Buck Rogers

Although never having seen the original pilot movie, I could remember watching Buck Rogers as a child, well mainly Twiki was the part I remembered! I remember enjoying it very much but obviously as a small child I could not appreciate the wonderful wit, great characters and sometimes hilarious plot lines, and of course as a child completely overlooked how deliciously handsome and charming Captain Rogers was! So when I spotted Buck Rogers for sale as a complete set I became uncontrollably over excited, in the middle of the shop it was rather embarrassing. However after sitting and watching the entire 24 episode lot over a couple of days it was every bit worth the embarrassment of over excitement and definitely worth watching.

Although we all know from the opening credits of the show how Buck ended up in the 25th century it was great to see what happened to him when he first arrived. The show has a fantastic appeal for all ages I am now 28 and both of my children 91/2 and 7 both were totally fixated, and along with their glued to the screen mummy, they laughed at the great humour of the show were totally engrossed in the story lines even the rather flaky ones! and now want a Twiki the robot! Although made in 1979/80 apart from rather hilarious special effects, which are funnily enough part of the appeal, the show is every bit as good if not better than anything on TV now. As an avid sci-fi fan it rates one of the highest if not at the top of my list of all time favourite shows.

From the rather serious but likable Dr Huer, sexy but sweet Wilma that rather fab Princess Ardala, and of course Twiki and Buck who rather hog the show with their great partnership and wit. Buck with his perfectly styled hair-note even after fight scenes, watch closely! ; ) great style and what a wonderful smile that seems to end every episode! You could not go wrong to watch Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. In fact I must insist that everyone should watch it! You will smile ( you can't help it when Buck beams his grins across the screen) laugh, cry if you are soppy like me! and most definitely want more when you have watched all of the entire series, well I did : ) BidiBidiBidi over and out Buck.

This series is fun and somewhat compelling to watch. But in every episode there are recurring incidents which defy any sense of innovativeness: 1. Panels on walls are destroyed. Approximately three per episode. This is done primarily to lock someone in a room.

2. Buck Rogers is deep in enemy territory and uses force to get the job done. 9 of 10 episodes' problems are solved in this manner. If he is captured or wants to free someone, he'll just have to start swinging at the guards and everything will be fine. Never any solutions based on intellect.

3. Buck Rogers is labeled by someone as the most perfect creature in the entire universe.

4. A new woman is introduced and shows immediate affection for Buck Rogers.

5. When they are flying in space, there is no variation from the theme of shooting at other spacecraft, and one hit always means the destruction of the target.

6. Twiki is unable to say anything that isn't deeply annoying.

7. Dr. Huer is very sensible.

8. The shows end with Rogers, Deering, Huer and Twiki eating at Buck's apartment and Rogers is laughing as the frame freezes.

All this aside, it's a good series. Not many dull moments. However, don't watch the episode called "A Blast for Buck", it's just a mixture of various flashbacks from previous episodes, and the real time ending is almost worse than the flashbacks.

Although I didn't like this series as much as Battlestar Galactica which was out at the same time, as a kid the more scifi series on TV the better. And I would never pass up the chance each week to see the beautiful Erin Gray. I also thought it was neat when they had one episode where they had the original Buck Rogers, Buster Crabbe, make a special appearance as an old fighter pilot.

It was too bad that they changed the format of the series in the second season, but it was still watchable.

What do you do when you served as Executive Producer to one of the decade's most expensive failures, and you have all these leftover props, costumes, sets, and special effects film footage lying around? If you're Glen Larson, and the failed series was "Battlestar Galactica", you consider producing another Science Fiction-themed series, less pretentious and more 'audience-friendly', that can utilize all the surplus...

