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Red Dwarf – The Universe Contemplates the Meaning of Life

Updated: Feb 18, 2021

In series XI, episode 5 of Red Dwarf, Kryten, a mechanoid that is part of the crew that has lived 3 million years, “give or take a few ice ages,” has a midlife crisis realizing he only has 3 million more years to live. The crew hunts down an old ship in order to introduce Kryten to another mechanoid in order to show him how much he has evolved. Unfortunately for Kryten, the plan backfires… the other mechanoid has accomplished so much more than him.

With that said, the show takes an interesting turn when the crew meets the Universe. According to the show, the Universe is actually an intelligent being. When the crew alerts the Universe to the fact that it only has about 14 billion more years left until it fizzles out, it also has a midlife crisis. However, Kryten comes to the rescue as shown in the conversation below.

Universe: If I die and leave nothing behind, then life has no meaning and existence is senseless. Ain't that right?

Kryten: No.

Universe: No?

Kryten: I've been thinking about this. If you created everything in the Universe, then you must have created love, and it strikes me that there may be no God, no afterlife, no one knows. But we do know love exists, and if it does, then life has meaning.

The meaning of life pops of everywhere, even where one would least expect it… such as an episode of Red Dwarf. What do you think? Does love give life meaning?

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