Red Dwarf: Cultures: Holograms

The concept of the Hologram is not a new one. The technology enables a member of the ships crew can remain a member of the crew despite the normally debilitating effects of death.

MacIntyre - The first one we seeThe ships computer on Red Dwarf (and in some cases the transport ships such as Starbug) is able to maintain and run a programme of stored information of each crewmember.  This programme is comprised of a record of the crewmembers personality, memories, physical dimensions and even medical health (it is possible for a hologram to die if it was terminally ill at the time the recording was made). The programme is the run and a holographic image of the dead crewmember appears.

Though each holographic image appears real, they are made up of light. In the old hologram systems this meant that there was no sensation of touch and the hologram was not able to pick up items or eat foods. Subsequent versions utilised Hard Light Drives which gave the impression of actual life.

In the very first episode called ‘The End’, there was a, ‘Welcome back George Macintyre Reception’ in the refectory.  The Hologram of George is sat at the officers’ table. He stands and thanks everyone for the wonderful funeral service and even cracks a few jokes the best one being, “As you know, the ship can This one was nice!only support one hologram, so if someone dies that is more vital to the ship than me, I’ll kill them!”

Rimmer equates being a hologram as, “Like being on holiday with a group of Germans.”  As the ships hologram, Rimmer is completely dependent on Holly for things like shaving, haircuts and clothes.

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This one was arrogant!It is possible for TWO holograms to be supported by the ships computer provided that some of the other ships systems are turned off!

It is also possible for a technique called ‘mind swap’. It was a technique he developed on Krytens old ship called the Nova 5. A recording of Listers mind was able to be taken and stored on disk. Then, a holo-recording of another person is able to be played back through Listers body.

Rimmer used this trick effectively by giving himself an intellectual boost in the hope of joining a Holoship.  A holoship is a ship make up of and crewed by holograms. Unfortunately for Rimmer, he needed a very high IQ. This he achieved by merging his mind with those of two of Red Dwarf’s ex-crewmembers.

Note Holograms can touch each other. Rimmer once made love to another Hologram!

Unfortunately Rimmers own personality wasn’t strong enough and he This one was NUTS!turned into a geek. Not just any old geek, Rimmer became the King of Geeks!

Eventually Rimmer was returned to normal only to suffer in a later episode when he contracted a deadly Hologram virus from mad Dr. Langstrom. He appears in a red and white checked gingham dress and his hair is tied in bobbles at each side of his head. (a definite improvement!).

Rimmer, as a hologram, is able to do almost anything that a normal human can do except suffer death!  His hard light drive is exceptional in that it has made him almost indestructible.

In the 8th Season, we saw no holograms at all. Rimmer had been rebuilt by the nanobots and we can only assume that the Hologram Rimmer is still out there posing as Ace.

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Race Rating – Hologrames
Personality 1 (rancid butter) – 4 (cool dude) 4
Attractiveness 1 (requires paper bag) – 5 (Drop-dead-gorgeous) 4
Humour 1 (stomach-turning) – 5 (sidesplitting) 4
Dress Sense 1 (laughable) – 5 (hip) 4
Aggression 1 (big/little softy) – 5 (hard as nails) 3
1 (scumbag) – 5 (god) 2

Sad Geezer Race Rating (out of 30) = 21          

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This Culture review is © 1999 – 2019 Tony Fawl.
Not for reproduction without  the authors express permission

The Red Dwarf names, characters and everything else associated with
the series are the property of The British Broadcasting Corporation,
Rob Grant & Doug Naylor.  All rights reserved.

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