6. Alien Encounters
Throughout Red Dwarf, the crew has encountered an emotional vampire that leeched their emotions and altered their character, a creature that showed them their all-time greatest romantic desire, a being with the power to erase their entire existence, the crew of a derelict space craft that want to suck out their brains with a straw, and were held captive by a creature whose very existence was tied to the crew's ongoing captivity. Yet, none of these were alien life forms. Red Dwarf has never taken itself too seriously, and one of the greatest things about their unique brand of Science Fiction is that in 25 years traveling through deep space they have never once encountered an honest to goodness alien. The polymorph, Camille, and Listers bride were all GELFs (genetically engineered life forms). Their other chief adversaries have been simulants (cybernetic humans) who hate human kind and rogue droids who either want to kill them or erase them from history altogether. It isnt the return of these enemies themselves that is exciting---what is exciting is this particular brand of science fiction; one that hinges on mankind remaining mankind instead of showing us how well somehow be the best we can be if we find out alien life exists somewhere else.