Unintended recurring themes in episodes/series

[Bargain Bin Holly]

The End would also be a Lister-centric episode, since he’s the POV for almost the entire episode.

I think its more interesting to see that most episodes are either focused on Lister, Rimmer, and Kryten or are ensemble episodes of the three including Cat; very rarely is it not this.

Holly-centric episodes
– Queeg
– White Hole (A stretch but she by herself is a major part of the plot)

Cat-centric episodes
– Waiting for God (A stretch but his species at least is a major part of the plot)
– Can of Worms

Lister-centric episodes
– The End
– Confidence and Paranoia
– Ouroboros
– Epideme
– Nanarchy
– Back to Earth Part III (Possible to argue the entire special but III is the best example)
– Fathers and Suns
– Dear Dave
– M-Corp

Rimmer-centric episodes
– Me²
– Better Than Life
– Justice
– Dimension Jump
– Meltdown (Possible to argue otherwise but the plot is partially based around and entirely resolved by Rimmer)
– Holoship
– Terrorform
– Quarantine
– Rimmerworld
– Stoke Me a Clipper
– Only the Good… (Turns into a Rimmer-centric episode by the half-way point)
– Trojan
– The Beginning
– Officer Rimmer
– Skipper

Kryten-centric episodes
– Kryten
– The Last Day
– Camille
– D.N.A. (Possible to argue otherwise but he is a major part of the plot)
– Beyond a Joke
– Krytie TV
– Krysis
– Siliconia

Lister/Rimmer-centric episodes (Where the plot is almost entirely focused on Lister and Rimmer and/or their interactions with each other)
– Balance of Power
– Thanks for the Memory
– Marooned
– Blue
– Pete I & II

Lister/Kryten-centric episodes (Same thing but with Kryten instead of Rimmer)
– The Inquisitor

Ensemble episodes (Where all crew are impacted and the plot doesn’t primarily focus on one character exclusively)
– Future Echoes
– Parallel Universe
– Backwards
– Polymorph
– Timeslides (Though more focus is given to Lister in the first-half and Rimmer in the second-half)
– Demons & Angels
– Back to Reality
– Psirens
– Legion
– Gunmen of the Apocalypse
– Emohawk: Polymorph II
– Out of Time
– Tikka to Ride
– Duct Soup
– Back in the Red I, II, & III
– Cassandra
– Back to Earth Part II (Since it revolves around the crew exploring the “real world”)
– Lemons
– Entangled
– Twentica
– Samsara
– Give & Take
– Cured (Though it can be argued Cat takes a certain precedence in this episode)
– Timewave
– Mechocracy

I need a life

[Warbodog]

Great analysis! But you forgot ‘Bodyswap’ for Lister/Rimmer, so you’ll never live that down.

[bloodteller]

I think Back To Earth is the only one of the Lister episodes that really deals with Lister the way that the Rimmer episodes deal with Rimmer, though. Getting deep into the psychological aspects of the character, their loneliness, insecurities etc.

Confidence and Paranoia does technically also explore the psychological aspect of Lister, but the way the two of them act makes it hard to believe they’re a part of Lister in any way. They just feel kind of generic and not really characters tied specifically to Lister’s mind. And of course you get the stories about Lister’s childhood in Marooned and Duct Soup, but they’re not really the focus of the episodes and don’t really say much about Lister’s state of mind in the present. I think Lister’s character is explored best in the novels, really. You really get an understanding of how he feels there, and it’s done excellently imo

[International Debris]

Lister is a much more grounded character so there’s definitely less to explore – most of the exploration of Rimmer comes from his neuroses in one way or another. There’s definitely a bit of meat to Fathers and Suns though.

[Warbodog]

Red Dwarf as horror movie according to someone/s on TV Tropes. Occasionally stretching and with omissions (no Back to Reality), but good that the novels are covered.

[International Debris]

The wording of this made me laugh a lot

There’s a good reason he’s considered the most evil character in the entire franchise, which is saying something considering that Adolf Hitler is a semi-recurring character.

[bloodteller]

VIII and Days Of The Week

Back In The Red
-“I was hoping for a manicure and a leg wax tomorrow, how about Thursday?”
-“See you on Friday. Incidentally, it’s black tie.”

Cassandra
-“Give me a chance, it’s only Monday!”

Krytie TV
-“It replaced the Wednesday night movie.”
-“I have a date with Miss Patricia Carling from Supplies on Saturday night”

Pete
-“I did, we’re meeting for drinks on Thursday!”

[Warbodog]

It might say more about you, bloodteller, that you interpreted Rimmer’s “insert it in you” as being about Lister’s arse.

Because it follows VI’s similar “fridge-free diet” bit, I always assumed the guitar was going in the mouth.

Pop guitar in mouth. Not up the arse.

Maybe this is another of those Bodyswap / Only the Good cock dilemmas?

[bloodteller]

>Because it follows VI’s similar “fridge-free diet” bit, I always assumed the guitar was going in the mouth.

I thought that bit was about the arse as well…

[bloodteller]

How the fuck did Rimmer wrench a fridge out of the wall and lift it up anyway?

[Warbodog]

https://www.strawpoll.me/17123380/

[Warbodog]

Survey

[Ben Saunders]

I always thought he was talking about shoving them up Lister’s arse, as well. But I never cared for the VIII joke, it felt like retreading old ground.

[clem]

Either or both of those lines might well have been inspired by Basil Fawlty threatening to “insert a large garden gnome in [O’Reilly]”. When he sets off to do so at the end of the episode, it’s pretty clear from the way he’s carrying it and the shape of the gnome’s hat where we’re meant to think he’s gonna shove it.

[Warbodog]

The “neck end” follow-up could go either way. Since it’s VIII, I can see it being more anal fixation, but the idea of Rimmer struggling to turn Lister around and pull down his pants while wrestling for control of the guitar and then referring to this incident later without shame makes it harder to swallow.

[Moonlight]

According to the recently updated VIII section of the Complete Guide on TOS

I’m going to take credit for that, because I made a thread on TOS pointing out the VIII section was still living in 2007.

[bloodteller]

>The “neck end” follow-up could go either way. Since it’s VIII, I can see it being more anal fixation, but the idea of Rimmer struggling to turn Lister around and pull down his pants while wrestling for control of the guitar and then referring to this incident later without shame makes it harder to swallow.

To be fair, there are a lot of off-screen incidents in Red Dwarf it’s hard to imagine the characters actually doing. Although yeah, it is particularly hard to imagine Rimmer trying to shove a guitar up Lister’s arse. Maybe he tried to do it while he was asleep?

[Ben Saunders]

I’m in the boat of thinking he wasn’t talking literally with either “insert it in me” line, but this is an interesting discussion nonetheless

[Warbodog]

Most people think it’s the arse, it seems.

Hopefully we find at least one new thing to discuss about Red Dwarf in 2019 too.

[Warbodog]

Do we ever see Rimmer in a proper explosive rage outside of series 1? That’s the early Rimmer I can imagine lunging at Lister.

“Alphabetti spaghetti” doesn’t have the same force, though it looks like he’s still trying to hold some of it in. The “nooo!” when the mind patch fails in Holoship is pretty weak.

[By Jove its holmes]

For those who loved Round The Twist earlier in this thread, here’s Tamsin West (the first Linda) singing the theme song at age thirty on a TV show. I lusted after her in puberty and I lust after thirty year old Tamsin.

[GlenTokyo]

What about “WILL YOU SHUT UP!” from VIII. Pretty angry there, but not a shove a guitar up your arse angry in my opinion, close though, maybe a ukulele.

[Ben Saunders]

No toast

[Author]

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