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Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - The Guardians
episode 2.5
USA 1981
produced by David J. O'Connell, John G. Stephens, John Mantley (executive) for Glen A. Larson Productions, Universal/NBC
directed by Jack Arnold
starring Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Thom Christopher, Jay Garner, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Harry Townes, Rosemary DeCamp, Paul Carr, BarBara Luna, Felix Silla, Bob Elyea (voice), Shawn Stevens, Dennis Haysbert, Vic Perrin, Howard Culver, Jeff David (voice)
written by Paul Schneider, Margaret Schneider, based on characters by Philip Francis Nowlan, Robert C. Dille, visual effects supervisor: Peter Anderson, David Jones
TV-series Buck Rogers, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
review by Mike Haberfelner
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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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