Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Returned to Earth 500 years later...
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was aired by NBC for two seasons between 1979 and 1981 there was also a feature film produced by Universal Studios and released in 1979.
The series was produced and created by Glen A. Larson (also responsible for Battlestar Gallactica and recycled not only many of the props but also some of the storylines.
The film and series were based upon the Buck Rogers character that had been featured in comic strips and novellas since the 1920s.
As with Battlestar Gallactica the series was inspired by the massive success of Star Wars two years earlier, the pilot film was first shown in cinemas in Spring 1979. Good box-office returns led NBC to commission a full series, which began on September 20, 1979.
The series centred on Captain William Anthony "Buck" Rogers, played by Gil Gerard, a U.S. Air Force pilot who commands Ranger 3, a space shuttle that is launched in 1987. Due to a life support mal-function, Rogers is frozen for 504 years before the derelict spacecraft is discovered in the year 2491.
He learns that the Earth was rebuilt following a devastating nuclear war on and is now under the protection of the Earth Defence Directorate.
The series follows him as he tries to fit, into 25th-Century culture. He was uniquely placed, due to his pilot and combat skills and personal ingenuity, to help Earth Defence foil assorted evil plots to destroy Earth. In many respects, the new Rogers was more similar to James Bond or Col. Steve Austin than to the original comic book character.
Rogers is aided in his adventures by his friend and on off romantic interest, Colonel Wilma Deering, (Erin Gray), and his comic sidekick robot, Twiki, voiced by Mel Blanc.
Twiki, a small robot or "ambuquad," tended to express himself with the exclamation "biddi-biddi-biddi" followed by a 20th-Century catchphrase he had picked up from Buck.
Dr. Theopolis, a computer, was a large disk with an illuminated face; he was usually worn by Twiki, and was considered one of the planet's scientific leaders.
Cast
* Gil Gerrard - Captain William Buck Rogers
* Erin Gray - Colonel Wilma Deering
* Tim O'Connor - Dr. Elias Huer (first season)
* Pamela Hensley as Princess Ardala (first season)
* Wilfrid Hyde-White - Dr. Goodfellow (second season)
* Thom Christopher - Hawk (second season)
* Jay Garner - Adm. Efrem Asimov (second season)
* Paul Carr - Lt. Devlin (second season)
* Felix Silla - Twiki (physical performance)
* Mel Blanc - Voice of Twiki
* Eric Server - Voice of Dr. Theopolis (first season)
* Jeff David - Voice of Crichton (second season)
* William Conrad - Narrator (first season)
Production of the second season was delayed due to an actors' strike. When production resumed in the fall of 1980, 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 the Earth spaceship, Searcher.
The Searcher, had a mission to seek out the lost "tribes" of humanity who had scattered in the decades after Earth's 20th century nuclear war, a theme which would appear to be borrowed from Battlestar Galactica.
As well as these parallels to Battlestar Gallactica the second season was felt by many to have clear comparisons to Star Trek, with the Searcher travelling through space like the Enterprise, Buck being the maverick explorer true to the style of Captain Kirk, and the serious, Hawk being a revamped version of Mr. Spock. William Conrad delivered the following opening narrative:
The year is 1987, and NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes. In a freak mishap, Ranger 3, and its pilot Captain William "Buck" Rogers, are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support system and returns Buck Rogers to Earth 500 years later.
