Returning to New Chicago after a relaxing weekend with a ladyfriend, Buck spots a large metallic sphere in the desert and relays his findings to Dr. Huer, who immediately suspects a Draconian trap. Buck, Wilma, Huer and Twiki visit the unusual globe, and it extends an arm toward Buck, presenting him with a smaller globe. As soon as the smaller sphere is in Dr. Huer’s lab, the vehicle in the desert launches itself into deep space again. Huer decodes the globe’s contents to a precise set of coordinates which would take anyone following them into another universe, and there’s also a single word encoded into the sphere: “Pendar.” Draconian spies within the Earth Defense Directorate alert Princess Ardala to the alien visitation, and she sets her command ship on a course for Earth. Buck and Twiki follow the coordinates and pass through a turbulent vortex into another universe, where he is guided toward the planet Pendar. Dr. Huer and Wilma are invited aboard Ardala’s command ship, where they lodge a protest of her violation of Earth space, and wind up accompanying Ardala as she follows buck into Pendar’s universe. Locked in a war with another race led by a tactician known as Zarina the War Witch, Pendar needs tactical help – and they’ve decided to recruit Buck, whether he likes it or not.
teleplay by Robert W. Gilmer & William Mageean
story by David Chomsky
directed by Larry Stewart
music by J.J. JohnsonCast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Pamela Hensley (Princess Ardala), Kelley Miles (Shandar), Donald Petrie (Keeper), Sid Haig (Nero), Michael Ansara (Kane), Julie Newmar (Zarina), Vera Miles (Council Member), Sam Jaffe (Kodus)
LogBook entry by Earl Green