It's amazing how a simple box of flashing lights and clear plastic spheres and pipes, along with a few circuit boards here and there, could elicit such emotions from viewers as a memorable character!
it can draw information, from every other computer... Dude is literally just describing the Internet. We all have that power in our pockets now, and look where that's gotten us...
Not quite. ORAC is able to access information from every computer containing a specific type of component. That component had become fundamental to the design of almost all computer systems over a number of decades and, unbeknownst to the manufacturers, allowed simultaneous exchange of information over infinite distances using quantum entanglement.
You missed the best line ever (from Headhunter) when Soolin was carrying Orac up some stairs - he said “Join us Soolin, we can fulfil your every desire ...” her response “You wouldn’t know where to begin!”
I was born in 1970, I was a child watching the last episode of Blakes 7. How, how how - I couldn't understand it, believe it. What just happened. Previously unfelt emotions appeared. Still, they come.
Two things. 1. The new ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode makes it very similar to a conversation with Orac. and 2. ChatGPT will let you call it by a name that you choose.
There is an Orac version of ChatGpt that is hilarious. Defiantly worth playing with - it’s is a real life Orac that answers your questions with the sass and attitude of Orac
@@MichaelJohnson-kq7qg it was typical BBC at the time, the old fogeys never knew what too do with a successful sci-fi series, it is the same now with the over funded rainbow fest that is modern Dr Who but now it is too many effects and box ticking and not enough script
@@MichaelJohnson-kq7qg I am not, I have a great dislike of replacing sharp script writing with box ticking and casting too prove a point, I personally think that the new Dr Who series is awful and badly written with a blubbering fool as the doctor, the best Doctor we never had is the Actress Jo Martin, she is brilliant as the Fugitive Doctor and she nailed the part and dominated the screen with the authority and toughness that is the Doctor's character and she should have been the next Doctor Who instead of this young crying, prancing around poncey actor we have now, BTW the eighties Producer John Nathan Turner was homosexual and he invented the English versions of Dr Who conventions and he never let his personal life interfere with the script writing
I feel like the Anna revelation in Rumours of Death is where his descent originated. Terminal was the first big stepping stone, then Gold was the next. And then Orbit, Warlord and Blake all demonstrate his full downward spiral.
@@Jokie155all that plus the stress of leading a crew of misfits for a revolution, something which Avon lacked in comparison to Blake & it’s easy to see why he failed.
Loved this program, and Orac and Avon were my favourites. Imagine the combined sass of Avon and Orac in a LLM system? I don’t think I’d be brave enough to ask it any questions 😮
I've seen the original Orac in 2005 at the Redmption convention. The guy who originally built it for the show (Mat Irvine) still has it as well as several versions of the Liberator model. I have a picture of me staring at Orac in wide eyed wonder not daring to touch such a precious childhood memory. He looks even jankier in real life but I still loved him 😁
There’s a desperate need for a remake and upgrade..Blake’s 7 was like an anti Star Trek..Orac is the quintessential AI character and potential antagonist…with its own strategic vision and goals..
I liked ORAC, it’s sass, annoyance with everything and everybody, it’s little mosquito wine and of course the concept of a quantum type computer capable of calculating out the most likely future out of available data.
7:35 you have the most advanced computer in the universe in your pocket and you used it to do the equivalent of counting cards. (If I remember the episode correctly)
whatlastline end on " I can simulate the necessary signals to open The Silo and allow this flyer to enter oh sounds good no it isn't sooner or later we're going to drop into one of these holes on the ground and never come out sooner later everyone does that" ? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In the 70's they clearly thought AI would be a bolshy little sh*t. Imagine having to convince the computer that an analysis was worthwhile before it would do it.
I thought oracle spoiled 7 a bit. It was used extensively as deus ex machina. I liked avons surliness and the funny hair straightener blasters . Oh the good old days 😂.
This was back in the day , when robots and computers on tv /film had distinct personalites and the writers werent so up their woke donkeys that they could write them (same as with women)
I was around 12 years old when this series aired on tv and at that time it was exciting technology and a great tv series 👍😀. Along with all the other science fiction series and movies of the late 70's and early eighties like battle star galactica and doctor who it was a beautiful time to grow up 😀. Now in hindsight with the current technology it is easy to judge these tv shows but to be honest i can't say that these days there aren't many really good science fiction series .😢 There are a few good but many of them are just garbage 😢
@@spacedoutgame it doesn't talk to you though. I a small droid with human like characteristic that I could chat to. A cross with alexa, ChatGPT and a star wars droid
It just needs to be localised and not 'on the cloud' like with chatgpt. Large language models can be installed onto say a raspberry pi, put it in a transparent case, add a few flashing LEDs and wires and you've got an orac.
