DX-87 shell

The DX-87 shell is a gaudy, rosso corsa covering for mechanoids.

When Kryten was going through a mid-life crisis, he changed his usual nondescript black covering to that of a red DX-87 shell. His fellow Dwarfers thought that it was tacky and awful, and Dave Lister likened it to a middle-aged man unnecessarily buying a sports car in an attempt to be younger. Kryten however refused to see it as they did, and excitedly noted its features: it had more flashing lights, blasted out loud techno music, had in-built sub-woofers, could spin Kryten's torso around 360 degrees, and increased his running speed with loud screeching noises.

In an attempt to cure Kryten's mid-life crisis, the Dwarfers decided to take Kryten to meet an older model of mechanoid, Butler, to show Kryten how much he had evolved and achieved. However, this had the opposite effect, despite being supposedly an inferior model, Butler was actually much more intelligent and accomplished than Kryten. This caused a massive amount of resentment and jealousy in Kryten, who kept his Ferrari red shell.

Soon after, through Butler's machinations, the Dwarfers ended up at the S.I.U. station where they encountered an entity which claimed to be "The Universe". Kryten was cured of his mid-life crisis by his discussion with "The Universe", which told Kryten to get rid of his new covering because "it sucked". Kryten complied. ("Krysis", Series XI)

Gallery

Kryten shows off his new shell to his crewmates in the Science Room of Red Dwarf

Sub-woofers

Butler makes Kryten feel inadequate

The Dwarfers with Butler on Nova 3

The Universe tells Kryten to take the shell off

Behind the Scenes

• The DX-87 shell appears to have been at least partially inspired by Transformers.