"The Inquisitor" | |
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Red Dwarf episode | |
The Inquisitor visits Red Dwarf to assess if they are worthy of their existence
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Episode no. |
Series 5 Episode 2 |
Directed by | Juliet May & Grant Naylor |
Written by | Rob Grant & Doug Naylor |
Original air date | 27 February 1992 |
Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The Inquisitor" is the second episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series V and the twenty sixth in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 27 February 1992. It was written by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor, and directed by Juliet May & Grant Naylor. The episode's plot deals with a time travelling simulant who visits Red Dwarf to assess if they are worthy of their existence.
Starbug is taken under control by a being called The Inquisitor and returned to Red Dwarf. The Inquisitor is a self-repairing simulant who survived until the end of time, and, coming to the conclusion that there is no God and no afterlife, decided that the only point of life was to "seize the gift of life". He is on a journey through time, seeking out those he judges worthless and erasing them from existence, allowing a different person to exist in their place—one of the many that could have been conceived had the original person not been.
Each crew member comes up for judgment, with the Inquisitor morphing into each crewmember during their respective trial, meaning that they are actually being judged by themselves (which the Inquisitor claims is "the only fair way" in spite of the metaphysical implications). Rimmer pleads mitigating circumstances, arguing that his background meant that he had no chance from the beginning and that although he is nothing, for him, 'nothing is up'; the Cat cites his beauty; Kryten questions the Inquisitor's authority; Lister rejects it outright. Rimmer and the Cat are excused on the grounds that they have met their own low standards, but Kryten and Lister are not so lucky: ostensibly, they both had the potential to make something of themselves but failed to do so (there is some indication that this judgement may have resulted from questioning the Inquisitor's authority). The Inquisitor removes Lister and Kryten's influence from the time stream, replacing them with their unconceived equivalents, and prepares to disintegrate them to complete the process, though he is stopped by a version of Kryten from the future, who before being killed, amputates the Inquisitor's left hand along with his time-manipulating "time gauntlet", giving it to his past self and Lister, as well as a cryptic clue about how to operate it: "".