Airdate:
12/27/79
On the cruise ship Lyran, Buck
(and Twikki) join Wilma when she goes undercover (donning a hideous Marcia
Wallace wig) to track down some big-time criminals, but the real crime occurs
when a vacationing beauty queen, Miss Cosmos, is almost kidnapped. Assigned her
protection, Buck can’t stop another kidnapping attempt, this one successful, by
a wild, energy-beam shooting woman named Sabrina. What to do? The key may lie
in the periodic blackouts of a shy, disturbed girl named Alison, whose
“boyfriend” seems to offer no comfort for her whatsoever. Buck’s dogged
detective work uncovers the dark secret that Sabrina is a mutant who can
transform herself into Alison – thereby having a rock-solid alias that nobody,
except Buck, can uncover.
Beauties aplenty in this Love Boat-inspired caper that actually
uses its women for more than sexy scenery. All the major roles here (aside from
the regulars) are strong, complex female characters and, as such, the show is
more character-driven than previous entries of late. I was actually quite
invested in the Jekyll-Hyde story that gives some serious acting opportunities
to film actress Kimberly Beck (as Alison) – ones that she fulfills handily. Add
to that some perfectly groovy disco dance sequences, the usual assortment of
funky get-ups, and a charming romance for even Twiiki, and you get, for my
money, the best Rogers episode thus
far.
PS: This one is also probably
noteworthy for featuring the beautiful but eerily ill-fated Playboy Playmate
Dorothy Stratten. If you’ve never seen her before, be prepared. Let’s put it
this way – she’s perfectly cast as the woman with the most perfect DNA in the
galaxy.
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