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by Simon Hart |
Following the wishes of the dying Ensor, Blake is determined to take the micro-power cells to Aristo to treat Ensor’s father, Ensor (are you following this?). He’s also aware that the Federation might be going there too in order to get hold of the mysterious Orac. Will Blake arrive at Aristo in time to save the dying Ensor?
Servalan and Travis travel to Aristo to steal Orac from
the dying Ensor. To avoid Ensor’s force barrier, they take the difficult
underground route through the ruined city. Will they get to Orac before
Blake does?
Jenna, Gan, Vila and Avon are all suffering from radiation sickness after their prolonged exposure to the radioactive atmosphere of Cephlon. There are no anti-radiation sickness drugs on The Liberator, so the only hope for these four is that Ensor has some…
Aristo is 9/10 acidic oceans, where primitive amphibious life is developing. Some of these are living in the tunnels beneath the sea. This makes travelling through the tunnels very dangerous, as they attack other life forms.
Ensor also has a force barrier around the entrance to
his base, which does not allow any unauthorised access, or allows
communications through. How will Blake keep in touch with his crew?
Blake. While he doesn’t manage to save Ensor’s life, he does
get hold of the drugs needed to cure his sick crewmembers and he also gets
Orac. He also manages to get in some humiliation for Travis and Servalan
as he promises to send a message saying that they let him take Orac. So a
bit of triumph really!
The Federation is responsible, indirectly for the death
of Ensor, as Servalan’s plan deprived him of the surgeon who could have
saved his life.
Servalan acts out of character, only to regain her dignity: SERVALAN: Well, we knew there would be risks.
Nice line from Avon as he shoots Travis: BLAKE: Good shot, Avon.
Fed Tech: The Liberator is able to record details of their previous adventures and watch them later. These images are recorded on some kind of data disc that can then be played back on a screen on the Liberator flight deck. Somehow, despite not appearing to do at the time, Zen is able to scan the explosion of the Spacemaster 5 ship and detect retrospectively that it was caused by Genitan Explosive placed in the gravity compensators of the ship. The Liberator has a hand held Geiger counter on board. Ensor is a computer genius who invented the Tarriel Cell, a computer component so advanced that every computer has one. Orac, his finest invention, is a computer that is able to read the Tarriel cells of any other computer without a physical or even direct link. It has also been imbued with certain aspects of its creator’s personality, most notably his impatience and irritability. Orac also has the ability to predict future events.
Ensor had a heart attack on a frontier world, and had to have an artificial, mechanical heart installed. Usually a new organic one would replace this, but he never returned to Earth to have the procedure done. The mechanical heart is powered by micro power cells, which have a lifespan of around 40 years. Ensor has developed a method of measuring how long the power cells will last by hooking up a device to his chest.
He has also developed a mechanical, twittering bird in a cage. Fashion: Despite it being the end of the season, there’s still enough money left in the budget for a couple of new costumes. Jenna gets a new orange, short open sleeved top. This is a V-neck number, with silver braiding around the neckline and sleeves, worn with tight balck trousers and boots. Cally also gets a new costume. This one is a cream blouse with huge collars; over which is worn is a tabard (hooray!) with a beige and cream zigzag motif. She wears this over a pair of green trousers and knee-high boots. This episode features something very rare, Servalan in white trousers! She’s obviously dressed for combat this week, as she’s also got a practical pair of big white boots on, and a white cotton figure hugging top with a huge round furry collar. Ensor wears a very beige set of clothes: a beige jacket with round collars over a beige zip up shirt with a brown leather collar.
Food and Drink: Gan has a glass of something at the start of the
episode. We also see Ensor have a glass of an unspecified blue drink which
he has a jug of in his laboratory.
Gan is in what looks like a lounge area. It’s a big room with several chrome couches with black wire backing. There is also a chrome table with a black top, a black office style chair on castors and a monitor set into a black Perspex unit. This has a remote link to Zen on the flight deck.
There’s also a glimpse of a new added on area of the flight deck. At the far right of the deck, there’s a little alcove in which there’s a table with a data reader in the middle and two round silver chairs. Behind one of the chairs, there is a view screen built into the wall.
Avon, being the most alert member of the ill crew,
teleports Blake and Cally down to Aristo. Jenna then sends Avon and Vila
down to investigate where Blake and Cally have got to. Presumably she also
brings them all back up to ship too, although we don’t see this.
The crew have been very remiss with their teleport
bracelets since leaving Cephlon, as the rack only has five left on it!
Amusingly, every time they cut back to the rack there are still five
bracelets on it, so they must have been taking them off and putting them
back in there between scenes!
There’s nothing at all to report this episode. Blake
shows very little remorse for his crew and he doesn’t even seem to notice
what’s going on around him, not even when Jenna shows symptoms. Terrible
behaviour, especially after their closeness earlier in the season.
This episode is far from being Servalan’s best. We see
her react in terror at the Phibian (although after seeing it, perhaps we
should applaud her for making it seem terrifying!) and cry with relief
when it’s shot. Not the best behaviour for the Supreme Commander to
display. Instead I shall go for her moment of instantly taking charge of
the situation after this feminine display. Travis asks if he should go
first, and she turns to him, walks away and says, in the way only she can:
"No Travis. You will follow me." It made me smile.
You’d think in an episode as cheap as Orac that there
would be something reused from Doctor Who. But no! Nothing at all. No
guest actor! No reused props or costumes or sets at all.
Death and improbable radiation sickness make this one a bit bleak overall.
Orac is a rather dreary and poorly written episode. The fact that a ship as advanced as the Liberator doesn’t have any radiation sickness pills on board feels really contrived and highly unlikely, just as it’s equally fortunate that Ensor has some in his lab. It’s all contrived to add some jeopardy to the episode and doesn’t really work at all. The worst crime, however, is in the characterisation. Blake is completely oblivious to the plight of his crew, despite them all having funny turns around him. This makes him seem unusually stupid. I know that he’s had these moments before, but after establishing that he’s quite close to Jenna, you’d think he’d notice that. Even worse is the treatment of Servalan, turning her into a screaming, sobbing, trembling woman like a 60s Doctor Who companion. I’m sorry, but that simply doesn’t ring true at all. The dull, grey location filming doesn’t help the atmosphere, despite the caves looking rather good. Once again we’re subjected to characters having to act behind superimposed location photos and the backdrop behind Ensor’s probe does not convince either. Much of the production is sloppier than usual really, especially the flat-footed double for Travis in the studio (ok, I know this was a last minute replacement in an emergency, but it really isn’t convincing) and the Phibians look absolutely terrible, even with their appearances cut down to a bear minimum. The cliffhanger is rather good though and sets the scene for the season to come, which will rather puncture Blake’s seeming infallibility. Roll on season 2.
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