"The Inquisitor" is the second episode of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Red Dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

'' Series V and the twenty sixth in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

on 27 February 1992. It was written by

Rob Grant Robert Grant is an English comedy writer, television producer and co-creator of the ''Red Dwarf'' comedy franchise. Since ''Red Dwarf'', Grant has written two television series, ''The Strangerers'' and ''Dark Ages (TV series), Dark Ages'', and ...

and

Doug Naylor Douglas Rodger Naylor (born 31 December 1955) is an English comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer. Life and career Naylor was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, and studied at Chetham's School of Music ...

, and directed by

Juliet May Juliet May is a British television director. She has directed television shows such as ''Dalziel and Pascoe (TV series), Dalziel and Pascoe'', ''Hope and Glory (TV series), Hope and Glory'', ''New Tricks'' and ''Miranda (TV series), Miranda''. ...

and Grant Naylor. The episode's plot deals with a

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

ling simulant who visits ''Red Dwarf'' to assess if they are worthy of their existence.

Plot

Arnold Rimmer Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character and one of the main characters of the science fiction sitcom ''Red Dwarf'', played by Chris Barrie. Rimmer is a second-class technician and the de facto leader of the mining ship ''Red Dwarf''. Portray ...

Dave Lister David Lister, commonly referred to simply as Lister, is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy ''Red Dwarf'', portrayed by Craig Charles. Lister is characterised as a third-class technician (the lowest ranking ...

Kryten Kryten is a fictional character in the British science fiction situation comedy ''Red Dwarf''. The name ''Kryten'' is a reference to the head butler in the J.M. Barrie play ''The Admirable Crichton''. Originally referred to as a Series III mec ...

and

Cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

find a trip out on a ''Starbug'' cut short when they are returned to ''Red Dwarf''. The group discover it to be the work of The Inquisitor – a self-repairing simulant who survived until the end of time, concluded that, as there was no God, the only point of existence was to lead a worthwhile life and is now time-travelling throughout history to judge all, removing from existence all he has judged unworthy of existence and replacing with others who could have been conceived in their places. Each member of the group finds themselves judged by the Inquisitor through a copy of themselves, the only means of judgement that the Inquisitor deemed to be fair. While Rimmer and Cat are spared with their arguments and own low standards for their own lives, Kryten and Lister find that they have been judged to be unworthy as a result of their mechanoid programming and lack of motivation. Both find themselves removed from the time-stream. Before they are erased, a future version of Kryten arrives and amputates the Inquisitor's left hand that holds a time-manipulating gauntlet, passing it to both before he is killed, and leaving them with a cryptic clue to operating it. Escaping from the simulant, the pair seek out their friends, but find they no longer recognise them since being removed from history. Lister attempts to convince Rimmer that he and Kryten know him and the Cat (and not to eject them from the airlock) by citing a number of embarrassing personal details about him. They also meet their un-conceived equivalents. The Inquisitor soon catches up with the pair and attempts to destroy them but inadvertently kills their replacements, allowing them to escape again partly by Lister's use of his equivalent's severed hand to open locked doors. Kryten soon works out how to use the gauntlet from the clue they received, using it to age away their restraints. Rimmer and Cat, now convinced that Lister and Kryten are friends rather than foes, are destroyed upon confronting the Inquisitor. Kryten uses the gauntlet to freeze the simulant in place. To keep the timeline coherent, Kryten uses it to go back in time and avoid a paradox. Meanwhile, Lister uses the Inquisitor's other time gauntlet to put the simulant in danger in order to bargain for his life being spared by saving his life, only for the Inquisitor to declare that he can erase him to prevent himself being endangered. Upon doing so, his gauntlet backfires, not knowing Lister had Kryten reprogramme it, causing the Inquisitor to be erased from existence, while restoring everyone and history to its original state.

Production

"The Inquisitor", which was the second episode to be filmed,Series V Preview, Red Dwarf Smegazine, issue 1, March 1992, Fleetway Editions Ltd, 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.Grant and Naylor Look Back, Red Dwarf Smegazine, issue 11, January 1993, Fleetway Editions Ltd, With the show returning to Stage G for filming, new director Juliet May decided to shoot " Demons & 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. Jack Docherty played The Inquisitor, James Cormack played Thomas Allman and Jake Abraham played the alternative Lister.

Cultural references

*At the start of the episode, Kryten observes that Lister is reading a comic-book version of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

: "The epic tale of

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of C ...

's pursuit of

Helen of Troy Helen (), also known as Helen of Troy, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda (mythology), ...

." In fact, although the

Trojan horse In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse () was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer, Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending ...

is referred to in the ''Aeneid'', the work as a whole is not about Agamemnon or Helen (who both feature more prominently in

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

''). *Kryten and Lister chained together and on the run references ''

The Defiant Ones ''The Defiant Ones'' is a 1958 American drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer. The film was adapted by Harold Jacob Smith from the story by Nedrick Young, originally credited as Nathan E. Douglas. It stars Tony Curtis and Sidney ...

''. *In a heat of Series 2 of

Robot Wars Robot Wars may refer to: Film and television * ''Robot Wars'' (film), 1993 ** ''Robot Wars'' (soundtrack) * ''Robot Wars'' (TV series), a British TV competition, 1998–2004 and 2016–2018 ** '' Nickelodeon Robot Wars'', a U.S. TV game show ...

(which Craig later hosted after the end of BBC produced Red Dwarf) a robot called 'Inquisitor' competed. When the people who made the bot met Craig on the podium, Craig asked: "Where does the name come from?" and the roboteer replied "Red Dwarf". Craig responded "Never heard of it!".

Reception

The episode was originally broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 27 February 1992 in the 9:00p.m. time slot, and received a mixed reaction from viewers.Red Dwarf Smegazine: Survey Results, issue 10, December 1992, Fleetway Editions Ltd, Although the episode was viewed by over 5 million viewers, the episode has been regarded as very Sci-Fi, and some people found the ending of the episode confusing, and the time travel aspect had added to the confusion.Grant and Naylor Look Back, Red Dwarf Smegazine, issue 11, January 1993, Fleetway Editions Ltd,

References

External links