Airdate: 3/19/81
Buck and the gang come across a drifting spacecraft and
board it. It turns out to be a band of midgets in charge of a solar bomb
disposal unit for “the queen,” but their vessel is so antiquated and badly
damaged they’re essentially a floating time bomb. Buck invites the little guys
to board the Searcher and offers to tow their ship to safety; that’s when the
trouble really begins. In no time at
all they screw things up royally, including blowing out the ship’s power grid
and damaging Chrichton’s brain – they also find untold amusement in playing
Asteroids by overriding the main gunnery controls. Buck gets everything back to
normal – eventually – and with Twikki’s (and the dwarf’s) help they manage to
jump start Chrichton’s central nervous system back to his old supercilious
self. And they’re all too happy to get their diminutive guests back to their
home. Particularly Buck, who hasn’t had a wink of sleep in 50 hours.
Another genuinely strange episode, and as a bonus it’s also
extremely politically incorrect. Not only do “little people” take a beating, but so
does feminism: in the most singularly awkward and offensive scene of the
series, the dwarves, overcome by the novel sight of a woman, surround Wilma and
use their telepathic powers (don’t ask) to attempt to undress her. Well, at
least we finally know where Zapped! got
its inspiration.
Beyond that, it’s all rather silly, but at least there’s a
lot going on. Kinda cool to see Twikki sacrifice himself for the good of the
ship, and Buck’s vain attempt throughout to get some shuteye is amusing, But
those damn dwarves to get pretty frigging annoying after awhile – I’d have
thrown them off after about 10 minutes.
The ragtag assortment of dwarves also seems to be a
precursor to Time Bandits, released
later that year. In fact, it looks like 1981 was a big year for little people,
as Under the Rainbow was released
that summer.
2 comments:
Great observation on the um "little people"! I happened to be re-watching the Buck Rogers series. The second season is basically unwatchable... save for the fact that there is some pretty decent pop-culture easter eggs. 1981 being the year of the "little person"... also the episode "Journey to Oasis", Crystals and The Satyr appear to be a feeble attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Dungeons & Dragons.
Thanks for the feedback! I definitely have mixed feelings about the second season. I liked the more serious, less-cheesy tone from the first year, but I also felt it never gained momentum enough to go anywhere with that seriousness. This was partially due to factors beyond the show's control, like the writer's strike and bad scheduling. In any case, I enjoyed watching the series again on DVD.
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