Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series)

''Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'' is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between September 1979 and April 1981 on NBC, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film before the series aired. The film and series were developed by Glen A. Larson and Leslie Stevens, based on the character Buck Rogers created in 1928 by Philip Francis Nowlan that had previously been featured in comic strips, novellas, a serial film, and on television and radio.

Overview

Television film

The first made-for-TV movie was released theatrically in March 1979 as '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century''. The film made $21 million at the North American box office, prompting Universal to move ahead with a weekly series later that year. The film, which was also released internationally, featured all of the main protagonist characters who would appear in the weekly series, and also included Princess Ardala of the planet Draconia, and her henchman, Kane.

Series

The theatrical film also served as a pilot and two-part first episode for the series, entitled "Awakening". Several scenes were edited, some to remove the more adult dialogue in the film, including when Buck refers to Wilma as "ballsy", and later when he says "shit", and a scene in which Buck kills Ardala's henchman, Tiger Man, was edited to allow the character to return in later episodes. Also, some new and extended scenes were added for the TV version, including several scenes within Buck's new apartment, which was the setting for a new final scene in which Dr. Huer and Wilma try to persuade Buck to join the Defense Directorate. This scene ends with Buck actually declining their offer, though he opts to join them in an unofficial capacity by the first episode of the series proper, "Planet of the Slave Girls". In this unofficial role, Buck does everything from acting as a covert agent on various undercover assignments to assisting Wilma as a flight/combat instructor. Buck is, most often, partnered with Wilma, with whom he often shares a flirtatious relationship.

Including the two-part pilot episode, the first season comprised 24 episodes, with four of the stories being two-parters. The tone of the series was lighter than the pilot movie, and showed a more positive picture of future Earth. The Inner City was now known as New Chicago, and human civilization was established as having spread once again across the planet, and also to the stars. After the movie pilot, no reference to barren radioactive wastelands was made, and in several episodes, the world outside is shown as lush and green. The mutants seen in the pilot film were no longer seen, and Buck sometimes ventured outside New Chicago with no hazards encountered. As opposed to the isolationist planet seen in the film, Earth no longer has an invisible defense shield surrounding it and is shown to be the center of an interstellar, human-dominated government, sometimes called "the Federation" or "the Alliance", with its capital at New Chicago. During the first season, references were also made to other "new" Earth cities such as New Detroit, New Manhattan, New Phoenix, New Tulsa, Boston Complex, and New London. A "City-on-the-Sea" was also seen, mentioned as being the former New Orleans.

Wilma Deering and Dr. Huer were the only Defense Directorate personnel seen in every episode, though several others were seen in individual episodes. Most Defense Directorate personnel regard Buck as being at least an "honorary" captain, in reference to his 20th-century U.S. military rank, but his membership in Earth's defense forces is unofficial. Nevertheless, Buck often flies with the fighter squadrons, and uses his 20th-century U.S. Air Force background to assist in their training. Dr. Huer regularly meets, greets, and otherwise deals with representatives of other sovereign powers. Huer was also seen in military uniform (at formal occasions), thus indicating he is or was a member of the military.

Travel between the stars was accomplished with the use of "stargates" - artificially created portals in space (similar in appearance to wormholes), but referred to as "warp" travel on at least one occasion by Wilma Deering. Stargates appear as a diamond-shaped quartet of brilliant lights in space that shimmer when a vessel is making transit. Some people find the transit through a stargate to be physically unpleasant (transit resembling a "spinning" of the spacecraft). Buck's dislike of them is shown in part one of the episode "Planet of the Slave Girls" and again in part two of the episode "The Plot to Kill a City".

