Kryten discovers a matter transporter paddle in the research lab of Red Dwarf – a device capable of transmitting an individual as light beams to another point in space within 500,000 light-years.
The decision is made to use the device to explore an interesting planet with breathable air within range of the ship,[4] with Kryten and Arnold Rimmer as electronic beings going first to determine if it is safe and return the matter paddle back.
However, the pair find themselves seemingly transported through time, materialising in a war room somewhere in the Third Reich and thrown into jail on the orders of Adolf Hitler, with the device being confiscated.
[5] After Lister and Cat realise that they are on Wax-World, witnessing a parade of villains from different eras of history (including Benito Mussolini, Napoleon Bonaparte, Al Capone, Richard III and James Last) and the execution of Winnie the Pooh, they are brought up to speed on the situation by a captured Abraham Lincoln.
Rimmer, possibly unhinged from Lister's earlier chewing of his light bee, devises a strategy to send in the heroes in as a distraction, while Kryten is smuggled into the Villains' Third Reich HQ and turns up the building's thermostat to melt them.
[9] When the Elvis wax droid explains the war to Kryten and Rimmer he states that all the best good warriors are gone: John Wayne, Sir Lancelot, Joan of Arc, Nelson, Wellington, even Doris Day.
The plot of a battle between historical heroes and villains, including a good Abraham Lincoln, is similar to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Savage Curtain".
[10] It wasn't originally intended to be shown as the series' finale, but because of the Gulf War conflict at the time the BBC had decided to postpone the episode due to its antiwar theme.