"As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless, uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?" ~ Holly.
The boys in Justice.
"Mister Arnold" isn't his name. His name's "Rimmer." Or "Smeghead." Or "Dinosaur Breath" or "Molecule Mind." And on a really special occasion when you want to be really mega-polite to him, Kryten, we're talking MEGA-polite, in those exceptional circumstances, you can call him "Arse-hole." ~ Lister from "Kryten."
The Show
For those unfamiliar with the show (amazingly, there are a lot of us in North America who had never heard of it before), Red Dwarf is a British comedy created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. The actual Red Dwarf is a mining ship set in the future with a crew of 169 people. The show begins with Dave Lister (Craig Charles) and Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie) who are fairly low-ranking crew members (they are vending machine and soup nozzle repairmen.) Lister is an easy-going slob, while Rimmer loves authority and the military (he has quite a Napoleon complex). Needless to say, the two do not get along very well.....
The crew in Gunmen of The Apocalypse.
From "Legion"...
Rimmer: Step up to Red Alert.
Kryten: Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing
the bulb!
Due to sneaking his pregnant pet cat on board the ship (and refusing to give it up), Lister is sent into stasis for the rest of their current trip. While Lister is in stasis, Rimmer is given the task of repairing the ship's drive plate, which he does incorrectly. As a result, the entire crew is killed, except for Lister who's in stasis at the time and Lister's cat who is protected within the walls of the ship where he hides her. Three million years later, after the radiation levels have dropped to safe levels, the ships computer Holly releases Lister from stasis where he now realizes he is probably the only human being in existence. Holly also brings back Rimmer in a holographic form to keep Lister company and keep him sane ~ perhaps not the best person for the job!.
Rimmer and Lister soon discover a life form with them on the ship who evolved from Lister's cat's kittens. They call him Cat (Danny John-Jules). Cat is the ultimate in vanity ~ often, all he seems to care about is himself, his appearance, and his suits. Eventually, the trio come across a crashed space craft and meet the sole survivor ~ an android named Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) who joins their crew. The four travel through the universe, in search of Earth to see if it still even exists ~ that is, if they don't kill themselves or each other in the process.....
Kryten: Well we could try to bring you
down with a round from a laser cannon, sir.
Cat: Form an orderly queue behind the gun-sight.
Arnold Judas Rimmer
Kryten: Sirs, Sirs, they've taken Mr
Rimmer!
Cat: Quick let's get out of here before they bring him
back!
The character Arnold Judas Rimmer is not the luckiest man in the universe. Born on a moon of Jupiter called Io, he had three brothers who always picked on him and always had the upper hand. His mother was a distant woman who didn't have time for him and his father's greatest wish was for all his sons to enter the Space Corps ~ at all costs. This included putting his boys on a wrack to stretch them, as his father was rejected from the Corps for being too short. This resulted in Rimmer being six feet tall by the sixth grade.
When Rimmer was finally old enough to follow in his brother's footsteps, his father's business went bankrupt, leaving Rimmer to make his own way in life. Rimmer enlisted in the Corps and eventually moved up in rank to Second Technician ~ in other words, he repaired food dispensers. Needless to say, getting killed during the radiation leak has not helped his career.....
Duane Dibbley, the Duke of Dork, with Ace Rimmer in Emohawk: Polymorph 2. "Suck my thermos!"
From "Marooned"...
Lister: Are you trying to say I've got a
big bum?
Rimmer: Big? It's like two badly-parked
Volkswagens.
Rimmer's love life has been as unsuccessful as his career. His first french kiss came from his uncle Frank, who in the dark thought that he was his mother. Rimmer commented that his only sexual encounter in his whole life was with Yvonne McGruder, who was suffering a concussion at the time and thought that he was someone else. The entire encounter lasted 12 minutes ~ and that included the time it took to eat their pizza. As a hologram, his sexual partner is inflatable ~ and "inflatable Ingrid" has a leak.
Kryten and Rimmer find trouble in Meltdown.
"A desert planet, the only life forms the most basic single-celled protozoa, and me. Relationships would be difficult, but not impossible." ~ Rimmer from "Rimmerworld."
As a hologram, he is made of light and his deepest desires are to love and be loved, to be successful in his career, and to be able to touch objects. Only his third wish so far has been granted, when he was turned into a hard light hologram ~ receiving the ability to touch and be touched. Even as a self described bastard, you still have to love the guy.
The "Dibbley Family" in Back In The Red.
From "Out Of Time"...
Rimmer: It's too dangerous to make contact.
What if we discover that one of us is dead? Who could handle
that?
Cat: We all could if it was you.
Back in time in Tikka To Ride.
From "Rimmerworld"...
Lister: This might sound like a bit of a corny
line, but (pauses) can't even bring myself to say it.
'Rimmer' Guard: Say what?
Lister: Take us to your leader.
Kryten: Oh sir, how could you!
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