To portray futuristic-looking buildings on Earth, the show used stock shots of the remaining national pavilions of Expo 67, particularly the French and British pavilions, as well as shots of the Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Juanin Clay, who played Major Marla Landers in the first-season episode "Vegas in Space", was originally cast as Wilma for the TV series (Erin Gray had initially opted not to return after the pilot film, but she later changed her mind). Wilma's personality was softened considerably in the series. While she was still seen as a strong, confident and consummate professional in her work, she had a much more relaxed attitude and a warmer relationship with Buck. A potentially romantic relationship between Buck and Wilma was hinted at, but rarely expanded upon, and in the first season, Buck was involved (to some degree) with a different woman almost every week. Producers demanded that Wilma have blonde hair, so dye jobs were needed to lighten Erin Gray's brunette locks. During the final episodes of the first season, Gray was allowed to return to her natural hair color, and Wilma was dark-haired throughout season two. Buck's best-known enemy during the first season was Princess Ardala, played by Pamela Hensley, whose desire was to conquer and possess both Earth and Buck himself. She appeared in four separate stories, including the pilot film, two single episodes ("Escape from Wedded Bliss" and "Ardala Returns"), and the two-part first-season finale ("Flight of the War Witch").

The opening title sequence for the series included stock footage from the Apollo 4 and Apollo 6 launches.

The series had an overall budget of $800,000 per hour of air time, according to '' Starlog'' issue #32 (March 1980). Former actor Jock Gaynor served as producer for 20 episodes. Although reasonably popular with viewers, the first season failed to receive much critical acclaim. One vocal critic of the series was Gerard himself, who pushed for more serious storytelling and often clashed with the producers and the network (NBC) over the show's tone and handling. He often arbitrarily refused to perform some of the more comical lines in the scripts he was given, complaining that Buck was just a "wise-ass" who was making one joke after another, and often rewrote scripts himself to place more emphasis on his own character at the expense of others (for example, in the episode "Escape From Wedded Bliss", the script originally called for Buck to be rescued from the Draconians at the end by Wilma, but Gerard vetoed the idea). Unhappy with the show's direction, Gerard became increasingly difficult to work with, which led to tensions on set. A meeting between writers/script editors Anne Collins and Alan Brennert and him went badly, and they quit the show midway through the first season. Gerard himself was threatened with legal action by the network if he continued to cause problems and hinder the production. In the November 1980 issue of ''Starlog'', Gerard even said he had hoped the series would not be picked up for a second season because he had no wish to go through another season like the first one.

Second season

Production of the second season was delayed by several months due to an actors' strike. When production resumed in the fall of 1980, the series had a new set of producers (headed by John Mantley, who had primarily worked on television Westerns) and 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 an Earth spaceship called the ''Searcher'' on a mission to seek out the lost "tribes" of humanity who had scattered in the five centuries since Earth's 20th-century nuclear war, a theme present in Glen A. Larson's previous science-fiction television series, ''Battlestar Galactica''.

Another notable change in the second season was the disappearance of many of the regular characters of the first season, such as Dr. Huer, Dr. Theopolis, Princess Ardala, and Kane. However, several new characters were added:
* Admiral Efram Asimov ( Jay Garner) is the commander of the ''Searcher'' and a descendant of the famous science-fiction author Isaac Asimov.
* Hawk (Thom Christopher) is an alien character who represents the last of the nearly extinct bird people.
* Dr. Goodfellow ( Wilfrid Hyde-White) is an elderly scientist with insatiable curiosity.
* Crichton (voiced by Jeff David) is a snobbish robot built by Goodfellow, but finds believing that lowly humans could have built him to be difficult.

The character of Wilma Deering was softened in the second season as the producers attempted to tone down the militaristic "Colonel Deering" image (who often gave Buck orders) and to make her more feminine. Another change in the second season was the sound of Twiki's voice. Because of illness, Mel Blanc was briefly replaced by Bob Elyea as the voice of Twiki for the first seven episodes of the second season. After recovering, Blanc returned to the role for the final six episodes of the season, though no explanation was given for the change in Twiki's voice.

The substance of the storylines also changed in the second season. Less emphasis was placed on militaristic ideals and, with a few exceptions, Gerard scaled back the humor in the second season in favor of more serious episodes (with the final episode of the series ending on a somber note as a result). Buck and Wilma's relationship became slightly more romantic during the second year, though most romantic activity was implied and took place off-screen.

Moreover, the second season deals with more serious concepts such as evolution, ecology, racism, pollution, war, nuclear power, identity, the self, and religion. It also draws on mythology as exemplified by Hawk's people, who are variants on the bird people found in ancient tales around the world, and makes special reference to the moai of Easter Island