Original subtitles

So far, nothing but jungle.

How about you, Wilma?

Picking up anything on InfraScan?

Negative, Buck. It just appears to be another

out-of-the-way planet that time forgot.

Uh, shouldn't Dr. Goodfellow have some information for us by now?

I'll check.

Searcher, this is Captain Rogers.

You got anything for us yet?

Over. Admiral, Captain Rogers requesting communication. Thank you, Parsons.

Put Captain Rogers on the viz screen.

Dr. Goodfellow has just completed his review of that ancient star chart.

Ah, yes, dear boy. I'll tell you something according to the chart here.

The planet you're now surveying was once inhabited

by a highly advanced race known as the Goru.

The Goru were indigenous to that planet.

That is, until they left their world in a strange mass exodus.

Ooh, must have been 10,000 years ago. Does that planet have a name? A name,

I should say, it has, Buck. It's called Vordith.

D-E-E-T-H.

Vordith? That's right. Crichton was good enough to translate it for me.

Apparently it means planet of death.

That's terrific.

You got any other cheery information for us?

Buck.

Hold on, Doctor. We've got some visual contact. Looks like some kind of ruins.

Ruins, did you say?

Oh, splendid. Positively splendid, Buck. Now, I tell you what. Go down.

For heaven's sake, go down. Take a look, won't you? Yes.

It's entirely possible that the Gor... Bach,

my photon sensors registers an energy reading.

It's got to mean that a fusion-powered ship is nearby.

Well, we've got visual contact on him, Wilma.

Searcher, we've got a wrecked ship below.

We're going down.

All right, Buck, but be cautious.

The name of that planet doesn't exactly fill me

with confidence. Don't worry, Admiral, we will.

Rogers out.

It's pretty badly banged up.

Looks like some fancy flying to set this thing down and clearing this side.

I'll say.

It's an EDS 104. Hello?

Is anybody here?

By Gideon's trumpet, a human voice.

I never thought anyone would show up.

I heard your engines, but I thought it was a flyby.

Name's Reardon.

I fly interplanetary, quadrant eight.

I've been here nearly three weeks.

We better get you aboard the searcher. We can't do anything for you down here.

Let's take him to my starfighter. I'll take him upstairs,

and that way you two can finish the survey.

Okay.

Thank you very much. It's very kind of you. I'd about given up hope.

Are you all right, Mr. Booby?

Fine, thanks.

Let's take a look at those ruins while we still got some light left, all right?

The ship, it's gone. Vanished.

Perhaps we have mistakenly come to another clearing.

No, this is the right clearing, all right. There's no doubt about that.

Everything is gone. The ship, the shelter, the campfire.

Everything.

It's finished.

Year 1987, NASA launched the last of America's deep space probes.

Aboard this compact starship, a lone astronaut, Captain William Buck Rogers,

was to experience cosmic forces beyond all comprehension.

In a freak mishap, his life support systems were

frozen by temperatures beyond imagination.

Ranger 3 was blown out of its planned trajectory

into an orbit 1,000 times more vast.

An orbit which was to return Buck Rogers to Earth 500 years later.

What could possibly have caused Reardon's shuttle to disappear? I don't know.

Maybe we'll find out further on.

Wait a minute.

Listen.

There's not a sound.

Not an animal, not a bird.

Nothing.

Not even the wind.

It is as though the planet were keeping quiet.

Better to listen to us.

It is astounding.

Ten thousand years old.

Must have been quite a place in its heyday. I wonder why they left.

Perhaps a plague.

Could be. Wait a minute, here. What's that over there?

A religious symbol.

Well, they could be. These markings remind me of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

I'm gonna holograph this for Dr. Goodfellow.

He can tell us what these hieroglyphics are saying. Buck.

What?

Over there.

Looks like it might have been a temple at one time.

I will see.

It looked.

I thought you'd disappeared.

The same thing happened to you, Buck.

It's obvious that there are forces at work here that we don't understand.

Remember, it is called the planet of death.

I think we better head back up to the searcher and have a little chat with Reardon.

He says he's been down here for three weeks.

Maybe you can give us some clues as to what to expect down here.

I am well aware that calling a ship's assembly like this is most unusual.

But then, most unusual problems demand unusual remedies.

It has come to my attention That certain members

of this crew have engaged in disloyal... No.

Let me amend that.

In treacherous activities.

Let me assure you of one thing, ladies and gentlemen.

Those of you who have engaged in these treasonous

schemes will be exposed and punished.

In the past, I've used a light hand, allowing all to have their say.

Oh, yes.

Quite often, I've simply smiled away my disagreements.

But now, with certain opinions manifesting themselves into devious actions,

I am taking a firm control on the helm.

Chief Petty Officer Cowan, front and center.

Sir.

What in the devil's going on down there?

It's been like this since I got back.

The Admiral is convinced that some of the crew

are plotting a mutiny. That's impossible, Amy.

Did you or did you not have the con at 0800 hours today? Yes, sir, I did.

And isn't it true that this ship deviated from its course by a factor

of three degrees for almost one full minute during that time?

Sir, there was a minor malfunction in the plasma gyros.

We had it corrected in no time and resumed our proper course. It was all routine.

I'll tell you what's routine, Mr...

You steered this ship from her true course in

a deliberate attempt to sabotage our mission.

Sabotage?

That's enough out of you, Cowan.

Lieutenant Parsons.

Yes, sir.

Take charge of the prisoner.

Chief Petty Officer Cowan is to remain under close

arrest in the brig until further word from me.

Yes, sir. I don't believe this is happening.

Cowan is completely trustworthy. He wouldn't sabotage the ship.

Everyone must be losing his mind.

Parsons is acting like some kind of two-bit tyrant. It's totally unlike him.

But what could be responsible for such a bizarre transformation?

I don't know. It's hard to say.

We came back to see if Reardon had anything useful he could tell us.

I still think that's the best place to start. Let's go.

Mr. Miller, I have reason to believe that you have conspired

to tamper with the fusion drive of this ship.

Now, if my suspicions are sustained, I won't wait for a formal hearing.

I'll have you summarily executed.

Guards, take him away.

Why, good afternoon, Captain Rogers. Halt.

I trust your excursion to Vordith was a pleasant one. I can't believe this.

You're actually being courteous today?

But why shouldn't I be, sir?

After all, a robot owes his human masters every measure of respect.

You mean you are acknowledging that we are

your masters? You created us, did you not?

How about you, Tweaky? What do you mean? How about me?

Are we playing guessing games?

Tweaky, are you all right?

What do you care? What do any of you care?

Since when have you humans been overly concerned about how I feel?

All I am is a mechanical servant.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been summoned to the bridge.

The Admiral probably expects me to fix him a

cup of tea or something equally important.

I don't know what they want me to do, always asking me to do something.

Have a most pleasant day.

I think they're both out of their heads.

Incredible.

Their personality's completely transformed.

Yeah, I think we better get to that sick bay as quickly as possible.

No, Captain.

I can't say I'm surprised at any of it.

And what you tell me about my ship disappearing is nothing compared

to some of the strange things I saw on that blasted planet.

What sort of things?

Well, ghosts, for one thing.

Ghosts?

That's the only thing I can think of to call them.

Unless you want to say visions.

But that seems like splitting hairs if you ask me.

Things would... Things would appear and disappear.

Even the sun seemed to come up from a different direction each morning.

I tell you, the planet is cursed.

And if you ask me, that's what's causing the strange

behavior you've been seeing here in your ship.

Are you suggesting that that planet exerts a supernatural force

that causes people to see things and to behave strangely?

Colonel, I don't know if you'd call it supernatural or not,

but a force there is that much I'll swear to.

I think we'd better go talk to Dr. Goodfellow.

Well, it seems to be working all right.

Let me know. Let's have a look here.

Dr. Goodfellow.

Oh, it's you, Buck. It's nice to see you. And Colonel Dearing.

Well, you're looking awfully busy, Doctor.

I'm conducting tests in an effort to account for some of the

extraordinary behavior that's been occurring aboard the ship.

Then you've also noticed the people acting strangely.

I have a feeling that there's something about that planet,

a magnetic field perhaps, something like that,

that interferes with the normal processes of the human brain.

Yes, well, we came up with a similar hypothesis, Doctor. Unfortunately,

I think you should know that Crichton has also been

affected. Crichton affected? That's impossible.

But it's true, Doctor.

Apparently, robots are not immune to whatever's causing the strange behavior.

Do I have to remind you, my dear boy, that Crichton is my own creation? I made him,

I constructed him. He's utterly impervious to any sort of magnetic interference.

Well, Buck wasn't questioning any of you.

Wasn't he indeed?

It may be that I know little about piloting spacecraft

or tramping about other people's planets.

This is where I commune with the elemental forces of

nature and seek to uncover the mysteries of creation.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll finish my work.

It is obvious the Doctor will be of little help to us.

Which puts us back to square one.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

We go back to Vordief and find out what it is

on that planet that's affecting this ship?

Exactly.

I'm sorry, Captain Rogers, this part of the

ship has been sealed off. Admiral's orders.

