| “ | We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Apart from pain. And maybe humiliation and obviously death. And failure. But apart from fear, pain and humiliation, failure and the unknown and death we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Who’s with me? | „ |
| ~ Rimmer musters his best speech prior to dealing with the Simulant Generals |
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSc., SSc. (Bronze Swimming Certificate, Silver Swimming Certificate) is the deuteragonist of the British science-fiction sitcom, Red Dwarf.
Previously Second Technician aboard the Jupiter Mining Corporation (JMC) tramp steamer Red Dwarf, he as well as the ship's entire crew were killed when Rimmer ineffiecently repaired a drive plate causing a Cadium II radiation leak.
Three million years later, Rimmer is resurrected as the ship's hologram by Holly to keep sane Rimmer's former roomate and the sole survivor of the crew Dave Lister.
Neurotic, charmless, cowardly, petty, career-minded yet underachieving, Rimmer oftentimes can serve as an antagonist of sorts to his fellow crew. However, there have been moments where Rimmer has displayed acts of courage, compassion, concern for his friends, and heroism.
Rimmer's heroic side is emboided in his alternate dimension persona, Ace Rimmer, a swashbuckling charismatic space-adventurer who only drifted from Rimmer's timeline by being leftback in school, learning humility as a result.
He was portrayed and voiced by Chris Barrie.
Good Deeds/Heroic Acts (Television Show)[]
- In Confidence and Paranoia, Rimmer correctly identifies Confidence as a side-effect of Lister's illness and tries to heal Lister of his pneumonia using the Medicomp, however Rimmer discovers it is destroyed. When Rimmer confronted Lister about this, he correctly accussed Confidence of breaking-it as well as putting the disappearence of Paranoia on him as well. It turns out Confidence did indeed smash up the Medicomp and murdered Paranoia, luckily Confidence killed himself in an act of pride before he could get Lister's helmet off outside the ship.
- In Timeslides, after Lister changes history and makes himself the inventor of the Tension Sheet, causing Cat and his race to have never existed and Kryten to never have been rescued, Rimmer goes back to try and convince the now-wealthy Lister who he is. After that futile attempt, Rimmer visits his youngself and tells him to patent the Tension Sheet, accidentally resetting history to a status que due to Thickie Holden overhearing this and becoming the inventor of the Tension Sheet again. Lister, Kryten, and Cat are back on the ship; however, Rimmer is once again alive due to the changes he made to the timeline, however he accidentally blows himself up a few minutes later.
- In The Last Day, Rimmer gifts Kryten the drained nasal fluids of General George S. Patton, which he was once offered $£1,000 dollarpounds for, in celebration of Kryten's last day before his replacement, Hudzen-10, would arrive to terminate Kryten. The next day, Rimmer teams up with the other crew to go against Hudzen-10 in defense of Kryten, however, Hudzen-10 proves more powerful than expected and its up to Kryten to ultimately defeat Hudzen-10.
- In Holoship, after Rimmer discovers Nirvanah Crane sacrficied her hologrammatic existence so Rimmer could become a member of the Enlightenment, Rimmer himself resigns from his position so Crane could be reinstated.
- In Gunmen of the Apocalypse, Rimmer joins Lister and Cat in entering Kryten's wild west dream to help assist Kryten in defeating the Apocalypse Boys. Rimmer gains the fist-fighting expertise of AR video game character Dangerous Dan McGrew and knocks out several attacking saloon patrons. Later, Rimmer attempts to fight War, however he as well as Lister and Cat have lost their AR video game powers and as a result have to logoff as to not be killed by the superiorly equiped Apocalypse Boys. Kryten manages to finish his antidote, however, and defeats the Apocalypse Boys.
- In Emohawk: Polymorph II, after Rimmer is drained of his bitterness by the Emohawk, Rimmer is transformed into his heroic counterpart, Ace Rimmer. Rimmer contacts Lister and Kryten to inform them of his plan to kill the Emohawk by sucking it out into deep space, which would kill himself and Cat (drained of his cool, becoming Duane Dibbley), with Rimmer planning to snap Duane's neck prior to executing the plan so he wouldn't suffer. However, Lister and Kryten prevent Rimmer from carrying it out, so they all head out to hunt down the Emohawk instead. Later, the Emohawk becomes a gernade and throws itself next to the crew, however, Rimmer jumps onto the gernade and takes the blast, sheilding the crew. They successfully freeze the Emohawk using liquid dilithium, with Rimmer requesting at least 24 hours before he is given his bitterness back.
