| "The Inquisitor" | |
|---|---|
| Red Dwarf episode | |
The Inquisitor visits Red Dwarf to assess if they are worthy of their existence |
|
| Episode no. | Series 5 Episode 2 |
| Directed by | Juliet May, Rob Grant & Doug Naylor |
| Written by | Grant Naylor |
| Original air date | February 27, 1992 |
| Guest stars | |
|
John Docherty |
|
| Series 5 episodes | |
|
|
| List of all Red Dwarf episodes | |
"The Inquisitor" is the second episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series V[1] and the twenty sixth in the series run.[2] It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 27 February 1992.[3] Written by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor, and directed by Juliet May & Grant Naylor.[4] The episode's plot deals with a time travelling simulant who visits Red Dwarf to assess if they are worthy of their existence.
Contents |
Starbug is taken under control by a being called The Inquisitor and returned to Red Dwarf. The Inquisitor is a self-repairing simulant who survived until the end of time and, coming to the conclusion that there is no God and no afterlife, decided that the only point of life was to live a worthwhile life. He is on a journey through time, seeking out the worthless and erasing them from existence, allowing a different person to exist in their place — the person who would have been conceived.
Each crew member comes up for judgment, with the Inquisitor morphing into each crewmember during their respective trial, meaning that they are actually being judged by themselves (which the Inquisitor claims is "the only fair way"). Rimmer pleads mitigating circumstances, arguing that his background meant that he had no chance from the beginning and that for him, 'nothing is up'; the Cat cites his beauty; Kryten questions the Inquisitor's authority; Lister tells him to "spin on it". Rimmer and the Cat are excused on the grounds that their own low standards mean that they couldn't possibly have done better, but Kryten and Lister are not so lucky: they both had the potential to make something of themselves but failed to do so. The Inquisitor decides they'll have to go, but with a bit of help from Kryten's future self he and Lister manage to escape before their physical forms are deleted.
The Inquisitor, however, has altered the time-lines and created replacements for the two escapees. Now the two fugitives not only have a very irritated simulant to contend with but they get a hostile reception from their old shipmates who no longer recognise them. Not all is lost, however, and with the Inquisitor's stolen "time gauntlet" and a secret password from Kryten's future incarnation ('enig'), Lister manages to save the day. Using 'enig' to deduce that the glove operates on an enigma code, Kryten—based on a suggestion from Lister—is able to reprogram the gauntlet to backfire after tricking the Inquisitor into using it, thus erasing him from existence and undoing all his work.
"The Inquisitor", which was the second episode to be filmed,[5] was considered by Grant and Naylor to lead the series, but as it was heavily science fiction influenced the casual viewer friendly Holoship was chosen to go out first instead.[6]
With the show returning to Stage G for filming, new director Juliet May decided to shoot "Demons and Angels" first over "The Inquisitor". "Holoship" had been put back in the filming schedule because of guest star availability and "The Inquisitor" was passed on by the new director as she was still trying to make sense of the script.[7]
Jack Docherty played The Inquisitor, James Cormack played Thomas Allman and Jake Abraham played the alternate Lister.[4]
The episode was originally broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 27 February 1992 in the 9:00pm evening time slot,[3] and received a mixed reaction from viewers.[9] Although the episode was viewed by over 5 million viewers,[10] the episode has been regarded as very Sci-Fi,[11] and some people found the ending of the episode confusing, and the time travel aspect had added to the confusion.[6]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||