1 | [[quoteright:278:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/white_dwarf_fox_promotional_image.jpg]] |
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3 | ''White Dwarf'' is a made-for-television movie that aired in 1995. |
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5 | In a science fiction future, student doctor Driscoll Rampart expects to become a physician to the rich and powerful, but is required by his school to perform his internship on a distant, rural planet named Rusta, orbiting a white dwarf star. The world is tidally locked to its star, leaving one side perpetually light, the other perpetually dark, with a massive wall separating the two sides. Rusta is only able to support life due to {{Terraforming}}, maintained by the "[[AppliedPhlebotinum Regulators]]". The light side is a Victorian-style colony which has adopted the tropes of the American Old West, while the dark side is a Medieval-style kingdom. |
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7 | The story follows Rampart's character development from vain, arrogant snob to compassionate and caring physician. The movie also includes a side plot involving political intrigue between the rulers of the light and dark sides, including a ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''-style murder, an association [[LampshadeHanging deliberately referenced]] by the assassin. |
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9 | ''White Dwarf'' was written as an allegory of prejudice and ignorance by ''Series/WildPalms'' writer Bruce Wagner. Essentially a RecycledInSpace retelling of Creator/{{Akira Kurosawa}}'s film ''Film/RedBeard'', it picks up many of the tropes invoked by that film, and adds many of its own. |
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11 | No connection to [[Magazine/WhiteDwarf the British tabletop games magazine]]. |
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13 | ---- |
14 | !!''White Dwarf'' contains examples of: |
15 | * ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The ritual at the Sea of Tears when Never's Proteus Syndrome threatens to kill him. |
16 | * DarkIsNotEvil: The planet's light and dark sides aren't good and evil. Although Strake makes a valiant attempt to turn dark to evil. |
17 | * EmpathicShapeshifter: Never is a shapeshifter whose ability is the result of a disease known as Proteus Syndrome. |
18 | * GeniusLoci: Rusta is implied to be this, particularly the Sea of Tears, also known as the Blood of Rusta, though he's alien enough that it's never entirely clear. |
19 | * GreatOffScreenWar: Some sort of conflict between Humans and the native Rustians roughly a half-century earlier is implied, but not elaborated on. |
20 | * KnightInSourArmor: Dr. Akada definitely fits this role. He's fully aware that HumansAreBastards, thanks to his past, but is determined to do what good he can, [[TheAtoner to atone for his past]]. |
21 | * LightDarknessJuxtaposition: The planet is divided into light and dark halves, and the difference between these halves is explored. |
22 | * LightIsNotGood: Just as DarkIsNotEvil... |
23 | * MoralityPet: Never, to Dr. Rampart. |
24 | * PetTheDog: Driscoll Rampart's relationship with Never. |
25 | * RoyalBrat: Rampart is a classic non-blueblooded version. |
26 | * SchizoTech: Justified in that it's a terraformed colony in decay, replete with alien refugees and colonists who adopt cultural tropes as fashion. |
27 | * ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Rampart attempts unsuccessfully to invoke this trope upon learning that he'll be serving his internship on a primitive backwater world instead of a prestigious private hospital. |
28 | * SpaceWestern: The Light side has elements of this. |
29 | * {{Zeerust}}: Deliberately invoked by the retro-futurist Rustans. |
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