Original subtitles

A space-age vampire stalks a lonely space station,

and Buck must race to prevent Wilma from joining the ranks of the undead.

You stand between me and something I want.

You were attacked by corpses. Something or someone is draining their souls.

The year is 1987, and NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes.

In a freak mishap, Ranger 3 and its pilot, Captain William Buck Rogers,

are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life

support systems and returns Buck Rogers to Earth 500 years later.

¶¶

Leaving Stargate, destination on screen, punching in coordinates,

engaging autopilot. And that's it.

That's it. I tell you, Wilma, you ought to get one of these for yourself.

Well, it's one thing to get one. It's another to have time to enjoy it.

What about the controls in the shuttle compartment?

They're exactly identical to these.

I see you're learning to fly two ships for the price of one.

Yeah.

Coming up on Theta Station.

Prepare for docking.

Oh, thank goodness.

I heard that.

Twiggy, are you still upset because you're not going to visit Genesia with us?

Ooh, me?

After all, Twiggy, you know, the last time you and Hieronymus Fox got together,

you almost punched out your capacitors.

Kid can't take a joke.

Besides, you really need to get that faulty microdisk of yours repaired,

and Theta Station is the best compu-factoring facility in the Quadrant.

Yeah.

After all, you don't want to go blowing a tube next

time you're out boogying with your girlfriend Tina, do you?

Give me a break, will you?

It's quite easy. Uh-oh.

Whoops!

So, I finally get to meet the Buck Rogers. Wilma's told me so much about you,

I feel like I've known you for centuries.

Yes, well, she's warned me about you as well.

Oh.

How are you, Commander Royko?

I'm good.

It's nice to see you again, Wilma.

Oh, uh, this is our ambuquad, Tweaky. You'll be working on him while we're gone.

Gimme five, my man.

Yes, of course.

Be cool, Big Daddy.

He's not exactly your average ambuquad, is he?

And no, he isn't.

How long did Dr. Ewer say he'd be with us?

Five days. That should be more than enough time to repair that faulty disc.

Actually, I think I could get it done right now.

Then you wouldn't have to leave him here at all.

No, no, no. We wouldn't want to rush it.

Besides, who knows? We may get tired of Genesia. You know,

all that luxury and entertainment.

We might just come back for him early.

You know what that chance means, bub?

Repeat, station to craft. Do you read? How long have you been tracking?

Since I left the Stargate, sir.

The computer can't identify it, and I can't seem to raise it on subspace.

You better keep trying, because if it doesn't change course, it's gonna hit us.

Theta station two approaching craft. Do you read?

Station to craft. Come in, please.

We're on a collision course with Theta Station.

Modify your course and acknowledge. Approaching craft.

It's no use. It's gonna hit.

Divert as much power as possible to the media deflectors

in sectors G, H, and I. Secure the sectors.

Alert! Alert! Collision imminent. Evacuate sectors GHI.

Collision imminent. Alert! Alert! Collision imminent.

Stand by for impact.

Oh, Code Red units move to Sector H with emergency equipment.

It's embedded itself right into the station.

Fortunately, our exterior hull has a self-repairing core,

so we're in no danger of losing our atmosphere to space.

However...

Internal atmospheric integrity has been lost.

Which means the air from that ship, wherever it came

from, whatever it's carrying, is mixing with ours.

The damage has been done. All we can do is assess it. Do you need any help,

Commander? All I can get.

You've got it.

Doc, what about casualties? None. This sector was cleared just in time.

Our track bar.

Colonel Wilmer Dearing, Captain Buck Rogers. Hello, Doc.

Do your scanners show any life forms aboard? I can't be sure of my readings.

Could be some form of magnetic field interfering.

Well, it sounds like the best thing we can do is go down and take a look.

Commander, if you're afraid of contamination, we've already been exposed.

We have nothing to lose by going inside.

You're right, of course.

Twinkie, you wait here till we get back, all right?

You don't have to tell me twice.

Class G cargo freighter. About 20, 30 years old from the look of it.

Looks like it must be the crew's quarters.

The bridge must be above us and to the right.

Hold it.

Servo drum.

We'll pick it up later.

Let's go.

Technically, the hull seems to be secure.

Here we go.

Doc, number one.

Here's number two.

Doc, you better take a look at this.

Well, we found number three.

I think it's more like number nine.

I found a whole sickbay full of bodies back there.

You think some kind of disease is responsible for this?

I'm going to have to declare a quarantine.

Until we find out exactly what it is we're dealing with here,

no one leaves or enters the station. I'm sorry, Buck. We'll look.

We understand.

Well, it looks like she was the last to go.

Maybe this will tell us what happened here.

This is the log of the IS Demeter bound for Tazewell, with eight crew,

one passenger, returning from Den of Five, having delivered a shipment of Barbarite.

