The first made-for-TV movie was released theatrically in March 1979 as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.[2] The film made $21 million at the North American box office, prompting Universal to move ahead with a weekly series later that year. The film, which was also released internationally, featured all of the main protagonist characters who would appear in the weekly series, and also included Princess Ardala of the planet Draconia, and her henchman, Kane.
Series
The theatrical film also served as a pilot and two-part first episode for the series, entitled "Awakening". Several scenes were edited, some to remove the more adult dialogue in the film, including when Buck refers to Wilma as "ballsy", and later when he says "shit", and a scene in which Buck kills Ardala's henchman, Tiger Man, was edited to allow the character to return in later episodes.[4] Also, some new and extended scenes were added for the TV version, including several scenes within Buck's new apartment, which was the setting for a new final scene in which Dr. Huer and Wilma try to persuade Buck to join the Defense Directorate. This scene ends with Buck actually declining their offer, though he opts to join them in an unofficial capacity by the first episode of the series proper, "Planet of the Slave Girls". In this unofficial role, Buck does everything from acting as a covert agent on various undercover assignments to assisting Wilma as a flight/combat instructor. Buck is, most often, partnered with Wilma, with whom he often shares a flirtatious relationship.
Including the two-part pilot episode, the first season comprised 24 episodes, with four of the stories being two-parters. The tone of the series was lighter than the pilot movie, and showed a more positive picture of future Earth. The Inner City was now known as New Chicago, and human civilization was established as having spread once again across the planet, and also to the stars. After the movie pilot, no reference to barren radioactive wastelands was made, and in several episodes, the world outside is shown as lush and green. The mutants seen in the pilot film were no longer seen, and Buck sometimes ventured outside New Chicago with no hazards encountered. As opposed to the isolationist planet seen in the film, Earth no longer has an invisible defense shield surrounding it and is shown to be the center of an interstellar, human-dominated government, sometimes called "the Federation" or "the Alliance", with its capital at New Chicago. During the first season, references were also made to other "new" Earth cities such as New Detroit, New Manhattan, New Phoenix, New Tulsa, Boston Complex, and New London. A "City-on-the-Sea" was also seen, mentioned as being the former New Orleans.
Wilma Deering and Dr. Huer were the only Defense Directorate personnel seen in every episode, though several others were seen in individual episodes. Most Defense Directorate personnel regard Buck as being at least an "honorary" captain, in reference to his 20th-century U.S. military rank, but his membership in Earth's defense forces is unofficial. Nevertheless, Buck often flies with the fighter squadrons, and uses his 20th-century U.S. Air Force background to assist in their training. Dr. Huer regularly meets, greets, and otherwise deals with representatives of other sovereign powers. Huer was also seen in military uniform (at formal occasions), thus indicating he is or was a member of the military.
Travel between the stars was accomplished with the use of "stargates" - artificially created portals in space (similar in appearance to wormholes), but referred to as "warp" travel on at least one occasion by Wilma Deering. Stargates appear as a diamond-shaped quartet of brilliant lights in space that shimmer when a vessel is making transit. Some people find the transit through a stargate to be physically unpleasant (transit resembling a "spinning" of the spacecraft). Buck's dislike of them is shown in part one of the episode "Planet of the Slave Girls" and again in part two of the episode "The Plot to Kill a City".
To portray futuristic-looking buildings on Earth, the show used stock shots of the remaining national pavilions of Expo 67, particularly the French and British pavilions, as well as shots of the Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Juanin Clay, who played Major Marla Landers in the first-season episode "Vegas in Space", was originally cast as Wilma for the TV series (Erin Gray had initially opted not to return after the pilot film, but she later changed her mind). Wilma's personality was softened considerably in the series. While she was still seen as a strong, confident and consummate professional in her work, she had a much more relaxed attitude and a warmer relationship with Buck. A potentially romantic relationship between Buck and Wilma was hinted at, but rarely expanded upon, and in the first season, Buck was involved (to some degree) with a different woman almost every week. Producers demanded that Wilma have blonde hair, so dye jobs were needed to lighten Erin Gray's brunette locks. During the final episodes of the first season, Gray was allowed to return to her natural hair color, and Wilma was dark-haired throughout season two. Buck's best-known enemy during the first season was Princess Ardala, played by Pamela Hensley, whose desire was to conquer and possess both Earth and Buck himself. She appeared in four separate stories, including the pilot film, two single episodes ("Escape from Wedded Bliss" and "Ardala Returns"), and the two-part first-season finale ("Flight of the War Witch").
