A Star Trek Rip-Off Series Had Patrick Stewart's Stamp Of Approval

Prior to playing Captain Picard on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Patrick Stewart already had a little experience with science fiction. He played Gurney Halleck in David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of "Dune," and he had a small role in Tobe Hooper's naked-space-vampire movie "Lifeforce" the following year. After "Star Trek" launched him to worldwide fame, however, he seemed to play closer attention to the genre, and he began appearing in more fantastical films. Notably, he took the role of Professor X in multiple "X-Men" movies, most recently reprising his role in 2022's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." 

During his initial "Star Trek" stint, Stewart was also very aware of what other sci-fi shows were out there. He didn't necessarily watch a lot of sci-fi TV, but he knew when something was or wasn't like "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Naturally, this came from living in the United States, where he was residing at the time. He was less aware of the TV shows that were airing back in his native England, however, a fact that nearly led to legal action. In 1993, it seems Stewart was not cognizant of the existence of "Red Dwarf," a sci-fi sitcom that aired on BBC Two from 1988 to 1999.

"Red Dwarf" is a rather hilarious comedy-slash-space-opera that told complex sci-fi stories but with a satirical approach. In the United States, it remains a cult phenomenon, but it was quite popular in England. "Red Dwarf" was adored enough to last for eight seasons, and it was eventually rebooted in 2009, racking up three additional seasons and two full-on TV movies. It even spawned several retrospectives, which included interviews with fans, blooper reels, and reminiscences. 

In the 1998 "Red Dwarf" special, Stewart admitted that he once idly turned on the TV back in England in 1993 and saw a few minutes of "Red Dwarf." He felt almost immediately that it was a "Next Generation" rip-off and picked up the phone to call a lawyer. Luckily, he just as quickly noticed that it was funny.

What the heck is Red Dwarf?

The premise of "Red Dwarf" is fun. It's set on the titular mining ship, a massive, high-tech space edifice, drifting through space in the late 21st century. In the pilot episode, a low-level technician named Dave Lister (Craig Charles) is busted for a small infraction and put into cryogenic stasis as punishment. While he's frozen, however, there is a radiation leak on the Red Dwarf, and the ship's artificially intelligent computer Holly (Norman Lovett) keeps Lister in stasis until the radiation dissipates. He is revived three million years later after everyone on board is long dead. Lister is lost in space, and humanity may have long since evolved. For perspective, the species Homo sapiens is only about 315,000 years old. 

There were cats on board the Red Dwarf, and while Lister was asleep, one of them evolved into a stylish, self-absorbed humanoid played by Danny John-Jules. To keep Lister sane on the now-empty ship, Holly recreates a hologram of his old roommate, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie). To denote that he is a hologram, a large "H" is emblazoned on his forehead. The twist is that the slovenly Lister and the fastidious Rimmer always hated each other. As the show progressed, they would be joined by the insecure android Kryten (initially David Ross, then Robert Llewellyn), and Christine Kochanski (initially Clare Grogan from Altered Images, then Chloë Annett), carried in from a parallel universe. 

The stories were the stuff of "Star Trek" but usually presented with a comedy twist. In one episode, the holographic Rimmer finds a way to make a holographic duplicate of himself, becoming an odd couple of one. In another, the crew visits a planet where time runs backwards. Over the show's 12 seasons, a lot happened.

Patrick Stewart initially thought Red Dwarf was a Star Trek ripoff

As mentioned, Stewart said he was back in England in the mid-1990s when he stumbled on an episode of "Red Dwarf," and was struck immediately how similar it was to "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Stewart doesn't recall which episode of "Red Dwarf" he watched, but he was astonished at how similar it was to "Star Trek." The actor recalled:

"I was already reaching for the telephone to call my lawyer when something happened that made me laugh. And it was something that certainly not have happened on 'The Next Generation!' I left the telephone where it was, and I went on watching. And I think within a few moments, I had got what the show was. And I was laughing all the time. For me, what made it then — and what continues to make — the show so appealing, is that it is, at times, so close to the television series that I recorded for seven years. And it  so delightfully makes a mock of the kind of show that I was doing. I sometimes wished that we could have introduced some of that same wild ironic humor into 'The Next Generation.'"

"Next Generation" had moments of levity, of course, but overall, it was a very formal, mannered show about professional space-workers and their lives on the clock. One might wonder how Stewart feels about the newer "Star Trek" show "Star Trek: Lower Decks," which was an outright comedy series, or "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," which affects a far more whimsical tone than the "Star Trek" shows that came before it.