White Hole (Red Dwarf episode)
Encyclopedia
"White Hole" is the fourth episode of science fiction
sitcom Red Dwarf
Series IV and the twenty-second episode in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British
television channel BBC2
on 7 March 1991. Written by Rob Grant
and Doug Naylor
, and directed by Ed Bye
and Paul Jackson
, the episode features the crew's attempt to escape the gravity pull of a white hole
.
repairs Talkie Toaster, Lister
is disgusted as it always coaxes them to have toast, but there's method in the mechanoid's work. It's all part of an experiment in intelligence compression - a way of restoring IQ whilst reducing operational lifespan. The ultimate aim is to cure Holly
's computer senility, and it works too, but there's a bit of a miscalculation. Holly's IQ is increased to 12,368 instead of leveling off at 6,000 but her life expectancy is exponentially reduced to three minutes. Holly quickly realises that to preserve her life she must switch herself off.
As the crew make their way back up to the Science Room, their journey is interrupted by a sudden loss of power. Kryten is then employed as a battering-ram to get through the 53 electronically locked doors between the crew and the Science Room. Once the crew get there, they discover why Holly has decided to power down the ship and place everything on emergency back-up power only.
Without the power, the crew are forced back to basics. Lister and the Cat are forced to live off cold baked beans while they try to employ a bicycle powered hairdryer to fry an egg while Rimmer and Kryten spend five days getting to and from the cargo decks due to the lack of lifts. However, just before they make it back the two are subjected to a strange time phenomenon, which Kryten describes as 'relative time dilation in an amazingly compressed space'. In a conversation between the entire crew (in which time repeats itself), it is decided that a white hole is the cause of all this. As Kryten explains, a white hole is a very rare spacial phenomenon - for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and whereas black hole
s suck matter from the universe
, white holes spew time back into it.
Holly is briefly reactivated, by Rimmer
, and informed of the situation. She then quickly devises a plan before switching herself back off - a thermonuclear device will be fired at a nearby sun in order to catapult a planet into the mouth of the white hole and close it up. However, Lister is not happy with Holly's calculations and, after a vote, he is elected to use his pool playing skills to fire the bomb to its correct destination. He plays a trick shot
and a planet is knocked against another planet orbiting a close-by Sun, which in turn hits a third planet orbiting another Sun, knocking it towards the white hole, plugging it up - reversing all time ejected from it, and reverting time back to its previous state thereby restoring Holly to her regular senile self. Kryten, upon realising the crew will have no memory of the events, takes the opportunity to tell Rimmer exactly what he thinks of him.
. With the plot featuring giant cockroaches and huge garbage world sets, it was considered too expensive to shoot. A new script was quickly written, taking another idea from that same novel, only the black hole was now changed to a white hole.
Although Ed Bye is credited as having directed this episode he was actually unavailable due to attending the birth of his son. The show's producer, Paul Jackson, stepped in to cover the direction duties with a Christmas party hangover and all. Danny John-Jules, infamous for being late, thought it was a joke by crewmembers when he was told that Paul Jackson was directing, since Paul was known for his short temper and insistence on being punctual. He still turned up late, and as expected, enraged Jackson. According to Chris Barrie, Paul Jackson's presence alone caused the crew to suddenly double in size. Robert Llewellyn even commented on a soundman walking precariously along the gantry above the set, "risking life and limb," and various other crewmembers removing nails with their teeth and hammering in other nails with their heads, a humorous reference to the fear that Paul Jackson struck into the hearts of the crew.
The new super intelligent Holly was visioned as having a bald head and small spectacles. This was changed to just having her hair smoothed back. To film the new look Holly Hattie Hayridge was filmed in front of bluescreen wearing a blue polo-neck. This allowed her disembodied head to be superimposed to the episode footage.
David Ross
, the actor who originally played Kryten, returned to the show as the voice of Talkie Toaster. He found it a much simpler task than when he had previously endured the Kryten make-up. To play the Toaster required no rehearsals; he simply stood in front of a microphone and read the lines.
diary when defending his cowardice to relinquish his life.
The episode was generally considered as one of the best from Series IV - just behind the series' favourite "Dimension Jump."
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
sitcom Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
Series IV and the twenty-second episode in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television channel BBC2
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
on 7 March 1991. Written by Rob Grant
Rob Grant
Robert Grant is a British comedy writer and television producer, who was born in Salford and studied Psychology at Liverpool University for two years....
and Doug Naylor
Doug Naylor
Douglas R. Naylor is a British comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer.Naylor was born in Manchester, England and studied at the University of Liverpool. In the mid-1980s, Naylor wrote two regular comedy sketch shows for BBC Radio 4 entitled Cliché and Son of Cliché...
, and directed by Ed Bye
Ed Bye
Edward Richard Morrison Bye is a British film and TV producer and director. He is best known for his work with Grant Naylor, Harry Enfield and Jasper Carrott, and has worked with many of British TV's best known comedians and comedy actors...
and Paul Jackson
Paul Jackson (producer)
Kevin Paul Jackson , credited as Paul Jackson; sometimes as K. Paul Jackson, is a British television director, producer and executive.-Career in television:...
, the episode features the crew's attempt to escape the gravity pull of a white hole
White hole
A white hole, in general relativity, is a hypothetical region of spacetime which cannot be entered from the outside, but from which matter and light may escape. In this sense it is the reverse of a black hole, which can be entered from the outside, but from which nothing, including light, may escape...
.