The opening title sequence for the series included stock footage from the Apollo 4 and Apollo 6 launches.
The series had an overall budget of $800,000 per hour of air time, according to Starlog issue #32 (March 1980).[5] Former actor Jock Gaynor served as producer for 20 episodes. Although reasonably popular with viewers, the first season failed to receive much critical acclaim. One vocal critic of the series was Gerard himself, who pushed for more serious storytelling and often clashed with the producers and the network (NBC) over the show's tone and handling. He often arbitrarily refused to perform some of the more comical lines in the scripts he was given, complaining that Buck was just a "wise-ass" who was making one joke after another, and often rewrote scripts himself to place more emphasis on his own character at the expense of others (for example, in the episode "Escape From Wedded Bliss", the script originally called for Buck to be rescued from the Draconians at the end by Wilma, but Gerard vetoed the idea).[6] Unhappy with the show's direction, Gerard became increasingly difficult to work with, which led to tensions on set. A meeting between writers/script editors Anne Collins and Alan Brennert and him went badly, and they quit the show midway through the first season. Gerard himself was threatened with legal action by the network if he continued to cause problems and hinder the production. In the November 1980 issue of Starlog, Gerard even said he had hoped the series would not be picked up for a second season because he had no wish to go through another season like the first one.[7]
Second season
Production of the second season was delayed by several months due to the 1980 actors strike. When production resumed in the fall of 1980, the series had a new set of producers (headed by John Mantley, who had primarily worked on television Westerns) and the format of the series was changed. Instead of defending the Earth from external threats, Buck, Wilma, and Twiki were now a part of a crew aboard an Earth spaceship called the Searcher on a mission to seek out the lost "tribes" of humanity who had scattered in the five centuries since Earth's 20th-century nuclear war, a theme present in Glen A. Larson's previous science-fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica.
Another notable change in the second season was the disappearance of many of the regular characters of the first season, such as Dr. Huer, Dr. Theopolis, Princess Ardala, and Kane. However, several new characters were added:
Admiral Efram Asimov (Jay Garner) is the commander of the Searcher and a descendant of the famous science-fiction author Isaac Asimov.
Hawk (Thom Christopher) is an alien character who represents the last of the nearly extinct bird people.[8]
Dr. Goodfellow (Wilfrid Hyde-White) is an elderly scientist with insatiable curiosity.
Crichton (voiced by Jeff David) is a snobbish robot built by Goodfellow, but finds believing that lowly humans could have built him to be difficult.
The character of Wilma Deering was softened in the second season as the producers attempted to tone down the militaristic "Colonel Deering" image (who often gave Buck orders) and to make her more feminine.[9] Another change in the second season was the sound of Twiki's voice. Because of illness, Mel Blanc was briefly replaced by Bob Elyea as the voice of Twiki for the first seven episodes of the second season. After recovering, Blanc returned to the role for the final six episodes of the season, though no explanation was given for the change in Twiki's voice.
The substance of the storylines also changed in the second season. Less emphasis was placed on militaristic ideals and, with a few exceptions, Gerard scaled back the humor in the second season in favor of more serious episodes (with the final episode of the series ending on a somber note as a result). Buck and Wilma's relationship became slightly more romantic during the second year, though most romantic activity was implied and took place off-screen.
In addition to its parallels to Larson's previous television series Battlestar Galactica, the second season is similar in theme to Star Trek, with the Searcher roaming through space much like the USS Enterprise had, Buck being the maverick explorer true to the style of Captain James T. Kirk, and the serious, rather stoic Hawk being a revamped version of Mr. Spock. Even Wilma, to some extent, had been remodeled after Lt. Uhura from Star Trek, often dressed in a miniskirt uniform and regularly sitting at a communications console on the bridge of the Searcher.
Although initially pleased with the change in personnel, Gerard again became unhappy with the show. At the time of production, Gerard spoke highly of new showrunner John Mantley, but in a retrospective article in the mid-1990s, he was more critical of him and the Star Trek-esque style of the second season.[10] Ratings dropped significantly after the season premiere, and coupled with an increasingly problematic star, NBC cancelled the series at the end of an 11-episode, strike-abbreviated season. No finale storyline was produced, with the final episode broadcast being a normal standalone episode.
