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

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by BoredShipCapt'n, Jul 7, 2013.

  1. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Oh well, at least "Greetings from Earth" gave something back. Some of those establishing shots filmed at Expo '67 were edited into the broadcast version of "Awakening." :)
     
  2. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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  3. Marc

    Marc Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    Watched awakening and Planet Of The Slave girls over the weekend and noticed that like the original BSG it suffered with relation to the special effects. At one point I was wondering if some shots have been reconstructed from Battlestar FX shots where they changed some elements (mainly the ships).

    Or would it have been the same FX shop using the same techniques and shots for both shows.
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^BSG and BR were both from the same producers and the same studio, and they reused a lot of the same FX elements. So yeah, almost certainly the same FX house.
     
  5. trevanian

    trevanian Rear Admiral

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    The first 7 hrs of GALACTICA were done by what was later known as Apogee, a splinter group of STAR WARS veterans headed up by John Dykstra.

    After the pilot and the pair of 2 parters were done, Dykstra withdrew (I don't think Uni was holding up their end, he wasn't getting to direct and the number of shows was much larger than they originally told him) his company from the project (just as well, since I think GL was starting to get pissed that he had let his people & equipment do Galactica when he wound up having Fox sue them over similarities.)

    The rest of GALACTICA was shot by the newly-formed Universal Hartland facility, which also did all of BUCK. A woman who died fairly young, Jena Holman, did some really great matte shots for BUCK (and later for THE RIGHT STUFF and THE DAY AFTER), and Hartland worked on other forgettable stuff like the first GET SMART movie, THE NUDE BOMB.

    I think their last credit was the horrible to the point of being funny CONCORDE AIRPORT 79, which had some incredibly shoddy optical work (much less time to do the work than even TFF had, and it shows.) There's also a model Concorde landing in mid-film that looks like it was done with a kid's toy and shot from an adult's perspective, it is seriously godawful, but I think that may have been done by other folks, because that sequence isn't mentioned in the AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER coverage of the VFX.

    If there are any folks who would like to know more, go to that STARLOG online resource and look up issue 27 (my alltime favorite issue of the mag by far, have bought it and rebought it often down through the years), which has a piece on Hartland, another on Magicam's involvement with TMP, and another on VFX for ALIEN.
     
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  6. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Thanx for sharing that. The folks who do FZ work need to be lauded.
     
  7. Keith1701

    Keith1701 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I enjoyed the series as well.:)
     
  8. Borjis

    Borjis Commodore Commodore

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    Thanks for the starlog archive link!

    any one see the Buck Rogers movie in the theater?

    Gil said it was shot protected for 1.85

    Was it widescreen in the theater?
     
  9. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    ^ I have never seen any version of BR in widescreen.
     
  10. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    With Larson being involved and with BSG having gone to the theater it seems reasonable that Buck was shot that way. I saw BSG in the theater but alas not Buck.
     
  11. Admiral James Kirk

    Admiral James Kirk Writer Admiral

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  12. FredH

    FredH Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I could swear I remember the Galactica pilot only being released theatrically after the show was already on the air, at least in the US. Are you sure?
     
  13. Noname Given

    Noname Given Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yes, the BSG was released theatrically in the U.S. AFTER the series had its run on ABC (it was done prior to the premiere of the 'Galactica 1980' TV series.) It might have been released in Canada and in the European markets prior to BSG's premiere as a TV series in the states. (I always liked that in the theatrical version, Baltar gets his head chopped off by the Cylons after the Colonial Battlestar fleet is destroyed.)

    The Buck Roger's in the 25th century film was released to theatres prior to it airing as the series pilot in NBC.

    I did see the Buck Rogers prior in the movie theatre, and to my recollection, it was not shown in widescreen format.
     
  14. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Wikipedia fail, I guess.
     
  15. Zaku

    Zaku Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    From: http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(TOS)
    I still remenber the movie theater where I saw this version... now it's a Bingo Hall.... :lol:
     
  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Oh, that must've been what I was referring to when I wrote that post.