George Lucas’ Star Wars inspired many imitators, including Glen Larson, a prolific television writer-producer notorious for borrowing from others. Larson first made 1978’s Battlestar Galactica for ABC. It mimicked Star Wars so blatantly that the movie’s producers sued, and it lasted only a single season. Larson tried again the following year. Working with Leslie Stevens, he updated the character of Buck Rogers, who had first appeared in 1928.
Played by Gil Gerard, Buck is now an American astronaut launched into space in 1987. When his ship malfunctions, he is frozen in suspended animation until the vessel is discovered adrift in 2491. Revived, he becomes a member of the defense directorate of New Chicago, which protects the planet from extraterrestrial enemies like Princess Ardala (Pamela Hensley), who aims to conquer the earth and make Buck her royal consort. Buck, however, becomes far more interested in his new comrade-in-arms Wilma Deering (Erin Gray), a fighter pilot. He is also accompanied by a robot called Twiki voiced by Mel Blanc, of Looney Toons fame.
This new Buck was introduced in a feature film that proved a box office hit, prompting NBC to quickly turn it into a weekly series premiering in the fall of 1979. The film was re-edited into a two-part debut; both versions are included in this collection, along with the remaining twenty-two episodes of the first season. Their tone is rather juvenile and campy, with episodes like “Space Vampire” and “Planet of the Amazon Women,” the performances (including those by such guest stars as Jack Palance, Frank Gorshin, Ray Walston, Cesar Romero, Jerry Orbach, and Gary Colman) are very broad, and the physical production is garishly bright. The show is also notable for bevies of statuesque, scantily-attired young women, most of whom are invariably attracted to Buck. It had sufficient viewership to survive into a second season, though one shortened to thirteen episodes, and with significant changes.
Rather than being stationed in New Chicago, Buck and Wilma (as well as the irritating Twiki) are now crew members on a spaceship assigned to find humans who left earth during an apocalyptic war centuries earlier. Several of the cast members were jettisoned and new characters added, the most important the birdman Hawk (Thom Christopher), whose grim, taciturn personality was obviously intended to convey a Spock-like air. The changes did not improve ratings and the series was canceled.
Buck Rogers was never much esteemed by science-fiction fans, and today it comes across as pretty cheesy camp that will appeal mostly to nostalgia buffs hankering for a helping of late seventies hokum. But this Blu-ray set does it proud, including not only all 37 episodes and the feature film in glossy transfers but also audio commentaries on the film and ten of the TV episodes, along with interviews with Gray and Christopher; a trailer and a special preview for the feature are added, as well as two radio spots promoting it. Still, this is only optional.