^
It's the song played during the opening titles of the series.
It's the song played during the opening titles of the series.
A new 'Buck Rogers' film? Great, says Gil Gerard, but no bleakness
- Thread starter Dusty Ayres
- Start date
But a light and breezy touch has always been consistent wth the series.
Could you make a dark, tragic Buck Rogers, do to that franchise what happened to another space opera adventure Glen Larson once helmed? Sure. But I'm disinclined towards the notion.
It's been many years since I saw the Gerard version, but I remember scenes in the miniseries where Buck is chased across the blasted ruins of Chicago by debased mutant humans. That's pretty dark.
It was always kind of funny to me that the advanced Earth civilization couldn't help those poor folks out, or do something to help restore the biosphere. They're just content to live in their domed cities and party with Colonel Deering. When you think about it, in its own way it's just as twisted and dystopian as Blade Runner or The Blood of Heroes or A Boy and His Dog or Logan's Run.
Farscape is already the "dark" take on Buck Rogers, and even then, it wasn't BSG-style dark. The universe surrounding the characters was dark, but the main characters were loyal to each other, reasonably optimistic given the circumstances, didn't back down from a fight, might have fought among themselves but managed to get past it, and generally gave the impression that "friendship and love will get you through anything" - an underlying optimistic message. Even Rygel managed to contribute something to the group, despite being a selfish little shit. 
Buck Rogers could be "dark" like that. Buck is a guy with the intelligence and fighting spirit of John Crichton (maybe with more stable mental health - he doesn't need the tortured-genius aspect). He finds himself in a dark and threatening new reality, feels overwhelmed and disoriented, but he doesn't let it crush him. The threats against him can be extremely dark, but give us a bright, shining hero to root for against the odds, and the overall tone will be positive - the main character sets the tone.
Buck Rogers could be "dark" like that. Buck is a guy with the intelligence and fighting spirit of John Crichton (maybe with more stable mental health - he doesn't need the tortured-genius aspect). He finds himself in a dark and threatening new reality, feels overwhelmed and disoriented, but he doesn't let it crush him. The threats against him can be extremely dark, but give us a bright, shining hero to root for against the odds, and the overall tone will be positive - the main character sets the tone.
Farscape is already the "dark" take on Buck Rogers, and even then, it wasn't BSG-style dark. The universe surrounding the characters was dark, but the main characters were loyal to each other, reasonably optimistic given the circumstances, didn't back down from a fight, might have fought among themselves but managed to get past it, and generally gave the impression that "friendship and love will get you through anything" - an underlying optimistic message. Even Rygel managed to contribute something to the group, despite being a selfish little shit.
Buck Rogers could be "dark" like that. Buck is a guy with the intelligence and fighting spirit of John Crichton (maybe with more stable mental health - he doesn't need the tortured-genius aspect). He finds himself in a dark and threatening new reality, feels overwhelmed and disoriented, but he doesn't let it crush him. The threats against him can be extremely dark, but give us a bright, shining hero to root for against the odds, and the overall tone will be positive - the main character sets the tone.
You beat me to it Temis, this was going to be my point. I wouldn't mind a new Buck Rogers being a little darker, as long as it doesn't descend into the mess that New Galactica became. Even in the worst of situations, people can find something to smile about.
By the way, your avatars are always creative. Make them yourself?
I would see a new Buck Rogers film with maybe a retro-steampunk feel to it in regards to Twiki make him a humanoid with retro-steampunk elements along with the high tech of the 25th Century also keep Dr.Theo the pendant based wireless computer same makeover as Twiki as to the ships what James Cawley is doing with his version should serve as an inspiration to whom ever takes the director's chair,and who does the non CGI effects to tell the story rather than using SFX to tell it.
Sky captain is good example of retro but modern storytelling,and I think the new Buck Rogers film should also borrow from the current comics as well.
That'a my take on this
Have a happy 4th,and see most of you probably at Shore Leave 32
Signed
Buck Rogers
Sky captain is good example of retro but modern storytelling,and I think the new Buck Rogers film should also borrow from the current comics as well.
