# Blast from the Past: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century



## The Master™ (Jun 25, 2005)

"In the year 1987, NASA launched the last of America's deep space probes. Aboard this compact starship a lone astronaut, Captain William "Buck" Rogers, was to experience cosmic forces beyond all comprehension. In a freak mishap, his life-support systems were frozen by temperatures beyond imagination. Ranger III was blown out of its plan trajectory into an orbit 1,000 times more vast, an orbit which was to return Buck Rogers to earth 500 years later."

Cast:
Erin Gray 
Role: Colonel Wilma Deering
Mel Blanc 
Role: the voice of Twiki [ eps 1-24,32-37 ]
Gil Gerard 
Role: Captain William "Buck" Rogers
Thom Christopher 
Role: Hawk [ 2 ] 
Jeff David 
Role: the voice of Crichton [ 2 ]
Jay Garner 
Role: Adm. Asimov [ 2 ] 
Bob Elyea 
Role: the voice of Twiki [ eps 25-31 ] 
Patty Maloney 
Role: Twiki [eps 14 & 16] 
Tim O'Connor 
Role: Dr. Elias Huer [ 1 ] 
Felix Silla 
Role: Twiki 
Wilfrid Hyde-White 
Role: Dr. Goodfellow [ 2 ] 
Eric Server 
Role: the voice of Dr. Theopolis [ 1 ] 
William Conrad 
Role: Narrator [ 1 ] 
Paul Carr 
Role: Lt. Devlin [ 2 ]


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## Brian G Turner (Jun 25, 2005)

Ah, photos please!!


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## The Master™ (Jun 26, 2005)




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## Brian G Turner (Jun 26, 2005)

Wilma was so babe.


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## The Master™ (Jun 26, 2005)

Always had a thing for the princess (bottom pic)... *DROOL*


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## Brian G Turner (Jun 26, 2005)

Wilma's eyes beat her's anyday. 

Buck Rodgers was a series that typcally degenerated with its own success - no idea what the heck the convoy concept was supposed to be in later seasons, but it managed to push my interest away. Too much Battlestar Gallactica influence?


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## The Master™ (Jun 26, 2005)

I watched it for the Princess (HUBBA HUBBA!!!) and Tweaky... Mel Blanc RULES!!!


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## Winters_Sorrow (Jun 27, 2005)

Sad to say, I still remember most of the theme tune!

Fav episode: Space Rockers  (the music from that episode has been sampled on soooo many other shows!)


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## Princess Ivy (Jun 27, 2005)

who doesn't remember buck rogers? great classic sci-fi!


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## Brian G Turner (Jun 27, 2005)

Here's an odd question - did any of the women actually think Gil Gerard a hunk in that series? Looking at the pictures above, Erin Gray is obviously attractive - but the pic of Gil in those gold trousers - does that actually work on the under 60's?


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## Princess Ivy (Jun 27, 2005)

bwahahahaha, thats like asking if david hassellof is attractive. NO. an obvious case of an all male production team with no concept of what is attractive to women.


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## The Master™ (Jun 27, 2005)

Eric Close???


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## BAYLOR (Jul 3, 2020)

The biggest mistake this series made was season 2 and Searcher .  Had they stuck wit the set up thye had in  in season and improved the writing a bit , theis show might have lasted a few seasons.


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## Rodders (Jul 3, 2020)

I recently rewatched this when it came out on DVD. Apart from the opening TV movies, It hadn't aged at all well and if I were being honest, it probably wasn't that great at the time. (I definitely preferred Battlestar Galactica). Still, the Thunderfighters remain an awesome spaceship design (perhaps my favourite) and I had a massive crush on Erin Gray at the time. (Probably the main reason I watched it, TBH.)


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## Jo Zebedee (Jul 3, 2020)

Was a bit of a fan of this one, truth be told


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## BAYLOR (Jul 3, 2020)

Rodders said:


> I recently rewatched this when it came out on DVD. Apart from the opening TV movies, It hadn't aged at all well and if I were being honest, it probably wasn't that great at the time. (I definitely preferred Battlestar Galactica). Still, the Thunderfighters remain an awesome spaceship design (perhaps my favourite) and I had a massive crush on Erin Gray at the time. (Probably the main reason I watched it, TBH.)



Unfortunately , as the show progressed , they watered  down  Wilma Deering's character.


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## Foxbat (Jul 3, 2020)

As much as my teenage self was utterly entranced by Erin Gray’s beauty, I thought her uniform in season two  was inappropriate  for a colonel in the Earth defence forces.


Not complaining about those wonderful legs, mind you.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 5, 2020)

Foxbat said:


> As much as my teenage self was utterly entranced by Erin Gray’s beauty, I thought her uniform in season two  was inappropriate  for a colonel in the Earth defence forces.View attachment 66339
> Not complaining about those wonderful legs, mind you.



They ruined the character and,  the less said about season 2 the better.


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## Brian G Turner (Jul 5, 2020)

Yeah, when set on Earth the series was interesting (at the time) but lost something when they became part of the fleet travelling through space - I guess they were trying to copy Battlestar Galactica, but it lost itself doing so.


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## Rodders (Jul 5, 2020)

Would Buck Rogers in the 25th Century be worth a reboot?


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## MarcUK001 (Jul 5, 2020)

Its currently being shown on UK Forces TV. Some of the stories are corny.  But the show does have a lot of links with the original Battlestar Galactica. I don't think it should be rebooted. If you look at the best Sci-fi TV over the last few years. There is one or two main stories, which are the back bone of the series, then you have the shorter localised stories at the episode level. This combination allows the characters, plot and the technology to develop. 
The first series was better than the second series as the second series was based around the premise that they were looking for the lost tribes of humanity, this plot link to the original BSG.  The writers seem to have lost interest in Buck Rogers first season.


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## Foxbat (Jul 5, 2020)

I have the Buck Rogers serial on DVD from 1939 (Buster Crabbe as Buck, Constance Moore as Wilma) and, despite its age, it's better than season two.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 5, 2020)

Rodders said:


> Would Buck Rogers in the 25th Century be worth a reboot?



Yes it would . Id love Ito sen Ron Moore give it a go.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 5, 2020)

Brian G Turner said:


> Yeah, when set on Earth the series was interesting (at the time) but lost something when they became part of the fleet travelling through space - I guess they were trying to copy Battlestar Galactica, but it lost itself doing so.



More like Star Trek and,  the actor played Lt Devlin (Paul Carr)  on the Searcher  was in the Star Trek episode *Where No Man Has Gone Before* . He was Kelso


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## Vince W (Jul 10, 2020)

I was 10 when Buck Rogers first aired and fell head over heels for Erin Gray (who didn't?). The stories weren't sofisiticated in any way, but for a viewer of my age it captured the sci-fi adventure feeling admirably. And I will give the creators full credit for giving a woman a command role in 1979. Of course at the time something like that didn't really register with me, but when you look back they did better than even Star Trek. I can't remember Kirk ever dealing with a woman of equal or higher rank in Starfleet.

Buck Rogers is ripe for a reboot, but rather than following the Battlestar Galactica route of a darker theme I would prefer a return to a more adventurous storyline that you might have seen in the original film serials. Not everything has to lead to a tortured end.


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