"He sure wasn't killed by the flu."
REVIEW: Apparently fondly remembered by fans of the show, Space Vampire doesn't work for me at all. Rather, it's an example of what can go wrong when Buck Rogers takes itself too seriously. Buck looks dour and thoughtful, almost wincing when he makes a joke or a silly thumbs up, and they have Wilma taken over by the vampire and draining people's souls, with a treated voice out of the Exorcist (also, a magically-changing hair style I don't find very flattering). Our heroes are on a space station that believes itself the victim of a plague, the bodies are piling up, the lights come down low... I should be applauding this dark change of pace, right? Well I can't because the story is still inherently silly. The show just doesn't want to acknowledge it.
The problem is so much that there's an alien race/being out there that has powers like those of vampires. Being invisible to cameras (and interestingly, to Twiki's eyes) is a little harder to swallow, but one could imagine - even if they never make the connection on screen - that Vorvons once visited Earth and gave rise to the legend. But the writers think they're too clever by half, injected references to the original Dracula story in their script, where it becomes impossible to make the above connection without revealing the episode as a spoof. The original legend comes from the Rumaine system (Transylvania is in Romania). The "plague ship" that crashes into the station is the Demeter, same name as the ship Dracula came to England in. One of the victims is called Helson, as in Van Helsing. There's a lot of talk about "energy", as if to make the concept more science-fictional, but in the end, the Vorvon is still defeated by sunlight and can be hurt by a the 25th-Century equivalent of a cross (but much more boring). The creature spends most of its time as the glowy alien from Star Trek's "Day of the Dove", hovering over scenes and making Mina Harker--I mean Wilma Deering feel uneasy, but ultimately, he's a TV version of Nosferatu. I do like how the freighter carrying him penetrates the station like a fang (even if the Vorvon actually uses his fingers). It SUGGESTS vampire stories without overtly making the episode "Dracula retold".
Television standards rob the horror story of its chill factor anyway, because mass murder is off the table. When the Vorvon is destroyed, all his victims wake up, at the same time freeing Wilma of any responsibility for her own victims. The vampire is defeated through a gimmick that's a hard sell. How did he figure the vampire would steal his ship and know to booby trap it so it would stargate to a sun? Then not make any effort to MAKE it happen. And how convenient that this never-before-seen craft can "separate" into two, allowing Wilma to escape.
There might have been something to Commander Royko's subplot, but they don't complete the pass. He's obviously one of Wilma's old flames, but it has no real plot function. I trust he's in earnest when he thinks Buck's hallucinating (one of the presumed plague's symptoms), so it's not jealousy. His only revenge seems to be making Buck wear that big belt with no explanation; he has it for the entire episode, it has no discernible function. I suppose jealousy isn't in order, since Buck and Wilma are essentially "pals" by this point. They WERE going to Genesia for a vacation together, but one presumes Buck was supposed to meet up with Dia (finish your drink!).
With the over-serious main plot, it's up to the Dr. Huer/Theo double act to provide the comedy, and it's almost the only thing I like about the episode. Huer has killed the rubber plant Buck gave him and he gets a replacement, obviously not the same species, and Buck of course notices. It's one of the few comedy routines I've found amusing to date, but maybe I was just starved for it.
SPACE DISCO: Another episode, another swingers bar.
STAR GAZING: Christopher Stone (Royko) is a pretty familiar face from 70s and 80s TV, with recurring roles in such shows as The Bionic Woman and Dallas, among others. Sticking to the horror theme, he was in both The Howling and Cujo. Lincoln Kilpatrick (Dr. Ecbar) had been a powdered zombie before, in The Omega Man; he would later become a series regular on Matt Houston, with Pamela "Ardala" Hensley.
ALL THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE: If you're looking for your own power lock to repell space vampires, ask Adama for his Council of the Twelve medallion. The Demeter started life as the Gemini freighter on Battlestar Galactica, and Buck's shuttle is modified from Princess Ardala's.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium-Low - Trying to be Hammer Horror Lite, but at best a bottom-tier Space 1999 episode. Joyless.
Comments
Like you, I noticed Buck and Royko both put the belts on before going into the wrecked ship (at Royko's insistence), but Wilma didn't; maybe that's why the vampire could possess her and not them? If that's the case, they could've made it clearer.