Name that fruit - Jasper not the ffirst!
Posted by:
Jazz_Sue (---.in-addr.btopenworld.com)
Date: August 23, 2007 05:33PM
Has anyone been watching the series repeats of Red Dwarf on Virgin 'on demand?' I was, a few weeks back. I nearly fell off the sofa when I heard a classic FFordism. I can't remember the name of the episode, but it was series 1 or 2 (I think) and involved Kryton falling in love with another android, who turns out to be a yucky alien in disguise - she goes off with another yucky alien at the end, leaving him heartbroken. The title was a single woman's name - Christabelle or something. These were the days before RD went all PC with a female crew member, and ran out of jokes and air time.
The bit of dialogue I'm talking about was near the start of the prog, and went something like this:
Dave Lister is trying to get Kryton to tell a deliberate lie - Kryton is programmed to tell only the truth. He holds up a variety of fruit, and tries to get Kryton to call them something else. (e.g calling an orange an apple etc) at first, Kryton can't but eventually he does. He then goes on to find crazier and crazier alternatives to the fruit names, e.g calling an orange a small and hairy Polish plumber (or something like that) Lister then calls Cat to hear this exciting new development. But when he holds up the orange, Kryton has reverted once more to truth mode. Lister tries again and again, but the reprogramming hasn't held - an apple is once more an apple, a banana is a banana etc. 'I can't understand it!' lister wails. 'He was doing ok a few minutes back.'
But (and here's the punchline) Cat is genuinely amazed. 'Wow, that was amazing! you two should be on 'Name that fruit!'
So that's where he got it from, thinks I, imagining JF to be a Red Dwarf fan and really, really pleased I have discovered this little golden snippet of knowledge.. Jump forward a week or so, to the Reading book signing. I haven't got the guts to open this topic at the 'Q and A' sesh, so I wait till I can speak to Jasper face to face (first time ever I've met him mind) 'I think I know where you got the idea for Name that Fruit,' I say, proceeding to relate the RD episode. I get a blank stare by return. No, Jass has never watched Red Dwarf and, what's more, he got the idea for 'NTF' from a program he once worked on, called 'Name that Fish.' He was interested though - said it fitted in with what he'd spoken about earlier.
It didn't help me though. Considering that I'd 'dried up' the moment I started to talk, and couldn't even remember the robot's name, I felt a right ruddy idiot ...
Someone told me I only saw that episode cos I'd been reading JF beforehand. It's all to do with entropy, apparently. I've taken to keeping a jar of lentils and rice handy. Any other coincidental examples out there - Bookworld or otherwise? My whole life seems to be either chaos or coincidence at the moment - usually both together.