"Take him into the hold, take ten minutes to explain all our plans to him... then... throw him out of the plane!"
- Captain Voorhese ("Stoke Me a Clipper")
Hauptmann Meinhard Voorhese or Captain Voorhese was a Nazi Officer in a parallel universe Earth.
Captain Voorhese's long-time nemesis was the dimension-jumping, interstellar hero Ace Rimmer, and the two had crossed paths many times.
Voorhese met his end at the hands of Ace Rimmer when the latter acted as the protector of the rebellious Princess Bonjella, but Ace was also fatally wounded in their last epic encounter. ("Stoke Me a Clipper")
Biography[]
Little was known about Voorhese or the universe he inhabited. He was a Hauptmann (Captain) in the Wehrmacht of a parallel reality where the Nazis were still in power several decades after they had been defeated in our own universe.
Voorhese was a large man with grey hair, a monocle and a pet crocodile called "Snappy". He had captured Princess Beryl Bonjella and had her facing a firing squad while he escaped in a bomber with his accomplices and their other prisoner - Ace Rimmer. He had been serving as Bonjella's protector and was tied up in the plane's hold.
Ace managed to slip out of his bonds by dislocating both of his shoulders and confronted his captors in the cockpit. Voorhese insisted on explaining his plan to Ace before throwing out of the plane. Ace grabbed a pistol and shot the pilot and gestapo officer, but Voorhese got the better of him by throwing Snappy at Ace. While Ace and Snappy wrestled on the deck of the bomber, Voorhese lit a bundle of dynamite and threw it on the floor before jumping out with a parachute strapped to his back.
Captain Vorheese hits Ace Rimmer's light bee
As he fell towards the aerodrome below, he praised Ace Rimmer as a worthy adversary - only to look up to see Ace using Snappy as a surfboard. Voorhese fired his Luger pistol at Ace, but couldn't hit him as Ace guided Snappy onto Voorhese's head. As the captain was being eaten alive, mid-air, Ace stole Voorhese's parachute and headed down to the airfield himself. Ace shot most of the Nazis as he descended, and two other Nazis were killed when Snappy landed on them.
Although this was the end of Captain Voorhese, and Princess Bonjella was rescued, Ace - not the original human version but actually a hard-light hologram - had taken a direct hit to his light bee, and was slowly leaking his energy. Knowing his time was short, Ace took off in Wildfire to recruit his counterpart from a parallel dimension to become the new Ace, as billions of other Rimmers had done before him so that the Ace legacy could continue forever. Unfortunately for this most recent Ace, the nearest dimension turned out to be inhabited by the weaselly, cowardly version of himself aboard Starbug. ("Stoke Me a Clipper")
Trivia[]
- On the Official Red Dwarf Website, Talkie Toaster interviewed Voorhese and gleaned some more details from him. His first name was given as Meinhard. He explained that he had murdered members of his own family in order to conquer the house, a forerunner of his later career as a villainous Nazi officer. He then told the toaster that he had captured Princess Bonjella trying to pass plans for his secret weapon to the rebels. Talkie noticed that this was the plot to Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope.
- His surname is possibly a reference to the Friday the 13th villain Jason Voorhees.
Behind the Scenes[]
- Ken Morley was cast partly because of his resemblance to James Bond villain Auric Goldfinger. Ken Morley had previously played a camp Nazi officer in several episodes of 'Allo 'Allo.