Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series)

Reviving some of the old time science fiction serials, whether from the radio or movies, has been repeatedly done over the years. Regrettably with more failures than successes, we as a viewing audience have been subjected to some very interesting adaptations of these classic stories. For all of it’s missteps this series had the most promise to become a success, and unfortunately the producers and writers didn’t learn from their mistakes as they appeared. Gil Gerard and Erin Gray starred in this short lived series that brought the 1928 character of Buck Rogers into the modern age of science fiction. Glen A. Larson, who gave us Battlestar Galactica, produced this series, borrowed not only props and effects, but some storylines that just seemed to familiar to the audience who most likely saw both series back to back.
After launching into deep space in 1987, Captain Buck Rogers is frozen in his ship for 500 years and returns to a world, and universe, that he must acclimate himself to all over again. Casting Gerard as Rogers worked so much that his personality and physical build fit the persona of the character that most viewers thought Buck should look like. The stories themselves were creative, but on the down side they weren’t creative enough for an audience that was starving for more of what Star Wars, Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica had shown them in the way of tales about space. The first season stumbled when the only alien races that the humans dealt with looked just like them, and then in the second season the changes to the main storyline were to extreme to hold on to small viewer ship that it had created.
Even with all of the reused props and effects from Larson’s earlier sci-fi show, Battlestar Galactica, there is still a feeling of wonder and fun about the stories. One of the true highlights in the show is the costume design, from the inventive dresses and suits that the different characters wear throughout the series to the skin tight full body suit that Gray wears off and on in the first season, its good to know that humans kept their fashion sense after the holocaust. Although with all of the advancements in filming technology, prop design, CGI and makeup processes, the episodes do look dated and for a viewer that has been watching the more recent sci-fi television work some of the scenes and props look lower than low budget. But for the late 70s early 80s this wasn’t to bad and if you can keep that in mind as you watch the series you’ll enjoy the stories, and their inventive way of looking at the human issues that we seem to always have to deal with no matter how far into the future we go.