Talk:Arnold Rimmer

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Rimmer shouldn't be under Fictional English People. The only mention of where he's from on the show is that he went to Io House for school, and the books have him being from Io. So not English, just somewhere with a remarkably similar accent.

76.189.99.150 07:36, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

This has links to a heading on Ace Rimmer, but no such heading. I was going to remove it, but if those who developed this article could make it, that would be wonderful content. Good job on the page, incidentally.

Seems to be left over from when it was part of the Red Dwarf characters page. Fixed. -asciic 08:48, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Name

An anonymous contributor changed the following text:

Arnold Judas Rimmer BSc, SSc (Bronze Swimming Certificate, Silver Swimming Certificate), who sometimes goes by Arnold Jonathan Rimmer is played by Chris Barrie in the television series Red Dwarf. He is instantly recognisable by both the permanent sneer on his lips and the "H" (hologram) symbol on his forehead.

To read:

...who sometimes goes by Arnold Judas Rimmer...

Does anybody have a citation for his not being sometimes known as Arnold Jonathan Rimmer.

In episode "Justice" (3rd of 4th season) Kryten presents him at court as Arnold Judas Rimmer. There is canned laughter when he speaks the "Judas" part. I suspect that Kryten is playing here on the self loathing, suicidal personality of Rimmer (which is what gets him to prison in the penal colony on the first place); it is not his actual name, else there would have been no canned laughter either; we are to regard it as an in-context joke. Furthermore, Rimmer seems to disaprove of the name. Lucius Domitius 19:53, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

The Grim Reaper calls him Arnold Judas Rimmer in the last episode of the series, but he seems to do so in a rather matter of fact way; well, Red Dwarf is not about consistency, really. Lucius Domitius 23:58, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

In The Inquisitor, Lister tries to persuade Rimmer that he (Lister) knows him (Rimmer) by saying something like "Your middle name's Judas, but you tell everyone it's Jonathan". He is referred to as "Arnold J. Rimmer" all the time. So it's definitely his middle name, although he does disapprove of it (he disapproves of most of what his parents did to him, his name being no exception). Mendor 00:00, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
Interesting remark; but the fact is that "Justice" predates the "Inquisitor" and is still the first mention of the name "Judas", as a joke according to all evidence. The idea might have occured to the creators to make it into Rimmer's real name after the "Justice" episode. Lucius Domitius 13:37, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
The Series II episode "Better Than Life" predates both of these, where the Taxman clarifies his full name, a character created by Rimmer's twisted subconscious. Andymarczak 11:42, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Rimmer Experience

I was redirected here from The Rimmer Experience. This article has one sentence which almost discusses the experience section of the episode, but doesn't tell us anything about the experience. The page that was at "The Rimmer Experience" before it was deleted, has a large amount of, (if not usefull then interesting), information about this section of the episode. Is there any way of getting this page "undeleted", or at least merged into this page? JP Godfrey 21:52, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Have a read. Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Rimmer Experience --Billpg 20:49, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
I have. There was one vote for "Delete", one for "Keep or Merge" and four for "Merge" but in the end it was re-directed with "no content untrivial enough to be worth merging", so I have added it to the bottom of this article. (It could probably use some re-writing and finding a better place for it in the article though.) JP Godfrey 22:19, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Drive Plates

Consequently, in Series 4 episode 3, "Justice", the story is rewritten on the fly and it is revealed that Rimmer's sense of responsibility for the disaster is due to his zealous egomania and that he could not possibly have been responsible for the the accident.

I don't think it was part of a rewrite.... I figured that Rimmer DID feel guilt about the accident because he WAS responsible, but Kryten was instead twisting the facts just to get Rimmer off the hook. I mean later in the episode Rimmer DID point out how Kryten twisted the facts in order to win... - Nick15

I thought, the whole point of that joke is that Kryten didn't have to "spin" anything to get Rimmer off. He was telling the truth. Just shows how useless Rimmer was, (Before he became a hologram). However, there was a flash-back when we saw Captain Hollister yelling at Rimmer, saying that it was his job to mend the drive plates. Not sure which ep. it came from, but it might have been "Stasis Leak" from series 2. JP Godfrey 11:24, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
I think I can be geeky enough to say that you are thinking of the flashback in Me squared. Andymarczak 08:43, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

There was also a scene in "Back in the Red" where the resurrected Rimmer goes thorugh the crew files and warns about how if some "total idiot" repaired the drive plate incorrectly, he could wipe out the crew.

76.189.99.150 07:36, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

This sounds like yet another case of the writers not actually caring about whether or not something alters continuity, leaving ambiguity as to whether or not it even does. In the books Rimmer clearly isn't responsible and as that's where the first mention of "Z-Shift" appears it's possible Grant Naylor were thinking of this. But in "Justice" Rimmer's initial reaction to it being pointed out he was responsible is "Oh that!" not "I didn't do it!", and there's also his later comments about Krten twisting the facts, suggesting that at the very least he consciously believes he mucked up, not that he was in overall responsibility.
Plus arguably Kryten's case is a very misleading portrayal of Rimmer's personality. Rimmer spends his entire life and death blaming others for his misfortunes (indeed in "The End" he blames the accident on Lister for getting sent to stasis and not being there to help him repair the drive plate) and feeling responsible for something he had no hand in at all would sit very oddly with this. Yes his subconscious contains a great deal of self-loathing and there could be an element of that in the guilt in his subconscious, but surely that would be directed at his lack of importance (and the self-inflicted nature of his lack of importance) - guilt that he wasn't in a position to prevent it or be responsible - rather than the over inflated sense of self-importance that Kryten talks about. Rimmer's self-importance has always based on what he thinks he can be (or would be if he'd had the breaks others got and the right parents and the right nobby background and the right room mate and knowledge that gazpacho soup is served cold etc...) and what meagre pieces he can scrape from what he is (e.g. the highest ranking remaining crewmember or even the importance that vending machines dispense the right products so that the crew are content) not on being responsible for errors. Timrollpickering 03:15, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
  • I just always thought that Kryten was proving that it was not Arnold's fault because he should of not been put into a position to do that sort of work in the first place. With everyone on board knowing what he was like. Thus making it the Captains responsibility. --MattyC3350 (talk) 05:12, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Tidy up

