Cat (Red Dwarf) - Character

Character

The character has no name other than "The Cat" or simply "Cat". He is the humanoid descendant of a modern domestic cat called Frankenstein who had been Dave Lister's pregnant pet cat. He may be the last remaining member of his species, Felis sapiens. His species expanded and evolved into a humanoid form over 3,000,000 years while sealed in the cargo hold of Red Dwarf while Dave Lister was in suspended animation. They formed a religion based on the saviour of Frankenstein: "Cloister the Stupid", the father of their race according to their legends (actually Lister), and "Fuchal", their promised land (actually the Fiji Islands, a place Lister held in high regard and planned to retire to). The race eventually splits and descends into civil war, over what colour the hats at the hot dog and doughnut stand Lister planned to open on Fiji were going to be (in the later-published novelization "Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" the cause of the cat civil war is whether their god was named Cloister or Clister). Ironically the two factions claimed they were going to be red or blue, whilst Lister had wanted them to be green. Eventually the two factions formed a truce and built two great space arks to go and search for Lister and the promised land. One of the two arks, following a set of sacred directions (Lister's laundry list, which he lined Frankenstein's basket with), promptly crashed into an asteroid. The assorted lame, sick and "stupid" were left behind. Over time, they all eventually died off, but a crippled female and a retarded male ("The Cripple and the Idiot") produced The Cat before dying. It appears that The Cat was mainly raised by a blind Cat Priest, though a brief mention is made to The Cat's mother in the novelization.

As a humanoid cat, he exhibits the qualities of coolness, vanity, and aloofness. He loves to dress well in extravagant clothing, and to dance and scream like the soul artist James Brown. He often carries a mirror and is meticulous about his appearance. His first words in Episode 1 are: "How am I looking? I'm looking nice!". He rarely calls his crewmates by name, often using the term "bud" or "buddy", but also refers to them by derogatory nicknames.

In early episodes, The Cat exhibits typical feline behaviours such as licking anyone who gives him food, playing with 'shiny things' and marking his territory, for which purpose he carries a small spray-can, the contents of which are unknown, in his pocket. While scent-marking, he repeats, "This is mine, this is mine, and all of this is mine." His extreme self-confidence results in him thinking himself to be irresistible to women. He is originally very self-centred, acting purely without concern when his old mentor the "Cat Priest" dies, giving Kryten an earring which he hates on the day before his automatic self-destruct and choosing to finish his lunch rather than carry Lister to the medical bay when he collapses. This behaviour becomes less prevalent as the series goes on.

By Series IV, the Cat becomes less obsessed with mating, and begins to develop a friendship with Dave Lister and Kryten, although he maintains a strong dislike for Rimmer. As he learns to relate to the crew, he stops licking them and marking his territory, and even begins to show genuine concern for others on several occasions. He becomes a skilled pilot of Starbug and develops an ability to "smell" dangerous phenomena, even in space—although he does not grasp scientific terms, describing anomalies as either "wibbly thing" or "swirly thing".