Yes, well, we're not exactly sure that the Admiral

is in complete control of his faculty,

so if you'll just... If you come any further, I'm going to have to use this, sir.

What are you doing out of the brig?

What's the meaning of this?

Drop the weapon, Hawk. Drop it, this instant.

Now, what happened here, James?

Captain Rogers refused to obey my order to halt, sir.

I told him you'd ordered this part of the ship sealed off.

Do you have an explanation, Captain,

for deliberate disobedience to one of my orders?

Admiral, somewhere down on that planet. I see. Apparently,

whatever is causing the mutinous behavior amongst the crew has affected you as well,

Captain. And both of you.

Disarm them.

Escort them to Captain Rogers' cabin.

See that they remain there until further orders.

We could have overcome the guards.

I know. I thought about that myself. I just thought we needed some time to sign.

Buck, what is it?

Your cabins and mine, they're identical, aren't they?

Yes, except for the furnishings.

I see it.

Yes.

The viewport is off-center.

The viewport's changed, but take a look outside.

Our orbit has changed.

The Omega Quadrant is no longer visible.

Then the ship has moved. I'm not sure what happened,

but it was off our port bow before we left to survey Vordith.

It's not there now.

I don't know what happened, but... But what would account for the new star reading?

I don't think we're on board the real searcher.

But that's just a little hard to believe.

And how do you account for the fact that the interior has changed?

For the fact that all the people on board this

ship are acting so totally out of character?

Is it?

What if we're on board a fake?

A very clever, but nonetheless imperfect fake?

But we piloted the shuttle here ourselves.

And Wilma flew here in her own ship.

Anything clever enough to fabricate a copy of the

searcher is certainly clever enough to throw

our instruments out of adjustment and make us

believe we're landing on the real searcher.

If the ship is a fake, what about the people on it?

They're fakes as well.

Robots, androids, I don't know what they are, but they're fakes.

Look, we can't worry about that right now.

The first thing we have to do is get out of this room. Yes.

But how do we get past the guard?

If you gentlemen will go along with it, I think I have an idea.

Help me! They're trying to take all our shit!

Stand back! You're under confinement.

Well done, Colonel.

I hated to do that.

Yeah, right.

Buck, if your hypothesis is correct, is that how

we've been tricked? Aboard a fake searcher?

If my hypothesis is correct,

there's all the more reason for us to find that hangar deck and get out of here.

That will not be easy with the Admiral or whoever he is posting guards.

Attention all personnel.

Captain Rogers, Colonel Dearing and Hawke have violated confinement.

Find them.

They are not to leave this ship.

Use whatever force is necessary.

All right, steady. Let's go. Parsons.

I want some answers, mister, and I want them now.

You won't get away. I didn't ask for your opinion.

I want to know who you are and what's going on in the ship.

It was a duplicate of some kind.

Buck!

I've never seen anything so horrible.

Nothing left but ash.

Too incredible to be true.

I'm willing to bet every creature on this ship is exactly the same way.

We've got to get to the hangar deck, to our ships.

I suggest you two stay here.

I will see if a way is clear to the hangar deck.

Okay.

Hey, hey, hey, come on, I'm gonna put on.

I'm sorry, Buck, for falling apart like that.

I guess I was just shocked seeing that thing disintegrate.

Hey, you all right?

It won't be. Just being close to you chases the fears away.

Just hold me, please.

Just hold me close.

I'm so frightened.

The engine room is clear of guards. On the real searcher,

there is an access door from there to the hangar deck.

Well, let's hope whoever or whatever duplicated

the searcher included that little detail.

Are you all right?

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

The emergency access has to the launch bay.

Trap!

They were waiting for us. It's almost as if they knew our plans.

What do you mean?

Maybe they did.

Hawk is the one who suggested we try going through the engine room.

Isn't it a little suspicious that the guards happened to be waiting for us?

You are accusing me?

That is absurd.

You said yourself that something strange happened

to Hawk while the two of you were down on Vordith.

How do you know that the real Hawk wasn't replaced by one of those...

those fakes during the time that he seemed to disappear?

You can't possibly believe what you are saying.

You are frightened.

You bet I'm frightened. You're trying to kill both of us.

Now, Wilma, whatever is in your mind...

Roma, Hawk! Over here, Buck.

Help me. I'm pinned.

The cable! High voltage! I can't move!

Help me! Never mind me. Get to Wilma. Help her out of there.

Let the cable touch her so she dies. Fuck!

Please!

Hurry!

What are you waiting for? Pull her out of there!

Please!

Please, hurry! Pull her out of there!

Hurry up before it's too late!

How can you ignore her?

I don't believe it.

Wilma, a fake like the others?

How did you know?

