Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)

A 20th century astronaut emerges out of 500 years of suspended animation into a future time where Earth is threatened by alien invaders.

Director:

Daniel Haller

Writers:

Glen A. Larson, Leslie Stevens

Stars:

Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Pamela Hensley

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gil Gerard	...	Capt. William 'Buck' Rogers
Pamela Hensley	...	Princess Ardala
Erin Gray	...	Colonel Wilma Deering
Henry Silva	...	Kane
Tim O'Connor	...	Dr. Elias Huer
Joseph Wiseman	...	King Draco
Duke Butler	...	Tigerman
H.B. Haggerty	...	Tigerman #1
Felix Silla	...	Twiki (body)
Caroline Smith	...	Delta Section
John Dewey Carter	...	Supervisor (as John Dewey-Carter)
Kevin Coates	...	Pilot
David Cadiente	...	Comtel Officer
Gil Serna	...	Technician
Larry Duran	...	Draconian Guard

Storyline

In 1987, Captain William "Buck" Rogers pilots his space shuttle Ranger 3 on a mission but a meteor storm freezes him into an orbit that returns him to Earth - 500 years later. In 2491, his shuttle is found and captured by the Draconian flagship, under the command of Princess Ardala and her second-in-command Kane. Reviving him, they return him to Earth after secretly planting a homing beacon aboard his shuttle to track a path through Earth's defense barrier. Buck is under arrest and learns that Earth has been rebuilt over the centuries in his absence following a nuclear holocaust. Buck Rogers must adjust to the 25th century, and convince the Terrans that the Draconians are secretly planning to conquer Earth.

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Plot Keywords:

space opera | buck rogers character | psychotronic film | 25th century | princess from outer space | 

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Taglines:

The original space man! The ultimate trip! Buck Rogers swings back to earth and lays it on the 25th Century!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 March 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Awakening

Filming Locations:

Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites - 404 S. Figueroa Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$21,671,241

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,671,241

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bruce Lansbury Productions, Glen A. Larson Productions, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kane's backstory was that he was a former student of Doctor Huer's who defected to the Draconians and to act as consort/advisor for Princess Ardala, the chief antagonist of the film and subsequent TV series. In the original movie serial Buck Rogers (1939), "Killer Kane" (as he was known) is actually a powerful gangster from Earth and is the chief antagonist of the story. Ardala was not featured in the 1939 movie serial.

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Goofs

While Colonel Wilma Deering is saving Buck Rogers from the Draconian flagship, the left side of her flight helmet reads "Cool Deering" in one shot and is blank in all the rest.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: [voiceover during narration] In the year 1987, at the John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA launched the last of America's deep space probes. The payload, perched on the nose cone of the massive rocket, was a one-man exploration vessel - Ranger 3. Aboard this compact starship, a lone astronaut - Captain William "Buck" Rogers - was to experience cosmic forces beyond all comprehension. An awesome brush with death: in the blink of an eye, his life support systems were frozen by ...

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Crazy Credits

Erin Gray and Pamela Hensley appear as "dream girls" along side their names in the original (theatrical) credits.

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Alternate Versions

Twiki's line "I'm freezing my ball-bearings off!" in the theatrical version is replaced with "My micro-discs are turning blue!" in the television version. In the theatrical version, "Weatherly", a pilot killed in the pirate raid is female. In the television version, footage of a male pilot is substituted.

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Connections

Referenced in Deconstructing Precrime and Precogs (2002)

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Soundtracks

Song From Buck Rogers (Suspension)
Composed by Stu Phillips
Lyrics by Glen A. Larson
Performed by Kipp Lennon

User Reviews

Cheesy but good 70's TV Sci-Fi

If you like "Battlestar Galactica", you will love this movie, at least if you can sit through the incredibly cheesy and silly title sequence. Based extraordinarily loosely on the classic early 1900's sci-fi novel, this is a story of an American astronaut frozen in crygenic sleep for a deep-space exploration mission in the late 20th Century who returns home and awakens in the post-nuclear 25th century. He finds an Earth ravaged by nuclear war (the scene in bombed-out Chicago is particularly amusing to me, as a life-long Chicago native, even if the sets look NOTHING like State Street)but with survivors carrying on in underground cities.

Earth is about to be atacked by the evil Draconians, led by a lovely but devious Princess. Sort of an S&M version of Princess Leia. Anyway, the Draconians pretend to offer Earth help defeating some "Space Pirates", but the Pirates are really Draconian fighters.

What follows are some classic space battle scenes, a lot of running around in dark spaceship corridors, and a classic love triangle between Buck Rogers, the Evil Princess, and a female fighter pilot from Earth. Buck Rogers manages to sabotage and destroy the Draconian fighters and saves the day, of course.

Along the way, we get some amusing dialogue, and some VERY 1970's sci-fi scenes, including Buck Rogers introducing Disco music to the future. The sight of his robot Sidekick, Twiky, dancing to Disco music well saying "Get Down!" still haunts me today.

However, the babes are hot, the battles exciting, the effects good (for 1970's TV), and the story easy to follow. I like it, and wish I could find a copy. I haven't seen it in years.