Category: Buck Rogers

An unusual asteroid composed of frozen oxygen is being escorted to Earth by a squadron of fighters under Wilma’s command. Though hardly a routine operation, the plan is to maneuver the asteroid through a precisely calculated window in Earth’s atmosphere shield to replenish the planet’s air. A slight miscalculation would cause it to miss the window – and the oxygen would heat up and ignite explosively, laying waste to Earth’s surface. On another asteroid, corrupt mining magnate Kurt Belzack is growing infuriated with his miners’ demands for adequate rest and humane treatment. When they send a union representative to negotiate, Belzack unleashes the powers of three lovely psychokinetic women to eliminate him. A spy on Earth relays information to Belzack about a robotic drone that could do the work of Belzack’s miners without pay, food, or rest. One possible drawback is that the drone has an unquestioning loyalty to one man – and neither Twiki nor his “owner” are likely to cooperate.

written by Jaron Summers
directed by Sigmund Neufeld, Jr.
music by Herbert Woods

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Eddie Benton (Stella), John P. Ryan (Kurt Belzack), David Darlow (Pinchas), Janet Bebe Louie (Clare), Eugenia Wright (Dawn), Ken Letner (Oto Anad)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Buck is invited to fly an authentic 20th century Olympic flag at the 2492 Olympics on behalf of the Earth Defense Directorate, and takes Twiki and Dr. Theopolis along with him to the games. Buck finds that the Olympics have changed in 500 years, however – simple events have become mind-boggling, gravity-defying feats, and some of the off-world contestants have unusual customs, including one young man who refuses to speak to Buck and then appears to experience severe pain. A young woman competing in the astrosledding event gives Buck a taste of high-speed orbital racing, but also uses the isolation of her sled pod to plead for Buck’s help in freeing her and her boyfriend, the young man who demanded that Buck leave him alone, from the stranglehold their manager has on them. She officially requests asylum, and Buck gets approval from Dr. Huer before proceeding. But in doing so, he’s put himself in the crosshairs of a manager who intends to keep his athletes – or kill them before they can defect.

written by Craig Buck
directed by Larry Stewart
music by J.J. Johnson

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Nicolas Coster (Allerick), Judith Chapman (Lara Teasian), Barney McFadden (Jorex Leet), Paul Mantee (Karl), Elgin Baylor (Athlete), Anthony Davis (Athlete), Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson (Athlete), Carlos Palomino (Athlete), Jerry Quarry (Quarod), Bob Seagren (Rand Sorgon), Paul Coufos (Zogan), John Zee (Satrap)

Notes: This episode’s guest stars have years of professional football, basketball and boxing experience, including real-life Olympian Thomas Henderson, who was on the U.S. basketball team in the 1972 Olympics. Former boxing champ Carlos Palomino had a later brush with science fiction as well – he helped to train actor Robert Beltran for the Star Trek: Voyager episode The Fight, which involved Chakotay boxing with an alien.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

While shopping with Twiki for the components of an authentic 20th century hot tub, Buck thinks he spots a familiar face. He tries to follow her, but loses track of her and then sees her again at a spaceport the next day. Buck’s friends grow concerned about his insistence on looking for the woman who resembles his 20th century girlfriend Jennifer, but they help him track her down to the city that Buck once knew as New Orleans. When Buck does finally have a change to talk to her, she warns Buck that someone is trying to harm him – moments before two masked attackers pull a gun on both of them. Buck learns that the woman he has been following was the bait in a trap laid especially for him by a group of aliens who want him to destroy a shipment of Earth weapons to an allied world – a world these aliens are at war with. They threaten the woman’s life if Buck doesn’t cooperate, so he reluctantly goes along with the plan – but what he doesn’t expect to find is that Dr. Huer has sent Wilma along with the arms shipment to ensure its safe arrival.

written by Michael Bryant
directed by David G. Phinney
music by John Cacavas

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Paul Koslo (Commander Reeve), Gino Conforti (Sylvie), Mary Woronov (Nola), Anne Lockhart (Jennifer), Jessie Lawrence Ferguson (Lt. Hekoff), Cameron Young (Toby Kaplin), Shawn Michaels (Supervisor), Dennis Haysbert (Guard), Marsha Merchant (Clerk), Mitchell Young-Evans (Mime)

