TW Watches Buck Rogers S01E14 Space Vampire

By Owen Quinn photos copyright Universal

A space age vampire stalks a lonely space station and Buck must race to prevent Wilma joining the ranks of the undead.

There’s nobody that does space vampires better than The Time Warriors. Hammer has Dracula nailed and Lifeforce gave it a good shot but the Veldrox from the Time Warriors rules the roost.

But Buck Rogers gave it a go in the first season episode Space Vampire. Any writer that goes for a vampire episode always tries to sprinkle the story with homages and/or try their own spin on established vampire lore. And do you know? If ever there was a man to kick the arse of a vampire, it’s Buck Rogers in the Gil Gerard version.

The soundtrack here is sort of distorted to let the viewer know that there is something odd in the air.

Just like the Dimeter of the Bram Stoker book which crashed onto the shores of England, this ghost ship, by coincidence also called the Dimeter, crashes into the space station. The air supply is contaminated with air from the other ship. Instead of a bat, the Vorvon, as it is called, assumes a ball of energy. The director initially does the vampire’s point of view as a red filter with a bubbling sound effect. The ship itself is wrecked with echoing dark corridors and bizarre background noise. They find dead bodies, most in sickbay and the fear is some sort of disease is responsible.

This Vorvon does not suck blood but the very soul from its victims. Just like the legends, anyone taken by the vampire returns in vampire form.

Just like the diary from the doomed crew of the Dimeter, so the crashed ship’s log is viewed, painting a picture of disease which brings on some sort of madness. They seem to be reacting to nothing, imaging some sort of invisible attacker.

While the disease EL7 is deemed responsible, the Vorvon makes its move. Wilma is his bride to be and we get the usual tropes where she is converted and tries to kill Buck. People aboard the space station begin to die too including the doctor that administers the cure for EL7. The doctor confides in Buck that the dead bodies they found are not dead but not alive either. They may be in some sort of cellular suspension. He shows Buck the strange marks on the necks of the corpses and Buck realises that this could be some sort of vampire. Interestingly, the people of the 24th century have never heard of the term vampire. Given holy relics and all things of God repel vampires, there is no religion. That’s an interesting theme for Buck Rogers. If there is no religion, then things like vampires are free to kill at will.

One of the passengers had a recording device, one William Helson, an obvious take on Helsing, Dracula’s arch enemy. His family were murdered, he claims, by a Vorvon. Helson was put on trial for their murder but acquitted. It was only then he went after the Vorvon but no-one believed him. On his body, Buck finds an object, a silver diamond shape set in some sort of material. It’s probably his knowledge of vampire lore that tells him to pocket it.

Wilma is feeling strange and the Vorvon makes itself known eighteen minutes into the episode. Played by Nicholas Hormann, the appearance is more eyebrow raising than scary. While the big, red eyes and white pallor is fine, the effect is shot down by the giant upside down moustache that acts as one long caterpillar eyebrow. It’s like it escaped from the lip of a seventies porn star. The black huge, collared outfit is good, but the Vorvon walks a fine line between camp and predator.

It’s interesting that when the Vorvon attacks the doctor, he isn’t afraid but instead asking who the Voron is. So, white skinned, fanged creatures with a giant eyebrow are common on this space station? But it covers its tracks well. It destroys Helson’s video evidence of the Vorvon attacking him. And just like a vampire casts no reflection, the Vorvon does not show up for the camera. It’s a nice mix of lore as the writer goes for broke and throws everything into it. The problem with Buck Rogers is everything is so white. The sets are white and their costumes are white, so when you get a set like the crashed Dimeter, it adds to the effect which white and overlit sets drain. The Doctor Who Warriors of the Deep suffered the same issues back in 1984.

Wilma’s attacks of freezing cold are a bit OTT when the Vorvon is near, so the audience knows there is a monster and she’s a target. While the undead servants of the vampire are a bit more animated in recent years, here the actors don’t seem to be sure whether to go zombie or normal movement. So, when they attack Buck and the Vorvon tries to kill him, the Helson artifact acts like a crucifix.

It turns out the Vorvon species is known to the Earth Defence Directorate. Vorvons are mythical half-dead creatures that drain energy from their victims. They only appear to their victims in the form Buck has met. It is strange that they do have a photo of a Vorvon, the same Vorvon Buck is fighting. I’ve discussed elsewhere about poor writing making characters dumb and here, station commander, Roykp (guest star Christopher Stone, late husband of Dee Wallace and star of the Howling) stubbornly refuses to believe the evidence and locks Buck up. But when he sees the possessed Wilma trying to kill Buck, it is only then he comes round.

Just as Dracula couldn’t stand sunlight neither can the Vorvon. Buck sabotages his own ship and locks coordinates to fly right into the sun. When the Vorvon dies, all his victims return to normal.

There is a lot to like but the execution at times is amateur with their hissing and raised arms.

“Excuse me, mister director, vampires do walk like zombies and hiss, right?”

“No, mate. but this is television with limited budget.”

In parts it is scary and while great attempts are made to make it good, the super white sets and zero budget leaves them doing the best they can to honour the genre.

Space Vampire is fun episode that if watched with a drinking game is even better than you remember.