The Omega Factor - The Complete Series

Customer Reviews:

Sinister, Spooky and Years Ahead of its Time.......2007-08-15

There is quite an air of mystique surrounding The Omega Factor. Broadcast in 1979, never repeated anywhere, never released on video, and then, in suitably low-key ghostly fashion, resurfacing on DVD in 2005. Mary Whitehouse famously didn't like it, describing the show as "thoroughly evil". Of course it is hardly that but it is, in places, very, very creepy.

Tom Crane (James Hazeldine), who has psychic abilities, is recruited by the mysterious Department 7 where he meets Dr Anne Reynolds (Louise Jameson) and Dr Roy Martindale (John Carlisle). Crane finds himself involved in various sinister, spooky and downright weird goings on, and with every passing episode he becomes less and less sure of just who he can trust.

The best of the stories to me at least are: "The Undiscovered Country", where Crane investigates a fellow psychic by the name of Drexel and his enigmatic daughter, Morag; "Visitations", one of the creepiest haunted house tales ever commited to film; "After Image", in which Anne finds herself involved in some sinister mind games that come close to tipping her over the edge into some sort of mental abyss; "Powers of Darkness", which involves a young girl becoming possessed after a seance and "Double Vision", in which Tom begins to see visions of his dead wife. If this all reminds you of the X-files then you'd be right. The Omega Factor really is a precursor to the Mulder and Scully show, even down to the will-they-won't-they relationship of the two leads and the shadowy conspiracy theories involving the senior figures of a secretive government department.

The acting is quite variable, although the three leads are all excellent (Louise Jameson in particular is absolutely superb), and the writing can be a little patchy, especially during some of the middle episodes from the series, but all in all this is a classic of late seventies television. It sets out to challenge and spook its audience and in this it succeeds admirably. It was probably ahead of its time: too on the edge for either its potential audience, and also for the BBC, to be comfortable with. It is also genuinely scary: there is one scene in the first story where Crane finds himself walking down a dimly lit street. As he walks the street lamps behind him begin to go out one by one ..... It scared me when I watched the episode's transmission back in 1979 and it scared me again rewatching it a few nights ago. It's a shame, although not especially surprising, that only one series was ever made. It's quite obvious watching the episodes that conclude the series that further story strands were just waiting to be developed in the years to come.

In short this is superb stuff, making excellent use of its eerie Edinburgh location and the acting talents of its three leads. Recommended for anyone looking for some genuine creepy chills.

Not as good as I expected... Read on.......2007-08-03

I ordered this DVD-set because I enjoy UK television SF form the Seventies. I just watched the last of the 10 episodes. I must say that the series was reasonably good and enjoyable. However, given the standards set by a series like Blake's 7 that started in the same year as the Omega Factor it was not as good as I expected it to be.

Outline
Tom Crane, a journalist who appears to have supernatural powers is recruited by a secret governmental organisation that researchers into the unexplained. He works closely with Ann Reynolds and Dr Roy Martindale in an office where both Reynolds and Martindale offer the pretence of working by (respectively) wearing a white overdress and moving papers from one end of his desk to another. Tom Crane gets to do all the hard work by venturing into the Occult.

Setting
The setting is excellent. What better base to explore the supernatural from than the eerie streets and ally's of Edinburgh?

Acting
The main actors do a good job. Ann, Tom Crane and Roy Martindale all play convincing roles. The supporting cast ranges from OK performances (the guy who plays bad guy Drexel) down to a Faulty Towers level (the heavies of the secret organisation).

Storyline
Most Television SF from the Seventies rely primarily on the storyline. However, the major flaws that made me give this series "only" three stars are in the flawed storytelling. The main character's wife is killed and the main character shows no emotion at all and subsequently starts courting every woman he comes into contact with. His brother is turned into a human vegetable (he makes a miraculous recovery later on in the series) by experiments clearly conducted by the department he now works for. However, the main character just continues working for them. At the end of each episode something dramatic happens and in the next episode everyone goes on as if nothing has happened. So, the continuity between the episodes is very bad and the episodes themselves (a phenomenon like hypnosis, out of body experience, etc is researched in each episode) don't cut it as semi-documentary's by themselves.

Extras.
Disc 3 has no subtitling. There's a director's commentary on one episode, a picture gallery and a short documentary in which the directors, writers, etc are interviewed. There's a short booklet in the DVD-set that tells the history of the series.

Conclusion
The quality of the Omega Factor has the shape of a U. It starts out good and promising, gets rather weak halfway and ends with a couple of good episodes. The good ones beat most **** that plaques our TV screens nowadays.

Not for the narrow-minded spoon-fed generation.......2006-09-09

'The Omega Factor' is terrific, suspenseful and eerie television.
Some of the criticisms this show has received tend to come from those who are expecting the fast-paced high-octane thrillers that are churned out for modern audiences with short attention spans.

For more discerning viewers, this series will provoke thought, chill to the bone and achieve a sense of disquiet.

The casting is superb. James Hazeldine is mesmerising as Tom Crane, the man on a mission, battling the superior forces of both the supernatural and the higher organisations of people who desire control and the power to manipulate all.
Louise Jameson as Anne Reynolds provides a perfect foil to his angst with her scientific prowess and cool and calm exterior - a forerunner to Agent Scully of 'The X Files' if ever there was one.

The highlight of the series is the superb fifth episode entitled 'Powers of Darkness' which genuinely sent shivers down my spine. One can understand why Mary Whitehouse complained about the show being 'Thoroughly evil'.

The DVD includes a fascinating booklet about the series, a documentary (running at 25 minutes) with interviews with one of the writers, one of the directors, the producer and the man behind it all, Jack Gerson. Also interviewed is his daughter who played the terrifyingly enigmatic Morag.

Superb television drama. A must buy for fans of high-quality supernatural drama.

Sheer Brilliance.......2006-07-28

I can't actually remember watching this back in the '70s - possibly 'cos I was only fairly young and so my parents would've said NO, however, thanks to DVD I have now had a chance to watch this BBC masterpiece.

To the viewer in the USA who thought it was rubbish - the plots led from one episode to the next and they were all interwoven into a good, solid series, something that American scriptwriters don't seem to possess - they seem (even today) to rely on lots of gunfire and car chases when they seem at a loss as to what their characters should be doing.

Over in the US there are very few programmes which could ever hope to equal this piece of work. No, "Auntie" may not have had the huge budgets of her American counterparts back in the 1970s, but she did have brilliant scriptwriters and actors/actresses.

Interesting Premise Poorly Executed.......2006-05-29

I often buy box sets of older British Television shows that deal in the SciFi, Horror, and Comedy genres and have been extremely happy with them: Children of the Stones, Survivors 1-3, Ultraviolet, Threads, Spaced, Black Books, even Tripods. But I must say I was rather disappointed with Omega Factor. The lack of budget is obvious and the 70s fashion time capsule is frightening as well!

My biggest gripe is the almost total lack of energy by the actors and the credibility of the dialog delivered from the poorly written scripts.

It was only the last two episodes where it showed potential... the revealing of the clandestine shadow government but then it ends. Perhaps that is were my interest lies ... considering what the Bush Administration is doing to our Democracy here in the United States.

Anyway viewer beware.

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