Tuesday, March 11, 2014

B7 Re-Watch: Orac



Where can I watch it?

Synopsis:
Orac picks up where Deliverance left off. Blake is reviewing the footage of Ensor's ship crashing. He and Avon realize that it was the victim of sabatoge. Deciding that whatever Orac is they should get to it before the federation does they head off to rescue Ensor's daddy Ensor Sr. 

Servelan and Travis are already on their way however and arrive shortly before the Liberator does. Luckily for all involved Ensor has constructed a very large, very powerful force field around his base. This forces the evil duo to take the longest through underwater passages. The passages were seemingly built by long dead natives however an race of amphibians is evolving to take their place. 

Back on the Liberator we have learned that the landing party from Deliverance is suffering from radiation poisoning. No big deal we'll take anti radiation meds. Except that's the ONE THING they don't have on board. Hoping to trade power cells for the necessary drugs they've raced to find Ensor.

When they arrive at Aristo, Ensor's planet, Zen is taken over by an outside force that gives coordinates for teleport. Upon teleporting down Blake and Cally are confronted by a drone. 

Who really got Bin Laden?

The good guys are disarmed and taken to meet Ensor who is the typical mad scientist. He mixes up colors. Or is that spelled colours? Cuts people off. Typical genius stuff. He's upset about his sons death in a ho hum kinda way. But of course he has the drugs they need and agrees to leave with them to have his new power packs installed. 

Mad scientist? Check. Power pack for a heart? Check. Tony Stark eat your heart out. 

Now, has Blake picked up a doctor between episodes? Nope. Not even one in a blue box. They'll just ask Orac to talk them through the procedure. What is Orac? We finally learn about Orac. He is apparently a super computer that can hack any computer built using Tariel cells which are another of Ensor's inventions. Since Ensor is the Steve Jobs of his day every computer has Tariel cells. You can see how this might be beneficial. The question to me is how did Orac take over Zen if he doesn't use Tariel cells?

It also doubles as a Christmas ornament. 

Ok. I digress. The baddies arrive so the trio make a dash for it back through the caves. You know, instead of ambushing and shooting them. Sigh. At one point Blake sends Cally and Ensor ahead while he tries to cause a cave in. With his bare hands. Heaven forbid he grab his gun on the way out the door. Or they deploy the freaking drone. 

Of course Ensor dies before they escape because they have to fill the daily quota and since they won't kill Travis or Servelan he was really the only choice. None of that stops them from taking Orac and heading for the surface. Too bad they are ambushed by the bad guys.  It seems that tactics are only used by bad people. Yeah. 

It's a good thing Avon has stuck around. Realizing that things must have gone wrong he forces Vila to suit up and they teleport down to the rescue. He blows up Travis' laser hand just as he's about to kill Blake. See Blake? Avon can remember his freaking side arm and he's got like all the cancer by this point. Too bad he was actually aiming for Travis' head and just missed. 

They leave Servelan and Travis alive, again, but not before mocking them and head back to the Liberator. This is starting to reach Batman/Joker levels of ridiculousness. Just cap the guy and call it a day. Sheesh. They unbox Orac and learn that he is just as rude as Ensor. But he can apparently make predictions. When they finally goad him into making one he predicts the Liberators destruction. 

Is it too late to get our money back?


Final Thoughts:
And that wraps up season 1. Not a bad ending. I have a few minor quibbles with some characters actions but overall a nice episode. We have a race to get Orac before the Feds do compounded with an illness from last episode. The continuity has been fairly tight throughout this season. Once we finally get Orac we get a nice little cliffhanger for season 2. 

In the next several days I'm going to finish my season 1 roundup. Afterwards I'll most likely do a one off review of something unrelated just to change gears a little bit. Then it will be back for the season 2 premier Redemption where we will finally get a few answers about Liberator. Stay tuned!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Memorable Quote:
Vila: Die? I can't do that!
Avon: I'm afraid you can. It's the one talent we all share, even you.

Coffee of the Day:
Gevalia dark roast. Oh. My. Gosh. It's everything you could hope for in a gourmet dark roast. The K-Cups were like $12 a pack, so not cheap, but delicious. 

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