I’m hoping some UK dopers can help me with this. I’m watching my Red Dwarf DVD’s, and in the episode “Psirens” Lister meets the image of someone he calls “Pete Tranter’s Sister”. Apparently shes the weather girl on a fictional TV station in the Red Dwarf universe. But “Pete Tranter’s Sister” is an odd name. Is there a reason for this? Is there someone called Pete Tranter in real life or some kind of lore? Or is it just a made up name? It sounds crazy, but thats something I’ve always wanted to know.
I’m not a UK doper, but I doubt it’s a famous person. The point was simply that the psiren was taking the form of someone he had lusted over when he was much younger; presumably Pete Tranter was his childhood friend. (When you were a kid, did you never have a thing for your friend’s sister/brother?) Although we don’t see it, we know that it later turns into the TV weather girl from Channel 27. That’s probably not someone particularly famous either, but simply a random lust-object.
Great show!
Yeah, but the name “Pete tranter’s Sister” is kinda wierd. I mean, I thought this one guy in high schools sister was hot but call her "Mike ******'s sister to her face.
You’re probably right though. I hope some UK folks shed more light on this if there is any though.
Smoke me a kipper. I’ll be back for breakfast!
Lister: Can ya tell me somethin’ good about meself, Kryten? Somethin’ laudable?
Kryten: Hmmm… “laudable?” Well, sir, sometimes you assist me in my laundry duties by turning your underpants inside-out, thus extending the wear time by three weeks.
This is one of my favourite shows of all time. I watched the first six seasons or so faithfully, but I’ve only caught bits of seasons seven and eight, so I’m TiVoing them whenever I remember to set the machine up.
There are a lot of references to things you either never see or briefly see in only one or two episodes that are referenced occasionally, especially with regard to other members of the crew.
For example, although you never get to see her, Rimmer mentions (and Lister remembers) having had sex with Yvonne MacGruder, the ship’s female boxing champion. She’d been hit on the head and had “wonky vision”, and mistook Rimmer for someone who was good-looking.
With the last two seasons, of course, you get to see a lot more of the crew that are dead and gone in the first six seasons (it’s a loooong story!). I’m pretty sure that Christine Kochanski has been played by no less than three different actresses, as she has appeared in time travel/dimension jump episodes and the last couple of seasons. IIRC, there’s even an episode where Rimmer gets Holly to project Kochanski’s hologramatic image (with Rimmer in control, of course) to persuade Lister to do something he normally wouldn’t do.
[spoiler]Fairly early on - third or fourth season, I think, there is a story arc that pertains to Lister’s efforts to find all the hologram data disks. Rimmer had the scutters box them up and attach the box to the outer hull of the ship so that Lister could never get to them. If Lister ever did get them, he would surely eject Rimmer’s disk and force Holly to project the hologram of someone he’d rather be with.
Sadly, all of the other disks were destroyed in an explosion at the end of this story arc, so Lister is stuck with Rimmer as the ship’s one and only hologram.[/spoiler]
I wouldn’t find the reference to a non-existant person out-of-place at all in Red Dwarf.
Actually. I’ve seen all of the episodes released on DVD, which ended in seasen 8. (or series as our UK friends call them).
and you’re wrong…you get to see Yvonne McGruder in the episode “Better than life” which was series one or two.
You’re reading too much into it. Perhaps it would be weird to call her that to her face, but Lister does, in fact, know that it’s just an illusion.
Btw, I’ve decided to start counting everything in ice ages from now on.
I always heard it was “Pete Trance’s Sister”.
Anyways, the whole point is that Lister doesn’t even know her name. She’s not “Lisa Trance” - she’s just the hot sister of a friend of his. So, she’s just “Pete Trance’s Sister”. In Lister’s brain, THAT is her name.
-Joe
I have the script for this episode in a book at home. (Pause here while it sinks in just how geeky I am.) I’m pretty sure it’s “Trantor”.
IMDB has it as “Tranter”.
And I always took the odd name as a sign of just how unrealistic the fantasy was. This wasn’t the one that got away, this was the adolescent fantasy that was so far out of his league that he didn’t even know her name.
And they got Jenny Agutter for the same episode. How cool was that?
To clarify - Lister more than likely had more than one “Pete” as a friend in his highschool years. It’s a pretty common name. If you just said “Pete’s sister” then it may lead to confusion regarding which “Pete’s Sister”. The hot one? The ugly one? The three year old one? But by specifying “Pete Tranter’s Sister” (which is what I’m pretty sure it is. I also had the script in a book until a ‘friend’ stole it from me), you know he’s talking about the older, hotter one.
I’ve been a huge Red Dwarf fan for many years, and this has always been my interpretation of that scene- Lister knows the illusion isn’t real, so there’s no reason to call it “Lisa Tranter” or whatever her name might actually be.
Well, I guess I did read to much into it. But cut me some slack…like Lister I went to Art College. 
Yes, but how long did you last there? 
Considerably longer than Lister.
I’m surprised, what with all the lectures first thing in the afternoon and all that. I mean, who’s together by then? You can still taste the toothpaste! 
How did you get in to Art College?
Anyone ever been to a wine bar?
Trantor was the home planet in Asimov’s “Foundation” books.
I can scarcely credit it but googling “Pete Tranter’s Sister” actually gets a hit, namely:
Personally I feel Red Dwarf was at its best from series 3 to 6 when it really hit its stride. The less said about the later series the better, though series 7 had its moments. Rimmer’s character arc is one of my favourites in any story, from the galaxies biggest loser to the multiverse’s greatest hero.
Me too. Or he fancied her without finding out (or perhaps without remembering) her first name.