| “ | Baby, baby, what can I say? Is he the greatest, most fantastic, most handsome guy ever, or am I insane? | „ |
| ~ Confidence about Lister |
| “ | Hey, now I know what the "H" stands for. "Hidiot!" Am I right? Heh heh heh! | „ |
| ~ Confidence teasing Rimmer |
Confidence is the main antagonist from the Red Dwarf episode "Confidence and Paranoia". Along with Paranoia, he is a solid hallucination of Lister's brain after he gets pneumonia.
He was portrayed by Craig Ferguson who also played NOS-4-A2 in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Samuel T. Philander In The Legend of Tarzan and the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender in the film adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Description[]
Confidence is a self-confident, large man with slicked back hair and very white teeth. He wears colorful clothes and lots of jewelry. He speaks with an American accent and have a large appetite. Although he seems to be friendly and always encourages Lister, he is actually a cruel and emotionless bastard. Also, although he is only a hallucination, he is solid and can even die like real people.
History[]
Confidence praising Lister.
When Lister gets a mutated strain of pneumonia, all his hallucinations take physical form, including his Confidence and Paranoia. They both get into a solid form and immediately settle in the Red Dwarf. When Confidence sees Lister, he immediately begins to praise him, calling him "the king" and growing his self-confidence. He also insults Rimmer and tells Lister not to listen to Paranoia who defames Lister badly.
Lister quickly befriends with his Confidence and begins to trust him totally. Confidence glories Lister's poor song and takes his cigarette butt as evidence that he had met Lister, "The duke of deliciousness". Under his influence, Lister ignores Rimmer's warnings that the hallucinations are dangerous, and believes he isn't sick anymore. Confidence then increases Lister's intelligence to the point where he can figure out the location of the hidden hologram personality discs.
Meanwhile, Confidence decides to make sure Rimmer won't heal Lister's pneumonia and he sabotages the Medicomp. He also kills Paranoia, as his vituperative and sarcastic remarks about embarrassing moments in Lister's life could low Lister's self-confident. When Rimmer discovers the sabotage, he accused Confidence of it, but Lister doesn't believe him.
To get hologram personality discs, Lister and Confidence go out into the space, wearing space suits. After dancing on the catwalk on the side of the Red Dwarf, Confidence shows his true personality. He reveals to Lister that it is actually him who sabotaged the Medicomp. He also tells Lister that he killed Paranoia, "fed him into the waste grinder and flushed his bits into space", which scares Lister completely. Confident then orders Lister to take his helmet off, because "oxygen's for losers". He tries to catch Lister who vaults around behind him. To encourage Lister, Confidence takes his own helmet off first, only to be blown up.
Quotes[]
| “ | King. You can do anything! Anything! | „ |
| ~ Confidence to Lister. |
| “ | He didn't suffer! I just fed him into the waste grinder and flushed his bits into space. | „ |
| ~ Confidence about killing Paranoia. |
| “ | Who told you you needed oxygen, huh? Some loser who was trying to make you feel small. Look, I'll prove it to you. I'll take mine off first. We'll soon see who the crazy one is around here! | „ |
| ~ Confidence's last words. |
Trivia[]
- If Rimmer is not taken as a bad guy, Confidence is the first villain who appears in the show.
