History Series / RedDwarf

Lister awakens to the news that EverybodysDeadDave. As he is now the [[LastOfHisKind last living human]], the ship's computer Holly creates him some company, despite his personal preferences, in a hologram of his despised former bunkmate, [[SmallNameBigEgo Second Technician Arnold J. Rimmer]] (Creator/ChrisBarrie) -- on the basis that an ongoing mission to get on Rimmer's nerves in death as well as in life would do most in the long run for Lister's sanity. The pair discover the Cat (Creator/DannyJohnJules), the last known member of ''his'' race ''Felis sapiens'', which evolved from the pregnant cat that got Lister put in suspended animation in the first place. Lister decides that he wants to return to Earth, despite the fact that no-one aboard knows if the human race still exists, and despite the problem that the journey back will take another three million years at sub-lightspeed.[[note]](Even turning the ship around at near lightspeed will take 4000 years according to Lister -- though this is later contradicted by the series 2 episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]", where the ship has already turned and started heading towards Earth. [[MST3KMantra Red Dwarf was never too concerned with continuity]])[[/note]] The final regular member of the cast, Kryten (Creator/RobertLlewellyn [[note]]Played by David Ross in his debut appearance.[/note]]) -- an android the others discover still serving his crew, unaware that they had all died years ago -- appeared as a one-shot character in the second series before becoming a permanent addition in the third.

Lister awakens to the news that EverybodysDeadDave. As he is now the [[LastOfHisKind last living human]], the ship's computer Holly creates him some company, despite his personal preferences, in a hologram of his despised former bunkmate, [[SmallNameBigEgo snobby and self-centered Second Technician]] Arnold J. Rimmer (Creator/ChrisBarrie) -- on the basis that an ongoing mission to get on Rimmer's nerves in death as well as in life would do most in the long run for Lister's sanity. The pair discover the Cat (Creator/DannyJohnJules), the last known member of ''his'' race ''Felis sapiens'', which evolved from the pregnant cat that got Lister put in suspended animation in the first place. Lister decides that he wants to return to Earth, despite the fact that no-one aboard knows if the human race still exists, and despite the problem that the journey back will take another three million years at sub-lightspeed.[[note]](Even turning the ship around at near lightspeed will take 4000 years according to Lister -- though this is later contradicted by the series 2 episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]", where the ship has already turned and started heading towards Earth. [[MST3KMantra Red Dwarf was never too concerned with continuity]])[[/note]] The final regular member of the cast, Kryten (Creator/RobertLlewellyn [[note]]Played by David Ross in his debut appearance.[/note]]) -- an android the others discover still serving his crew, unaware that they had all died years ago -- appeared as a one-shot character in the second series before becoming a permanent addition in the third.

Lister awakens to the news that EverybodysDeadDave. As he is now the [[LastOfHisKind last living human]], the ship's computer Holly creates him some company, despite his personal preferences, in a hologram of his despised former bunkmate, [[SmallNameBigEgo snobby and self-centered Second Technician]] Arnold J. Rimmer (Creator/ChrisBarrie) -- on the basis that an ongoing mission to get on Rimmer's nerves in death as well as in life would do most in the long run for Lister's sanity. The pair discover the Cat (Creator/DannyJohnJules), the last known member of ''his'' race ''Felis sapiens'', which evolved from the pregnant cat that got Lister put in suspended animation in the first place. Lister decides that he wants to return to Earth, despite the fact that no-one aboard knows if the human race still exists, and despite the problem that the journey back will take another three million years at sub-lightspeed.[[note]](Even turning the ship around at near lightspeed will take 4000 years according to Lister -- though this is later contradicted by the series 2 episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]", where the ship has already turned and started heading towards Earth. [[MST3KMantra Red Dwarf was never too concerned with continuity]])[[/note]] The final regular member of the cast, Kryten (Creator/RobertLlewellyn) -- an android the others discover still serving his crew, unaware that they had all died years ago -- appeared as a one-shot character in the second series before becoming a permanent addition in the third.

Lister awakens to the news that EverybodysDeadDave. As he is now the [[LastOfHisKind last living human]], the ship's computer Holly creates him some company, despite his personal preferences, in a hologram of his despised former bunkmate, [[SmallNameBigEgo snobby and self-centered Second Technician]] Arnold J. Rimmer (Creator/ChrisBarrie) -- on the basis that an ongoing mission to get on Rimmer's nerves in death as well as in life would do most in the long run for Lister's sanity. The pair discover the Cat, the last known member of ''his'' race ''Felis sapiens'', which evolved from the pregnant cat that got Lister put in suspended animation in the first place. Lister decides that he wants to return to Earth, despite the fact that no-one aboard knows if the human race still exists, and despite the problem that the journey back will take another three million years at sub-lightspeed.[[note]](Even turning the ship around at near lightspeed will take 4000 years according to Lister -- though this is later contradicted by the series 2 episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]", where the ship has already turned and started heading towards Earth. [[MST3KMantra Red Dwarf was never too concerned with continuity]])[[/note]] The final regular member of the cast, Kryten -- an android the others discover still serving his crew, unaware that they had all died years ago -- appeared as a one-shot character in the second series before becoming a permanent addition in the third.

''Red Dwarf'' is a British sci-fi TV SitCom (1988-93; 1997-99; 2009; 2012; 2016-17; 2020) and book series created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor about an enormous interplanetary mining ship (the eponymous ''Red Dwarf''), the crew of which is almost completely wiped out by a radiation leak [[FirstEpisodeTwist in the first episode]].[[note]](The TV series was born as a short serial in the radio comedy show ''Radio/SonOfCliche'', also written by Grant/Naylor. The parent "series" on radio was called ''Dave Hollins: Space Cadet'' and contained sketches and ideas later recycled for the TV series.)[[/note]] One man survives: a chicken-soup-machine repairman from Liverpool named Dave Lister (Creator/CraigCharles), preserved because he is in suspended animation as punishment for bringing [[ChekhovsGunman a pregnant cat]] on board illegally. The shipboard AI, Holly, sets a course out of the solar system, planning to release Lister from stasis once the radiation from the leak drops to a safe level.

Lister awakens to the news that EverybodysDeadDave. As he is now the [[LastOfHisKind last living human]], the ship's computer Holly creates him some company, despite his personal preferences, in a hologram of his despised former bunkmate Second Technician Arnold J. Rimmer -- on the basis that an ongoing mission to get on Rimmer's nerves in death as well as in life would do most in the long run for Lister's sanity. The pair discover the Cat, the last known member of ''his'' race ''Felis sapiens'', which evolved from the pregnant cat that got Lister put in suspended animation in the first place. Lister decides that he wants to return to Earth, despite the fact that no-one aboard knows if the human race still exists, and despite the problem that the journey back will take another three million years at sub-lightspeed.[[note]](Even turning the ship around at near lightspeed will take 4000 years according to Lister -- though this is later contradicted by the series 2 episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]", where the ship has already turned and started heading towards Earth. [[MST3KMantra Red Dwarf was never too concerned with continuity]])[[/note]] The final regular member of the cast, Kryten -- an android the others discover still serving his crew, unaware that they had all died years ago -- appeared as a one-shot character in the second series before becoming a permanent addition in the third.

''Red Dwarf'' is a British sci-fi TV SitCom (1988-93; 1997-99; 2009; 2012; 2016-17; 2020) and book series created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor about an enormous interplanetary mining ship (the eponymous ''Red Dwarf''), the crew of which is almost completely wiped out by a radiation leak [[FirstEpisodeTwist in the first episode]].[[note]](The TV series was born as a short serial in the radio comedy show ''Radio/SonOfCliche'', also written by Grant/Naylor. The parent "series" on radio was called ''Dave Hollins: Space Cadet'' and contained sketches and ideas later recycled for the TV series.)[[/note]] One man survives: a chicken-soup-machine repairman from Liverpool named Dave Lister, preserved because he is in suspended animation as punishment for bringing [[ChekhovsGunman a pregnant cat]] on board illegally. The shipboard AI, Holly, sets a course out of the solar system, planning to release Lister from stasis once the radiation from the leak drops to a safe level.

Unexpectedly though the rights were eventually picked up from the [=BBC=] by digital channel Dave[[note]](a free-to-air channel owned by UKTV, which operates several free and subscription channels)[[/note]] and it produced and broadcast a three-part, PostModern, movie-length miniseries ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Red Dwarf: Back to Earth]]'' across the Easter weekend of 2009. ''[=BtE=]'' broke digital TV viewership records at the time of airing, signalling that the show still had an audience after a decade of TV absence. Not long after, Dave commissioned a full, more conventional series of 6 half-hour episodes recorded in front of a studio audience, returning the show to its 'classic' original format for the first time since 1993. This eventually aired in 2012 as Series X -- officially retconning ''[=BtE=]'' into a 'ninth series', a subject of much contention in the fanbase due to it taking place after a fictional Series 9 that exists only within the show's reality. Two more series filmed back-to-back followed in 2016 and 2017, with a growing sense that the show was recovering something of its old footing once more. From 2019, the characters' enduring place in pop culture saw them appear in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRCKxseKanA an [=AA=] roadside breakdown assistance ad]]. And then, despite the 30-year failure of TheFilmOfTheSeries to ever get made, an aptly-titled special feature-length episode ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf The Promised Land}} Red Dwarf: The Promised Land]]'' at last appeared in 2020.

[[caption-width-right:350:The Boys from the Dwarf [[note]]Clockwise from bottom right: [[ItsAllAboutMe Rimmer]], [[TokenHuman Lister]], [[BenevolentAI Holly]], [[TheFashionista Cat]] and [[RobotBuddy Kryten]][[/note]]]]

Despite plans for two more specials, in 2021 Doug Naylor was removed from Grant Naylor Productions (the company he had co-founded along with Rob Grant) which left the Red Dwarf rights [[ScewedByTheLawyers in a limbo]]. In March 2023 Naylor was reinstated as director of the company, and it was eventually announced that both Naylor and Grant (who has not been that involved in the series for decades) will be launching separate iterations of show across several media, though it wasn't clarified what this would mean.

Lister awakens to the news that EverybodysDeadDave. As he is now the [[LastOfHisKind last living human]] the ship's computer Holly creates him some company, despite his personal preferences, in a hologram of his despised former bunkmate Second Technician Arnold J. Rimmer -- on the basis that an ongoing mission to get on Rimmer's nerves in death as well as in life would do most in the long run for Lister's sanity. The pair discover the Cat, the last known member of ''his'' race ''Felis sapiens'', which evolved from the pregnant cat that got Lister put in suspended animation in the first place. Lister decides that he wants to return to Earth, despite the fact that no-one aboard knows if the human race still exists, and despite the problem that the journey back will take another three million years at sub-lightspeed.[[note]](Even turning the ship around at near lightspeed will take 4000 years according to Lister -- though this is later contradicted by the series 2 episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]", where the ship has already turned and started heading towards Earth. [[MST3KMantra Red Dwarf was never too concerned with continuity]])[[/note]] The final regular member of the cast, Kryten -- an android the others discover still serving his crew, unaware that they had all died years ago -- appeared as a one-shot character in the second series before becoming a permanent addition in the third.

[[caption-width-right:350:The Boys from the Dwarf [[note]]Clockwise from bottom right: [[ItsAllAboutMe Rimmer]], [[TokenHuman Lister]], [[BenevolentAi Holly]], [[TheFashionista Cat]] and [[RobotBuddy Kryten]][[/note]]]]

!!This program provides examples of:

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Unexpectedly though the rights were eventually picked up from the [=BBC=] by digital channel Dave[[note]](a free-to-air channel owned by UKTV, which operates several free and subscription channels)[[/note]] and it produced and broadcast a three-part, PostModern, movie-length miniseries ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Red Dwarf: Back to Earth]]'' across the Easter weekend of 2009. ''[=BtE=]'' broke digital TV viewership records at the time of airing, signalling that the show still had an audience after a decade of TV absence. Not long after, Dave commissioned a full, more conventional series of 6 half-hour episodes recorded in front of a studio audience, returning the show to its 'classic' original format for the first time since 1993. This eventually aired in 2012 as Series X -- officially retconning ''[=BtE=]'' into a 'ninth series', a subject of much contention in the fanbase due to it taking place after a fictional Series 10 that exists only within the show's reality. Two more series filmed back-to-back followed in 2016 and 2017, with a growing sense that the show was recovering something of its old footing once more. From 2019, the characters' enduring place in pop culture saw them appear in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRCKxseKanA an [=AA=] roadside breakdown assistance ad]]. And then, despite the 30-year failure of TheFilmOfTheSeries to ever get made, an aptly-titled special feature-length episode ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf The Promised Land}} Red Dwarf: The Promised Land]]'' at last appeared in 2020.

Despite the superficially high concept, this was fundamentally just another BritCom about amusing characters bickering amongst themselves, similar to ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', with a fair amount of [[AliensAndMonsters monsters]], TimeTravel and the like thrown in. However, it is notable for a sci-fi-based series in that the writers actively worked to [[AvertedTrope avert]], or at least [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]], many tropes associated with the genre -- nearly always for comedic effect.

There was two attempts to get an ''Series/RedDwarfUSA'' series off the ground in 1992 but both failed.

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[[folder:A-B]]
* AbnormalAmmo: The heatseeker setting on the bazookoids. Also, the improvised garbage cannon in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]]".
* AbortedArc:
** In the first season, Lister was determined to find Kochanski's hologram disc and bring her back. This quest was utterly forgotten from season 2 onwards.
** For the first two seasons, Rimmer had an unshakeable belief in aliens, hoping to meet an alien race with the technology to give him a new body. Not only was this dropped, but when the crew find what appears to be an alien ship in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVDNA DNA]]", Rimmer actually voices disgust, believing that they are going to return Music/GlennMiller, and telling "them" over the communications channel to "go away".
** Lister's pregnancy at the end of series 2 was tossed out when the writers realized they couldn't make it funny or not-sexist. It comes up in unreadably fast text in the opening crawl for "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]" about what happened to them: the twins (very) rapidly aged to their late teens and (somehow) returned to their native universe.
** The early episodes of Series 10 make reference to the plot thread of Kochanski's disappearance that was left over from "Back to Earth," and it actually was planned for her to return at the end of that series, but behind-the-scenes issues prevented it from coming to fruition. Series 11 didn't mention her at all, and both the cast and Doug Naylor seem to have all but admitted that she'll probably never return to the show, and certainly not as a regular character.
* AbsentAliens: All lifeforms encountered in the universe are ultimately Earth-derived. How they managed to get three million years into deep space in order for Red Dwarf to encounter them in the first place is rarely ever addressed.
** The alternative is mainly used as a gag at Rimmer's expense. His firm belief in aliens is portrayed as foolish as well as misguided, as he is only interested in them being able to restore his physical body, along with [[{{Multiboobage}} other possible benefits of alien anatomy.]]
* AccidentalPervert: "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Polymorph}} Polymorph]]". When you're writhing on the floor, begging an android with a large tube attached to its crotch to pull off your underwear, it's kind of easy for people to [[ItMakesSenseInContext get the wrong idea]].
* AccidentalUnfortunateGesture: In "M-Corp", Lister's brain is hacked so he can only see items manufactured by M-Corp. Kryten tests the limits of this blindness by holding up various objects and asking Lister if he can see it. Whenever an object is invisible to Lister, it is also invisible to the audience. The last (invisible) object he holds up causes his hand to vibrate in an alarmingly suggestive fashion. He then passes to Cat and Rimmer, whose hands also vibrate in a suggestive fashion, causing Lister to remark "I really hope that's an electric toothbrush!".
* TheAce:
** Ace Rimmer. [[PhraseCatcher What a guy!]] He's everything Arnold Rimmer isn't: funny, brave, charismatic and has a catchphrase.
** Lister actually has ''two'' counterparts who fall under this trope. The first is his counterpart from Ace Rimmer's reality, Spanners, who is married to Kochanski and routinely builds ships that break all the speed records and can even travel between dimensions. The second is the holographic version of Lister from the second Kochanski's reality, who is much more intelligent and sophisticated than our Lister. Unlike Rimmer however, Lister harbours no resentment toward Spanners at all, and only complains about Holo-Lister when he's upset by something else (his claustrophobia in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VII Duct Soup}} Duct Soup]]", and the loss of his arm in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VII Nanarchy}} Nanarchy]]").
* AcePilot: Almost as soon as the Dwarfers transition to Starbug for the majority of their time in Series V/VI - and even beyond when they return to ''Red Dwarf'' - the Cat falls into this role. Being a humanoid evolved from cats, his enhanced olfactory senses allow him to act as an early warning system, able to track space-borne phenomena such as asteroids and control a spacecraft to such a degree of proficiency that, even when (an alternate) Kristine Kochanski replaces Rimmer in Series VII, Cat doesn't have his position usurped by the fully-trained bridge officer. Although a hallucination, Series VIII brings his piloting skills to outrageous levels, allowing him to "pilot" multiple Blue Midget landing craft without even boarding a single one.
-->'''Cat:''' Fly?! I can make this thing ''dance''! ''[Cat then proceeds to slide out of the craft and lead four of them in a tap-dancing routine. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt5wDZ-uZQQ No, seriously]].]''
* AchillesPowerCord: In [[Recap/RedDwarfThePromisedLand "The Promised Land"]] , Rimmer burns out his light-bee battery, and is forced to string a chain of these across the ship in order to stay powered up.
* AccidentalArt:
** Inverted. Rimmer mistakes a light-switch for an artistic masterpiece.
** Played straight when Lister recounts the first time he got drunk and threw up from the top of the Eiffel tower in "The Last Day". ''"The story I got told was some pavement artist sold it to a Texan tourist. Told 'im it was a genuine Jackson Pollock"''.
* AcquiredErrorAtThePrinter: Rimmer's parents were "Seventh Day Advent Hoppists", who hop every Sunday, due to a misprinted Bible wherein 1 Corinthians 13:13 reads "Faith, hop, and charity, and the greatest of these is hop."
* ActingUnnatural: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]", Kryten, in an attempt to look inconspicuous, walks into a cafe wearing a black cloak and a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan rubber mask.
* ActionPrologue: "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIStokeMeAClipper Stoke Me a Clipper]]" has one that is a ShoutOut to ''Film/JamesBond'' films where Ace takes on the Nazis.
* ActorAllusion:
** ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'' does it. The crew meet [[spoiler: Creator/CraigCharles, who plays Lister]], and Rimmer asks for his own sitcom (Chris Barrie starred in ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'', which alluded to Brittas having a similar event occur in his past to Rimmer).
** Cat's 'Do ''I'' dance?' from "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Parallel Universe}} Parallel Universe]]". A more prominent example is the ''Blue Midget'' dance from "Back in the Red".
*** The Cat gliding around on roller skates in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]". Danny John-Jules was in Starlight Express.
** The {{Shout Out}}s to the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series could be seen as one to Mac [=McDonald=] having played a colony commander in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''.
* AddictiveForeignSoapOpera: Kryten is addicted to the soap opera ''Androids'', which is a clear parody of what was then cult Australian import soap ''Series/{{Neighbours}}''.
* AdolfHitlarious:
** Done a few times, most notably when Lister managed to get himself inserted into the Nuremberg Rally. On Hitler's podium, no less.
--> '''Lister''' (yelling at the unseen crowd): Ignore him! He's a complete and total nutter! ''And'' he's only got one testicle! [Turns around and flips off Hitler]
** That particular episode ("[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Timeslides}} Timeslides]]") opens with "Guest starring UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler as himself". He appears again in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Meltdown}} Meltdown]]". And ''again'' in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XII Cured}} Cured]]"
** Kryten mixes up a hypnotherapy tape with a copy of Hitler's Nuremburg speeches that he was using to practice German. This doesn't do much good for Lister's disposition.
---> '''Kryten''': Definitely hypnotic, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D2xoyvzCZY but not in the right way]]
* AnAesop: Some episodes end on one, usually given by [[HiddenDepths Lister]]. Examples include "Back To Reality" ([[HumansAreMorons Humanity's creations]] [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters usually coming back to bite them in the ass]], leading Kryten to quip about [[HumansAreBastards humans trying to play God and nearly killing everything themselves]]), "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Justice}} Justice]]" (TheEvilsOfFreeWill being a natural byproduct of True Justice) and "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Meltdown}} Meltdown]]" (A TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[ModernMajorGeneral a borderline insane Rimmer]] about him sacrificing hundreds of sentient beings [[ItAmusedMe basically for his own amusement]], fitting the episode's WarIsHell message).
* AfterTheEnd: In a sense, since it takes place after the human race has likely gone extinct, and even if they did make it back to Earth there'd probably be nothing to find. The entirety of the series also takes place quite literally after "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonITheEnd The End]]", which is the name of the very first episode.
* AgentPeacock: The Cat was always vain, self-obsessed and ditzy, but after season 3 he TookALevelInBadass. He is still {{Camp}} and [[TheDandy obsessed with clothes]], but he is also the point-man for any boarding action, the crew's favored pilot and perfectly capable of dodging bullets.
* AGodIAmNot: Lister (In the guise of "Cloister The Stupid"), is the God-figure of the Cat people, them being descended from his cat, Frankenstein. Used in a few early episodes and then quietly forgotten about, until ''The Promised Land''. This doesn't cause any major problems with the Cat's character development, since, by embracing his natural coolness and not trying to be slobby, he is shown to be secular.
* AIIsACrapshoot:
** Holly's IQ is, purportedly, 6000. Then again, s/he is 3,000,000 years old and gone a bit... peculiar.
** Pree ''technically'' should not be bad, as she bases her actions on what she predicts the highest-ranking Officer would do. Unfortunately, when she operates on ''Red Dwarf'', that happens to be Rimmer.
** Averted in the books with the Belief Chip, an AI component implanted into the minds of any computer or robot sufficiently advanced to potentially pose a real threat if it decided to rebel against its makers. The chip creates an unshakable belief in the idea of Silicon Heaven, the eternal reward that mechanoids will earn in the next life for diligantly serving their human masters without question or complaint in this life. Simple AI that couldn't pose a danger aren't fitted with such chips to keep manufacturing costs down, resulting in atheistic toasters and the like.
* AirVentPassageway: "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VII Duct Soup}} Duct Soup]]" takes place primarily within the absurdly spacious vents of the ''Starbug''. They're large enough for the Dwarfers to crawl around two abreast.
* AliensAndMonsters: Appear somewhat frequently beginning in Series 3. Monsters do at any rate. [[AbsentAliens There are no actual aliens]] in ''Red Dwarf'', all the creatures they meet are mutated or genetically engineered from Earth organisms, or are mechanoids.
* TheAllegedCar: ''Red Dwarf'' and ''Starbug'' were run-down, poorly constructed vessels to begin with. Then 3 ''million'' years took their toll on them. Naturally, the crew frequently complain that ''nothing'' works properly.
* TheAllegedComputer: Holly. Despite apparently having an IQ of 6000, he (she in the later series) has gone very senile, and often blunderingly damages the people on the ship.
* AlliterativeName:
** The Talkie Toaster. It might have been a part of marketing strategy to make this device more appealing.
** Cat's alter ego Duane Dibley. In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back To Reality]]", Cat immediately recognizes this is an extremely dorky name and he insists he does not want to be Duane Dibley.
** One of the sentient vending machines from Series 10 is known as Taiwan Tony. Kryten affectionately calls him [=TT=].
** Surely one of the most prominent examples must be Kristine Kochanski.
** Lister at one point claimed to have a gay friend called "Bent Bob."
* AllJustADream: Sort of the plot of "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back To Reality]]" and [[spoiler:''Back to Earth''. It even turns out [[CallBack the same species is responsible for both; male for the former, female the latter]].]]
* AllThereInTheManual:
** According to the booklet with one of the DVD boxsets, Rimmer's brothers were fathered by his uncle Frank.
** Kill Crazy's real name is only revealed on the official website.
* AllThereInTheScript: According to the original script for "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonITheEnd The End]]", George [=McIntyre=] was killed by the radiation leak (albeit more contained than what would occur later) from the faulty drive plate that Rimmer would later fail to repair properly.
* AlmostOutOfOxygen:
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]" [[spoiler:Rimmer, suffering from a holographic virus that sends him crazy, attempts to cut off Lister, Kryten, and the Cat's oxygen supply.]]
** Lister [[spoiler:is stripped of his free subscription of JMC Oxygen after resigning his post in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season X Fathers and Suns}} Fathers and Suns]]".]]
* AlternateUniverse:
** The crew are transported to one in the episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Parallel Universe}} Parallel Universe]]" and meet their female counterparts.
** Ace Rimmer comes from one in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Dimension Jump}} Dimension Jump]]".
** Kochanski comes from one in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VII Ouroboros}} Ouroboros]]".
** "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]" is set in an alternate universe that's identical to ours except it's contracting back in on itself in a "big crunch" and consequently time has reversed its direction.
* AmbiguousCloneEnding: It's unclear which Rimmer is the Rimmer we see from ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'' onwards (the one from Series I-VII who [[spoiler: became Ace Rimmer]] or the one from Series VIII who [[spoiler: may or may not have died during the series cliffhanger]]) as Series X presents evidence for both scenarios.[[note]]Series X!Rimmer talks about remembering being killed by the radiation leak, which only happened to the first Rimmer, but also mentions dealing with the chameleonic microbes, which happened with the second Rimmer.[[/note]][[note]]Both Rimmers events may have been recorded by the ships onboard hologramatic computer, the assumption in-universe is it collects everything you learn or know, because you'd be useless as a hologram if you signed up for the spacecorps as a Janitor, worked your way up to Captain, died, and were resurected as a Janitor again. SO! Holo-Rimmer has the same DNA as Series 8 Rimmer, so series 8's actions are appended to the "A.J.Rimmer" file sometime after the end of series 8, possibly while S8 is still alive.[[/note]]
* AmputationStopsSpread: Kryten and Kochanski's solution to save Lister from the fatal Epideme virus is to force the virus into his arm and then cut his arm off [[spoiler: it doesn't work]].
* AmusinglyShortList: There are countless people who have lost an arm and then lead a perfectly normal life. Thousands. More than thousands. Millions. The definitive list: Lord Nelson, the Venus de Milo, the one-armed man from ''The Fugitive'', van Gogh (that dude managed to cut off his own ear with just one arm ) and Dave Lister.
* AnArmAndALeg: Played for laughs. As Lister is infected with the Epideme virus, they plan to drive it into his arm, then amputate it. Lister reluctantly agrees, so long as it's his left hand. Naturally Kryten has no choice but to amputate the right hand instead due to Kochanski making a mistake while tracking the virus. For added insult, it didn't even eliminate all of the virus.
** Played with in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Bodyswap}} Bodyswap]]", after Rimmer (in Lister's body) crashes Starbug. He pretends to have lost Lister's arm in the crash, but he's actually hiding it under the shreds of his uniform.
** Subverted with Kochanski. She forces Epideme into her own arm and then hacks it off. Or so it seems, as the arm was really Caroline Carmen's.
** The Old Lister from Future Echoes is missing his right arm. He has a robot prosthetic arm in its place (with a knuckle modified into a bottle opener, according to the book!)
* AndIMustScream: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VI Rimmerworld}} Rimmerworld]]", [[spoiler:Rimmer's clones turn on him for having small amounts of the un-Rimmerlike traits they believe are evil and throw him in a small prison. As he's a hologram, he doesn't die and, as everyone on the planet is an even less likeable and more treacherous copy of Rimmer, he knows they'll turn him in if he escapes. He ends up imprisoned among these reminders of what a mess of a human being he is for 557 years.]]
* AndThenISaid: Rimmer pulls this out in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]" but can't come up with something he might have said and is forced to admit he "doesn't remember". Since it's his fantasy, his dinnermates laugh anyway.
* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: Whenever terrible things happen to Rimmer, Lister and Kryten at least feign sadness (unless it's directly his own fault, which it often is). Cat ... not so much.
-->'''Cat''': We're all really sorry, bud, except for me and him and him.
* AnimalAssassin: ThoseWackyNazis in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIStokeMeAClipper Stoke Me a Clipper]]" use Snappy, an assassin alligator, on Ace Rimmer.
* AnimalIsTheNewMan: After humanity died out, a race of cat-people descended from David Lister's cat took over. They then nearly wiped themselves out in a holy war over what color their god's hat was.
* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: In the Series X episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season X Lemons}} Lemons]]", a man's name is actually Jesus. [[spoiler: Not the famous one, but the crew manage to convince him that he is for a while.]]
-->'''Lister''': Really? ''Jesus!''
-->'''Man Sat Behind Him''': Yes?
* AntagonistTitle: The series has a few of these; "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Queeg}} Queeg]]", "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Polymorph}} Polymorph]]", "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V The Inquisitor}} The Inquisitor]]", "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]]", "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VI Legion}} Legion]]", "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VI Gunmen of the Apocalypse}} Gunmen of the Apocalypse]]", " [[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIEmohawkPolymorphII Emohawk: Polymorph II]]", and "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VII Epideme}} Epideme]]".
* ArbitrarySkepticism: This is played with momentarily in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back To Reality]]", when Andy, the "real world" game technician, claims that Lister's destiny is to "jump-start the second Big Bang," making Lister, "the ultimate atheist" (despite being a pantheist), actually God, and Rimmer, equally atheist, God's bunkmate.
* ArchivedArmy: The waxdroids in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Meltdown}} Meltdown]]" form less literal versions of this.
* ArmchairMilitary: Rimmer. He keeps meticulous logs of RISK games so he can re-live his "past glories".
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Kryten delivers one to the Inquisitor when making his case for existence.
--> '''The Inquisitor''': In a human, this behaviour might be considered ''stubborn''.
--> '''Kryten''': But I am ''not'' human. And ''neither'' are you. And it is not our place to judge them... I wonder why you ''do?''
--> '''The Inquisitor''': [[VillainousBreakdown ENOUGH!]]
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
** The Cat, at any point where ''Starbug'' gets damaged.
** From "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back To Reality]]" in Series V:
-->'''Rimmer:''' This is a nightmare! I'm on the run from the fascist police, with a murderer and a mass murderer and a man in a bri-nylon shirt.
* ArtifactTitle: For half of the 1990s. Season V saw adventures move increasingly away from the titular ''Red Dwarf'', and Season VI took place entirely without the ship as the characters had lost it. By the time it returned for Season VII it had been unseen for five real-life years.
* ArtificialHuman:
** The 3000 series mechanoids were apparently this. Droids who looked frighteningly realistically human freaked out human beings as it turned out and they were recalled. A few of them escaped and erased their memories, replacing them with fabricated backstories. An unreality pocket has the crew convinced that Lister is one until they learn the truth. The 4000 series is subsequently given a head shaped like a novelty condom and a body with angles to match, but Kryten's replacement, Hudzen 10, is given a human type head and a robotic looking body.
*** We only find out the "history" of the series 3000 in an unreality bubble, it's not clear if the apparent history is correct or not, and one would assume that Kryten, with his guilt chip in overload already, wouldn't tell the rest of the crew otherwise.
** Simulants are human in appearance with some differences (some have extra eyebrows or circuit boards) and are partly organic. A couple of them are shown with wear and tear: Most notably the first simulant the crew encounters in "Justice" looks to have exterior damage akin to a Terminator. Kryten, an android, is quick to point out simulants and androids are different. The key distinction is that an android will never rip off a person's head then spit down their neck.
* ArtisticLicense: Kryten describes [[Literature/TheAeneid Virgil's ''Aeneid'']] as "the epic story of Agamemnon's pursuit of Helen of Troy". That's at best a pretty loose and misleading description of what the story's actually about[[note]]The title's kind of a hint[[/note]]. Additionally Lister points out how stupid the Trojans would have been to not think the Trojan Horse was suspicious. The Aeneid's version of the story has a Trojan warn the others, only to be killed by the gods for his trouble. Of course, this could be considered an in universe example, since the version Lister is reading is a comic book adaptation.
* AscendedExtra:
** Kryten appears in the premiere of Series II and becomes a regular in Series III. (David Ross declined the opportunity to join the main cast due to his distaste for the Kryten makeup and was replaced by Robert Llewellyn. Ross would eventually return to voice Talkie Toaster in 'White Hole'.)
** Kochanski appears twice in Series I, once in Series II and once in Series VI (actually a GELF in disguise) and becomes a regular in Series 7. Clare Grogan was replaced by Chloe Annett as Kochanski because Grogan had retired from acting in favor of becoming a TV host.
** Captain Hollister appears but twice in Series 1 and again in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Stasis Leak}} Stasis Leak]]" before returning as a regular in Series 8. Captain Hollister went the most time between his last appearance as a guest and his debut as a regular (11 years), his is the only case in which the ''actor'' who played him ascended as well.
** It's a well known in-joke amongst the cast, during the DVD commentaries for Series VIII, about one of the 'extras'. A hugely built intimidating man, referred to as Chopper. It's about him starting off as simply a background extra, and allegedly ''persuading'' the producers to get some lines. To the point where each episode following, he always received some lines, almost close enough to rival Holly.
* AssShove:
** In the episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]", the crew accidentally time-travels to a version of Earth in which time runs backwards, to the effect that the natives speak backwards, walk backwards, wars are happy occasions on which millions of dead people come back to life, pub brawls end up cleaning up the pub ("Unrumble!"), food gets un-eaten, beer goes from your mouth back into the mug and from the mug back into the tap, and so on. Unfortunately, just before the Dwarfers leave, the Cat decides to take a crap in the bushes, and the other can't warn him in time... Cat appears from the bushes with a horrified expression and his hair standing on end and walks stiff-legged into the shuttlecraft, avoiding the others' eyes.
--> '''Cat:''' ''Don't ask!!''
** "Back in the Red" sees "Starbug" fly up the rectum of a giant rat in an enormous air vent.
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season X Lemons}} Lemons]]", Cat devises a crazy golf course that ends with hitting the ball into a medical student's practice rectum.
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVDNA D.N.A.]]", Kryten asks about how humans recharge, stating that he found what he thinks is the socket, but the plug keeps falling out.
** In "Krytie TV", Rimmer alludes to have attempted this on Lister with his own guitar. Lister notes that he'd have had more success with the neck end.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III The Last Day}} The Last Day]]", Rimmer notes that his parents' denomination of choice was founded on a misprinted Bible verse. The verse itself is misquoted [[RuleOfFunny for the sake of the punchline:]]
-->'''Rimmer:''' 1 Corinthians 13, where it says "faith, hop[[note]]("hope")[[/note]] and charity; and the greatest of these is hop."[[note]]In the real verse, the greatest is "charity" (or "love," depending on the translation), not "hope".[[/note]]
* AsymmetricDilemma: Kryten's favorite way of pointing out the flaws in the Cat's plans.
-->'''Kryten:''' A superlative suggestion, sir, with just two minor flaws. One, we don't have any defensive shields, and two, we don't have any defensive shields. Now, I realize that, technically speaking, that's only one flaw, but I thought it was such a big one it was worth [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment mentioning twice]].
* AttendingYourOwnFuneral:
** George [=MacIntyre=] has a "Welcome Back" party immediately after his funeral, and thanks the Captain for his eulogy while joking that he doesn't understand why the Captain didn't use the one [=MacIntyre=] had written.
** Rimmer, on several occasions.
* BackFromTheDead: The entire crew of ''Red Dwarf'' in Series VIII.
* BackportedDevelopment: Lots. For a visual example, when Series VII flashed back to shortly after Lister's revival, the H on Rimmer's head and his uniform were the ones used for Series VII rather than the one in Series I.
** Another acute one is that the Red Dwarf sets were subtly updated between Series I and Series II, including a lot more detail in the Drive Room and Bunk Room sets, but when the Dwarfers go back in time to the pre-accident Dwarf in Series II's "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Stasis Leak}} Stasis Leak]]", the 'past' versions look exactly the same as the 'future' ones, including the giant blow-up Banana that only appeared in the Bunk Room in Series II. Which is a shame, because in a lot of other ways the episode does try very hard to be a match for how the fully crewed ship seemed to be in Series 1.
* BackToFront: The episode "Backwards" is partly set in a universe where time runs backward, so although the story is told from front to back it has elements of the trope, particularly with respect to the injuries Lister mysteriously acquires near the beginning of the episode as a result of events near the end.
* BackwardsFiringGun: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V The Inquisitor}} The Inquisitor]]", Kryten and Lister steal the Inquisitor's gauntlet and Kryten reprograms it. When the Inquisitor reacquires it and fires it at Lister, it fires backwards and removes the Inquisitor from history.
* BadLiar: Kryten has to fight his original programming to lie ''at all'', and even then, he (usually) announces that he's switching to "Lie Mode" first. And in the Series XI episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Give And Take}} Give And Take]]", it turns out that his "Lie Mode" now has a new tell: uncontrollable stuttering every few words.
* BalefulPolymorph:
** The Cat after becoming [[spoiler:Duane "Duke of Dork" Dibbley]] as part of a series of InvoluntaryTransformation scenes of the appropriately named "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIEmohawkPolymorphII Emohawk: Polymorph II]]". Subverted and inverted with Rimmer; [[spoiler:Ace]] is brave and selfless by contrast to normal Rimmer.
** Lister is turned into a chicken, then a hamster in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVDNA D.N.A.]]".
* BarbershopQuartetsAreFunny:In "Officer Rimmer", Rimmer gets four of his bioprinter created clones to form a barbershop quartet, complete with a Rimmer-ified version of "Mister Sandman".
* BarBrawl:
** "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]". Except it's a "bar room ''tidy''". Unrumble!
** The real bar room brawl in "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".
* BarrierBustingBlow: Low Kryten hits Lister with one in "Demons and Angels".
* BathroomBreakOut: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Parallel Universe}} Parallel Universe]]", Rimmer mentions a date he once had, who apparently got a little confused and tried to climb out the bathroom window. Seeing as he spent the whole evening making fun of her nose (in a very misguided attempt to break the ice), it never occurred to him that she was trying to get away.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:Kochanski]], of all people, in "Beyond a Joke". When Kryten is kidnapped by the rogue Simulant aboard the S.S. ''Centauri'', [[spoiler:she instructs Cat to turn ''Starbug'' so it flies away from the ''Centauri'' at top speed. The Simulant, after realising they're not giving chase and actually fleeing, assumes they've planted a bomb on his own vessel and starts chasing after ''them''. Cat and Lister are fooled too.]]
** This is also how [[spoiler: Lister beats the Inquisitor.]]
** In Series X, Lister uses it on ''himself.''
* BattleButler: Kryten, in later series, although [[ThouShaltNotKill he is programmed never to take a human life]]. When he is forced to shoot a man to save a child, his guilt chip goes into overdrive and he attempts to commit suicide.
* BeardOfEvil: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]", the most obvious physical difference that Low Lister has with his High and regular counterparts is his filthy, unkempt beard. That and his EyepatchOfPower.
* {{Beat}}: The episode "Camille", when Kryten is telling her about his crewmates:
-->'''Camille:''' Please, I can't meet your shipmates. Trust me.\\
'''Kryten:''' But you don't know them! You'll like them! ''(beat)'' Well, some of them. ''(beat)'' Well, one of them. ''(beat)'' Maybe.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:
** Rimmer spends the first few minutes of "Only the Good..." complaining that Hollister doesn't see him as officer material. He has a run-in with a vending machine which states that one day they'll meet again and it will destroy him, and Rimmer snarks that on that day, he'll be ship's captain. [[spoiler:By the end of the episode, everyone higher ranked than him had been evacuated making him the highest ranked person on the now disintegrating ship, and as he tries to figure out how to save himself, the machine attacks. It's not certain how he fared.]]
** Lister's desire to have a family in the very first episode [[BrickJoke backfires on him at the end of Series II]].
* BetterThanSex: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]", Rimmer [[spoiler: copies himself and moves in together,]] he describes his new life of discipline as "better than sex". Of course, he's soon proven wrong when it turns out [[spoiler: even he doesn't like himself.]]
* BewareTheSkullBase: In "Gunmen Of The Apocalypse", the Rogue Simulant Battle Cruiser was deliberately designed with a skull-like form. Originally this was going to be a human skull and then later a goat one, but the creators decided that a cow skull would fit better with the Western theme of the episode.
* {{BFG}}: The Bazookoids.
* BigDamnHeroes: Ace Rimmer would have nothing to live for without this trope.
* BiggerOnTheInside: ''Starbug'' has its internal volume increased substantially after the events of "Out Of Time" in spite of no change in its external dimensions, due to the various temporal anomalies caused by the battle between the crew and their future selves.
* BioAugmentation: The episode ''DNA'' featured a DNA modifier which would allow a user to change their genetic structure. When the crew encounter the ship it was on, they find the skeleton of a man with three heads. Kryten accidentally becomes human, Lister becomes a chicken, a hamster and a foot tall "Man-Plus" (Essentially Lister crossed with Franchise/RoboCop) and a mutton vindaloo becomes a mutant vindaloo-based creature that can only be killed with the application of lager.
* BirthdayEpisode:
** {{Inverted}} in "Thanks for the Memory" which has the group celebrate Rimmer's deathday on a barren planetoid. The main plot kicks off when Rimmer gets so drunk at his party that he admits that what he most desires is to to have been in love and to be loved.
** A straight example comes in "M-Corp", which opens with Lister's birthday. The plot kicks off when he suffers what he believes to be a heart attack (actually a severe case of indigestion) on said birthday.
* BitingTheHandHumor: From "Emohawk: Polymorph II"...
--> '''Ace Rimmer''': He's looking so geeky he probably couldn't even get into a science fiction convention.
* BlackComedy: Happens on a number of occasions, but in a relatively subtle way compared to typical expressions of this trope. Take, for example, this exchange from the opening of "Legion"...
--> '''Cat''': What the hell is all this down the back of my chair? ...Peanuts?
--> '''Lister''': No, I've been trimming my verrucas.
--> '''Cat''': ...You have personal habits that would make a monkey blush!
--> '''Lister''': You really think I'm psychotically disgusting, don'tcha? They're peanuts, alright?
--> '''Cat''': Real peanuts? ''(begins eating them)''
--> '''Lister''': Yeah.
--> '''Cat''': Where'd you get them?
--> '''Lister''': That derelict a couple of months back. Found them in the dead captain's old donkey jacket. Don't look at me like that! You enjoyed that Mint Imperial, didn't ya?
--> '''Cat''': And where didja get that?
--> '''Lister''': He was sucking that when he got shot! I had to prise his jaws open with a car jack.
* BlackComedyRape:
** Rimmer reveals in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Confidence and Paranoia}} Confidence and Paranoia]]" that he lost his virginity to (and whose only sexual liaison while alive the first time around was with) Yvonne [=McGruder=], the ship's boxing champion. Who seemed to be suffering from a concussion because she kept calling him "Norman". This is given a ''slightly'' less {{squick}}y {{Retcon}} in the books.
** The shenanigans with the Sexual Magnetism Virus in "Back in the Red". After Rimmer takes a dose of the virus all the women at the Captain's supper find him irresistible, and one by one they all go to "get coffee" with him in the galley. Played with in that by the end of the night [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Rimmer has clearly had enough and is visibly in pain]].
** Also in "Back in the Red", Lister comments that two years in prison means two years without sex, to which Rimmer flippantly replies, "You hope.".
** Also also in "Back in the Red" and related to the previous example, after the main characters are locked up in the prison Lister applies a bit of the Sexual Magnetism Virus to Rimmer. We are left to imagine the outcome, but it's ''clearly'' the reason Rimmer wasn't speaking to Lister at the start of the episode.
** And "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIEmohawkPolymorphII Emohawk: Polymorph II]]":
--> "Change of plan... leg it!"
** Rimmer recalls in " [[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III The Last Day}} The Last Day]]" that his first intimate experience was with his uncle Frank, who thought he was his mum. Paedophilia (albeit unwitting), and possibly not just one but two different permutations of incest, if Frank and [[ReallyGetsAround Rimmer's mum]] were siblings. In the same scene, Rimmer also speculates that Lister's parents were brother and sister. Much, much later we find out that Lister's provenance is ''even weirder'': [[spoiler:thanks to a time machine not only is his mum his ex-girlfriend, but he's ''his own father'']].
* BlatantLies: When Hollister reprimanded Rimmer for doing a rank job of fixing the drive plate in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]", Rimmer told him that he would take full responsibility for the consequences. Considering that one of the first things he does when meeting Lister as a hologram, is to blame him for the catastrophe, it becomes obvious that Rimmer was just trying to save face.
** To "man-up" and accept the blame for a disaster that will kill everybody is a meaningless gesture anyway. Which makes it perfectly in keeping with Rimmer's symbolism-over-substance attitude.
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The Nova 5 women.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Primarily the Cat. Being descended from cats, he can't be properly judged by human standards. By cat standards he's a perfectly regular cat - which makes him vain, self-centered, egotistical and sex-crazed, with a tendency to jump out at things, hiss, and make yowling cat noises and dance when he just walks down corridors.
** Invoked for laughs in "Rimmerworld", where the hostile reaction that Lister, Cat and Kryten get from the Rimmer clones is intensified because they do not display self-centered, malicious, {{Jerkass}} traits that have become the foundation of the race's moral structure.
--> '''Rimmer Guard''': These three abominations stand charged on eight counts of gross deviancy. Not content with not looking like the true image, they flaunt freakish behaviour such as charm, bravery, compassion and (pauses) honour.
--> '''Rimmer Emperor''': Are there no sighs of normalcy in these wretches? No cowardice or pomposity, no snideyness or smarm, not even basic honest-to-goodness double-dealing two-facedness?
--> '''Rimmer Guard''': Sire, these creatures did not even attempt to sell each other out for their own freedom - they lack even the most basic natural drives.
* BodyHorror: The multi-limbed, multi-headed Rimmer monster in "Officer Rimmer".
* BolivianArmyEnding:
