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On a survey mission on a supposedly uninhabited planet, Buck Rogers
(Gil Gerard) and Hawk (Thom Christopher) are caught in a storm and seek
shelter in a cave - where they find a dying man, the Guardian (Harry
Townes), who instantly recognizes Buck, knows about him coming from
another time, and tasks him to deliver a certain box to the next guardian
- without of course giving him the next guardian's identity or whereabouts
before dying. Still, Buck accepts the challenge - and when he touches the
box in his sleep, he has a vision of him being back in 1987 and with his
mother (Rosemary DeCamp), only days before he was shot into space and got
frozen for 500 years. Later on ship, everybody gets mighty curious about
the box and several people try to open it, like Admiral Asimov (Jay
Garner), who then has a vision of a famish on board, Hawk, who sees his
dead lover (BarBara Luna) and even Wilma Deering (Erin Gray), who
witnesses a blind version of herself. Then the ship is taken off course,
provisions run low, Wilma's indeed blinded, and ultimately everything
appears to be the will of the box which is better to be heeded.
Eventually, the ship reaches the fringes of the universe and stumbles upon
an earth-like planet, and Buck, Hawk and Wilma go down - to find a lame
young shepherd (Shawn Stevens), who claims he can't help them at all, but
then there's an earthquake, he falls into a fault in the ground, and when
Buck tries to save him, the boy rather gives his life than letting Buck
risk his to save him. And suddenly he's the new Guardian, Wilma's no
longer blind, the provisions are replenished, and the ship's back on
course, because ... ... yes indeed, because of what? What were
all those weird visions, why did Wilma go blind, why did the ship run out
of provisions (something that's only mentioned, never acted upon), and why
was it so important that Buck delivers the Guardian's box? In all, this
episode feels very much like a classic
Star Trek story, what with the survey mission, all the
human-like aliens speaking perfect English, the ship taken over by a
mysterious force and whatnot - with the one difference being that the
story doesn't make all that much sense and leaves too many questions open. One
point of interest about this one is it's one of the last directorial
appointments by science fiction legend Jack Arnold, but he, always more of
a craftsman than visionary, fails to leave any personal stamp on this one. ...
and all of which is making this a definitely less than perfect episode,
more an intersting curio.
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