Airdate: 9/27/79
Flying back from
the stargate, Buck and Wilma Deering encounter brusque Major Duke Danton (David
Groh), who immediately resents Buck’s hotshot attitude. The two become even
more antagonistic when Wilma assigns Buck to train Danton’s cadets, 20th
century style, but all that becomes secondary when an epidemic of a nerve
disorder spreads among he Directorate’s fighter pilots. The culprit appears to
be poisoned food discs, but the search for an antidote is stymied when the head
researcher’s computer is destroyed by a fleeting saboteur, believed to be one
of the female research assistants. Buck and Wilma journey to the planet
Vistula, source of the toxic soy protein, but there they discover that the
governor (Roddy McDowall) is purchasing slave labor from a messianic leader
named Kaleel (Jack Palance), who is brainwashing the masses and destroying the
insurgents with his special powers that feed on fear. One of the slaves, Ryma,
helps Buck and the others uncover Kaleel’s plot, which also includes using a
massive starship fleet to destroy Earth’s immobilized forces. It becomes a race
to the finish summon up the Directorate’s few remaining fighters and send them
to attack Vistula’s, as well as find Kaleel and help the revolutionaries and
his oppressive reign. Buck goes face to face against his evil nemesis, but Mr.
“Believe It or Not” is no match for the fearless time traveler.
Follow-up to the
two-hour pilot is yet another two-hour episode, the start of the series proper.
Many veteran-actor supporting roles are clearly outshined by the campy presence
of Jack Palance – his mind-controlling scenes are just too brilliant to resist;
I mean, this is overacting at its finest. In keeping with the show’s (so far)
tone of cheese and beefcake quasi-exploitation, we get some pretty saucy scenes
of skimpy and skin-tight outfits, but the highlight is the “prison” where Buck,
Wilma and Ryma are incarcerated. So steamy it essentially becomes a sauna, it
provides the perfect excuse for sweaty skin baring and Wilma’s hair to lose its
hairspray and hang limply to her neck. But hey, I’m not complaining – I’ll even
excuse Buck’s ill-advised but somehow successful plan of standing on a bomb in
the hopes that it will project him upwards so he can crawl out through an
escape hatch.
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| TV Guide Promo 9/27/79 |
The Star Wars rip-off trend also continues,
and in this episode we get pretty obvious Jawa copycats when Buck and Danton
are in the desert (can you say Tatooine?). And the final squadron attack on
Vistula is pretty derivative of Wars’ X-Wing
attack on the Death Star; we even get Twikki suiting up to fight (a la R2D2’s
tagging along with Luke). But the show is also developing some of its own,
unique elements. Buck’s potential romance with Colonel Deering is appealing,
particularly given their charming chemistry. And in this episode we get a
bromance between Buck and Major Danton, played by none other than David Groh.
That’s right: Rhoda’s ex-husband is a future space pilot. The funny thing is,
his character here is not too far removed from that on Rhoda: rough exterior, but a real softie underneath. Not sure if
his role continues in this series, but it would be a nice asset if it did.
BTW: If the slaves of Vistula are men and women, why is the episode called "Planet of the Slave Girls"? Sounds like they were going for a more exploitative title, a la Roger Corman.
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