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[ 15 ] Happy Birthday, Buck
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| Season: | 1 |
| Date Aired U.S.: | Thursday, January 10, 1980 |
| Writer(s): | Martin Pasco |
| Director: | Sigmund Neufeld, Jr. |
 Episode Synopsis
 "It's Buck's 534th birthday and Wilma and Dr. Huer plan a surprise party to cheer up the despondent astronaut. Wilma arranges to get Buck "out of the way" by asking him to escort Raylyn Derren to New Detroit with Huer's schedule. However, Traeger, a man plotting revenge against Huer, is waiting for Raylyn in an attempt to obtain the schedule and kill Huer."
 "Missing the people and places of his own time, Buck is helped out of his depression by Wilma and Huer who plan to cheer him up with a surprise birthday party. As a diversion to Buck, he is sent with Raylyn Derren to escort her on a trip to New Detroit with some of Huer's paperwork. Little do they realize that an assassin named Traeger is waiting for the girl so he can steal Dr. Huer's schedule, and plot to kill him as revenge over a previous encounter."
Guest Cast
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Delora Bayliss (Tamara Dobson)
A practicing Psych Med on Earth. Bayliss was coerced into helping Cornell Traeger, a former patient, with his plans to kill Dr. Huer. With her medical equipment, she planned to extract the itinerary of Huer from the mind of IAC agent Raylyn Derren.
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Carew (Chip Johnson)
Associate of Dr. Delora Bayliss. Carew was recruited to impersonate Security Directorate agent Marsden using a synthaflesh mask.
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Raylyn Derren (Morgan Brittany)
The most experienced courier in the IAC. Former employee of Earth Archives. Top secret data is implanted in an IAC's subconscious and is later retrieved using mind probes. Derren was carrying Dr. Huer's itinerary when she was kidnapped by Rorvik and Carew, associates of Dr. Delora Bayliss. Bayliss was pressured into getting the information for Cory Traeger, who wanted Huer dead.
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Lieutenant Garth (Eric Mason)
Lieutenant, Earth Security Directorate. Garth was concerned for the safety of Dr. Huer when a Capellan captain was found dead, with evidence pointing to danger for Huer.
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Marsden (Clay Alexander)
Security Directorate Agent. Marsden was impersonated by Carew, an associate of Dr. Delora Bayliss, in her attempt to extract information from IAC agent Raylyn Derren.
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Niles (Tom Gagen)
Security Directorate Agent. Niles was impersonated by Rorvik, an associate of Dr. Delora Bayliss, in her attempt to extract information from IAC agent Raylyn Derren.
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Rorvik (Bruce Wright)
Associate of Dr. Delora Bayliss. Rorvik was recruited to impersonate Security Directorate agent Niles using a synthaflesh mask.
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Cornell Traeger (Peter MacLean)
Former Directorate pilot in the exploration division, presumed dead on a routine mission. Traeger was being held on the planet Ovion for espionage for 15 years when he escaped. He planned revenge on Dr. Huer, whom he felt was responsible for his imprisonment. While on Ovion, Traeger picked up the ability of matter transmutation or molecular reorganization. He schemed to kill Dr. Huer with the help of Dr. Delora Bayliss.
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Fan Reviews |
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Average Fan Review
  
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Reviewer: Mark Weller
Submitted: August 15, 2002
An average episode. A good villain, with a solid motivation (and you have to love his sunglasses) but not as memorable as some of the other classic bad guys we'd seen to this point. Morgan Brittany (later of Dallas) is a solid heroine, but again not quite as cool as some of the previous ones. Marty Pasko wrote this one - a writer chiefly known for his contributions to the TV series Roseanne - and somehow, the script never gets as punchy as those we had previously seen from Alan Brennert, Anne Collins and company. For me, this episode marks the break in the first season - which almost paralled the new year in 1980. (Space Vampire, which aired on January 3, 1980, belongs to the first half, in my opinion). At some point in here, the first set of writers left the series, and an attempt was made to carry on in their stead. But for me, there is a marked decrease in the quality of the scripts from the first half of the season to the latter half. And, despite repeated viewings, its hard to pick out. This episode is a good one, but somehow not a great one - and so on balance I have to give it a three out of five.
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Reviewer: Susan Kite
Submitted: October 22, 2003
You know, although I sometimes feel the 20th century-isms are milked for all they're worth, I enjoyed this episode. It was another episode where you get some insight into the character of that very displaced man, Buck Rogers. And this episode used that to set the tone, instead of starting it out with a situation that Buck will be called to help resolve. We begin with Buck putting up a large painting of a snow covered landscape, making morose comments to Twiki and then complaining about the sterility and sameness of the city to Huer and Wilma.
Realizing that Buck is feeling even more displaced due to an impending birthday (534th), they plan a surprise party. They enlist the aide of a directorate courier to keep him away from his apartment while they prepare the party.
The complication comes when a former colleague,(Traeger), of Huer's comes calling for revenge, taking the information from the courier (oh, yes, another pretty girl) to find out where the Defense Directorate leader is going to be. Buck gets involved, but seems to keep coming up one scoop less than a two scoop ice cream cone throughout the chase, rescue, etc. Finally, Buck catches up with Traeger, tracking him to his own apartment where the killer has made a shambles of his birthday party and almost killed Huer. Not the best, but a fun episode. And we get Buck's full legal name, too.
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