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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)

Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17637 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 9:00 pm Post subject: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979 - 1981) |
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The world was still Star Wars crazy two years after "A New Hope" worked its magic on the world. That's why Battlestar Galactica was a media event and the pilot for this soon-to-begin series was successfully released to theaters.
Today it looks just a tad dated (in the parallel universe where "tad" means a lot . . . ), but the series itself is still timeless and enjoyable (in the parallel universe where marijuana is legal), and it has one of the best robots — Twiki — ever to grace the screen (in the parallel universe where pigs can fly).
However, many of us have fond memories of the show, and if you can overlook the way they reused FX scenes shamelessly and actually went downhill in the 2nd season when they tried to be Star Trek without the writing talent to make it work, it's harmless fun. _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Jul 30, 2024 6:10 pm; edited 8 times in total |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)

Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17637 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:51 am Post subject: |
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It's a bit ironic that in the post above I said the second season of Buck Rogers was marred by the producer's misguided efforts to make the series more like Star Trek, right down to putting Erin Gray in a cute little mini dress.
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In the most recent episode of Star Trek Continues, entitled Embrace the Winds, Erin Gray plays Commodore Gray (a nod to her fans), wearing the traditional TOS mini dress.
Although I was glade Ms Gray was contributed to the noble efforts of the Star Trek Continues project, I would have preferred it if she'd worn something more formal. The TOS mini dresses looked just fine on the shapely young ladies that appeared in the series (back when miniskirts were all the rage), but they were never intended for ladies of advanced years.
That's just a sad fact of life, folks. But we love Ms Gray none the less.
 _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Jul 30, 2024 6:11 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Custer Space Sector Commander

Joined: 22 Aug 2015 Posts: 929 Location: Earth
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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Just think, it was 1987 when NASA launched the last of its deep space probes. We've never discovered what happened to the brave pilot of Ranger 3, Captain William "Buck" Rogers, but interstellar space is so cold, perhaps he's deep in an endless, cryogenic dream... I'd like to think that. |
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Krel Guest
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:40 pm Post subject: Re: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) |
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Bud Brewster wrote: | The world was still Star Wars crazy two years after "A New Hope" worked its magic on the world. |
Nope. Back then it still had it's proper title: "Star Wars". The revisionist crap hadn't started yet.
Before they started filming the BR TV show, there was a magazine that showed some of the preposed designs. At the time, they were going for a more 19th century look in the costumes, sets and props, even more than the show did. One design they showed was for a chain sword for the Space Pirates (I wish that they had kept that in the finished show). But then Glen Larson took over and decided that the show should be, I kid you not, "Burt Reynolds in Outer Space".
David. |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)

Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17637 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 10:14 am Post subject: |
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By gum, now that I think of it, Buck Rogers does seem to be styled after Bo "Bandit" Darville from just three years earlier (1977). Interesting. Never knew that.
Hey, thanks, good buddy! (I'm 10-10 on the side.)
 _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:25 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Gord Green Galactic Ambassador

Joined: 06 Oct 2014 Posts: 3001 Location: Buffalo, NY
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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Still, my favorite episode is the one with Buster Crabbe as "Commander Gordon". Also, the Thunderfighter was a way cool ship!
Later they added "Hawk" to be a Spock-like alien sidekick. Just a fun series! |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)

Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17637 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 3:48 pm Post subject: |
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I actually wrote a script (just for fun) back when the show was on, in which Buck was secretly summoned by a mysterious recluse who lived out in the desert region far from the city, a man named Claudius Reynolds who appeared middle-aged but was actually a bit older than Buck!
Reynolds was a biologist and a member of a team who had perfected a longevity drug back in the 20th Century. But the scientists knew that the world could not, at that time, support a population who lived hundreds of years, so they kept it a secret.
When the war almost destroyed civilization, the world was even less able to handle a long-lived population, so Reynolds and the scientists (who had all taken the drug), lived in isolated locations around the globe and protect the secret drug until mankind reached a point where he could effectively maintain a growing population of near-immortal humans.
The rest of the story is about how one of the scientists needed help, and Reynolds felt that Buck could be trusted with their secret, since he understood both the 20th and the 24th Century.
Claudius Reynolds was very much a Morbius-like character, with a beautiful desert home and his own robot, which I described as a robotic "centaur", with a torso mounted on a little wheeled chassis he could zip around the house on.
The robot's name was Toulouse, (as in Toulouse-Lautrec), because he was short and constantly hyperactive, constantly making quips and doing unexpected things. Reynolds explained that a 500 year old man is always in danger of become bored, and maniacally little robot kept the man on his toes.
I imagined him as looking something like this.
I modified this picture just to show you what I had in mind.
* Sorry about the problem with the first image yesterday. It's fixed now.  _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:27 am; edited 2 times in total |
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scotpens Space Sector Commander

Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 919 Location: The Left Coast
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Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 4:49 pm Post subject: Re: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) |
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Bud Brewster wrote: | Today it looks just a tad dated (in the parallel universe where "tad" means a lot . . . ), but the series itself is still timeless and enjoyable (in the parallel universe where marijuana is legal) . . . |
So the show is timeless and enjoyable in 8 states and the District of Columbia -- and in 20 other states if you're watching it while smoking weed for medicinal purposes only! |
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Gord Green Galactic Ambassador

Joined: 06 Oct 2014 Posts: 3001 Location: Buffalo, NY
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Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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Just as an aside to the more perverse of the crew.
Erin Grey and her family were great proponents of the Nudist and Naturalist movement on the 60's and 70's and she was featured in many of the nudist publications of the time.
No, I won't post any evidence of it.....You can do a search and check for yourself......But she was always a MOST attractive lady! |
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Eadie Galactic Ambassador

Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 1670
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 10:54 am Post subject: Re: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) |
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Krel wrote: | Before they started filming the BR TV show, there was a magazine that showed some of the proposed designs. At the time, they were going for a more 19th century look in the costumes, sets and props, even more than the show did. One design they showed was for a chain sword for the Space Pirates ... |
Those early designs were done by artist William Stout and some were featured in a magazine called MEDIASCENE.
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Krel Guest
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 1:09 am Post subject: |
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That's the magazine, great catch Eadie. Come to think of it, I may still have that issue packed away somewhere.
David. |
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Custer Space Sector Commander

Joined: 22 Aug 2015 Posts: 929 Location: Earth
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 9:24 am Post subject: |
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I wonder if I still have those old copies of Steranko's MediaScene tucked away safely somewhere? The newspaper-style format was a bit strange, but at least the paper was pretty good quality. |
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Pow Galactic Ambassador

Joined: 27 Sep 2014 Posts: 3739 Location: New York
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 11:42 am Post subject: |
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Gene Roddenberry must have been inspired by the Buck Rogers premise of a man who goes into suspended animation & is awoken decades later.
GR's Genesis II & Planet Earth sf TV-Pilot movies used this plot for the Dylan Hunt character. |
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Gord Green Galactic Ambassador

Joined: 06 Oct 2014 Posts: 3001 Location: Buffalo, NY
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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Pow, ALSO in his ANDROMEDA tv series also with Dylan Hunt!!! |
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Pow Galactic Ambassador

Joined: 27 Sep 2014 Posts: 3739 Location: New York
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Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:27 am Post subject: |
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What! No photos of the stunning Princess Ardala.
Never knew how old Buck managed to resist her? |
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