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''White Dwarf'' is a made-for-television movie that aired in 1995.

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.

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.

''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.

No connection to [[Magazine/WhiteDwarf the British tabletop games magazine]].

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!!''White Dwarf'' contains examples of:
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The ritual at the Sea of Tears when Never's Proteus Syndrome threatens to kill him.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The planet's light and dark sides aren't good and evil. Although Strake makes a valiant attempt to turn dark to evil.
* EmpathicShapeshifter: Never is a shapeshifter whose ability is the result of a disease known as Proteus Syndrome.
* 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.
* GreatOffScreenWar: Some sort of conflict between Humans and the native Rustians roughly a half-century earlier is implied, but not elaborated on.
* 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]].
* LightDarknessJuxtaposition: The planet is divided into light and dark halves, and the difference between these halves is explored.
* LightIsNotGood: Just as DarkIsNotEvil...
* MoralityPet: Never, to Dr. Rampart.
* PetTheDog: Driscoll Rampart's relationship with Never.
* RoyalBrat: Rampart is a classic non-blueblooded version.
* SchizoTech: Justified in that it's a terraformed colony in decay, replete with alien refugees and colonists who adopt cultural tropes as fashion.
* 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.
* SpaceWestern: The Light side has elements of this.
* {{Zeerust}}: Deliberately invoked by the retro-futurist Rustans.
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