"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" pilot

[shart2069]

OK I finally broke open my "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" series DVD set, and watched the theatrical pilot from 1979.

Boy I had forgotten about:

1) The mutant guys in the ruins of Old Chicago (the Earth is a post-apocalyptic wasteland except for New Chicago);

2) Tiger-Man! (guess he's got some sort of mutations like tough skin & pain resistance, or something);

3) Erin Gray & Pamela Hensley !! (honestly I might have been too young to fully appreciate them);

4) Trippy 1970's theme song and opening credits! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BINijYepahA

(Caution: kind of "James Bond-ish" montage of attractive women wearing not too much) (also, song may get stuck in your head)

[bighara]

OMG Erin Grey!



Girl of my 11yo dreams

[greyarea]

Met her at one of the Chicago Comic Cons (along with Gil Gerard). Still incredibly beautiful. Gil had seen better days. This was about five years ago.

Would have gotten an autograph but they were charging $25 for them (WTF?) and $50 for a picture with them. So I just have the memories.

[Malcadon]

I have seen the shows recently on library DVDs, and on Netflix. And yes, that show has lots of ladies in really sexy outfits. The TV series was neat, and I remember watching it alongside other sci-fi shows at the time, when I mas a kid (I was really young when it came out).

The only thing I hated where those white jumpsuits with the rainbow stripes. If you did know, I really like the look of the classic stuff from the 1930s. Hell, I cant stand the neon TRON look seen in the newer Dynamite Comics.

Oh, here is a capsule history of its publication.

[bighara]

I wish the recent Buck Rogers film had made its funding goals. Gil & Erin play Buck's parents.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=8YY0-lSg ... YY0-lSg3-k

[seneschal]

Yeah, the pilot movie introduced a lot of potential plot elements which were never explored during the run of the show. The two novels and the newspaper strip they inspired were very much post-apocalyptic adventures suitable for Mutant Future gaming. The '70s pilot hinted at this by having shiny New Chicago (where computers even control the sunset) surrounded by blasted wasteland and eerie mutant-haunted ruins. However, other than having a few early episodes dealing with the Earth's scarcity of resources (and thus, its vulnerability to a Draconian trade blockade), the TV show never really dealt with this. Like the latter run of the newspaper strip, it became "James Bond in Space." Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what it started out as.

Granted, there was plenty of espionage during the newspaper strip's early post-apoc story lines. But the background was the vulnerable, rising new American civilization trying to hold its own against its Mongol overlords. The series didn't get into outer space until peace was arranged with the Mongol emperor in Asia, quickly followed by an invasion by the Tiger Men from Mars. It was this constant threat of invasion from the skies (and Dr. Huer's applying American anti-gravity technology to rocket-ships) that launched the series in a new direction. The Mongols, and their domed cities in North America, and the scavenger gangs roaming the wastelands, were still there -- but they all took a back seat to exploration of the solar system except when some interplanetary schemer sought to recruit a 5th column on Earth.

[seneschal]

Yeah, the pilot movie introduced a lot of potential plot elements which were never explored during the run of the show. The two novels and the newspaper strip they inspired were very much post-apocalyptic adventures suitable for Mutant Future gaming. The '70s pilot hinted at this by having shiny New Chicago (where computers even control the sunset) surrounded by blasted wasteland and eerie mutant-haunted ruins. However, other than having a few early episodes dealing with the Earth's scarcity of resources (and thus, its vulnerability to a Draconian trade blockade), the TV show never really dealt with this. Like the latter run of the newspaper strip, it became "James Bond in Space." Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what it started out as.

Granted, there was plenty of espionage during the newspaper strip's early post-apoc story lines. But the background was the vulnerable, rising new American civilization trying to hold its own against its Mongol overlords. The series didn't get into outer space until peace was arranged with the Mongol emperor in Asia, quickly followed by an invasion by the Tiger Men from Mars. It was this constant threat of invasion from the skies (and Dr. Huer's applying American anti-gravity technology to rocket-ships) that launched the series in a new direction. The Mongols, and their domed cities in North America, and the scavenger gangs roaming the wastelands, were still there -- but they all took a back seat to exploration of the solar system except when some interplanetary schemer sought to recruit a 5th column on Earth.

I thoroughly enjoyed the TV show. But the writers could have done a lot with the urban haves vs. the wasteland have-nots theme as well as a search for resources, artifacts and knowledge of the ancient world, etc. Again, there were a couple stray episodes that touched on ancient weapons caches and an attempt to frame Buck for causing the world's destruction 500 years earlier, but the potential wasn't exploited as it could have been.

[shart2069]

I'm watching 2 episodes of this every Friday, and I can say that although I didn't really remember most of the plots, it certainly does bring back that 1970s vibe.

Example: Episode 6 - Wilma is trying to hide from one of the deadliest assassins in the galaxy, he runs by, she steps out of hiding to run, gets 3 feet and catches her 4+ inch bootheel in a grate and falls down. (Why was she wearing boots with 4+ inch heels on a mission to spy on assassins on a hostile world? Because she's Erin Gray and it's 1979, baby!)

OK, to put something Mutant Future related in here, one of the assassins is a telekinetic, and the bodyguard of the chief assassin is a mutant with the power to lower his body density and walk through walls, and the lady assassin is an empath who can ALMOST read minds, but not quite.

[seneschal]

I'm watching 2 episodes of this every Friday, and I can say that although I didn't really remember most of the plots, it certainly does bring back that 1970s vibe.

Example: Episode 6 - Wilma is trying to hide from one of the deadliest assassins in the galaxy, he runs by, she steps out of hiding to run, gets 3 feet and catches her 4+ inch bootheel in a grate and falls down. (Why was she wearing boots with 4+ inch heels on a mission to spy on assassins on a hostile world? Because she's Erin Gray and it's 1979, baby!)

OK, to put something Mutant Future related in here, one of the assassins is a telekinetic, and the bodyguard of the chief assassin is a mutant with the power to lower his body density and walk through walls, and the lady assassin is an empath who can ALMOST read minds, but not quite.

Hey, if Wonder Woman can fight evil in spike heels, why not Wilma Deering?

And the leader of those nasty assassins is Frank "The Riddler" Gorshin!

[shart2069]

Tonight it's going to be part 2 of that, will the city of New Chicago be destroyed by the wrath of the assassins?

(HINT: there's still like 30 episodes left, so I'm guessing - uhm, NO? Although I wonder if it will be up to Dr. Theopolis & Twiki to save the day until Buck manages to get back?)

PS: You know I see a pattern here, every adventure Buck meets some pretty gal and manages to help her out of whatever problem she is having, and this is incidental to the formal mission. Another thing that groovy '70's guys on TV did.