Can a computer have a mind, consciousness or be self aware, its probably beyond computable physics, can a computer think? all very topical questions at present , especially with AI fever and and QM computers, however Blakes 7 was way ahead of the time and a superb series , prob the best British sci-fi.
Paul Darrow was absolutely excellent as Avon.
Fell in love with Avon and missed night school to watch the programme.
@@GayJayU26 he was as bright as the character he was trying to portray, an acting Legend.
And great in the game contradiction.
100% agree. He's one of the greatest sci-fi characters of all time. I can't think of any other that comes close.
@MrTravolta24 exactly 💯
I made an Orac out of stickle bricks, aged 7.
One of my finest moments
It's amazing how a simple box of flashing lights and clear plastic spheres and pipes, along with a few circuit boards here and there, could elicit such emotions from viewers as a memorable character!
It was initially designed as “a television set without the case”
When I was a kid I built a fully functioning copy, Complete with a stylophone to make the sound effect,
It was the Voice . Distinctive and individual
I liked its little noises, they gave the impression of electronic impatience.
The ‘data’ of his time😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Back in the late 70s, this was really good, and in actual fact, it still is.
It stands the test of time.
@@frankshailes3205 I didn't see B7 until 2017, though the series without Blake and a quite different Avon was a bit to stomach.
It’s Topness
Still not happy how it ended
@Jon6429 I wish I t had a brighter ending too, but it was a dystopian show, so it finished the way it did, who knows maybe Avon survived somehow.
it can draw information, from every other computer... Dude is literally just describing the Internet. We all have that power in our pockets now, and look where that's gotten us...
It can take over other computers and control them. Also, correctly predict future events. The Internet is full of trolls and false data.
Orac is an AI computer.
Orac had a hardware based backdoor into so many other computers, so, even more powerful than the Internet technically.
Not quite. ORAC is able to access information from every computer containing a specific type of component. That component had become fundamental to the design of almost all computer systems over a number of decades and, unbeknownst to the manufacturers, allowed simultaneous exchange of information over infinite distances using quantum entanglement.
What we need is the right question.....Queue AI prompts
I love the little activation/deactivation sound "errr" "errre"
It does sound rather endearing, doesn't it
The deactivation sound is like Orac is dying.
It’s the tone I use for incoming texts, almost no one knows what it is lol
Once described as ‘a bee jumping off a tall building’, lol!
ORAC was pure sass. He was the Bender of his time...
Sarcastic too. LOL
You missed the best line ever (from Headhunter) when Soolin was carrying Orac up some stairs - he said “Join us Soolin, we can fulfil your every desire ...” her response “You wouldn’t know where to begin!”
Damn! Great line - thanks for recording it here!
Box of junk would have hard time satisfying Soolin.
@menacelurkingyet8345 it meant the Muller android, albeit that had no head...
One of the best programs on tv
I was born in 1970, I was a child watching the last episode of Blakes 7. How, how how - I couldn't understand it, believe it. What just happened. Previously unfelt emotions appeared. Still, they come.
Still hurts eh? Hang in there Mate
I still believe he survived!
Iconic sound of Orac being switched on/off! 😊😊😊
I tried to get this as my Windows 11 startup sound - but the Microsoft wav file is well hidden away !
When I was much younger, I changed the shutdown sound for Win 7 to be Orac's "I am closing down" line. The full thing. I loved it.
EEEEEHHHHHHHHHH.......
The cast is awesome. Villa is very memorable too.
Orac is basically chat-GTP 4.0
You can’t turn gpt4 off
Nah, Orac doesn't lie and misdirect.
@@1realtruthrightnow742 !?!? Not only does it. But it even let them go towards a black hole , for research purposes :D
A brilliant depiction of AI from 40 years ago.
Two things. 1. The new ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode makes it very similar to a conversation with Orac. and 2. ChatGPT will let you call it by a name that you choose.
There is an Orac version of ChatGpt that is hilarious. Defiantly worth playing with - it’s is a real life Orac that answers your questions with the sass and attitude of Orac
HOW WHERE???? I named my chatGPT ORAC
I need the Orac version of ChatGpt in my life! 😂
Wow! I need that!
Fun fact. ORAC was the inspiration for the name of the 1980's Oric-1 home computer.
Happy times 😊
I cant see anything as profoundly brilliant as this ever again
Sapphire and steel was my other favourite show
Best UK Sci-Fi EVER… thanks to Orac, my brain is suitably fried at the conclusion of viewing this video 🤯😁🙌💋🔥♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
While the special effects in Blake's 7 were notoriously shonky, the quality of the dialogue made it such a memorable and enduring gem of the genre.
