make some hard decisions about how to escape its infection with his life.
This episode contains examples of:
- Affably Evil: The Epideme Virus, evil though it may be, is pretty polite.Epideme: David, c'mon. You caught a virus, it's fatal. It happens. Doesn't mean we can't be friends.
- Amputation Stops Spread: Kryten and Kochanski's solution to save Lister from the fatal Epideme virus is to force the virus into his arm and then cut his arm off it doesn't work.
- An Arm and a Leg:
- Kochanski cuts off one of Lister's arms in an attempt to cure him of Epideme.
- Zigzagged when it seems Kochanski has done the same to herself to kill Epideme once and for all, but subverted when she was actually using a corpse's arm injected with bio-fluids as a decoy.
- The Assimilator: The Virus retains its victims' brain patterns.
- Big "NO!": The Virus, after realizing Kochakski has fatally tricked it.
- Brutal Honesty: Epideme bluntly tells Lister that absorbing him won't be a career highlight.
- Continuity Nod: Lister's appalling guitar skills do him no favors re: his continued existence.
- Darker and Edgier: A lethal, sapient, seemingly incurable virus; a zombie and onscreen arm amputation? Definitely one of the darker episodes.
- Evil Gloating: "And the big showbiz news today is that, as expected, the long-running virus, Epideme, has been renewed for another season!"
- Faint in Shock: The Cat reacts to Kochanski cutting off her own arm by fainting. He points incredulously then keels over, and is left lying on the floor still frozen in that position.
- Genki Guy: The Epideme Virus, via the Universal Translator, has the persona of a boundlessly jovial game show host.
- Godzilla Threshold:
- To get rid of Epideme, Lister first concedes to having his arm cut off, and then to letting the others stop his heart and medically kill him.
- "They flamed the entire planet to try and stop me..."
- Gone Horribly Wrong: The Epideme virus was intended to be a replacement to the nicotine patch. Unfortunately, it not only stops the brain thinking it needs nicotine, but also from thinking it needs oxygen. Plus, it absorbs the intelligence of whomever it kills, making it that much harder to stop.
- Hope Spot: The Virus lets Lister know about a potential cure, so that Starbug will make the effort to go to it, rather than let Lister kill himself to get rid of it.
- Hypocrite: Discussed. Lister asks the Virus how it can justify killing human beings. Epideme asks about Lister's chicken curry he had the night before.Epideme: He died so you could keep on living. Is that any different from what I'm doing?
Lister: Of course it is! I have certain qualities that elevate me above poultry! I can think! I can play the guitar!
Cat: Better than a chicken? Are you crazy?- Of course, Lister can wash his hands off that, as he didn't personally kill the chicken and he is a man who despises the act of killing, while the Epideme virus is clearly enjoying its work and doesn't want to stop.
- And for all its supposed intelligence, the Epideme virus never really considered where his next hosts would come from, what with infecting the last known human male. Say what you will about Lister's curry obsession; at least he's rationing them.
- Kill It with Fire: An entire planet was flamed by the Starcorps to get rid of the virus. And it would've worked, if it hadn't left on a medical engineer.
- Large Ham: Epideme. You'd be forgiven for thinking it kills its victims by overacting.Kryten: Who was the fourth Marx brother?Epideme: Zeppo! Eeeeeasy. Ask me a hard one.Kryten: A hard one?Epideme: A HAAAAAAAAAAARRRRD ONE-UH!
- Moment Killer: Kryten, thinking Kochanski's slipped into Lister's quarters for a bit of late-night nookie, shows up to perform an emergency dust. When he can't find any navigation officers, he descends into screaming mania, which brings in an irate Kristine wanting to know what's going on. He's more successful at the end of the episode, when Kochanski kisses Lister after getting rid of the virus, and he immediately gets between them to "disinfect" Lister.
- Monster in the Ice: The crew finds an abandoned ship in the middle of an astro-glacier, with one of the dead bodies contained within being completely encased in ice. As it turns out, said ice block contains a corpse that is reanimated by an Affably Evil sapient virus contained within that freezes its victims when there is no one else to infect.
- Not Hyperbole:
- Kochanski tells Lister she wouldn't sleep with him if he was the last man alive. Which in fact he is. "I rest my case."
- Kochanski tells Lister she'll never speak to him again if he goes ahead with his Heroic Sacrifice. Lister just grins and walks out the airlock.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Kochanski and Kryten flub up flushing the virus, making it go into the wrong arm. The effort buys Lister a few hours more life, but he's still down his favourite arm.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Epideme tries to claim as such to Lister. After all, Lister kills another living being to go on living himself, in his case, a chicken he curried. Lister tries in vain to prove he has more worth to the universe than a chicken.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Kochanski's response to the above-listed Evil Gloating: "Wrong, bughead! You're axed!"
- Shout-Out: Epideme briefly sings a snippet of "God Save The Queen". This is part of the Epideme's "television" shtick, referring to the fact that, at the time, the BBC would play the national anthem right before shutting off broadcast for the night. As it's now been a 24 hour service for years, this may be lost on younger viewers.
- Something We Forgot: After Kochanski defeats the Epideme virus, she and Kryten walk out triumphantly discussing what they just accomplished... only to remember Lister is dead and needs to be revived.
- Taking You with Me: Resigned to the seemingly inevitable, Lister, with 40 lbs of Incinerex, boards an escape pod.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Even when Kochanski and Kryten come up with a way to save Lister, they still can't help bickering with one another.
- Verbal Backspace: Lister is despondent over the loss of his right arm... but at least they saved his life.Kryten: (starts whining in despair)
Lister: You haven't saved my life.