Wilma doesn't frighten easily.

She was too upset when she was alone with me and too convinced you were an impostor.

That it was the double of Wilma who somehow let the others know where we were going.

We're no closer to finding the hangar deck than we were before.

At least we know where not to look.

Searcher calling Captain Rogers and Hawk.

Searcher calling Captain Rogers and Hawk. Come in, please.

Still nothing, sir.

And I've tried every voice frequency we've got.

This way.

Let's try this way. Come on.

It's the reactor room.

Hangar bait. Hold on. How do you know that that sign means what it says?

I understand your caution, but we must take the risk.

Huck, think about it.

Nothing has been as it seems.

Hawk.

Oh, there's no need for that, Hawk.

We're on the same side. Yes, of course we're on the same side, Buck, dear boy.

Listen, listen to me. Did you know you were quite

right about the influence of that planet, yes?

I was able to synthesize a serum which counteracts

its effects. That was good, wasn't it?

Yes, Dr. Goodfellow and I have both been immunized, Buck.

But we need your help to round up the rest of the

crew so that they can be inoculated as well.

Nice try, Admiral.

If that door does lead to the reactor room, the radiation will kill us.

You won't find your way out through there, Rogers. That's the fusion reactor room.

You ever hear the word about the lady and the tiger? No, just as well.

The shuttle.

We got the lady, not the tiger.

Let's hope it's for real.

Mr. Reardon, what are you doing down here?

This area is off limits.

And I've been looking all over this ship for you.

I'm sorry, Colonel.

I was just getting bored up there in the sick bay.

I thought I'd take myself a little walk.

Well, this is the third time you've decided to take a little walk, Mr. Reardon.

How do you expect that leg to heal if you keep putting your weight on it?

I really didn't think I'd hurt it any.

Well, come along before Dr. Goodfellow finds out you've been playing hooky again.

Whatever you say, Colonel.

Do you think they will attempt to pursue us?

It's hard to tell, Hawk. I'm not telling you

what capabilities that fake searcher has.

But if they do, look.

Look.

A disintegrate.

Looks like the fake people who were onboarded.

Any word yet?

No, nothing.

Sir, what do you make of this?

The photon energy reading's practically off the scope.

Admiral, I realize I have not been asked,

but my sensors indicate that we have been locked into a snare beam. What?

It's true, sir. Instruments show us firmly held by a magnetic force 10.

I don't see how that's possible.

Except for Reardon, there was no sign of life on Vordith.

Possible or not, it's happening.

We're being held prisoner by something.

Searcher, this is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?

Over.

Searcher, this is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?

Captain Rogers, Admiral.

I knew Buck would be okay. Buck, where are you?

We're on our way back, Admiral.

We had a little detour.

You mustn't return to the ship.

We've been caught in a snare beam emanating

from somewhere on the surface of Vordith.

We're helpless, Bok. If you come back, you'll be trapped with us.

What trouble from Vordith? If I will get you attended,

whatever fabricated that fake searcher is also behind that snare beam.

Admiral, we're going down to Vordith.

Try to find the source of that beam.

Good idea.

Good luck.

Search her out.

According to the coordinates of the tractor beam,

it should be somewhere around here.

Look.

What?

The temple.

I might have known. Let's go.

Hard to see.

My sense of presence.

Yeah, like before.

We're being watched.

Enter, master.

Enter, Master.

You have done brilliantly so far.

You have passed all the tests but one.

Do not be afraid.

You're on the brink of securing rewards beyond your wildest dreams.

Who are you?

At the moment, I am what you see.

A gray-bearded old man, stooped with age,

and bent with a burden of 10,000 lonely years.

Why are you holding our ship in a snare beam?

Because there is one more test for you to pass.

If you succeed, all will be as you wish.

If you fail, you, your ship, and all in it will be destroyed.

Are you telling us that everything we went through up there,

being misdirected to a fake ship,

meeting fake people who resembled our own friends and shipmates was a...

It was just part of a series of tests.

Precisely.

And you are the first visitors in 10,000 years to have survived to this point.

You have my deepest admiration, friends, for the tests the goal has devised.

How difficult are they not?

We have no right to hold a peaceful vessel in

its crew in order to play some silly game.

Release our ship.

Impossible.

Until you have met the final challenge.

But why?

Why do you subject people to such trials?

Who are you?

I am the Hand of the Gaul.

Their servant, if you wish.

They left me here many eons ago.

To protect their planet from intruders until the day they returned.

I am a simulacrum, fashioned like the others you encountered.

Fashioned from a substance, partly energy, partly matter,

And able to become anything that is wished.

Anything.

You have done well so far.

