Making sense of "Back to Earth"

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know that subject line is kind of an oxymoron, since making sense out of a sitcom is probably being ambitious, but I can't help trying to figure things out. *G*

Since this is a slash community, I'm curious about your take on the Lister and Rimmer relationship and changes between the series and this movie. (Note: I'm going through old posts, still, and I'm certain you longtime members have already hashed all this out, but I haven't gotten quite up to 2009 yet - and at any rate, who's likely to go back that far and look at any question a n00b might ask in the comments to any relevant entries?)

( Hidden for spoilers )