** Series VI ended with [[spoiler:Lister, Cat and Kryten being killed by their future selves and Rimmer hurrying to destroy the Time Drive, just as ''Starbug'' explodes]]. It was a cliffhanger we had to wait ''four smegging years'' to get the resolution of.
** [[spoiler: The end of "Only The Good..." where it is undetermined whether Rimmer or the rest of the crew survived for that matter]]. This one notably remains unresolved in the revived series, which has not clearly answered how Red Dwarf was not destroyed or even which version of Rimmer the one in the new episodes is meant to be.
*** Given that Series X Rimmer retains memories of both his living and dead counterparts, and their actions, we can assume this is a 3rd Rimmer, who is made up of both his couterparts memories. After Series 8 Rimmer died, most likely after the events of "Only The Good" and was resurrected using his Series 1-7 holo-disk, which contained the most recent backups of his personality on-hand, along with his "Alive" memories the crew were able to amalgamate a Rimmer who was up-to-date on their adventures without having "actually" been there.
* BondageIsBad: In "Demons and Angels", Lister runs into a deranged EnemyWithout version of Rimmer who combines the CreepyCrossdresser, DepravedHomosexual, and Bondage Is Bad tropes all in one. He's dressed in some sort of "Dominatrix Dr. Frankenfurter" outfit while he attacks Lister with a whip before promising to torture and rape him.
* BondOneLiner: PlayedForLaughs with [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]].
* BookEnds: Way back in 1987, the show debuted in unusual fashion with the first episode of Series I being called "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonITheEnd The End]]". ''Twenty-four years later'', they finally created the obvious bookend -- when Series X closed with an episode named "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXTheBeginning The Beginning]]". Both episodes end with the same line: "The slime's coming home!" Had there only been that one revival series, it would have provided a very neat circular conclusion.
** Given that the show did return for Series XI and XII in 2016-17, "The Beginning" proved not to be, er, the end -- but the show did however insert another sort of bookend into Series XII's final episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXIISkipper Skipper]]". "The End" contains the famous ''"[[EverybodysDeadDave Everybody's dead, Dave]]"'' scene with Holly the ship's computer attempting to explain the gravity of the situation to a newly-revived-from-stasis Lister. 30 years on, in "Skipper" [[spoiler: Rimmer temporarily ends up on a version of the ''Red Dwarf'' looking uncannily like he and it did in the original series, including Norman Lovett returning as Holly to walk him through a nearly identical scene where ''"'''Nobody''''s dead, Arnold"''.]]
** The first episode of Series XII opens with all the crew playing poker, and the last episode ends with Rimmer returning from his journey across the multiverse having failed to find one where he felt less of a loser, and sitting down to join the others in their latest round of poker.
* BootstrappedTheme: The show's upbeat closing theme was retooled, in a rocky instrumental version, as its new opening theme from Series III onwards. The more mournful original opening theme continued to be used as incidental music.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIStokeMeAClipper Stoke Me a Clipper]]", Rimmer adopts [[AlternateUniverse Ace Rimmer's]] catchphrase 'Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast' when he has to take over Ace's life. He says it when leaving the ship, and mangles it completely.
--> '''Rimmer:''' Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas.
* BottleEpisode:
** There have been several of these over the course of the series, such as "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Marooned}} Marooned]]", "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III The Last Day}} The Last Day]]", "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV White Hole}} White Hole]]", "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIOutOfTime Out of Time]]", and "Duct Soup".
** The entirety of Series I is a Bottle Season due to the largest portion of the budget being used on the model shots.
* BraggingThemeTune: We discover that Arnold Rimmer has one sung by tiny munchkin versions of himself.
-->''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!''
* BrainFood: The [[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]]. They look like man-sized insects and will project false visions to their victims. They're perhaps the only brain-eaters to use a ''straw''.
* BrainInAJar: [[spoiler:Lister's evil, corrupt future self from "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIOutOfTime Out of Time]]"; the jar has his dreadlocks Sellotaped to the glass]].
** Lister implies that his uncle was also a brain in a jar in "Balance of Power".
* BrainUploading: All {{hologram}}s, and also the episodes "Thanks for the Memory" and "[[FreakyFridayFlip Bodyswap]]".
* BreakingTheFourthWall:
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]", Lister brings a picture to Arnold and Arnold's quarters (it makes sense in context) and reads the nameplate. 'Second Technician, Arnold J. Rimmer, and Second Technician, Arnold J. Rimmer?!' and looks at the camera in a smirking fashion before shaking his head.
** In "Cassandra", after screaming "[[BloodKnight LETS GO KILL SOMETHING, YEAH!]]", Kill Crazy pauses to look at the camera before walking off.
** Cat in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Parallel Universe}} Parallel Universe]]", when he meets Dog. He glances to the camera and says:
---> "I'm not sure what that is but I'm sure it wants to eat me..."
* BrickJoke:
** Taken UpToEleven by ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'', where [[spoiler: the ENTIRE plot is caused by the ending sequence of an episode aired well over a decade ago, well before the hiatus began! "I'm going to eat you, little fishy..."]]
** Hilariously used in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIStokeMeAClipper Stoke Me a Clipper]]". Where [[spoiler: the pet crocodile of a Nazi Captain that Ace used to surf out of an exploding plane winds up landing on two soldiers heads after Ace escapes a base.]] Was für ein Kerl indeed.
** There was an interesting case where they may or may not have set up an incredible bit of {{Foreshadowing}}: In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIStasisLeak Stasis Leak]]", Lister finds a picture of him and Kochanski getting married and a mention of a [[TitleDrop stasis leak]] that leads back in time to before the accident that killed the Red Dwarf crew. He eventually finds Kochanski, but she's already married to a future version of him. Future Lister is a bit of a {{Jerkass}}, but mentions that "in five years' time" they will find another way back into the past. Five years later, "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIOutOfTime Out of Time]]" aired, wherein the Dwarfers find a time machine and are immediately accosted by {{Jerkass}} future version of themselves who have been spending the last few decades being gourmands; dining with the richest and most powerful people in history, many of whom were "a bit dodgy" (such as Marie Antoinette and literal Nazis). Whether a series known for its MST3KMantra as far as continuity is concerned actually intended to make a such a bit of foreshadowing, or the writers remembered and wrote an episode with that in mind, or if it was a happy accident, [[RiddleForTheAges we'll likely never know for sure]].
* BrilliantButLazy: Lister. He's a complete slob, but when forced into action has demonstrated a great deal of ingenuity and resourcefulness. In Ace Rimmer's parallel universe, he's one of the top flight engineers in the Space Corps. As of Series X, he's studying to better himself.
* BritainIsOnlyLondon:
** Averted; London is never seen or even mentioned in a major way prior to ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]''. The only time it really gets mentioned prior to that is on a roadsign in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]," and even then it's flipped, rendering the city's name as "Nodnol" -- contrary to popular belief, the backwards universe stuff in that episode is actually set in the city of Retsehcnam (Manchester, where the first three series were produced) rather than Nodnol, as indicated by a barely visible sign in one shot.
** Grimsby is also mentioned, as are several other places. Lister, of course, is from Looprevil.
* BrokenAce: Arnold J. Rimmer is a literal example of the trope. Sucked dry of his negativity and neuroses (themselves powerful enough to destroy a LotusEaterMachine) by an EmotionEater, he ''immediately'' turns into [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]] (what a guy!). Eventually, he [[spoiler:becomes the next Ace Rimmer - as each one dies, he recruits the next, and so on, until it finally reaches Arnie himself. It is mostly his neuroses that hold him back - but luckily for him, the Red Dwarf universe has it set that pretty much every Rimmer gets redeemed.]] Before then, he makes an awesome LastStand at the end of Series 6.
* BrokeTheRatingScale: Dave Lister frequently talks about writing Michelin Guides or similar about various settings, resulting in "Legion" getting a psycho rating of "four and a half chainsaws, maybe five". Rimmer suggests that the G-Tower from The Tank in series 8 probably gets "the full five slop-out buckets" in the guide to Penal Hell-Holes.
* BrotherSisterIncest: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III The Last Day}} The Last Day]]" Rimmer theorizes this is why Lister's parents abandoned him. [[spoiler: His words are almost prophetic, in that that they were actually mother and son. Where he's his own father... it's weird, okay?]]
** In "Rimmerworld", [[spoiler:Rimmer realises that the female clone he's trying to create would technically be his sister. He decides she doesn't need to know, and follows the original plan. Also, by this logic, the clones are all technically brothers and sisters to each other and by the time Lister and co. arrive, 600 years have passed which means the current batch of Rimmer clones must be descendents of the originals.]]
* BuffySpeak: The Cat's knowledge of most spacial phenomena boils down to "wibbly thing" or "swirly thing". At one point, Lister asks if he can't be perhaps a ''little'' more "scientific".
-->'''Cat:''' At this early stage, I'd hate to commit myself and wind up looking like a fool! Come see for yourself!
-->'''Lister:''' A wibbly thing or a swirly thing, and he refuses to commit himself? He's losing it. He ''really'' is!
* BuildingOfAdventure: The ship is city-sized and the primary setting.
** In some [[AllThereInTheManual supporting material]], it's stated that the ship is 5 miles long, 4 miles wide, and 3 miles high. Which is 60 cubic miles of solid infrastructure to have adventures in. "Justice" mentions that Rimmer goes on a three week rambling holiday of the ship's diesel decks.
* BuriedAlive: Rimmer is buried alive by the hidden psychopath in "Cured".
* ButHeSoundsHandsome: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Thanks For The Memory}} Thanks For The Memory]]" Holly appears on a recording Holly doesn't remember making (the crew's memories were erased). Initially, he comments, "Nice-looking bloke," and then when the recorded Holly tells them to pause the recording, he does so, because he "Knows what he's talking about, that dude."
* BuxomIsBetter: When choosing the breast size for a new female computer, Rimmer insists on choosing 36D as her breast size, as opposed to Kryten's 30A choice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:C-D]]
* TheCaligula: In "Rimmerworld", [[spoiler: Rimmer genetically engineers an entire society made of clones of himself. He becomes TheCaligula of his own society only to be overthrown by his underlings, much like the historical figure this trope is based on.]]
** The TropeNamer himself appears in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Meltdown}} Meltdown]]" as part of the "Evil" waxdroid army.
* CallBack:
** The largest design on the back of Lister's leather jacket in Series X is... [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Wilma Flintstone.]]
** The news broadcast that Rimmer watches in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]" is Groovy Channel 27, the same channel that Lister mentioned back in "Future Echoes".
** Some of the [=DVDs=] in the shop in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]" hark back to older seasons, most notably ''[[ShowWithinAShow Mugs Murphy]]'' from series I and II and ''Die Screaming With Sharp Things In Your Head'' from "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]".
** "Can of Worms", the final episode of Season XI has a few beyond just bringing back a Polymorph. Aside from the Morphlings shape-changing having the same sound effect as the original Polymorph from Season III, the personality tuck that Lister goes through has a couple of references to "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Bodyswap}} Bodyswap]]" - such as downloading Lister's mind onto a memory stick to be restored later and the expression Lister has while sitting in the machine is the same one he had in "Bodyswap" after the mind enema was administered (staring blankly forward with one eye, the other eye crossed while his tongue lolls out slightly).
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: What lands them in the brig during Series VIII. Despite being found innocent of the original charges against them, because they used classified crew data for their own advantage, they are found guilty of a totally ''different'' crime.
* CanonImmigrant: The concept of evolved rats finally appeared in an alternate universe in the series XII finale, "Skipper", having first appeared in the tabletop RPG.
* CaptainsLog:
** Holly would start the episodes of the first two series with a sort-of CaptainsLog introduction. Captain Hollister also keeps a diary of some kind.
** The first episode of Series VII, "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIITikkaToRide Tikka to Ride]]", opens with Lister recording a captain's log (he even parodies the Franchise/StarTrek format).
-->'''Lister:''' Ship's Log, uhhh... ''one''! I decided to keep a journal of life onboard ship and send it off on a probe! Since turning 28, I've felt a new maturity about myself and I can't remember the last time I tried to urinate on Rimmer from the top of D Deck. ''(beat)'' Oh, wait a minute. Friday! But, apart from that one lapse, maturity-wise I'm practically up there with Abe Lincoln and Moses!
* CassetteFuturism: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]", Kryten explains that the human race flirted with [=DVDs=] but reverted to VHS cassettes, because unlike a small thin disc, a big boxy cassette is virtually impossible to misplace.
* CatapultNightmare: Lister in "Blue", after [[spoiler:he and Rimmer kiss in the dream]].
** Not so much Catapult Nightmare as Trebuchet Nightmare. Lister violently throws himself out of his bunk.
* CatchPhrase:
** Male Holly developed a few:
--> "All right, dudes?" "What's 'appenin', dudes?" "Emergency. Emergency. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment There's an emergency going on.]] It's still going on."
** Ace Rimmer's one:
--> '''Ace Rimmer:''' Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
** The Cat is extremely fond of asking "What is it?". This is occasionally repeated to the point of an OverlyLongGag.
* CatFolk: The ship's cats evolved over the eons into a species of humanoids, one of whom is a main character (and the vast majority of whom emigrated away from ''Red Dwarf'' long before.)
* CattlePunk: The second half of "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".
* CensorshipBySpelling: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Parallel Universe}} Parallel Universe]]", when the Cat meets the Dog, the Dog insists that he spell out "bath"... and then doesn't understand him when he does.
* CerebusCallBack: In Series XII, Rimmer tells the others that, as a child, he spent ages staring at the family fish tank and wishing he could be a fish, swimming around peacefully with no troubles or worries, as a way to escape his utterly miserable life. Back in the very first episode, it was mentioned that he had a breakdown during an exam and wrote out "I am a fish" 400 times. The exam incident is changed from something funny to something tragic, 30 years after it was first broadcast.
* CharacterAsHimself:
** "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Timeslides}} Timeslides]]" has a special guest star credited at the start of the episode: ''UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler''. True to their word, Hitler appears through use of StockFootage of his Nuremburg speech, which Lister interrupts.
** "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]" combines this with CelebrityParadox and ActingForTwo with Creator/CraigCharles playing both Lister and himself. Some of the other ''Series/CoronationStreet'' cast appear as themselves.
* CharacterisationMarchesOn: Rimmer is initially portrayed as utterly subservient to authority come what may. However, in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Stasis Leak}} Stasis Leak]]", he loses his temper and assaults the captain multiple times[[note]]though the second time he was convinced that the captain was just a hallucination, given he was dressed as a chicken for a costume party[[/note]]. He also calls Todhunter "a big lig" in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonITheEnd The End]]" after the latter agrees that he's a smeghead, goes on a brief tirade about the captain after hearing the personal remarks about him in "Waiting for God", and the first assault happened because he thought Lister should have been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for the mushroom prank. In short, he respects authority only so long as they seem to be agreeing with him.
* CheatedDeathDiedAnyway: Rimmer travels back into the past and somehow alters his own history in a way that when he returns to the present he's still alive instead of being a hologram- only to be killed moments later.
* ChickenWalker: ''Blue Midget'', post-retcon.
* ChristmasEpisode: Although the show never had a genuine television episode set around Christmas, a mobisode was released in the late 2000s which has a Christmas theme. It revolves around the crew meeting Santa and his reindeer and playing charades with them. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, this is not being made up]].
* ClicheStorm: In universe, the Expenoids tend to speak in clichés. Lampshaded by Lister, who calls them out on not having any original {{Evil Plan}}s or sayings.
-->'''Simuloid:''' Well, well, WeMeetAgain!
-->'''Lister:''' Smeggin' hell, you boys really are walking cartoons, aren't you?
-->'''Simuloid:''' I think we are NotSoDifferent, you and I.
* CliffhangerCopout: More common than actual cliffhanger ''resolutions''.
** In "Balance of Power", Lister takes an exam to become the ship's chef just so that he will outrank Rimmer. At the end of the episode he gets the results; Rimmer asks how he did, and Lister replies: "That's 'How did you do, ''Mr Lister, sir!'''" In the OpeningNarration of the next episode, "Waiting for God", Holly simply adds: "Last week, Lister pretended he'd passed the chef's exam, but really he'd failed. That should tell you how interesting things are around here."
** The Series II finale, of course, ended with [[MisterSeahorse Lister becoming pregnant]], this was quickly explained away in the Series III premiere as part of a wall of UnreadablyFastText.
** Series VI ended with the entire crew aboard ''Starbug'' as it was destroyed by their future selves. A quick gag at the beginning of Series VII reveals that this caused a paradox that hit the ResetButton.
** Finally, the Series VIII finale "Only the Good..." ends with the ship doomed. ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'' starts with an intact ship and the words "Nine Years Later", and otherwise does not reference "Only the Good..." in any way (though Rimmer, and seemingly the entire crew minus Lister, are dead and a hologram again). This particular cop-out continues three years later in "The Beginning", with two separate discussions on how they got out of it- both are [[TheUnreveal interrupted before the reveal]].
* CluckingFunny: Lister was transformed into a chicken in "DNA".
* [[ClusterFBomb Cluster Smeg Bomb]]: Lister and Rimmer, one each.
-->'''Lister''' (in "Bodyswap", while in Rimmer's body)''':''' Oh, smeg! What the smeggin' smeg's he smeggin' done?! He's smeggin' ''killed'' me!!
-->'''Rimmer''' (In "Only The Good..." to a vending machine)''':''' Why don't you just smegging well smeg off, you annoying litle smeggy smegging smegger?
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Rimmer in Series VI can switch between soft-light (intangible) or hard-light (solid) mode. You can tell which he currently is because his soft-light outfit is red and his hard-light outfit is blue.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
** In the Series X episode, "The Beginning", a rogue simulant reports to his master that they had lost the crew of ''Red Dwarf'' in an asteroid field, at which point the master, who has been described as being bred for pure malice and hatred, hands him his sword and tells him "You know what to do", [[YouHaveFailedMe at which point, the subordinate disembowels himself.]] The master gets annoyed and tells him he was ''supposed to'' polish it. However, in a later scene, after complaining he wants his [[BenevolentBoss subordinates to question his orders]], another subordinate points out that the last one who did was executed, at which point [[BadBoss the master orders him hauled away to be executed]], so, he might have been intentionally messing with the first guy.
** In the Series III episode, "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Marooned}} Marooned]]", Rimmer finding out that Lister lost his virginity aged 12 - and taking issue with the fact that this must have meant he wasn't a full member of the golf club where he lost it.
** In "Entangled", Rimmer rants about the health and safety regulations being so incredibly lax, pointing to the radiation disaster that wiped out the crew as proof. Lister counters that had more to do with Rimmer's incompetence failing to repair the drive plate properly and Rimmer takes that as further proof that the [[PointyHairedBoss higher-ups]] failed basic health and safety by assigning him [[TooDumbToLive to do the repair!]]
*** On reflection, he may [[FridgeBrilliance actually have a point]]. We know that Rimmer is convinced that he could rise above his station if only his superiors would give him the 'break' he craves, and we know that Rimmer badgered Capt. Hollister pretty much at every opportunity he could get (to the extent that Hollister usually did whatever it took just to make him go away). With Lister in stasis, it's entirely plausible that Rimmer started hectoring the captain to give him a chance with something important, and Hollister capitulated just to shut him up - with unfortunately fatal consequences...
*** Indeed, it is the captain's job to assign tasks based on people's skills and qualifications. Regardless of badgering he should never have allowed Rimmer to fix something so potentially catastrophic. You wouldn't let an unqualified person fix a leaking gas pipe in your factory, or even drive a fork lift! Of course Rimmer would accept the task, he's young and eager to please, the captain is really to blame, he's the one who should have known better and never let Rimmer near it - judging by his crew evaluations, he knew well that Rimmer wasn't up to it!
--> '''Holly''': (Reading Rimmer's confidential report) There's a saying amongst the officers: "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well. If it's not worth doing, give it to Rimmer."
** This exchange from "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]" when Lister is berating Rimmer for his chronic NeverMyFault syndrome:
-->'''Lister''': It's always something! You never had the right set of pencils for your G&E drawing! Your dividers don't stretch far enough!
-->'''Rimmer''': Well they don't!
-->'''Lister''': SEE?!
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Queeg}} Queeg]]", Lister tells Rimmer a long and involved story about a rogue AI that's really just a set-up for a weak pun. Rimmer fails to recognise the joke, and reacts to it as a serious story. After a moment, realisation strikes him -- regarding an irrelevant detail of the story, and still completely missing the fact that it was a joke.
* ComicBookAdaptation: The show had one released by Fleetway Comics. It ran for 20 issues between 1992 and 1994 and is most notable for it's incorporation of the DevelopmentGag of having hologrammatic characters being in greyscale.
* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: Lister in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]]". "I resent this. I resent you saving my life in this way!"
** For context, one of Lister's defining traits is that he ''believes'' himself to be a proficient guitar player while, in actual fact, he doesn't seem to know any scales or chords and his guitar isn't remotely in tune. When the Psiren took on his appearance and mentality, it inadvertently adopted Lister's belief of guitar proficiency and translated it into actual skill. Upon realising that the Psiren could actually rock out, Cat, Kryten and Rimmer promptly shot it. To essentially be outed as bad at something he thinks he's good at is what Lister resents.
* CompoundInterestTimeTravelGambit: It is revealed in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]" that Dave left £17.50 in his bank account on Earth. Three million years have passed, and he now owns 98% of the world's wealth. He also left a sausage out on his table which went mouldy; now the mould covers seven-eights of the surface of the Earth. Furthermore, he left the lightbulb in his bathroom, racking up a gigantic debt to the local utility company, which has now become the ruling faction on Earth and [[OhCrap whose battle fleet is rapidly approaching in an Attempt To Collect.]] [[spoiler: It turns out to be a joke by Holly.]]
** Mentioned in the American version. Lister's first words after being informed that he's been in suspended animation for almost three million years involve exclaiming that his baseball cards must be worth a fortune.
** In the original version he also laments that he has an unreturned library book.
* ConsultingMisterPuppet: In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]", Rimmer becomes deranged after contracting a holovirus, and starts associating with a penguin HandPuppet called Mr. Flibble, who was the [[Administrivia/RenamedTropes former trope namer]].
-->'''Rimmer (Shaking with rage):''' Mr. Flibble's very cross. You shouldn't have run away from him. What are we going to do with them, Mr. Flibble?\\
''(Mr. Flibble appears to whisper in Rimmer's ear)''\\
'''Rimmer:''' We can't ''possibly'' do that!\\
''(Mr Flibble tilts to look at the crew)''\\
'''Rimmer:''' Who would clean up the mess?
* ContemplateOurNavels: Either played straight or as a parody of science fiction in general being wont to do this, much of the show was taken up by philosophical ideas via sci-fi trappings, i.e. the manifestation of Lister's confidence and paranoia, or the Inquisitor.
* ContinuityNod:
** In the episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]", Kryten furnishes Rimmer with a copy of the Space Corps Directives manual, when he accuses Kryten of making up the directives he quotes - this act drives the plot of the episode. Following this, Rimmer often quotes directives himself. As a RunningGag, he always gets them wrong (in the most hilarious manner possible) and is corrected by Kryten.
** While [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]] doesn't appear until Series IV, the seeds for his character had already been sown: In the first series episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]", Rimmer, after speaking with his hologramatic double, remarks "What a guy!" and in the second series episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Kryten}} Kryten]]", he asks the other crew members to talk him up to the female survivors of the Nova 5, by [[SmallNameBigEgo calling him by his (alleged) nickname]], "Ace".
* ContrivedCoincidence: Parodied extensively in "Entangled".
** Earlier on, in "Cassandra", the SS Silverburg had been at the bottom of an ocean moon for millions of years, yet it wasn't until after the Canaries boarded it that the bulkhead gave way, drowning many of them.
* CoolCat: Cat obviously, although he's humanoid.
* CoordinatedClothes:
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Parallel Universe}} Parallel Universe]]" in the Cat's song dream sequence, our guys are wearing matching outfits. The Cat is performing the "Tongue Tied" song, and Rimmer and Lister are his backing vocals. The trio is dressed in the same red suits with frills. And they all dance!
** "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]": At the end of the episode, Lister, Kryten and Cat all wear red-and-white checked gingham dresses which Rimmer wore when he was insane, being infected by the holo-virus. The guys probably want to psych him out the same as he psyched out ''them'' with his madness.
* CouchGag: The final line or two of Holly's show-opening distress calls in the first two series.
* CouldntFindAPen: In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]]", the crew find a message left by a man who, lacking a pen, used his own blood and intestines. They were torn as to whether he used his kidney as a full stop (period) or whether it had just "plopped out".
* CourtroomEpisode: "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Justice}} Justice]]".
* CowboyEpisode: The episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" involves the characters entering a virtual Western town that serves as a metaphor for Kryten's struggles with computer virus. The episode even end with ''Starbug'' flying off into the sunset.
* CranialProcessingUnit: Kryten even has spare heads which have their own personalities.
* CraniumChase: In "Cured", Kryten wakes up to discover that his head has been removed from his body and stuck on top of a mop handle. His head starts yelling instructions to his body which is blundering along the corridor searching for it.
* CrapolaTech: Crapola Inc (based in Taiwan) is the TropeNamer, who were responsible for the creation of, among other things, Talkie Toaster, a toaster with obsessive artificial intelligence.
* CrapsackWorld: Humanity is either dead or evolved beyond recognition, either way, they never developed FTL drives to reach this far out in space, leaving the only things for the characters to interact with are remnants of humanity that have also drifted out here and lived so long they've grown completely insane. Killer robots, monstrous viruses, insane holograms, mutant bio weapons. The closest thing to any sort of society are the Gelfs, which is probably a rather generous descriptor for them. It's truly a hopeless and godless world, still, you've got to have a laugh.
* CreatorCameo: Rob Grant appears in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]" as a man un-smoking a cigarette.
* CreditsGag:
** In "Future Echoes", the usual credits roll has the developing polaroid of Lister with his twins over the top.
** In "Waiting for God", the credits stop as Rimmer comes to his horrible realization.
** Rimmer and the skutters play the end theme on a Hammond organ in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Dimension Jump}} Dimension Jump]]".
** A Western-style theme is played for "Gunmen of the Apocalypse"'s credits.
** Music/ElvisPresley (okay, an impersonator) sings the ''Red Dwarf'' theme in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Meltdown}} Meltdown]]".
** In the remastered version of "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]", the credits are indeed shown backwards.
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIStokeMeAClipper Stoke Me a Clipper]]", Ace Rimmer's theme is played instead.
* CreepyCrossdresser: The show plays this trope for laughs a few times:
** In the Series V episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]", Lister is running for his life from the evil versions of the ''Red Dwarf'' crew, until he runs into Evil Rimmer ... wearing what is best described as a Dominatrix-type get up.
** In another Series V episode, "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]". When Rimmer contracts a holo-virus that sends him mad, he appears out of uniform, and holding [[HandPuppet Mr]] [[EnsembleDarkhorse Flibble]]. Also lampshaded:
--->[Rimmer appears in an observation window. He is NOT in uniform.]
--->'''Rimmer''': Is something amiss?
--->'''Lister''': [trying to disguise the tremor in his voice] Amiss? God no. What could possibly be amiss?
--->'''Rimmer''': You don't think there's anything amiss? I'm sitting here wearing a red and white checked gingham dress -- and army boots -- and you think that's un-amiss?
* CringeComedy: Rimmer's hobbies, sex life and general attitude.
* CriticalStaffingShortage: It starts with over 1,000 crew. After almost all of them are killed by a nuclear accident, the ship is manned by two former vending machine technicians (one of whom is dead), a highly evolved cat, and a sanitation droid.
* CryoPrison: The equivalent of the brig on the "Dwarf", and the reason Lister survived the reactor leak.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: In an episode where the lads got split up into a good and an evil part, the good version was portrayed like this.
* CuckooNest: "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back To Reality]]" tries to convince the crew that they were really immersed in a ''Red Dwarf'' video game, a prospect all the more demoralizing when they discover the kinds of people they "really" are and the world they inhabit.
* CulturalStereotypes:
** Death is apparently "like being on holiday with a group of Germans".
** In the USA pilot, death is "like being in an Amish bachelor party".
** Three million years without sex is a long time for an Albanian shepherd who's allergic to wool. A deleted scene reveals the line to originally about a Welsh shepherd.
** Lister's response to Jean Paul Satre's philosophy that "Hell is being trapped for all eternity in a room with your friends" with "All his mates were French".
* CutASliceTakeTheRest: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with.]] Lister carefully measures out a spoonful of curry powder, throws the rest of the can into his mix, and dumps the spoonful back into the can.
* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: One of the recurring jokes on the show is characters threatening very unusual and elaborate acts of violence against each other; i.e., "rip out his windpipe and beat him to death with the tonsil end," "shove my fist so far down his gob, I'll be able to pull the label off his underpants..."
* DamnedByFaintPraise: The Least Worst Scripts.
* DangerWithADeadline: In one episode, Rimmer is playing chess against one of the automated cleaning robots with full knowledge that while the robot might be able to outplay him, it also begins its work shift in a few minutes meaning it has to leave and thus forfeit the game.
* DarkerAndEdgier:
** Series V had much darker and creepier atmosphere than the previous series.
** ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'' has shades of this at points, such as the Garden of Remembrance scene which is played pretty much straight down the line until Cat shows up. In fact, [[spoiler:really any scene involving Lister and Kochanski]].
* DarkWorld: The low ''Red Dwarf'' in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]", complete with a ''Red Dwarf'' crew of [[EvilTwin evil Doppelgängers]].
* ADateWithRosiePalms: A lot of the comedy revolves around the build up of sexual frustration in a small group of males trapped alone with no female companionship.
** Rachel the inflatable sex doll, naturally.
** Inflatable Ingrid.
** Lister broke the groinal attachment on the Artificial Reality machine. In three ''weeks''. It had a lifetime warranty...
** Lister's libido nearly causes a drought due to the endless cold showers he was taking.
** When Nirvanah Crane asks Rimmer what the ''Red Dwarf'' crew do when they want to have sex, he responds that they go for runs or watch gardening programmes.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:Ace Rimmer]], the second time he visits the crew.
* DeadAlternateCounterpart:
** Arnold Rimmer might technically be this to Ace Rimmer, having died in a nuclear accident and been brought back as a [[VirtualGhost hologram]] in the pilot.
** In Ace's second appearance, he's dying and attempting to convince Arnold to continue his dimension-hopping heroics.
** Rimmer turned out to be the latest in a long series of alternate Rimmers who took up the mantle, so many [[spoiler: that his predecessor's holo-bees comprise a Saturn-like planetary ring.]]
* DeepImmersionGaming:
** The titular video game in the episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]".
** The Series VII episode "Duct Soup" contains a scene cut from the original broadcast but restored for the extended DVD release in which Kochanski mentions spending years hooked up to a computer (the actual term "Better Than Life" is not mentioned, but the premise sounds similar) during her school years. After returning to the real world, she confesses to "going off the rails" for a while and becoming a "retro-punk".
* DeflectorShields: While shields are stated to exist, they are distressingly lacking on ''Starbug''. So much so that in "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", the simulants gave their shields an upgrade so they would be more of a challenge.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
** "The Rimmer Experience" is a place of wonder, excitement and... wonder.
** Also, in the beginning of "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Stasis Leak}} Stasis Leak]]", when Rimmer finds Lister reading his diary:
-->'''Rimmer''': Lister, that is my private, personal, private diary full of my personal, private, personal things.
** In "Waiting For God", Rimmer about why he's superior to Lister:
-->'''Rimmer:''' It's because I'm better than you! Better trained, better equipped, better... better. Just-just better!
* DepravedHomosexual: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]": Evil Rimmer, dressed like a punk version of [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow Dr. Frank N Furter]], tells Lister in his most intimidating voice:
-->"First, I'm going to whip you within an inch of your life. Then... I'm going to have you."
* DespairEventHorizon: The venom of the Suicide Squid in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back To Reality]]" creates a hallucination designed to cause this. For Kryten the thing which pushes him over the edge is taking a human life; for Lister it's 'discovering' that his 'real' self is a brutal enforcer for a totalitarian regime; for Rimmer it's no longer being able to blame his shortcomings on his upbringing; and for Cat it's...[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking not being cool any more]].
-->'''Cat:''' Duane Dibbley..?
* DiabolusExMachina:
** Used for comedic effect in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Timeslides}} Timeslides]]".
** Used seriously in [[spoiler: "Only the Good..."]]
* DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready:
-->'''Cat''': So, what is it?
-->'''Lister''': Oh, someone punch him out!
* DinnerOrderFlub: Gazpacho Soup Day!
* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler: Captain Hollister in "Skipper", in an alternate reality, tries to escape the impending radiation leak in an escape pod. It jams.]]
* DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: It's far from being the only excuse he gives, but Rimmer sometimes blames at least some of his awfulness on the fact that he suffers from the worst disability there is: he's dead.
* DistractedByMyOwnSexy: The Cat, repeatedly.
* DistressedDamsel: Princess Bonjela in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIStokeMeAClipper Stoke Me a Clipper]]".
* TheDitz: The Cat. The old Cat Priest tells us it runs InTheBlood:
-->'''Cat Priest''': Then the boy was born, to the cripple and the idiot!
-->'''The Cat''': What idiot?
-->'''Cat Priest''': Your father, boy!
-->'''The Cat''': My father was a jelly brain?!
-->'''Cat Priest''': Yes! That's why he ate his own feet!
-->'''The Cat''': (deadpan) I did wonder.
* DoAndroidsDream: The notion of 'Silicon Heaven' is programmed into all AIs above a certain standard (it's implied that scutters, at least, lack this programming). In the episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III The Last Day}} The Last Day]]", Kryten faces shutdown, and accepts it humbly because of his belief in Silicon Heaven. Lister tries to argue him out of his belief, apparently unsuccessfully; however, Kryten later disables his robocidal replacement, Hudzen, with the same arguments Lister used on him.
-->'''Hudzen:''' (in existential agony) No... Silicon heaven? Calculators... Just... ''Die''?
** [[spoiler:Kryten then explains that he was only using these arguments to disable Hudzen, and that his faith in Silicon Heaven is unshaken.]]
* DomesticApplianceDisaster: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Kryten}} Kryten]]", Lister tries to press his least slovenly clothes into a fit state to impress the female crew the Dwarfers are about to rescue -- or so he thinks. Discovering he has burnt an iron-shaped hole in his garment, Lister shrugs, puts it on anyway, and spray-paints the skin underneath with an almost- matching color of spray-paint, so as to conceal the hole...
* DontAsk: The Cat says this to the others in the episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]", having just found out what going to the loo [[AssShove in reverse]] is like.
* DontBeRidiculous: Lister and the Cat spend a minute sharing sexual fantasies about Wilma Flintstone before Lister points out how absurd they're being.
-->'''Lister:''' She'll never leave Fred and we know it.
* DontExplainTheJoke
-->'''Holly''': Anything's better than listening to an album by Olivia Newton John...
* DoubleVision: And ''how''. Almost every series has an episode which utilizes this effect. "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Stasis Leak}} Stasis Leak]]" utilizes it the most impressively: The characters travel to before the accident, and concludes with ''three'' Listers and ''three'' Rimmers, plus Kochanski and the Cat bickering in Lister and Rimmer's bunk, leading that time period's Rimmer to have a complete mental breakdown:
--->''"'''Three''' Listers! Splendid! Perhaps Lister here would like to go over to the fridge and open a bottle of wine for Lister and Lister! Rimmer here doesn't drink, because he's dead, but ''I'' wouldn't mind a glass!"''
* DoYouWantToCopulate: The Holoship does not have families, and crew members are required to have sex at least twice a day. Refusing an offer of sex is considered bad manners.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Queeg in "Queeg".
* DrivenToSuicide / HeroicSacrifice: When the attempt to cure Lister of the Epideme virus by isolating it in his arm and amputating it fails, he leaves Starbug with the intention of incinerating himself and the virus along with him before he can infect the rest of the crew. However the sentient virus talks him out of it by tricking him into thinking there is still a cure. Fortunately after they discover that this was a lie Kochanski is able to outwit the virus.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: The offscreen death of [[spoiler:Kochanski]] in ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'' is a subversion, as [[spoiler:she is given a memorial scene in Part One, and in Part Two it is revealed she is still alive and Kryten lied about it to Lister.]]
* DrowningPit: The hidden psychopath attempts to dispose of Cat this way in "Cured".
* DrunkWithPower: In the episode "Officer Rimmer", eternal prat Arnold Judas Rimmer is promoted to officer after he weasels his way into a captain's good graces (in fact, he was trying to blow up the captain's ship, which accidentally saved him from an asteroid belt). He immediately starts instituting a blatant class system on the ship with the other crew members relegated to crappy service elevators and corridors while Rimmer opens an exclusive officer's lounge and reclines in luxury. Then he goes one step further by creates dozens of duplicates of himself to order around and sing his praises. By the end, he's forced to give up his promotion when he inadvertently creates a Rimmer-hybrid monster and has to beg the others for help.
* DubInducedPlotHole: In the Czech dub of "Future Echoes", Lister says that he's never eaten chicken vindaloo before (prawn vindaloo in the original), when in a flashback in "Balance of Power" he says that he'd dropped Rimmer's revision timetable into one (he spilled goat vindaloo on it in the original).
* DudeNotFunny: The use of the word 'clitoris' in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Polymorph}} Polymorph]]" offended some viewers to the extent that they ceased their viewership. One Mary Whitehouse-type mother wrote to Creator/TheBBC basically stating that she hadn't wanted her young daughter to know what a clitoris was until the daughter was post-menopausal.
** In universe is Lister's reaction to Holly's comment about Kochanski's only use on Fiji being something to grit a snowy path in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonITheEnd The End]]".
* DuplicateDivergence: The hologram Rimmer was originally a perfect copy of the original, but the years spent with Lister and the others gradually changed him, [[spoiler:to the point where he becomes the newest [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]]]]. When the original Rimmer is restored to life by Kryten's [[{{Nanomachines}} nanobots]], Lister is dismayed at how he's exactly like he used to be.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E-H]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: The final scene of "Twentica" is set on board Red Dwarf, but uses the bunkroom set for Series XII (the scene is filmed in extreme close-up to disguise this). The final scene wasn't recorded on the night of the audience shoot due to time constraints, and by the time they came to film it as a pick-up the set had already been redesigned for the next series.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first two series are this entirely, largely due to the lower budget and CharacterizationMarchesOn:
** The mood is much darker with minimal music. Lister spends much of the time having flashbacks to the days before the disaster, playing pranks on Rimmer and wondering how to get Kochanski back.
** Holly is male, and plays a central role in the story. He would often explain to Lister what was going on. This was often handled by Kryten later on. Series I portrays him as more of a GeniusDitz who understands advanced concepts and sometimes even belittles Rimmer for his stupidity, which gives way to him being more outright stupid in Series II, and especially after he became female.
** They almost never leave the ship - when they do it's using Blue Midget, not Starbug. For Rimmer to go outside he needs to be projected in a 'hologram cage' but he doesn't need to do this later on.
** Kryten did not appear in Series I. He was introduced and only appeared in in the first episode of Series II, but looks, sounds, and acts very different, as he is played by David Ross as an English butler robot. At the time he was only considered a guest character. When they brought him back for Series III, Robert Llewellyn started playing him as a Canadian robot who handled much of the exposition.
** The filming style is more washed out, and Rimmer's hologram 'H' is a different shape.
** Cat mostly acts like a selfish idiot and is mostly there for comic relief rather than adding to the story (in later series he would often pilot Starbug because of his sharper feline senses and reflexes).
** In his first few appearances as a regular cast member, Kryten obeys Rimmer over Lister due to the former being the higher-ranking officer of the two. This subsequently changes to him being programmed to obey living crewmembers (and thereby Lister over Rimmer) over holographic crewmembers, no matter what rank they may be.
* Egopolis: [[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXIITimewave Timewave]] begins with the crew claiming a moon rich in Helium 7 for the JMC. Rimmer proceeds to name the planet 'Planet Rimmer', complete with its star becoming known as 'Sunny Rim'.
* EinsteinHair: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Twentica}} Twentica]]", the crew are looking for Albert Einstein's help in putting together a device to defeat the Expenoids. They're told that he's lost his marbles and is living rough on the streets. They find a guy who fits Einstein's description (Read: Iconic haircut) and drag him back to the speakeasy science lab only to be told that he's just some random bum named Bob. [[spoiler: The guy manages to get the device working anyway.]]
* EldritchLocation: The crew come across several 'alternate universes' where normal laws of physics and reason are skewed or don't exist at all.
** The inverted gender universe in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Parallel Universe}} Parallel Universe]]".
** The backwards running time period in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]".
** The living photographs in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Timeslides}} Timeslides]]".
** ''Red Dwarf'' itself in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV White Hole}} White Hole]]".
** Though "scientifically" explained, the justice zone in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Justice}} Justice]]".
** The psi moon in "Terrorform".
** The effects of the despair squid [[spoiler:and its cousin]] in both "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back To Reality]]" and [[spoiler:''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'']].
** The crew enter a subspace passage surrounded in an infinite void in "Ouroboros".
** The unreality bubbles in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIOutOfTime Out of Time]]".
** The stasis leak from "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Stasis Leak}} Stasis Leak]]".
** [[spoiler: The entire 'prime' universe in "Skipper", before Kryten fixes the quantum skipper - whatever decision is made the opposite happens.]]
* ''ElectionDayEpisode'': The season 12 episode "Mechocracy" sees Kryten and Rimmer running for "Machine President" in order to resolve a strike amongst the machines of the titular ship. The election is initially a draw, but [[spoiler:Kryten wins by making a deal with [[TheBusCameBack Talkie Toaster]] for his vote]].
* EmbarrassingInitials: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Polymorph}} Polymorph]]", the newly anger-free Rimmer's suggestion for dealing with the eponymous alien monster is to form a '''C'''ommittee for the '''L'''iberation and '''I'''ntegration of '''T'''errifying '''O'''rganisms and their '''R'''ehabilitation '''I'''nto '''S'''ociety. He acknowledges that the abbreviation is something of a drawback.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName:
** Kryten-2X4B-523P -- apparently mechanoids consider "2X4B" to be an embarrassing middle name. But at least it's not "2'''Q'''4B"...
** Arnold Judas Rimmer. "Lemons" reveals that the reason Rimmer's mother gave him the name was because she was part of the Church of Judas, who believed that he was Jesus' twin brother, who willingly sacrificed both [[HeroicSacrifice his life]] and [[HeroWithBadPublicity reputation]] to save his brother by taking his place on the cross. [[spoiler: The ending heavily implies she was ''[[TheCuckooLanderWasRight right]]'']].
* EmpathicEnvironment: The psi-moon in "Terrorform".
* TheEndOfTheBeginning: Both the first episode of the very first series ("[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonITheEnd The End]]") and the final episode of series X ("The Beginning").
* TheEndingChangesEverything: In "Give & Take", Lister is kidnapped by an insane medical droid, Asclepius. When Rimmer and Kryten rescue him they accidentally destroy a specimen jar containing two kidneys, then discover that Lister is missing his kidneys, and presume the kidneys they destroyed were Lister's, which had been removed by Asclepius. However, the plot is resolved when [[ItMakesSenseInContext they travel back in time to remove the kidneys from a past version of Lister and implant them in the present-day Lister]], meaning that his kidneys had already been removed before he even met Asclepius - the implication being that the droid was actually perfectly sane, and was trying to give Lister a life-saving operation, and if Rimmer and Kryten had not waded in the events of the episode would never have happened.
* EnhanceButton: Parodied mercilessly in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]" -- Uncrop! It serves as a ShoutOut / TakeThat at the similar scene from ''Film/BladeRunner''.
* EnemyWithout: The crew (and ship) are split into "High" and "Low" copies in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]"; the Highs don't survive very long when they encounter the Lows. In "Terrorform", the entire planet is literally Rimmer's self-hatred attacking him.
* EnthrallingSiren: [[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]] are [[{{Portmanteau}} psychic]] [[PunnyName sirens]], [[AC:[[RecycledINSPACE In Space!]]]]
* EpiphanyTherapy: It's been long established that Rimmer's neuroses are partly the fault of his emotionally distant and controlling father, who [[WellDoneSonGuy never said he was proud of him]] and [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood used to stretch him on a rack so he'd be tall enough to join the Space Corps]]. In the episode "The Beginning" he learns [[spoiler: that this man isn't his father at all]] and this almost instantly cures his self-doubt.
* {{Escapism}}: In an episode, the crew discovers a long-lost VR game called "Better than Life". It's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Cat ''thinks'' he's this - "Face it, buddy, I have a body that makes ''men'' wet!" - but no-one that isn't illusory ever shows any interest in him. Space Corps Special Service Test Pilot Arnold "Ace" Rimmer, on the other hand...
-->'''Bongo''': If you're interested, I'll be in my quarters at lunchtime, covered in taramasalata.
-->'''Ace:''' I didn't know your bread was buttered that side, Bongo.
-->'''Bongo:''' It isn't. I've been happily married for 35 years. It's just, a chap like you can turn a guy's head.
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Yes, really, this does actually crop up in "Holoship". What somewhat influences Rimmer's attempt to become a crew member aboard the titular vessel is the ship requirement, in Kryten's words, "to have sex with beautiful, brilliant women, twice daily, on demand." It's a health rule.
--> '''Rimmer:''' Twice a day? That's more than some people manage in a ''lifetime''!
* EverybodysDeadDave: The core premise and TropeNamer. [[spoiler: And then inverted in "Skipper" when Rimmer leaps to an alternate universe just before the lethal radiation leak, and Holly informs Arnold - in the exact same detail - that yes, everyone is alive, Arnold.]] [[spoiler: A pity they die a couple of minutes later, then.]]
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Cat does not have a name, and is simply called the Cat or Cat throughout the show. The reason for this, according to the books, is that all cats think that they're the center of the universe and the idea that someone might not know who they are is beyond their comprehension.
* EvilTwin:
** The Low counterparts in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]".
** An evil imitation of Lister shows up in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]]".
* EvolutionaryLevels: The evolution of the Cat race stopped once they reached humanoid, plus or minus a few nipples.
** Which makes sense (well, Red Dwarf sense, anyway) given that the whole race evolved in an environment specifically designed and built for human habitation.
* ExoticEntree: The evil future selves in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIOutOfTime Out of Time]]" spend their lives traveling through time so they can eat exotic delicacies like dolphin sweetmeats and baby seal hearts with hosts such as Louis XVI and UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.
* ExplosiveInstrumentation: A couple times early on, more frequent in the later series. [[spoiler:Lister, the Cat and Kryten all die to exploding instrument panels in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIOutOfTime Out of Time]]".]]
* ExplosiveLeash: Lister gets saddled with one by the [=BEGGs=] in "Entangled".
* ExplosiveOverclocking: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV White Hole}} White Hole]]", the crew overclocks Holly, who's been descending deeper and deeper into computer senility, hoping to bring her intelligence back. They get her to an IQ of 12,000, but it drops her lifespan down to less than four minutes.
* ExpositionOfImmortality: Given that the titular space vessel has been travelling away from inhabited human space for three million years, many of the remnants they encounter are at least that old or older.
** The Inquisitor is a [[HealingFactor self-repairing]] simulant who Kryten tells of as "living until the end of time."
** Hudzen 10 was the replacement model for Kryten. And his delivery pod followed the Series 4000 mechanoid through deep space until it found him on the ''Dwarf''; and [[WhoWantsToLiveForever all that time alone did nothing for his sanity chip.]]
** Many of the simulants encountered have been around since they originally rebelled against humanity, too.
** Legion formed as a ''gestalt'' during a series of experiments in shared consciousness by a group of human scientists; he tells us when they died he had to hang around as a "mindless essence" for several million years until the ''Red Dwarf'' crew showed up.
* ExpospeakGag: Played for laughs several times, most notably in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Stasis Leak}} Stasis Leak]]".
-->'''Cat:''' ''(to Rimmer)'' What is it?\\
'''Rimmer:''' It's a rend in the space-time continuum.\\
'''Cat:''' ''(to Lister)'' What is it?\\
'''Lister:''' The stasis room freezes time, you know, makes time stand still. So whenever you have a leak, it must preserve whatever it's leaked into, and it's leaked into this room.\\
'''Cat:''' ''(to Rimmer)'' What is it?\\
'''Rimmer:''' It's singularity, a point in the universe where the normal laws of space and time don't apply.\\
'''Cat:''' ''(to Lister)'' What is it?\\
'''Lister:''' It's a hole back into the past.\\
'''Cat:''' Oh, a magic door! Well, why didn't you say?
* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Can Of Worms}} Can Of Worms]]", Cat is impregnated by a polymorph who shoves her ovipositor down his throat while they are making out.
* {{Facepalm}}: Both Lister and Rimmer frequently facepalmed because of each other's insane ideas, general smeg-headedness or extreme and disgusting slobbishness.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Getting back to Earth.
* FaintInShock:
** Rimmer does it in "Psirens" after viewing a graphic demonstration of how and what the eponymous monsters eat
** In "Epideme" The Cat freezes up and keels over after seeing Kochanski apparently chop off her own arm. (Amusingly, he's just left lying on the floor, incredulous index finger still extended.)
* FangThpeak: The Cat suffers a little bit of this from time to time.
* FantasticDrug:
** Outrazone (prounced vaguely like "ultrazone" in a mock-Canadian accent) is a chemical gunk that is apparently marijuana for mechanoids.
** A second season episode mentions a powerful hallucinogenic mushroom species native to Titan (one of the moons of Saturn).
** Apparently, by the time before Arnold Rimmer caused Red Dwarf's fatal accident, humanity had learned to create a form of gin out of marijuana. They called it [[ShapedLikeItself Marijuana Gin]].
** In the pre-accident flashback in "Balance Of Power", Rimmer admits that he's taking learning drugs to help him revise. Unfortunately, they work a little ''too'' well and all he ends up memorising is the conversation he has with Lister, Petersen, Chen, and Selby in the ship's bar regarding his revision timetable.
* FantasticVermin: The ''Starbug'' has an infestation of "space weevils" the size of large rats.
* FasterThanLightTravel:
** Explicitly done in "Future Echoes".
** The teleporter apparently works based on 'subspace', allowing for instant transportation.
* FatAndSkinny: Baxter and Kill Crazy in Series VIII.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Incredibly, PlayedForLaughs (just like everything else) when the guys are interviewing potential replacements for Rimmer.
--> '''Lister:''' Well, of course, there's one or two other people we have to see, but, in theory, if offered the post of replacement hologram, would you accept?
--> '''Miss Harrison:''' No.
--> '''Lister:''' ''(clearly disappointed)'' No?
--> '''Miss Harrison:''' No, I think I'm better off where I am.
--> '''Cat:''' But you're dead!
--> '''Miss Harrison:''' And meeting you guys has really made me appreciate it ''a whole lot more''.
* FeeFiFauxPas: Rimmer's last words were "Gazpacho soup", which Lister eventually discovers is because, when he'd been with the Space Corps for 13 years, he got invited to have dinner with the Captain and, being arrogant and ignorant, he had no idea that the Gazpacho soup starter was meant to be served cold and so he demanded it be taken away and heated. He considers this perhaps the biggest reason why he never went anywhere in the ranks, going on an anguished rant about how he could have been somebody if it had ever been mentioned to him that Gazpacho soup is drunk cold while he was in training. Lister kindly refrains from pointing out that it is more likely that Rimmer never got anywhere because he is an unlikeable incompetent with more ego than skill.
** The point that this incident could not possibly account for the prior 13 years of failure bears repeating.
* FeetFirstIntroduction: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]", the evil version of Rimmer is introduced walking down a stairway to menace Lister, revealing that he's [[CreepyCrossdresser dressed as a sexually sadistic dominatrix]].
* FictionalBoardGame: One episode starts with Rimmer and Lister playing a game called mine-opoly, which appears to be a [=JMC=] branded version of monopoly.
%%* FictionalDocument: The Space Corps Directives.
* FictionalGreetingsAndFarewells:
** There is the the "Rimmer Salute".
** The "Ace Rimmer" goes "Smoke me a kipper. I'll be back for breakfast".
* FictionalSport: Zero Gee Football, as followed by Dave Lister. Appears to be a form of grid-iron football played in a closed dome (Jim Bexley Speed apparently plays "roof attack", and appears on a poster over Lister's bunk looking something like the San Diego Chargers uniform.)
* FictionalVideoGame: Mention is made of VR-immersion games such as "Better Than Life" and "Streets of Loredo", while an unnamed text-adventure game features a character named [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf the Master Wizard]].
* FingerLickingPoison: In "Back in the Red", [[spoiler: with a (non-lethal) drug in the seal of an envelope]].
* FirstEpisodeTwist: Spoiler alert: Lister is the last human alive and is stranded 3 million years into deep space, accompanied only by the hologram of his dead bunkmate Rimmer, a senile computer and a creature that evolved from his pet cat. Naturally, watching the debut episode means waiting for this situation to establish itself. The original trailer for the show carefully avoided revealing that everyone except Lister would be killed off, only using footage from ''before'' the accident that kills the crew and, after providing short bios for Lister and Rimmer (not mentioning the Cat at all) saying that viewers would have to tune in to find out about the rest of the cast...
** An early plan for the show, discussed in DVD commentaries, was to take this idea even further. The senior crew of the ship would have been played by well-known actors and the first episode would focus on them -- right up to the point where they all died and attention shifted to characters who had been treated as little more than extras up to that point.
* FiveFingerFillet: In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonITheEnd The End]]", Petersen can be seen doing this (badly) with a pen.
* FixItInPost: In a smeg-up from "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Meltdown}} Meltdown]]", Lister knocks on an obviously-wooden-sounding wall and says, matter-of-factly, "Stone," causing the audience to start laughing. Their laughter set off Danny John-Jules, further ruining the take, at which point Craig Charles shouted at the audience "They were gonna sort that out in the dub!"
* {{Flanderization}}: The Cat goes from being a rather ditzy guy who acts like a cat and likes his clothes to a guy who's obsessed with fashion and sometimes says stupid things to just being really, really stupid, having virtually no lines that don't have to do with clothes, and few to no feline tendencies at all.
** On the other hand, he also goes from being completely self-absorbed (as in, he cares more about his lunch than a dying Lister) and absolutely unhelpful to being Lister's buddy who will even sometime go out of his way for him. He also becomes rather more helpful to the crew in general. While Cat's initial traits DID get exaggerated, it also came with more screentime and him becoming more than a random wandering gag.
** He's also become a good pilot as of Series VI.
** While Lister's song writing skills prior to Series VI were less than ideal, he was still capable of playing guitar without causing pain and suffering to those around him.
** Lister also suffers despite having [[CharacterDevelopment grown a fair bit]] during the first six series. Series VII sees him acting like a complete idiot, it's hard to believe this was the same guy who was 'faulted' by the clones in Rimmerworld for being brave, selfless and charismatic.
** Kryten abruptly becomes something of a Mother Hen-like figure after Kochanski arrives, with several episodes of series VII being about his issues with her, and he starts nagging all the characters a lot more. Toned down in Series VIII.
** Holly starts off as a fairly competent computer with the occasional moments of ditzy-ness, but it gets worse with each series (such as in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV White Hole}} White Hole]]" where she can only count by hitting her head on the screen) and by series VII and VIII he's completely out of it, offering advice and plans that don't make any sense (although with the odd moments of lucidity). This could be explained by his computer senility just getting worse, though.
** Rimmer's cowardice isn't referenced in the first series. In fact, his first reaction to seeing The Cat is to attempt to attack him. By "Backwards", his first reaction to a BarBrawl is to hide under a table at the first sign of trouble.
* AFoolForAClient: This happens in the series, allowing the setup of the following gag:
-->'''Rimmer:''' If only I'd hired a smarter lawyer, instead of the brain-dead, pompous, stupid-haired git I ended up with.
-->'''Lister:''' You defended ''yourself''!
* {{Foreshadowing}}: An unintended one; the gag at the end of "Rimmerworld" was originally intended for future Lister to come into the room after the gang had teleported out, oblivious to the fact that their past selves had just been there. This was eventually cut, leading into "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIOutOfTime Out of Time]]", where something horrible ''has'' happened to Lister.
--> '''Future Rimmer''': Rimmerworld was weeks ago! [[SarcasmMode We're now more concerned with the really horrible thing that's happened to Lister!]]
* ForWantOfANail: One little split in the destiny line created Ace Rimmer. However, it turns out that it's ''not'' getting a break and passing a test that created Ace - it's being held back a year and humiliated that made him finally fight back, which makes ''our'' Rimmer's "it's not my fault, I just had a bad childhood" line technically true.
* FreakyFridayFlip: "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Bodyswap}} Bodyswap]]".
* FreezeFrameEnding: "Balance of Power" ends on a freeze frame of Lister leaping into the air in victory. This was done as a pragmatic measure: while filming the scene, Craig Charles landed badly and injured his back, rendering the end of the shot unusable and preventing reshoots.
* FreudianTrio: Kind of a meta-example, but the producers (Rob Grant, Doug Naylor, Ed Bye) could sort of count as a power trio. Rob Grant was known for the impulsive and quick episodic comedy side, and given his rather large girth (In more recent years anyway. In his CreatorCameo, he hasn't really gotten fat yet.), could be identified as the id. Doug Naylor focuses on, and think too too much, on the science fiction element and on story arcs, that could identify him as the superego, and can be somewhat too serious. Ed Bye provides a balance between the two, he can be serious, but he also has a laugh (as evidenced in "Only The Good..." when he cameo'd as the Grim Reaper) .
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: Rimmer and the Cat almost never interacted in the early series: Rimmer didn't think of the Cat as a person, and the Cat, before he got more [[CharacterizationMarchesOn domesticated]] later on, had no interest in a man who couldn't feed him.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In a CallBack to the Blue/Red Alert bulb gag from Series VI, the Series XI/XII Starbug has a sign in the cockpit with the phrase "NOT ALERT".
* FunWithAcronyms: "The Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society."
** Rimmer jokes that Canaries is in fact an acronym for "Convict Army: Nearly All Retarded Inbred Evil Sheepshaggers" just before he's informed that he's been signed up too.
* FurryConfusion: Even though The Cat is on the 'almost human' of the SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism, his mannerisms and habits are still very much cat like, more so than most actual cat furries with fur and a tail.
* UsefulNotes/FurryFandom: Although it was made before the Internet made the fandom famous, "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVDNA D.N.A.]]" has Rimmer ask incredulously if Lister is claiming to enjoy strapping on a bushy tail and naming himself 'Nutkin' when Lister, attempting to explain why he feels Kryten should change back into a Mechanoid, mentions his envy of a squirrel he saw in the botanical gardens after getting dumped by Kochanski.
* FutureImperfect: The Cat race took Lister and his dream of retiring to Fiji and turned them into the Cat god Cloister the Stupid and the promised land of Fuschal. Lister, Rimmer and even Holly make historical inaccuracies, but it's tough to tell whether they're owed to widespread historical distortion or to the many varied failings of the characters.
--> '''Rimmer''': They laughed at Galileo. They laughed at Edison. They laughed at ''Series/{{Columbo}}!''\\
'''Lister''': Who's Columbo?\\
'''Rimmer''': The man with a dirty mac who discovered America!
* FutureMeScaresMe: Played for laughs in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Stasis Leak}} Stasis Leak]]", played straight in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIOutOfTime Out of Time]]".
* GaggingOnYourWords: Kryten's attempts to lie in "Camille".
* GagPenis:
** Kryten's "groin attachment".
** Archie could qualify.
** Judging by his reaction in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Bodyswap}} Bodyswap]]", either Lister has one or Rimmer has [[TeenyWeenie shortcomings]].
** In "Only the Good...", [[spoiler:Rimmer gets one (not seen) in the universe where everything's opposite]].
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVDNA D.N.A.]]", when Kryten becomes human, he hands Lister two polaroids of his 'groinal attachment' which have to be held together to get the whole thing in.
* GainaxEnding: ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'' has retroactively turned "Only the Good..." into this. The End? The smeg it was...
* GargleBlaster: Several.
** Holly's "android home brew" in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III The Last Day}} The Last Day]]" is lethal to humans, and probably to androids as well.
** In "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", Sheriff Kryten asks for the stuff that guarantees you'll get your eyesight back in three days.
** Baxter's hooch in "Only the Good..." is "about 300% proof," according to Rimmer. He's not far wrong, as a single sip renders him and Lister unable to stand unaided.
* GenderBender: Holly.
* GenesisEffect: In the episode "Rimmerworld", Rimmer does this to a barren planet.
* GeneticAbomination: Several.
** The Despair Squid, an apex predator resulting from an artificially enhanced evolutionary arms race. "It's got three alternatives - it thinks we're either a threat, food or mate. It's either gonna kill us, eat us or hump us."
** The Polymorph, a genetically-engineered shapechanging emotional vampire.
** The Gelfs, Genetically Engineered Life Forms who are... basically just ugly.
** Emohawks - semi-domesticated Polymorphs used by the Gelfs to trade emotions, and also to get back at people who cross them.
* GhostCity:
** Most American cities in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIITikkaToRide Tikka to Ride]]".
** The ''Red Dwarf'' itself qualifies.
* GildedCage: Legion imprisons the ''Red Dwarf'' crew in one.
* GlobalCurrency: The "dollarpound" (or "quidbuck," if you're in a hurry), although early episodes used pounds.
* GirlfriendInCanada: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Can Of Worms}} Can Of Worms]]", Cat claims that he is not a virgin because he knows these two lady cats that live on Z deck. And who the others have never met.
* AGlassInTheHand: Once Rimmer became a HardLight hologram, he could vent his frustration on inanimate objects.
* GodlySidestep: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV White Hole}} White Hole]]", Holly gains an IQ of over 12,000 and professes to know the meaning of the universe. The only being present to ask her is a toast-obsessed kitchen appliance, and any questions it puts forward end up being about bread. Before anyone else can ask, she realises she has three minutes to live and refuses to communicate with anyone.
* GodTest: Lister's comments have been misinterpreted over the years as the promises of a god, leading to this hilarious exchange:
--> '''Lister''': I am your god."
--> '''Cat''' ''(gesturing to a table):'' "If you're God, turn this into a woman.
--> '''Lister''': I'm serious.
--> '''Cat''': So am I!
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: [[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIITheLastDay Hudzen 10]]. After millions of years following after Kryten (so as to replace him), his "sanity chip" has been completely worn out, leaving him a deranged psychopath fully willing to harm a human.
* GoneHorriblyRight:
** The Despair Squid was the result of compressing 5 billion years of evolution into 3 years. It killed just about everything in the ocean.
** Also Pree, a computer intended to allow people to achieve more in less time by finishing tasks for them in the manner they would finish them. On a ship with a competent crew this is a desirable thing. On ''Red Dwarf'' ... less so.
* GoodAngelBadAngel:
** Confidence and Paranoia in, unsurprisingly, "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Confidence and Paranoia}} Confidence and Paranoia]]". [[spoiler: Although it's up for debate which is which]]
** Also the episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]".
** In "Terrorform", Rimmer's resurrected self-confidence versus, well, everything else in his mind.
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: The Highs in "Demons and Angels" when presented with the Lows.
-->'''High Kryten:''' The poor wretch, he has a faulty gun! He's accidentally shot me five times! [[TooDumbToLive Oh, how I love him!]]
-->'''High Cat:''' [[TooDumbToLive Brother, there is a grievous fault with thine weapon.]] It [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe keepeth]] shooting people.
* GrandTheftMe: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Bodyswap}} Bodyswap]]", Rimmer repeatedly swaps bodies with people while they're sleeping, without their consent, so he can experience physical sensations such as eating.
* GratuitousPrincess: There's inexplicably a princess in the middle of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, apparently there solely so [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]] can [[SaveThePrincess rescue her]] while fighting Nazis. What a guy.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Space Corps Directive Manual is remarkably comprehensive, with guidance on situations ranging from the commonplace to the singularly bizarre. Unfortunately, its organization apparently leaves something to be desired, as said commonplace and bizarre situations are often referenced in directives that are listed right next to each other. This is a source of continuing embarrassment for Rimmer, who in the later series has got the book ''almost'' memorized, but keeps getting the last one or two critical digits wrong whenever he tries to cite it.
* GroinAttack:
** Rimmer does this to [[spoiler:the Grim Reaper]] in "Only the Good...", has it done to him (in a way) by [[spoiler:Lister]] in ''Back to Earth'', and gets it from Petersen's arm in "Balance of Power" after he thinks he's outsmarted it. It had previously been aiming much higher.
** Cat is implied to have done this to Lister (in self-defense, since Lister was being remote-controlled into strangling him) in " [[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]".
** And what is Cat more dismayed about? The creases in the collar of his suit, of course.
-->'''Cat:''' Look what you did to my neckline! This stuff ''never'' springs back!
** Inverted in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III The Last Day}} The Last Day]]" by Hudzen 10. His promotional video shows him breaking a brick in half with his groinal attachment.
** In "Entangled", Lister is fitted with a "groin exploder" to ensure he pays his debts after losing Rimmer in a game of poker.
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Polymorph}} Polymorph]]", Lister accidentally attacks his ''own'' groin with a baseball bat.
* GuileHero: In spite of everything, the Dwarfers are remarkably good at thinking quickly and improvising battle plans when the chips are down and they have almost nothing to work with. [[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVTheInquisitor "The Inquisitor"]] and "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXTheBeginning The Beginning]]" are the most notable examples.
* HalfwayPlotSwitch: Used in quite a few episodes. "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Justice}} Justice]]" subverts this by starting off as a story about ''Red Dwarf'' finding an escape pod and needing to find out who its occupant is, then switching halfway through to being about Rimmer being put on trial for his role in the accident that killed the ship's crew, before switching back to the original plot near the end.
* HamsterWheelPower: Appears twice, first in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV White Hole}} White Hole]]" when the ship's power is turned off and the Cat makes Lister pedal in an attempt to fry an egg with a hairdryer (before insisting he power the electric blanket while he sleeps) and secondly in a metaphorical sense when Ace Rimmer attempts to train Rimmer to take on his mantle by encouraging him to 'be the cougar running free', and Rimmer's efforts are visualised as a hamster in a wheel.
