Rimmer Versus Ace

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

No, not in the popularity stakes - I realise Rimmer's the overwhelming winner on here just as Ace is the overwhelming winner onscreen.  But to what extent does Lister actually want him to be like Ace?

There's no doubt IMO that Lister is infatuated with Ace in "DJ" and would probably have slept with him if circumstances had allowed it.  But that doesn't necessarily mean he's responding so much to Ace as an individual, more to an underlying attraction which was always there but suppressed by Rimmer's personality and latterly his soft-light status.  Of course part of it is the effect which Ace has on most people.

I personally think that the events of "DJ" plant the idea in Rimmer's head that Lister will always go weak at the knees for Ace and that he's in permanent competition with him.  This can only have been reinforced by Lister pushing him to become Ace in "SMAC" even though I perceive Lister as genuinely thinking that he was doing the right thing both for Rimmer and for the multiverse.  I believe he thought that becoming a hero would be the making of Rimmer.

When he dreams of Rimmer's return in "Blue" the man he pictures is neither the real Rimmer nor Ace, but something in between which suggests even he may not be sure which he prefers.  What do the rest of you think?