From: hameluck@mercury.cs.uregina.ca (Jeff Hameluck)
Subject: Re: Red Dwarf Movie, etc.
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1993 23:36:34 GMT
Organization: University of Regina, SK, Canada

In article <4m02wB1w165w@berry.Cary.NC.US> pat@berry.Cary.NC.US (Pat Berry) writes:
>cpbuehrer@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu writes:
>
>> > (And when has Rimmer ever walked through walls?)
>> 
>> He did it in the one with the stasis leak.  Both the future Rimmer and the
>> future-future rimmer walked through walls/tables/etc.  Remember?
>
>Yes, I do, and you're missing the point. In "Stasis Leak," Rimmer hid
>inside walls and tables, which is not the same thing as walking through
>them.  I have never seen Rimmer enter or leave a room by walking through
>a wall.  He always uses the door.
>
>I'm not suggesting that Rimmer isn't capable of walking through solid
>objects -- of course he is.  But he simply doesn't do it.  Describing
>him as "a man who walks through walls," as the original poster did, is
>inaccurate.
>

Well according to the first couple fo chapters of the first Red Dwarf Book
"Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers"  On page 5 when the concept of a Holographic
simulation of a person is being explained for the first time they (Grant Naylor)
specifically show that the holographically projected bits can pass through solid
objects.  Referring to the first holographically simlated person  "He smashed
his fist down onto the table.  The fist passed soundlessly through the grey
metal desk top, and crashed with astounding force into his testicles."

but on page 27 when the Grant & Naylor decided that people would probably wonder
just how the hologram could be projected anywhere they came up with a plausible
explanation.  "The hologramatic illusion of Saunders' body was provided by a
light bee.  The light bee, a minute projection device the size of a pin head,
hovered in the middle of his body receiving data from the Hologram Simulation
Suite, which it then transmitted into a 3D form."

So the holographic projection device, no matter how small still is a solid
object which could not possible pass through objects but things like a head or
arm can which explains why Rimmer would normally use doors (it also saves on the
special effect budget...)

But as one person pointed out in "Statis Leak" Rimmer had hidden entirely inside
some kind of table or desk (at least that what it looked like, perhaps he could
have been under it, not necessarily in it) which brings me to the conclusion of
all of this is that Red Dwarf is a TV show and like any other TV show the
the ability for Rimmer to walk though walls is only used when it can get a laugh
or is vital for some point in the plot.  Writers, especially when there are more
than one or two working on a project which goes on for years like a TV show
tend to change things as they go along and forget about things so I would say
that Rimmer probably does have the ability in the TV show to walk though solid
objects but the original explaination of a hologram simulation of a person would
not allow for the entire body to pass through a solid object because of the
projection device.  It's kind of like what happened in the TV show Happy Days
Does anyone else wonder what happened to Chuck, Richie's older brother who
exsisted for the first series or so and then vapourized into thin air when the
writer's forgot he exsisted.

Jeff Hameluck
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada