Page 2.
Olag Gan
Played by David Jackson - Episodes 2-18.
Gan is a tortured sole, sent to Cygnus Alpha for killing a Federation officer in revenge, after his wife is assaulted while in a state of drugged compliance. He was declared insane, and fitted with an experimental limiter device. The limiter's electrodes buried into his brain, controlling his aggressive tendancies. Gan could no longer kill.... but he could still fight.
Gan has a simple aim; help Blake overcome the Federation because of what they did to them. He has a lot of common sense and was often the one to speak up when a plan was dangerous or foolhardy.
Gan was the first of the original crew to die, when he is crushed to death during the attempted break in of the Star One computer, in the episode "Pressure Point".
Cally
Played by Jan Chappel - Episodes 4-39.
Cally is an alien, a guerrilla fighter living in exile from the planet Auron. She has limited telepathic abilities which allow her to send her thoughts to other life forms, which is used to good effect in a number of episodes.
Cally is often apposed to the violent means Blake pursues and is sickened by the revenge issues that drive Blake and Avon, but stays with the group to help end the oppression of the various worlds under Federation control..
Cally meets up with Blake and Avon on Saurian Major where she led a failed rebel assault on a communications array. She refused to head home because of her failure, so decides to help Blake's band. Her exile causes her pangs of loneliness though, which is exploited by a number of psychic beings, talking to her and coaxing her into helping them telepathically. Cally's telepathic abilities put the crew in danger many a time.
Zen/Liberator
Voiced by Peter Tuddenham - Episodes 3-39.
The Liberator - Episodes 2-39.
Zen was the Liberator's computer, created by an alien technology. The Liberator was found adrift by the prison ship London, after it had been involved in a massive space battle. A number of prison officers boarded the ship, but were killed by Zen's defensive mechanisms. Blake, Avon and Jenna, however, managed to bypass the security systems and took control of the ship.
Zen was extremely complex; even Avon had trouble dealing with the sophisticated systems. Zen controlled most of the internal systems; aiding flight control, plotting defensive stratagies, and controling repairs to the systems. Liberator had its own self-repair systems which would constantly keep the system at peak operating levels.
Fellow B7 fan, Rob Windle, has kindly submitted an article regarding the Liberator and its construction. Click here to read this very interesting article and to see some of the original models.
The Liberator was the fastest and most powerful ship in Federation space, making it a ship that Servelan wanted to control. She always wanted the Liberator captured intact, so she could copy the schematics and build a fleet of ships to contro the galaxy. Its main neutron blasters were very powerful and it was equipped with a force wall, which Avon beefed up with a sensor jammer. Although in the end, the ship was destroyed by massive system failure due to an strange space virus that ate through the ship.
Most of the time, Zen showed no emotion. This makes the final scenes all the more upsetting. Zen, slowly dying, utters the words... "I have failed you. I am sorry. I have--".
Orac
Voiced by Derek Farr - Episode 13.
Voiced by Peter Tuddenham - Episodes 14-52.
Orac is a very special computer brain created by the scientist Ensor, a computer genuis living in self-imposed exile. Ensor had previously created the "tariel cell", which led to a whole new generation of computers.
The tariel cell is an integral part of every computer in Federation space and Orac is able to draw information from any computer that has such a cell - it has access to all the knowledge of the known worlds.
Blake aquires Orac at the end of the first series after rescuing Ensor's son from a space crash, snatching it from the claws of Servalan. Her attempts to possess Orac are part of many of the future episodes.
Orac was basically a plastic box with a few flashing lights which when activated by a special key, could respond to various requests and questions. However, it retained some of its creator's personality, making it often arrogant and short tempered. It much prefered to be left to run its own programs.
His greatest feat was being able to predict the future, by using logic and the vast amount of information available to him. At the end of series 1, it predicted a series ending cliff-hanger.... the destruction of the Liberator.
