Kinitawowi battle cruiser

The Kinitawowi battle cruiser firing one of its two front weapons ("Ouroboros", Series VII)

The Kinitawowi battle cruiser was an advanced attack ship used by Kinitawowi tribe of GELFs. It was equipped with two very destructive energy weapons at either side of its front. It pursued the boys from the Dwarf for a number of years after Dave Lister offended their chief.

History

Background

The Kinitawowi battle cruiser originally began to hunt Starbug after Dave Lister jilted his bride, the Kinitawowi Chief's daughter, taking an Oxy-Generation Unit without paying for it on the Kinitawowi moon. Although the Kinitawowi Chief first sent an Emohawk to torment the crew, the Emohawk was defeated. ("Emohawk", Series VI)

Appearances

Surprisingly advanced, the battle cruiser could infiltrate non-space. The cruiser was first seen when it attacked a hyperspace linkway through a Dimensional Tear, causing a living version of Kristine Kochanski from an alternate dimension to become trapped on Starbug. With the skills of new crewmember and veteran Navigation Officer Kochanski, Starbug led the cruiser on a tense chase dangerously close to the surface of an ice planet, where the latter crashed, killing the GELFs. ("Ouroboros", Series VII)

Gallery

Front profile of the Kinitawowi battle cruiser

Close-up

Infiltrating non-space through the Dimensional Tear

Firing its weapon

Hitting the hyperway

Breaking the hyperway where the Dwarfers are

The GELF ship transits a picture of Lister's former GELF bride to Lister in the Starbug cockpit

Chasing Starbug down to the surface of an ice planet

The Kinitawowi chase Starbug dangerously close to the ice...

The battle cruiser crashes into the surface

Later, a second GELF battle cruiser attacks the linkway

The Series VII DVD background is the hull of the Kinitawowi Battle Cruiser

Trivia

• Although not clear in the episode, the script confirms that the crash into the ice planet killed the GELFs in the battle cruiser. Later, when the dimensional linkway comes under attack a second time, it is described as "a companion ship" which appears and attacks, not the first ship seen earlier.
• The Kinitawowi battle cruiser is not much larger than Starbug. This is most clearly evident during the chase along the surface of the ice planet.
• An interview between Ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech and Talkie Toaster on the official Red Dwarf website confirms that the ship was commandeered by the Kinitawowi. (Interview)
• Given that the Kinitawowi were otherwise technologically inferior, it is likely their battle cruiser was a commandeered Space Corps advanced battle ship. Given that it could pursue prey across vast distances, even infiltrating non-space, it is one of the most advanced starships seen in the Red Dwarf universe.

Behind the scenes

• As explained in the Series VII DVD collectors booklet, the model for the Kinitawowi Battle Cruiser included parts of what had been Ace Rimmer's space bike in the previous episode "Stoke Me a Clipper". The base of the ship model was a garden vacuum, and also incorporated what had been large water pistols. The model appeared a dark colour whilst in non-space, and red and purple during the close-up shots on the ice planet.
• The set used for the surface of ice planet which the Kinitawowi Battle Cruiser crashes into was later redressed as a charred desert planet, and used in the episode "Epideme" to portray the planet Delta VII. The set was redressed for a third and final time to portray the Red Dwarf planetoid in the final episode of Series VII, "Nanarchy".

Artwork

• The ship has appeared numerous colours in official artwork. The zoomed-in detail of the purple hull of the side of the ship model was used as the background for the Series VII DVD cover and artbook.