Let me say right off the bat that at least for me, there were two things working in this film's favour even before I started it (as 2 nifty percent of my infamous Mill Creek 50-pack, 'Nightmare Worlds'): a) I love the old-time serials, a part a week at the theatres, each with a cliffhanger ending; and b) I'm a fan of Buster Crabbe, from seeing him previously both as Tarzan and in a Flash Gordon serial. Directors Beebe and Goodkind were masters at the format, and this is no exception (although since it's from the 30's, and with B-movie budgetary restrictions at that, I readily dismiss all negative comments from people complaining that for the 1950's, it's really crappy filmmaking--it's NOT from the 50's, but simply edited then into a feature-length film the company could then sell, most probably to television stations).I enjoyed it, though I wish that instead of seeing this, I was watching the unedited, undiluted full serial that was originally made. I have read that the best and most exciting parts were edited out.

There's always a way to pull a buck out of the movie going public, and for those young boys who hadn't been around when the original Buck Rogers had come out, getting to see it probably on a Saturday afternoon was a thrill, especially if they went with their father who had seen each of the chapter plays as a kid. I have never seen the full serial and really don't have the time amongst my movie research to see all four hours of it, so this greatly edited version of it will do just fine. For a serial made more than 75 years ago, it holds up very well, with Buster Crabbe handsome and heroic as Buck. A survivor of a trapped dirigible, he wakes up from being frozen centuries later, he must catch up on modern (or futuristic) technology and shows he's got what it takes to remain a hero many moons later.I'd like to think that young people today could enjoy this for its imagination, but they have been greatly spoiled by the noisy sound effects and computer generated animation of today. Constance Moore is a fine female lead with Jackie Moran as Crabbe's equally heroic sidekick and Anthony Warde a wonderfully nefarious villain. A lot of the back story seems to be missing, as is Manu of the thrills of the original, but the choice bits have remained, making this simple and to the point.

OK, this one often is listed as being from 1953, but this is not exactly correct- it is an edited version of the 1939 serial.Keeping this in mind, it still seems a bit dated by 1939 standards (the costumes, and the (in)famous electric razor sounds emanating from the rocket-ships). On the plus side, we see that the original 1939 audience got exposed to television, lasers,interplanetary spaceflight, and robots. Re-releasing this in edited form in 1953 could have been part of forming the space pioneer mind-set among American youth that eventually propelled the US to the Moon in 1969, so we can thank Buck Rogers for some of the inspiration. The pace is good, the action keeps coming, but the plot and directorial execution is very simple. This was made primarily for children and early teens, so things never get too complex here. Not really the best of the Buck Rogers material that's out there. This is mainly for die-hard fans of the principal character and fans of Buster Crabbe.

When they edited this one down from a serial, did they take out all the good bits? I'm all up for an old sci-fi film, but all Planet Outlaws seemed to involve was people flying in and out of secret bases and travelling to Saturn over and over and over again. This film seems to least three times longer than the stated running time.Buck Rodgers and his borderline catamite sidekick Buddy are frozen in time when Buck lets out a vindaloo fart right at the moment of impact when their plane crashes. Enveloped in a spicy cloud of gas for a thousand years or so, Buck is awoken by the rebels of future planet Earth, who are involved in a conflict with dictator Killer Kane. Buck and young, nubile Buddy join the rebels and are immediately involved in a rush to get to Saturn in order to sign a treaty with those Saturn guys to join them against Killer Kane. However, Kane's men beat them to it and man does this film involve a whole lot of nothing.That's really the plot: the rebels flying about trying to avoid Kane's ships, everyone trying to get to Saturn to sign some damn treaty or other, and people sneaking onto each other ships, Buck being shot down etc etc. There's some gumpf about people being turned into mindless robots and to be honest the only good part was the hilarious narrator who frames the film.Did Buster Crabbe ever do anything good? This film is pants. Nabonga wasn't too good either, and the Alien Dead was awful.