Streets of Laredo was a Western-inspired artificial reality game created by Interstella Action Games. It was played by the crew of Starbug. The characters from the game were adopted by the crew in order to enter Kryten's electronic fever dream and save him.
Design[]
The game involved selecting one or more western characters with special skills. The player would then enter a western-style environment and fight their way through the game. Dave Lister was familiar with this game so, when Kryten contracted the Armageddon Virus and hallucinated himself as a drunken sheriff in a town called Existence, Lister was able to link the AR console to Kryten's mind and use the characters from "Streets of Laredo" as avatars for himself, Rimmer and The Cat.
The Cat chose The Riviera Kid as his character. The Kid was an ace gunslinger with a flamboyant costume.
Rimmer became Dangerous Dan McGrew, barefist fighter extraordinaire.
Leaving Lister with the character of Brett Riverboat, Knifeman.
The special skills of their respective characters proved very useful when defending Kryten from the townspeople. However, when Brother Death recognised them, he spread the virus to the AR console and erased the special skills. The Boys quickly realised that they needed to escape the scenario, but bought enough time for Kryten to overcome the virus with the Dove Antidote Program. ("Gunmen of the Apocalypse", Series VI)
Gallery[]
Behind the scenes[]
- The title of the game was an homage to the famous cowboy ballad, which in turn spawned a western film, miniseries and book.
- Laredo was also the name of the recreated Western town in Kent, south-east England, where the episode was filmed.