ShadeGrenade
With 'Star Wars' overtaking 'Jaws' in the summer of 1977 to become the most lucrative motion picture ever made, it was inevitable television would try and get in on the act. One year later, we got 'Battlestar Galactica' closely followed by 'Buck Rogers In The 25th Century', both produced by Glen A.Larson. 'Buck' had been created back in the 1930's by Philip Nowlan. He was originally a pilot who fell into suspended animation for 500 years, only to be then revived in the future ( Woody Allen's wonderful 'Sleeper' sent the whole thing up rotten in 1973 ) Larry 'Buster' Crabbe ( the original 'Flash Gordon' ) played him in a Universal R.K.O. movie serial.The 1979 incarnation was the handsome, charismatic Gil Gerard, who portrayed Rogers as a cross between James Bond and Han Solo. The opening episode begins with Rogers taking off in a space shuttle called Ranger 3 in 1987 A.D. only to then suffer a freak accident that causes him to be frozen in space. He is found by the gorgeous Princess Ardala ( Pamela Hensley ) of the Draconian Empire, on her way to Earth as part of a peace delegation. Thinking Buck to be a spy, they cast him back out into space. Rogers has been given medication which makes him seem drunk and he is in no fit state to defend himself when he is detected heading towards Earth. Colonel Wilma Deering ( Erin Gray ) of the Earth Defense Directorate brings Buck to New Chicago where he stands trial, accused for being a spy for the Draconians. 25th century Earth has undergone a few changes since Buck left - a nuclear war for instance - and computers are running everything. Some of the population lives like savages in the wilderness.Cleared, Buck is partnered not only with Wilma but also Twiki, a cute robot obviously inspired by C3PO and R2D2. Voiced by Mel Blanc and played by Felix Silla a.k.a 'Cousin Itt' of 'The Addams Family', Twiki managed on occasion to upstage the cast. The Earth Defense Directorate was commanded by the statesman-like 'Dr.Elias Huer' ( Tim O'Connor ). Over the course of the series, Buck fought space pirates, slave traders, would-be megalomaniacs, even a space vampire. Guest stars included Roddy McDowall, Jack Palance, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julie Newmar, Gary Coleman, Frank Gorshin, Peter Graves, and Cesar Romero. In a nice nod to the past, Buster Crabbe played 'Brigadier Gordon' in one episode. The show boasted superb special effects and fun story lines. Britain's I.T.V. screened it in the autumn of 1980 but were at a disadvantage because they did not have the rights to the pilot, so, crossing its fingers, kicked off with 'Planet Of The Slave Girls'. They need not have worried. 'Buck' became a smash-hit, earning itself a comic-strip in 'Look-In' ( followed by one in 'T.V. Tops' ) and its ratings overtook those of 'Dr.Who' ( then starring Tom Baker ) on B.B.C.-1. In 1980, Gil Gerard collected an award given to the show by readers of 'The T.V. Times'. No way was Buck serious sci-fi, but colourful escapism, light and easy to digest, perfect Saturday night entertainment. Such was its popularity that when I.T.V. ran out of Year 1 episodes, they went straight into Year 2, causing confusion amongst fans here. Incoming producer John Mantley ( creator of 'Gunsmoke' ) managed to ruin the show by turning it into a poor man's 'Star Trek', even going so far as to include a regular alien - 'Hawk' ( Thom Christopher ). The Earth was dropped as a setting in favour of 'The Searcher', a starship engaged on a mission to discover the lost tribes of Earth. Everything good about Year 1 was dumped, including Tim O'Connor, 'Dr.Theopolis', and - unforgivably - Pamela Hensley. The plots scraped the bottom of the sci-fi barrel ( the one decent effort was 'Testimony Of A Traitor' in which Buck was accused of starting the holocaust that destroyed Old Earth ), Twiki was given a new voice before regaining his old one after viewers' protests, and Buck lost his sense of humour. Worst of all, Wilma stopped wearing her spandex suits in favour of sailor outfits! Fans switched off in droves and the show was axed. It has been repeated many times since though, including B.B.C.-2 and the Sci-Fi Channel. If Buck is ever revived, it is fair to assume it won't much resemble the 1979 version given the current vogue for 'dark' superheroes. As Twiki would say: "What a bummer!".
