1979’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century rode the Star Wars phenomena wave to television and delivered some campy fun when at its best.
What Is It?
Due to a malfunction on his ship, NASA astronaut Captain William “Buck” Rogers gets trapped in suspended animation in orbit in 1987 and wakes up five hundred years later. Once revived, he teams up with Colonel Wilma Deering of the Earth defense force to tackle threats to the planet such as Killer Kane of the Draconian Empire and more.
Aired: 1979-81, NBC, 2 Seasons Totaling 37 Episodes
Starring: Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Tim O’Connor, Thom Christopher, Felix Sila
Developed By: Glen A. Larson, Leslie Stevens
Legacy:
This was a rare big-budget sci fi TV entry for the late ’70s that delivered high camp, but it could be pretty fun when at its best and many still have fond memories of the show.
A Closer Look:
This was the second attempt by a television network to capitalize on the late-70s Star Wars phenomenon (the first, Battlestar: Galactica, also came from Glen A. Larson), and it seemed poised for success when it debuted in the Fall of 1979. The show didn’t take itself too seriously, but the better episodes early on had plenty of appeal for sci fi fans, and the show’s general sense of fun and adventure–with space battles, spandex-clad women, and wise-cracking robots–helped draw in a wider audience. Gil Gerard did a good job of playing the lead with tongue firmly planted in cheek while Erin Gray held her own as a strong female lead even if they did clad her in tight spandex all too often. But diminishing returns set in pretty quickly, and the declining quality of the scripts hastened the trend of viewers defecting from the show.
The show did get a second season renewal, just barely, but it went through a reboot that did little to help its prospects. In its second year, Buck Rogers became an ersatz version of Star Trek meets Battlestar: Galactica and lost its sense of fun as it dislodged its tongue from cheek and attempted Trek-like morality plays but without the quality of writing that the Roddenberry show was known for. An important lesson here is that if you have bad scripts, it’s best not to take yourself seriously. Unfortunately the show did not follow that advice and it also wasted its one good addition, the character of Hawk played by Thom Christopher (while channeling Trek‘s Spock). Still, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century had some good moments (very few in its second season, though), and many people have fond memories of it from the late ’70s and early ’80s. Improved scripts and a continued focus on humor could have made this a better show overall, but it’s still worth checking out for some light-hearted sci fi TV and retro fun.
Cancelled Too Soon?
Yes, though maybe mercifully. The show just barely got the greenlight for renewal due to its declining viewership, and the reboot it went through did little to help bring back the audience. The second season was already cut short due to a writers’ strike and some of those episodes are nearly unwatchable. If it had continued in the more serious vein, that would have done nothing to improve its legacy, so it was probably best that the network cut it off when it did.
Should It Be Rebooted?
There was an attempt to revive the Buck Rogers character as a web series in 2009 by James Cawley, the guy who produced and starred in (as Captain Kirk) the fan-made Star Trek: Phase II web series. He planned on hearkening back to the original comic strip and serial and he even produced the short teaser above that featured Gil Gerard and Erin Gray as Buck’s parents. But things apparently fell through, and nothing more has come of the web-series.
But a reboot of this property would still be welcome because its Buck Rogers! And how is it that we do not have a decent series (or even movie) with this character by now, especially with all the advancements in special effects? The entertainment industry loves name recognition and Buck Rogers is known worldwide. You don’t have to do much explaining with this character and you can take him in any of a number of directions. The reboot could pay homage to the original comic strip and movie serial and also take a similar tongue-in-cheek approach to the ’70s series (just hire some decent writers). It could also go the darker, Battlestar: Galactica reboot direction, but then we have more than enough grim sci fi/fantasy on television at the moment, and The Orville has shown the right way to do a fun and clever genre show. There were some talks of a Buck Rogers movie a while back, but nothing appears to be moving quickly on that front, so a TV version would definitely be welcome.
Interesting Facts:
Series star Gil Gerard actually was a strong driving force for the changes that occurred during the show’s second season. He did not like the lighter tone of the first year and had even said in an interview with Starlog magazine that he had hoped it would get cancelled after its first season. Apparently NBC execs agreed that a change of tone was needed for the show, but what it really could have used was better writers.
The pilot movie was released theatrically, mostly in the Northern U.S. and in Canada. That was done as an attempt to recover some of the budget since it was expensive to produce.
This was not the first Buck Rogers series to air on television. A low budget, kiddie-space-opera was produced in 1950 that lasted two seasons and 36 episodes. You can read more about that at CancelledSciFi.com.
Where Can You Watch It?
The series has been released on DVD and Blu-ray. It is not currently streaming on any of the major services, but you can track down episodes on YouTube.