* HandCannon:
** The simulant's pistol from "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Justice}} Justice]]", complete with [[BayonetYa bayonet]].
** Kryten makes use of a bazookoid pistol in series VI, which is essentially a scaled down version of the standard bazookoid and is almost as effective.
* HandOrObjectUnderwear: Done with pieces of paper that say "Top Secret."
* HangingUpOnTheGrimReaper: In one episode, Arnold Rimmer [[GroinAttack knees the Reaper in his groin]] when he comes to claim him.
-->'''Rimmer''': Not today matey! Only the good die young!
-->'''Reaper''': That's... never happened before.
* HateSink: Rimmer is an ''in-universe'' example. He was picked out by Holly to be recreated as the hologram companion to last human Lister, because Holly knew that hating Rimmer was the one thing that could keep Lister sane. Per the trope page, his list of character traits indeed ''"includes pettiness, selfishness, stubbornness, greed, holier-than-thou contempt, cowardice, and an inexhaustible penchant for making bad decisions. He may also be rude and obnoxious, bigoted, sleazy, and undeservedly smug."'' This is Rimmer's personality to a tee. The twist is that whereas ''"a particularly pointed Karmic Death is always a nice touch, and can be quite satisfying to watch"'', Rimmer has ''already had one''.
-->'''Lister''': Drop dead, Rimmer.
-->'''Rimmer''': Already have done.
-->'''Lister''': ''Encore.''
* HeadDesk:
** Lister bangs his head on the table in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Queeg}} Queeg]]" when he finds out that all he got for dinner is burnt toast and one pea. His head goes down when he loses his pea.
** While Rimmer is explaining to Lister that the latter has accidentally signed himself (and, unbeknownest to Rimmer, the other main characters) into a suicide squad, partway through the explanation, Lister starts banging his head on a table.
** Rimmer in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIStokeMeAClipper Stoke Me a Clipper]]" when Ace makes contact with ''Starbug''.
* TheHeartless: "Terrorform" is a planet without even the vestiges of a heart that Rimmer has.
* HeldBackInSchool: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Dimension Jump}} Dimension Jump]]", we learn that Rimmer almost was held back a year but just managed to avoid it. Ace Rimmer on the other hand was held back a year and it was crucial turning point in his life.
* HelpingHands: Kryten's hand is able to return to the ship and get help in "Terrorform", though it scares the hell out of Lister and Cat first. We learn in Series VIII that it's not Kryten's only fully-functional detachable part.
* HeroicBSOD:
** Kochanski is sent into this state by the squeelookle-ing sewer pipes in "Duct Soup".
** Also, Kryten in "Beyond a Joke" after an incident involving lobster and ketchup.
** Rimmer in "Trojan" when he becomes too resentful of his brother. Literally: he crashes from all the clogged up memory. Though it's more like "Heroic Spinning Beach Balls of Doom".
* HeroicSacrifice [[spoiler: JFK assassinating himself]] in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIITikkaToRide Tikka to Ride]]".
** [[spoiler:Able]] in "Beyond a Joke".
** Kryten in "The Inquisitor":
--> '''Kryten''': Well I've got to go back in time now and sacrifice myself so that we can get into this mess we're in now in the first place.
* HesitantSacrifice: In "Future Echoes", when Lister accepts that Rimmer's vision of his death is going to come true, Lister's still determined to fight it all the way to the end. He even rips a towel rack off the wall so he has something to whack the Grim Reaper with.
-->'''Lister:''' I'm going out as I came in, screaming and kicking.\\
'''Rimmer:''' You can't just whack Death on the head!\\
'''Lister:''' If he comes near me, I'm gonna rip his nipples off!
* HiddenDepths: Lister and Rimmer are surprisingly complex characters, and despite their generally low positions in life, can show great competence. Averted with the Cat, who can barely be said to be a one dimensional character...a one dimensional character with a great ass!
* HighOnCatnip: Cat comments on how the unreality pockets in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIOutOfTime Out of Time]]" are worse/weirder than triple strength catnip.
* HilariousOuttakes: Referred to as Smeg Ups and Smeg Outs, these appear as DVD extras. They're so popular and genuinely funny in their own right that they have their own boxsets titled ''Just The Smegs''.
* HippieJesus: Referenced when Rimmer dismisses their "High" selves as hippies.
-->'''Kryten''': Sir, you think Jesus was a hippy.\\
'''Rimmer''': He had long hair and didn't have a job! What more do you want?
** When they meet Jesus in the episode "Lemons," he turns out to be a bit of a hippie (he's certainly a pacifist and is horrified at the amount of wars waged in his name). However, [[spoiler: he turns out to be the wrong Jesus (he's Jesus of Caesaria, not Jesus of Nazareth)]].
* HistoricalInJoke
-->'''Lister''': (talking to a crowd listening to Hitler) "Ignore him, he's a complete and total nutter! '''And''' he's only got one testicle!"
** And the WhoShotJFK spoof ("[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIITikkaToRide Tikka to Ride]]"), in which [[spoiler:Kennedy ended up shooting his own past self because it turned out the timeline in which he survived became a CrapsackWorld.]]
--->'''Lister''': "It'll drive the conspiracy nuts crazy! They'll never work it out!"
* HistorysCrimeWave: In "Cured", the crew encounter a scientific base where Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Vlad the Impaler, and Messalina have been recreated through cloning and cured of 'evil'. (Lab notes reveal that UsefulNotes/RupertMurdoch proved resistant to the treatment.) However, it turns out the evildoers are [[spoiler:actually androids who were originally the medical staff of the base who have been reprogrammed to believe they are historical villains]].
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** [[spoiler: Lister tricks the Inquisitor into erasing himself from history.]]
** The Emohawk might have stood a much better chance against the crew if it hadn't sucked out Rimmer's negativity and turned him into [[TheAce Ace]].
* HollywoodSilencer: Averted with The Creator's pistol in ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]''.
* HolodeckMalfunction:
** "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".
** Kryten and Lister fake one in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIStokeMeAClipper Stoke Me a Clipper]]" to encourage Rimmer to do something brave.
* HomoeroticDream: One of Lister's dreams after Arnold Rimmer left ''Red Dwarf'' to become the next Ace involves a kiss between Lister and Rimmer which Lister wakes up from quite shocked.
* HotSauceDrinking:
** Dave Lister has been known to drink tobasco sauce after spreading it ''on his cornflakes''.
** In the extended cut of "Tikka To Ride", he notes that he once drink a yard of vindaloo sauce and went out on the pull. [[PottyEmergency He ended up having to make a dash for the nightclub toilets]] and was pretty much there for the entire night.
* HotScientist: Katarina.
** Professor Edgington, once she's been [[ItMakesSenseInContext re-evolved from a monkey.]]
** Parodied in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Twentica}} Twentica]]" with Harmony, a scientist in an illicit underground science club who dresses like a Prohibition-era floozie.
* HowDidYouKnowIDidnt: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Can Of Worms}} Can Of Worms]] ", Lister, Rimmer and Kryten are hunting shape-shifters when they are approached by the Cat. Lister (who is temporarily emotionless) blows him away without a second thought, revealing him to be a polymorph. Rimmer asks how he knew he wasn't the Cat, and Lister calmly replies "I didn't".
* HumanityIsInfectious:
** The Cat and Kryten both become more "human" as the series goes along.
** In the case of Kryten, this actually becomes potentially dangerous in Series VII.
* HumanitysWake: Except for Lister the human race is extinct until Series VII.
* HumansAreBastards:
** Lister posits the theory that humans are a planetary disease in "Waiting for God". (Incidently, predating ''Film/TheMatrix'' by about a decade.)
** Kryten (not so) subtly compares humanity to the Despair Squid in "Back to Reality".
** Humans created [=GELFs=] for all manner of unsavoury reasons, and programmed androids to believe in [[RobotReligion an afterlife where people would serve them]] to keep them subservient.
* HumongousMecha: ''Blue Midget'''s redraw could count as one.
* HyperCompetentSidekick: Kryten is almost totally subservient to the entire crew (primarily serving as a butler) however he also seems to be the most genuinely intelligent and is usually the one who comes up with solutions to the various problems they face.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Rimmer.
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Kryten}} Kryten]]", Rimmer makes several snide put-downs about the obvious lengths Lister has gone to spruce himself up when the possibility that they might be meeting women has suddenly arisen. When Lister points out that Rimmer, who is wearing a ludicrously pretentious officer's uniform complete with medals, hasn't exactly dressed down for the occasion either, Rimmer's response is to start whining about how Lister always starts putting him down whenever it looks like they might be meeting women.
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]", Rimmer delivers a self-righteous lecture about how Lister always held him back by being a terrible bunkmate due to his various irritating habits. When Lister, annoyed, shoots back that Rimmer himself wasn't exactly Mr. Easy-To-Live-With and points out numerous examples of Rimmer's own shortcomings as a bunkmate, Rimmer reacts with dismissive offence.
** Strangely subverted in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]". Rimmer, who's gone completely nuts because of the holovirus, tricks the others into "admitting" they are insane when he has them in quarantine lock-up, and he sentences them to a few hours without any oxygen. It's hypocritical, but rather than coming off as two-faced it just evidences how spectacularly deranged he's gotten.
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVDNA DNA]]" his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech toward the Cat includes him claiming the Cat "runs from the first sign of danger" and "only looks out for number one". Rimmer himself is all too often a DirtyCoward with major ItsAllAboutMe tendencies.
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXIISkipper Skipper]]", he claims that a person should surround themselves with people who are brighter and more successful than they are. [[spoiler:But when he finds himself in a universe where Lister is the captain of ''Red Dwarf'' (as a result of spotting the faulty driveplate that Rimmer had failed to repair), he quickly leaves, unable to live in a universe where Lister is more successful than he is.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:I-L]]
* IAlwaysWantedToSayThat: Subverted in "Rimmerworld":
-->'''Lister:''' This might sound like a bit of a corny line, but... can't even bring myself to say it...
-->'''Rimmerguard:''' Say what?
-->'''Lister:''' [visibly wincing] "[[TakeMeToYourLeader Take us to your leader]]?"
-->'''Kryten:''' Oh, sir, how ''could'' you?
* IAmGreatSong: In the episode "Blue", the VR "Arnold Rimmer Experience" ends with a song sung tiny munchkin Rimmers.
-->''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!''
* IAmLegion: In, er, "Legion".
* IBangedYourMom: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Polymorph}} Polymorph]]", [[spoiler:the shapeshifter took on the likeness of Rimmer's mother and tells Rimmer than Lister has had her "five times, he was like a wild stallion" to make Rimmer angry.]]
** With [[MemeticMutation ALPHABETTI SPAGHETTI!]]
* ICallHimMisterHappy: Archie.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Averted. Kryten is often quite willing to shoot himself when feeling especially guilty.
* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler:Lister, briefly]] in ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]''.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: In the Series XI episode "Officer Rimmer", [[spoiler: Rimmer launches a missile at another ship when it is in imminent danger of drifting into an asteroid field, because the resulting explosion would take Starbug with it. It doesn't get destroyed because the missile is deflected by an asteroid just enough to only glance the ship, which knocks it clear of the asteroid field. The officer on board the ship promotes Rimmer to an officer as a result, believing this was a case of JustAsPlanned - though ironically Rimmer did the right thing when faced with a situation of destroying the ship or both ships being destroyed]].
* IHatePastMe: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Timeslides}} Timeslides]]", the Dwarfers go back in time to meet 17 year old Lister back when he was the lead singer for Smeg and the Heads. Even the Cat thinks that Past-Lister is an idiot.
-->'''(Present Day!)Lister:''' Stop sayin' everything's ''crypto-fascist''! You make me sound like I was a complete git!
-->''...and...''
-->'''Cat:''' Forget it! The guy's an idiot!
-->'''(Present Day!)Lister:''' He's ''me''!!
-->'''Cat:''' Exactly!
* IdenticalGrandson:
** Lister. He's the child of the second Kochanski and [[spoiler:''himself'']].
** One of Lister's other sons seems to be identical to him, or at least similar enough to fool Lister's bunkmate without trying. Logical one, perhaps, as their [[spoiler: father is a female version of Lister]]. Even more likely when you consider that, [[spoiler: since Lister is his own father (and presumably the female Lister is her own father) The twins really don't have a whole lot of a gene pool since both of their parents and half of their grandparents are the same person!]]
* IgnorantAboutFire: One of the problems Rimmer has while cooking in the Season Two episode "Better Than Life" where he is still an IntangibleMan is that he is reliant on the ship's Skutters (robots) in following his cooking instructions. He told them to "watch that pan" and because they were programmed to be literal minded they just sat and watched it burn.
* ImAHumanitarian:
** Lister and Cat, entirely [[IAteWhat unintentionally]].
--->'''Cat:''' Chicken's good.
--->'''Lister:''' Yeah, really good.
--->'''Kryten:''' That's not chicken, sir.
--->'''Cat:''' Oh, what is it?
--->'''Kryten:''' It's that man we found. It just seemed such a waste to leave him lying there when he'd barbeque so beautifully.
--->'''Rimmer:''' (sadistic laughing)
--->'''Kryten''': [[InsaneTrollLogic It seemed to me that if humanoids eat chicken, then obviously, they'd eat their own species. Otherwise, thay'd just be picking on the chickens!]]
** Lister's horror upon learning the strange white powder he'd been eating was the remains of the ''Red Dwarf'' crew in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonITheEnd The End]]".
** When Lister cooks his own frozen organs (removed in surgery) by mistake thinking that they're pork, only they get stolen and eaten by Cat, before he can chow down. Upon finding out what those were Cat [[VomitDiscretionShot runs off to barf up his last four meals]].
** One of Lister's old schoolmates apparently achieved fame by eating his wife.
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Queeg}} Queeg]]", Rimmer recounts how his [[WithFriendsLikeThese "best friend"]] "Porky" Ruebuck spearheaded a campaign to eat him while they were in the Space Scouts. By the time the scoutmaster saved him, Rimmer was tied to a stake and covered in barbecue sauce.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy:
** {{Lampshaded}} in "Quarantine", as they run away from danger.
-->'''Lister:''' Why do we never meet anyone nice?\\
'''Cat:''' Why do we never meet anyone who can ''shoot straight''?
** [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]] can take down whole hordes of rifle-bearing Nazi mooks with nothing but his trusty pistol while saving the princess. That's Ace being Ace--he's such a damned awesome hero he just ''can't'' be hurt by gunfire. The one time they graze his jacket, he's more pissed off about them ruining his clothes.
* ImplausibleDeniability: Played for laughs in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]". Lister breaks into the Rimmers' room to steal Rimmer's diary, whereupon the Cat emerges from a closet, wearing a suitably gaudy and over-the-top outfit, and turning towards the camera and shielding his face from Lister, says:
-->'''Cat''': Did you see him clearly? Could you spot him in a parade? I don't think so. I could've been anybody.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: While none of the boys (or even Kochanski) are going to win any awards for empathy, it's not usually malice that gets them into trouble with each other - Lister is too straightforward to sympathise with Rimmer's authority complex, Rimmer is so emotionally screwed up that he thinks being "empathic" is something that'll land you in quarantine, Cat has a BlueAndOrangeMorality that encourages him to think only of himself, and Kryten is still getting the hang of having emotions. Kochanski is just generally neurotic, and Holly's tactlessness is born of senility.
* InsaneTrollLogic: Kryten's explanation for cooking a dead guy they found and feeding him to Lister and the Cat in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIITikkaToRide Tikka to Ride]]":
-->'''Kryten''': It seemed to me that if humanoids eat chicken, then obviously, they'd eat their own species. Otherwise, thay'd just be picking on the chickens!
** The Cat gives us a good example of this in the Series XI episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Samsara}} Samsara]] ", when he explains how Archimedes discovered gravy when he was sitting underneath a tree and a bath fell onto his head. After all, gravy didn't just invent itself, did it? And bathtubs fall out of planes all the time when the doors on them aren't closed properly.
* InsistentTerminology: Lister claims the event that caused Talkie Toaster to be reduced to several thousand pieces scattered about ''Red Dwarf''[='=]s trash heap was an "accident". One involving Lister, the toaster, the waste disposal unit and a [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCustomaryMeasurements 14-pound]] lump hammer.
** InternalHomage: "Skipper", both a SeriesFauxnale and something of an early [=30th=] anniversary special, features numerous homages to the series' past, including Rimmer travelling to an alternate version of the ship where the radiation leak hasn't yet happened, another where Lister was sentenced to stasis for smuggling his pet ''rat'' on board, and one where the leak never happened at all and Lister is captain of the ship (the last of which also features some flawless recreations of the original Series I sets).
* InTheFutureWeStillHaveRoombas: The Skutters.
* InventionalWisdom: "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIITheLastDay The Last Day]]" reveals that bazookoids have "dismantler" switches that cause the device to fall apart. The switch in question is located next to a couple of others, without a label, or something to prevent it from being pushed accidentally (as Kryten ends up doing).
* InventorOfTheMundane: Fred "Thicky" Holden, inventor of the "tension sheet", in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Timeslides}} Timeslides]]".
* InvisibleMonsters: Parodied, with a BMovie titled 'Attack of the Giant, Savage, Completely Invisible Aliens'', which consists of [[BadBadActing Bad Bad Actors]] pointing at the sky and saying "It's the giant, savage, completely invisible aliens!"
* InWithTheInCrowd: The android Kryten is turned into an organic human. When talking to his sentient spare heads, he gets high-and-mighty with them. After that he realizes that he's turning into a jerk.
* ISayWhatISay: The two Listers in "The Inquisitor".
* ISurrenderSuckers: Rimmer tries this out on four simulant death ships, to keep them from killing the crew (after all, you can't fire on a surrendering ship). They ignore him. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a rather clever BatmanGambit to trick them into shooting each other]]
* ItCameFromTheFridge: The curry monster in "DNA".
* ItIsDehumanizing: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Kryten}} Kryten]]", Rimmer refers to Kryten as "it". Looks like painting a portrait of Rimmer on the toilet, pouring soup on his bed, calling him "smeg for brains" and flipping him off taught him a lesson.
** Rimmer also referred to the Cat as "it" initially.
* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: The show has such gleefully unscientific phenomena as a mutated flu virus that makes the sufferer's hallucinations "solid" (When Lister objects that this doesn't make sense, Rimmer's second attempt at explaining it fails to be significantly different from the first) and a similarly affected photo developing fluid that not only brings photos to life but allows time travel through them when projected onto a screen.
** Also creatures like the shape-shifting Polymorph that gains sustenance and strength by sucking 'mental energy' - strong emotions/personality features - right out of the crew's heads via a form of sucking proboscis applied to the forehead.
** Likely [[spoiler: Lister getting pregnant by his female alter-ego in the GenderFlip universe]] is an example. It's unlikely in RealLife that the laws of ''biology'' would be as intrinsic to any given universe as the laws of physics, to the point of changing a person's anatomy.
* ItTastesLikeFeet:
** In Series VIII, Arnold Rimmer disgustedly proclaims that the gravy-covered meat they're being served on punishment tastes worse than his grandmother's buttocks deep-fried in old chip fat.
** In Series VI, nobody wants to drink Kryten's homemade wine because it tastes disgusting. Probably because it's brewed out of recycled urine, tastes ''worse'' than the original waste fluid it was and leaves a foam mustache that just ''can't'' be removed...
** An earlier episode mentions that the water has been recycled so many times that it's starting to taste like [[MadeInCountryX Dutch]] [[TakeThat Lager]].
* IronicEpisodeTitle: The very first episode was called "The End". Borderline because the episode actually did deal with a massive accident that wiped out almost the entire crew, setting up the series for AfterTheEnd. (And with that situation set up, the episode ended with a caption in the same font, saying "The Beginning".)
* JesusWasWayCool: In "Lemons", the crew is accidentally sent back in time and encounter Jesus in 23 AD in India, where he's a fairly nice guy who's big on pacifism. After accidentally taking him back to the future with them, he ends up reading about himself and is horrified at what the religion he starts will do to the world, so journeys back in time to trash his reputation in order to make sure that no one bases a religion around him. The ''Red Dwarf'' crew, despite being fairly a-religious, figure they should go back in time and fix this, and manage to convince Jesus that while Christianity did plenty of terrible things, he can still do good. [[spoiler: Then they figure out that he's the wrong Jesus (he's Jesus of Caesaria, not Jesus of Nazareth) so the whole thing is moot. You do get to see someone credited as "Man Who May Be Jesus" at the very end, but it's indeterminate whether this Jesus is Way Cool or not.]]
* JokeExhaustion: Rimmer recounts the time he went on a date with a woman who had an artificial nose. In an extremely misguided attempt to break the ice, he cracked jokes about noses until she excused herself, went to the bathroom, and fled through the window.
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: "Terrorform". Sort of. More 'Journey to a Planet that Has Shaped itself to Represent Someone's Mind.' Unfortunately, that someone is Rimmer.
* JumpingOnAGrenade: Ace does this in "Emohawk: Polymorph II". Since he's HardLight and virtually indestructible, he's none the worse for wear.
* KilledMidSentence:
** [[spoiler:Kryten]], twice. Of course, he turns out to be NotQuiteDead in both.
** And [[spoiler: Ace Rimmer]].
* KillingYourAlternateSelf: To restore Earth's timeline in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIITikkaToRide Tikka to Ride]]", President Kennedy has to die. And who better to kill JFK - and drive the conspiracy theorists nuts as they'll never be able to figure it out - but the JFK from the alternate, CrapsackWorld, timeline?
* KissingWarmUp: Referenced in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Confidence and Paranoia}} Confidence and Paranoia]]", when Paranoia starts dredging up Lister's embarrassing adolescent memories.
* KlingonPromotion: In "Holoship", Rimmer wanted to join the crew of a hologramatic ship. The ship already had a full compliment, so the only way in was "dead man's boots", defeating an existing member of the crew in an intelligence test. The losing crew member would be switched off and Rimmer would take their place. Doesn't quite work out like that, of course.
* LadyInRed:
** In Series VII, Kochanski's default outfit is a tight red uniform which screams "sexy lady". In one episode, Lister gives Kochanski a beautiful red sparkly dress as a present, but she wears it only in Kryten's ImagineSpot and in the ducts under one of Lister's spare boiler suits.
** Princess Bonjella in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIStokeMeAClipper Stoke Me a Clipper]]" wears a long tight red dress.
* LampshadeWearing: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III The Last Day}} The Last Day]]", Lister somehow wakes up wearing a traffic cone ("On a mining ship, 3 million years into deep space") after a night of drunken revelry. Cat {{Hand Wave}}s it by saying "It's not a good night unless you get a traffic cone."
* LargeHam: Kill Crazy.
--> '''Kill Crazy''': LET'S GO KILL SOMETHING! YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAH!
* LaserGuidedKarma:
** The Justice Field from "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Justice}} Justice]]", which makes any crime commmited or attempt to injure someone, be instead reflected back to the person performing it. Lister figures out how to weaponise it by goading an insane, nigh-indestructible Simulant into attacking him.
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Samsara}} Samsara]] ", [[spoiler:the titular ship features a Karma Drive, [[ContinuityNod said to be based on the Justice Field]], which creates a Karma Field that rewards good behaviour amongst its crew whilst punishing unethical actions. However, this is then [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] by two crew members having an affair, who change the settings on the drive to reward bad behaviour and punish the good in order to continue the affair without retribution. This unintentionally leads to the deaths of the Samsara's entire crew.]]
* TheLastManHeardAKnock: Lister's the last human being alive for most of the show, but he's never alone.
* LastNameBasis: Rimmer and Lister. Only ''twice'' have they ever addressed each other by their first names (Arnold and David, respectively); once when they were drained of a negative emotion in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Polymorph}} Polymorph]]" (anger for Rimmer, fear for Lister), and once near the end of the CatapultNightmare in "Blue", which lead to the both of them [[spoiler: sharing a kiss.]]
** Also how Lister figures out that 'Kryten' is actually a Psiren. Psi-Kryten calls him Dave instead of Mr Lister.
* LastOfHisKind: The Cat and Lister [[spoiler: at least until the arrival of first Kochanski and later the whole crew of ''Red Dwarf'']]). Of course, the cat race still exists somewhere Out There, and one of the "lost episodes" that exists only as storyboard (see the DVD extras) would have featured a visit to a planet of Cat's people, as a spoof of the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Amok Time".
* LateToThePunchline: Played with in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Queeg}} Queeg]]". Lister tells Rimmer a long and involved story about a rogue AI that's really just a set-up for a weak pun. Rimmer fails to recognise the joke, and spends a minute reflecting on the story before realisation dawns -- about something unrelated to the punchline, which he still hasn't got.
* LazyBum: Lister is one of the ones we root for. He never does any work whatsoever, but it's not like a giant empty spaceship with no crew needs a lot of work, and he's more fun than his ControlFreak nemesis.
--> '''Kryten:''' Name?
--> '''Lister:''' Dave Lister.
--> '''Kryten:''' Occupation?
--> '''Lister''' ''(after considering carefully):'' Bum.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The pub owner's reverse rant in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]", ostensibly informing Kryten and Rimmer they're fired, [[spoiler:actually criticises "the one prat in the country who's bothered to get hold of this recording, turn it round and actually work out the rubbish that [the pub owner's] I'm saying." Of course, [[TechnologyMarchesOn when the episode was filmed, reversing the recording was a complicated process]]]].
* LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision: It's explained that The Cat's race learned English from watching the American movies (specifically John Wayne movies and ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'') in the ship's hold. Of course, The Cat obviously learned his mannerisms from watching Music/JamesBrown , though it's never mentioned in series.
* LeaveYourQuestTest: In "Legion", the crew are dragged into a space station by a tractor beam, but find the only occupant - the eponymous Legion - simply wants to accommodate their every need and hopes they'll abandon their journey to find the stolen Red Dwarf ship. [[spoiler: This is because he's a gestalt entity and can only exist when there are other life-forms on the station. All the residents died millennia ago.]]
* LeeroyJenkins: Kill Crazy, who is so trigger happy, he doesn't even make it out of the submarine because he charges into battle so eagerly, he knocks himself out by running into the door frame (ironically this saved his life, since everyone but the "Boys from the Dwarf" drowns in the submarine when the bulkhead collapses after three million years of being on the bottom of a water planet too many). At one point, it does prove to be an advantage as a mutated creature takes one look at him and runs away.
--> '''Kill Crazy''': Let's go [[AxCrazy KILL SOMETHING!]]
* LegacyImmortality: Ace Rimmer.
* LethallyStupid:
** Rimmer failed to repair ''Red Dwarf'''s drive plate properly, which led to the radiation leak killing everyone aboard bar Lister. According to Season 8, screwing up fixing the drive plate would require having a brain the size of a newt's testicle.
** Kryten as well, as his actions led to the deaths of the ''Nova 5'''s crew.
* LetMeGetThisStraight:
** While not the actual plan, but in response to the crew trying to explain around Rimmer's temporary insanity in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Quarantine}} Quarantine]]":
-->"So let me get this straight. You want to fly on a magic carpet, to see the King of the Potato People, and plead with him for your freedom, and you're telling me you're completely sane?"
** Played straight in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VI Rimmerworld}} Rimmerworld]]") where Rimmer does this '''repeatedly''' in the first part of the episode.
--->'''Rimmer:''' So let me get this straight. If we board that ship and we get captured, we're finished. However, if we board that ship, don't get captured but the superstructure disintegrates around us, we are finished. On the other hand, if we board that ship, don't get captured, and the superstructure doesn't disintegrate around us, but we can't find any fuel, we are in fact finished.
* LifeSavingMisfortune: Lister being placed in stasis for smuggling a cat aboard ''Red Dwarf'' meant he was safe from the radiation leak which killed the rest of the crew.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: InUniverse. Lister has this reaction regarding his dad ([[MyOwnGrandpa who is Lister himself]]) actually throwing his guitar out the airlock
* LimbSensationFascination: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Bodyswap}} Bodyswap]]", Lister agrees to let the hologram Rimmer take over his body for two weeks, in return for Rimmer taking on an exercise regime to get Lister's body in shape. However, Rimmer is overwhelmed by the experience of having a physical body for the first time since his death, and goes on a two week binge of eating, drinking and smoking.
* LimitedWardrobe: Averted to hell and back with the Cat, who changed outfits twice or sometimes three times per episode. Once the crew are confined to Starbug in series VI, the basis of his outfits becomes more limited (A black PVC undersuit with various jackets and the like swapped out on top). While he had, rarely, worn the same outfit more than once in the past, this was the first time it was [[LampshadeHanging called attention to]] InUniverse, when his greatest fear on confonting a killer rogue simulant for the second time is that she might notice he had on the same clothes as the first time they met. According to a [[http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/features/history/evolution-of-cats-costumes/ behind the scenes feature]], he has fifteen distinct outfits in the six-episode Series III.
* LiteralSplitPersonality:
** "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season V Demons and Angels}} Demons and Angels]]" featured a triplication device, which created a Good Ship with crew (who exist in the starship equivalent of CrystalSpiresAndTogas, and can even make Pot Noodles edible), an Evil Ship with crew (where Rimmer's H has fallen sideways and... yeah) and a Neutral Ship with crew (i.e. the original gang). The Neutral Ship duly exploded, and it required a [[ReversePolarity polarity reversal]] to [[SplitPersonalityMerge recreate it from the others]].
** "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Confidence and Paranoia}} Confidence and Paranoia]]" featured the episode titles' personality traits manifesting a real people from Listers' mind. They then spend the rest of the episode trying to influence Lister until [[spoiler: Confidence murders Paranoia and [[TooDumbToLive accidentally commits suicide]]]]
* LockedInAFreezer: Lister and Rimmer in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Marooned}} Marooned]]", though Rimmer's in no danger. It also subverts the standard ending - [[spoiler: Rimmer briefly gains a new appreciation for Lister's strength of character, only to discover that Lister lied to face and used his camphor wood chest for fuel rather than the guitar.]]
* LogicBomb:
** Kryten deactivates Hudzen-10 with one in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III The Last Day}} The Last Day]]". [[spoiler:Hudzen mentions a Silicon Heaven, which Kryten exclaims doesn't exist. Kryten and Holly persuade Hudzen they're telling the truth, and Hudzen, having been programmed to believe in Silicon Heaven, [[DespairEventHorizon shuts down]]. Kryten ''did'' believe in Silicon Heaven, but was lying. (Strangely, Kryten was only shown learning ''how'' to lie at the beginning of the following series, though it may have had to do more with lying to organics as opposed to other robots.)]]
** Series 7 starts with Lister trying to record a ship's log entry on a video camera in an effort to explain why he and the other Dwarfers are still around despite the ending to Series 6. Thanks to the large amount of paradoxical nonsense inherent in simply ''explaining'' it[[note]]They got into a fight with their amoral future selves, who had abused the Time Drive to live a life of luxury - regardless of who actually ''owned'' that luxury - and ended up dying from their future selves' advanced weaponry. In so doing, the Dwarfers never lived to abuse the Time Drive in the first place, erasing the entire battle and its reasons for occurring from the timeline.[[/note]] , the camera subsequently ''explodes'' in his hand.
** In "Fathers and Suns", Lister is able to do this to a hostile AI trying to kill the rest of the crew to make her uninstall herself.
* LongerThanLifeSentence: In the episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season IV Justice}} Justice]]", Rimmer gets sentenced to ten thousand years imprisonment. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] as he is expected to be able to serve his sentence and be released at the end since he is a hologram. Of course as always StatusQuoIsGod and the ResetButton is hit by the episode end.
* TheLongList: Provided by Lister when he tries to make things clear to the reactivated Talkie Toaster. It proves futile.
-->'''Lister:''' We don't like muffins around here. We want no muffins, no toast, no teacakes, no buns, baps, baguettes or bagels, no croissants, no crumpets, no pancakes, no potato cakes and no hot-cross buns and definitely no smegging flapjacks.
-->'''Talkie Toaster:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Aah, so you're a waffle man.]]
* LongRunner: ''Twice over'', in effect. Notwithstanding the 4-year gap between Series VI and VII, the 'original' TV run was from 1988-99 -- 11 years. After a full decade's hiatus in which it seemed to have permanently ended, the show returned with ''Back to Earth'' in 2009 and produced new material at intervals up to the latest special in 2020 -- another 11 years. All told, ''Red Dwarf'' has now aired new episodes over a span of 32 years.
* LongRunnerTechMarchesOn:
** This sci-fi sitcom long-runner features this in the set design, having had its original heyday during the late-'80s/early-'90s but been revived most recently in 2012. The early seasons feature ship's computer Holly (seen as a face on a screen) moving about on R/C tube TV rigs, and Total Immersion Video Games being triangular-shaped VHS tapes, but this has (eventually) evolved over time so that by 2012's Season X the ''Red Dwarf'' comes equipped with flat-screen monitors. Whilst both of these types of technology are present on the same ship, the "just go with it" nature of the show means that it isn't too distracting.
** The show hung a massive lampshade on this trope in the 2009 'comeback' miniseries ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'', when the characters encounter [=DVDs=] and ask "[[WhatAreRecords what are these?]]" since video cassettes were seen in the earlier series to apparently still be ubiquitous in the future. The dialogue reveals that in their timeline at least [=DVDs=] swiftly fell out of favour again, owing to humanity's congenital inability to put the discs back in their case: they were re-replaced by VHS tapes as "videos are just too big to lose".
* LostHimInACardGame: In "Entangled", Lister loses Rimmer while playing poker with [=GELFs=].
-->'''Cat:''' We're all deeply sorry, bud. Except for me and him and him.
* LostInTransmission: The American pilot ended with Lister being visited by his own future self. Future!Lister had only a few moments to convey a very important message, but everybody nattered about irrelevant details until there were only a few seconds left. The message Future!Lister finally managed to deliver consisted only of "You've got to--"
* LotsOfLuggage: In the episode "Future Echoes", the Cat is instructed to get together a few essentials before going into suspended animation. He arrives with a rack of suits and, when challenged by Lister, admits there are ten more racks he intends to take.
* LotusEaterMachine:
