WTF Happened to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century? (1979)
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- In 1977, a little movie called Star Wars came out and quickly kicked off a sci-fi craze. Within two years, theatres were packed with Star Wars imitators, which extended to the small screen with Battlestar: Galactica and the show we’re talking about this week on Gone But Not Forgotten Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Starring Gil Gerard as a 20th-century astronaut who winds up frozen for 500 years, only to awaken in the 25th Century where he does battle with the Draconian battle fleet, who seek to take over earth, the show had an interesting route to the small screen. Based on the classic character featured in comic strips and serials, the pilot film for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was released as a theatrical feature by Universal Pictures several months before the show made its debut. Grossing a very respectable $21 million, all signs pointed towards a long run on TV, but alas, just like its sister show Battlestar: Galactica (also from producer Glen A. Larson), it only ran for two seasons before being cancelled. Join us on this episode of Gone But Not Forgotten as we look back at this campy space classic.
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In the absence of a new series of Buck Rogers, we did get a show which very much embodied the spirit and vibe of Buck; Farscape.
Which had some nods from Blake's 7 as well 😊
I can agree with that assessment.
The feature film was the best version with the Chicago ruins and Buck seeing what happened to earth.
As a kid I thought it was great all the way through. As an adult I only have season 1 on DVD.
🤠😂
Of any sci-fi series I want to be rebooted, this would be it!
Ahhh yes. My first crush: Erin Gray
Loved the show. Only thing that was confusing to me - a kid growing up on the Space Coast - was how NASA fit an STS orbiter onto a Saturn V rocket.
i loved this show as a kid
what happeend to the sound at 16:51? Only saw the movie a couple of times in the theater and could not believe how quickly it showed up on TV ... the series did not come out for a long time in my corner of the world back then
Season 2 was abysmal.
Loved this show
i looked its not on tubi
45 years later, I still enjoy season 1, season 2???? 4get about it!!!!!
Full agree. S2 was terrible. Even by my standards as a kid who loved anything scifi back then.
I vaguely remember the show but one thing I'm sure of, I loved it. Judging from the scenes, I remember the show mostly from the first season. I'll pretend the second season never happened.
I very much remember the show. It was a major part of my scifi watching childhood. Along with Star Trek TOS, Space 1999, UFO, and Battlestar Galactica.
And I full agree, I pretend the 2nd season never happe ed.
Oh, how they ruined that show
Season 1 while clichés, was fun. Season 2 was awful.......but not as bad as Galactica 1980.
Agreed , although 1980 had 1 good episode (when starbuck returns and gets stuck on a planet with a cylon that's lost its directives)
@Cycle.every.day. Yes the Starbuck episode was the only good thing about 1980. I was in middle school at the time.....but if this were to air nowadays.....that episode was so disconnected from the rest of 1980. Wonder why.
They did Erin Gray dirty due to Gerard's ego.
Elevating Deering was not bad but write her to complement Buck (not compliment) and ensure both had a chance to shine.
Yeah, S2 really did her bad.
But the understanding I had was the (new) show runners for S2 wanted to drop
Wilma's character for reasons.
It was Gil who stepped in to have her kept on the show. But the only way the show runners would allow it was if her character was toned down....severely.
Hence she became little more than a stewardess.
@@DocMicrowaveIt's easy to imagine Gerard ranting for an entire season about how dare sometimes Wilma saved the day instead of him 🙄 to the point that the first show runner had to leave. So when the new guy, who seems to have been a relic of the 50s and 60s, showed up saying "we'll do whatever makes you happy Gil! We'll get rid of Wilma!" Then Gerard says "well, you don't have to get rid of her. Just keep her in her place." Suddenly he gets his way and gets to look like a supportive guy.
@@grannyweatherwax8005 Fair to say. But if Gerard didn't put in a word for her in S2, she would not have been there at all.
Not that it matter, her demotion to stewardess was just as bad. At least she wasn't kicked to the street.
I loved this show. One of the only times I remember going to the movies with my Dad. He was a fan of the serials. I was all in. Loved the movie and the TV show. Christmas '79 was all about Buck. I got all the figures.
The lesson learned was there was only one Star Wars. The attempts to cash in on its popularity all fell short.
Not to say some were entertaining, but just that even the successful ones could not come close to the money machine that was Star Wars.
Black Hole failed. Flash Gordon failed.
Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactic were considered box office successes and their respective first seasons are viewed positively both now and at the time. But not enough to justify the money it cost to produce. Thus watered down (cheap to produce) terrible second seasons for both.
Even Star Trek was viewed as a disappointment at the time because it didn’t even get a whiff of Star Wars box office or merchandise. Despite that, it was only Star Trek that was able to sustain into the 80s. Once Hollywood saw it could not cash in on Star Wars inspired sci/fi the market dried up by 1984 with the failures of Dune and Last Starfighter.
It would not be until 1996 and Independence Day when sci/fi space inspired Hollywood film would return to the big screen and do big box office.
Raise your hand if you watched this as a kid and developed a lifelong crush on Erin Gray
The show really jumped the shark in the second season. They got rid of all the space battles, brawls and scantily clad women, even Buck and Twiki lost their sense of humor. The only episodes I really did like for that season was Time Of The Hawk and The Satyr.
Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica both had a great first season and a crap second season that's best forgotten.
A never forgettable show, it was so much fun to watch! Erin Grey was also too hot to forget, especially when she had to deal with the "Off-Think" problem!
Ahhh , the days when the future could be saved by an unreconstructed trucker from the 70's
Even as a kid I found the season 2...uneven. I loved Hawk and still think he was a great character, and I liked "Time Of The Hawk", but “Journey to Oasis” started strong then got increasingly goofy and the whole series went downhill from there.
Journey to Oasis bugged me because the Searcher was supposed to be a exploration ship first with limited armory, but only had one shuttle in tense war zone!
Yeah, S1 was great, S2 was pretty awful, but for Hawk, who I personally thought was cool as a kid watching at the time
Remember it well from its first time on UK TV me and my brother where big fans 👍
I’m old enough to have seen Buck Rogers when it aired but I have no memory of that. I watched the reruns of course. The episode where everyone has the same face scared the hell out of me!
Did they ever complete the web series? I heard they filmed the scenes with Gerard and Grey, but I never saw anything else about it besides that scene and a teaser.
In the comic strip Buck never goes to space. What’s left of America had been taken over by the Mongolian Empire. Wilma was a rebel freedom fighter fighting against them. They had jump belts which allowed them to jump incredibly high and for a great distance. Always thought that was a cool concept I’d like to see in a future production. As the strip was done during the time of the “yellow scare,” the Mongols could easily be changed to an alien race. But it’d be great to see that adapted for the big screen!
The 180 degree change from season 1 to season 2 was nuts. It was like 2 completely different shows. As a kid it was traumatizing. It was like they took something great and just blew it up and punted.
So Gil Gerard and sexism are partly to blame for the disastrous season 2? And some fossil who worked on fifties westerns. Ugh. Disappointing, but it figures.
WTF happened to season 2? Good old studio interference.
Ah yes, Erin Gray, my first TV crush
There is only a good episode in the second season: Testimony of a Traitor.
I remember this show when I was 8 years old back in 79. I didn't like the changes in season 2, pulling a Battlestar Galactica. On the plus column, Erin Gray has great pair of legs. We'll never know that Buck and Wilma ever hooked up.
Watched this recently, hadn’t seen it since the original. Made it to about half way in season 1, I spontaneously grew a velour leisure suit, disco started playing and all my shirts grew these weird huge collars.
😊fun tv show
One of the scenes that most aroused me in a confused way as a kid was the S2 ep where the psychic space dwarves didn't know what a female was and proceeded mentally undress Wilma to 'examine' her
Watched the hell out of the pilot movie as a kid even got help from my dad to build a Earth fighter craft cockpit outta boxes. Suspension the title song has heavy rotation in my play list.
I remember having the mego large size Buck Rogers action figure.
The fact that season two introduced 2 of the most iconic characters in television history. Hawk, who was a bad-ass and what spoc wishes he could be if he had a human emotion trail. Then, introducing the doctor who was 90 years old and most likely the worst character on television as the chances of him traveling in space would be zero. Mark Leonard’s removable head character was ridiculous.
WTF *WILL* happen to Buck Rogers in the 25th century
I wonder if that green drink buck takes from tweaking is the classic “green river” soda drink. Sure looks to be the right color and consistency
gil gerard had gone on to play a cop in the awesome adventure show "sidekicks". another show that was cancelled too soon.
For those critical of shows such as this and Battlestar following the success of Star Wars.... [Which to be fair, simply reinvigorated the genre, rather than started it]. Well, as a young kid back then who had his mind blow by watching that film, I *loved* that we got these sort of weekly sci-fi shows on TV to watch. Of course not the same budget, [looking a bit campy 40 years later, perhaps, but not so much at the time], and some episodes had very weak episodes, [Season 1 had 21 episodes, 60 minutes each, compared to a 2 hour movie isn't quite a fair comparison for instance], but......still great fun, and better than nothing. Also, not much like this to watch these days sadly......
a return of buck rodgers would be ruined by the woke mind virus
I could be wrong but i used to see the show and i swore his name was twikie
Pretty cheesy, even for that time.
was one of my favorite shows back then! I happened to catch Gil Gerard back around 91, or 92, by Universal Studios, heading into a Hotel there.. i did the Beedeebeedeebeedeebeedee thing, he looked over at me and did not seem all that impressed! lolz kind of just smirked, and shook his head! 😅
By making that sound to him, you weren't clearly indicating whether you actually liked the show. He might have thought you were teasing him for having been on a corny show.
@@noneofyourbusiness4616 Ya i thought about that later 🥴
Great closing song choice!
Yeah, the movie had enough seriousness with the camp. Sadly, season 1 became way too campy and just numb or dumb with ideas, though the first handful of stories still hold up nicely. I liked season 2 at the time. While some season 2 episodes did not age well (e.g. headless horseman Mark Lenard), others did (Hawk, Giardians, Saurian, Testimony, Dorian... I should rewatch those and see if memories hold up...)
I preferred Chrichton over Twiki with ease. Nods to Orac and Avon rolled into one?
Loved Hawk but they never expanded on him in the way the opener promised.
Deering's outfit in season 2 did feel like "tennis in space"...
I forgot about Satyr, that was a great one.
I do prefer Deering in season 1 overall, though.