The Satyr
A woman and her son are the only remaining colonists on a remote planet called Arcadus, where they are repeatedly terrorized by a half-goat, half-man creature called Pangor. Buck and Twiki visit the planet during an asteroid survey, and immediately after landing, Buck is attacked by a wolf-like creature native to the planet. Buck meets Syra and her son Delph, but at first they don’t tell him anything about Pangor. Buck finds out soon enough, however, when Pangor attacks the shuttle, damaging Twiki. Buck offers to take Syra and Delph away from Arcadus, but Syra refuses to leave, despite Pangor’s continued attacks. Buck disrupts Pangor’s next attack, but the satyr bites him during the ensuing fight; believing that he’s drowned Pangor, Buck returns to Syra’s house for medical treatment. Even now, Buck finds the Syra won’t leave – in fact, she’s mourning at the news that Pangor may be dead. Syra finally reveals the truth: Pangor was once known as Major Jason Samos, Earth colonist, and transformed into a satyr mere hours after becoming infected by something on Arcadus. But Buck is about to find out for himself that the infection came from a satyr bite…
written by Paul Schneider & Margaret Schneider
directed by Victor French
music by Bruce BroughtonCast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Anne E. Curry (Syra Samos), Dave Cass (Pangor), Bobby P. Lane (Delph Samos), Dennis Freeman (Midshipman)
Notes: Director Victor French starred alongside Michael Landon in both Little House On The Prairie and Highway To Heaven, and directed episodes of both; his directorial career also included episodes of Gunsmoke, Dallas, Fame, and the TV series adaptation of the movie Fantastic Journey.
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Cast: Ed Flanders (John Woodley), Kathryn Walker (Susan Myles), Roxanne Hart (Meg Barclay), Christopher Allport (Steven Levitt), David Clennon (Dr. Bruce Lyman), David Rasche (Dr. David McKeeson), Rosalind Cash (Frieda Barton), Ebbe Roe Smith (Jim Seaver), Roberta Maxwell (Diane Silverman), Robert Kay (George Takashima), J. Wesley Huston (Bernard Frost), Frank Dent (Dr. Jason Halpern), Charles Lanyer (Merritt Cunningham), Mie Hunt (Ellen Stevens), Bruce Fields (Walter Letteau), Lane Smith (Morton Sanders), Jim Jansen (Arlen Surrey), Peter Hobbs (Jonathan E. Herman), Mary Armstrong (Interviewee), Bernard Behrens (Dr. Neils Johanssen), Ivan Bonar (Interviewee), Ron Frazier (Interviewee), Bruce Frank (Interviewee), Elizabeth Gill (Interviewee), June Kim (Hiroshima Interviewee), George Morfogen (Interviewee), Duncan Ross (Interviewee), Bill Saito (Hiroshima Interviewee), Kenneth Tigar (Dr. Abraham Sczrsma), John Walsh (Interviewee), Steve Arvin Interviewee(), Edwin Bernstein (Interviewee), Wanda Bowe (Interviewee), Robert Buckingham (Interviewee), Judie Carroll (Interviewee), Marian A. Carter (Interviewee), Kelly Condon (Interviewee), William A. Gimble Jr. 
(Interviewee), William J. Ghinta (Interviewee), Liberty Godshall (Interviewee), Ray Godshall (Interviewee), Virginia Gourdin (Interviewee), Steven Ledford (Interviewee), Marc Levy (Interviewee), Michael Madsen (Jimmy Lenox), Robert Marks (Interviewee), Joe Mays (Interviewee), Arthur McDonald Interviewee(), David Moses (Interviewee), Arthur R. Nuzzo (Interviewee), Ellen Ren (Interviewee), Adrian Ricard (Interviewee), Steven M. Sawyer (Interviewee), Sadina H. Terry (Interviewee), Jack Thompson (Tennessee Senator), Celestine Turner (Interviewee), David VandeBrake (Interviewee), Elizabeth Young (Interviewee), Sam Youngblood (Interviewee), Randolph Hille (Politician), John Wesley (Bernard Frost)
Cast: Kevin Costner (Captain Spark), Casey Siemaszko (Jonathan), Kiefer Sutherland (Static), Jeffrey Jay Cohen (Jake), John Philbin (Bullseye), Gary Mauro (Sam), Glen Mauro (Dave), Terry Beaver (Officer), David Grant Hayward (Mechanic #1), Peter Jason (Commander), Karen Hopkins (Liz), Anthony Lapaglia (Mechanic #2), Gary Riley (Tail Gunner), Ken Stovitz (Lamar), Nelson Welch (Father McKay)
Casey Siemaszko had already been seen on the big screen (as Biff’s 3-D-glasses-wearing cohort in Back To The Future), and went on to recurring roles in NYPD Blue and Damages. Perhaps even more surprising than Steven Spielberg directing an hour of television at the height of his fame was that he got composer John Williams, one of his most frequent collaborators throughout his career, to score an hour of television. (Williams had already done the series’ theme music.) One of the orchestrators helping Williams arrange the score for this episode was Alexander Courage, better known for writing the theme tune from Star Trek. Spielberg was nominated for best director in the 1986 Emmy Awards for this episode, but lost to Georg Stanford Brown, director of the last episode of Cagney & Lacey’s fifth season. This episode’s cinematographer, John McPherson, did win an Emmy for the show’s lighting and camera work.
