I recently treated myself to the current DVD box set release of this film and have been enjoying watching again. I actually didn't get to see all that much of it first time around, age 12 at time time it premiered on a weekday evening (Thursday) in a household where - no kidding - television was not permitted after 7pm on school nights. An insane prospect by modern consideration but in a 1 television household not at all difficult to enforce as long as the parental crew were in the house. But the minute they left we always had a viewing rotation worked out before the set would even be switched on, and Thursday night was always choir night. At first babysitters bribed or charmed into silence. The best one agreed the rule was inhumane and promised to help us respectfully break it IF we were good, and we were. Terry, we owe you one.By the time we were old enough to manage ourselves we used a Lookout system by which one of us would always keep an eye on the driveway. Just in time for "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" on Thursdays at 8pm. Brilliant! until the "Mork & Mindy" fad caught on and our older brother would usually use Pecking Order clout to change the channel. Thank God we were universal in despising "Laverne & Shirley" or I would have completely missed out on Erin Grey's Wilma Deering. Holy Mother of GOD ... Yes, that got through to me as a 12 year old. Big Time.And in the end was the reason to score the box set: YouTube reluctantly allows the series in severely compromised uploads that deny one the ability to truly enjoy Erin's fashion trend setting Spandex space leggings, form fitting jumpsuits, space suits, shimmering leotard combos, and whatever else she was sewn into for a given episode. Literally, it turns out, and being able to enjoy Wima Deering updated for the Swimsuit Issue era worth whatever bother, cost, waiting and navigating the DVDs involves. What *ever*.Now the good news is that while re-invigorating my libido the side effect has been a discovery of what was a pretty cool show that appears to have been ruined by its own success. I'd had the 90 minute theatrical version of the enjoyable pilot episode on VHS & know every line etc. But the rest of the show has been a vague memory involving Buck tossing back shots to Princess Ardalan's chagrin, a Space Vampire, some weird "Hawk" guy, and an increasing annoyance with Twiki which has been quickly set aside. Twiki is the soul of the show and Gil Gerard's fame it's undoing. Legend has it the show's success and free buffets went to Gerard's waistline and he insisted on the alterations which resulted in the confusing, overproduced and fun-lacking 2nd season. After which the series was mercifully cancelled, though by then I was watching "COSMOS" with Dr. Carl Sagan on Thursdays along with all the other cool kids.I'll get with the party at some point, for now though it's been super fun to re-discover the often unfairly maligned first season. The show is dismissed as campy, cheap looking, and caught up in the fads of the day, which is what hit television shows are about. You want movies, go to the movies. You want offbeat casting, bizarre period costuming, formula scripting and cheeze, you watch television. Cult interest guest stars included Jack Palance, Roddy Mcdowall, Peter Graves, Sid Haig (!!), Frank Gorshin, Richard Moll, Buster Crabbe, Robert "Count Yorga" Quarry, Michael Ansara, Henry Silva, and Woody Strode. For twisted content we get an episode with both Gary Coleman *and* Ray Walston, another with doomed Dorothy Stratten, and the odd reference to OJ Simpson ... What a show! They even disco dance with roller skates and one episode about a rock band has characters named after songs by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.What's there not to like about this show?? Unless you're some sort of malignant fun-wrecker with no sense of nostalgia. Go watch Doctor Who get gender-reassignment or something. Leave us alone.

"Universal" studios didn't produce many Science Fiction television shows but the ones they did make are pretty good. "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" was another version of that 1939 serial programme with Larry "Buster" Crabbe (who made an appearance in this series). The above series is what I would describe as being undemanding fun on a "comic strip" level. It doesn't take itself too seriously most of the time, which is just as well as the viewers certainly didn't! Buck Rogers is an astronaut from 1986 who ends up being frozen in time whilst in outer space and doesn't awake until the 25th century. The low budget is the main drawback of "Buck Rogers" as some of the effects and camera shots demanded more time and money. Alas, the final results of the special effects are hardly convincing. The writing rarely rises above the ordinary but still not bad. The supporting cast and the action scenes really compensate though and the show's pace was pretty good. Tim O' Connor was an asset to the show and I was rather disappointed when he was written out after the end of the first season. The show lasted for two seasons and it was fairly successful with the public.