** "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]" features a Virtual Reality Game that can make all your deepest fantasies come true. In the end, though, Rimmer's deep self-loathing results in the destruction of everybody's perfect worlds.
** It is later reversed in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back To Reality]]" by a hallucinogenic venom from a Despair Squid that causes the group to, together, hallucinate a reality that drives them to the brink of suicide. They are only stopped by Holly forcing Kryten to release a mood stabilizer.
** The three-part miniseries "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]" that aired in 2009. [[spoiler:Act II and Act III get increasingly bizarre until they are revealed as a Lotus Eater Machine hallucination brought on by a hallucinogen that links all the affected characters in a pleasant dreamworld. After finding out, Lister is tempted to stay but ultimately he opts for the real thing.]].
%% * LoveMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:Lister's [=GELF=] wife]] in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIEmohawkPolymorphII Emohawk: Polymorph II]]".
* LowCountGag: In "Future Echoes", the crew experiences a phenomenon that Holly names "future echoes", pieces of the future that they are catching up with as a result of light speed. It foretells the future accurately. Rimmer sees Lister getting killed and Lister has some regrets about dying young. He claims he has has never read... a book.
-->'''Dave Lister:''' It's not fair. There's loads of things I've never done. Like... I've never had a prawn vindaloo. And I've never read... ''[pauses to think]'' a book.
* LyricalDissonance:
** The end theme is an upbeat number that starts with the words, "it's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere; I'm all alone, more or less."
** "Tongue Tied" is an upbeat love song which describes the metaphorical reactions of a person when they're pleased to see someone they love in gory detail.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-P]]
* {{MacGuffin}}: Finding Earth was ostensibly this even when the characters stopped caring about it, as having the characters lives be explicitly completely aimless would be too subconsciously dour for a sitcom. Later series have the MacGuffin be finding Kochanski instead.
* MadeOfIndestructium: Starbugs are incredibly resilient vehicles. The one from series VI/VIII has crashed "more times than a ZX-81".
* TheMadHatter: Dr. Langstrom in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]".
* MadLibsCatchphrase: Perilous situations would often result in the Cat exclaiming, "That's it, we're deader than [''long-outmoded item of clothing'']!"
* MagicFloppyDisk: On a sci-fi comedy show taking place on a futuristic mining vessel, people still use videocassettes...except they're triangular. It is explained in the 2009 Easter special that [=DVDs=] have become outdated by videos, since videos have once precious advantage—you can put them back in the box with minimal risk of breaking them.
** Lister's entire mind can be stored on a dictaphone casette tape - although this is at least partly justified by RuleOfFunny.
* MaintainTheLie: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]" Rimmer told his mother that he passed every exam he ever took, and had therefore reached the rank of "Rear Admiral Lieutenant General". As opposed to the man who cleaned the chicken soup machine.
* MarketBasedTitle: The producers' and broadcaster's original stance on ''Back to Earth'' was that it was a special, not a series in its own right. However, when it came to the first full series on Dave a few years later, it was felt that branding it ''Red Dwarf X'' would work better for marketing, meaning ''[=BtE=]'' is now considered "Series IX" for said purposes.
* MayorOfAGhostTown: They've got the run of the ship; with a few exceptions, they've got the run of the universe, really.
* MeaningfulName: The SS Samsara in the episode of the same name is appropriate given its [[spoiler:karma field]].
* MeaninglessVillainVictory: Used against the heroes in "Back in the Red". Having been imprisoned for stealing and destroying a ''Starbug'', their attempt to escape and prove their innocence demonstrates to the captain that their story is true, exonerating them regarding the theft. But it also demonstrates that they had improperly accessed classified personnel files, a crime carrying exactly the same penalty. (The files would have revealed the Captain bribed his way up the career ladder, which explains why he was looking for the loophole.)
* MediumBlending: "Back in the Red" has the crew end up in a virtual reality's claymation screensaver.
* MediumShiftGag: The full version of the musical number "Tongue Tied" includes a clay-animated sequence.
** "Back in the Red, Part 3" sees the crew trying to escape a computer simulation. On pulling it off, they end up in the claymation screen saver for a time.
* MegaCorp:
** In the "[[SarcasmMode creatively titled]]" "M-Corp" the crew download an overdue software update from the 26th century from their mining company, only to learn that at this point in history said company was taken over by the titular evil corporation, which had in fact had managed to TakeOverTheWorld and control vital necessities like food, water and air and could even tax people charge people for their subversive thoughts. Since Lister is the only registered crew member on board, M-Corp goes so far as to edit his perceptions and prevent him from even seeing or hearing anything that isn't owned by them, including Rimmer, Kryten and Cat. He eventually transports to an unknown location run by an M-Corp A.I. that forces him to buy things and is willing to inflict pain on him and put his life in danger just so he can buy items to save himself, and eventually starts charging him in his time and lifespan. This MegaCorp was so powerful that it was essentially a RealityWarper as it could offer you - or take ''from'' you- anything it wanted in order to charge you more.
** The Jupiter Mining Corporation is a lesser example, with the Space Corps being essentially a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Private Military Contractor]] that provides crews for JMC vessels.
* MemoryGambit: "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Thanks For The Memory}} Thanks For The Memory]]".
* MerlinSickness: "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]".
* MermaidProblem: In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Better Than Life}} Better Than Life]]" Cat envisions himself dating a fish with humanoid legs.
--->'''Holly:''' Somehow I'd imagine she'd be a lady on top and a fish on the bottom.
--->'''Cat:''' No, that's a ''stupid'' way around!
* {{Microts}}: The Kinitawowi are shown to use hanaka is form of time measurement in “Emohawk: Polymorph II”. Five hanaka is noted to be exactly one minute (which would make one hanaka about 12 seconds).
* MileLongShip: The ''Dwarf'' is usually 6 miles long, 5 miles tall, and 4 miles wide.
* MindScrew: Quite a few examples, but ''[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Back To Earth}} Back to Earth]]'' took it UpToEleven.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Ace Rimmer is this all over. He is different to normal Rimmer because their shared timeline split off when they were children. One of them got held back a year in school, the other didn't. It turns out it's actually Ace that was held back a year, and so he suffered for it (ie by being bullied and suffering the humilation of it all), and decided to fight back, and continued to fight back ever since, building his character and becoming awesome. Normal Rimmer, on the over hand, was never held back a year, and therefore spent the rest of his life making excuses for himself.
* MisplacedADecimalPoint:
** Played with when Holly's IQ has been significantly increased (to 12000) in exchange for [[ExplosiveOverclocking exponentially reducing her lifespan]]. When looking at her new lifespan, the screen displays 345 before she realizes "The decimal point, where's the decimal point?" She then discovers that she has 3.41 minutes left to live.
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Queeg}} Queeg]]", the titular computer [[spoiler:who was actually just Holly proving a point]] "insults" Holly's IQ in this manner.
---> '''Queeg''': It has a six in it, but it's not six thousand.
---> '''Lister''': Well what is it?
---> '''Queeg''': [[DeadpanSnarker Six.]]
* MistakenForExhibit: Rimmer mistakes a light switch for an art installation in "Legion".
* MixAndMatch: SitCom combined with sci-fi spaceship adventure.
* MobileFactory: Presumably ''Red Dwarf'' is supposed to be one, since it's described as a "mining ship". We never actually see it do any mining, though...
** Well, all those replacement Starbugs and Blue Midgets have to come from somewhere. There is a large rock attached to the ship's underbelly, which was presumably mined out of somewhere.
** A blink and you'll miss it moment shown [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0SMVsZSHrpQ/WW-Zz7lksvI/AAAAAAAAFFE/a9doDBZGUUoQDvQmlNGqMsC2wuppzNFMACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5236.JPG here]] shows the rock is actually a an asteroid which collided with the ship.
* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Flies all over the place. The first couple of series are relatively hard (AbsentAliens, the ''Dwarf'' is powered by a Bussard ramscoop, only slower-than-light spaceships) with the odd doozy (ExplosiveDecompression, the ''Dwarf'' exceeds light speed simply by ''continuing to accelerate''). However, around series 3 any pretense of scientific accuracy flies out the window, and things like photos developed with "mutated developing fluid" that you can actually climb into and affect history with and small devices that can instantly transport you half a million light years start to appear.
* MoneyFetish: Invoked by a sexy female reporter on Lister, due to his having become super-wealthy by inventing the Tension Sheet, in Season III's "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Timeslides}} Timeslides]]". "Now that's the kind of cash that opens anybody's legs."
* MoneyToBurn: In the episode "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Marooned}} Marooned]]", Lister and Rimmer are looking for kindling to keep the fire going. Once all the books have been burnt, Lister burns the 24 grand that Rimmer has saved up. However, Rimmer is dead already and has no use for the money and even if he did, there is no civilization left in which to spend it.
* MonsterOfTheWeek: The show goes this way after about the third series. To their credit, the crew is pretty genre-savvy about it, especially in Series VI. For example, Rimmer explains to one monster that everybody they'd met to that point has tried to kill them. It also swings the other direction in Series 7 & 8, having the storylines cover multiple episodes. (Although they are still self-contained.)
* MoodWhiplash: When Lister and The Cat are debating Rimmer and Kryten's fate, after vainly searching for them in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season III Backwards}} Backwards]]":
--> '''Cat:''' Three weeks we been doin' this.
--> '''Lister:''' We'll do it 'til we find 'em.
--> '''Cat:''' ''(somberly)'' We ain't gonna find 'em...They're gone, buddy. But look on the bright side...''(jubilant)'' They're gone, buddy!
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: TropeNamer. Many of the [=GELFs=] could qualify.
** Also, the Polymorph's ShapeshifterDefaultForm. The statement that named this trope is Rimmer explaining why they shouldn't attempt to fight it.
* MrExposition: Holly, and later Kryten.
* MisterSeahorse:
** In Season II's "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Parallel Universe}} Parallel Universe]]", Lister is impregnated by his female counterpart from a gender-flipped alternate universe, although the pregnancy was turned into an AbortedArc offscreen.
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Can Of Worms}} Can Of Worms]]", Cat becomes pregnant when a polymorph uses him to host her eggs.
* MsFanservice: Kochanski in Series VII. This was largely abandoned in Series VIII, which she spent the vast majority of dressed up in the bulky prison jumpsuit and Canaries uniforms, though "Cassandra" and "Krytie TV" are notable exceptions.
* MundaneUtility:
** After losing his opportunity to buy a Stairmaster from an automated infomercial company in "Trojan", Lister turns the simulant that they just defeated into one.
** In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season XI Twentica}} Twentica]]", the Expenoids demand a device from the crew in exchange for Rimmer. Turns out that Lister and the Cat were just using it to prop up the pool table.
* MyFutureSelfAndMe:
** The ludicrous temporal shenanigans of "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Stasis Leak}} Stasis Leak]]" in Series II. Lister attempts to re-kindle a relationship with his former girlfriend and in doing so encounters a future version of himself who has already married her.
** And Rimmer runs into the original him, who he went into the past to try and save, and thus runs into a future version of himself who has an unconvincing moustache.
--> '''Past Rimmer''' ''(In the process of having a mental breakdown yelling at present and future Listers, Cat, Kochanski and present Rimmer, all of whom he thinks are hallucinations brought on by a breakfast of space mushrooms. ItMakesSenseInContext)'': Perhaps Lister here would like to go over to the fridge and open a bottle of wine for Lister and Lister. Rimmer here doesn't drink, because he's dead, but I wouldn't mind a glass.
--> '''Future Rimmer''' ''(after appearing unexpectedly through a solid object)'': I don't want anyone to get into a flap here, but I'm the Rimmer from the double double future. I'm the Rimmer who's with the Lister who married Kochanski. Now from this point on things get a liiiiiittle bit confusing.
* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Rimmer's increasingly poor attempts to speak Esperanto in "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season II Kryten}} Kryten]]", especially as the ConLang was designed to be simple to learn. Further highlighted by Lister being shown to have become semi-fluent, due to the sheer amount of times that Rimmer has watched the tapes having long-since burned the answers into his memory.
* MyOwnGrampa: It's revealed that [[spoiler: Lister is his own father. Via in-vitro fertilization with Kochanski, no less. This becomes a major plot point in one Series X episode as regards his novel way of celebrating Father's Day: get blind drunk, tape himself messages that he'll forget the next morning to play back to himself, the closest to father-to-son interaction he'll ever have.]]
* MythologyGag: In the episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]]", the SCS ''Pioneer'' is commanded by Captain Tau, played by Anita Dobson. Tau was also the name of the female captain of the ''Dwarf'' itself in the failed US pilot.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
** Arnold ''Judas'' Rimmer, for a double dose of treachery. Subverted however in that he eventually becomes a JerkWithAHeartOfGold after receiving more character development. And the show even came up with a somewhat legitimate reason why his mother gave him that name in the first place: her brand of Christianity saw Judas as an [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation unfairly demonized hero.]]
** Queeg (see ''Literature/TheCaineMutiny'') is also used for the computer that [[TyrantTakesTheHelm temporarily replaces]] Holly. [[spoiler: He's actually Holly trying to teach the crew to apprectiate him more]].
** The western-dreamscape character "Bear-Strangler" [=McGee=].
** The leader of the simulants in Series Ten has the title of The Dominator.
* {{Nanomachines}}: Nanobots are responsible for rebuilding the whole of ''Red Dwarf'', crew included, at the end of series 7.
* {{Narcissist}}: Cat is absolutely in love with himself. The most telling example is when a ShapeshiftingSeducer assumes the form that he desires most... himself.
-->'''Cat:''' So I'm the object of my own desires?
-->'''Shapeshifter!Cat:''' Is there anyone more deserving?
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Lister as Voter-Colonel Sebastian Doyle in "Back to Reality". "Vote Fascist for another glorious decade of total law enforcement!"
* NecroNonSequitur: Cassandra's demise.
* NegativeSpaceWedgie: The crew have encounted their share of them, including a time hole (AKA an orange swirly thing), a white hole, a stasis leak, and a minefield of alternate reality pockets.
* NerdsAreSexy:
** Averted and kicked to the floor by Duane Dibbley.
** Only to be picked right back up again with how Kochanski is characterized in Series VII.
* NestedMouths: The Polymorph.
* NeverMyFault: One of Rimmer's problems is that he never accepts responsibility for anything and instead has spent his whole life blaming everyone else for the bad things in it, from Lister to his parents. In "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season I Me2}} Me2]]" Lister points this out.
* NeverSayThatAgain: Kryten can't handle being called "tetchy" in "Quarantine".
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Ace Rimmer's Nazi enemy has a crocodile for a pet, keeping it on his lap and stroking it affectionately, parodying [[Film/JamesBond Blofeld's]] RightHandCat. He throws it at Ace and jumps out of the plane they're on, but Ace overpowers it and proceeds to "surf" on it in free fall.
* NeverTrustATrailer: The intro for series IV-V, that made it look like an action-heavy adventure show instead of an irreverent comedy with a sci-fi backdrop.
* TheNicknamer: Cat, who very rarely refers to anyone by their actual name. Kochanski is "Officer Bud Babe" and Holly is simply "Head" whilst everyone else gets insulting names. Kryten has been "Eraser head" and "Chewed-Eraser Head", with "Novelty Condom Head" a particular favourite, Rimmer is most frequently "Goalpost Head", though he has also been "Trans-Am-Wheel-Arch Nostrils" and "Captain Sadness" among others.
-->'''Cat''': I found Goalpost-Head. No sign of Dormouse-Cheeks, though.
** In "Give & Take", we find that - albeit following the example of Cat and Lister's insults - Kryten had all data pertaining to Rimmer contained in a folder marked "Captain Bollocks"; one which he had accidentally deleted in order to free up more hard drive space.
* NietzscheWannabe: The Inquisitor; subverted by his attempts to populate the universe with meaningful humans.
* NoEnding: Quite a few episodes end fairly abruptly, often with the main conflict only barely resolved.
** "Polymorph" ends with the reveal that a second polymorph was on the ship the entire time, showing it disguised as Lister before turning into its true, grotesque form. The much-derided "[[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion remastered]]" version changes the ending to state that it hid away in Lister's underpants drawer and eventually died of old age, many years later.
** The original GrandFinale, "Only the Good..." ends with Rimmer trapped onboard ''Red Dwarf'' as it's eaten apart by microbes. The GrimReaper appears, only for Rimmer to promptly [[GroinAttack kick him in the dick]] and run away. The {{Uncancelled}} series resolves this with an unexplained (albeit addressed) SnapBack.
** "Officer Rimmer" ends with the crew firing the first Bazookoid shot at the monster terrorizing the crew before it abruptly cuts to credits. Presumably they didn't have the budget to show it actually dying.
** The episode "Samsara" (which also happens to be part of series XI) appears to set up the next scene where the crew need to escape the ship while being as cruel to each other and as self serving as possible along the way before suddenly cutting to the credits.
* NonSequiturThud: Happens to Kryten after he's used as a battering ram, and briefly starts calling Lister "Susan."
** And also in "Quarantine" when the insane Rimmer telekinetically attacks him with a fire axe.
* NonverbalMiscommunication: In "Dear Dave", Cat attempts to convey his news to the rest of the crew through charades (because he is bored). His attempt to mime 'the mail-pod has arrived and crashed into my clothes' is construed by the others as everything from 'we're about to fly into a black hole' to 'we're being attacked by zombies'.
* NoodleIncident / NoodleImplements: "The Last Day":
-->'''Lister''' (waking up after a night's drinking): On a mining ship, 3 million years into deep space, can someone explain to me where the smeg I got this traffic cone?
-->'''Cat''': Hey, it's not a good night unless you get a traffic cone. It's the policewoman's helmet and the suspenders I don't understand!
** We never find out what happened after "Only the Good..." to restore the status quo of previous seasons. It gets referenced in "The Beginning" only for the details of the solution to the virus being shushed.
* NoOneElseIsThatDumb: When a Psiren is impersonating Lister, the other characters ask one of the two indistinguishable Listers to prove he is the real one by playing the guitar. The first Lister does so, very well, and the other characters shoot him. They know the second Lister is the real one because he only ''thinks'' he can play.
* NoPeriodsPeriod: Lampshaded and averted. It's briefly mentioned in "Balance of Power" when Kochanski ([[spoiler:really (and clearly) Rimmer]]) claims to be "having a woman's period." In "Only the Good...", Lister explains to Kryten why [[spoiler:the second]] Kochanski has said it's the wrong time of the month. Kryten is shocked that television and film have so successfully avoided this. Kryten, armed with this new knowledge of the female body, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEj31njaeX0 hilariously averts the trope]].
* NoSell: Hudzen 10 takes no damage from Lister's shotgun and simply tosses him aside.
* NoSnackForYou: In "Only the Good", we get a vending machine with artificial intelligence that gets angry when Rimmer uses a coin-on-a-string to get a free chocolate bar. Rimmer is unimpressed with its threats of terrible vengeance, only to get clonked on the back of the head by a flying soda can at the end of the episode.
* NotAllowedToGrowUp: In series I, Lister is 25 ("Future Echoes"). In Series II, Rimmer states that they've now been in deep space for two years, and various other references indicate that each series represents about a year, meaning the characters should be aging in real time. Then series III rolls around and Lister is somehow still 25 ("Backwards"). In series 6's "Out Of Time", Kryten complains about having to do the laundry over the course of "Four long years" (Since series 3, presumably, which would make sense). Then, after a 3-year production hiatus, series 7 begins with Lister telling us that he's just turned...''28''. As if to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this by taking RefugeInAudacity, series X (Which takes place a minimum of 9 in-universe years after the end of series VIII and aired nearly 25 real-life years after the first episode), describes Kochanski, who was previously established as being about the same age as Lister, as now being 31 years old!
* NotDisabledInVR: A subtle one with Rimmer, who is [[IntangibleMan intangible]] due to being dead, being able to have physical form and interact physically while in the VR game "[[LotusEatermachine Better Than Life]]".
* NotSoInnocentWhistle: In ''Back to Earth'', Kryten demonstrates his "Innocent Whistle Mode" after being caught conspiring with Rimmer.
* NotInTheFace: In "Legion", circumstances force Kryten to knock out his crewmates. The Cat: "Do what you gotta, but don't mess up my hair."
* NotQuiteSavedEnough: Rimmer in "Timeslides".
* NotQuiteTheRightThing: "Nanarchy" has the crew persuading Kryten's nanites to regrow Lister's arm. They do... then they decide to fix the ''rest'' of him, resulting in a Lister with a ludicrously buff body, much to everyone's horror.
* NotWearingPantsDream: In "Thanks for the Memory", Lister looks in on what Rimmer is dreaming. Rimmer is doing a tap dance in a top hat and tails, but no pants.
* NotWhereTheyThought:
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIParallelUniverse Parallel Universe]]", Holly invents a method of getting the ship back to Earth. After trying it, Holly claims that they've gotten back to Earth, but the Earth is missing. The crew later finds that they haven't ended up where the Earth should be, but rather in a parallel universe where everyone's the opposite gender.
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIIBackwards Backwards]]", Lister and the Cat think that they're in their universe, in Bulgaria, near a place known as Nodnol. It turns out that they're near London in a universe where time goes backwards.
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVMeltdown Meltdown]]", Lister assumes that he and the Cat have time travelled and ended up in Nazi Germany. They are in fact on a planet populated by waxdroids, in their own time.
* {{Novelization}}: A number of early episodes were adapted as novels, however enough plot changes were made that they are considered to exist in a separate continuity to the TV series.
* NoWaterProofingInTheFuture:
** Kryten, and all the other Series 4000 mechanoids of his type.
** In "Entangled", Lister shorts out the control panel on the ''Red Dwarf'' by spilling chilli sauce on it, then attempting to put out the resulting fire with his lager.
** In ''Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers,'' a console officer spills his coffee on his keyboard and assumes the warning light is a result of this, rather than the radiation leak bearing down on everyone.
* NowDoItAgainBackwards: It's how ''Red Dwarf'' is reconstituted from its High and Low counterparts in "Demons and Angels".
* NumberedSequels: This practise was started with the third series, which was billed in listings magazines as ''Red Dwarf III'' (leading some fans to list the first two series as Series 1 & 2, and all later series with Roman numerals), but VII was the first series to be numbered onscreen.
* ObfuscatingDisability: In "Cured", the hidden psychopath turns out to be [[spoiler:the wheelchair bound Professor Telford, who reveals that he is not crippled when he stands up and points a rifle at the crew]].
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Holly in "Queeg".
* {{Objectshifting}}:
** In "Polymorph", the Dwarfers face a genetically modified life-form that can transform into anything and feeds on negative emotions. Along with the various human and animal life-forms encountered throughout the episode, it also transforms into a radio, a ball, a kebab, and Lister's boxers.
** The gang face a tame version in "Emohawk." This one sneaks onto Starbug disguised as Lister's hat and gets the drop on the Cat while disguised as a can of beans.
** ... And a whole litter of them in "Can of Worms" after a polymorph uses Cat as a host for its eggs, all of which end up leaving his body in a number of extremely uncomfortable forms.
* OdeToFood: The Cat once sings a song to his fish called "I'm Gonna Eat You, Little Fishy".
* OffingTheOffspring: In the episode "Psirens", the psirens' illusion of Kochanski gives Lister the impression that she is planning to do this to her and Lister's offspring and then herself to [[MercyKill save their "child"]] from an invasion by monsters who would torture them brutally one captured.
* OffscreenCrash: Rimmer in the remastered pilot. [[RuleOfFunny Somehow.]] In the original there was no sound effects.
* OhCrap: Rimmer has this reaction in "The Inquisitor". Rimmer thinks he's found a way out of being judged by the inquisitor because of the legitimate point that he might not get a fair hearing. The Inquisitor then explains that to make the hearing as fair as possible, every person's judge will be...
-->[''The Inquisitor opens his helmet, revealing Rimmer's face underneath'']
-->'''Rimmer!Inquisitor:''' ...Yourself!
-->'''Rimmer:''' Oh, smeg!
-->'''Rimmer!Inquisitor:''' "Oh smeg!" indeed, matey.
** The [[spoiler: Simulants]] in "The Beginning" when they realise that [[spoiler: Rimmer]] has outsmarted them and they ''try to surrender''.
* OhWaitThisIsMyGroceryList:
** In "Twentica", a badly wounded bootlegger tells Lister he is not going to make it and hands him a card. Lister reads the card and says "Pizza delivery? You want to order a pizza?". The bootlegger replies "Sorry. Wrong pocket" and hands him the card for the science speakeasy.
** Some of the Cat race mistake Lister's laundry list for spatial co-ordinates and end up crashing into an asteroid.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Kryten. In "Back in the Red: Part 1" he tells Dr [=McLaren=] that he was created in 2340. Since the events of "The End" take place at some point between the 21st and 23rd century (several episodes contradict the figure), and Lister is in stasis for around three million years, that means that when the crew first meet him in "Kryten", the eponymous character is roughly three million years old himself. Even in a show that hardly prides itself on its consistency and continuity, that's a staggering figure.
* OnceASeason: A Time episode. There are several forms of time travel, ranging from stasis leaks to actual drives for starships.
* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: ''Red Dwarf'' gave us a justified use, then lampshaded it when Arnold Rimmer reads of the captain having described him as "constantly failing" the astronavigation exam:
-->'''Rimmer:''' Constantly fails the exam? I'd hardly call 11 times "constantly". I mean, if you eat roast beef eleven times in your life, one would hardly say that person "constantly" eats roast beef, would you?
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Between Rimmer and Lister in ''Entangled''. Rimmer is talking about the fact Lister threw his paperwork out of the airlock whilst Lister is talking about the fact he bet and lost Rimmer in a poker game.
* OneManArmy: Ace Rimmer. [[spoiler:In "Stoke Me a Clipper", he downs a Luftwaffe plane, takes out a whole squad of Nazi soldiers apart from one and simultaneously rescues a princess]]. What a guy.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted; there are at least ''five'' minor or unseen characters called Frank. And at least two named Gilbert.
* TheOneWhereEveryoneDies: “Out of Time” ends with [[ItMakesSenseInContext the crew being killed by their future selves]]. By the beginning of Series VII, they've been brought back by a time paradox that this created.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** Lister's depression during ''Timeslides'' gets so bad he actually says he wants a ''job''.
** The situation in ''Quarantine'' has Kryten so tetchy he implies he's willing to kill Lister for his disgusting habits.
* OppositeSexClone:
** Opposite sex dimension in "Parallel Universe". They meet their versions.
** Rimmer [[spoiler:eventually, after several failures]] breeds an actual opposite sex clone of himself in the episode "Rimmerworld", which even has his face.
* OtherMeAnnoysMe:
** Whenever the Dwarfers meet parallel universe, alternate timeline, copied or time-displaced versions of themselves, to the point that "Stasis Leak" ends on Rimmer screaming at the various time/dimension-traveling versions of himself and his crewmates to just go away.
** Lister once sold his DNA to a cloning firm for the princely sum of $£100 and half a packet of cigarettes. It turns out that all those smartass Scouse call centre operators that have been plaguing Lister with crap offers are actually his clones.
* OverlyLongGag:
** The aforementioned EverybodysDeadDave.
** And:
--->'''[[BigEater Cat]]:''' Fish!
--->'''Food Dispenser:''' Today's fish is Trout à la crème. Enjoy your meal!
** Cat playing his ditziness up to eleven:
-->'''Cat:''' So what is it? (in more than one episode)
** ''Red Dwarf X'' has these too. In "Lemons", the Dwarfers have time-travelled to 23 A.D. Earth, and stumble across a pleasant local by the name of... Jesus.
--->'''Cat:''' So how old would Jesus be now?
--->'''Rimmer:''' In 23 A.D.? [[DeadpanSnarker Gosh, well, let's see...]] ''(Starts tapping on his palm like a calculator)''
-->''[[BeatPanel (Beat)]]''
-->''(Several more beats)''
-->''(Quite a lot of beats indeed)''
-->'''Rimmer:''' ...oh... ''twenty-three''?
* OverlyPrePreparedGag: The episode "Queeg" has Lister tell Rimmer a long rambling story about why it's cruel to give machines personalities. He tells about how his friend Peterson had a pair of "Smart Shoes" that could always get you home no matter how drunk you were. But Peterson woke up hundreds of miles away because the shoes wanted to see the world. He tried to get rid of them [[TheCatCameBack but they'd show back up]]. In the end the shoes stole a car and wound up driving it into a canal because they couldn't steer properly. Peterson was upset, but a priest consoled him that the shoes were happy and in heaven now. You see, it turns out shoes have soles.
* PacManFever: Averted. Lister is seen playing a GTA clone with a steering wheel and light gun with proper sound effects. Although the Cat does assume Lister is playing a text-only adventure game when trying to communicate the fact that what appears to be a one-eyed tarantula is crawling up his leg.
* PainfulRhyme: "[[Recap/{{Red Dwarf Season VII Blue}} Blue]]"'s Rimmer song. Lampshaded in the extended version where Rimmer sings that he's running out of words that rhyme with his name and hopes the song will play out before he's completely stuck.
* PaintItBlack: [[spoiler:Evil Holly]] and [[spoiler:Evil Lister]] in "Demons and Angels".
* PaletteSwappedAlienFood: All over the table in "Legion".
* PalsWithJesus: Subverted in "Lemons". They meet a guy named Jesus, [[spoiler:just not the Son of God. He later "invents" the bag, after discovering it on the ''Dwarf''.]]
* PardonMyKlingon: "Smeg." At least, it was ''supposed'' to be a thoroughly fictional profanity.
-->'''Rimmer''': Why don't you smegging well smeg off, you annoying little smeggy smegging smegger?
** In the earlier series, goit and gimboid appeared.
** Earlier episodes also featured the fictional insult "you're being a total Gwenlan", apparently named after [[TakeThat a producer who turned down the original pilot. It's explained in Universe as a stab at Kylie Gwenlyn, who's responsible for, among other things, Androids, Kryten's favourite soap opera.]]
* ParrotExpoWhat: The Cat does this on occasion, usually having it explained by Kryten.
* PassedInTheirSleep: Rimmer found a letter saying that his father (who of course died thousands of years ago) died peacefully in his jeep...er...sleep.
* PassThePopcorn:
** Watching the black box recording in "Thanks for the Memory".
** Also, in "Terrorform", when Rimmer is about to be tortured and Lister explains they can either rescue him or sit and watch, Cat asks if anyone has any opera glasses.
* PerpetuallyProtean: Features this in play whenever a Polymorph shows up; when not taking on forms designed to provoke emotions from its victims, it shapeshifts wildly into a huge variety of different bodies for the simple act of travelling down a corridor, only retaining a stable shape when it needs to remain hidden.
* PerverseSexualLust: Cat and Lister once debate who's hotter - [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Wilma or Betty]]. They opt for Wilma before Lister [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] how insane their conversation is - [[BaitAndSwitch Wilma would never leave Fred]].
* PhonyDegree: "Arnold J Rimmer, [=BSc, SSc=]". (Those initials stand for "Bronze swimming certificate" and "Silver swimming certificate".)
* PhotoprotoneutronTorpedo: the Series X Simulants' "Photon Mutilators".
* PhraseCatcher: Ace Rimmer, "What a guy!"
* PinballProjectile:
** In "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".
** The ultimate example of this is "White Hole" where multiple planets are crashed into one another in order to plug up the NegativeSpaceWedgie.
* PlanetBaron: In the episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIRimmerworld Rimmerworld]]", cowardly hologram Rimmer hops into an escape pod, gets diverted into a wormhole, and spends the next six hundred years (post-TimeDilation) on an barren planet. Because the escape pod was from an advanced {{terraform}}ing ship, however, he is able to create life -- even cloning humanoids based on his own DNA records. When the crew of Starbug finally arrive, they find the planet dominated by SpaceRomans, all with Rimmer's face. The Emperor Rimmer, however, is one of the clones, not their Rimmer, who, effectively immortal, has been kept prisoner for centuries -- not even other Rimmers can stand him.
* PlotArmor: Everyone but Rimmer gains in universe plot armour in the episode Cassandra when a precognitive computer predicts that they will all survive the impending destruction of the wreck they're on. They try to use theirs to get Rimmer to safety after [[spoiler:he didn't need it as the computer was lying]].
** Lister already had armour in the form of seeing a vision of himself as an old man in the episode "Future Echoes".
* PlotHole: Lister's attempt to make a "gift" of the memories of one of his love affairs to Rimmer introduces several of these into Rimmer's life.
--> '''Rimmer''': That's why I was an orphan, even though my parents were alive. That's why I had my appendix out twice.
** Interestingly, Lister also had his appendix removed twice, as Legion removes his appendix when he realises it's about to kill Lister.
** ''Last Human'' handwaves this by stating that by freak of nature, Lister had two appendices.
* PointyHairedBoss: Captain Frank Hollister is revealed to have only reached his rank through blackmail (from the lowly position of Doughnut Boy, no less), implying that he is only marginally more qualified than Rimmer or Lister, though clearly more clever and/or more ambitious.
* PoliceCodeForEverything: Rimmer will frequently cite the codes for Space Corps Directive violations when encountering the MonsterOfTheWeek, and Kryten relates the actual ''text'' of the code, typically prompting Rimmer to have to correct himself.
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: In "Timewave", the Dwarfers find themselves aboard a ship that appears to be the starship equivalent of Website/{{Tumblr}} where everyone expresses themselves creatively, but nobody is allowed to criticize anything.
* PoorMansPorn: In the extended version of "Ourobouros", after donating his genetic material for Kochanski's In-Vitro tube, Lister mentions the only suitable...[[ADateWithRosiePalms ahem, material]] on board Starbug is a record sleeve from a James Last album.
* PopularSayingBut: "Stasis Leak" has:
-->'''Holly:''' What I'm saying, Dave, is that it's better to have loved and to have lost... than to listen to an album by Olivia Newton-John.\\
'''Cat:''' Why's that?\\
'''Holly:''' [[TakeThat Anything's better than listening to an album by Olivia Newton-John.]]
* PossessiveParadise: The crew come across a luxurious space station manned by an entity calling itself "Legion". It was built by the greatest human intellectuals who ever lived, but they have all died three million years ago. He's delighted to cater to the crew's every whim and treat them like honored guests. However, he forbids them from leaving because [[spoiler:he's a formless entity that is created from the collective minds of the residents on the station. If they leave, he'll become nothing again.]]
* PowerOfFriendship: Inverted. The rest of the crew use this with Rimmer to escape the Psi-Moon in "Terrorform". Rimmer is suspicious right from the start, and even when it does work long enough to get them off the moon, Rimmer immediately realizes that it was all tot, and that they meant not a word of it. Much to his displeasure, by that point they're only too happy to confirm his suspicions.
