Season One

Episode Highlights

Awakening (2-Hour Premiere)

09/20/79

In the year 1987, NASA launched space probe Ranger III, with astronaut William "Buck" Rogers, on a 5-month trip around the solar system. However, the craft runs into a meteor storm, which disrupts its life support system and sends it into a long elliptical orbit of the Earth. In the year 2491, Ranger III again approaches the Earth, and is intercepted by the alien flagship Draconia, which is on a peace mission to Earth. Aboard the Draconia, Buck is revived by Princess Ardala and her second-in- command, Kane, whose true plan is to attack and conquer Earth. Buck is sent to Earth with a hidden homing device, which is soon discovered by Earth's Defense Directorate. After Buck convinces the humans of his true identity -- a man from the past -- he helps them to repel the Draconians' attack, with the aid of the mechanoids Dr. Theopolis and Twiki.

Planet of the Slave Girls (2-Hour Special)

09/27/79

Most of Earth's defense squadron becomes incapacitated from poisoned food discs, and Buck travels to the planet Vistula with Col. Wilma Deering, where they uncover a plot by a man named Kaleel. In addition to selling slave girls to the planet's governor, Kaleel is building a fleet to attack Earth, and Buck and Wilma must stop him.

Vegas in Space

10/04/79

Buck is sent to the gambling city Sinaloa with Directorate special agent Marla Landers to rescue a young woman who has been kidnapped by the city's ruler, Velosi. Velosi plans to extract some information from the woman's mind in order to destroy one of his competitors. The information involves plans for the Draconian Hatchet fighters, which have been plaguing Earth's defense forces.

Plot to Kill a City (Parts 1 and 2)

10/11/79 and 10/18/79

After a Defense Directorate agent kills a member of a group of interstellar assassins, they plot to take their revenge on the city of New Chicago. Buck masquerades as an assassin and joins the group, but is soon uncovered. He must now, not only escape from the assassins, but also stop them from detonating New Chicago's matter/antimatter energy plant.

Return of the Fighting 69th

10/25/79

Some time before Buck Roger's arrival, Col. Wilma Deering had set out to capture two interstellar gun runners. A fire in their spacecraft left them disfigured and they now set out to take their revenge on Wilma and Earth. Capturing a freighter with 20th Century chemical weapons, they plan to poison the planet's atmosphere. With the aid of retired members of the Earth Defense Directorate's 69th Squadron, Buck and Wilma attack the gun runners' base to destroy them and the chemical weapons. (The part of the leader of the Fighting 69th was played by Buster Crabbe -- Buck Rogers of the classic 1930's science fiction serial.)

Unchained Woman

11/01/79

Buck masquerades as a convict to break into a prison in an attempt to rescue Jen Burton, who took the blame for a murder her boyfriend, a shipping pirate, really committed. The Earth Defense Directorate believes that she can supply information to put the pirate in jail. Breaking out of the underground prison, Buck and the woman head for a nearby spaceport for return to Earth, but they are pursued by an indestructible android prison guard.

Planet of the Amazon Women

11/08/79

Kidnapped to the planet Zantia, Buck finds himself auctioned off to Ariela, the daughter of the planet's Prime Minister. Through her, Buck learns that the planet's male population are being held as prisoners of war of a people called the Ruathans. Buck agrees to help the women free their men in return for his own freedom.

Cosmic Wiz Kid

11/22/79

Hieronymous Fox, an 11-year-old child genius from the 20th Century is kidnapped for ransom by the sinister Roderick Zale. The boy is the President of the planet Genesia and his bodyguard fears that he will be killed because they cannot meet the ransom demand. Buck, Wilma, and the bodyguard then make separate attempts to rescue the boy.

Escape from Wedded Bliss

11/29/79

Princess Ardala returns to try to make Buck, who she considers the most genetically perfect male in the galaxy, her husband. With a powerful weapon poised in Earth orbit, she commands Earth's leaders to turn Buck Rogers over to her or else....

Cruise Ship to the Stars

12/27/79

Buck befriends a shy young girl while investigating the attempted kidnapping of the beauty queen Miss Cosmos by another woman with super- powers. To his surprise, Buck discovers that the true identity of the super woman he is looking for as he also tries to save Miss Cosmos from a deadly laser.

Space Vampire

01/31/80

No one believes that the Vorvon, who sneaks up on his victims and drains their living soul, is responsible for a series of deaths on Space Station Theta except Wilma -- his next intended victim.

Happy Birthday, Buck

01/10/80

It's Buck Roger's 534th birthday, and Wilma and Dr. Huer plan a surprise party to cheer up the homesick astronaut. Wilma arranges to get Buck "out of the way" by having him accompany Dr. Huer's assistant to New Detroit with the doctor's business schedule. Meanwhile, a man who is plotting revenge against Huer attempts to gain access to the schedule from the assistant so that he can ambush and kill Dr. Huer.

A Blast for Buck

01/17/80

To discover the secret behind a terrifying riddle presented to him, Buck subjects himself to a mind probe in an attempt to find out who is responsible for the mysterious objects being transported into the Defense Directorate's building.

Ardala Returns

01/24/80

Princess Ardala returns with another plan to snare the man from the 20th Century. This time, she captures Buck by luring him aboard a phoney 20th Century spaceship like his Ranger III. Once aboard the flagship Draconia, Kane creates four duplicate androids of Buck in an attempt to have them pilot the Draconian Hatchet fighters in an attack against Earth.

Twiki Is Missing

01/31/80

Twiki is kidnapped by the evil ruler of a mining colony who, faced with an uprising of the mine workers, plans to make duplicates of the mechanoid to work the mines. While in the mines attempting to rescue Twiki, Buck discovers something that will help Earth destroy a 10-ton ice asteroid that is on a collision course with Earth.

Olympiad

02/07/80

Buck is invited to be the special guest of the 2492 Olympics. Shortly after arriving on the planet where they are being held, he is drawn into a game of political intrigue as an athlete from the planet Lozira attempts to defect to Earth.

A Dream of Jennifer

02/14/80

Buck is haunted by the appearance of a young woman who bears a striking resemblance to Jennifer, a woman who Buck left behind when he was propelled into the 25th Century. He follows her and soon discovers that she was made to look like Jennifer in order to lure Buck into a trap set by an alien who wants Buck to stop a space freighter from delivering weapons to a planet his people hope to conquer.

Space Rockers

02/21/80

The evil Lars Mangros plans to broadcast a subliminal signal during the next performance of the rock group Andromeda that will cause the youth of the galaxy to riot. Buck infiltrates Musicworld, where the broadcast will originate, in an attempt to stop the madman from destroying the galaxy's cities.

Buck's Duel to the Death

03/20/80

Buck attempts to free a peaceful planet from the powerful grip of an evil warlord known as the Traybor. He leads a band of men into Traybor's fortress in the hope of freeing the women the alien has kidnapped, but Traybor has a few special powers that may end Buck's career at any moment.

Flight of the War Witch (Parts 1 and 2)

03/27/80 and 04/03/80

Buck journeys through a space warp into another universe, where he discovers that the peaceful planet Pendar is being threatened by the sinister war witch Zarina. The Pendarans enlist the aid of Buck and Princess Ardala, who had followed Buck through the space warp, and an unsteady alliance between the humans and Draconians is formed as Buck leads a combined fleet against Zarina's battlecruiser.