White Hole did not leave a huge impact on me.
PLOT
The crew successfully raise Holly's IQ to 12000 at the accidental cost of reducing her lifespan to three minutes. Left with no power and few resources, they have to cope with a reverse black hole in Red Dwarf's path.
ANALYSIS
It's hard to think of a more uneventful episode of the show, at least of the ones that have come before. Series 1 certainly had a few quieter ones, I'll give you that, but there was usually some kind of character-based hook, you know? Lister finding out he's going to die or that he's become a God, some clash between him and Rimmer, or even a wacky new monster or setting.
Not saying that White Hole is a bad watch (or that it's not far better than a number of those stories I just mentioned), but it never really feels like much is happening. Holly becoming a genius is a fun idea that they don't do too much with. The white hole is a thing that gets in their way. They resolve both at once. The end. And a few laughs along the way. I don't know what I'm supposed to talk about, really.
I guess it's interesting to note how Holly's persona has evolved from Norman's "I'm a bit peculiar, but still really clever" space dad (see: Queeg) to Hattie's genuinely kooky aunt. What the show actually is and how it utilises the core cast always seems to be in a bit of a flux. They never truly settle down, but just go with what's funniest at the time. For Holly, this means a gradual stripping down (sorry Hattie) to core elements: being ditzy and spouting space exposition. It's a shame because Holly was almost a mascot to the series in those very early years, and had the potential to continue being that. We see it right here with Hattie's brilliantly confident and smart-arse take on 12-000 IQ Holly. She's kickass. I wish they could have found a way to keep that personality without making her a show-breaking genius. The idea of Holly being superior to the crew and bemoaning the fact that she's stuck babysitting them for the rest of time is hilarious.
(The really interesting thing is that Norman inherits Holly's devolution in series 7-8, and that's when it really hits you how far the character has come... or how low)
It's cool that they brought back the Toaster. I always felt he should have been a semi-regular character (he's almost a fifth crewmember in the Better Than Life novel) and the new cowboy voice provided by ex-Kryten David Ross is a suitably irritating replacement for John Lenahan's musical tones, although I preferred the latter.
NOTES
- It's a bit mad for the crew to expect Holly to invent a time machine. In fairness, he did make the Holly Hop Drive, but that in of itself is a bit mad. He's a computer running a mining ship. How come he's so good?
- Why does Holly's face randomly become a 3D holographic projection for a minute?
- How are Lister and the Cat still on their feet after banging through 53 doors???
- I noticed that Holly referred to Rimmer by his last name ("You really are a smeghead, aren't you, Rimmer?") as opposed to Arnold. Thought it might just be the effect of her IQ increase, but no, Hattie's version consistently refers to the crew by their last names instead of their first names. The only exceptions are Polymorph (where she calls him 'Arn' and 'Arnie') and Bodyswap (the only time she refers to 'Dave'). Funny, that.
- Oh dear, here come the Space Corps Directives. Get ready for five million variations of this joke.
- Rimmer's theory about how Captain Oates died is hysterically funny. What a bastard.
- The Cat sides with Lister purely out of his hatred for Rimmer's fashion style, which must mean that he thinks Lister has better clothes. Which is, um, well, let's agree to disagree.
- I liked Lister's speech about not knowing how to survive without electricity. I feel like they could have centered the whole episode on that (like Marooned, but with more of an edge).
- The noir flashback to Lister's younger days in the pub was very classy.
- The skutters appear for the first time since Bodyswap (and only the 2nd time since series 2).
- Unlike most of the episodes which are adapted into the novelisations, this entire storyline was written for the novelisation first. It was published in Better Than Life a year before airing. The novel version featured Norman's Holly becoming smarter, and it was the Toaster's idea instead of the crew's.
- The Toaster last appeared in Waiting for God (and a deleted scene from Kryten).
- Lister suggests Holly could invent a hyperdrive and get them back to Earth, just as he tried (in a more senile state) in Parallel Universe.
CAT: "Come on, man, you gotta sacrifice your life! I'm not asking you to do anything I wouldn't do!"
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