The Omega Factor

[Theta Sigma]

Hours ago at Galaxy I bought the Region 1 boxset of The Omega Factor featuring Louise Jameson (Leela from Doctor Who) in the cast. The series consists of ten episodes. One of its writers was Anthony Read, who is a former Script Editor of Doctor Who, and was produced by former Doctor Who Production Unit Manager George Gallaccio who also directed the final episode. The Who associations does not end there as the other directors include Paddy Russell, Norman Stewart, Ken Grieve, Gerald Blake, Fiona Cumming and Kenny McBain, all of whom had directed on Doctor Who. In fact only episode 5 Powers of Darkness directed by Eric Davidson is the only episode not to be directed by someone who had worked on Doctor Who.
It also has a booklet written by former Doctor Who Magazine assistant editor Marcus Hearn.
The Omega Factor has been described as an early version of The X-Files which means I got something to watch while waiting for Torchwood.

If people (in Australia) are interested and have a multi-region player The Omega Factor costs $65.

 

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The Undiscovered Country:
Directed by Paddy Russell who had directed Louise Jameson in Doctor Who: Horror of Fang Rock. Also included are Colin Douglas who was also in Horror of Fang Rock and Cyril Luckham, who was also in Doctor Who as The White Guardian, appears here as Edward Drexel.
To be honest I thought the first half was a little bit slow but the second half was very spooky which culminated with a tragedy that eventually led Tom Crane to join Department 7.

 

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Visitations:
Directed by Norman Stewart.
Martin Cochrane later to become General Chellak in Doctor Who: Caves of Androzani appears as a doctor.
I thought this episode for the most part was dull, it only became impressive towards the end when they were in that house.

 

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Night Games:
Directed by Ken Grieve.
Nothing much happens in this episode except that maybe there is a traitor in Department 7.
Passable.

 

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After-Image:
Directed by Gerald Blake.
So much better than Night Games.
Bruce Boa guest stars. His most famous role is undoubtedly Mr Hamilton in the Fawlty Towers episode Waldorf Salad. Coindentally I saw his on Saturday night in The Professionals episode Heroes written by Torchwood writer PJ Hammond.
Very intriguing and absolutely shocking what was really going on.

 

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At the beginning of this thread I mentioned that this release from Galaxy was Region 1 and needed to be played on a multiregion player. This was because of a warning label saying it as such. While this release is from the US, yesterday I found out accidentally that it worked perfectly on my Region 4 only player. Therefore it should be OK for Region 4 only viewers to buy.

 

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Powers of Darkness:
Written by Anthony Read.
This one was quite good especially the sequence in the church.
Also the commentary for this episode (the only one recorded for the DVD release) by Marcus Hearn, Read, George Gallacio and director Eric Davidson, (the only director on the series not to have done work on Doctor Who) was quite interesting. Doctor Who got mentioned a few times given Read and Gallacio having worked on Doctor Who beforehand including working with Louise.

 

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Child's Play:
Directed by Fiona Cumming.
Best parts of this episode is the beginning and the end as it displayed quite a nice bookend.

 

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St. Anthony's Fire:
Directed by Norman Stewart.
Despite an intriguing beginning, this episode could have been a lot better if Norman Stewart was more inspired with his direction.

 

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Out of Body, Out of Mind:
Written by Anthony Read.
Directed by Peter Grimwade.
Although it was enjoyable to watch there was not much tension in the political conspiracy that was needed to make this episode very gripping.

 

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Double Vision:
Directed by Kenny McBain.
This episode is very intriguing as Tom sees someone very familiar but the ending is baffling.

 

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Illusions:
The final episode directed by Producer George Gallacio. Interestingly the episode has no producer's credit as Gallacio is credited as director. I noticed in other BBC shows around this time including Doctor Who, that when the producer directs, the producer's credit still appears but the director's credit is absent instead.
Featured a guest appearances by Frederick Jaegar who had appeared with Louise Jameson in Doctor Who: The Invisible Enemy.
Now as to the episode itself somehow it did not feel very satisfying and it is obvious from the end that there was still a lot more of the story to tell.

Interestingly this final episode of The Omega Factor was the second series finale that I have finished in just a matter of hours. (The others being The Last Detective & Andromeda).