Red Dwarf/Confidence and Paranoia

Confidence and Paranoia
Season 1, Episode 5
Airdate	March 14, 1988
Written by	Rob Grant, Doug Naylor
Directed by	Ed Bye
← 1x04 Waiting for God	1x06 → Me²
Red Dwarf — Season One

Confidence and Paranoia is the fifth episode of the first season of Red Dwarf, and the fifth episode overall.

Guest Stars: Lee Cornes (Paranoia), Craig Ferguson (Confidence)

Plot Overview

After rummaging through contaminated crew quaters, Lister catches pneumonia. Not just ordinary pneumonia, but a virus that used to be pneumonia three million years ago. Now it is a sort of psychic virus that gives its victims unusual mental powers.

Lister, fails once again, to get Rimmer to tell him where Kochanski's hologram disc is. But we do learn that Rimmer was a member of the Love Celibacy Society. We also learn that Rimmer once made love to Yvonne MacGruder, but as Lister points out, the only reason she had anything to do with Rimmer was because she had been hit on the head by a winch.

That night Lister collapses in white corridor 159. After several unsuccessful attempts to get the Cat to help Lister, Rimmer gets the scutters to help instead. Later after Lister is back in his quarters, his fevered dreams produce tangible physical effects such as the mayor of Warsaw spontaneously bursting into flames and herring raining in Lister's quarters. The disease also conjures up his confidence and his paranoia ... as real people. Since these two characters (Confidence and Paranoia) are actually part of Lister's mind, they know everything he knows. However they are always at odds with each other, giving Lister conflicting advice.

Confidence secretly kills Paranoia and convinces Lister to go outside the ship where they find Kochanski's hologram disc. While outside, Confidence trys to get Lister to take off his helmet. Unable to convince Lister to do so, Confidence takes off his own helment to show lister that it's okay, and Confidence explodes.

SPOILER: Hover or select to reveal  When Lister activates the disc, he is surprised to find that it is another Rimmer! 

Arc Advancement

Characters

• The scene where Rimmer and the Cat argue about helping Lister hints that Rimmer does sort of care.

Trivia

The Show

Necrobics: Hologramatic exercises for the dead.

Allusions and References

• Holly has Lister erase his memory of Agatha Christie novels.

• With regard to Lister's dreams-turned-real, the only comparable incidents on record are:
  • The Mayor of Warsaw spontaneously bursting into flames in 1546.
  • 12th Century Burgandy, when it rained herring.

Memorable Moments

• The scene where Holly has Lister clear his memory of Agatha Christie novels.
• The scene where Rimmer tries to get the Cat to help Lister. The Cat keeps pretending that he is getting up just so that Rimmer will leave, and then he sits back down.

Quotes

• At Holly's request, Lister has just erased all Agatha Christie novels from Holly's memory:
  Lister: I've done it.
  Holly: Done what?
  Lister: Erased Agatha Christie.
  Holly: Who's she?

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