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News Gil Gerard (1943-2025)

Dar70 said:
Dammit. I don't think my heart can take anymore of this. Rob Reiner, Tony Geary and now Gil Gerard. ALL part of my childhood and all popular at around the same time.... 😢
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Whenever somebody famous that I know has died, I always say, 'Im losing everybody I cared about'; I know how you feel.
 
Maurice said:
No disrespect to Gerard, other than him wanting to sideline Erin Grey, but season 2 was a total misfire, and coming back after an extended hiatus due to the strike with an almost unrecognizable show didn't do anything to help them hold onto their existing audience, let alone expand it. For as much more "serious" it was supposed to be, it wasn't much, it was just less fun. And Hawk was utterly wasted after the first episode.

Too many cooks ruined the soup.
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What Gerrard wanted that ended up as Season 2 may have been inspired by this concept that the series was going to be like originally.
 
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Maurice said:
Without seeing actual scripts it's impossible to actually compare them.
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The script for the first episode of the previously mentioned (in the article) Buck Rogers show was about the hijacking of the starship used in the show, named the Constitution (which Buck's the captain of.) That (plus the pedigree of the person who was going to write the scripts for the show) makes it a lot better than what was in Season 2 of the actual show, IMHO.
 
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Season 2 was definitely uneven at best. There was some potential there obviously. The very last episode (was it "The Dorian Secret" or something like that) was the one that felt most like the first season. I think it was partly the campiness of the 1st season that made the show so good, and they excised most of that in Season 2.

It's also obviously jarring. All of a sudden there's significant changes with virtually no explanation. Even some of the language is different. Twiki is a robot now, not an ambuquod (even his registry is different I noticed in one episode in each season where it's referenced). And absolutely no mention of Theopolis or Huer. Even in the one episode where they return to Earth for Buck's trial. You'd think both of them would have shown up to the trial to defend Buck. Not even a mention if they were 'busy' that they back him up or something. But it was like season 1 never existed.

And of course the storylines were much weaker which didn't help matters. And I didn't care for some of the new characters. Hawk was good for the most part, being an exception.

Part of that was TV at that time was a lot different. Buck Rodgers certainly wasn't the only show where you saw significant changes without much explanation. But it is one of the most glaring in that season 2 was basically a new show that just shared a title. Other shows at least made some token explanation, even if it was paper thin.
 
Damian said:
Part of that was TV at that time was a lot different. Buck Rodgers certainly wasn't the only show where you saw significant changes without much explanation. But it is one of the most glaring in that season 2 was basically a new show that just shared a title. Other shows at least made some token explanation, even if it was paper thin.
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*Galactica 1980"
 
The Salt Umpire said:
*Galactica 1980"
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Believe it or not I never made it too far in Battlestar Galactica. I missed it when it came out and never caught it on reruns. I started watching it on Tubi a few years back but then it got dropped and now it's only available on streaming platforms I don't pay for (and it's not a must see that I feel a need to sign up for one--I'll just wait until someday when it shows up on Tubi or Roku or something).

But I have heard about Galactica 1980. Another Larson show with an unexplained '2nd' season.
 
Damian said:
But I have heard about Galactica 1980. Another Larson show with an unexplained '2nd' season.
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Well the usual response is the is no Galatica 1980 :)

But there was some attempt to explain the changes with implication in the first episode that of characters had either fallen to ravages of time or the cylons got them.

As to why it was made, the answer is money. IRCsuits thought with a cheaper cast, reuse of sets, props and stock footage and kids they could make a more family friendly show with an existing intellectual property for less than spinning up a completely new show.

As for Buck Roger’s second if the format change had been known earlier maybe they could have introduced the new concepts e.g a scene where Dr Huer talks about the Searcher’s mission which as head of the science directorate he would had knowledge of.

Or a transition ep as the first of the new season but O’Connor had probably moved on ( which could explain not being in Testimony of a Traitor) and the first season sets had been torn down and replaced.
 
The Salt Umpire said:
I did, too. I watched the episode where they picked up the Apollo 11 broadcast and the next season they were running around on Earth. I didn't know it had been cancelled and then rebooted. And then the final Starbuck episode.
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I remember that but the broadcast happens on a screen right at the end of the episode and I think everyone had walked out of the room. Not sure how far from Earth Galactica might have been to even get that but wouldn't it be all garbled by the time it's in deep space anyway if we want to be real about it?
 
Marc said:
As for Buck Roger’s second if the format change had been known earlier maybe they could have introduced the new concepts e.g a scene where Dr Huer talks about the Searcher’s mission which as head of the science directorate he would had knowledge of.

Or a transition ep as the first of the new season but O’Connor had probably moved on ( which could explain not being in Testimony of a Traitor) and the first season sets had been torn down and replaced.
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I do recall reading an interview or something that Gerard had wanted there to be some transition episode but it was shot down for some reason.

It's probably doubtful O'Connor would have returned for a one off supporting role (if the producers would have even entertained it). But I was surprised there was absolutely no mention of him or Theopolis. Not even a mention that they couldn't be there due to some 'critical mission' but still supported Buck or something. It really did seem like the Season 2 folks really wanted to pretend season 1 never existed.
 
Damian said:
I do recall reading an interview or something that Gerard had wanted there to be some transition episode but it was shot down for some reason.

It's probably doubtful O'Connor would have returned for a one off supporting role (if the producers would have even entertained it). But I was surprised there was absolutely no mention of him or Theopolis. Not even a mention that they couldn't be there due to some 'critical mission' but still supported Buck or something. It really did seem like the Season 2 folks really wanted to pretend season 1 never existed.
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I was wondering back then where they went.
 
Candleicious Ghost said:
I remember that but the broadcast happens on a screen right at the end of the episode and I think everyone had walked out of the room. Not sure how far from Earth Galactica might have been to even get that but wouldn't it be all garbled by the time it's in deep space anyway if we want to be real about it?
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Not to mention how little power it had and was a directional antenna. Of course Galactica wouldn't have picked it up so far away.

As a counterfactual, Voyager's dish antenna broadcasted at a power of 23 watts, not sure how strong Apollo's was

www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk

From the Moon to your living room: the Apollo 11 broadcast | National Science and Media Museum

Discover the story behind one of the biggest television events in history: the Moon landing.
www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
 
The Salt Umpire said:
Not to mention how little power it had and was a directional antenna. Of course Galactica wouldn't have picked it up so far away.

As a counterfactual, Voyager's dish antenna broadcasted at a power of 23 watts, not sure how strong Apollo's was

www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk

From the Moon to your living room: the Apollo 11 broadcast | National Science and Media Museum

Discover the story behind one of the biggest television events in history: the Moon landing.
www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
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I'm trying to find an answer for a story I'm doing that's like this. Now I know if you parked a ship 4 light years from Earth 🌍 and pointed all your sensors at us the strongest signals you could get would likely be radar signals., and other similar things.

What I want to know is how far would a ship have to be to pick up mostly clear radio and TV from our world.
 
Candleicious Ghost said:
I'm trying to find an answer for a story I'm doing that's like this. Now I know if you parked a ship 4 light years from Earth 🌍 and pointed all your sensors at us the strongest signals you could get would likely be radar signals., and other similar things.

What I want to know is how far would a ship have to be to pick up mostly clear radio and TV from our world.
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Our bubble of AM radio broadcasts is about 110 light years wide and expanding. Then you have shortwave, radar and the intense light from hundreds of nuclear detonations for 20 years after 1945. FM has about a 60 yr bubble. Now we shoot lasers at the sky.

If someone is paying attention, they'll get the news from 2022 if they have a way to receive them.
 
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