...and in a very real sense, that's how "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" came to television, in 1979! Based, originally, on a 1928 short story, 'Buck Rogers' achieved his greatest fame in comic strips, radio, and a movie serial in the 1930s, but by 1979, the character had been 'retired' for 28 years, and Larson knew he could 'update' the story without arousing much controversy. The 'new' Buck was an astronaut piloting the last of Earth's 'Deep Space' probes, Ranger 3, in 1987(!), which was thrown off-course by a cosmic disturbance, and damaged, entering a centuries-long looping orbit back to Earth, and releasing a mix of gases that placed Rogers into suspended animation for 500 years. Revived by the evil Draconian Empire, Rogers soon is returned to an Earth in ruins after a nuclear holocaust, where he gradually earns the government's trust, and becomes a civilian 'troubleshooter', using his 20th century wiles to save Mankind, again and again.

Casting was essential for the series to succeed, and Larson made an inspired choice in Gil Gerard, 36, as the lead. Ruggedly handsome, Gerard combined maturity with a boyish charm, and an ability to make even the most risqué remark seem unoffensive (and the series pilot, released theatrically, had a LOT of risqué remarks!) As Wilma Deering, a Colonel in Earth's Defense Force, Erin Gray, 29, was a bit wooden, but gloriously beautiful, and wholesomely sexy; Tim O'Connor, 52, as wise Dr. Huer, provided kind stability and statesman-like wisdom to the mix, and a goofy little robot, "Twiki", voiced by Mel Blanc, gave the kids something to enjoy (although he would utter an occasional risqué or ethnic aside, as well).

The first season of "Buck Rogers", while certainly not 'Classic TV', offered an entertaining mix of adventure and comedy, with stories that intentionally avoided the 'heaviness' that plagued "Galactica". Rogers would face a variety of galactic terrorists, dictators, and madmen, fend off advances by a variety of scantily-clad women, and maintain a "Will they or Won't they?" relationship with Deering. High points were the guest appearances by Pamela Hensley as the evil but vampy Drackonian Princess Ardala, in huge head wear (and little else), and, in a wonderful cameo, the legendary Buster Crabbe, who'd played both "Buck Rogers" and "Flash Gordon" in the 1930s, as 'Brigadier Gordon'.

While ratings were mediocre, at best, the series was renewed for a second season...and all the mistakes of "Galactica" were repeated, when the Earth-centered series was dropped, in favor of a starship-based, 'serious' adventure, as Buck and Wilma joined in a "Galactica"-like search for 'lost' tribes of humans who'd fled Earth at the time of the Holocaust. Why was the entire concept changed so abruptly, and disastrously? The reason I've been told, was that Gerard, a devout Christian, did not like the sexual undercurrent of the first season, and wanted stories that would be more uplifting and family-friendly, and that he forced the changes on a less-than-enthusiastic Glen Larson. Whether or not this was true, the season lacked all the swashbuckling joy of Season One, and despite an attempt to introduce a bird-like, stoic alien ('Hawk', portrayed by Thom Christopher), to attract the "Spock" crowd, the episodes were frequently dull and uninspired, and the ratings plummeted. When NBC canceled the series, just 13 episodes into Season Two, no one was truly surprised.

While Gerard's post-"Buck Rogers" career was a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows, Erin Gray enjoyed a long, successful run on "Silver Spoons", and both actors, today, are popular Convention guests, as both "Buck Rogers" and Larson's "Battlestar Galactica" have achieved 'cult' status.

"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" will never be held in the kind of esteem "Star Trek" or "Babylon 5" enjoy, but, as a rare chance to see how television viewed Science Fiction in the "Disco Decade", the series has earned it's own piece of immortality!

This stuff is classic. Pretty good plots. Nice little performances. You had Mr. Down-to-earth 20th century macho man Buck (complete with 70's dry-look over-the-ears hair) & straight-laced, but sexy fighter-pilot Wilma, and comic-relief, lusty little robot Twiki. And a talking necklace and boring old man, both named "Doctor".

Every week you could count on intrigue, double crosses, and buck knocking out 25 armed henchman, using his patented "Buck Fu" technique. And near the end, Twiki would say something like, "BDBDBDBDBDBD, Buck rocks me like a hurricaine."

This stuff is infinitely more amusing and entertaining that much of the sullen, sensitive and overly technical tv sci-fi of today.

It's a simple formula that works. action action action, tight shiny space outfits (on men & women) and a few lame jokes.