I've tidied up the page a bit and tried to put everything into a more logical and lucid structure, as previously it was going from his life to his personality to his death and then back again. I also removed the section about 'The Rimmer Experience', since it seemed unnecessary to devote so much space to a single joke about the character (and I'm not sure, but I don't think we're allowed to provide entire song-lyric quotes on Wikipedia, as was the case) when it could be summed up in a single sentence or paragraph - nevertheless, I've retained the text and provided it here, and am willing to be convinced that it could be important. Any comments are welcome.--Joseph Q Publique 15:07, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "The Rimmer Experience" Text

Provided here for the sake of discussion. I'm not convinced we need this, but am open to being persuaded.--Joseph Q Publique 15:07, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

The Rimmer Experience is a sequence from an episode in the seventh series Blue. It is a virtual reality journey through Arnold Rimmer's distorted mind, written by Kryten with the aid of Rimmer's diaries, to remind Dave Lister of why he loathed Arnold Rimmer so much.
Template:Spoiler
The Rimmer Experience is akin to a roller-coaster ride. The participants (Lister, Kryten, Kochanski and the Cat) are taken in a small car along a track, while viewing video and audio simulations made by Kryten based on Rimmer's diaries. Kryten suggests that they ride the Experience when Lister reveals that he is beginning to miss Rimmer (who has left to become Ace Rimmer.) The purpose of the Experience is to snap Lister out of his false, nostalgic memories of Rimmer and remind him of Rimmer's true nature.
The Experience begins by travelling through a large pair of fairground-style windows. A huge Rimmer head speaks to the four viewers about the heroism in the events that follow, and the remarkable nature of the man (himself) featured in them.
This is followed by a simulation of the Starbug cockpit, in which Rimmer corrects Kryten about the nature of asteroid belts, and Lister and the Cat tremble in fear. The second simulation is of Rimmer giving the Cat fashion tips, followed by Lister saying that he owes his life to Rimmer.
The Experience culminates in what is popularly known as the Rimmer Munchkin Song. This is sung by a chorus of Arnold Rimmer puppets, which also perform a marching dance at the same time. The puppets, or Munchkins as they are popularly known (after the singing Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz), wear uniforms identical to Rimmer's in red, blue and green.
They are accompanied by a choir chorus of marching Rimmers, a xylophone and an unidentified brass instrument. The song lyrics are as follows:
If you're in trouble he will save the day
He's brave and he's fearless come what may
Without him the mission would go astray
He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer
Without him life would be much grimmer
He's handsome, trim, and no-one slimmer
He will never need a zimmer
He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer
More reliable than a garden trimmer
He's never been mistaken for Yul Brynner
He's not bald, and his head doesn't glimmer
Master of the wit and the repartee
His command of space directives is uncanny
How come he's such a genius? Don't ask me!
Ask Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer
He's also a fantastic swimmer
And if you play your cards right
Then he just might come round for dinner''
By the end of The Experience, Lister is so fed up he declares "I never want to see or hear from that scum-sucking, lying, weasel-minded smeghead, in my entire life." Kryten replies "Sigmund Freud, eat your heart out."

[edit] His middle name

Was in it Judas? In episodes Only the Good...--Brown Shoes22 03:58, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rimmers sexual exploits

In the article it states that rimmer has only had sex with one woman (Yvonne Mcgruder) but in "Holoship" (series V)its shown (or at least heavily implied) that he had sex with Nirvanah Crane(the exact quote is something along the lines of "You make love like a chinese meal...")I'm not the best at editing articles and I didn't want to make such a huge change...so could someone whose more capable make the edit or explain to me why its not credited? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Agent452 (talk • contribs) 21:37, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes but Nirvanah only came along after he was dead so isn't relevant to his life. Timrollpickering 22:39, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Who sometimes goes by Arnold Jonathan Rimmer"

I am a great fan of this show and A. J. Rimmer is my favourite character. Having say this I cannot remember a time in the series that he is refered to as "Arnold Jonathan Rimmer" All I can remember is him being called "Arnold J Rimmer, Arnold Judas Rimmer, A J Rimmer, or Smeghead. Maybe it should go, "Who sometimes goes by Smeg head, Smeg for Brains, Goalpost Head, Flared Nostrils.. ext" MattyC3350 (talk) 07:12, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Lister made a comment in "The Inquisitor" that Rimmer implies to people that his middle name is Jonathan. It's a one-off comment, hardly notable and shouldn't be mentioned. Nreive (talk) 08:40, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for that :) I remember that one instance now. I agree I dont think it is really notable. Thanks :) MattyC3350 (talk) 10:16, 13 May 2008 (UTC)