Hollister is the captain of the interplanetary mining vessel Red Dwarf. He is seen in the first episode, in which he sentences Dave Lister to eighteen months in stasis for bringing a cat on board. When Lister is released Hollister, along with the rest of the crew, has been radioactive dust for three million years.
Before this, he appeared in Stasis Leak, which takes place largely before the crew was wiped out. Here, he sentences Lister to two weeks of punishment detail for drugging Rimmer with Titan Mushrooms (more popularly known as Freaky Fungus) which he used as an ingredient in a breakfast he'd cooked for him, resulting in Rimmer showing up for inspection totally naked except for a pair of mock leather driving gloves and some blue swimming goggles, before attacking two senior officers who Rimmer believed to be "Giraffes who were armed and dangerous". Rimmer was outraged by such a lenient punishment, jamming the rubber end of his pencil up Hollister's nose, requiring it to be surgically removed, before ripping up and eating the photo of Hollister's wife (which Rimmer believed was a publicity shot for Planet of the Apes). This caused Hollister to sentence Rimmer to eight weeks of PD. Hollister would show up later on in Rimmer's quarters whilst dressed as a chicken (his costume for the party later that night), attempting to apologise for the punishment. Rimmer, believing himself to be under the influence again after seeing his future self emerge from the table, promptly insulted Hollister before kneeing him in the groin, resulting in Hollister sentencing Rimmer to eight months of paint duty, then eight years after Rimmer talks back again. Rimmer promptly paints a reminder on the costume and throws an entire bucket of paint into Hollister's face.
In Series VIII, with the crew resurrected by nanobots, Hollister becomes a main character. This is also the series where it is revealed that the captain is in fact "Dennis the Donut Boy" and had abused confidential files in order to work his way up the ranks and become captain. For the rest of the series Rimmer and Lister constantly find ways that cause him trouble, eventually leading him to succumb to post-traumatic stress disorder. In the last episode of Series VIII, Red Dwarf is slowly being destroyed by a corrosive material. When Captain Hollister hears this, he immediately evacuates the crew and leaves all prisoners to die, these include Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Kryten and Kristine Kochanski. He then escapes in his own private shuttle.
Captain Hollister is a very stressful man and can be easily annoyed, he serves very harsh punishments to people who compromise his ship or annoy him. Many people see him as good Captain although Lister and Rimmer see it differently (although Lister shows more respect for him in the earlier series than he does in VIII). He has a stress related disorder from all the problems the crew give him, he doesn't cope very well under stress.
"I also suspect that someone, possibly Lister, has given Rimmer access to the crew's confidential files, and he's using this information to blackmail his way up the chain of command. It's sickening. It's unforgivable. But it's a technique that can work. I should know; I used the same method myself to become captain. If the crew discover I'm really just Dennis the Doughnut Boy, I'm finished.." Back in the Red Part III
"As you know, Red Dwarf is being destroyed from within by a corrosive material, and there isn't enough crafts for everyone, so most of you be left here to die. Oh, and there's an apology about that in the bulletin."
"Get out of here! NOW!"
"That's it, two months in The Hole!"
"Do you know what happens, when a Dinosaur eats Cow Vindaloo and then eats two and a half tons of Mint-Choc Ice Cream and then consumes four-hundred crates of Orange Ice Pops and then swills it all down with two-thousand gallons of a popular fizzy drink."
"If I ever, ever, ever see you in this office again, you're dead!"
McDonald appeared as Captain Hollister in short scenes during some episodes in Series I and Series II mostly in flashbacks as his character was dead. In Series VIII, McDonald became almost a regular cast member, as his character was brought to life and appeared in the majority of the Series' episodes.
MacDonald has appeared in the films Memphis Belle and Fifth Element and in a episode of the BBC television shows Spooks, Black Books and My Family.
Hollister was RetConned to have used-to been 'Dennis The Donut-boy': with a reputation as a great eater, as MacDonald had put on weight since his last appearance in the Series II episode "Stasis Leak". Though even then, Rimmer had referred to him as "Mr. Fat Bastard, 2044".
He also appeared in a scene in the extended cut of Aliens.
The term "Dennis the Donut Boy" references "Pete the Donut Man" from the first pilot for the failed Red Dwarf USA.
If you look at this scene from The End, the captain's name is stated as Sipestro. Captain Sipestro
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Added by Invictus152
