Tongue Tied
Tongue Tied
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Reverse

Sensational indeed

The Sensational Reverse Brothers was the stage name adopted by Rimmer and Kryten when they started a variety act on a backwards Earth, promoted as Srehtorb Esrever Lanoitasnes Eht. ("Backwards")

Inception[]

After flying through a time hole, when Rimmer and Kryten found themselves stranded on Earth so far into the future that time ran backwards, they realised that they would need a job. After rejecting the idea of running the chemical company ICI, since in this world, you start as head of a company and are demoted, or dirtying dishes in a restaurant, Kryten noticed an advertisement in a newspaper from a theatrical agent who required novelty acts. Rimmer asked what they could do that would be considered a novelty, to which Kryten replied "In this world, everything".

Sdrawkcab

SREHTORB ESREVER LANOITASNES EHT

They styled themselves as "The Sensational Reverse Brothers" and quickly became a hit on the Retsehcnam pub circuit. In typical showbiz style, they were announced by a compère and jogged onto stage wearing ridiculous sparkly pink costumes, complete with bow-ties and bowler hats. Their act consisted of Rimmer talking to the audience, which to them sounded like a strange language, while Kryten performed simple acts of eating a boiled egg and drinking a glass of water forwards. Having eaten the egg, Kryten then threw the empty shell to a man in the audience, who looked at it with a baffled expression. The people of Retsehcnam found this both bizarre and hilarious, pulling their hands apart in raucous applause.

After three weeks in 3991, Rimmer and Kryten had found their niche in life and wanted to stay there permanently. They had several posters put up around the area where they had crashed, so that Lister and Cat could find them when they came through the time hole. Lister read the strange writing, thinking that they had landed in Bulgaria. The posters led them to a pub called Nogard dna Egroeg eht where the "Reverse Brothers" were performing. They watched the act, and was unimpressed to why the locals found it entertaining, assuming that Bulgarians must have very simple tastes.

After Lister and Cat had realised they were in a backwards universe, they joined Kryten and Rimmer backstage. The "Brothers" explained that they intended to stay, as there were many positives to this universe, but this was interrupted by the manager of the pub bursting into the dressing room and firing them for starting a fight. Rimmer insisted that this was impossible since no fight occurred. However, after Lister and Cat un-ate a pie, the owner of the pie beat Lister up, healing his injuries. They soon realised that the fight is actually about to happen. True enough, there was a massive backwards brawl, with people un-smashing chairs off people's heads, and Lister being reverse-thrown through a window. With the bar now tidy and calm, Kryten and Rimmer resigned themselves to going home and left their career as the "Reverse Brothers" behind.

Behind the Scenes[]

In a deleted scene on the DVD release of Series III, Rimmer learns to speak at least a small amount of backwards English and is able to talk to the audience enough that they understand him.

During the commentary on the DVD, Craig Charles pointed out that the Reverse Brothers did indeed look like a typical 1980s comedy circuit act.

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