In 1987, NASA astronaut Captain William "Buck" Rogers is piloting the space shuttle Ranger 3 when he flies into an unexpected space phenomenon and is frozen for 504 years. In the year 2491, his shuttle is found drifting in space by the alien flagship Draconia, which is headed to Earth for a trade conference, under the command of Princess Ardala and her aide-de-camp, Kane, a former native of Earth. Rogers is revived from his cryogenic sleep and is questioned by the princess and Kane. Princess Ardala is visibly attracted to Buck, though Kane arranges for Buck to be placed back on his shuttle and returned towards Earth.
It turns out though the Draconians are actually planning to conquer the Earth through staged pirate attacks on Earth's shipping fleet, forcing Earth to seek a treaty with the Draconians and unwittingly opening up their defenses to the invaders. They plant a homing beacon aboard Buck's shuttle to track a direction through Earth's planet-wide defense shield. Buck is escorted through the defense shield by Colonel Wilma Deering of Earth's military forces. He lands in the futuristic city of New Chicago, where he is interrogated and learns that Earth has been rebuilt in the centuries during his absence following a nuclear holocaust, and now much of the Earth outside of the city is a desolate, radioactive wasteland. During his time in the city, Buck meets Dr. Elias Huer, the leader of Earth's Defense Directorate, the AI computer Dr. Theopolis, and the robot drone Twiki, with the latter two attempting to help him adjust to his current surroundings.
While recounting his encounter with the Draconians, Buck notices several discrepancies and suspects that the Draconians must be armed, contrary to the terms of the trade meeting. Against advice, Buck ventures outside the city to the ruins of old Chicago in an attempt to see that what he has been told is real, eventually finding his own parents' grave and having to be rescued by Wilma and her troops from the violent mutants inhabiting the ruins. Following Buck's return to the Inner City, the Draconian tracking device is found aboard his ship, and the authorities accuse Buck of espionage and sentence him to death. Buck claims the Draconians simply used him, and Wilma persuades Dr. Huer to test Buck's claims by requesting a meeting with Princess Ardala and Kane aboard the Draconia. During the meeting, the pirate ships (actually Draconian marauders) attack their flagship as a diversion, but Buck manages to destroy them single-handedly, thus earning Wilma's respect.
At the official diplomatic reception on Earth, Ardala, who is still attracted to Buck, invites him back to the Draconia later that night. Buck uses the invitation to go aboard and find out the truth behind the Draconians' scheme. On the flagship, Ardala informs Buck she needs a man such as him to rule by her side and offers him the position. After drugging Ardala, Buck explores the flagship and discovers their marauders and imminent plans to attack Earth. Dr. Theopolis and Twiki, who have followed Buck aboard, eventually meet up with him and alert Earth to the Draconian invasion. Wilma immediately scrambles Earth's starfighters and attacks the Draconia, while Buck sabotages the Draconian marauders prepared to attack Earth and fights off Ardala's bodyguard, Tigerman. During the battle, the Draconia is critically damaged, but Buck, Theopolis and Twiki are rescued by Wilma before the flagship explodes. Ardala and Kane also escape the Draconia's destruction in an escape shuttle, with Kane vowing to return to take his revenge on Buck.
Inspired by the massive success of Star Wars the previous year, Universal began developing Buck Rogers for television, spearheaded by Glen A. Larson, who had a production deal with the studio. Initially, Larson and Universal had planned on making a series of Buck Rogerstelevision movies for NBC.
Production began in 1978, however, the pilot for Larson's other sci-fi series, Battlestar Galactica (1978), had been theatrically released in some countries and in key locations in North America, and had done well at the box office.
Filming took place in Los Angeles, California, with some shots at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. Several other stock shots portraying futuristic buildings on Earth are that of remaining pavilions on the site of Expo 67, including the British and French national pavilion (now open as the Montreal Casino). These were also included in the Battlestar Galactica episode "Greetings from Earth" (1979), said to be a city on the planet Paradeen (though in production around the same time, the episode aired a month before the release of the film). Buck's NASA shuttle, Ranger 3, was itself a prop that had been seen in this same episode where it was used as Michael's Lunar-7 shuttle though painted a different color.
The film was initially slated for a September 1978 release,[2] but filming was repeatedly delayed due to casting problems. In an unusual move, a nine-minute featurette was provided to play in theatres in addition to a traditional 2.5 minute trailer. The film was released on March 30, 1979 to box office success, grossing over $21 million in North America with later international release. As a result, NBC commissioned a weekly series, commencing on September 20, 1979 with a slightly modified version of the theatrical release. Scenes were deleted, others added to link to the ongoing series, the fate of one deceased character was revised so that he survived (Tigerman, who, in the movie was incinerated off-camera by an exploding bomb), and the suggestive opening credit sequence was replaced with a more generic version.[3]
Princess Ardala's father, Emperor Draco (played by Joseph Wiseman), originally had several scenes that were ultimately deleted. His only remaining scene was as a holographic image reprimanding Kane in the climax. Despite this brief appearance, images of Draco appeared prominently in various Buck Rogers merchandise, and 12" and 3¾" Draco action figures were produced by the toy company Mego. Wiseman would later appear in the weekly television series, playing a different character, Carl Morphus, in the episode "Vegas in Space" (1979).
