Goal Post Head, Alphabet Head, Smeg Head, Trans-Am Wheel-arch Nostrils, Grand Canyon Nostrils, Bonehead, Captain Bollocks, Ace-hole
Species
Human / Hologram
Gender
Male
Occupation
Technician, Second Class (series), Technician, First Class (books)
Family
Lecturer Rimmer (stepfather) John Rimmer (half-brother) Frank Rimmer (half-brother) Howard Rimmer (half-brother)[note 1]
Relatives
Dungo the Gardener (biological father) Michael McGruder (son; Last Human continuity only)
Arnold Judas Rimmer[1] is a fictional character in the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, played by Chris Barrie. Rimmer is characterised as a second-class technician (first-class technician in the novels) and de facto leader of the mining ship Red Dwarf. Portrayed as snobbish, pedantic, and self-centred, Rimmer is unpopular with his crewmates and is often the target of insults and general ridicule.
After he is killed by a radiation leak during an ellipsis in the series' first episode "The End" (1988) Rimmer is present for most of the series as a computer-generated hologram, indicated by the 'H' symbol on his forehead. From series I-V, Rimmer is intangible as a hologram and unable to interact with his environment, referred to in-universe as 'soft-light'. Come the series VI episode "Legion" (1993), Rimmer's Light Bee is upgraded by the titular character to a 'hard-light' hologram where he is now able to interact with his surroundings as well as being essentially indestructible, yet still able to feel pain. Following the character's departure in the series VII episode "Stoke Me a Clipper" (1997), Rimmer is absent from the show until series VIII, where a flesh and blood version of Rimmer is shown having been resurrected by nanobots with no memory of the hologrammatic Rimmer's experiences and only those of Rimmer prior to the radiation leak in the first episode (likely from when he had his personality-disk last updated before his death). Following a ten-year hiatus after series VIII, the character reappeared as the original hologram Rimmer in the miniseries Back to Earth (2009) onward. Doug Naylor confirmed in 2020 that the Rimmer from Back To Earth onwards is the original Rimmer having returned from his time being Ace Rimmer. Why he returned or what happened to the resurrected version of Rimmer from series eight has not been revealed yet. For a brief time in the feature-length special Red Dwarf The Promised Land, Rimmer is temporarily upgraded to Diamond Light, a combination of both soft and hard light.
The creators of the series acknowledge that Rimmer's surname comes from a snobby prefect with whom they attended school. They joke that only the boy's name was used, and not his personality because that would imply he had one.[4]
^ abGrant, Rob; Naylor, Doug (writers); Bye, Ed (director) (13 September 1988). "Better Than Life". Red Dwarf. Series II. Episode 2. BBC. BBC2.
^Grant, Rob; Naylor, Doug (writers); Bye, Ed (director) (28 November 1989). "Polymorph". Red Dwarf. Series III. Episode 3. BBC. BBC2.
^Naylor, Doug (writer/director) (8 November 2012). "The Beginning". Red Dwarf. Series X. Episode 6. Dave.
^Nazzaro, Joe (1994). The Making of Red Dwarf. Penguin Books.
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).
Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character in the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, played by Chris Barrie. Rimmer is characterised as a second-class...
Season XIII is officially titled "The Promised Land". Arnold "Ace" Rimmer is an alter-ego of ArnoldRimmer, also played by Chris Barrie. Ace first appears in...
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003). Barrie starred as ArnoldRimmer in 13 series of the sci-fi space comedy Red Dwarf between 1988 and 2020...
Rimmer is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Anne Rimmer (born 1947), New Zealand conservationist and writer Eve Rimmer (1937–1996), New...
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Rimmer. In series VIII the entire crew of the Red Dwarf ship—including a pre-accident Rimmer—are resurrected, but the Starbug crew, along with Rimmer...
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British cult sci-fi television show Red Dwarf, playing the part of ArnoldRimmer; however, the show was not picked up as a series. During the mid-1990s...
(and eventual murderer) Kenneth Halliwell. He was originally cast as ArnoldRimmer in the TV sitcom Red Dwarf, but was replaced by Chris Barrie. In the...
with the hologram ArnoldRimmer (Chris Barrie) as his new master. Dave Lister (Craig Charles) persuades Kryten to rebel against Rimmer (which includes showing...
was playing Brittas, he was also playing his other well-known role of ArnoldRimmer in Red Dwarf. Both characters had similar personality flaws (although...
Red Dwarf in 1999 as the voice of a vending machine that threatens ArnoldRimmer in the final episode of the series' initial BBC2 run, "Only the Good...
type of depiction include the hologram of Princess Leia in Star Wars, ArnoldRimmer from Red Dwarf, who was later converted to "hard light" to make him...
Klondike Casanova. Gunmen of the Apocalypse, episode of Red Dwarf in which ArnoldRimmer plays Dangerous Dan McGrew in an "artificial reality" video game Service...
type of depiction include the hologram of Princess Leia in Star Wars, ArnoldRimmer from Red Dwarf, who was later converted to "hard light" to make him...