Inspired by the success of Star Wars, Universal began developing Buck Rogers for television, spearheaded by Glen A. Larson, who had a production deal with the studio. Production began in 1978. Initially, Larson and Universal had planned on making a series of Buck Rogers TV movies for NBC. The pilot for Larson's other science-fiction series, Battlestar Galactica (1978), had been released theatrically in some countries and in key locations in North America, and had done well at the box office. Universal then opted to release the first Buck Rogers TV movie theatrically on March 30, 1979. Good box-office returns led NBC to commission a weekly series, which began on September 20, 1979, with a slightly modified version of the theatrical release.[11]
The production recycled many of the props, effects shots, and costumes from Battlestar Galactica, which was still in production at the time the pilot for Buck Rogers was being filmed. For example, the "landram" vehicle was made for the Galactica series, and the control sticks used in the Terran starfighters in the pilot movie were the same as those used in Galactica's Viper craft. The Terran starfighters were also concept designer Ralph McQuarrie's original vision of the Colonial Vipers.
The new series centered on Captain William Anthony "Buck" Rogers (played by Gil Gerard), a NASA/USAF pilot who commands Ranger 3, a spacecraft that is launched in May 1987. Due to a life-support malfunction, Buck is accidentally frozen for 504 years before his spacecraft is discovered adrift in 2491. The combination of gases that froze his body coincidentally comes close to the formula commonly used in the 25th century for cryopreservation, and his rescuers are able to revive him. He learns that civilization on Earth was rebuilt following a devastating nuclear war (later established as occurring on November 22, 1987), and is now under the protection of the Earth Defense Directorate.
The series followed him as he tried (not always successfully) to fit into 25th-century culture. Even though no traceable personal records of him remained, he was uniquely qualified, due to his pilot and combat skills and personal ingenuity, to help Earth Defense foil assorted evil plots to conquer the planet. In many respects, this version of Buck Rogers was more similar to James Bond or Steve Austin than Nowlan's original character, and Buck often went undercover on various covert missions. Buck is aided in his adventures by his friend and sometimes romantic interest, Colonel Wilma Deering (played by Erin Gray), a high-ranking officer and starfighter pilot. He is also assisted by Twiki, a small robot or "ambuquad", as they were known. Twiki was played mainly by Felix Silla and voiced mainly by Mel Blanc (who had previously voiced Daffy Duck as Duck Dodgers in spoofs of the early Buck Rogers and other science-fiction serials) using a gruff voice very similar to the one he used for Barnyard Dawg. Twiki became Buck's comic sidekick and communicated with an electronic noise that sounded like "biddi-biddi-biddi", but also spoke English (usually preceded by "biddi-biddi-biddi-biddi"). Twiki's English often consisted of 20th-century slang that he learned from Buck. Also aiding Buck was Dr. Theopolis or "Theo" (voiced by Eric Server), a sentient computer in the shape of a disk about 9 inches in diameter with an illuminated face. He was capable of understanding Twiki's electronic language, and was usually carried around his neck. Theo was a member of Earth's "computer council" and one of the planet's scientific leaders. During the first season, Buck and Wilma took their orders from Dr. Elias Huer, played by Tim O'Connor, the head of the Defense Directorate. Some episodes suggested Huer was the leader of the entire planet, though this was never made completely clear.
The series' chief villain (at least in the first season) was Princess Ardala (played by Pamela Hensley), whose goal was to conquer the Earth while making Buck her consort. She was aided by her henchman Kane (played in the pilot film by Henry Silva and in the series by Michael Ansara). All of these characters were featured in the original comic strip except for Dr. Theopolis and Twiki (whose closest counterpart in earlier versions would likely be Buck's human sidekick, Buddy Wade). Kane (or Killer Kane as he was then known) was also featured in the 1939 film serial, and was actually the chief villain himself, rather than Ardala's henchman (Ardala did not appear in the film serial).
