Canonical Things Which Could Be Used In Fics

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

I'm slowly rewatching the whole of RD in response to the RD Series Weeks on Tumblr and although I haven't got that far yet, I keep seeing plot points or events which for the most part were never brought up again and some of which are crying out to be used in fics (or simply used more if they already have been).

For instance, the scene in "Confidence & Paranoia" where Holly casually tells Lister how to delete a part of his memory, password included.  Obviously he trusts Lister, but that still seems something which could very easily be misused in the wrong hands i.e. Rimmer's or even Cat's.

Continuing that theme, Veronica_Rich has pointed out that the events of "Thanks For The Memory" are tailor-made for sexy "threesome" fic involving Rimmer's confused memories of having sex both with Lister and as Lister.

The dream recorder in that episode and also the non-hologrammatic version seen in "Parallel Universe" are very useful plot devices for fics.  (I believe it was Diminua who first had the idea of using the latter in a fic and that gave me the idea of using it in one of mine.)

Other scenes / plot points which I feel could be made more of are the scene in "Timeslides" where Lister actually meets Rimmer's family (however briefly) and the luck virus.

So what about everyone else?  Which overlooked bit of canon or minor character POV (Gilbert the butler in "Timeslides"!) would you like to see included in a fic?

Comments

[rosecathy1.livejournal.com]

The thought of living L and R plus a hologram hasn't occurred to me before. :O Rimmer's function is to keep Lister sane regardless of whether he himself is alive, so would they or Holly want to bring someone back? Series I-II Lister (before the continuity changed) wanted to ask Kochanski how she felt about him, but later on, her being soft-light might have been more frustrating than it was worth. Same with Rimmer and McGruder.

I know it was done for story reasons/laughs, but it's potentially interesting that the Boys interviewed other holograms in Holoship. Was it just an opportunity to replace Rimmer with someone they thought was better, or was the "keep Lister sane" thing still paramount at that point (unlike in VII when Lister sent Rimmer off to be Ace — again, I know it was for story reasons, etc.)?

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Well, if both Lister and Rimmer survive the accident then Lister's no longer the only human left, so in that case it would be more a question of keeping each other sane. But given they would still be at each other's throats, I'm pretty sure they would both want additional company early on. Maybe not later once they get together. ;)

In this situation they might never have found out about hard-light hologram technology, which would be fine in the short term if they were happy together but not so great once they got older and were faced with their own mortality.

I think by the time of "Holoship" the "keep Lister sane" thing is lower priority because the addition of Kryten to the crew and Lister's evident toughening up by learning how to use bazookoids etc makes it seem less urgent. It comes across more as Cat and Lister wanting another (less uptight) mate in that scene.

[rosecathy1.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, that's a good point about L and R keeping each other sane. I had it in my head that Lister is more likely to fall apart first, but that's not necessarily true, is it?

The mortality issue got me thinking again of the future echoes in diminua's AU. The whole arc is so well done but old Lister saying he misses Rimmer most of all. :(

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

I don't know how it would play out if they were both alive, but there was a discussion here a while back about how Rimmer would cope if he was the last man alive and Lister the hologram. The general consensus was that he wouldn't. At all.

Awww. I suggest rereading the final chapter of "50 More Shades Of Smeg". :)

I'm very fond of Diminua's AU as well.