Those bits in Red Dwarf you just don't get...

I've always assumed it was linked to the term "hex" as in to curse someone with witchcraft, so the ability to shoot odd beams from your eyes to attack people as being quite similar to the ability to hex someone magically (through your eyes). It beats using a term like "laser vision" or something. Or who knows, perhaps it happens to be the sixth odd ability developed as a result of the holo-virus

 

Yep, it's class! I'm doing the run of dwarfs right now. I've just watched 'Gunmen'.

The association with curses occurred to me while I was in the shower just now. Previously, I always assumed it had something to do with the number six, but I can't think what. Your idea makes as much sense as any.

This one's been raised before, and I don't think we've even approached a reasonable solution.

 

I've always assumed it was just how Rimmer pronounced ziggurat. Considering the sides are shaped a bit like a flight of stairs it seems a suitable metaphor for climbing toward the top (this is assuming I'm thinking of the correct thing)

 

Likely just a part of being Rimmer and it is little more than just a mispronounciation on his behalf. He's seen the word but never heard it so has decided to pronounce "zigger-aut". With an unfamiliar word that is not native it's not uncommon to add odd inflections or hardening/softening letters and syllables, at least in my experience. Strikes me he'd imagine it pronounced with more flair, for want of a better word, than the word actually has in order to make it sound grander to those who don't know what it means (Lister for instance), and give him a superior feeling as a result.

At least that's my interpretation, sitting here thinking about it. Whether or not there was any intention or precedent behind the decision to pronounce it differently or simply the way Chris does it of course, I've got no idea. Must say though, I feel it suits the character.

 

ziggaurt's were the built up temples in ancienct mesopotamia, ya know babalon and such. they were huge built up temples for their various gods and the higher one got on the ziggurat the higher your position in society. the highest being the priest/king

 

As an American RD viewer, I can say don't feel bad about not getting the Dan Quayle reference. I guess he wasn't just an embarrassment to the US, but an international embarrassment as well. (BTW, I was in N. Houston a few months back and drove by a restaurant called "The Potatoe Patch"[sic]...Dan Quayle would have been proud! On that front though, there are a LOT of European celebs that I don't know about, that are referenced in some RD episodes, mostly when one of the gang is insulting the other and drawing the comparison to "so and so celeb" that usually gets some laughs from the live audience. My fiancee will look and me and say "Who's that?" and I'll say "I don't know". Or how about, I figured out that "Little Chef" or whatever was a restaurant, but we don't have those over here, so I have no idea what they are like.

 

No. It's not racist. Paul Robeson had a very deep voice and dope can make you talk funny or percieve things differently (at least, that's what my experiences of smoking it have taught me).

 

Just out of interest, why didn't you Google him if you didn't know who he is?

 

Well that makes sense I suppose. I also didn't know who Paul Robeson was, but I understood the joke better when I listened to him on Youtube. It's still a relatively obscure cultural reference though, which is recurring problem with Red Dwarf. I hadn't heard of Helen Shapiro or James Last either.

 

One thing thats forever got to me was the concept of "Justice".

As we are reliably informed by Mr. Arnold, Sir. Committing any kind of crime sees the person responsible having the same thing happen to him.

Lister sets fire to the blankets, and he ends up having a rather burnt leather jacket.

Spin forward to when he confronts the Simulant.

He uses the metal bar to bang it onto the bar, that would be deemed as vandalism(?) or maybe I'm just a bit too Smegging pedantic but nevertheless he strikes another bit of metal. And thus doesnt reap the consequences. Always wondered why or if this was something Rob and Doug overlooked.

 

It's not shown, but when he did that, a fender on his bike back on Red Dwarf crumpled slightly, as though hit by a metal bar. He blamed Rimmer, which led to an almighty row. It was filmed for the show, but added nothing to the story, so is not regarded as canon.

 

Oh my goodness, I'm genuinely happy to hear this. Its been bugging me ever since I saw it back in 1991 and thought gosh. etc.

 

Happy to elucidate! You know I was talking out of my recharge socket, right?:?

 

And I thought it was the Port which was talking. Now I feel like a polaroid head believing that.

 

Purely for the sake of pushing new frontiers and increasing knowledge, I think, albeit not something they'd entirely benefit from as they wouldn't know he was successful, but they'd see him leap away at least. For some that's enough... and besides they might be able to use their knowledge of the Dimension jump drive to develop a mark 2 that WOULD have more control.

He isn't. I know that was a massive amount of light bees, but in an infinity of universes not that many. Besides, do we know they are all hard-light? It seems unlikely they're not as I'm not sure how Ace could manage his heroics if he can't touch anything, but that could be even more heroic in a sense.