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With its campy combination of lightweight adventure and
Spandex disco chic, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is a nostalgic
throwback to post-Star Wars opportunism. Series co-creator Glen A. Larson
was incapable of originality, and former soap star Gil Gerard (in the title
role) was a bland incarnation of the comic-strip hero, so the much-anticipated
series premiered on September 20, 1979, with serious disadvantages. Although the
two-hour pilot "Awakening" had tested successfully as a theatrical release,
Gerard and the show's producers could never agree on a stable tone for the
series, which presents Capt. William "Buck" Rogers as a jovial space cowboy who
is accidentally time-warped from 1987 to 2491. Earth is engaged in
interplanetary war following a global holocaust, and Buck's piloting skills make
him an ideal starfighter recruit for the Earth Defense Directorate, where his
closest colleagues are Dr. Huer (Tim O'Connor), squadron leader Col. Wilma
Deering (former model Erin Gray, looking oh-so-foxy), the wisecracking robot
Twiki (voiced by cartoon legend Mel Blanc), and a portable computer-brain named
Dr. Theopolis, who's carried by Twiki like oversized bling-bling. |