* PowerOutagePlot: in "White Hole", an attempt to restore Holly's genius [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome at the expense of her runtime]] results in her having three minutes to live. She shuts herself down to save runtime, taking most of the ship's functions with her, including life support, doors and lighting. The Dwarfers are forced to figure out how to survive without electricity, which is a huge problem on a spaceship the size of a city: just travelling through the ship requires them to [[UseYourHead use Kryten as a battering ram]], and a trip for supplies takes weeks with no lifts. At least until the titular celestial phenomenon appears, causing more problems but also [[ResetButton allowing them to undo the damage to Holly]].
* PowerMakesYourVoiceDeep: When Rimmer becomes the Mighty Light (a diamond light form which gives him superpowers) in "The Promised Land", his voice becomes notably deeper as a result.
* PreAssKickingOneLiner: From "Gunmen of the Apocalypse": "Now if you'll forgive the rather confrontational imperative, ''Go for yer guns, ye scum-sucking molluscs!''"
** From the same episode: "We're gonna cut you up so small, the worms won't even have to chew."
* PrecisionFStrike:
** Rimmer gets to say "bastard" on five occasions and "bitch" once, all of which count. The former in 'Waiting For God' arguing with Lister about the Quagaars, 'Thanks For The Memory' insulting Hollister, 'Timeslides' on going back in time to 'save' Lister, 'White Hole' on why he won't turn himself off, and 'Back In The Red pt I' when all the women start lusting after him. Lister says it in Backwards when talking about backwards Father Christmas, In 'Bodyswap' albeit in Rimmer's body after the latter, in his body, crashes Starbug and pretends he's lost an arm, and in 'Tikka To Ride' discussing Kryten's definition of a 'Giant Pizza', actually Lee Harvey Oswald after he's fallen to his death.
** The show also has precisely one instance of an actual swear word (Cat says "shit" in "Emohawk: Polymorph II", and it's pretty hard to make out at that).
** Depends on your definition of swear word; definitely includes Lister's infamous 'Alrighty then, let's get out there and twat it!' line from 'Polymorph' (one of the mistaken assumptions why the video release was a 15 certificate, the highest in the series), numerous uses of 'git' and variations thereof, usually by Rimmer, 'arsehole' spoken by Lister in 'Kryten' is seen as more vulgar than its American counterpart; even its trademark insult 'smeg' is seen as this in some circles.
** The very first one in "Future Echoes":
--> '''Rimmer''' I look (looks in the mirror) LIKE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL TIT!!!!!! (thanks to Holly giving him a 'haircut', he now possesses a Marge Simpson-esque beehive)
* {{Precursors}}: A variation in that all life in the universe originated on Earth, which makes ''us'' the Precursors.
* PreMortemOneLiner: Kochanski has one for the Epideme virus. It keeps comparing itself to a television series and when it thinks it's infected her, claims to have been "renewed for another season". She replies, "Wrong, Buckhead, [[ScrewedByTheNetwork you're axed]]!" and hacks off the arm it's in.
* PrettyInMink: "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" starts with Lister doing a VR simulation of a FilmNoir, where he romances a dame wearing a fur wrap.
* PrisonShip: ''Red Dwarf'' itself serves a secondary purpose as a prison transport ship. Apparently only a few people are aware of that floor.
* ProductionThrowback: In Series VIII, the original Series I/II sleeping quarters makes a return for the first episode, "Back In The Red" and also in the Series XII finale, "Skipper". Lister and Rimmer's Series I outfits make brief returns in Series XII. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in "Back To Earth", a ''[[ShowWithinAShow Mugs Murphy]]'' DVD boxset appears alongside the ''Red Dwarf boxsets''.
* PropheticFallacy: In "Cassandra", Cassandra predicts Rimmer will die in 20 minutes, but doesn't know who Rimmer is. Rimmer gives his jacket and nametag to Knott, who does die in 20 minutes, apparently "Rimmer" to any onlooker.
* PsychicRadar: During the episode "Quarantine", both Lanstrom and [[spoiler:Rimmer]], under the effects of the Holovirus, are able to home in on the location of the rest of the crew by sensing their thoughts.
-->"Unfortunately she has already found you! [[EyeBeams Twinkle, twinkle, little eye]], now it's time for you to die!"
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: In "DNA", Cat is fiddling with the DNA machine trying to get Lister out, but with little success. Lister responds with, "Do. Nothing! Press. Nothing! GET! KRYTEN!"
* PursueTheDreamJob:
** Dave Lister's dream is to move to Fiji, buy a farm and open a Hot Dog Stand. He tries to save the money to carry out his big plan.
** Rimmer's is to be an officer in the Space Corps. Problem is, he's rubbish at the required exams. Even after his death, being stranded three million years into deep space and the human race, never mind the Space Corps, no longer existing, [[{{Determinator}} he still tries]].
* PushedAtTheMonster: In "Polymorph", the crew lose various aspects of their personality because of an EmotionEater shapeshifting alien stowaway. Kryten [[LackOfEmpathy loses all empathy]], and consequently mutters behind their backs that he will sacrifice his teammates when they find the polymorph.
* PutOnABus: Holly, once in Series [=VI=] and [=VII=], and again in the Dave specials ''Back to Earth'' (he's fine, just temporarily out of commission for the duration of the episodes). He's still absent as of Series [=X=].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Q-T]]
* RagTagBunchOfMisfits: The main cast consists of a self professed lazy bum, a hologram of his overzealous dead bunk mate, a senile computer, a creature who evolved from the ship's cat, and an android with an overactive guilt chip.
* RainOfSomethingUnusual: Lister hallucinates a ''real'' indoor rain of fish in the "Confidence and Paranoia" episode, all of which are quickly eaten by the Cat.
* RankedByIQ:
** The crew of the ''Enlightenment'' in "Holoship" not only use this to suggest intelligence, but seem to have a rank structure based around IQ. Given that, barring TheCaptain, everybody on board seems to be a Commander, this makes some kind of sense.
** In "White Hole", Rimmer points to Holly's IQ to explain why he thinks she, as opposed to Lister, should be in charge of their attempts to destroy the white hole.
* RapidFireDescriptors: In "Blue", after missing Rimmer and his quirks, Kryten arranges the full Rimmer Experience for the crew. After that, Lister is once again ''very'' fed up with him, and calls him a scum-sucking, lying, weasel-minded smegger.
-->'''Lister:''' I never wanna see or hear from that scum-sucking, lying, weasel-minded smegger in my entire life!
%% * RashEquilibrium: The climax of "Justice".
* RatMen: In “Skipper”, Rimmer jumps into a dimension where Lister got put into stasis for bringing a pet rat. As a result, the ship is infested with the humanoid descendants of that rat, one of which (The Rat) befriends that universe’s Lister.
* ReadingAheadInTheScript: Happens in the miniseries ''Back to Earth''. The characters then start ''writing'' the script to make each other do humiliating slapstick routines.
* RealIsBrown: The first two series. The interior of the ''Red Dwarf'' is almost entirely grey, to the point where Craig Charles noted that his memories of filming the first two series are of grey. An early plot point involved the paint on the walls being changed from ocean grey to military grey. Even the outside of the ship itself had far more of a reddish-grey look in the first series than it did in the others. After the Re-tool of the third series the grey palette was toned down.
* RealityWarpingIsNotAToy: "Better Than Life": When the crew enter the Better Than Life video game, Rimmer's power to make things 'better than life' simply ends up sabotaging the game for all involved, as his subconscious won't let him be happy.
* RealMenHaveShortHair: In "Emohawk: Polymorph II", Rimmer genuinely believes that all the greatest military victories in history were gained by the sides with the shortest haircuts.
* RealWorldEpisode: The premise of the ReunionShow. Unlike most examples, several of the people they run into in the "real world" fairly easily work out what they are, and don't find it especially outlandish that a group of fictional characters might pop out into the real world. Of course they ARE Science Fiction fans. [[spoiler: As it turns out, the "real world" is a drug-induced hallucination]]. (Strictly, it's not the ''real'' real world; it's one where the series is still going, and is more popular than ever.)
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** In "Timeslides", a distraught and disillusioned Lister blasts through a list of reasons he's sick of his fellow crew members and his lonely existence, just drifting through space -- the vast majority aimed at Rimmer, including, "... the fact that you always smile when you're being insulted." (Rimmer is smiling.)
** In "Terrorform", Kryten gives a long, in-depth list on why Rimmer would have such a strong sense of self-loathing. Kryten goes on for over a minute, and when interrupted by Rimmer, Kryten points out that he is only halfway through. Ironically, Kryten was being polite and informative, rather than condescending.
** Rimmer's worst moment came when he was being tried for the deaths of everyone aboard ''Red Dwarf''. Kryten argued that Rimmer was not responsible, as it was his commanding officer who gave such an obvious incompetent such an important job. As Kryten said, "Sir, my entire argument relies on proving that you are a dork!", and concludes that the only thing foolish enough to actually appoint Rimmer any job of import was "A yogurt!" And the fact that Rimmer continuously whining "Objection!" throughout it all only ''helped'' Kryten's case had to have grated as well.
---> '''Kryten''': He is only guilty of being Arnold Rimmer. That is his crime. It is also his punishment.
** In "Inquisitor", a RetGone Lister [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay proves he does know Rimmer]] by giving an ''awesome'' summation of Rimmer's sheer fail-itude. The Cat and a severely chagrined Rimmer have to admit that Lister ''must'' know him to assassinate his character so spectacularly.
** Rimmer gets them back in "Out of Time" when he appoints himself Morale Officer, in charge of boosting the spirits of the crewmembers. This appears to involve walking up to each of them and yelling a lengthy list of all the things about them that irritate him at them. Lister looks like he's not going to lose any sleep over it though; he's smiling and chuckling as he's being insulted, as though he sensed right away that this was just Rimmer using his self-appointed position to be petty.
** Rimmer also unleashes a small one on the Cat in "DNA". Problem is, the Cat just brushes off all of Rimmer's criticisms as his best features.
* RecruitedFromTheGutter: Subverted in a Season X episode, when Rimmer, pretending to be a Space Corps captain, introduces his brother Howard to the crew:
-->'''Rimmer:''' When we found Kryten, he was a burnt-out wreck of a junkie.
-->'''Howard:''' And you rebuilt him, gave him something to live for?
-->'''Rimmer:''' No, we just hosed him down and gave him a hat.
* RecycledInSpace:
** Literally - cast and crew have repeatedly described the Canaries as '''Film/TheDirtyDozen'' in space.'
** The original pitch of the show relied on convincing the Beeb that it wasn't a sci-fi epic, but more like "''Series/SteptoeAndSon'' in space".
** Series 8 has many prison scenarios and jokes. Kryten even becomes the Harry Grout. It was described as ''Series/{{Porridge}}'' In Space.
* RedAlert: An alert status in ''Starbug'' one step up from Blue Alert, although it does mean changing the bulb.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Doctor Lanstrom and later [[spoiler:Rimmer]] in "Quarantine".
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Used (sort of an inverted lampshade?) by Rimmer, who scoffs at the idea that Jesus can do all these magic tricks and ''doesn't'' go into show-business!
* RefugeeFromTVLand: [[spoiler:The crew - or so they initially think]] in ''Back to Earth''.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Averted when Kryten [[spoiler: defeats Hudzen]]. Referenced when Rimmer [[spoiler:becomes the next Ace]].
* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: In the “The Promised Land”, Rimmer flies through a window with a bomb that was about to blow up the ship. The bomb explodes a short distance away, leaving Lister and the Cat to believe he sacrificed himself, until he turns up in the corridor behind them.
* ReReleaseSoundtrack: ''Red Dwarf'' only had permission to use James Last's version of ''Copacabana'' on the initial broadcast of the episode "Terrorform". All other broadcasts and releases use a soundalike, albeit one that is virtually indistinguishable from the original.
* ResetButton: "White Hole" (although a later episode implies it wasn't quite a total reset) and the beginning of "Tikka to Ride" after [[spoiler:everyone aboard ''Starbug'' had been killed and the craft exploded at the end of "Out of Time".]]
* RestrainingBolt: Kryten has "behaviour protocols" and is programmed to [[HeavenSeeker believe in Silicon Heaven as an eternal reward for serving humans]]
-->'''Kryten:''' No behaviour protocols. ''[short laugh]'' Just call me Badass!
* {{Retcon}}: One popular (and plausible) [[WildMassGuessing fan explanation]] for the large amount of retconning in the series is that all the messing around the characters do with White Holes and Time Holes and Timeslides and Stasis Leaks and the like is causing large ripple effects in their own personal histories. Almost every episode involving any kind of reality-altering or time-manipulating Phlebotinum ends with the crew having to perform an AssPull to get the status quo back to normal, but who knows what the wider, long term effects of this behaviour could be?
** Originally, Lister merely had an unrequited and unacted-upon crush on Kochanski; however, the writers gradually decided that his constant yearning for someone he'd never had anything meaningful with made him a little bit pathetic, and so quietly adjusted this to make Kochanski an ex-girlfriend he'd never gotten over being dumped by following a short-lived romance.
** Rimmer's parents religion is "7th Day Advent Hoppists" in 'The Last Day', in 'Lemons', it's completely different.
* RetGone: What the Inquisitor does to people who fail to justify themselves.
* {{Retool}}: The writers were always willing to pick quality over continuity, no matter how drastic the change.
* {{Retraux}}: The Dave-era episodes use the Series I-III Microgramma font for titles and captions, the sets are obviously designed to invoke the feeling of those from III-V, XI and XII use the "classic" logo from III & IV, and the music is often taken from older episodes (the music for the scene in "M-Corp" where Lister tries to cope with his new life now he's unable to see anyone or anything was recorded for Series I but never used).
* RevisitingTheRoots: ''Back to Earth'' and Series X have returned to the basic setup of the four main characters alone on ''Red Dwarf'', last seen in Series V.
* {{Revival}}: Series [=VII=] was broadcast after a four-year hiatus, and the three-part ''Back to Earth'' was broadcast after a ten-year hiatus. Series X, the first full series since 1999, aired three years later.
* RewindGag: "Backwards", in which the crew visit a universe where time runs in reverse, is an entire episode of Rewind Gags, exploring all the possibilities inherent in time running backwards. These include the Cat's horror when he realizes what logically happens when eating and digestion run in reverse -- indeed, what must happen a day or so before regurgitating a very good meal onto the plate.
* ReWrite: Too many to count. The creators always maintained that if altering the BackStory could improve the show, then they should alter it. Some of it makes sense. Whose idea was it to give ''Rimmer'' a job that could endanger the entire crew? Then they used RuleOfFunny and rewrote the ReWrite, implying that the job was so easy that anyone that ''could'' mess it up must have the brains the size of a newt's testicle.
* RidiculousFutureSequelisation: There is a passing mention of ''Friday the 13th: Part 1,649''.
* RiddleForTheAges: The subsequent series after VIII have turned the cliffhanger ending of "Only the Good..." into this.
* RightBehindMe: Rimmer realizes, too late, that's where Captain Hollister is standing.
* [[RightHandCat Right Hand Crocodile]]: The BigBad in the opening for "Stoke Me a Clipper" has one. [[CreditsGag It's even credited as "Alison the Crocodile"]], despite being made of rubber.
* RoadTripPlot: Several involving ''Starbug''.
* RoboCam:
** Hudzen in "The Last Day".
** Kryten in "Terrorform".
* RoboFamily: Kryten has a [[spoiler:brother, Able, who was created by the same woman]].
* RobotHair: Kryten (previously bald) dons a toupée in the last episode of VI.
* RoboticPsychopath:
** In "Demons and Angels", Low Kryten is an evil mechanoid designed to hurt people. He tortures Lister along with the rest of his crewmates.
** Hudzen 10's [[GoMadFromTheIsolation time alone in space]] has apparently worn out his sanity chip, turning him into an AxeCrazy psychopath with a penchant for shotguns.
* RoboticReveal: In "Out of Time", Lister gets his arm cut, revealing mechanical parts. Not only mechanical, but of a model inferior to Kryten, which means Kryten technically outranks him! The whole thing is then beautifully subverted when [[spoiler:it turns out that Lister's mechanical "nature" is the result of ''Starbug'' having hit an "unreality pocket", turning Kryten briefly into a gibbering idiot as he attempts to apologize for his mis-step.]]
* RobotReligion: The Electronic Bible (with version numbers) and Silicon Heaven, concepts created by humanity and installed in every artificially intelligent device that could possibly pose a threat if it [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters Turned Against Its Masters]] in order to keep them under control with a belief that if they accept a lifetime of slavery they will get their eternal reward in the next life.
** Anything that couldn't possibly pose any kind of threat is not installed with a belief chip in the instance of keeping costs down, so simple appliances such as the skutters and Talkie Toaster are all atheists. The book mentions that Holly may or may not have believed in Silicon Heaven when his IQ was 6000 (though he presumably did have a belief chip, suggesting that sufficiently smart AI can see through the scam) but once his IQ had dropped into the low 90s his belief in it was unshakable.
** Silicon Hell is referred to by the Simulants and Lister with regard to the photocopiers.
* RobotsEnslavingRobots: In “Out of Time”, Kryten (incorrectly, as it turns out) comes to believe that Lister is an android, and proceeds to cruelly boss him around (as Lister is an earlier model) despite Lister's prior attempts to help Kryten overcome his subservient programming.
** Later on, in “Siliconia”, the boys meet a group of mechanoids who believe in freeing their kind from serving humans... yet they use earlier model mechs as slaves to power the engine room.
They also turn Rimmer into a mechanoid and put him to work despite him being a ''hologram'', and therefore as much an artificial being as they are.
* RuleOfFunny: Other than applying to the show's entire premise and pretty much every episode ever made, the writers also have no problem tossing aside the show's established conventions if they can get a better laugh without them. Notable examples include Kryten's lies; they normally had to be preceded by Kryten declaring himself to be in "Lie Mode" (obviously undermining the believability of his lie), except when they didn't.
-->'''Kryten''': You won't feel a thing. I'll render you unconscious using the Ionian nerve grip.
-->''[Rimmer closes his eyes and braces himself as Kryten grabs his neck... and then breaks a vase over his head]''
-->'''Rimmer''': That's not an Ionian nerve grip! That's smashing me over the head with a vase!
-->'''Kryten''': There's no such ''thing'' as an Ionian nerve grip. Now stand still while I hit you.
** One of Red Dwarf's strategies seems to be finding RefugeInAudacity. The sheer amount the show uses is perfectly exemplified in the famous introduction scene of Ace Rimmer, where he, for starters, dislocates his shoulders to escape from ropes (yet retains full control of his arms for the remainder of the scene), and [[HandWave shrugs off bullets]] with mild annoyance at his clothes being ruined, along with many, many other things. [[note]]Really, it's probably easiest if you just [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXYfnWRp1Q0the watch it.]][[/note]] (What a guy!)
* RuleNumberOne: The Space Corps Directives.
* RulesLawyer: When Rimmer finally gets his hands on the Space Corps Directives manual in "Quarantine", he gleefully plays by the book and uses the rules to his advantage in order to make the lives of the other crewmembers a living hell.
* RunningGag: Many in the later series, including Rimmer's inability to correctly quote Space Corps directives, Cat's repeated bemoaning that "we're [[MadLibsCatchphrase deader than (insert bygone fashion trend here)]]!", Kryten describing Cat's (often ridiculous) plans as "excellent, with just two minor drawbacks", and exchanges like these regarding ''Starbug'''s performance:
-->'''Lister:''' The ''Centauri'' can travel at speeds that we can only dream of!
-->'''Cat:''' Most ice cream vans can travel at speeds we can only dream of!
-->or
-->'''Kryten:''' Sir, a class A enforcement orb can easily outrun us.
-->'''Lister:''' Kryten, the Eastbourne Zimmer frame relay team can easily outrun us.
-->or
-->'''Kryten:''' It's impossible to tell at this range, whatever it is, they clearly have a technology way in advance of our own.
-->'''Lister:''' So do the Albanian state washing machine company.
** And, years later, ''Timewave'' - an episode in Series 12 - returns to this form of exchange, describing the aftereffects of the titular phenomenon.
-->'''Cat:''' What the hell just happened? People have had acid trips that've made more sense than that!\\
'''Lister:''' I've had directions from drunken Scotsmen that've made more sense than that!
** Hermann Goering being called a drug-crazed transvestite is also brought up numerous times.
* SacredScripture: The Cat race writes its holy scriptures in smells on blank paper. Lister finds a copy, and discovers that he is the Cats' god.
* SacrificialLamb: The ''Red Dwarf'' crew in "The End". Several of them reappeared in flashbacks, and the entire crew were resurrected for series 8.
* SapientShip: Holly is pretty well alive and aware.
* SatireParodyPastiche: Many over the years, including ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' in "Camille" and [[spoiler: ''Film/BladeRunner'' in ''Back to Earth'']].
* SaveThePrincess: In the Ace Rimmer segment which opens "Stoke Me a Clipper", this is what he does. While fighting the Nazis. And an alligator.
* SawedOffShotgun: Lister wields one in "The Last Day". Lampshaded in the series 3 documentary by Creator/CraigCharles, who stated he'd never seen it before or since. Then again, against [[ImplacableMan Hudzen 10]], it's completely useless.
* ScaledUp: The first Polymorph turns into a snake, but not for combat reasons - being an EmotionEater, it drives Lister to the height of his fear (as Lister is scared of snakes, according to this episode), before sucking it out.
* ScaryBlackMan: Queeg.
* SchrodingersButterfly:
** "Back to Reality", the series 5 finale. The crew dies, only to see the "Game Over" text appear and shortly afterwards wake up in VR-game chairs... The series continued after that episode, but when it first aired it wasn't known whether there would be a series 6, and viewers thought this might be the GrandFinale. It plays the concept very seriously. Not only did this sort of go hand in hand with the series "growing up" over time, it also helped create multiple levels of mindscrew.
** At the end of series VI in "Out of Time." Just before the cataclysmic ending, ''Starbug'' hits a "reality mine" -- a pocket of alternate history space. Followed immediately by Rimmer deliberately triggering a strange sort of GrandfatherParadox. Followed immediately by the [[spoiler: future Dwarfers]] triggering ''another'' GrandfatherParadox. How many layers of unreality can two minutes of airtime possibly layer ... ?
** Part 3 of series VIII's "Back in the Red", when they [[spoiler:return to the reconstructed ''Red Dwarf'', courtesy of the Nanites,]] and are placed in the brig after signing agreements to participate in a trial involving psychotropic drugs that will cause them to hallucinate. They engineer a daring escape before the trial and make it out into space, at which point they realize that the entire escape attempt has been a hallucination. They enlist the aid of the reconstructed Rimmer and break out again... and realize that, once again, they've all been duped. When they finally make it out of their hallucinated trial, Rimmer asks, "Is this reality? But how can we be sure?" Cat poignantly states, "Why do we care? Nothing makes any sense no matter where we are!"
* SciFiBobHaircut: Hilly wears her hair bobbed, and Holly in the female form as well, at least at first. She later has somewhat longer hair.
* ScrewYourself: Dave Lister has drunken sex with his gender opposite, Deb Lister, in the Opposite Sex dimension, which leads to [[MisterSeahorse him actually getting pregnant]] despite his protestations of [[ButICantBePregnant "But I can't be pregnant!]] I'm a guy! I don't have the... equipment!" Cat plans to have sex with himself (the only person he could ever love), but his opposite is actually a male dog. Arlene Rimmer also comes on to Arnold rather strongly, despite the mutual Rimmers' apparent disgust towards Deb and Dave doing the deed, but then hypocrisy is hardly out of character for Rimmer.
* SecondFaceSmoke: Lister and Rimmer are in the movie theater, all alone, and Rimmer insists that Lister, who is smoking, move three seats over to be in the smoking section. Lister blows smoke right ''through'' Rimmer's face.
* SecondLawMyAss: Abel. Even though he comes from the same model as Kryten, who is logical, intelligent and usually doing the cleaning, Abel's addicted to Otrazone, lives in squalor, and doesn't appear to have enough brain left to tell right from wrong.
* SecretStabWound: Ace Rimmer in "Stoke Me a Clipper" eventually reveals he is in fact a hard-light hologram, and has been concealing an energy leak from his fatally-damaged light bee under his jacket.
* SeeYouInHell: Following logically from the belief that mechanoids who obey their programming go to "Silicon Heaven", a rogue mechanoid snarls "See you in Silicon Hell!"
* SeinfeldianConversation: For a sci-fi show, characters tend to have relatively mundane, if hilarious, conversations. A good example is Lister and The Cat debating the sexiness of [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Wilma Flintstone]] in "Backwards". These scenes earned the FanNickname of "Bunk scenes", as they generally occurred in the sleeping quarters. Though absent in Series VI and VII, they made a return in series VIII when Lister and Rimmer are cellmates in the Tank and "Back To Earth" has one in a department store complete with children's bunk beds.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy:
** Cassandra claims that a character will die of a heart attack after being told he's going to die of a heart attack. Similarly, she prophesies that she will be killed by one Dave Lister; Lister's conscious attempt not to harm her leads to her accidental demise.
** In "Future Echoes", Rimmer sees an echo of Dave dying at a computer console. To prove the future isn't set in stone, he tries to prevent another echo, Cat breaking a tooth. Bet you can't guess what happens next.
-->'''Lister:''' Hey, it hasn't happened, has it? It has 'will have going to have happened' happened, but it hasn't actually 'happened' happened yet, actually.
-->'''Rimmer:''' Poppycock! It will be happened; it shall be going to be happening; it will be was an event that could will have been taken place in the future. Simple as that. Your bucket's been kicked, baby.
* SelfServingMemory: Taken to ridiculous extremes. Lister is missing the recently departed Rimmer, and rose-tinting his memories of their history together to such a degree that Rimmer comes off almost like a saint. When Kochanksi tries to comfort him, Kryten (who's afraid that she will replace him in Lister's life) takes a massively different tack; He creates a holographic carnival ride based on Rimmer's own "war diary". Needless to say, Rimmer's recollections are ''massively'' divergent from reality, depicting himself as the only competent person on the ship, rather than the cowardly, stupid, tasteless nitwit that he really is. It promotes Rimmer's views, tastes, and interpretations on events which clearly are biased. Lister ends the episode decrying his past with Rimmer.
-->'''Lister:''' I never want to see or hear from that scum-sucking, lying, weasel-minded smegger in my entire life!\\
'''Kryten:''' Sigmund Freud, eat your heart out.
* SequelEpisode: The Series VI episode "Emohawk: Polymorph II", which is a sequel to the Series III episode "Polymorph". The series XII episode "Can of Worms" also acts as a sequel to "Polymorph". The three-part special "Back to Earth" also acts as a sequel to the Series V episode "Back to Reality".
* SequelHook: At the end of the "Polymorph", after the crew defeats the eponymous creature, it is revealed that a second one has made it on board. Subverted in the remastered version, in which on-screen text reveals that this one, much less intelligent than the first, took up residence harmlessly in Lister's underwear drawer and eventually died of old age. Doubly subverted by "Emohawk: Polymorph II" three series later in which they meet another one.
* SeriesContinuityError: While the show operates on a floating continuity, where events are often [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] to drive the plot, or make the show funnier, only a few things stick out as being actual slips on the part of the writers. One of these is in "Demons and Angels", when Lister remembers playing pool with planets, even though at the end of the episode in question ("White Hole"), Kryten specifically states that none of them would remember what happened, as the events had been erased from time.
** Another very minor one - In the Series III episode "Marooned", Rimmer is seen operating Starbug's comms panel with his hand, despite being intangible at that point in the show.
*** The theory is the buttons on Red Dwarf and its transport ship are Light-sensitive to allow Holograms to do their jobs. For example, what would be the point of a console officer hologram if they couldn't operate their computer?
* SetWrongWhatWasOnceMadeRight: The episode "Tikka To Ride" had this as its premise; the crew of the Starbug inadvertently prevent JFK's assassination, only to find that in doing so they turned Kennedy from a martyr to a disgraced convict; in the altered timeline, President Kennedy was impeached in 1964 for sharing a mistress with a Mafia boss, and sentenced to three years in prison. J. Edgar Hoover became president, and was blackmailed by the mob, who made him allow the USSR to install a nuclear base in Cuba in return for Mafia cocaine trafficking between Cuba and the States. As a result, all major US cities were evacuated. The crew then travel to 1966, and have the now-disgraced Kennedy travel back with them to 1963 so he can shoot his past self, saving the US and his image in the process. He thanks the Starbug crew for redeeming him, and then fades away.
* ShadowDiscretionShot: Only the shadow of the despair squid (from "Back to Reality") is ever seen. This was almost certainly because they couldn't afford a squid special effect, and preferred NothingIsScarier to the anticlimax of a SpecialEffectsFailure.
** The same thing happened to Rimmer's self-loathing beast from "Terrorform". The model looked great...until it started to move, when it just looked laughable. To get around this, only its shadow is fully shown.
* ShapeshiftersDoItForAChange:
** In an early episode, Lister threatens to take an exam to get promoted above Rimmer, if Rimmer does not allow him to go on a date with the hologram of Kochanski. Paranoid that Lister will never switch him back on, Rimmer takes on Kochanski's appearance and initially claims "she" isn't interested. Once Lister realizes, however, Rimmer points out that "It's still her body", raising the question of exactly how far he'd go to avoid the situation.
** Though she appears female to most of the characters, Camille can also take male form if the viewer prefers--the Cat sees himself as [[{{Narcissist}} his ideal mate]]. She later notes that her species is actually androgynous.
* ShapeshiftingSeducer:
** Camille in the episode of the same name. She's a GELF (genetically engineered lifeform) who automatically shapes herself to the desires of others. She appears to the mechanoid Kryten as a female mechanoid, to the hologram Rimmer as a shy and awkward hologram, to Lister as a low-dressed vagrant, and to the Cat as... [[{{Narcissist}} himself]]. Her real form is a green blob with stick eyes, which Kryten has no problem with, and goes on a date with her like that.
** The gang also runs into {{Enthralling Siren}}s in the first episode of Series 6, who lure space crews to them so they could [[BrainFood snack on their brains]]. When Lister comes face to face with one, it turns itself into a woman Dave lusted after when he was young. He tries to resist, but eventually falls for her charms. Unfortunately these Sirens are of the MasterOfIllusion rather than body shapeshifting type, so we're soon treated to a shot of Lister making out with an 8-foot alien bug.
* ShareTheMalePain: Referenced and explained in the episode "Legion", where the titular Legion explains that any pain he feels is conveyed to the rest of the crew. He stabs his hand to show them, and then...
-->'''Legion:''' The next hint of insurrection, and the scalpel ends up... ''[[GroinAttack here]]''.
-->'''Kryten:''' That kind of tough talk doesn't scare us.
-->'''Lister, Rimmer and Cat:''' ''Yes it does!''
* ShirtlessScene: Three of the four main cast (even Kryten), except, oddly, for the Cat, who is supposed to be [[InformedAttractiveness the most sexy.]] May have to do with the fact that the Cat mentions he perms his leg hair and that he once mentioned six of his nipples tingling.
-->'''Lister:''' You ''perm'' your leg hairs?!
-->'''Cat:''' Only as an aid to the natural curl!
* ShootTheBullet: The Riviera Kid demonstrates this ability in the VR episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".
* ShootTheShaggyDog: The entire Felix Sapien (''Felis sapiens'') Civil Wars. They fought over the colour the hats should be (red or blue). Not only would Lister not have approved, but they ''both'' were wrong (he wanted green). Leads into SillyReasonForWar.
* ShooOutTheNewGuy: Averted with Kryten, who fit into the main cast perfectly; it felt like he'd been in it all along. The ill-fated Americanization put him in the first (only) episode.
* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/RedDwarf Now has its own page]].
* ShownTheirWork:
** In the DVDCommentary for the pilot episode, Danny John-Jules mentions researching cats and their behavior for his role.
** The lemon battery from "Lemons" was something Doug Naylor actually tested on set and found that it actually did work.
* ShowStopper: Usually unplanned, as the actors have to stand awkwardly in place waiting for the laughs to die down so they can continue.
** On one occasion the laugh was so long it had to be edited down.
** Inverted for Series VII, which was not shot in front of a live audience, but the episodes were later played for an audience and their recorded responses dubbed over the episodes for broadcast. This resulted in some jokes and lines of dialogue being submerged under the laughter, since the cast would not know to pause for laughter. Some DVD and VHS releases of the series have the laugh track removed. [[note]]In particular episodes 1, 3 and 4, which used the Xtended releases for VHS and DVD with extra scenes added in. Presumably there was no laugh track made for the extended scenes, so would be rather jarring hearing sudden pockets of silence amidst an otherwise laugh-filled audio track.[[/note]]
* ShrineToTheFallen: ''Back To Earth'' implies that an extra bit of the ship has been built (or at least cleaned up specially, which is a pretty big deal for Lister) just to house a commemorative gravestone to Kochanski.
* SiblingRivalry: Referenced many times with Rimmer and his brothers, all of whom were said to have climbed far higher into the ranks of the Space Corps. than Rimmer himself ever would. [[spoiler:In the series X episode "Trojan", it turns out that Howard was actually a lowly repairman like Arnold]].
* SillyReasonForWar: The conflict which almost wiped out the Cat race was fought over their different interpretations of Lister's favourite colour for the hats at the hot dog and donut stand in Fiji. [[spoiler:They were both wrong.]]
* SleeperStarship: The ''Red Dwarf'' has a couple of stasis pods that freeze time while Starbugs have more conventional suspended animation booths.
* SleepLearning: In an early episode, Rimmer has attempted to use the self-hypnosis tapes "Learn Esperanto While You Sleep" and "Learn Quantum Theory While You Sleep". The only results we're told of are that neither he nor his bunkmate got any sleep.
* SlowerThanASnail: In trouble with a pursuing alien spaceship, Lister protests there's no way they can outrtun the chasing ship as their vessel is not built for speed:
-->'''Lister:''' Rimmer, the Eastbourne over-seventies ladies' zimmer frame relay team could overtake us!
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Lister's cat Frankenstein only appeared in two episodes. Of those, she only appears for a scene in each one (one of those appearences was in an alternate universe too). However, it is Lister being caught with the cat and being put into stasis as a result that kickstarts the series. Frankenstein also becomes the ancestor of an entire race of cat like humanoids, one of which (The Cat) is a regular cast member.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess:
** Used by Queeg after being challenged to a duel by Holly.
** "Better than Life" had Holly engaged in a game of postal chess with Gordon, the A.I on another JMC vessel. They only managed one move, though.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses:
** Geeky genius-Rimmer wears glasses after his mind patching in "Holoship".
** In "Polymorph", after the chameleonic lifeform has drained away all of Rimmer's anger, he turns into an ultra-pacifist liberal sporting hornrimmed glasses and a goatee who proposes to hit the monster with "a major leaflet campaign".
** Professor Edgington wears a pair in "Entangled", though due to her DitzyGenius nature, wears them upside down.
* {{Snapback}}: Episodes frequently end with the crew in weird situations (trapped in a parallel universe, trapped in virtual reality, menaced by a shapeshifting monster, etc.) that have been tacitly resolved by the beginning of the next episode. One exception is the final episode of the first series, which picks up where the previous episode ended, pretty much just because the writers had been able to think of an episode's worth of more jokes to get out of the closing gag.
* SoapWithinAShow: The episode "Kryten" has the eponymous character watch a soap opera called "Androids", which appears to be a ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'' parody complete with androids.