Notes: Anne Lockhart is the daughter of June Lockhart, who played the matriarch of the Robinson clan on Lost In Space. If you listen closely after Buck is turned away from the spaceport boarding gate, “Captain Christopher Pike” is paged on the P.A. system. Also, Dr. Huer reveals in this episode that he is a widower. Guest star Mary Woronov would later take over the role of Na’Toth – very briefly – in the second season of Babylon 5.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Dr. Huer lets Buck in on a troubling piece of information – the hottest band in the galaxy, Andromeda, seems to be spawning acts of violence among its young audience. An Earth Defense Directorate spy has infiltrated Andromeda’s interstellar road crew as their sound engineer, but when he’s discovered by Andromeda’s manager, he pays for it with his life. Even more disturbingly, Andromeda operates from a former military space station now known as MusicWorld, and the band’s manager, an ex-researcher named Lars Mangros, has written classified papers on a potential new method of mind control. Huer manages to get Buck a slot as a presenter for Andromeda’s next concert, a galaxy-wide broadcast which could wreak massive havoc with young people on hundreds of worlds. On MusicWorld, Buck discovers that Mangros is indeed planning to hide a mind-controlling frequency within the sound waves of Andromeda’s music, turning the galaxy’s youth into a mindless fighting force. Buck alerts the band to this plan, and they refuse to go ahead with the concert – and are promptly locked away, along with Buck. Now the only weapon Buck has is his cunning – and rock ‘n’ roll.

written by Chris Bunch & Allan Cole
directed by Guy Magar
music by Johnny Harris

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Jerry Orbach (Lars Mangros), Judy Landers (Joanna), Nancy Frangione (Karana), Leonard Lightfoot (Cirus), Jesse Goina (Rambeau), Paul LeClair (Tarkas), Richard Moll (Yarat), Jeff Harlan (Mark), Cynthia Lear (Elaine), Mitch Reta (Technician), Joseph Taggart (Security man)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The people and the rightful government of the planet Katar are under the thumb of the tyrannical Trebor, and they’re beginning to look for a way out of their predicament. Their prophecies state that a 500 year old man will rise up, defeat the Trebor, and free Katar – and they’ve heard of Buck’s origins. An incident is arranged that is sure to attract Buck’s attention, and he is invited to Katar as a way of thanking him for his help. But once he’s on the planet, the real reason for the invitation is revealed to him – the Katarians admit that he may not be the fulfillment of their prophecy, but they do want Buck to help inspire an uprising among the population. Whether or not Buck is expected to survive his new career as a hero of the people, however, is another story.

written by Robert W. Gilmer
directed by Bob Bender
music by J.J. Johnson

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), William Smith (The Trebor), Keith Andes (Darius), Elizabeth Stack (Vionne), Edward Power (Neil), Fred Sadoff (Kelan), Robert Lussier (Dr. Albert), Stephanie Blackmore (Greta), Heidi Bohay (Maya), Francisco Lagueruela (Karem), Douglas R. Bruce (Young Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Returning to New Chicago after a relaxing weekend with a ladyfriend, Buck spots a large metallic sphere in the desert and relays his findings to Dr. Huer, who immediately suspects a Draconian trap. Buck, Wilma, Huer and Twiki visit the unusual globe, and it extends an arm toward Buck, presenting him with a smaller globe. As soon as the smaller sphere is in Dr. Huer’s lab, the vehicle in the desert launches itself into deep space again. Huer decodes the globe’s contents to a precise set of coordinates which would take anyone following them into another universe, and there’s also a single word encoded into the sphere: “Pendar.” Draconian spies within the Earth Defense Directorate alert Princess Ardala to the alien visitation, and she sets her command ship on a course for Earth. Buck and Twiki follow the coordinates and pass through a turbulent vortex into another universe, where he is guided toward the planet Pendar. Dr. Huer and Wilma are invited aboard Ardala’s command ship, where they lodge a protest of her violation of Earth space, and wind up accompanying Ardala as she follows buck into Pendar’s universe. Locked in a war with another race led by a tactician known as Zarina the War Witch, Pendar needs tactical help – and they’ve decided to recruit Buck, whether he likes it or not.

teleplay by Robert W. Gilmer & William Mageean
story by David Chomsky
directed by Larry Stewart
music by J.J. Johnson