That'a my take on this
Have a happy 4th,and see most of you probably at Shore Leave 32
Signed
Buck Rogers
I wanna see Flava Flav wearing Dr. Theopolis.
I showed an ep of BR to my class yesterday ("Vegas in Space") and used the Flava Flav analogy to explain what was going on with Theo.
But boy, they hated that episode. Some of them said it was the worst thing we saw all class, and that's saying a lot. If they're going to make this work for a younger audience, they'd have to change a lot, judging by what I heard from a bunch of college kids.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM0p9VHeoyA[/yt]
The pilot was first shown in movie theaters, so they had a big opening credit sequence with this song, Erin Grey's legs and a 3/4ths naked Pamela Hensley.
^^ Thanks. Hmm. Pamela Hensley-- I had forgotten about her. 
Oh, okay. I don't think I had ever heard it before-- I never really watched the show, except for catching bits and pieces-- but that does capture what the character should be going through.
Oh, no, I would never want Buck Rogers-- or anything else-- to be reduced to that level of parody. But most versions of Buck have had him just fall easily into the format with hardly a second thought to his old life. There would be no problem with having a sadness to the character, a bittersweet melancholia, as things remind him of his old life and he remembers that they have all been long dead. Space Opera can have that kind of depth; after all, both the original Star Trek and Forbidden Planet can be classified as Space Opera and they were both written for adults.
"He" being Gil Gerard, as quoted in the linked interview.
The last suspended animation story I saw, set up an elaborate back story for the "accident" that sent Mel Gibson into the far future (compared to what was meant, anyhow.) I know that taking the science seriously is regarded as demeaning nerdiness, but Buck being frozen accidentally, then revived, is so lame that only a light and breezy approach is compatible.
If you want dark Buck, you need to have him plausibly sent into the future. Surprise, it can't be done! If Buck is sent into the future willingly, as a guinea pig, a la Mel in Forever Young (I think,) a lot of the dark disappears.
If you want dark Buck, you need to have him plausibly sent into the future. Surprise, it can't be done! If Buck is sent into the future willingly, as a guinea pig, a la Mel in Forever Young (I think,) a lot of the dark disappears.
"He" being Gil Gerard, as quoted in the linked interview.
I know who "he" is. Since when has Trek been a holocaust?
I don't really want a "dark" Buck Rogers apart from at least acknowledging his loss of everything/everyone he knows and his status as a fish-out-of-water before you start getting into lighter fare. That being said, sure it can be done.
Have Rogers (and preferably a crew - since no one would go on a deep space mission alone) in suspended animation for a transit of three years or so to Titan in order to conserve onboard consumables. The primary systems malfunction due to a meteor strike, causing the ship to drift into Saturn's orbit where it remains - presumed lost - for the next 500 years until accidentally discovered by Earth Forces on patrol.
Unfortunately, in the intervening years as the ship's nuclear powerplant and other systems failed and only solar power remained, the ship's backup life support computer sacrificed selected hibernating crew members in order to save as many lives as possible, based on their importance to the mission. Eventually the crew was whittled down to the mission commander; Rogers, who is the only one rescued.
An accident is far from lame. Arthur C Clarke did it. There's no problem with that at all.
Since the 2009 reboot. It's re-imagined for the "nu" generation now.
"He" being Gil Gerard, as quoted in the linked interview.Eh?
I know who "he" is. Since when has Trek been a holocaust?
Basically since a planet and person the fans care about is destroyed instead of the usual countless more nameless planets and redshirts the characters shrug off when ever a godlike being, Doomsday Machine, Amoeba, or out of control/evil computer/modifided space probe shows up.
The TOS timeline is post-apocalyptic.
And the nuTrek apocalypse happens to Vulcan, not Earth. If we include third-party planets, TOS was immensely apocalyptic.
This is the kind of elaborate back story I had in mind. This would work quite well. Buck would know before he went into suspended animation such a thing might happen, so the shock so important in all previous versions would be gone.
Yep. Maybe I should do a Farscape one...
Sounds good. I don't like the idea that there are other people from the past with him - Buck should be unique. Possibly there could be another survivor, who is incapacitated (in a coma?) so they can be revived as a plot point a couple seasons in...
