Lister argues that they can use a time drive and avoid that consequence if they don't abuse it like their future selves did; however he finds himself outnumbered and seemingly concedes defeat.
The next morning, Rimmer and Cat are confused when Kryten serves them high-calorie breakfasts, starts smoking and using phrases like "you bet your ass".
Reading a nearby newspaper, Kryten finds out what has happened: President Kennedy was impeached in 1964 for sharing a mistress with Mafia boss, Sam Giancana.
Being unable to send Oswald to a lower floor due to their presence, Lister suggests getting a second gunman to shoot from behind a nearby grassy knoll.
Shown as an option on the Series 7 DVD, the Extended Edition of Tikka To Ride continues after Cat, Rimmer and Kryten take out their frustrations on Lister.
After managing to correctly use the time drive and steal the Indian food supplies from Starbug before the events of the episode began (thus showing an example of a predestination paradox and allowing Lister to re-stock on curry, papadums and lager), the crew end up storing the food in one of Starbug's cargo holds (ostensibly the same cargo hold it was stolen from in the first place – B-deck).
The lever, in fact, activates the separation sequence for Starbug, jettisoning the rear section of the ship into space while allowing the front half to fly away; an ace Rimmer had "had up his sleeve for months".
Although tempted to end it, he later agreed to write two more eight-episode series of the show, as this would allow the episode count to reach 52 and therefore be eligible for syndication.
[4] This vision was helped with the return of Ed Bye to the director's chair, having previously left due to a scheduling clash with directing his wife Ruby Wax's new TV show at the time.
Guest stars included Michael J. Shannon who played John F. Kennedy, Toby Aspin as Lee Harvey Oswald, Peter Gaitens as FBI Agent and Robert Ashe as Cop.
The title of this episode is a piece of word-play based on the name of the song "Ticket to Ride" by the Beatles, in accordance with the theme of curry on which the storyline focuses, tikka being an Indian spice marinade.
[7] The concept of the crew travelling backwards in time and accidentally saving someone's life, leading to a change for the worse in history, was also used in the Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever.
The concept of saving president John F. Kennedy, thus inadvertently changing the timeline for the worse, and having to go back and assassinate him from the grassy knoll was a proposed story Gene Roddenberry repeatedly pressured the studio to make into a Star Trek movie, without success.
[10] Sci-Fi Online noted that "Tikka to Ride morphs into a surprisingly serious time paradox" but felt that the final plot twist was "a largely pointless contrivance.