Operation Firefly
The OSI calls Steve Austin into action when a weapons designer, who has access to top secret information, goes missing. No trace can be found of him anywhere, though there are records of the man having ESP contact with his daughter, so finding her becomes Steve’s top priority. Getting her to talk about either her father or her unique link with him is difficult, but eventually Steve convinces her that her father is in danger, and she tags along with him, providing what may be clues from “visions” she receives. These clues lead them to the Florida Everglades, where they find a small army guarding her father…and his kidnappers demand that he build them a powerful laser weapon.
written by Sy Salkowitz
directed by Reza Badiyi
music by Oliver Nelson
Cast: Lee Majors (Steve Austin), Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman), Martin E. Brooks (Dr. Rudy Wells), Pamela Franklin (Susan Abbott), Simon Scott (Dr. Abbott), Jack Hogan (John Belson), Joe Kapp (Frank), Vic Mohica (Eddie), Joseph Ruskin (Le Duc), Erik Holland (Ed Rawlins), Bill Conklin (Hobbs), Margarita Cordova (Desk Clerk)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Note: This episode won the Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1996, beating out the films Toy Story, Apollo 13 and 12 Monkeys and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode The Visitor. This was the first Hugo awarded to a television series other than Star Trek (or one of its spinoffs) or Twilight Zone, and only the seventh Hugo to be given to a television series in 43 years of the Best Dramatic Presentation category.
Brothers Ulic Qel-Droma and Cay Qel-Droma, and their Twi’lek friend Tott Doneeta, are recent graduates to the rank of Jedi Knight. They are assigned to restore the peace on the planet Onderon by Jedi Master Arca, their mentor, who has enough faith in them to send them there alone. But on Onderon, the three young Jedi discover that the situation is more complicated than they had been led to believe. A war between the dwellers of a great walled city and a faction of outcasts who have learned to ride vicious airborne beasts could end with a marriage that could unite both sides, but Ulic and his fellow Jedi are nearly tricked into putting a stop to it. When they learn that the Dark Side is strong in the ruthless rulers of the city of Iziz, Cay and Tott worry that they won’t be able to take on the Dark Side practitioners without more experienced Jedi help; Ulic convinces them otherwise, but even with the young Jedis’ skills and bravery, victory will come at a high cost.
