Sci-Fi Storm

Actor Tim O’Connor, best known for playing the role of Elliott Carson on the original primetime soap opera Peyton Place, but also around here would be known for his role of Dr. Elias Huer in the first season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, passed away on April 5th in his sleep at home in Nevada City. He was 90.

The Chicago-born O’Connor’s long career spanned stage and screen. His first on-screen appearance was an uncredited role in 1949’s Master Minds. Over his career he made many guest appearances, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, M*A*S*H, The Streets of San Francisco,Wonder Woman, Dynasty, All in the Family and more.

The creator of a big part of my childhood passed away.

Glen A. Larson, best known as the creator of many science fiction shows as well as a variety of other popular shows in the 70s and 80s, passed away at the age of 77.

Larson was responsible for not only Battlestar Galactica, perhaps what he was best known for despite it only lasting one season, but he created such long running shows as Quincy, M.E., Magnum P.I., The Six Million Dollar Man, The Fall Guy, B.J. and the Bear, and Knight Rider.

Somewhat controversial, he was often accused of borrowing ideas from popular movies at the time for his TV shows, although that appears to be how Hollywood operates these days.

Many of his programs have been remade years later (Knight Rider and Battlestar Galactica), or have been floating around in development (The Six Billion Dollar Man, The Fall Guy).

Larson had hopes of doing his own remake of Battlestar Galactica, but Universal instead opted for the version that was produced for Syfy. He still had plans in the works for it, however.

He will be missed.

Every fan of Star Trek knows who actor Michael Ansara was…he played the Klingon commander Kang in the episode “Day of the Dove”, and then reprised the role not once but twice, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Ansara passed away Wednesday at the age of 91.

You’ve probably seen him in many other things as well, with his distinctive face and voice…just in the SF and fantasy realm, Ansara had guest roles in Babylon 5, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (as Kane, Princess Ardala’s right-hand man, replacing the original actor from the pilot), Lost In Space (as the father of a young Kurt Russell), Land of the Giants, The Outer Limits and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as well as the 1961 movie – overall, he has 189 different titles to his credit. In the late 50s, he had starring roles playing Native Americans in the series Broken Arrow and Law of the Plainsman.

He received a star on the Walk of Fame in 1960. He was also married to I Dream of Jeannie‘s Barbara Eden for sixteen years.

You may not recognize his name, but if you watched TV in the 1970s and 1980s, you’d probably remember the face. Richard Lynch, who often played the bad guy in episodes of a large variety of TV shows as well as movies like The Sword and Sorcerer, passed away this week at the age of 72.

I can still see his face in a variety of things. The first one I thought of was Wolfe from the original Battlestar Galactica two-parter “Gun on Ice Planet Zero”, and then later as Xavier in the three-part Galactica 1980 episode “Galactica Discovers Earth”. And he also appeared in Buck Rogers, The A Team, , and many many more. He also had a starring role opposite Judson Scott in The Phoenix. His distinctive face continued the guest appearances and movies throughout the decades until his death.