Twiki Is Missing 

After an uprising of miners on the asteroid Toros, the mining operator Kerk Belzak wishes to replace the human workers with robotic drones. He kidnaps Twiki so he can investigate the ... See full summary »

Director:

Sigmund Neufeld Jr.

Writers:

Glen A. Larson (developed for television by), Leslie Stevens (developed for television by)

Stars:

Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Tim O'Connor

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Gil Gerard	...	Capt. William 'Buck' Rogers
Erin Gray	...	Colonel Wilma Deering
Tim O'Connor	...	Dr. Elias Huer
Anne-Marie Martin	...	Stella Breed (as Eddie Benton)
John P. Ryan	...	Kurt Belzack
Felix Silla	...	Twiki
Mel Blanc	...	Twiki (voice)
David Darlow	...	Pinchas
Bebe Louie	...	Clare (as Janet Bebe Louie)
Eugenia Wright	...	Dawn
Ken Letner	...	Oto Anad

Storyline

After an uprising of miners on the asteroid Toros, the mining operator Kerk Belzak wishes to replace the human workers with robotic drones. He kidnaps Twiki so he can investigate the diminutive drone's unique circuitry and make cheap duplicates of Twiki to work in his mine. Buck Rogers goes after Belzak's enforcers, the Omniguard, three female paranormals with psychokinetic powers to save Twiki. Meanwhile, Wilma Deering has her hands full with a huge floating chunk of frozen oxygen that could destroy most of Earth's population once the iceberg veers off course.

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Plot Keywords:

25th century | spandex disco jeans | spandex suit | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The square gold coins Stella offers to Buck as payment for Twiki are colonial cubits from Galactica 1980 (1980).

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Goofs

Dr. Huer mispronounces replenish as "replentish".

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Quotes

Twiki: This "wild blue yonder" stuff is for the birds!

User Reviews

I won't be watching this one again in a hurry.

Despite featuring a trio of hot-pants/mini skirt-wearing psycho-kinetic babes (known as the Omni-guard), and including a hilarious scene in which Twiki escapes from a spacecraft into the vast coldness of outer space, this episode really doesn't have a lot going for it.

The dull plot sees Belzak (John P. Ryan), the nasty owner of a space-mine, attempt to acquire Buck's faithful ambuquad drone, with the intention of investigating his unique circuitry (ie. disassembling him to see what makes him tick). After Stella (Anne-Marie Martin), middle-babe of the Omni-guard, fails to convince Buck to sell his metal friend, Twiki is abducted and sent to Belzak's mine in a remote-controlled star-fighter. Naturally upset at losing his pal, Buck follows in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, Colonel Wilma Deering is having her own problems: a massive chunk of frozen oxygen, being escorted to Earth, is dangerously off course and threatens to wipe out most of the planet's population.

Twiki Is Missing is another one of those silly episodes that has two seemingly separate plot threads eventually merge, with Buck's adventure ultimately leading to him finding a rather convenient solution to Wilma's problem. A similar idea was used in the earlier Planet Of The Amazon Women, and that episode wasn't too great either! Whilst coincidence is occasionally acceptable, so many seemingly disparate elements slot perfectly together by the end of this show, that believability is stretched TOO far.

Adding to this episode's overall inability to impress is the unmemorable villain, far too much footage of Buck and Twiki running up and down corridors, and not nearly enough of sexy Wilma Deering, who, until the final scene, is only occasionally seen through the cockpit window of her star-fighter.

Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 January 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Twiki Is Missing

Company Credits

Production Co:

Glen A. Larson Productions, Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color Color (technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1