Log update, 52 hours from Stargate Nine.

The passenger, Helson, has been found dead in his quarters.

Cause of death unknown.

His servo drone, some sort of personal data storage unit, was found beside him.

Deactivated.

Update. 37 hours from Stargate 9.

Now three crew members are dead. Cause unknown.

The rest of the crew is tense, irritable.

We're experiencing some power shortages in some areas of the ship. No explanation.

24 hours from Stargate, two more dead after exhibiting

bizarre behavior and suffering hallucinations.

The Pyramid thinks the deaths are due to EL7,

although I'm certain we decontaminated properly when we left Den of Five.

Seventeen hours from Stargate.

The Pyramid's dead.

There are only two of us left, and we've got to stick together.

I've set the autopilot for Stargate 9. It's the only thing we can do.

Pearson is dead.

And now it's after me.

And it's coming.

Stay away!

Please.

Who are you?

Please, no!

Virus was rampant in the system until they discovered a vaccine.

It's highly contagious and works fast.

Fever, mental deterioration, hallucinations, convulsions, death.

She wasn't hallucinating.

She was terrified.

What do you say, Doc?

Do you think it is EL7?

I'm sorry.

I can't tell without running more tests.

But we best assume the worst.

I have serum here to counteract the virus.

But I need more.

It's not already too late.

Start inoculating with what you got, Doc.

I'm going to contact Earth for more serum.

Mom, are you OK? Uh-huh.

Fine.

Why don't you go down to the lounge and get something to eat?

I'll join you there later, all right?

Sure.

Twiggy, go pick up that servo drone and take it back to my cabin.

See if you can get it working again.

Maybe you can tell us something about what went on on the Demeter.

I better start the inoculations. Doc, wait.

You aren't telling us everything, are you?

It sounds... What, crazy?

Look, Doc, you're not hallucinating. The no-virus

works that fast and you know it. Now tell me.

The people on this ship are not dead.

They're not alive, of course, but they're not dead either.

It's as if their spirit, the energy force, if you will, is drained from them.

These discolorations.

They're on all the bodies.

You trying to tell me these people are victims of some kind of vampire?

Vampire?

I don't understand. I'm not sure I do either, Doc.

It doesn't like me.

That's all there is to it.

If it's possible for a botanical organism to feel, then this plant knows hate.

Come now, Doctor.

Surely you're overstating the matter.

No, I don't think so.

I fed it.

I watered it.

I've done everything that Buck told me to do when he gave it to me.

I've even begun to talk to it.

And this is how it shows me its gratitude.

Subspace message coming in from Theta Station, Dr. Hewer.

That must be Buck and Colonel Daring.

Maybe you better hide the plant. Oh, good heavens!

Well, hello, Buck. Colonel Leary.

Are you enjoying your trip?

Not quite, Doc.

We stopped over on Theta Station to drop Tweaky off for repairs,

and now the whole place has been quarantined for something called EL-7. EL-7?

Is the station's medical complex working on a vaccine?

Well, there's some on the way. It should be here within

24 hours. Now, look, Doc, would you do me a favor?

The quarantine was caused by a freighter, the IS Demeter,

colliding with the space station. There's something not quite kosher about it.

For one thing, there's a small drone in the freighter

that was shut down for some reason other than EL7.

Yeah, Twiggy's trying to repair it now.

Listen, Doc, the drone belonged to a passenger named Helson,

William Helson of New London.

Could you run an ID scan on him and get me the data

back as soon as possible? No problem at all, Buck.

You can contact us through Commander Royko's office.

Rogers out.

Well, if you have no objections, Doctor,

I'll take you down to the databanks where you can locate that information for them.

No objections at all, Dr. Hewer.

Oh, if I might make a suggestion,

perhaps you'd consider having an agrodrone come and

look at your rather depressed piece of flora?

Dr. Theopolis, I'm surprised at you.

Buck left that plant in my care.

Bringing in an aggro drone would be a blatant admission

that I can't cope with Buck's 20th century naturalism. Yes, sir.

When would you like the drone to look at it?

How do you like your food discs?

Fried or sautéed?

Not very hungry.

Well, I can't say that I blame you.

Sautéed food discs are not exactly my cup of tea either.

You know, that's the fourth joke you haven't even smiled at.

You're doing terrible things to my self-confidence.

I'm sorry.

I don't understand why I feel this way.

Ever since we entered that freighter, for the first time in my life,

I could feel death as a tangible presence.

I wasn't gonna...

I didn't say anything about this until we had more evidence, but Dr.

Ekbar feels that those bodies on board that ship are not really dead.

He thinks they're in some kind of cellular suspension.

I think of beings.

Not a disease, it's responsible.

