Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - pilot "Awakening" missing scene

I think his real name was Richard Lupoff.

 

^That's right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lupoff

 

Someone finally made a model of the Draconia I see
http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=28970

I think one of Frank Gorshin's best roles was in Buck Rogers

 

I can hear that polytonal Stu Phillips cue just by looking at it.

I guess the reason this missing scene stuck with me all these years is that in a way it's the emotional center of the story. Man from the 20th century is suddenly confronted with images and an outline of what happened to his beloved Chicago and his whole world while he slept for 500 years. He stares at it, not wanting to believe the story, while we try to imagine how we would feel in that situation.

Then we're right with him as he asks Wilma for more information, starts going from denial to other stages of grief, sets out for the ruins to learn the truth in spite of the danger. Even in the final "tag" sequence in his apartment we gain more sympathy for his reluctance to get involved in the business, or the people, of the 25th century for fear of losing everything again. All because we were with him in that room at the beginning.

Shame they took it out. I hope I live to see it if it's ever recovered.

 

Got a used copy of the novelization.

As I suspected, the book doesn't have any of the scenes that were added specifically for the TV version, so no references to Anarchia, Buck's apartment, or any of that. Certainly not the scene this thread was about.

The novel seems to have been based on the shooting script for the movie; it includes some dialogue that was omitted from the final cut of the film (like Theo's comment on Buck's blue eyes) and some custom filler material (including the subplot about the traitor on the Computer Council).

 

Re: Got a used copy of the novelization.

Did Twiki say Buck was beady-beady-beady-eyed?

 

Was Buck a movie first then the tv pilot or was it like Galactica where they had the TV pilot and hacked it up into a movie?


-Chris

 

Like the Galactica pilot, it was shot as a TV pilot, but was released theatrically as a movie before the series premiered.

 

Yes I had both of them, only things I remember distinctly were Buck seeing a Draconian fighter diving at him at an "impossible angle" during the fake pirate attack, and in That Man On Beta, Wilma looking at Buck in shock when Ardala is describing his physical prowess (Ardala was discussing physical tests, but in such a way that Wilma thought she was talking about sex!).

I don't remember any missing scene from Buck Rogers, but I missed the initial broadcast of Awakening on ITV as my family were on holiday that weekend.

 

And then several new scenes were shot for the TV broadcast, many of them intended to help set up the series after it got the "green light." A few bits of the theatrical version were also cut from the final broadcast version... also like the Galactica pilot.

 

Here is the opening credit sequence for the movie version. I vaguely remember seeing this at a drive-in theater when I was just a little guy. For the life of me I'll never understand why Buck woke up in the first place.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BINijYepahA[/yt]

 

Been a while since I've seen it, but iirc he woke up because the Draconian's found him and were curious and thought they could use him as a way to get through Earth's defence shield.

 

Now you mention it, I remember seeing a tacked-on scene after the destruction of Draconia, when Dr Huer was asking Buck to help out the Earth Defense Directorate as an agent, with the advantage of not being in any database.

 

Uh...I don't think that's what AJK meant.

 

I found this!

Buck Rogers 25th Century - Deleted Scene from movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMyaMGqhI_c

 

I had the idea that Starfighters were rather flimsy in some respects--and thought the shuttle-type craft's tiles helped dissipate the Maurader's blast rather well. usually, a direct hit blows up a small craft.

There is a model of that craft as well

http://www.fantastic-plastic.com/Ranger 3 Page.htm

The studio model was later modified for use as a shuttle on Searcher, but not before being used on Battlestar Galactica as a Terra craft.

Sadly, the idea below would not work without help:

http://spaceshuttletothemoon.blogspot.com/
Here is an interesting post about using the orbiter to go beyond Earth orbit (BEO)

http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthr...-In-Shuttle-Payload-Bay&p=2135584#post2135584

 

That's actually the end scene that was added to the recent DVD release. The OP is talking about something else.

 

So it was actually filmed as Ranger 3 before it was used in BSG?

 

^Yes, the Buck pilot was shot while BSG was still in production.