Buck Rogers no Século 25

BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY could easily have become dated camp, by now (Rogers' disastrous space tour was supposed to have occurred in 1987...did we miss it?), but there's such a sense of joy and humor to the production that it actually is more fun to watch today than when it was briefly released, theatrically, in 1979.

A large measure of this is due to Gil Gerard, as Capt. William 'Buck' Rogers, who gives an enthusiastic, likable performance. Some of his dialog is ripe with sexual innuendo, particularly in his scenes with Erin Gray, as the beautiful, if a bit wooden, professional soldier, Wilma Deering, but his rakish charm (and an occasional wink!) keeps the one-liners from sliding into bad taste. The other female lead, Pamela Hensley, as a bikini-clad evil Princess, would do Mae West proud with her lusty vampiness. Her scenes with Gerard, as she eyes him as an evening's 'entertainment', are a delight. (And in the "Is this a coincidence?" department...Her character is named Ardala, and wears a horned headpiece...Could George Lucas have been influenced by her when he created Natalie Portman's Princess Amidala in STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE - THE PHANTOM MENACE?) The other major male roles are filled by Henry Silva, as Ardala's superbly evil partner, Kane, and Tim O'Connor, wise and sympathetic, as Earth scientist Dr. Huer. Deserving recognition, as well, is Duke Butler, who, as Ardala's eunuch bodyguard, Tigerman, should find another line of work, considering how he fared against Rogers!

Ignore Twiki, the low-tech R2D2 rip-off (Mel Blanc voices him, with dialog lapsing into disco-era clichés and bad sexual puns), and Dr. Theopoulis (the talking Frisbee...well, that's what he looks like!), and concentrate on the decent FX and Gil Gerard's charismatic performance...and I think you'll find BUCK ROGERS a winner!

If you like "Battlestar Galactica", you will love this movie, at least if you can sit through the incredibly cheesy and silly title sequence. Based extraordinarily loosely on the classic early 1900's sci-fi novel, this is a story of an American astronaut frozen in crygenic sleep for a deep-space exploration mission in the late 20th Century who returns home and awakens in the post-nuclear 25th century. He finds an Earth ravaged by nuclear war (the scene in bombed-out Chicago is particularly amusing to me, as a life-long Chicago native, even if the sets look NOTHING like State Street)but with survivors carrying on in underground cities.

Earth is about to be atacked by the evil Draconians, led by a lovely but devious Princess. Sort of an S&M version of Princess Leia. Anyway, the Draconians pretend to offer Earth help defeating some "Space Pirates", but the Pirates are really Draconian fighters.

What follows are some classic space battle scenes, a lot of running around in dark spaceship corridors, and a classic love triangle between Buck Rogers, the Evil Princess, and a female fighter pilot from Earth. Buck Rogers manages to sabotage and destroy the Draconian fighters and saves the day, of course.

Along the way, we get some amusing dialogue, and some VERY 1970's sci-fi scenes, including Buck Rogers introducing Disco music to the future. The sight of his robot Sidekick, Twiky, dancing to Disco music well saying "Get Down!" still haunts me today.

However, the babes are hot, the battles exciting, the effects good (for 1970's TV), and the story easy to follow. I like it, and wish I could find a copy. I haven't seen it in years.

Some friends and I rented this movie just for the kicks of making fun of it, but it turned out to be fairly good. Except for the cheesy 70's parts (check out Bucks dance act) which no live human could ever take seriously, this is an excellent movie, which I'll check out again in the near future.

8/10

Originally made as a TV movie pilot, Universal and producer Glen Larson followed the pattern they'd used for 'Battlestar Galactica' and released it theatrically first. It proved to be a modest hit (raking in $21 million), and thus NBC commissioned it to be turned into a weekly series.

It starts off with a rather Bondian opening title sequence, featuring several lovely ladies wriggling and writhing their way around, over and under a sleeping Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard) as a vocalized version of the 'Buck Rogers' theme plays. I found this to be the highlight of the movie.

The rest of the film plays like a discount 'Battlestar Galactica' (even recycling many of its props and sound f/x), keeping logic at arm's length while testing the lactose tolerance of the viewer. The Über masculine Gerard gives a charming performance as Buck and Pamela Hensley deliciously vamps her way through her scenes, but they're the equivalent of two chefs attempting to make a gourmet meal out of store brand ingredients.

If that phrase puts you in the mind of Gil Gerard, Erin Gray and lots of "Star Wars"-derived FX, you already know where a movie like "Buck Rogers" is coming from.

If not, then let me enlighten you.

Most everyone familiar with sci-fi know Buck's story (frozen astronaut from 20th century is revived in the 25th century, must learn to re-adapt). This was old news as far back as the '40s.

But in the '70s...well.... Let's just say that it looks new. For the '70s.

Gil is game as Buck, shooting laser guns and cracking wise and making a good space-age hero. And Gray's Wilma Deering is both stern and soft as the Earth's military leader. Felix Silla makes a good impression as Twiki (with a more-than-equal assist from Mel Blanc's voice wizardry) and as Princess Ardala, Hensley gives what must be the most sensual performance from an alien up to that point in time.

But the special effects are clearly from the '70s, as is the music (disco music in the 25th century? Someone must have unearthed Studio 54.) and the set design: its glittery, shiny look may have been futuristic then, but now it just looks more '70s than anything else.

Yes, it's a dated future.

But is it entertaining?

Pretty much. No one went into this thinking they were making "2001", but are spots here and there where it looks like everyone was having a good time with the material. Especially Gil, who just plain has fun with his role as the 25th century's loosest guy.

Too bad they cut out Wiseman's work as King Draco. Some of his best stuff since "Dr. No".

Six stars. Here's to futures past.