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Pamela Hensley (Princess Ardala), Kelley Miles (Shandar), Donald Petrie (Keeper), Sid Haig (Nero), Michael Ansara (Kane), Julie Newmar (Zarina), Vera Miles (Council Member), Sam Jaffe (Kodus)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Searcher is diverted from its exploration mission to ferry a Zykarian ambassador named Duvoe to a diplomatic summit on the barren planet R-4. In the neutral meeting place called Oasis, Duvoe hopes to prevent an interstellar war before the first shots can be fired. When Dr. Goodfellow craftily convinces Admiral Asimov to let him tag along to get a rare glimpse of R-4’s rumored abundance of mutant life forms, Hawk is assigned to protect him. The shuttle they depart aboard crashes in the wasteland far from Oasis, and Buck and the others escape just before the shuttle sinks into the ground. With no communications gear or power, and over Duvoe’s persistent protests, Buck’s party sets out for Oasis on foot – and Dr. Goodfellow has ample opportunity to witness the mutations of R-4 along the way. In orbit, Admiral Asimov and Zykarian Admiral Zeit grow increasingly suspicious of each other, as Earth is generally believed to be aligned with the Zykarians’ enemies. If word comes from Oasis that Ambassador Duvoe hasn’t reached the negotiations on time, war is inevitable – and Earth will find itself in the middle of the opening volley.

written by Robert & Esther Mitchell
directed by Daniel Haller
music by John Cacavas

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Mark Lenard (Ambassador Duvoe), Len Birman (Admiral Zeit), Paul Carr (Lt. Devlin), Donn Whyte (Raka), Felix Silla (Odee-X), Michael Stroka (Rolla), Alex Hyde-White (Technician)

Notes: The late Mark Lenard had already made his mark on SF TV as Spock’s father Sarek in the original Star Trek, and at the time of this episode’s production had recently donned the first lumpy-headed Klingon makeup to portray a member of that race in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Paul Carr, who begins a run as recurring character Lt. Devlin, appeared in the second Star Trek pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before as Lt. Kelso; Devlin appears to be the nominal second-in-command of the Searcher after Admiral Asimov. Also, the character of Admiral Zeit may be an outcast from another SF TV franchise: he’s wearing Colonial Warrior insignia from Battlestar Galactica, which had been cancelled by this time. Judging by Odee-X’s voice, it would appear that Felix Silla was not only filling Twiki’s suit in the early part of the second season, but providing his voice too.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Buck and Hawk are surveying the surface of a planet which they hope will prove to be suitable for colonization. A freak windstorm forces them to seek shelter in a cave, where they are amazed to find another human being, and an empty grave whose headstone reads “Janovus XXVI.” This, presumably, is the elderly man they have found – but nothing explains the fact that the man knows who Buck is, and appears to have been expecting his arrival. Janovus pronounces Buck the chosen one, and entrusts him with a glowing container which Buck is to pass along to the correct person at the correct time…though he has no idea who or when that will be. The old man then dies. That night, Buck falls asleep and then finds himself back at his family’s house in the 20th century. He continues on through a detailed dream that only ends at the point in his Ranger 3 mission when he was plunged into suspended animation – at which time Hawk awakens Buck. Back aboard Searcher, Crichton can’t penetrate the box with his sensors, and Dr. Goodfellow analyzes some scrolls that belonged to Janovus, discovering references to Guardians of space and time – presumably the ones to whom Buck must deliver the box. Other members of the crew, including Hawk and Admiral Asimov, experience intense hallucinations not unlike Buck’s memories of home – and close proximity to the alien box seems to be the only common factor. The Searcher’s new cargo may drive its deliverers mad before that can rid themselves of it.

written by Paul Schneider & Margaret Schneider
directed by Jack Arnold
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Harry Townes (Janovus), Rosemary DeCamp (Mrs. Rogers), Paul Carr (Lt. Devlin), Barbara Luna (Koori), Felix Silla (Twiki), Shawn Stevens (Boy), Dennis Haysbert (Helmsman), Vic Perrin (The Guardian), Howard Culver (Mailman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Aliens with the ability to change their appearance to look human infiltrate one of Earth’s most critical strategic defense stations, killing the station’s command crew and taking over. On the Searcher, Buck is bedridden at an inopportune time – an Earth ambassador is about to board the ship before she heads out on a diplomatic assignment. Buck hobbles out of the Searcher’s sick bay to watch the welcoming ceremony, but he see someone other than Ambassador Cabot and his entourage; he later tells Wilma that he saw reptilian creatures instead. Everyone else, however, sees the Ambassador’s party as normal human beings. When Buck suspects that the Searcher’s mission is being compromised, possibly leading to the lizards’ infiltration of all of Earth space, he takes matters into his own hands even though he get his friends to believe his story.

written by Francis Moss
directed by Barry Crane
music by Herbert D. Woods

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Linden Chiles (Ambassador Cabot), Vernon Weddle (Dr. Moray), Kim Hamilton (Lt. Paulton), Paul Carr (Lt. Devlin), Frank Parker (Captain), Barry Cahill (Major Elif), Stacy Keach Sr. (General Kenton), Allan Hunt (Willie)