The fact I have not seen this show since I was a kid makes me not want to give this show a score. I am quite certain that though I enjoyed the show as a kid I would probably think less of the show now. This film was in the same vein as a lot of other science fiction shows of the 70's and 80's. It has the cheese to it, it has spaceship battles, robots and it did not last all that long. This show was about Buck Rogers of course, a man of the past, saving the day in the future from strange women with his female and robot sidekick that had that funny little thing it did when it spoke. Of course, it was not high quality show, but when you are a kid you eat this kind of stuff up, especially if you were the type of kid who enjoyed "Star Wars" and things of that nature and I most certainly did. Gil Gerard was good as Buck and Erin Gray was good too in this one. She would later go on to be in the family comedy "Silver Spoons", but I am not sure what else she may have appeared in after that one. I am reading here that the show went off track during season two, however I do believe that the hawk dude was in the show then and I may well think differently now, but then I thought he was rather cool. I also enjoyed the episode where Buck is on this desert planet being tracked by this on robot guy because Buck I think was posing as a prisoner. Don't know why, always enjoyed it for some reason. All in all a show I enjoyed as a kid, not sure if I would now then though.

Ahhh… The late 70's. It was such a carefree time in many ways. The sexual revolution had occurred and AIDS wasn't on anyone's radar screen. TV entertainment leaned towards the undemanding to say the least. Shows like "Charlie's Angels", "The Love Boat", "Wonder Woman" and "CHiP's" were popular. Here was "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", TV's answer to "Star Wars" and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", but with so little of the style and imagination that those and other films and TV shows had provided previously. Based on a decades old character, which had been the focus of novellas, comic strips, radio programs and a movie serial, he was dusted off and given a fresh coat of spandex for the bubble gum sci-fi set. Handsome, hirsute Gerard was given the title role of an astronaut flung (frozen) 500 years into the future only to find Earth partially decimated and run by benevolent computers. Helping to make him comfortable in his new environment were government official O'Connor and attractive military colonel Gray, as well as the diminutive robot Twiki, voiced by Blanc. The first season of the show was endearingly campy with a plethora of known guest stars from the earlier days of Hollywood (Cesar Romero, Roddy McDowall, Vera Miles, Elizabeth Allen and even the original Buck, Buster Crabbe!) as well as up and coming folks such as Jamie Lee Curtis. The stories were silly, but the show was delightful, thanks to the tacky, abbreviated, satin costumes and the shiny sets. Another plus was the ultra-sexy presence of Hensley as a devious princess, who showed up several times throughout the season. Continuity was never a strong suit, nor was depth in scripting, but the show could be counted on for an hour of fun and modest entertainment. Gray was a resourceful, appealing, attractive woman of authority and Gerard was a brave, old-fashioned hero who almost bothered to button up his shirts and who was poured into his clingy pants. While it was disconcerting, especially at first, to hear Blanc's nicotine-tinged growl coming out of the little robot (with Silla inside), he provided gentle comic relief at times and could be an amusing counterpart to Gerard. After the first season, amidst a crippling actor's strike which wreaked havoc on many a show, everything was re-tooled and not in a good way. Suddenly, with little or no explanation, Gerard, Gray and Silla were on board a spaceship called Searcher and were joined by fussy Admiral Garner, wizened, old historian Hyde-White and the stern, mysterious Christopher, playing a character of ornithological descent named Hawk. A horrendously pompous and condescending robot character named Crichton was added, making for a crowded landscape in the smallish vessel. Aside from losing all plot lines involving Earth, the costumes were altered as well, insultingly rendering Gray to look like a Playboy Cruise Director and most everyone else like Good Spaceship Lollipop officers. Gerard's increasing girth led him to wear ugly jackets over his jumpsuits in a vain attempt to mask his oncoming obesity. As if that weren't bad enough, the quality of the scripts went straight into the toilet with many of the second season episodes being nearly unwatchable. The caliber of guest stars dropped off significantly, too, with practically no notable names showing up to speak of. If it was discordant to have Blanc do the voice of Twiki, it was doubly so to suddenly have a different voice-actor playing him for the second season. Wisely, Blanc was reinstated before long. Hensley was never utilized again after the first season finale, another grave error. Joining other series that underwent drastic changes in their second season only to be swiftly cancelled, this one at least has the lengthier first season to still recommend it as light entertainment. Look fast in the credits of the pilot film for LeeAnn Hunley as a sultry, silver-clad vamp. Haysbert appears a few times in season two as a communications officer.