Ben Burgraff (cariart)
What do you do when you served as Executive Producer to one of the decade's most expensive failures, and you have all these leftover props, costumes, sets, and special effects film footage lying around? If you're Glen Larson, and the failed series was "Battlestar Galactica", you consider producing another Science Fiction-themed series, less pretentious and more 'audience-friendly', that can utilize all the surplus......and in a very real sense, that's how "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" came to television, in 1979! Based, originally, on a 1928 short story, 'Buck Rogers' achieved his greatest fame in comic strips, radio, and a movie serial in the 1930s, but by 1979, the character had been 'retired' for 28 years, and Larson knew he could 'update' the story without arousing much controversy. The 'new' Buck was an astronaut piloting the last of Earth's 'Deep Space' probes, Ranger 3, in 1987(!), which was thrown off-course by a cosmic disturbance, and damaged, entering a centuries-long looping orbit back to Earth, and releasing a mix of gases that placed Rogers into suspended animation for 500 years. Revived by the evil Draconian Empire, Rogers soon is returned to an Earth in ruins after a nuclear holocaust, where he gradually earns the government's trust, and becomes a civilian 'troubleshooter', using his 20th century wiles to save Mankind, again and again.Casting was essential for the series to succeed, and Larson made an inspired choice in Gil Gerard, 36, as the lead. Ruggedly handsome, Gerard combined maturity with a boyish charm, and an ability to make even the most risqué remark seem unoffensive (and the series pilot, released theatrically, had a LOT of risqué remarks!) As Wilma Deering, a Colonel in Earth's Defense Force, Erin Gray, 29, was a bit wooden, but gloriously beautiful, and wholesomely sexy; Tim O'Connor, 52, as wise Dr. Huer, provided kind stability and statesman-like wisdom to the mix, and a goofy little robot, "Twiki", voiced by Mel Blanc, gave the kids something to enjoy (although he would utter an occasional risqué or ethnic aside, as well).The first season of "Buck Rogers", while certainly not 'Classic TV', offered an entertaining mix of adventure and comedy, with stories that intentionally avoided the 'heaviness' that plagued "Galactica". Rogers would face a variety of galactic terrorists, dictators, and madmen, fend off advances by a variety of scantily-clad women, and maintain a "Will they or Won't they?" relationship with Deering. High points were the guest appearances by Pamela Hensley as the evil but vampy Drackonian Princess Ardala, in huge head wear (and little else), and, in a wonderful cameo, the legendary Buster Crabbe, who'd played both "Buck Rogers" and "Flash Gordon" in the 1930s, as 'Brigadier Gordon'.While ratings were mediocre, at best, the series was renewed for a second season...and all the mistakes of "Galactica" were repeated, when the Earth-centered series was dropped, in favor of a starship-based, 'serious' adventure, as Buck and Wilma joined in a "Galactica"-like search for 'lost' tribes of humans who'd fled Earth at the time of the Holocaust. Why was the entire concept changed so abruptly, and disastrously? The reason I've been told, was that Gerard, a devout Christian, did not like the sexual undercurrent of the first season, and wanted stories that would be more uplifting and family-friendly, and that he forced the changes on a less-than-enthusiastic Glen Larson. Whether or not this was true, the season lacked all the swashbuckling joy of Season One, and despite an attempt to introduce a bird-like, stoic alien ('Hawk', portrayed by Thom Christopher), to attract the "Spock" crowd, the episodes were frequently dull and uninspired, and the ratings plummeted. When NBC canceled the series, just 13 episodes into Season Two, no one was truly surprised.While Gerard's post-"Buck Rogers" career was a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows, Erin Gray enjoyed a long, successful run on "Silver Spoons", and both actors, today, are popular Convention guests, as both "Buck Rogers" and Larson's "Battlestar Galactica" have achieved 'cult' status."Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" will never be held in the kind of esteem "Star Trek" or "Babylon 5" enjoy, but, as a rare chance to see how television viewed Science Fiction in the "Disco Decade", the series has earned it's own piece of immortality!