The pilot film depicted human civilization as fairly insular, with an invisible defense shield that surrounded the entire planet, protecting it from invaders. Civilization was restricted to a few cities; the main city seen in the pilot and weekly series was New Chicago, which was also known as the Inner City. Travel beyond the Inner City was hazardous, as much of the planet was said to be a radioactive wasteland inhabited by violent mutants (as Buck discovered when he visited the derelict remains of old Chicago). The TV series depicted a rather more robust Earth; it still had desolate regions, but additional cities were also featured, such as a 25th century version of New Orleans. The series also had numerous episodes set on other inhabited planets, with the introduction of "stargates" that allowed for quick transportation between different star systems.
The series was originally shown in the UK by ITV, beginning on 30 August 1980 from 6:15pm–8:00pm, with the feature-length, two-part episode "Planet of the Slave Girls" (the pilot film, which had been released theatrically in Britain in summer 1979, was not actually shown on British television until September 1982). ITV continued to broadcast Buck Rogers in an early Saturday-evening slot, usually from 5:45pm–6:45pm, where it competed against, and beat, the BBC's long-running science-fiction series Doctor Who in the ratings for 16 straight weeks from 30 August to 13 December 1980. Doctor Who had also started its 18th season broadcast on 30 August 1980.[12] As a similar effect had occurred a few times in previous years, such as when several ITV regional stations had screened Man from Atlantis against Doctor Who from September to December 1977, the success of Buck Rogers in the ITV ratings prompted the BBC to move Doctor Who to earlier time slots on Saturday starting on 11 October 1980, so that it would start slightly earlier than Buck Rogers thus give it an advantage. However, the move had no effect and Buck Rogers continued to dominate Doctor Who in the ratings battle. When Buck Rogers returned to the ITV airwaves on 7 February 1981 after an 8-week break, it was no longer directly up against Doctor Who, with Buck Rogers in its usual 5:45pm–6:45pm slot and Doctor Who having been moved back to 5:10pm–5:35pm. Regardless, the BBC opted to move Doctor Who to new weekday slots for its next season in 1982, even though Buck Rogers had been cancelled in the US by then.
The BBC aired the Buck Rogers series on BBC Two in 1989 and again in 1995-1996. The (now defunct) Forces TV channel later broadcast the show several times from November 2018.[13]
The series also aired in Canada on CTV, on the same day and time as the NBC airings.
Home media
The theatrical version of the pilot film was released on VHS, Betamax, and Laserdisc in 1981. A handful of the episodes were issued in the US in 1985 by MCA Home Video: "Vegas in Space", "Space Vampire", "Return of the Fighting 69th", "Unchained Woman", "A Blast for Buck", "Happy Birthday Buck", "Space Rockers", and "The Guardians". In 1987, a single episode, "Ardala Returns", was released by Goodtimes Home Video, a budget release company. The same MCA tapes were re-released in the late 1990s. In other countries, several series episodes were released on VHS in the late 1990s. Australia released 10 volumes, covering all first-season episodes through "Space Rockers".
Universal Studios released the complete series on DVD in North America (Region 1) on November 16, 2004. While it does contain every episode from both seasons, the pilot episode included is the theatrical version and not the TV version. The set contains five double-sided discs.[14][15]
The series was released on DVD in Europe (Region 2), though each season was released separately as opposed to in one set like the Region 1 release. Season one was released on November 22, 2004, and season two on October 31, 2005, neither of which had the same cover artwork or menu screens as the Region 1 release. Notable differences are the addition of subtitles for various European languages.
On January 24, 2012, Universal Studios re-released season one as a six-disc set in North America. The discs were single-sided for this release, in contrast to the double-sided discs released in 2004. Season two was re-released with single-sided discs on January 8, 2013. As a bonus feature, the second-season set includes the television version of the original pilot film, "Awakening", the first time this version has been released on DVD.[16]
On August 17, 2016, Madman Entertainment released the series on Blu-ray to Australia and New Zealand in 1080p. The eight-disc set includes each episode in HD. Extras include theatrical version of the pilot episode and feature-length version of "Flight of the War Witch" (both in standard definition), the syndicated two-part version of "Journey to Oasis" (in HD), textless opening and closing credits sequences, opening credits without voice-over narration, and isolated music and effects audio tracks on each episode.[17] The Blu-ray sets have been released in various other countries since.
As of 2019, all the episodes are available for streaming for free on the NBC app.
Kino Lorber announced a Region 1 Blu-ray set to be released on November 24, 2020. It includes the movie (in HD for the first time on home media) and seasons one and two.
