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Rimmer moves out of Lister's sleeping quarters to live with his counterpart "Rimmer²", whom he tricked Lister into activating in the previous episode, and who after some time even he cannot stand. Eventually one of them has to go. This gives Lister the opportunity to find out why his last words were "gazpacho soup".

Confidence & Paranoia

Lister falls ill after snooping through Kristine Kochanski's quarters, which have not been decontaminated. The pneumonia he contracts is a mutated strain and, while delirious, he has three hallucinations which become solid: fish rain in his sleeping quarters; the Mayor of Warsaw spontaneously combusting; and two guests who materialise in the drive room. These guests are Lister's Confidence, a tall, tanned, flashily-dressed game show host type who calls Lister "the King", and Lister's Paranoia, a pallid little man who greets him with "Isn't that a urine stain on the front of your trousers?".

Although Rimmer warns that the two are symptoms of Lister's disease and therefore dangerous, Lister begins spending a lot of time with his Confidence, who helps him figure out where Rimmer has hidden Kochanski's hologram disk (it's in the solar panels outside their sleeping quarters). Rimmer is proved correct, however, when Confidence murders Paranoia and later tries to persuade Lister to remove his helmet while spacewalking. To prove that "Oxygen is for losers!" Confidence removes his own helmet, then explodes.

Lister, having successfully retrieved the disk, nervously rehearses his first words to Kochanski. When he switches on the program, however, a second Rimmer appears.

Waiting For God

Ok, so Lister lied about passing the chef's exam, but thoughts of a resit are furthest from his mind when Red Dwarf stumbles upon a pod drifting in space, which Rimmer tells Holly to salvage, believing it to be a stasis capsule carrying a dormant member of an alien race. Rimmer even invents a name for this race – Quagaars – and convinces himself that they can give him a new body. After a cursory inspection, Lister discovers that the capsule is actually nothing more than a jettisoned Red Dwarf garbage pod (with the writing partially obscured), but he decides not to tell Rimmer because, as Holly says, "It's a laugh, innit?"

Lister learns more about the Cat people's god, "Cloister the Stupid" who was "frozen in time" to save the Cat race, and informs the openly skeptical Cat "I am your God." Later, the Cat, who is known to go "investigating", goes off on one of his excursions, and Lister follows him, deep into the cargo hold. There Lister discovers an old blind cat priest — the only one of their race left other than Cat — who is dying and proclaims that he has lost his faith, feeling that he has wasted his life following Cloister. The priest takes his hat off, asking Cat to burn it (which Cat puts on his head and lies to him, telling him, "It's burnt"). In his final moments, Lister shows up and convinces the priest that he has led an admirable life and has served Cloister well, and as such will reach 'Fuchal', the Cat equivalent of Heaven. Lister takes the hat back from Cat and puts it back on the priest's head. Convinced by this "miracle", the cat priest joyously exclaims, "This is the happiest day of my—" and dies.

Back in the observation room, the quarantine period is over. Lister opens the pod and pulls out a discarded chicken carcass, which Rimmer proclaims to be the preserved remains of a Quagaar warrior who "must have looked something like a roast chicken..." He then begins to look doubtful; the credits roll; and suddenly the music stops and the picture freezes, as Rimmer yells, "It's a garbage pod! It's a smegging garbage pod!"

Balance Of Power

Lister is fed up of being ordered around by Rimmer, and Rimmer not allowing Lister access to Kochanski's hologram disk. When Lister asks Holly why he had brought Rimmer back as a hologram, the answer was that he was the best person to keep him sane. Lister sits at a table in a room where the crew used to party, and he flashes back to him and his friends who tease Lister about Kochanski. Lister tells Rimmer that he plans to take an exam to be promoted above him. Rimmer is naturally incredulous, as if he couldn't pass the Astronavigation Exam, what chance does Lister have? Turns out that Lister has no intention to pass the Astronavigation Exam, as he plans to take the chef's exam. It's the easiest exam available, but if he passes Lister will be made an officer and can order Rimmer to hand over Kochanski's hologram disk (and Rimmer, who has a strict code of ethics when it comes to obeying superiors, will be forced to comply).