- In Out of Time, when the crew are boarded by their future selves so they could copy components from the present-day crew's time drive, the present-day crew are informed of the future crew's exploits, dining with some of history's worst, from the Hapsburgs to the Hitlers. Disgusted, the present-day crew deny their future selves access to their time drive and boot them off back to their Starbug. The present-day crew are later threatened by their future selves, who demand access to their time drive or they will open fire. Rimmer says they must fight their future selves, shocking his crewmates as Rimmer declares, "Better Dead than Smeg." Lister, Cat, and Kryten agree as the present-day crew engage fire on the future crew. However, the future crew wield far superior technology and weaponry and easily kill the Dwarfers one-by-one, beginning with Lister, Cat, and finally Kryten; leaving only Rimmer alive. Rimmer equips a bazookoid and sprints towards the time drive as Starbug falls apart, there Rimmer opens fire as Starbug is blasted into smithereens by the future crew.
- In Stoke Me a Clipper, the crew are again visited by Ace Rimmer, however this time a different incarnation. Ace reveals to Rimmer that his lightbee has been severely-damaged, he will not have long to live and so requests Rimmer take up the mantle as the next Ace Rimmer. Rimmer refuses at first, however after Ace gets Lister to mock the very idea of Rimmer becoming Ace, Rimmer is determined to prove him wrong. Rimmer is trained by Ace, however Rimmer has difficulty grasping it during the training sessions. While walking down Starbug's corridors, a medieval knight from one of Lister's virtual reality games confronts Rimmer, now decked in Ace Rimmer's signature clothing. The knight chases Rimmer, swinging at him before Rimmer equips a mini-bazookoid and fires upon the knight, knocking him down. Rimmer is overjoyed and dashes to tell Ace about his accomplishment, unbeknownst to Rimmer, the mini-bazookoid was loaded with blanks by Lister, who is revealed to have been disguised as the knight, getting back up, having staged the confrontation to ignite Rimmer's bravery. Ace is proud of Rimmer, and hands off the Ace wig for Rimmer to wear, telling Rimmer to say Ace's lightbee was Rimmer's, and that the knight had killed him so Rimmer can take his leave as Ace. Cat and Kryten believe him, with Lister knowing the truth and keeping it a secret. A funeral is held for "Rimmer", and his lightbee put into a casket that is shot off to join a thousand other caskets that circle a planet. Rimmer stands by his promise and sets off into Ace's Wildfire to protect the universe, saying his goodbyes to the crew.
- In The Beginning, Red Dwarf is bombarded by three Simulant Annihilators after tracking down Hogey the Roguey, who has stolen their cloth map that outlines the entire contents of the galaxy and boarded Red Dwarf. The Simulant Generals lose interest in retrieving their cloth map of the galaxy after discovering Lister and his "lieutenants" aka Rimmer, Cat, and Kryten; the Simulants chase after them as the crew speed off in Blue Midget to hide in an asteroid. Lister suggests Rimmer come up with a plan, due to Rimmer's longtime study and knowledge of military history. However, Rimmer discovers they lack any real weapons except Hogey's Molecular Destabilizer, able to allow solid materials to be passed through by other solid materials when fired. Rimmer decides to listen to his father's holo-lamp, intended to be listened to when Rimmer becomes an officer, so as to prove Rimmer does not care what his father thinks and to boost his confidence against the approaching Simulants. His father tells Rimmer he is in fact, not Rimmer's biological father, but instead reveals Rimmer's mom had an affair with the family gardener, Dennis, and that Rimmer does not descend from a prestigious bloodline of royalty and aristocracy. This gives Rimmer the confidence he required, not feeling pressure to live up to his father's expectations anymore. So Rimmer comes up with a plan, however the rest of the crew think it'll fail, which gives Rimmer flashbacks to his time as the unpopular student in his former father's class which angers Rimmer. Rimmer declares that it will work, giving a rousing speech (see quote) to back it up. Lister agrees with Rimmer, as do Cat and Kryten as they fly Blue Midget out of the asteroid and towards the Simulant Death Ship. Rimmer orders that they line up Blue Midget to be surrounded exactly by one ship on each side in order for the plan to work, which they do. The Simulants proceed to fire upon the crew, as Rimmer orders Lister to fire the Molecular Destabilizer, allowing all four walls of Blue Midget to be passed through by the Simulant missiles. Simulant Dominator Zlurth begs for mercy, to which Rimmer ignores. The Simulants are destroyed one-by-one as the crew set course back towards Red Dwarf.