Maybe that's what you're picking up on somehow.

Or maybe just the effects of EL7.

No, no, no, don't even start thinking like that. I'll get you another drink.

Here we go.

What?

This is Dr. Akbar.

Please page Commander Royko and have him join me at sickbay.

Dr. Eckhart just paged me. I'm on my way to sickbay. You care to join me?

Oh my God.

Is he dead?

The disease must have reached its critical stage right after he called for me.

How can you be so sure it wasn't the disease? He may have been attacked.

You wake up, Rogers.

Look at his body.

He died of cellular disruption, like the others.

Well, how do you explain those discolorations on his neck?

I can't explain them. Neither could he. He told me about your theory.

Vampires?

Well, your passenger, Heltson, was a bounty hunter from Cygnus V,

specializing in alien fugitives.

A guy like that can make a lot of professional enemies.

Yes, well, here's the curious part, however.

Heltson only became a bounty hunter in the last five years.

Before that, he was an agro-station farmer.

Until his wife and family died under rather mysterious circumstances.

How mysterious?

Well, they died in a shuttle accident. Their bodies were never recovered.

Elson was the only survivor, so he was tried and acquitted for their murder.

But afterwards, he vowed vengeance on what he

said killed them, something called Vorvon.

Vorvon?

What kind of language is that from?

Dr. Theopolis is continuing his computer search right now.

Great, thanks, Doc.

Try to get back to us as soon as possible, okay?

Roger, sir.

I can't get over it, Dr. Hewer.

The agrodrones told me there was no hope for that plant.

But you've managed to nurse it back to full health.

I didn't know you had it in you.

Yes, well, thank you.

You, uh, purchased a new one, didn't you?

Yes, I did.

Well, one philodendron looks rather like any other philodendron.

At least I certainly hope so.

Let's hope Buck thinks so.

So maybe the key...

I'm gonna go back to the cabin and see how Twiggy's

coming along with the repairs on that drone.

I think it may be able to tell us what really

happened to the crew on board the Demeter.

You okay?

I was thinking, Buck, have I been acting rationally?

Of course you have.

You don't have EL7.

There has to be another explanation.

A psychotic killer?

I think I prefer EL7.

So well I know.

I do think so. I'm not even sure I recognize myself.

Boom.

Right, Twiggy.

Really bright.

I'm sorry, Buck.

Apology accepted.

Did you get this thing fixed? Yep, I got the little twerp fixed. How's it work?

Top button on the left.

All right, now we're getting someplace.

We are? Well, yeah, this has to be the last thing the drone recorded for Helson.

So, after all these years we meet, face to face, Borbon.

Who's he talking to? Quiet, Twiggy, quiet.

You killed my family.

He's hallucinating.

Michael was right. It was the L7.

But this attack!

That was an hallucination.

If you die, I'm done!

He sure wasn't killed by the flu.

He certainly wasn't.

He was murdered.

By something invisible to electronic surveillance.

He's using something to ward it off.

I'm gonna go back on board that ship and find it. I'll be right back. I hope so.

You stand between me and something I want very much.

Don't worry.

This won't be very painful.

You're all right. Hey, don't try to sit up.

Like I just went the distance with Muhammad Ali.

Ekbar and the people from that ship, they're the ones who attacked me.

You were attacked by corpses?

None of them were really dead.

Ekbar was right.

Something or someone is draining their souls, making them into puppets.

A commander.

I must be bruised over every square inch of my body.

Are you gonna try to tell me that I hallucinated a fight with these people?

Convulsions and blackouts are pretty common with EL-7.

Tweaky, I'll get in to bring that servo drum. We'll play us a recording for you.

Uh-oh. Oh, no.

He got dead. I only left it for a minute.

Amanda, you can believe what you want. I don't really care.

All I want right now is an aspirin.

I've got a headache that goes all the way down to my toes.

He's asking for a painkiller.

I'll get it.

Look, Buck, I'm responsible for this station.

I've got 100 people under me.

It's my job to know what's going on around here.

EL7 is the only thing that makes any sense.

Yeah, well, I'm gonna contact Earth again.

Maybe Dr. Hewer can come up with something else that makes sense.

You do that.

Meanwhile, I've got some unpleasant work to do.

Just before we found you, I was told that they discovered three bodies in Sector G.

What's that?

Well, if my hunch is right, the 25th century equivalent of a cross.

I'm going to go back to my cabin and use the vid film.

I'll go with you.

That's all right, Mama. I'll be fine.

I'll meet you later in the lounge, all right?

Okay.

According to Dr. Theophilus' computer scan,

the word Vorvon originated on a planet in the Romain star system,

and it refers to... Go ahead and spit it out, Doc.

I asked for it, remember?

Well, it refers to a half-dead creature who drains the living soul from its victims.