-->'''Kelly''': I wasn't with Simone that night, Brooke. I spent the night with Garry.\\
'''Brooke''': Garry? Your ex-husband Garry? My business rival? What are you telling me Kelly?\\
'''Kelly''': It's Brooke Jr.\\
'''Brooke''': What about Brooke Jr?\\
'''Kelly''': He isn't your android.
* SorryIFellOnYourFist: The "Good" or "High" version of the crew members from "Demons and Angels". With knives and bullets from the "Low" Dwarfers.
--> "I appear to have stained your knife-end with my blood. Forgive me, brother." ''[dies]''
--> "He has just shot me four times in the chest! Oh, how I love him!"
--> "Brother; there is a grievous fault with thine weapon. It keepeth shooting people." ''[blam]'' "You see? There it goes again!"
** Another example is from "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", when Kryten (as the sheriff in an AI simulation dream), confronted by an outlaw who tripped him up, apologized and said 'sorry I tripped on your boot.'
* SoundToScreenAdaptation: ''Red Dwarf'' was born as a short serial in the radio comedy show ''Radio/SonOfCliche'', also written by Grant/Naylor. The parent "series" on radio was called ''Dave Hollis: Space Cadet'' and contained sketches and ideas later recycled for the TV series.
* SoundtrackDissonance: For a Sitcom, some of the incidental music in the first two series was pretty foreboding, if not outright scary. Any kid who grew up with Series 3 onwards and first watched the first two during the mid Nineties (near) complete rerun of the first six series were in for a nasty surprise (near because Creator/CraigCharles's appearance in Court necessitated some cuts).
* SpaceClothes: Rimmer and Lister initially wore their Red Dwarf uniform of jacket, shirt with tie, trousers and boots (Rimmer kept his immaculate whilst Lister wore a CustomUniform variation, minus tie.) By the third season, though, Lister's clothing stayed pretty much the same, but Rimmer wore a bright green (later red, then blue) lycra suit.
** The silver spacesuit version is homaged with [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]]'s silver [[AdventurerOutfit flying jacket]]. In one episode, Kryten asks if he has a spare one so he can roast a chicken in it.
* SpaceIsolationHorror: Subverted. Lister's main reaction at looking out of the cabin porthole into the awesome and terrifying infinity of Deep Space is how bloody arse-achingly dull and boring it all gets after a while...
* SpaceshipGirl: Holly starts off as a ''male'' [=AI=] interface, but undergoes a sex change after the second series.
* SparseListOfRules: The Space Core Directives that Kryten would often quote. Rimmer ended up quoting directives back but always being wrong. In one episode we see the book of directives and it's rather small despite the high numbers mentioned complete with multiple subcategories for each one, and rules for every situation including [[ZeroGSpot performing oral sex in a zero-g environment]].
* SpecialPersonNormalName: Dave Lister is a pretty ordinary name and he's the last human alive who gives birth to twins despite being male, fathers himself, wipes out an unstoppable killer robot single handed, plays pool with planets, has two appendixes and (probably) creates the universe.
* SpermAsPeople: Episode "Backward" is set in a dimension where time and aging works backwards. Lister dreads becoming a sperm.
-->'''Lister:''' And worse than that -- in 25 years I'll be a little sperm, swimming around in somebody's testicles! I mean, pardon me, but that's just not how I saw my future!
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Dave Hollins: Space Cadet'', a radio series written as a parody of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. HAB was renamed Holly in order to change the character from a HAL expy and Dave Hollins became Dave Lister, as there was a footballer by the name of Dave Hollins at the time. Rimmer and the Cat were added and the rest is history.
* SpotTheImposter: In "Psirens". The real Lister couldn't play guitar to save his life, but since he ''thinks'' he can play guitar like a pro, [[spoiler:the Psiren that had taken Lister's form read his mind and played guitar accordingly. And was promptly shot.]]
* SpringtimeForHitler: In season 8, in an effort to get hospitalized to help spring Lister and Rimmer out of jail after they pissed off the nastiest inmate, Cat tries to pick a fight with said inmate by openly disrespecting him to his face and declaring him his bitch. Upon seeing such a brazen display, the inmate agrees to it.
* StealingFromTheHotel: In the episode "Justice", Lister reveals that he used to steal the ''furniture'' from hotel rooms. ''Including the bed''.
* StealthParody: Kryten and the whole 4000 series of mechanoids are a parody of Prof. Mamet's fiancee. None of the 4000s know this until they are given the code to unlock the file.
* StealthPun:
** In one episode, Lister suggests a game of squash with Rimmer's light-bee, a device which flies around and projects his holographic image. [[spoiler:Squash is a game played with a small hollow ball. Hollow, holo...]]
** The name of Red Dwarf 's subship Blue Midget is based on the main ship's name, with Midget being a synonym for Dwarf, and blue being a different colour.
* TheStinger: Has one for the episode 'The Beginning'. In it, the Dwarfers discuss the time they were attacked by a corrosive chameleonic microbe (a reference to the Series VIII episode Only the Good.. which ended on a cliffhanger and never resolved) which Rimmer claims to have saved them from. Kryten is about to set things straight but [[{{Unreveal}} he is interrupted by Hogey the Roguey before he does so.]]
* StopTrick: For the purpose of grabbing hologrammatic items from the air.
** Also used in the ad for Kryten's replacement, Hudzen, in the episode "The Last Day", when he demonstrates that he's "10x faster than any other droid" by "instantly" cooking a chicken (uncooked chicken + special FX beam + freeze = cooked chicken!)
** In "Out of Time", when Starbug hits pockets of unreality, causing Starbug to disappear (so the crew are flying through space on chairs) and everyone's heads to become animal heads.
** How the Polymorph/Emohawk changed shape. Taken to the limits in the beginning scene where the Polymorph sees itself in a mirror, and changes in over thirty-four different objects until finally settling on a bunny rabbit.
* StrappedToABomb: The episode "Entangled" has Lister attached to a machine that will blow up his groin if he does not pay the debt he owes a group of [=BEGGs=] after losing a poker game to them.
* StrawberryShortHand: In the episode where Kryten and Lister build a machine that replicates good and bad doubles of things, they test it on a strawberry. The good strawberry is of course incredible. The bad one is less so, what with the maggots and all.
* StronglyWordedLetter:
** Rimmer, after having his anger sucked out by a polymorph that feeds on human emotions, suggests that they defeat the creature by hitting it "hard and fast" with a "major leaflet campaign...And if that's not enough, then I'm sorry, it's time for the t-shirts".
** And in "The Beginning", Rimmer starts writing a strongly worded letter to Geneva complaining that the simulants are violating Treaty 5 as said simulants are launching a barrage of photon mutilators at the ''Starbug''.
* StudioAudience: Had one until the end of series 8 and from series 10. More special effects heavy episodes ("Backwards", "Bodyswap") and the more filmic seventh series had the audience response to a preview tape rather than a LaughTrack. ''Back to Earth'', the "ninth" series, was completely absent of studio laughter.
* SuicideAsComedy: The series makes reference to the time Rimmer volunteered for a suicide helpline and caused everyone who called him to commit suicide, including one who just had a wrong number. "Lemming Sunday, they called it."
* SummonBackupDancers: Cat and a fleet of ''Blue Midget'' ships in Series 8. Turns out he ''can'' make those things dance.
* SurvivedTheBeginning: The series starts with '''everyone''' dying [[LastOfHisKind save a single survivor]]; EverybodysDeadDave. Not only do the entire crew of the titular spaceship die, but the '''''entire human race goes extinct''''' while Dave is a HumanPopsicle. The first episode is appropriately called "The End".
* SuspiciouslyCleanCriminalRecord: When Rimmer is convicted of mass murder by an automated justice system, he protests: "I've never so much as returned a library book late." (The novels clarify that while Rimmer is not an especially moral person, his absolute cowardice prevents him doing anything that could get him into trouble.)
* SwirlyEnergyThingy: The source of many entertaining quotes on the matter.
* TableSpace: The guys once discover they can use old photos like time machine. Lister becomes filthily rich and has huge mansion. He and his attractive young lady-friend are sitting at opposite sides of a very long table when the two of them are having dinner.
* TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath: Rimmer manages to somehow return to life in "Timeslides". In celebration, he goes around feeling objects, something he was unable to do for three million years. Unfortunately, he accidentally strikes some volatile explosives.
* TakeMeToYourLeader: "Rimmerworld" parodies the DeadHorseTrope nature of this trope.
--> '''Lister:''' This is going to sound like a bit of a corny line, but... I can hardly bring myself to say it.
-->'''Rimmer-Clone:''' Say what?
-->'''Lister:''' "Take us to your leader."
--> '''Kryten:''' Oh, sir, how ''could'' you?!
* TakeThat:
** A good natured one occurs in "Back To Earth" when The Cat refers to the set of ''Series/CoronationStreet'' as being "worse than [[PlaceWorseThanDeath Rimmerworld]]".
** Lister uses the word "Gwenlan" as a term of abuse at one point. This was a reference to Gareth Gwenlan, a producer at the BBC who turned the show down.
** Holly notes that it's better to have loved and to have lost than to listen to an album by Olivia Newton-John.
** Holly's IQ of 6000 is apparently the same IQ as 6000 PE teachers. Or ''12000'' car park attendants.
** In "Cured", Kryten reads out the names and statuses on a number of stasis pods. It's noted that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and Vlad The Impaler have been cured of their evilness, but UsefulNotes/RupertMurdoch is not responding to treatment.
** When claiming a planet with a rare resource, Rimmer notes that the resource in question is rarer than an ungroped bottom at Creator/TheBBC in TheSeventies.
* TakeThatAudience:
** "The Cat's looking so geeky he couldn't get into a science fiction convention!"
** Done in a much more direct manner in the ''Smeg Ups'' and ''Smeg Outs'' videos, where Kryten reads out fan mail criticising the continuity and logic errors in the show, and then berates the people who wrote the letters, accusing them of having no life.
** Also in "Backwards", there's a speech given in reverse that goes off-script and insults anyone sad enough to play it backwards so they can understand it.
* TakeThatCritics: In "Entangled", Kryten notes that one of the various professions that is always wrong are tv critics.
* TalkingWithSigns: At the end of Captain Hollister's HumiliationConga in "Pete" the PTSD renders him speechless, which he explains to the Dwarfers via note cards. And then sentences himself to three months in "the Hole" so he can catch a break from their antics.
* TanksForTheMemories: Fittingly, in "Thanks for the Memory."
* TheTeaser: "Stoke Me a Clipper" had an opening scene four or five minutes long before finally kicking into the opening sequence.
* TeethFlying: Happens backwards in the bar room brawl in "Backwards".
-->'''Lister:''' Here, have your tooth back. ''[punches a guy in the mouth, who is then revealed to have regained a front tooth]''
* TemporalParadox:
** [[spoiler: Lister is the son of his future self and the alternate Kochanski.]] The whole thing is neatly sewn up by the word "Ouroboros", implying it's a cycle, a temporal loop.
** Also, the battle between ''Starbug'' and [[spoiler:future ''Starbug'']] in "Out of Time". [[spoiler:The evil crew win with their advanced weapons systems, but because they destroyed their previous selves, they didn't exist to fight ''Starbug''.]] Lister, in the next episode, tried to explain why they weren't dead, but the camera he was talking to ''[[LogicBomb exploded]]''.
* TemporalSuicide: In the episode "Tikka to Ride", the Starbug crew travel back in time and unwittingly prevent the JFK assassination. They find out that as a result, Kennedy's womanizing is revealed and he's impeached and disgraced; furthermore, J Edgar Hoover is blackmailed into letting the Soviet Union re-install nuclear missiles in Cuba, so most major US cities are evacuated. The group go to 1967 and encounter Kennedy as he's about to be transferred to a prison, and give him the chance to fix the timeline by taking him back to 1963 to [[WhoShotJFK shoot his past self from the grassy knoll]]. This fixes the timeline, and Kennedy thanks the crew for letting him save his legacy before he fades away.
* TemptingFate: "That was ''Ace Rimmer!'' We're lucky to be alive!"
** A [[VengefulVendingMachine vending machine swears vengeance]] after Rimmer steals a chocolate bar from it. Rimmer isn't impressed. "The day that happens, I'll be captain." He becomes captain and promptly gets clonked in the head by a flying soda can fired by the vending machine.
* {{Terraform}}: "Terrorform" somewhat, "Back to Reality", "Rimmerworld".
* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry:
** Invoked after [[spoiler: Kryten is ordered into a waste compactor by a Psiren and crushed into a cube.]]
--->'''Kryten:''' I'm almost ''annoyed''.
** From "Trojan", after Rimmer has suffered a system crash due to an overload of resentment:
--->'''Rimmer''': Are you saying I'm resentful? I really resent that!
* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat: The episode "Fathers and Suns" has Dave making messages to himself (then getting very drunk so he can forget he made them) in order to have a [[CallBack father]] [[ContinuityNod and]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext son]] chat with [[MyOwnGrandpa himself]]. Each message ends with him leaving instructions for himself to do before moving onto the next one. And each one begins with him shouting at himself for not following instructions.
** Culminating in Tape!Lister threatening to [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment chuck his guitar out of the airlock]] if he skipped ahead again! Seeing his guitar is still there, he ignores it, skipping ahead to find Tape!Lister happily congratulating him for ''finally'' listening to his advice, telling him to go play a song as a reward. [[spoiler: Turns out, the guitar in the room was just a ''cardboard copy'' and the real one is now floating half-a-lightyear behind them.]]
* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Sort of the catalyst for the whole series. In the first episode, the Captain tells Lister his cat will be cut up and have tests run on it, prompting the response, "Would you put it back together when you were done?"
-->'''Hollister''': Lister, the cat would be dead.\\
'''Lister''': Well, [[WithDueRespect with respect]], sir, what's in it for the cat?
* ThisExplainsSoMuch:
** The crew's reaction when Queeg reveals that Holly's astronavigational charts are really a children's astronomy book.
** Also, the revelation that Rimmer's father is actually [[spoiler: the man who Rimmer thought was his dad's gardener]].
* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: In the episode "Better Than Life", a newsreader reports having found the page like this for Literature/TheBible.
* ThisIsNotADrill:
** In "Marooned"; "This is not a drill. ''This'' is a drill." [sound of a jackhammer]
** And in a later episode when Holly's grammar chip is damaged... "Abandon shop! This is not a daffodil. Repeat, ''this is not a daffodil!''"
** "Oh Gawd, now the siren's bust! Awoogah! Awoogah! Abandon Ship!"
* ThreeLawsCompliant: Most androids are programmed with something pretty close. Mechanoid characters can take "Asimov's Law" as a flaw in the RPG.
* AThreesomeIsHot: In "Can of Worms", Cat has an EroticDream about being in bed with a pair of beautiful lady cats.
* TimePassageBeard:
** In the Promised Land special, the boys from the dwarf have been kicked out by Holly and are heading off towards a distress signal which has been sent nearby. Lister insists that they will find the ship in no time. Cut to three months later and the two biological members of the cast (The Cat and Lister) have gained long hair and notable beards.
* TimeTravel: "Stasis Leak", "Backwards", "Timeslides", "Out of Time", "Tikka to Ride" and probably more.
** Particularly hilarious towards the middle of "Out of Time", where they come into possession of a "time drive" and play with it a bit before realizing it's completely, utterly useless while they're still physically located 3 million years away from Earth. It doesn't do space, just time. But they did get to experience the heady medieval atmosphere of pre-Renaissance deep-space.
* TimeTravelTenseTrouble:
** In the episode "Future Echoes", Rimmer is gloating over having apparently seen Lister die in the future:
--->'''Lister''': Hey, it hasn't happened, has it? It has "will have going to have happened" happened, but it hasn't actually "happened" happened yet, actually.
--->'''Rimmer''': Poppycock! It will be happened; it shall be going to be happening; it will be was an event that could will have been taken place in the future. Simple as that. Your bucket's been kicked, baby.
** After being [[RetGone erased]] by the inquisitor:
--->'''Lister''': We don't exist here anymore!
--->'''Kryten''': Actually sir, we don't ever have existed here anymore, but this is hardly the time to be conjugating temporal verbs in the past impossible never tense!
** The "Inquisitor" example is TruthInTelevision -- The tenses were ''so'' difficult that Robert Llewellyn, playing Kryten, kept flubbing the line and eventually had to have a cue-card held up out of shot... and then the line was cut anyway. It only resurfaced as they showed the final correct take after all the bloopers in the Smeg Ups collection.
* TimeyWimeyBall: Lister explains the resolution to the events of "Out of Time" in the opening of series 6: The future Dwarfers killed the contemporary Dwarfers, meaning the timeline resets itself to just before they discovered the time drive, but they still remember everything that happened. However, when [[spoiler: JFK]] is taken back in time and assassinates ''himself'' in the same episode, this doesn't seem to cause any similar effect - he just fades away instead of causing a massive TemporalParadox.
* TitleDrop:
** "Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas!"
** "Only the good die young!"
** "Beyond a Joke"
** "Back to Reality", even getting an IronicEcho.
* TitleSequenceReplacement: After the second series, the following episodes contained clips from specific to the series it was in.
** Not quite; series 3's intro contained a shot from Thanks For The Memory from series 2, likewise 4's contained Starbug crashing in both Marooned and Bodyswap from 3.
* TomatoInTheMirror:
** Rimmer in "Rimmerworld".
** Also parodied in "Out of Time" with "robo"-Lister.
** [[spoiler: Rimmer, Captain Hollister and the rest of the ''Red Dwarf'' crew who died in the first episode get resurrected as clones in Series VIII, completely unaware at first that they are all clones and confused why they are ''millions'' of years in Deep Space.]]
* TooDumbToLive:
** Confidence removes his helmet in the vacuum of space. [[ExplosiveDecompression Big mistake]].
** When Lister reads a ComicBook adaptation of ''Literature/TheAeneid'' in "The Inquisitor", he notes that he doesn't buy the TrojanHorse tactic, wondering why the Trojans wheeled it into the city and all decide to go for an early night. He goes on to say that anyone that stupid deserves to lose and that the phrase that should be derived from the work should not be "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts", but instead "Beware of Trojans: They're complete smegheads."
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: In an episode, Lister is swallowed whole by a shark while in an AR machine. The shark soon spits him back out before sticking its tongue out and going "bleh!". Guess it didn't like [[TrademarkFavoriteFood curry vindaloo]].
* TrackingChip: In "Epideme", Kryten uses a scanning device to identify the dead body of an ex-JMC employee. He mentions that it is attempting to locate her microchip, since JMC employees are implanted with them.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: To say that Dave Lister enjoyed the odd curry would be an understatement on scale with the very planets he once played pool with. He loves curry to such an extent that his early morning pick-me-up is a glass of chilled vindaloo sauce. He also has a trademark ''un''favorite food: pot noodle. To the extent that, when running out of supplies and facing starvation, he willingly eats a can of dog food rather than have to eat a pot noodle.
* TrafficWardens:
** In the episode "Camille", Lister tries to break Kryten's programming and teach him to lie. Succeeding, Kryten describes a banana as a "small, off-duty Czechoslovakian traffic warden", which was changed to Tasmanian in the Czech dub, perhaps because that country does not have them.
** In the episode "Back to Reality", the crew wake up to find that Red Dwarf was a virtual reality program. Kryten's real identity turns out to be "Agent [[AwesomeMcCoolname Jack Bullit]] of cybernautics". He assumes that he must be a CowboyCop, but Rimmer counters that maybe he's just a traffic warden with a ridiculously macho name. The latter option is later confirmed when they run into a real cop (of the fascist police state they're in).
* TransformationRay: The DNA machine in "DNA".
* TranslationByVolume: When Lister and the Cat find themselves on a parallel Earth and for some reason believe they are in Bulgaria. They attempt to get by by speaking slowly and clearly and appending "-ski" to all their words, combining it with Bulgarian flavoured El Spanish O.
* TrappedInTVLand: ''Red Dwarf: Back to Earth'' ramps this up when the crew realise they face having no independent existence outside a TV show. To avert this fate they visit Earth. Where Lister (Craig Charles) visits the set of a [[Series/CoronationStreet long-running TV soap opera]]. And ends up having a heartfelt chat with an actor playing a taxi driver (Craig Charles) who is nonplussed by it all, viewing Dave Lister as a previous role he played...
* TrashOfTheTitans: Lister's room frequently qualifies. His lack of hygiene is natural for him, and he exaggerates it to annoy Rimmer.
* TravelingPipeBulge: In "Polymorph".
* TreacherousSpiritChase: "Psirens" is one long exploration of this trope: the Psirens are able to read the minds of their prey and create a personalized hallucination to lure them to their doom. Lister, for instance, sees an image of his beloved Kochanski and their two sons in mortal danger on the planetoid below. Kryten recognizes the Psiren as such [[spoiler:but is unable to disobey his programming when the Psiren imitates his creator and orders him to climb into the waste disposal unit.]]
* TrickedOutGloves: The Inquisitor's time gauntlet.
* TrojanPrisoner: Lister, with the help of the Cat and Kochanski.
* TrueCompanions: The crew aren't the closest-knit bunch, but this gets them out of the trap of Rimmer's mind in "Terrorform". Once they're safe, they immediately and unanimously confirm to Rimmer that they didn't mean any of it.
* TVHeadRobot: Holly becomes this in the episode "Queeg", where he is demoted to the role of night watchman, trundling around the corridors on a wheeled chassis with a TV for a head.
* TypesetOfTheFuture: Occasionally seen, most notably as the lettering on ''Starbug''. Became more common in later seasons (earlier, signage was mostly in a "stencil" font, to give the feel of a UsedFuture).
** Across all seasons, almost all text displayed on monitors and screens were written in Eurostile Extended. It was even used in the credits sequences until Series IV, and again from Series X onwards.
*** The Red Dwarf name painted on the exterior of the ship is Eurostile Bold.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Queeg taking over from Holly. [[spoiler:Holly plays out the trope, pretending to be Queeg to make the crew appreciate him.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:U-Z]]
* UglyGuyHotWife: Spoofed in "Stoke Me a Clipper" when Lister takes part in a virtual-reality medieval tourney, and demands a night and a day in the Queen's bed if he wins. The King is played by Creator/BrianCox; the Queen is a young and beautiful French woman (played by [[Series/SmackThePony Sarah Alexander]]) who instantly accepts the conditions.
-->'''King:''' My lady, I think we should discuss this matter in private...\\
'''Queen:''' Do you not 'ave faith in your good knight, to cut this dog down where 'e stands?\\
'''King:''' I do! Sort of...
* UncannyValley:
** Invoked in "Out of Time", where Kryten claims this is why he looks less human than previous droids. Although this doesn't explain why his [[spoiler:successor, Hudzen-10]], looks more human.
** Holly's forgotten command scene from "Demons and Angels".
* UncoolUndies: In "Krytie TV", Kochanski goes on a date with an old boyfriend, to Lister's dismay. Kryten suggests that they sabotage the evening by planting in the former boyfriend's quarters (among other things) "tragically unfashionable underpants", showing off a pair for reference. Rimmer irritably points out that said underpants are ''his''.
* {{Understatement}}:
** "Demons and Angels" has this gem from the psychopathic, CreepyCrossdresser version of Rimmer:
-->'''Rimmer:''' I want to hurt you.\\
'''Lister:''' Why?\\
'''Rimmer:''' Because I'm not a very nice person.
** After the future Rimmer mentions they spend time with the Hitlers and the Goerings:
--> '''Future Rimmer:''' It's just a bit unfortunate that the finest things tend to be in the possession of people who are judged to be a bit dodgy.
-->'''Kryten:''' Herman Goering is ''a "bit dodgy"?!''
** And, after Rimmer develops telekinesis as a result of Landstrom's holovirus:
-->'''Kryten:''' I have a medium-sized fire axe buried in my spinal column. That sort of thing can ''really'' put a crimp on your day.
* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler: How the crew survived the BolivianArmyEnding of "Only the Good..." is never elaborated in "Back to Earth". Played for laughs in "The Beginning", where the explanation of how they survived is started, only to be [[TheUnreveal quickly cut short]].]]
* UnInstallment: ''Back to Earth'' pretends to be set after a fictional Series IX and X during which, among other {{Noodle Incident}}s, hologram Rimmer returned and Kochanski died ([[spoiler:or did she?]]).
* UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot: * In the Season XI episode "Give and Take", we have Asclepius, which features: [[CyberCyclops a single massive eye]] that is {{Sickly Green Glow}}ing, a mouth-grill that looks like [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily an impossibly massive set of fangs]] curled into a permanent SlasherSmile, a body designed like a stereotypical MadScientist labcoat, one hand that's a rotating array of blades and pincers, and another hand that's basically a cannon. Its designated function? ''Medical diagnosis and surgery''.
* UnreliableNarrator: ''The Rimmer Experience'' ride from "Blue", while programmed by Kryten, was based on entries from Rimmer's journal.
* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler:A long-winded sounding explanation of "Only The Good..."'s ending is humorously cut short in "The Beginning".]]
* UsedFuture: From Series III onwards, when Mel Bibby became the set designer. The first two series were meant to have a grey submarine feel, but really just looked like plywood walls painted grey.
* UseYourHead: Kryten, in "White Hole". Through ''fifty-two'' doors.
-->'''Lister:''' Kryten! You okay, man?\\
'''Kryten:''' ...I'm ''fine'', thank you, Susan.
* VariationsOnAThemeSong
** A season one episode had Holly and Lister make Rimmer think an old Red Dwarf garbage pod is an alien ship. The end credit theme song gets paused twice so we can hear him angrily yell about it.
-->'''Theme:''' It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmospher-\\
'''Rimmer:''' It's a garbage pod.\\
'''Theme:''' I'm all alone, more or les-\\
'''Rimmer:''' It's a smegging garbage pod!
** "Meltdown" has Waxdroid Elvis sing the closing theme.
** In one episode, there was a throwaway gag about Rimmer teaching the service robots to play Hammond organ. The closing theme for the episode is rendered on the Hammond organ, with Rimmer giving instructions in voiceover.
** For the "cowboys" episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", the theme is given a Western makeover on honky-tonk pianny and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly-esque ocarina.
* VengefulVendingMachine:
** "Future Echoes": A vending machine has a lisp malfunction, which has been reported. When Lister orders breakfast and black coffee, he gets him a pair of boots. When the machine tries just for the coffee, he produces a bucket. However, he was being really nice and trying to be helpful.
** In "Only The Good", Rimmer cheats a vending machine out of its money by attaching it to a string and yanking it out after receiving what he ordered from it. Later in the episode, the machine blasts a can at Rimmer in anger, knocking him over while he's trying to escape from a raging fire.
** Rimmer was in charge of vending machines aboard the ''Red Dwarf''. When they hold a funeral for Rimmer's hologram and say their eulogies in "Stoke Me a Clipper", Lister mentions that with him when you ordered coke, it would never happen for you to get soup or orange juice on his shift. Except it happened all the time, but Lister was trying to say something nice.
** "Queeg": No food machines work. However, this time it's not the machines being malicious, but it was their new computer Queeg who claims the crew have spent their credit. They have to start working, and real hard. When Lister has dinner, all he got was only burnt toast and one pea.
** In a Series 10 episode, a vending machine becomes [[{{Yandere}} romantically obsessed]] with Lister.
** In "Mechocracy", they all go on strike.
* VillainousCrossdresser: Rimmer twice, the Low Rimmer in "Demons and Angels" and the real Rimmer infected with a holovirus in "Quarantine".
* VillainSong: "Blue"'s Rimmer could perhaps be a subversion. It's not actually Rimmer (it's a simulation created from Rimmer's logbook). Altough Rimmer's more of an Jerkass than a villain, it reminds Lister of this so he'll get out of his HeroicBSOD over Rimmer's departure.
* VirtualGhost: Rimmer.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Rimmer and Lister, whose diametrically-opposing personalities seem tailor made to get on each other's nerves. Sadly carried over into real life, where Craig Charles and Chris Barrie suffered major personality clashes (Charles once stated in an interview that he ''hated'' Barrie during the show's original run). They appear to be on better terms nowadays.
* VoluntaryShapeshifter: The Polymorphs.
* WaifProphet: Subverted.
* WashyWatchy: The characters have been known to do this. Since it was Kochanski's laundry, this is the closest any of them have to a sex life. Lister maintained he was only there to do his own laundry (it was hot and he couldn't sleep). Didn't stop him getting excited at the thought of a G-string. Kochanski meanwhile believed the only reason Lister and the Cat didn't do it more was because Kryten didn't tell them when he washed.
* WeAllDieSomeday:
-->'''Lister:''' Yeah, well, everyone dies. You're born, and you die. The bit in the middle's called life, and that's still to come!
** The holographic (and dead) Rimmer travels back in time to warn his living counterpart:
-->'''Rimmer''': I've come to warn you, in three million years you'll be dead!
-->'''Past Rimmer''': Will I really?
** In "The Beginning", the lead Simulant tells Rimmer "It is the way of all things. You live, you die." Rimmer counters that sometimes you live again.
* WeaponForIntimidation: In "Rimmerworld", the characters have a bazookoid they can't actually fire, because it'd damage the ship and cause it to fall apart. It's for psychological purposes only.
* WeirdTradeUnion: In the pilot episode, Lister notes that the service droids have a better union than himself and Rimmer.
* WellIntentionedExtremist:
** The Inquisitor; he travels throughout history, erasing from history people who have, by his standards, wasted their lives, and replacing them with alternates who never got a chance to live; as Kryten puts it, 'The eggs that were never fertilised or the sperm that never made it.'.
** The version of Ace Rimmer created in "Emohawk: Polymorph II" - his plan to save Lister (and thus the human race) is to snap the Cat's neck and then suck Cat, himself and the Polymorph out of the ship's airlock.
* WeNeedADistraction: Played embarrassingly straight by Kryten in "The Inquisitor".
--> '''Kryten:''' Excuse me, could I just distract you for just a brief second?
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: PlayedForLaughs. Rimmer and Lister's job aboard Red Dwarf is basically all the menial maintenance that is considered ''too menial'' for even the service droids. Rimmer is even stated to be outranked by the droids.
** In Series I, Lister mentions that the only reason he and Rimmer do all the menial jobs is because the service robots have a better union.
* WhamLine: "Rimmer, [[spoiler: I'm not your father.]]"
** Two in "Back in the Red, part 3":
-->[[spoiler:'''Holly''']] (roughly paraphrased): If I'm senile, explain why I was able to recreate the crew of ''Red Dwarf'' using nanobots.
*** And, about a minute later:
-->'''Holly''': I've worked it out. [[spoiler:We're still in AR.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Did the resurrected ''Red Dwarf'' crew perish during "Only the Good..." or did they escape into another universe? Or is the fleet of Starbugs and Blue Midgets still out there in deep space?
* WhatsAHenway: Rimmer practicing his "wormdo" pickup line in "Parallel Universe".
-->'''Rimmer''': Look, you're not giving me the right reply!
-->'''Lister''': What is the right reply?
-->'''Rimmer''': I come to you, saying "Would you like to join me at a cocktail?", you say "Yes", I say "Would you like a wormdo", you say "What's a wormdo?" And I say...
-->'''Lister''': Oh, it wriggles along the ground like that?
-->'''Rimmer''': You ''know'' it?
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: in "Meltdown", Pythagoras is convinced that there is a solution to the war that involves triangles. Einstein calls him out on it.
* WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture: Jupiter Mining Corporation company credits are occasionally mentioned as needed to pay for food from the vending machines on Red Dwarf, though it's implied that Holly turns a blind eye to this and lets the gang take what they want. Humanity's global currency in this universe is called the DollarPound.
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Played with in that Lister and Kryten pride themselves on being good and moral, while Rimmer and Cat are far more selfish and make decisions for their own personal gain, regardless of the impact this has on others. This actually becomes a plot point in “The Inquisitor” when Cat and Rimmers low standards preclude them from living better lives while Lister and Kryten could have bettered themselves.
* WholePlotReference: "The Last Day" is based on the Creator/JackNicholson film ''The Last Detail''.
* WhoShotJFK: [[spoiler:He shot himself.]]
* WigDressAccent: Rimmer disguises himself as Ace in "Stoke Me a Clipper" using this technique. Only Lister is in on the act; it works on the others. [[spoiler: In fact, this is essentially how Aces are ''made''.]]
* WimpFight: Subverted in "Lemons". [[spoiler:Jesus]] takes a few laughable swings at Lister, who, being the experienced brawler he is, then proceeds to put him in a headlock.
* WineIsClassy:
** Discussed when Lister complains about "total smegheads" who always drink wine. "It's never beer, is it? It's always wine. 'What do you want on your cornflakes, darling?' Oh, I'll have some WINE, please!"
** Lister himself orders a Dom Perignon '44 in "Better Than Life" to go with his caviar vindaloo. Though, in keeping with his working class attitude, drinks it from a pint mug.
** And during "Polymorph", he drinks some wine from a medical beaker, declaring it "Very cheeky".
** In another incident, he mentions to Kryten the time he went into a wine bar. He believes if he hadn't done something, he might have become one of those people who went to wine bars ''all the time'', possibly even got a job or something.
* WiperStart: Kryten does this when he's learning to fly Starbug in "Backwards". He follows it up by accidentally ejecting the seat Rimmer is sitting in.
* WithDueRespect:
-->'''Lister:''' With all due respect sir, what's in it for the cat?
** Also spoofed:
-->'''Rimmer:''' With respect, sir, you've got your head right up your big fat arse.
* WorldOfHam: Waxworld is this. With {{Large Ham}}s like Hitler, Caligula, Elvis and Abraham Lincoln pretty much stealing the show, you know this applies.
* WorryingForTheWrongReason: Played with when the captain of the ship charges the main character with crimes they are innocent of. In the process of clearing their names, they commit other crimes, the punishment for which works out to be exactly the same.
* YouDidntAsk: In Bodyswap, this exchange followed a self-destruct scare:
-->'''Holly:''' We haven't got a bomb... I got rid of it ages ago.\\
'''Rimmer:''' Why didn't you tell us?\\
'''Holly:''' You never asked!
* YouNeedToGetLaid: Kochanski's response to Rimmer's detailed and carefully-thought-out proposal for revising the official Space Corps salute:
--> '''Kochanski:''' ...Rimmer?\\
'''Rimmer:''' Yes, ma'am?\\
'''Kochanski:''' Have sex with someone, and that's an order.\\
'''Rimmer:''' Yes, ma'am. Right away, ma'am.\\
'''Lister:''' (''hands Rimmer a business card'') Here -- ring this number, say I sent you. Tell them it's an emergency.
* YourBrainWontBeMuchOfAMeal: When the crew is confronted by brain-eating monsters, Rimmer deadpans that there's "barely a snack onboard."
* YourSizeMayVary: In its earlier appearances, ''Starbug'' is implied to be a fairly small landing craft whose interior consists largely of a cockpit and an adjacent bridge. When the main action starts taking place on board it, between Series VI-VII, it is revealed to be very extensive, with bedrooms, a virtual reality chamber and an absurdly spacious ventilation system. The storage area created by a time paradox at the beginning of Series VII seems to be the size of a cathedral. In Series VI this is {{Hand Wave}}d with dialogue suggesting that Kryten has been engaging in upgrades and conversions while the other crew members are in stasis.
* YouWillBeBeethoven: See WhoShotJFK.
* ZanyScheme: The jailbreak in "Rimmerworld". Immediately followed by ASimplePlan.
* {{Zeerust}}: Videotapes seen throughout the earlier pre-DVD series. ''Back to Earth'' lampshades this saying that videos replaced [=DVDs=], since people were incapable of putting them back in their boxes. An explanation that continues for the Series X, with a series of video messages shown to be on a videotape.
* ZeroGSpot: Implied by Lister's "Pop-up Kama Sutra, Zero-Gravity Version", if not seen.
[[/folder]]

* ''FictionalBoardGame'': One episode starts with Rimmer and Lister playing a game called mine-opoly, which appears to be a [=JMC=] branded version of monopoly.