Theme: in space/other planets/Earth
Up next is this examiner’s cheesy favorites (well one of many), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. I was young when this first came out, but by the time I was in my pre-teens I was in love with Gil Gerard and in awe of one Wilma Deering.
I watched every episode of over and over, even the mis-matched season 2, never understanding why it stalled.
Now as an adult season 1 is still up there as my favorites, but looking at season 2 through new eyes, well it makes absolute sense why this series failed. When you have gold, you don’t tarnish it by trying to make a cheesy, campy sci-fi show into a high concept of ideas and themes. Not right away.
Per an interview in the now defunct Starlog magazine issue #40, Gil explains:
With the first five scripts in various stages of production, Gerard is pleased to see that the direction of the show has taken is a positive one. "These scripts are very good," he comments. "they are science-fiction and fantasy, with characters you can relate to. There's good interaction between Buck and the other people in the script, and you can care about them. Buck is no longer tied to the Directorate. He's on a ship called the Searcher, which is looking for the lost tribes of Earth, the people that fled after the Holocaust. Maybe Buck's descendants are out there. The Searcher is trying to re-establish contact with these colonies and that's the basic idea. It opens the whole thing up. Now we can go anywhere in the universe...." The new show will also feature a different Buck Rogers, to Gerard's delight. "He's human! He's more caring. He still has a sense of humor, but he makes mistakes. He's not a superhero, he's a human being who does heroic things and doesn't always do what is right. That's something that John Mantly brought to the character of Marshall Dillon on Gunsmoke," Gerard explains. "At first — the guy was so much bigger than life, the Indians couldn't capture him if he was standing in the middle of the desert, unarmed and naked. He'd somehow get out of it, because he 'knew'. Mantly put some humanity back into Dillon, and that's what he's doing with Buck Rogers." Read full interview here.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. From my understanding the show worked the first season because of how it was played out, the fact that Earth was always under attack, and no matter what, Buck Rogers was there to save the day. Sometimes, it is not the poor ratings or execs out to sabotage a show. Sometimes the actors/writers sabotage themselves.
Synopsis:The probe's pilot is Captain William "Buck" Rogers. Something goes awry causing the ships life support systems to freeze Buck in a cryogenic suspension. The malfunction sends Ranger 3 in a deep space orbit that will return the disable spacecraft to Earth in the year 2491. Buck awakens from his deep cryogenic sleep to find himself 500 years in the future. Earth is still recovering from the aftermath of a late 20th Century nuclear holocaust which nearly destroyed the planet. Due to his incredible fighter pilot skills Buck becomes a valuable member of the Earth's Defense Directorate, which is headed by Dr. Elias Huer. Captain Rogers also finds himself a part of a fighter squadron headed by the beautiful Colonel Wilma Deering. Among his other compatriots are Twiki -- a likable robot who becomes Buck's pal -- and Dr. Theopolis -- a mechanical brain in a box who is part of Earth's Computer Council.
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