Notes: Apparently the Earth Defense Directorate has either given way to, or is a part of, a body called the Earth Alliance. The show’s plummeting budget was beginning to show clearly, with a barely-altered electronic zodiac game commonly available in 1980, and a Commodore PET computer, serving as very visible props. Guest star Kim Hamilton, a ubiquitous face of 70s TV, also appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Final Mission.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Searcher encounters a lone life pod in the unlikeliest of places – tumbling helplessly through an asteroid field. The ship’s tractor beam catches the pod before it can collide with something, but the life expectancy of the golden-skinned child within the pod doesn’t grow appreciably when the Searcher itself collides with an asteroid. The ship survives remarkably intact, but it can’t escape the asteroid. The boy insists that he has a companion, trapped on a nearby planet, whose telekinetic powers could easily free the Searcher from its predicament, so Buck and the boy go to search for him. When they track him down, however, they find that he has been enslaved in a village whose superstitious leaders are forcing him to use his abilities to turn ordinary objects into crystal or precious metals. The villagers spot the similar boy with Buck and capture them as well, forcing Hawk to mount a one-man rescue mission.

written by Calvin Clement Sr. & Stephen McPherson
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), David Hollander (Vellus), Russell Wiggins (Relkos), Anthony James (Graff), Diana Chesney (Hag), Richard Wright (Onlooker #1), Arthur Eisner (Onlooker #2), Roger Rose (Marcos), Michael Marsters (Jailer), Bob Elyea (Alphie), Bruce M. Fischer (Loran)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Buck, Wilma and Hawk journey to the volcanic planet of Phibocetes to look for crystals needed to recharge the Searcher’s engines. Dr. Goodfellow believes the crystals can be found here, and Hawk finds one near a mummified humanoid coated with volcanic ash. Buck stays on the planet to begin preparations to mine the crystals as Wilma and Hawk return to the Searcher with the crystal sample, and Buck discovers a human female who seems to have no memory. By the time Wilma and Hawk return with a mining team from the Searcher, Buck has named the girl Laura but hasn’t been able to get her to remember anything else about herself. The Searcher crew members are repeatedly attacked by a large creature which steals the crystals they’ve mined, and sensors show that the being has the same body chemistry as Laura. Crichton discovers evidence that Laura and the creature are of the same race, but one which devolves from a human form into something more like the creature. Both of them share a strange, obsessive attachment to any of the crystals that are unearthed. Crichton also suggests that this could be the result of a virus that may be endangering the entire crew.

written by Robert Mitchell & Esther Mitchell
directed by John Patterson
music by Donald Woods

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Amanda Wyss (Laura), Sandy-Alexander Champion (Chief Petty Officer Hall), Alex Hyde-White (Lt. Martin), James Parkes (Kovick), Gary Bolen (Johnson), Leigh C. Kim (Petrie), Hubie Kerns Jr. (Mummy Monster)

Notes: This episode sees – or perhaps hears – the return of Mel Blanc as the voice of Twiki. Guest star Alex Hyde-White, seen here in a very small role, is the son of Wilfred Hyde-White and later appeared as Nightwatch recruiter Pierce Macabee in the Babylon 5 episode In The Shadow Of Z’Ha’Dum, as well as in the role of Reed Richards in an unreleased, Roger Corman-produced 1994 film version of Fantastic Four. Although the junior Hyde-White plays Lt. Martin here, he plays the role of Ensign Moore only two episodes later.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Searcher investigates a derelict spacecraft in the interstellar shipping lanes. When Buck, Hawk and Crichton board the ship, they find seven little problems and one big one. The ship is populated by six little men claiming to be generals, and one who serves as a lowly private – and the ship’s hold is full of rapidly deteriorating solar bombs, enough to wipe out everything within 20 million miles. The Searcher locks onto the derelict with its tractor beam, and the seven unlikely passengers are welcomed aboard where they promptly wreak havoc, playing with the controls and nearly ramming the Searcher into the bomb-laden derelict. Crichton is also damaged, his positronic brain seriously damaged, and even Dr. Goodfellow can’t repair him. Worse yet, the generals have telekinetic powers, which they use to do everything from escaping their locked quarters to removing Wilma’s clothes for “scientific examination.” Their antics put the ship in further danger by locking it on a collision course for the star used to dispose of the solar bombs.

written by William Keys
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Tommy Madden (General Xenos), Alex Hyde-White (Ensign Moore), John Edward Allen (General Zoman), Tony Cox (Private Zedht), Billy Curtis (General Voomak), Harry Monty (General Sothoz), Spencer Russell (General Towtuk), Charles Secor (General Kuzan)

LogBook entry by Earl Green