Plot
When KrytenKryten
Kryten is a fictional character in the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf. Kryten's registration code on Red Dwarf is "Kryten additional 001". The name Kryten is a reference to the head butler in the J.M...
repairs Talkie Toaster, Lister
Dave Lister
David "Dave" Lister, commonly referred to simply as Lister, is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf, portrayed by Craig Charles...
is disgusted as it always coaxes them to have toast, but there's method in the mechanoid's work. It's all part of an experiment in intelligence compression - a way of restoring IQ whilst reducing operational lifespan. The ultimate aim is to cure Holly
Holly (Red Dwarf)
Holly is the ship's computer on the science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf.The character is played by Norman Lovett in Series I and II and, following a "head sex change" to look like his parallel universe alter ego "Hilly", played by Hattie Hayridge in the series 3 episode Backwards, is female...
's computer senility, and it works too, but there's a bit of a miscalculation. Holly's IQ is increased to 12,368 instead of leveling off at 6,000 but her life expectancy is exponentially reduced to three minutes. Holly quickly realises that to preserve her life she must switch herself off.
As the crew make their way back up to the Science Room, their journey is interrupted by a sudden loss of power. Kryten is then employed as a battering-ram to get through the 53 electronically locked doors between the crew and the Science Room. Once the crew get there, they discover why Holly has decided to power down the ship and place everything on emergency back-up power only.
Without the power, the crew are forced back to basics. Lister and the Cat are forced to live off cold baked beans while they try to employ a bicycle powered hairdryer to fry an egg while Rimmer and Kryten spend five days getting to and from the cargo decks due to the lack of lifts. However, just before they make it back the two are subjected to a strange time phenomenon, which Kryten describes as 'relative time dilation in an amazingly compressed space'. In a conversation between the entire crew (in which time repeats itself), it is decided that a white hole is the cause of all this. As Kryten explains, a white hole is a very rare spacial phenomenon - for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and whereas black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
s suck matter from the universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
, white holes spew time back into it.
Holly is briefly reactivated, by Rimmer
Arnold Rimmer
Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character in the science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf, played by Chris Barrie. He is unpopular with his crew mates, and is often the target of insults or pranks...
, and informed of the situation. She then quickly devises a plan before switching herself back off - a thermonuclear device will be fired at a nearby sun in order to catapult a planet into the mouth of the white hole and close it up. However, Lister is not happy with Holly's calculations and, after a vote, he is elected to use his pool playing skills to fire the bomb to its correct destination. He plays a trick shot
Trick shot
A trick shot is a shot played on a billiards table , which seems unlikely, impossible, or requires significant skill...
and a planet is knocked against another planet orbiting a close-by Sun, which in turn hits a third planet orbiting another Sun, knocking it towards the white hole, plugging it up - reversing all time ejected from it, and reverting time back to its previous state thereby restoring Holly to her regular senile self. Kryten, upon realising the crew will have no memory of the events, takes the opportunity to tell Rimmer exactly what he thinks of him.
Production
This was the last script written for Series IV and originally included a story line revolving around Garbage World, which first appeared in the second novel Better Than LifeBetter Than Life
Better Than Life is a science fiction comedy novel by Grant Naylor, the collective name for Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, co-creators and writers of the Red Dwarf television series, on which the novel is based...
. With the plot featuring giant cockroaches and huge garbage world sets, it was considered too expensive to shoot. A new script was quickly written, taking another idea from that same novel, only the black hole was now changed to a white hole.
Although Ed Bye is credited as having directed this episode he was actually unavailable due to attending the birth of his son. The show's producer, Paul Jackson, stepped in to cover the direction duties with a Christmas party hangover and all. Danny John-Jules, infamous for being late, thought it was a joke by crewmembers when he was told that Paul Jackson was directing, since Paul was known for his short temper and insistence on being punctual. He still turned up late, and as expected, enraged Jackson. According to Chris Barrie, Paul Jackson's presence alone caused the crew to suddenly double in size. Robert Llewellyn even commented on a soundman walking precariously along the gantry above the set, "risking life and limb," and various other crewmembers removing nails with their teeth and hammering in other nails with their heads, a humorous reference to the fear that Paul Jackson struck into the hearts of the crew.
The new super intelligent Holly was visioned as having a bald head and small spectacles. This was changed to just having her hair smoothed back. To film the new look Holly Hattie Hayridge was filmed in front of bluescreen wearing a blue polo-neck. This allowed her disembodied head to be superimposed to the episode footage.
David Ross
David Ross (actor)
David Ross is an English actor who has worked in theatre, cinema, and television.His best-known roles include playing the first appearance of Kryten and the voice of the Talkie Toaster on the science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf, Elgin on the BBC sitcom The Green Green Grass, and as Mr...
, the actor who originally played Kryten, returned to the show as the voice of Talkie Toaster. He found it a much simpler task than when he had previously endured the Kryten make-up. To play the Toaster required no rehearsals; he simply stood in front of a microphone and read the lines.
Cultural references
Rimmer references Napoleon as the historical figure that he'd like to back and work with. He also cites Captain Oates and Scott'sRobert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
diary when defending his cowardice to relinquish his life.
Reception
"White Hole" was originally broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 7 March 1991 in the 9:00pm evening time slot, and is the only Series IV episode to go out as originally planned. The other Series IV episode broadcast dates were altered due to the Gulf War hostilities.The episode was generally considered as one of the best from Series IV - just behind the series' favourite "Dimension Jump."
See also
- Better Than LifeBetter Than LifeBetter Than Life is a science fiction comedy novel by Grant Naylor, the collective name for Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, co-creators and writers of the Red Dwarf television series, on which the novel is based...
- the second Red Dwarf novel which features the influence for the episode "White Hole". - Novikov self-consistency principleNovikov self-consistency principleThe Novikov self-consistency principle, also known as the Novikov self-consistency conjecture, is a principle developed by Russian physicist Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov in the mid-1980s to solve the problem of paradoxes in time travel, which is theoretically permitted in certain solutions of general...