- In Give & Take, the crew board a derelict research facility to salvage its supplies before it is destroyed by an incoming asteroid storm. The crew split up in pairs of two, with Rimmer and Kryten discovering the space station is home to a highly advanced 23rd century Medi-Bot, Asclepius, capable of performing any medical procedure, whether it be physical or pyschological. Rimmer and Kryten enter Asclepius's medical suite and recruit a robot who they think is Asclepius, but is in actuality an automated snack dispenser named Snacky. Meanwhile, Lister and Cat are ambushed by the real Asclepius, who has gone computer senile and confuses Lister and Cat for patients, knocking them out. As the research facility nears the impending asteroid storm; Rimmer, Kryten, and Snacky search for Lister and Cat, discovering them strapped to gurneys being operated on by Asclepius with their kidneys having been removed. Due to believing Snacky is the real Asclepius, they believe the actual Asclepius is a deranged former droid patient. Rimmer, without hesitation, fires upon Asclepius with a bazookoid over Kryten's shoulder, and the deranged droid is knocked down; however in the volley of plasma fire, Lister's and Cat's kidneys are destroyed. Now dangerously close to the asteroid storm, Rimmer orders Kryten to help him carry Lister and Cat out of the research facility and back to Starbug. With only seconds to spare, the crew alongside Snacky escape the research facility before it is completey destroyed by a horde of asteroids.
- In the Red Dwarf TV movie The Promised Land, Rimmer becomes the superhero known as "The Mighty Light" and uses a laser pointer to defeat the evil Feral Cats by making them attack their leader, causing their ship to crash. He then sacrifices his powers to charge up Kryten's battery and revive him, albeit not without complaint, leading him to become the Cat People's new god.
Good Deeds/Heroic Acts (Novels)[]
- In Better Than Life, following a near-fatal encounter with a polymorph, culminating in the polymorph being obliterated by heat-seeking bazookoid fire; an elderly Lister suffers a heart-attack and dies. Rimmer, Kryten, and Cat use coordinates provided by the high IQ Holly to the location of a backwards reality Earth; planting the remains of Lister and Kochanski and writing Lister a letter, telling him to arrive at Niagra Falls when he has reverted to the age of 25. Lister returns to his new home to find Kochanski, who has also been resurrected.
- In Last Human, Rimmer comes up with a plan to use the newly-discovered luck virus to accurately come-up with the coordinates pin-pointing Lister's location; it works and they are able to rendezvous with Lister and his group on the GELF terraforming planet. When they arrive, Rimmer is informed he has a son, Michael McGruder, who was born from Rimmer's weekend-long relationship with Yvonne McGruder; McGruder left Red Dwarf and only then learned she was pregnant, but the radiation leak had already taken place and Rimmer along with the rest of the crew had were already dead. So McGruder raised Michael under the false tale that his father was a brave, heroic space adventurer; this inspired Michael greatly and he went on to become a successful space marine and accepted a dangerous mission for the President, just so he may have a chance to meet his father. Rimmer confesses he is not what Michael's mom told him he was; telling Michael he should instead look to his mother as his hero and not him. Michael is distraught and crushed, and when Rimmer gets the chance to save-the-day when Michael is taken hostage by Lister's Other Self; he chokes and fails. Lister's Other Self imprisons Rimmer with Kryten and heads-off towards Lister and Kochanski; taking Michael alongside him by a choke-chain. Kryten helps Rimmer escape pushing his lightbee through a pipe in a risky breakout. Rimmer equips a jet-powered paint-stripper; meanwhile Lister's Other Self has castrated Lister with his rad pistol and is now putting it to the side of Kochanski's head. Before Lister's Other Self could kill Kochanski - Rimmer, utterly terrified but nevertheless determined, attacks Lister's Other Self; gaining the respect of his son, Lister, and Kochanski. Unfortunately, Lister's Other Self gets a lucky shot and blasts through Rimmer's lightbee, critically injuring him. After Lister's Other Self gets himself killed by the Rage; the crew, carrying Rimmer's damaged lightbee, discover the planet is heading towards the Omni-Zone any minute now, and the Rage is using all its power to block the crew from taking refuge in the planet's caves. Rimmer, not quite dead - orders Kryten to infect him with the Oblivion Virus; once done, Rimmer charges towards the Rage and infects it with the Oblivion Virus, killing it and allowing the victims of its injustice to gain peace. After the planet has passed the Omni-Zone and crew have taken protection within the caves; Kryten, Cat, McGruder and Reketrebn head-off in search of Rimmer's lightbee, so they may give it the antidote for the virus.
Videos[]
Hull - Red Dwarf - BBC
Geronimo - Red Dwarf - BBC
The Return of Ace Rimmer and Duane Dibley - Red Dwarf - BBC
Better Dead than Smeg - Red Dwarf - BBC
Red Dwarf XI - E3 The Escape Dave
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