Cat gets a tray of boxes (containing cigarettes, although the Cat merely wants them because they are "shiny things") which Rimmer had hidden from Lister. Rimmer then gives him a deal: if he puts them back he gets all the fish he needs (which Cat equates to five fish). Cat is soon seen eating fish from the food dispenser (he eventually gets overfed and becomes ill). Rimmer enters the room in which Lister is taking the chef's exam, corrupting his image so he looks and sounds like Kochanski. Disguised as Kochanski, Rimmer tries to convince Lister that he is wasting his time because she would never be interested in someone like him. Lister figures out Rimmer's disguise after his un-Kochanski-like (and very Rimmer-like) actions, and Rimmer then tries to convince Lister that he is Kochanski, but is out of sorts at the moment by saying that he is "having a woman's period".

The episode ends with Lister exiting the exam room and Rimmer asking him, "How did you do, Lister?", to which Lister responds, "How did I do, Mr. Lister sir?" — implying that he passed the exam.

Future Echoes

After three million years of constant acceleration the Red Dwarf passes the speed of light. This results in "future echoes", events that will occur in the future than can be seen in the present. Rimmer sees a vision of somebody dying in an accident in the Drive Room, who he believes to be Lister due to a physical resemblance. It turns out to be Lister's second son, Bexley, that Rimmer saw in the accident, which will occur in twenty years or so.

Lister sees his 171-year old future self who then tells him to go to the medical room. There Lister sees himself a little older then he is now, holding two crying twin boys in silver foil. These are Lister's twin sons, Jim and Bexley, and the present Lister takes a Polaroid photograph.

The End

Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer have been assigned to fix the chicken soup machine as it has been on the fritz again. After a successful mission, they meet up with Todhunter, a superior officer, who checks up on Rimmer's constant reports on Lister, then leaves.

Soon, Todhunter arrives at a funeral commemorating the death of MacIntire, whose remains are fired off into space. Everyone is brought to the hall for the "Welcome Back, George MacIntire" service.

Everyone is sitting at tables, Lister with his group of friends, Petersen, Selby and Chen, while Rimmer sits alone. George, Todhunter and Captain Frank Hollister are seated at the desk at the front of the hall, celebrating the return of George as a hologram. The cake is cut and everyone cheers.

Rimmer starts to worry about his upcoming astro-navigation exam and schemes to cheat on it by writing all over his body. He leaves, and it is then that Lister climbs out of his bunk bed and his caring side is shown. He has a cat which is given milk and cared for, and is seemingly pregnant.

At the examination hall, Rimmer prepares to cheat, but the ink on his arm has stained and been smudged. He ends up with ink on his hand, which he then proceeds to put onto the exam paper, sign it, salute, and then faint.

Lister is about to be seen by the Captain, but beforehand he talks to Kristine Kochanski, a navigation officer and love-interest of Dave. Unfortunately the conversation is cut short as the Captain has an urgent discussion. It turns out that Lister's cat, named Frankenstein, has been discovered by accident when he sent the photographs of himself with the cat to be processed in the ship's laboratory. Therefore, he is given an ultimatum: go to stasis for eighteen months and lose his wages, or give up Frankenstein to be cut up and have tests done on it. He chooses the former.

Going to stasis and being guided by Todhunter, he meets with Rimmer, who is on a stretcher after failing his examination. Rimmer is taken away as Todhunter explains the rules of stasis. Then, Lister enters the chamber, and is left, seemingly for the time set.

However, when he comes out, he discovers that no one is around, and is constantly told by Holly, the ship's computer, that everyone is dead. He reaches the navigation area where Rimmer, as a hologram, enters the room. The former crewmember blames Lister for his death, although it was his own fault for failing to fix the drive plate. As the two explore Red Dwarf, a being known as the Cat appears, making himself "look big" to frighten the perceived intruders.

In the quarters, Lister mentions Frankenstein, which sparks a religious statement from Cat, who labels Frankenstein as the "holy mother" with the "virgin birth", who was saved by "Cloister the Stupid" (who himself will return and lead them to "Fuchal"). Lister instinctively figures out that Cloister is himself, and promises to bring the Cat race to Fiji.

Season 1


A radiation leak wipes out the crew of the mining ship Red Dwarf leaving one survivor - chicken soup machine repairman Dave Lister. After three million years in suspended animation, Lister emerges to find he is the last human being in the universe. But he is not alone.

Episodes:

On the DVD: (Buy the DVDs)
  • Cast Commentary
  • Writer & Director Commentary - Episode 1
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Smeg Ups
  • Original Trailer
  • "Launching Red Dwarf" Documentary
  • "Drunk" Featurette
  • Japanese Version of "The End'
  • Raw FX Footage
  • Isolated Music Cues
  • Talking Book Chapters
  • Photo Gallery
  • Weblink
  • PLUS Hidden Easter Eggs
  • And Collector's Booklet
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