The world loves a bastard.

[Jimboid]

So, the whole Rimmer backstory retcon in The Beginning…

I had no problem with it…and as an end to Rimmer’s 10 series character arc, it’s spot-on.

BUT: Assuming that this isn’t the end of Red Dwarf, what sort of Rimmer are we going to see in the next series?

My concern is that we’ve seen a significant and permanent shift in his character…based on the realisation that his neuroses & hangups were due to his father-shaped demons.

With those demons gone, we have a Rimmer who’s suddenly at peace with himself, even content with his lot and proud at being Second Technician. Someone who’s happy to be on the same level as Lister.

Does that not destroy both everything we love about Rimmer and his relationship with Lister?

We could see a turnaround and a retreat back into being a two-faced weasely weasel in the next series. But now there’s no reason for him being like that.

In the words of Chicago, “Where do we go from here?”

Topic

[si]

In the words of Chicago, “Where do we go from here?”

I thought that was in the words of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

[HelloMabel]

>My concern is that we’ve seen a significant and permanent shift in his character…

I’m expecting him to be mostly unchanged:

“Ooh, Rimmer, I know you think we’re equal now and everything, but you’re still a smeghead.”

[anniescribe]

Sure, he felt good in the pressure of battle, but in a return to everyday life, I think his basic smeghead personality will be unchanged. If anything, he may feel more in competition with Lister since they’re closer in social strata, and Lister has a good chance of passing an engineering exam at some point – there’s fodder there IMO. And he hasn’t been a proper coward since “Rimmerworld” anyway, so that’s not new, at least.

Also, that bitch queen from hell is still his mother, and she’s given him plenty of remaining issues. Unless he finds out he was the product of the gardener and the scullery maid. ;-)

[Carlito]

Rimmer is a combination of nature and nurture. The fact he found out his father wasn’t actually his father after all may have cleared a few cobwebs away in the battle but it doesn’t change his upbringing, personality or instincts. At his age, they are mostly hardwired into him, I would suggest.

[peas_and_corn]

>I thought that was in the words of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

I thought it was Descartes.

[Jo]

The battle’s done and we kind of won, so we sound our victory cheer!

[Blisschick]

Sure, he felt good in the pressure of battle, but in a return to everyday life, I think his basic smeghead personality will be unchanged. If anything, he may feel more in competition with Lister since they’re closer in social strata, and Lister has a good chance of passing an engineering exam at some point – there’s fodder there IMO. And he hasn’t been a proper coward since “Rimmerworld” anyway, so that’s not new, at least.
Also, that bitch queen from hell is still his mother, and she’s given him plenty of remaining issues. Unless he finds out he was the product of the gardener and the scullery maid. ;-)

This…

Rimmer is a combination of nature and nurture. The fact he found out his father wasn’t actually his father after all may have cleared a few cobwebs away in the battle but it doesn’t change his upbringing, personality or instincts. At his age, they are mostly hardwired into him, I would suggest.

and this. Pretty much my exact thoughts on the subject.

[Bexley Heath]

As someone else on this forum mentioned, he’s kind of had his fangs taken out in this series anyway, which was a shame. At least it would give a bit of justification in XI for Doug continuing to not write him like a proper bastard any more.

[Ridley]

But now there’s no reason for him being like that.

An injection of Kochanski would sort that out perhaps?

[anniescribe]

Alive Rimmer seemed to get along all right with Kochanski in Series VIII (and there were opportunities to quarrel if they wanted to, on Canary missions for example), so I guess it’s possible he could react badly to her in XI … but I don’t see why, particularly? He’s still big on rank, and she outranks him by about five miles, right?

[mick]

> An injection of Kochanski would sort that out perhaps?

I’ll stick with an injection of smack if it comes down to that.

[Sarah]

It only took one small change to turn him into Ace, we could be seeing a whole new kind of Rimmer next time.

[Reece]

It only took one small change to turn him into Ace, we could be seeing a whole new kind of Rimmer next time.

But that was at a crucial point of his life. He was a kid at school.

Now he’s a miserable old git; I don’t think he’s going to change.

[Danny Stephenson]

Rimmer will always be Rimmer, his dad is not who he thought he was, but Rimmer grew up not aware of that and that’s shaped his character, the way he functions, the way he will address a problem, he will still have the anal-retentiveness he always had, he will still want the drive to succeed to make his father proud regardless of who that is, that’s how he is, he will always be like that.

‘He’ count: 9
Sentence Count: 1 (so far)

[Reece]

‘He’ count: 9
Sentence Count: 1 (so far)

Tiny Teaser: Anal

[unclerubbish]

I would have rimmer somehow receive a further message from his “father” who would then explain he was wrong and Howard was actually the Gardeners son and not Arnold.

[Author]

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