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I'm trying to remember a movie or TV show that I saw as a kid. I think it was in the `80s but could have been later.

I don't remember the beginning but a guy had crashed on a planet after a battle. One of the enemy ships he was fighting was also shot down. I believe they had mother ships that had moved out of the system so no one was searching for either.

The planet was mostly rocky with mountains, no life, but of course oxygen. The guy finds the enemy wreckage which has robot pilots. He puts one of the robots back together using parts from the others in a cave he's living in.

He turns the robot on for the first time and the robot goes into kill all the humans mode so the guy turns him off. After a few ON/OFF cycles and showing the robot that he put it back together with parts from the others, they come to a truce while figuring out how to get back to their mother ships. Of course, they work together and eventually become friends.

I don't remember then ending but don't think they got rescued - I think it was a sad ending. I don't think there were any other characters but there may have been a narrator. It seemed to be a fairly big budget show with decent special effects for the time.

I think the robots were silver-colored with black joints. I don't think it was a movie - it might have been a newer Twilight Zone or other single story shows like Amazing Stories.

I've searched for various permutations of "guy robot trapped on planet" but didn't see anything that looked correct.

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    I was thinking this was Enemy Mine right up until the robots...
    – Zeiss Ikon
    Commented Mar 4, 2021 at 17:54
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    Whatever it is, Star Trek: The Next Generation seems to have nicked it almost wholesale for The Enemy. Commented Mar 4, 2021 at 17:54
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    There was an episode of Battlestar Galactica 1980 called "The Return of Starbuck" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…, sounds a little like the plot described
    – Alith
    Commented Mar 4, 2021 at 18:02

1 Answer 1

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Your plot description sounds a lot like Enemy Mine 1985 except for the robots, but the part about enemy robots that are 'silver-colored with black joints' reminds me of the Cylon centurions in Battlestar Galactica (1978) and Galactica 1980 (1980).

The Return of Starbuck (4 May 1980), which was the last episode of Galactica 1980, had Dr. Zee tell Commander Adama about a dream in which Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica (1978) crashed on a planet and more or less made friends with a Cylon robot he nicknamed "Cy". They discover a strange woman who is pregnant, and who gives birth to a baby boy.

So my best guess is that you remember seeing The Return of Starbuck either in 1980 or later and confusing it with elements of Enemy Mine (1985).

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    I forgot about the awful BSG1980. The part with the woman doesn't sound familiar at all but I definitely remember the Robot saying "The ground came up and hit us" when describing his crash. Commented Mar 5, 2021 at 0:39
  • @HannoverFirst BSG1980 was great low-budget fun! Cassiopeia and Athena were great! And who forgets Commander Cain (who fits McCain who awkwardly has now ascended to some kind of weird holy figure in the USA of BSE, but I digress). Commented Mar 5, 2021 at 11:56
  • I've taken the liberty of tidying your answer up a little since OP has confirmed that it's BSG 1980 rather than Enemy Mine.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 6, 2021 at 0:44

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