Big Finish Classic B7 Release
After the cliffhanger of the Liberator being caught in an energy wave, this story starts with the aftermath of the problems it caused. And they were pretty massive! Oracle really comes into his own in this story, showing what drives him to do anything and his personality. Oracle has a definite personality – somewhere between Avon and Vila. So the Liberator goes underground to affect repairs while the crew roots around on the planet they just left, getting involved in a Federation infestation experiment. Pretty icky. And they all find a new goal at the end – Federac (or Fed-Orac as Avon calls it).
This story really races around in lots of directions with plenty of action and mayhem and seemingly no real end in sight. Though I love that Orac is finally given something real to do and be here, he’s the weakest part of the story. But I can only hope that they take this change and use it in the next few stories. Though I just can’t seem to get the image of Orac being something akin to Dr. Theopolis hanging around the neck of Twiki from Buck Rogers, like a big round electronic clock of some sort. Oh dear… I’m sure Orac would be suitably offended! After all, he did technically come first though I saw Dr Theo before I saw him.
Michael Keating (Vila), Paul Darrow (Avon), Gareth Thomas (Blake), Jan Chappell (Cally), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Alistair Lock (Zen/Orac), Tim Treloar (Bru Renderson), Sara Powell (Dr. Cara Petrus)
Writer: Marc Platt
Director: Ken Bentley
Release: March 2014