In "A Dream of Jennifer," Buck (Gil Gerard) spies a familiar looking stranger in a busy crowd. In fact, the stranger resembles Jennifer (Ann Lockhart), a woman he lost in the 20th Century, before his ill-fated space-flight.
Determined to hold on to some semblance of his lost life, Buck drops everything to locate and meet this woman. He learns that she is actually Leila, a woman who has fallen in with nasty alien warlords called Kovans. These aliens are trying to destroy the Vegan Colony, which Earth Directorate is (illegally) aiding, and Leila has had "molecular surgery" to ensnare Buck in their cause.
Buck attempts to free Leila from her enslavement to the brutal Kovans, but with tragic results.
"A Dream of Jennifer," the episode that allegedly saw Gil Gerard walk off the set (because of the low quality of the script), is an attempt to broach much more serious subject matter on this fun-loving series. Buck Rogers, at least during its first season, is a jocular, amusing, yet superficial series. This episode attempts to deepen the bonds between the regular characters, and also dramatize Buck as a deeper, more thoughtful person. Basically, "A Dream of Jennifer" reminds audiences that Buck had a life in the 20th century, and it is one that he misses.
The episode takes pains to develop the characters, and that is a positive touch, to be certain. Wilma, who clearly harbors romantic emotions about Buck, is selfless and supportive during his quest to find Jennifer, telling him "I hope to you find what you're looking for."
And Dr. Huer tells a lovely story about his past, and says to Buck "It would be nice to think that one can still recapture their lost dreams." This kind of directness and emotional dialogue is a rarity on the series. For once the characters aren't talking simply about the threat of the week. Instead, they are talking about their feelings, and showing emotional support for one another.
The episode also provides flashbacks of the 20th century and reveals the beginnings of Jennifer and Buck's relationship,. We meet Buck's roommate, Toby, and learn that, before Buck's fateful space journey, she gave him a "going away," a photo that he took with him to the stars. We also learn he was planning to give up his career as an astronaut to marry Jennifer "I promise you, after this mission, I'm finished."
Again, there was clearly some attempt to here to deepen the characters, and to make the episode more serious than the typical fare. For a show that was often silly and tongue-in-cheek, it's a worthy experiment. There is, at the end, the death of Leila to contend with, and we get a long, slow, camera pull-back as a shell-shocked Buck reckons with the (second) loss of Jennifer in his life. Then, finally, there is a coda in which Buck puts this experience to bed and acknowledges that to move forward, he must accept that he "can't go back," to the 20th century.
"A Dream of Jennifer" has all this going for it, and yet does not feel like a particularly good or strong episode of the series. The Jennifer/Leila ruse seems like an unnecessary gimmick and actually damages the Kovan plot involving Vega 5.
And Leila, though well-played, is never that likable a character. This episode introduces her (and her relationship with Buck) and then dispenses with her in 51 minutes. To be fair, this approach is a drawback of traditional, stand-alone TV programming of the 1970's. We know, from the series' rigid format and approach, that Jennifer is just the woman of the week, and not someone who will be a regular presence in Buck's life. Today, since TV is more serialized, her photo could have been introduced early on (maybe even the first episode), and she would have likely been more of a presence in regular flashbacks, so her impact on Buck's life isn't simply a one episode fling.
There are some goofy moments in "A Dream of Jennifer" too, like the 25th Century Mardi Gras (where a Colonial Warrior from Battlestar Galactica can be spotted!). At one point, Erin Gray's Wilma tells a captain on a spaceship that he has "comm." I think she likely meant to use the nautical term, often heard on Star Trek, that someone has "the conn." The Kovan are two dimensional villains, and the story never makes them anything more interesting than the alien villains of the week.
"A Dream of Jennifer" works hard to deepen the world of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and yet it never really becomes much more than a soap opera melodrama. And that is sad, because, as I've noted her before, Gil Gerard has always seemed miscast in the "happy go lucky mode" so often required of him by the first season. One can always sense he was looking for deeper, more serious material. Here, that happens, and still the result doesn't feel much more than mediocre.
Next up for Buck, the hysterically awful episode, "Space Rockers."
And Dr. Huer tells a lovely story about his past, and says to Buck "It would be nice to think that one can still recapture their lost dreams." This kind of directness and emotional dialogue is a rarity on the series. For once the characters aren't talking simply about the threat of the week. Instead, they are talking about their feelings, and showing emotional support for one another.
The episode also provides flashbacks of the 20th century and reveals the beginnings of Jennifer and Buck's relationship,. We meet Buck's roommate, Toby, and learn that, before Buck's fateful space journey, she gave him a "going away," a photo that he took with him to the stars. We also learn he was planning to give up his career as an astronaut to marry Jennifer "I promise you, after this mission, I'm finished."
Again, there was clearly some attempt to here to deepen the characters, and to make the episode more serious than the typical fare. For a show that was often silly and tongue-in-cheek, it's a worthy experiment. There is, at the end, the death of Leila to contend with, and we get a long, slow, camera pull-back as a shell-shocked Buck reckons with the (second) loss of Jennifer in his life. Then, finally, there is a coda in which Buck puts this experience to bed and acknowledges that to move forward, he must accept that he "can't go back," to the 20th century.
"A Dream of Jennifer" has all this going for it, and yet does not feel like a particularly good or strong episode of the series. The Jennifer/Leila ruse seems like an unnecessary gimmick and actually damages the Kovan plot involving Vega 5.
And Leila, though well-played, is never that likable a character. This episode introduces her (and her relationship with Buck) and then dispenses with her in 51 minutes. To be fair, this approach is a drawback of traditional, stand-alone TV programming of the 1970's. We know, from the series' rigid format and approach, that Jennifer is just the woman of the week, and not someone who will be a regular presence in Buck's life. Today, since TV is more serialized, her photo could have been introduced early on (maybe even the first episode), and she would have likely been more of a presence in regular flashbacks, so her impact on Buck's life isn't simply a one episode fling.
There are some goofy moments in "A Dream of Jennifer" too, like the 25th Century Mardi Gras (where a Colonial Warrior from Battlestar Galactica can be spotted!). At one point, Erin Gray's Wilma tells a captain on a spaceship that he has "comm." I think she likely meant to use the nautical term, often heard on Star Trek, that someone has "the conn." The Kovan are two dimensional villains, and the story never makes them anything more interesting than the alien villains of the week.
"A Dream of Jennifer" works hard to deepen the world of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and yet it never really becomes much more than a soap opera melodrama. And that is sad, because, as I've noted her before, Gil Gerard has always seemed miscast in the "happy go lucky mode" so often required of him by the first season. One can always sense he was looking for deeper, more serious material. Here, that happens, and still the result doesn't feel much more than mediocre.
Next up for Buck, the hysterically awful episode, "Space Rockers."
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