You have demonstrated your intelligence and

suitability for remaining on this planet,

and soon may take your place here in this paradise as my masters.

So you fulfilled this role of guarding this planet for over 10,000 years?

Ten thousand years is but a grain of sand in the hourglass of eternity.

I fulfill my role gladly, for it is an honor to serve the Goro.

And you, I can provide you...

With palaces and pleasure domes, with armies and slaves,

with concubines and viands from a dozen galaxies. In short,

I can gratify your very dream.

Your wildest wish and answers to questions as yet unborn.

Fine.

Then our first wish is that you release our ship so we can get away from here.

Master, I regret that is the only wish I cannot grant.

The life of your ship is in your hands, not in mine. What do you mean?

The instrument for your ship's destruction has already been placed aboard her,

and by a member of your own crew.

Discover him in time, and you will have won all.

Reardon, the man we picked up here was a fake, wasn't he?

And Wilma, the real Wilma.

Took him on board the searcher.

And it was he who was able to tell this creature how to duplicate our ship.

You are indeed worthy of admittance to my master's planet.

Such intuition is a rare thing.

We are sick and tired of playing your stupid game, old man.

I want some answers from you, and I want them now.

How is Reardon gonna destroy the ship?

How's he gonna do it?

Ah, perhaps not so intelligent after all.

Anger and violence do not provide solutions.

Tell me, old man. I overestimated you.

What a pity.

Gone like the others.

We gotta get back to the ship.

Yes, Buck. What have you found?

We're returning to the ship, Admiral. You've got a saboteur on board.

It's Reardon. He's an imposter, a fake.

We were tricked into taking you on board the searcher so he could destroy it.

You've got to find him and stop him.

Where is he?

He should be in sickbay, unless he's taking another one of his little walks.

Sickbay, this is Colonel Dearing on the bridge. Is Mr. Reardon there?

He should be, Colonel. Just a minute.

That's funny. He was here a minute ago, but now he's gone.

I'd better get down there.

Let's organize search teams to scour the ship.

Good.

Reardon's disappeared.

We're starting a search now.

How long before you're back?

We're on final approach now, Admiral.

Buck, we have teams out searching the entire ship. There's still no sign of Root.

The fusion reactor room. It's the most sensitive part of the ship.

No sign of Reardon anywhere.

We think he's in the reactor room. Come on.

Well, we know someone's inside. The green light's on.

Captain Rogers.

Lieutenant Parsons. Good to have you back, sir.

I've checked the reactor room for any sign of Reardon, as Colonel Dearing ordered.

Place is clean. Did you check the reactors for any unusual devices?

Yes, sir. Swept them with the magnetometer.

Everything's normal.

Looks like your hunch was wrong.

Yeah.

Well, thank you, Parsons. You better stay here and keep an eye on things, all right?

Yes, sir.

Let's go.

Where to now?

I don't know.

Looks like we struck a dead end.

Colonel Deary, Captain Rogers.

I just searched the supply room.

It was Reardon.

He changed himself to look like Parsons. It's locked. Stand back.

Reardon, we know you're in here. You might as well show yourself and surrender.

You see anything?

Nothing, Buck.

It appears as though Riordan has left the reactor room.

Perhaps through another door.

What do you mean, another door? As well as I do,

there's only one way out of this reactor room.

Where is that detonator? Where is that detonator?

10,000 years is a long and lonely visual without company.

I found it.

Attached to reactor number four.

It is harmless now. Yeah, just like our friend there.

It is a pity in a way.

After 10,000 years of waiting.

He has failed.

Yeah.

Lucky for us, he did.

Buck, how did you know it wasn't Wilma? That must have

been a terrible moment, not knowing who to save.

Well, there was a difference.

A wrongness, if you will.

A wrongness about Wilma? Never. What exactly do you mean, Buck?

A wrongness.

Call it instinct, Doctor.

For instance, your double was a caricature of your

normal self. The mad scientist, so to speak.

And you, Admiral, your double was...

It was cruel and inhuman, like a Captain Bly.

But what about the fake Wilma? What was the so-called wrongness about her?

Yes, Buck, what was the imitation of Wilma like?

Well, she was so different and so opposite to the

way you really are that I really felt that...

She or, well, you or whatever had lost her mind.

Well, how was she opposite?

Well, she was warm and friendly and affectionate.

Oh, my poor boy.

Why do you say that, Doctor?

Well, it just occurred to me you must be under tremendous emotional strain.

Strain? No, why?

Because when that simulacrum of Wilma was destroyed, well,

you lost the goral of your dreams, didn't you? The

goral of your dreams. You lost it. Oh, yeah.