Blake's 7 inherited the sfx budget of the police show it replaced. £35 per episode.
Blake's 7 was even low budget compared to Doctor Who.
@@MichaelJohnson-kq7qg it was typical BBC at the time, the old fogeys never knew what too do with a successful sci-fi series, it is the same now with the over funded rainbow fest that is modern Dr Who but now it is too many effects and box ticking and not enough script
@@ThomasGAinsworth 'over-funded rainbow fest'.
You're the sort of person that describes stuff as 'woke', aren't you.
@@MichaelJohnson-kq7qg I am not, I have a great dislike of replacing sharp script writing with box ticking and casting too prove a point, I personally think that the new Dr Who series is awful and badly written with a blubbering fool as the doctor, the best Doctor we never had is the Actress Jo Martin, she is brilliant as the Fugitive Doctor and she nailed the part and dominated the screen with the authority and toughness that is the Doctor's character and she should have been the next Doctor Who instead of this young crying, prancing around poncey actor we have now, BTW the eighties Producer John Nathan Turner was homosexual and he invented the English versions of Dr Who conventions and he never let his personal life interfere with the script writing
Servalan scamming him with the cash was where Avon really started to lose it, great TV.
I feel like the Anna revelation in Rumours of Death is where his descent originated. Terminal was the first big stepping stone, then Gold was the next. And then Orbit, Warlord and Blake all demonstrate his full downward spiral.
@@Jokie155all that plus the stress of leading a crew of misfits for a revolution, something which Avon lacked in comparison to Blake & it’s easy to see why he failed.
They could never quite figure out what to do with ORAC.
...or vice versa
I love the moment with Vila telling Orac jokes.
Avon's reaction is priceless.
"Villa is teaching Orac? No it doesn't make sense..."
When Sci-Fi was smart and intelligent! 🧐
Loved this program, and Orac and Avon were my favourites. Imagine the combined sass of Avon and Orac in a LLM system? I don’t think I’d be brave enough to ask it any questions 😮
Ah yes Orac. If Wing Zero's Zero system had an attitude problem.
I've always wondered who ended up with that stage prop.
I've seen the original Orac in 2005 at the Redmption convention. The guy who originally built it for the show (Mat Irvine) still has it as well as several versions of the Liberator model. I have a picture of me staring at Orac in wide eyed wonder not daring to touch such a precious childhood memory. He looks even jankier in real life but I still loved him 😁
@@AlexWright-xx4fc Glad to hear its in good hands :).
Wait, Orac is just a stage prop?!
@JamieFurlong no don't listen to them. We know the truth Orac was and will always be real
The special effects weren’t good at all but the characters and scripts were beyond outstanding. Any remake of this will not be at all good.
They'd only end up 'updating it for modern audiences' while omitting the elements that made it originally good.
ORAC! It was one of the better Super Computers I’ve ever heard and seen
"My knowledge is virtually infinite. What does "Shut up" mean?"
"Careful, careful!"
One thing to remember: never tell jokes with Orac
This was cool, thanks for sharing it. This channel is awesome btw.
Thank you! Stick around - got some fun new videos on their way 😎
Orac has the same accent as Basil Brush
I watched, and was a fan of, both TV shows as a kid, and I never made this connection! I always thought he sounded like K9.
BOOM BOOM
Wasn’t a patch on Talkie Toaster 😄
Blake 7 had my favourite ending to any series ever, i love a happy ending.
Happy? Clearly you work for the Federation!
He reads 2 pages of wiki before laying down the relevant stuff. Lol. Great to see a compilation. I giggled a lot. Top work. Thanks
There’s a desperate need for a remake and upgrade..Blake’s 7 was like an anti Star Trek..Orac is the quintessential AI character and potential antagonist…with its own strategic vision and goals..
For a more light hearted take on that exact sentiment, I highly recommend checking out Will Save The Galaxy For Food (and its sequels)
nooo dont let the bbc ruin it.
Orac...The intellectual's Lassie.
The description of Orac is essentially The Internet.
the turn off sounds were epic😂
'Orac, set a timer for 35 minutes'
I liked ORAC, it’s sass, annoyance with everything and everybody, it’s little mosquito wine and of course the concept of a quantum type computer capable of calculating out the most likely future out of available data.
“I am about to extract a momentous admission” 😂
Looks like they got ORAC at Maplins
That was a Maplin kit I never knew about....
orak had interstellar internet but didn't tell any one
Isn’t this just a bigger version of the IT crowds internet box…..?
