Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series)

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is the title of an American motion picture produced by Universal Studios and released in 1979, and is also the title of a television series based upon the film that was aired by NBC for two seasons between 1979 and 1981.

Concept and broadcast history

The pilot film was first shown in cinemas in Spring 1979. Good box-office returns led NBC to commission a full series, which started in September 1979 with a modified version of the pilot film, which omitted the death of one character (Tiger Man, Ardala's henchman), and added footage to help launch the series. The production obviously used recycled props and costumes from Battlestar Galactica (1978). For example, the control sticks used in the starfighters in this series were the same as those used in Battlestar Galactica's Viper craft. The Earth starfighters were Ralph McQuarrie's original vision of the Colonial Vipers.

Related Topics:
1979 - Battlestar Galactica (1978) - Ralph McQuarrie

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The new series centered on Captain William "Buck" Rogers, played by Gil Gerard, a US Air Force pilot who commands Ranger 3, a space shuttle that is launched in 1987. Due to a freak combination of gases, he is frozen in space for 500 years and is revived in the 25th century. There, he learns that the Earth was united following a devastating nuclear war in the late 20th century, and is now under the protection of the Earth Defense Forces.

Related Topics:
Gil Gerard - US Air Force - Space shuttle - 1987 - 25th century - Earth - Nuclear war - 20th century

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The series followed him as he tried to fit (not always successfully) into 25th-century culture. As there were no traceable personal records for him, he was uniquely placed, due to his pilot and combat skills and personal ingenuity, to help Earth Defense foil assorted evil plots to destroy Earth. In many respects, the new Rogers was more similar to Col. Steve Austin than to Nowlan's original character. Rogers is aided in his adventures by his friend and semi-romantic interest, Colonel Wilma Deering, played by Erin Gray, and his comic sidekick robot, Twiki, voiced by Mel Blanc (who had previously voiced Daffy Duck as Duck Dodgers in spoofs of the early Buck Rogers and other science fiction serials).

Related Topics:
Col. Steve Austin - Erin Gray - Twiki - Mel Blanc - Daffy Duck - Duck Dodgers - Science fiction

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Twiki, a small robot, tended to express himself with the ejaculation "biddi-biddi-biddi" followed by a 20th-century cliché or catchphrase he had picked up from Buck, or one he already knew from before he met Buck. Dr. Theopolis, a robot, was a large disk with an illuminated face; he was usually worn by Twiki, and was considered one of the planet's scientific leaders. During the first season, Rogers and Deering took their orders from Dr. Elias Huer, played by Tim O'Connor, the head of the Defense Directorate. Some episodes also depicted Huer as the leader of the entire planet. One notable character from the comic strip omitted from the series was that of "Black Barney".

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The pilot film depicted human civilization as insular and restricted to a few domed cities, its capital referred to as the Inner City. Travel beyond the Inner City was hazardous, as the rest of the planet was said to be a wasteland inhabited by violent mutants.

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The series showed a more positive picture of future Earth. The Inner City was renamed New Chicago, and it was established that human civilization had spread once again across the planet, and also to the stars. Little reference to barren wastelands was made; in several episodes Buck ventures beyond the dome of New Chicago with no hazards encountered. As opposed to the isolationist planet seen in the film, Earth is shown to be the center of an interstellar human-dominated government, sometimes called "the Federation", other times "the Alliance", with its capital at New Chicago. Travel between the stars was accomplished with the use of stargates; these devices were only shown as a diamond-shaped quartet of stars that shimmered when a vessel was making transit. To protray futuristic-looking buildings on Earth, the show used stock shots of the remaining national pavillions of Expo 67, particularly the French and British pavillions.

Related Topics:
Stargate - Expo 67

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In the first season Buck had a different girlfriend every week. A relationship with Wilma was hinted at, but rarely expanded upon. His best-known enemy during the first year the sexy Princess Ardala of Draconia, played by Pamela Hensley, whose insatiable desire was to conquer and possess both the Earth and Buck Rogers.

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Although popular with viewers, the first season failed to receive much critical acclaim; it was seen as being too light-hearted and comic bookish. One vocal critic of the series was Gil Gerard, who pushed for more serious storytelling for the show's second year.

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