Reception
Contemporary assessments of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century were generally mixed. In his book Sci-Fi TV from Twilight Zone to Deep Space Nine, writer James Van Hise claimed the show's scripts "just never took advantage of what they had at hand" and criticized Larson's version of Buck Rogers as a cynical attempt to exploit one of the most loved characters in American popular culture.[18] John Javna's book The Best of Science Fiction TV included Buck Rogers in the 25th Century on its list of the "Worst Science Fiction Shows of All Time" (along with The Starlost, Space: 1999, and Manimal).[19] Journalist Bill Lengeman also strongly criticized the program, stating "the acting is so wooden that Ed Wood himself (no pun intended) would surely have gone weak in the knees and wept openly upon witnessing it." Lengemen also called the Buck Rogers episode "Space Rockers" the worst episode of TV science fiction he had ever seen.[20] On a more positive note, writing in the UK's Observer newspaper in October 1980 (shortly after the series began showing there), journalist Clive James stated, "the best comic-strip science fiction on at the moment is Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. The hardware looks good and Wilma Deering looks simply sensational, like Wonder Woman with brains."[21]
Filmink thought the series did not live up to its pilot, in particular the Buck-Wilma-Ardala triangle, arguing "the writers forgot the simple motivations and characterisations. Poor old Wilma was disempowered and shunted to the side, where she held Buck’s water while he had adventures and was thus no threat to Ardala (this was reportedly due to Gil Gerard’s sulking over the prominence given to Wilma on the show). They also forgot Ardala’s motivation was to use Buck politically to get an edge on her 23 siblings, not just because she found him hot. Pamela Hensley was everything you wanted in a silly '70s sci-fi epic and on one hand the producers knew it (they kept bringing her back), but on the other they didn't know how to exploit it."[22]
Two novels were published by Dell Publishing based on this series, both by Addison E. Steele. The first (ISBN0-440-10843-8) was a novelization of the pilot film. The second, That Man on Beta (ISBN0-440-10948-5), was adapted from an unproduced episode script. A fumetti book entitled Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was published by Fotonovel Publications in 1979, reproducing the theatrical version of the pilot episode.
Two sets of action figures were produced by Mego, including a 12-in line and a series of 3.75-in figures and scaled spaceships.[23] Milton-Bradley produced a Buck Rogers board game and a series of jigsaw puzzles. Other companies produced a variety of tie-ins. Monogram produced 1/48-scale, injection-molded model kits of the Earth Defense Directorate Starfighter and the Draconian Marauder from 1979 through 1981.[24] Die-cast toys were released by Corgi, Topps trading cards, and a painted metal lunch box.[25]
^Leyland, Andrew (October 14, 2014). "Revisiting Buck Rogers in the 25th Century". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved December 2, 2016. 1) "The fight between Buck and the mutants is longer in the theatrical version and a little more violent, and a line of dialogue in which Buck describes Wilma as 'ballsy' was omitted from the TV version." 2) "The theatrical version differs again here from the TV version with Buck saying 'shit' at one point during the fight and then clearly taking Tiger Man out with a well-placed kick to the Johnson and then, rather brutally, blowing him to pieces. Needless to say, these moments were trimmed for TV."
^Houston, David (March 1980). "Paul Peter: Art Director for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (interview)". Starlog (32). Starlog Group, Inc.: 41–45.
^Florence, Bill (October 1996). "Bringing Up Buck". Starlog (231). Starlog Group, Inc.: 67.
^Willson, Karen E. (November 1980). "The 25th Century That Almost Wasn't - An Interview with Gil Gerard". Starlog (40). Starlog Group, Inc.: 52–56.
^Willson, Karen E. (October 1980). "With Changes Coming Fast and Heavy...(interview with Erin Gray)". Starlog (39). Starlog Group, Inc.: 17–20.
^Florence, Bill (November 1996). "Rogers Over and Out". Starlog (232). Starlog Group, Inc.: 67.
^Houston, David (April 1979). "Buck Rogers Becomes The Movie". Starlog (21). Starlog Group, Inc.
^TV listings for Saturday August 30, 1980, available from BBC Genome (http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/) for BBC and various newspaper online archives for ITV.
Interview with Erin Gray on the podcast The Future and You (anecdotes about how she broke into Hollywood and how she feels about being remembered as Wilma Deering)