7:35 you have the most advanced computer in the universe in your pocket and you used it to do the equivalent of counting cards. (If I remember the episode correctly)
Avon sure knows how to manipulate Orac to get the answers he wants.
ORAC Cartman
Maybe if the writers of the series could have perceived something like a Raspberry Pi SBC in 2024, Orac would have been the size of a postage stamp.
ORAC had character to burn.
I’ll never catch on - as it was powered by a Betamax video cassette
ORAC sounds like K9 😂
Same voice actor.
Yes. It was Peter Tuddenham, who also played Zen.
Orac... The greatest invention ever in the history of sci-fi.
Also made the Blakes 7 wrist computer out of a dried milk carton as instructed to by blue Peter. That was a good day at school the next day
I remember using my Mum's hair curling tongs as one of the guns they got from the Liberator.
Imagine getting all your friends to sit around the first time you used chatgpt.
The nostalgia is almost too much to handle haha, the next time someone asks me why am I like this I'll just show them this video..
So Orac is a GPT?
The props department had some fun putting him together
When i was a lad, only two federations, only one was terrifying and beautiful. And it wasn't kirks.
the world's smartest vacuum cleaner
Orac looks like a modded 3d printer 😂
Why did they building with the ticking sound from a car indicator? 😅😅
Did you see the USB ports. Years ahead
Isss that one of the lads from ' The Profesionals ' Doyle and Boddy.
The one with the gollywog hair ??
whatlastline end on " I can simulate the necessary signals to open The Silo and allow this flyer to enter oh sounds good no it isn't sooner or later we're going to drop into one of these holes on the ground and never come out sooner later everyone does that" ? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In the 70's they clearly thought AI would be a bolshy little sh*t. Imagine having to convince the computer that an analysis was worthwhile before it would do it.
Won’t take long! ChatGPT 9.0 - now with sarcasm!
You want Proteus from Demon Seed
Avon has a superior mouth piece and knowledge,but Orac is at least a million times better💯💯💥💥💫💫✨✨
Orac kinda talks like the First Doctor from Doctor Who
the question is where is it now, at the last episode.
I wonder if it uses quantum computing?
The voice of Peter Tuddenham I went to school with his son.
You've got to wonder if Millets did well out of the clothing budget.
I thought oracle spoiled 7 a bit. It was used extensively as deus ex machina. I liked avons surliness and the funny hair straightener blasters . Oh the good old days 😂.
NSA and CIA would love Orac😂
So so good
I’m a Terry Nationalist and so’s my dalek
Would have been cool if Peter Tuddenhan could have made an in the flesh appreance as Ensor.
Excepting that Derek Farr voiced Orac originally. Tuddenham took over for season 2.
I was so upset when Gan died after having the implant in his brain
Bril!. Nuff said!
🙂
27:09 - I say Vila was more surprised than Avon
Well that ended on an ominous note...
Ai infancy
This was back in the day , when robots and computers on tv /film had distinct personalites and the writers werent so up their woke donkeys that they could write them (same as with women)
I was around 12 years old when this series aired on tv and at that time it was exciting technology and a great tv series 👍😀.
Along with all the other science fiction series and movies of the late 70's and early eighties like battle star galactica and doctor who it was a beautiful time to grow up 😀.
Now in hindsight with the current technology it is easy to judge these tv shows but to be honest i can't say that these days there aren't many really good science fiction series .😢
There are a few good but many of them are just garbage 😢
7:59 Orac has a baby !
Orac mini
I really want chat GPT to talk like Orac
and now me have Alexa and ChatGPT. All me need now are the Star Wars type droids
Won’t be long! I already have a droid hoovering my flat for me
@@spacedoutgame it doesn't talk to you though. I a small droid with human like characteristic that I could chat to. A cross with alexa, ChatGPT and a star wars droid
It just needs to be localised and not 'on the cloud' like with chatgpt. Large language models can be installed onto say a raspberry pi, put it in a transparent case, add a few flashing LEDs and wires and you've got an orac.
ChatGPT is this you?
The Evil Toaster's grandpa.
So he invented chatGPT decades ago...
Can a computer have a mind, consciousness or be self aware, its probably beyond computable physics, can a computer think? all very topical questions at present , especially with AI fever and and QM computers, however Blakes 7 was way ahead of the time and a superb series , prob the best British sci-fi.
ORAC derived from the word Oracle?
See, this is what will happen with AIs, computers that know they are smarter than humans and make no bones about informing them of the fact.
Great series, horrible ending.
It’s Slartibarfast!
Artificial intelligence in the 1970s. 💻😯
We are more intelligent then but not not so.
Where can I get a ORAC???
I used to love this show..... and that blond........ phew!!
Prefered the origonal voice , the later voice used not so much