Soundtrack
The movie's opening credits featured a song, "Suspension", sung by Kipp Lennon and co-written by Glen A. Larson. An instrumental version of the song was used as the main theme for the television series that followed, though the vocal version of the song was used again for the ending credits of the season one finale "Flight of the War Witch" (1980).
Reception
The movie received a mixed reception from critics.[4][5] On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 25% based on 12 reviews with an average rating of 4.3/10.[6] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 45 out of 100 based on eight critics, indicating "mixed to average reviews".[7]
The movie opened in the United States and Canada in 935 theaters and grossed $4,579,500 in its opening weekend.[8] It expanded the following weekend to 1,405 theaters, grossing $10,576,452 in its first 10 days.[9]
Home media
The movie has been released on video several times since the 1980s, and was released on DVD in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century series boxed set released on November 16, 2004. This was in lieu of the television broadcast version (entitled "Awakening") which contained some different scenes. When the first season was issued again on DVD on January 24, 2012, the boxed set still contained the theatrical version of the movie. However, the television version of the movie was finally released on DVD as a bonus feature in a reissued boxed set of Season Two on January 8, 2013. Kino Lorber released a single-disc Blu-ray of the theatrical cut on November 24, 2020, featuring a new 2K master and finally preserving the movie's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.[10]
Related Research Articles
Glen Albert Larson was an American television producer, writer, and composer. He created many series, including Alias Smith and Jones, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, Quincy, M.E., The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, B. J. and the Bear, The Fall Guy, Magnum, P.I., and Knight Rider. Active on television until the early 2010s, he was also a member of the folk revival/satire group The Four Preps.
Gil Gerard is an American actor, whose roles include Captain William "Buck" Rogers in the 1979–81 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Pamela Hensley is an American actress and author. Her notable acting roles include Princess Ardala on the 1979–1981 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and C.J. Parsons on the 1982–1985 television series Matt Houston. She also appeared in Rollerball and Doc Savage and Double Exposure (1982).
Draconian is an adjective meaning "of great severity", that derives from Draco, an Athenian law scribe under whom small offenses had heavy punishments.
Wilma Deering is a fictional character featured in the various iterations of Buck Rogers which have spanned many media over the years.
Juanin Clay was an American actress whose films included WarGames and The Legend of the Lone Ranger.
Eric Server is an American television actor, best known for providing the voice of computer brain Dr. Theopolis in the 1979 TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. From 1979 to 1981 he appeared as Lt. Jim Steiger in 17 episodes of B.J. and the Bear.
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.
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series created by Glen A. Larson that aired on the ABC network from September 17, 1978, to April 29, 1979. It stars an ensemble cast led by Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch, and Dirk Benedict. The series follows a group of humans fleeing the destruction of their homeworlds aboard the titular spacecraft, searching for a new home while being pursued by the Cylons, a fearsome society of robots intent on exterminating all humans.
Draconia may refer to:
Felix Anthony Silla, also credited as Felix Cilla, was an Italian character actor, circus performer, voice artist and movie stuntman, best known for his career in Hollywood in TV and film.
"Saga of a Star World" is the pilot for the American science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica which was produced in 1978 by Glen A. Larson. A re-edit of the episode was released theatrically as Battlestar Galactica in Canada before the television series aired in the United States, in order to help recoup its high production costs. Later, the standalone film edit was also released in the United States.
Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future is the title of a science fiction novel by Martin Caidin published in 1995.
Buck Rogers is a 1939 science fiction film serial, produced by Universal Pictures. It stars Buster Crabbe as the eponymous hero, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran and Anthony Warde. It is based on the Buck Rogers character created by Philip Francis Nowlan, who had appeared in magazines and comic strips since 1928.
Killer Kane is a fictional character in the Buck Rogers comic strip and its subsequent 1939 Buck Rogers serial film produced by Universal Studios. The character also appeared in the 1979 film and subsequent TV series, in which he was a defector from Earth to the Draconian Empire and sought to assist its malevolent leader Emperor Draco and his daughter Princess Ardala in their plans to conquer Earth.
Erin Gray is an American model, casting agent, and actress whose roles include Colonel Wilma Deering in the science fiction television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Kate Summers-Stratton in the situation comedy Silver Spoons.
Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily U.S. newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books and multiple media with adaptations including radio in 1932, a serial film, a television series, and other formats.
Suspended animation in fiction refers to the temporary cessation of life processes experienced by fictional characters, followed by their subsequent revival. This process is commonly employed as a plot device in science fiction narratives. It is frequently utilized to transport a character from the past to the future or to facilitate interstellar space travel, which necessitates an extended journey for months or years. In addition to accomplishing the character's primary objective in the future, they often encounter the unfamiliarity of a new world, which may bear only faint resemblance to their previous surroundings. On occasion, a character is portrayed as possessing skills or abilities that have become lost to society during their period of suspension, enabling them to assume a heroic role in their new temporal setting.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was a radio drama series based on the popular novel and comics series Buck Rogers. It aired from 1932-1936, 1939, 1940 and 1946-1947, and it was notable for being the first science fiction radio show.
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