Buck Rogers (TV Series 1979–1981)

Buck Rogers: Created by Glen A. Larson, Leslie Stevens. With Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Felix Silla, Mel Blanc. A 20th-century astronaut emerges out of 500 years of suspended animation into a future time to become Earth’s greatest hero.

“…but I donu0026#39;t regret it. Not too much, anyway. Yes, itu0026#39;s true. When the pilot episode was given a theatrical release I went and paid good money to watch it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAh well.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI wasnu0026#39;t too thrilled at the production values, but I still enjoyed it as a stand alone film. Iu0026#39;d seen the Bu0026amp;W Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials rerun on a couple of UHF stations, and figured Iu0026#39;d see an upgraded reprise of Buster Crabbeu0026#39;s role.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat the audience got was essentially a made for TV movie that would lead to a pretty fun series. I think the other commentators have got it right; the first season of this show was just good fun. A guy tuned in to see Gerard and Gray save Earth from sundry space-vixens and other off world baddies. The most notorious being Princess Ardala, played by the very talented and alluring Pamela Hensley. With the help of Dr. Heur, Theopolis and Twiki, Buck and Wilma thwarted the villains of the 25th century.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf the viewer tuned in to see some high brow brain-candy moral wrapped in science jargon, then he had the wrong show. Late 1970u0026#39;s Buck Rogers was about adventure, the perils and dazzling technology of the 25th century, lusty and dangerous space-babes, all pitted against a 20th century manu0026#39;s mettle and his equally gallant comrades.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut that was the first season. The second season took a page out of Roddenberryu0026#39;s play book, and transformed into this cheap u0026quot;Star Treku0026quot; knockoff, complete with a Spock-like character in the form of a man sporting a feathered wig, played by Thom Christopher. Buck was no longer bumping flirtatious intrigues with scantly clad space-babes with his daring-do, and Wilmau0026#39;s hard-nosed gut-driven u0026quot;I am 25th Century Woman, hear me roar!u0026quot; character was taken down a notch… that and she rarely wore her very appealing spandex uniform 🙂 u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn short, first season = Good: Second season = bleh.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;m not sure what went wrong. The fist season teetered on the high-kamp abyss, but Gil Gerard and Erin Gray had a kind of relaxed and realistic chemistry that helped bring the viewer into their world. The stories were out of Hollywood Formula 101, but they were fun, thrilling, and enjoyable. The action sequences, the alluring fashions of the 25th century, the concept of a man from our time roaming the far future, scantly clad space-vixens, it all adds up to a fun show, if somewhat far fetched… then again plausibility wasnu0026#39;t what Buck Rogers was all about.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis show couldu0026#39;ve really gone the distance with its original formula, and should have. Why the show changed for the second season is beyond me, because it didnu0026#39;t need to. Part of the attraction of Buck Rogers wasnu0026#39;t the u0026quot;scienceu0026quot; in this science-fiction show, but Buck and Wilmau0026#39;s daring-do. Whoever thought otherwise, and tried to turn Buck into a more u0026quot;seriousu0026quot; sci-fi venue, was dead wrong, and, as someone else said, quite thoroughly torpedoed the show by fixing it until it was broke.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;m not a big Glen Larson fan. u0026quot;Manimalu0026quot; and u0026quot;Automanu0026quot; come to mind, but if I had one wish, with regards to a TV show, it would be to go back in time and see to it that Larson continued producing u0026quot;Buck Rogersu0026quot; as he envisioned it for the first season. Heck, maybe I could save Dorothy Lee Stratten for another guest appearance on the show. But alas weu0026#39;re only left with the legacy of the first and second season of this very adventurous TV series.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWell, Larsonu0026#39;s helped relaunch BSG, and is now doing a u0026quot;Knight Rideru0026quot; revival… maybe he can give Buck Rogers another shot as well, only this time, if he does, letu0026#39;s hope heu0026#39;ll stick to his guns.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUntil then; so long, Buck.”