Episode complete credited cast: | |||
Gil Gerard | ... | Capt. William 'Buck' Rogers | |
Erin Gray | ... | Colonel Wilma Deering | |
Tim O'Connor | ... | Dr. Elias Huer | |
Christopher Stone | ... | Space Station Commander Royko | |
Nicholas Hormann | ... | Vorvon | |
Lincoln Kilpatrick | ... | Dr. Ecbar | |
Patty Maloney | ... | Twiki | |
Mel Blanc | ... | Twiki (voice) | |
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David Moses | ... | Technician |
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Phil Hoover | ... | Helson |
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Jeannie Fitzsimmons | ... | Freighter Captain |
Buck Rogers and Wilma Deering arrive at Theta Station to have Twiki serviced, but soon a freighter crashes with the space station. The freighter crew are found in a state between life and death, and believing a virus may be responsible, Commander Royko orders the base under quarantine. Soon however, Wilma feels a cold, evil presence stalking her and several station crew begun turning up half-dead. Buck learns that the source of said deaths is the Vorvon, a space vampire that can drain the life energy from his victims and turn them into zombies. However, only Buck is convinced that the Vorvon exists and plans on making Wilma his next victim. Written by Woodyanders
With its silly titular monster, this episode of Buck Rogers is almost impossible not to enjoy.
Buck (Gil Gerard) and Wilma (Erin Gray, in a sexy two-piece outfit) are on their way to the planet Genesia for a vacation, but stop at Theta Station on the way, to drop off Twiki, who needs repairs. While they are there, a craft appears from a nearby star gate and crashes into the space station.
After searching the vessel and discovering that the entire crew were already dead before the crash, Space Station Commander Royko places Theta under quarantine, believing a virus, EL-7 (which causes fever and hallucinations before death), to be responsible for their demise.
But the real cause of death is a Vorvon: a space vampire that drains the soul from the living. And he's got the hots for Wilma ('I want you', he tells her. 'Oh yeah...well get to the back of the queue, Vorvon... I saw her first!', says I).
Sporting a massive forehead, giant pointy ears, long nails, glowing red eyes, purple lips and huge fangs (even though he doesn't need them), the Vorvon is one of the series' most memorable creations. His victims become soul-less zombies that do his bidding, and even Wilma eventually falls under his power (becoming a slutty space vampire babe).
Fortunately, Buck saves the day when he realises that a huge blast of energy will destroy the creature, and programs the station's escape craft (which the Vorvon will inevitably take, of course) to fly into a sun!
Apart from the freaky monster (and Wilma, of course), my favourite part of this episode is when Buck and Twiki watch a video recording in which a victim is killed by the (invisible to the camera) Vorvon; the guy throws himself energetically around the room, putting in a bravura performance, before finally falling to the floor dead. Hilarious!