A space-age vampire.

Don't I wish.

Did you come up with anything in your research to explain what this is?

Yes.

It's an ancient power lock.

Legend has it that it's the only thing that will ward off a Vorvon.

Except it doesn't just seem to be a legend, does it?

No, it doesn't.

I've seen it, Doc.

That's him.

It's said that it only appears in this form to its intended victims.

Buck, I'm going to dispatch a fighter squadron to Theta Station immediately.

Now, Doc, by the time they'd get here, it'd be too late.

Well, I can hardly sit here while you and Colonel Deering... Doctor,

just isn't time.

Now, according to legend...

Is there any way to destroy one of these creatures?

The power lock can hurt it momentarily,

but the only thing that can destroy it is a tremendous overload of power.

Just like Dracula couldn't stand the light of day.

Creating an explosion that large on a space

station is, of course, out of the question.

Doc, I've got an idea. Well, I was rather hoping you'd say that.

Roger's out.

I've had better conversations with the Roto-Rooter, you know.

All right.

In order to leave, Mr. Boravond,

you have to take the first ship and launch position.

This one.

When you do, you gotta be in for a little surprise.

They don't call them Stargates for nothing.

Now what?

What's with you?

Twinkie, don't you see him?

I want you.

See who?

You're the only one I want.

Twinkie, can't you hear him?

I'll kill them all to get you.

No. Leave him alone.

Leave me alone. Wilma.

Buck? Buck?

Now you're all mine.

Wilma, what?

Drop it, Buck.

Commander, I said drop it.

Look, Commander, stay where you are. Commander, the creature, the Vorvon.

It was after me.

Buck scared it off.

I'm sorry, Buck.

I know it's not your fault. It's the virus. But you're becoming dangerous.

I can't have you running around loose on this station.

Commander, if you lock me up, it'll kill all of us.

Please, Commander, you don't understand what you're doing.

Commander, listen to me.

Please, this is serious.

Please!

Commander, you're making a mistake.

He was telling the truth.

Something did attack me.

I'm sure you believe that.

I'm really sorry, Wilma.

But your friend has become a danger to us all, and so have you. Now,

I'm not gonna lock you up with him, but I will have to confine you to quarters.

Sure.

Maybe I am dreaming all this.

I don't know.

Maybe it is up to me to end this nightmare.

Let's get some rest.

It's okay, Buck. It's only a sedative.

It'll make you feel better.

No, Commander, before you use that thing, just do me one favor.

Just one.

Please, talk to Dr. Hewer.

Just talk to him.

That's right.

There's no need to run.

You'll let them go.

Buck, Royko, you won't hurt them?

Once I have you, I'll need no one else for a long, long time.

There is an alien on board, a Vorvon.

Pull him up. How'd you get past the guards?

Oh, I drained them. I stole the resins. It felt so good.

It was...

Bleed with me.

I like the taste of fear best of all.

You know, please, let me help you.

I don't want your help. I'm not being this way.

I'm going to stay this way.

Life, living worlds that can be ours for the taking.

Remember how sweet their fear can taste, how

strong it makes you feel. Ah, yes, oh yes.

What happened to her?

The Voron got to her. Come on, we gotta go

after her. Wait a minute, I may need this.

That's it, let's go.

You better alert security. We're gonna need reinforcements.

Come on. So much for reinforcements.

You know how to operate the ship?

Yes, he showed me how.

Considerate of him, wasn't it?

Too late, Dipgun.

Commander, we gotta stop him. Relax, Buck. I'll send a squadron after him.

You don't understand. I booby-trapped my ship.

If we don't stop them before they get to the Stargate, they'll both die.

Starfighter, pursuit. Fools. Destroy it.

It could be back. I said destroy it!

No.

Wilma?

Wilma, can you hear me?

Wilma, I've got to control the shuttle.

Wilma, I pre-programmed the guidance computer.

You're going to crash right into that star if you

don't hit the separate switch in front of you.

Buck, it's been a nightmare.

I feel so ashamed.

Forget it, Wilma.

It's over.

Let's go home.

Well, for a man just recently returned from

the undead, you're looking pretty good, Doc.

Thank you, I think.

When the Varvine was destroyed,

all its victims were freed from their state of cellular suspension.

I feel rather like that Lazarus person you told me about, Buck.

Yes, well, thank you for checking in, Commander.

I'll speak with you again later. You're out.

Well...

I don't know about you people, but I'm starved.

If anybody's interested, dinner's on me.

Well, thank you.

We'd love to.

Good.

You know, there is one thing I'm curious about. Yes, what is it?

Maybe you could tell me how that India rubber plant turned into a ficus benjamina.

You know, I've been raising plants for years, and I've never been able to do that.

¶¶