Torchwood: Oracle Review

Rounding out Big Finish’s Ood trilogy of 2023 is Oracle which sees the return of Danny Bartock the last surviving character from the popular two-part story, The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit.

The story from Ash Darby kicks off in high gear with a crew of a spaceship landing on a lava planet following a distress signal from a ship that has fallen back 1000 years in time. Among the group which was similar to River Song’s crew from Silence in the Library in that none of the crew feels like it gelled together yet and of course, one member is Danny Bartock played once again by Ronny Jhutti who gets considerably a lot more to do here than he did on screen opposite David Tennant and Billie Piper.

Danny is still an ethicist and it’s that aspect of his character that Darby seems the most keen to explore. His premise of a spaceship that has fallen through time allows his aspect of Danny to play out with some thought-provoking commentary as Danny spends the story arguing with his crewmates who seem intent on using the knowledge of the future could have negative consequences. One of the best scenes of this story comes from just that as one of the younger crewmembers uses the computer to find if they’ve cured a disease she suffers from in the future in hopes she can cure herself. The computer tells her it hasn’t and she uses a lethal injection to spare herself from the illness developing further.

However, the concept is where the story struggles. In theory, the concept is interesting but except for a few scenes, the execution can sometimes feel a little lacklustre. I think the problem here is that the story doesn’t get a lot of build-up before the titles. Starting in the middle of the action does make things feel a little confusing and one might wonder if they’ve missed something. It’s also annoying that a lot of the intrigue of the story is pretty obvious. It’s clear that the ship is out for itself, and its computer interface that looks like an Ood is really catering for itself rather than the crew that are now inhabiting it.

But none of that is to say that Oracle isn’t a fun listen, the performances, especially from Jhutti are excellent and keep the story moving along at a lovely pace. Darby also gives us some excellent character dynamics and everyone behaves in a totally believable way. It’s a shame then that the Ood trilogy ends on a bit of a limp note however it would be excellent to revisit this era of Torchwood in the future, and given how the story ends, surely it’s deserving of a follow-up!