Holly (Red Dwarf)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Red Dwarf character | |
 |
|
| Holly | |
|---|---|
| Affiliated with | Red Dwarf crew |
| First appearance | The End |
| Last appearance | Only the Good... |
| Portrayed by | Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge |
Holly is the ship's computer on the science fiction TV comedy show Red Dwarf.
The character is played by Norman Lovett in Series I and II. Following a "head sex change" to look like his parallel universe alter ego "Hilly", Holly is played by Hattie Hayridge in Series III–V. Holly does not appear at all in Series VI, but reappears in the final episode of Series VII as the original male version, which continues into Series VIII.
[edit] Appearance
Holly is an "intelligent" computer. Holly's user interface appears on ship screens as a disembodied human head on a black background, and can also be downloaded into a watch worn by Lister. In Series I his face appears pixelated but this idea was dropped in Series II.
As a male, Holly appears to be approximately 50 years old and has receding brown hair. From Series VIII, Holly became completely bald.
After meeting his female counterpart Hilly, he fell so madly in love with her that he had a "computer sex change" and based his new face on her. As a female, Holly appears as to be approximately 30 and has long blonde hair.
[edit] Character
Holly prides himself on the fact he had an IQ of 6,000 but after three million years by himself, he had become computer senile, or as Holly put it "a bit peculiar". The crew often ridicule Holly on his senility but Holly often comes out on tops. He often plays practical jokes on the crew, such as fooling Lister into thinking that NORWEB Federation spacefighters were after him and wanted £180 billion in arrears for leaving his bathroom light on.
Holly is the ship's Tenth Generation AI hologrammatic computer. After releasing Dave Lister from stasis, Holly tells him that the crew have been wiped out by a radiation leak and that he has spent three million years in stasis.
Holly was friends with another computer called Gordon, who had an IQ of 8,000 and was an Eleventh Generation AI hologrammatic computer. Gordon resembled Holly, appeared in the same manner and seemed to be at least as senile.
Holly runs most of Red Dwarf's systems despite now suffering from computer senility. Among Holly's systems are the service droids known as skutters that clean, perform engineering tasks and function as Rimmer's hands since he cannot touch anything non-holographic. This changes in Series VI Episode 2, "Legion", where Legion changes his projection unit from 'soft light' to 'Hard light'.
While on his own for three million years, Holly invented Hol Rock, where he decimalised music (having ten notes instead of eight), AND an A-Z guide of the Universe. He proclaims Kevin Keegan wrote the worst book ever (Football, It's a Funny Old Game). He is proud of the fact that he can do moon impressions just by lowering his face on the screen. He often greets the crew with "Alright dudes!" He hates being a watch, especially on Lister's wrist, and particularly when Lister's hand goes in his pocket. One of the more worrying aspects of Holly's senility is that he has developed a blindspot for the number 7. When he invents the Holly Hop Drive he claims that one mistake in his 13 billion calculations and they would be blown up. He then misses out the seven in his countdown.
Holly becomes lost for some time along with the ship, which had been stolen by Kryten's nanobots. He is found on a planet made of junk from Red Dwarf, having reverted to his male form, and was downloaded into Lister's Holly-watch. When the nanos rebuilt the ship, there were two Hollys, the original, who generally remains in the watch, and a rebuilt version which has not suffered the effects of three million years alone. The non-senile version only appeared in one episode, "Back In the Red, Part III", and was distinguished by having a head shaped like an egg.
