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Buck Rogers - The Lost Series

I've watched the show on Netflix a few times and I enjoyed it, but it sounds like the original concept had to potential to be a much better series.
 
^^^
Agreed. A local TV station was running the Gil Gerard BR series for awhile, and I found them pretty-much unwatchable. Even the second season where they managed to have made some improvements.

The version described in the blog posting sounds like it would have been an attempt to do some really meaty space opera at a time where we'd left the realms of TOS for the world of Star Wars and BSG where stuff just blows-up a lot. And, for me at least, McCall's designs really add some weight to the idea. His stuff ranks right up there with the material Matt Jeffries and others did in developing TOS.
 
^I enjoyed the episodes I watched. It strikes me as the kind of show where you have to just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride. The original version on the other hand, sounds like it could have been an intelligent Trekkish type of sci-fi that we haven't really gotten enough of on TV outside of the Trek franchise.
 
Mysterion said:
^^^
Agreed. A local TV station was running the Gil Gerard BR series for awhile, and I found them pretty-much unwatchable. Even the second season where they managed to have made some improvements.

The version described in the blog posting sounds like it would have been an attempt to do some really meaty space opera at a time where we'd left the realms of TOS for the world of Star Wars and BSG where stuff just blows-up a lot. And, for me at least, McCall's designs really add some weight to the idea. His stuff ranks right up there with the material Matt Jeffries and others did in developing TOS.
Click to expand...
Interesting, most folks who find any enjoyment in the Series, enjoy S1 and if they dislike anything, it's S2.
 
The grass is always greener. It was great. What's better than great ? maybe terrible again. I might be able to improve the Mona Lisa with a moustache too. Remake the source material, but I loved Gil Gerard and the old seventies show. It didn't take itself too seriously and implode - it got better. Either that or my tastes got lower. It's one of my favorite shows - great stories and Gerrold and Fontana got in on it too when it changed and got different. Alot of shows change format as well as retool. Space 1999 brought in that sexy shape changer and I was glued to the set. The A-Team changed and they started working for Vaughn, etc.
 
JD said:
^I enjoyed the episodes I watched. It strikes me as the kind of show where you have to just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride. The original version on the other hand, sounds like it could have been an intelligent Trekkish type of sci-fi that we haven't really gotten enough of on TV outside of the Trek franchise.
Click to expand...

There are things I can successfully turn my brian off for and enjoy the ride quite a bit (Star Wars, original BSG, Time Tunnel, etc.). For some reason, though, the Gil Gerard version of Buck Rogers just ain't one of them. It might be this: a lot of it just seems like they weren't even trying.

There are other shows where the product wasn't necessarily great, but you got the sense that they were making an effort (i.e. first couple seasons of Andromeda). But with BR, it seems to me like they were just pumping it out just to do it. ("Don't worry, all those Star Wars fan will eat this crap up! Get me more aluminum foil over here!")

ETA: here's another McCall BR piece from the cover of Starlog #16: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jwRDJ2ULO3hZn0jnueo9gA?feat=embedwebsite
 
Mysterion said:
There are things I can successfully turn my brian off for and enjoy the ride quite a bit (Star Wars, original BSG, Time Tunnel, etc.). For some reason, though, the Gil Gerard version of Buck Rogers just ain't one of them. It might be this: a lot of it just seems like they weren't even trying.
Click to expand...

I watched some episodes recently (in 2012 at least) and I'm pretty sure they knew what they were doing. Gil might not have been on board but I get a sense there was a definite direction taken and that what is often seen as unintentionally cheesy was in fact not.
 
Mr. Adventure said:
They essentially did do that for season 2. I think the first season was a lot more enjoyable and memorable.
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So did I. Season two was nothing more than a Star Trek knock-off.

That said, while I thought the plot of season two was a waste, I did enjoy the new characters (Admiral Asimov, Hawk, Crichton, Goodfellow), and felt that they could have been added to the season one format with little trouble. Plus, I really missed Dr, Huer, Theo, and Ardala.
 
I would have no idea who Buck Rogers was if not for the Gil Gerard version.

Sure its cheesy. Now more than ever. But vintage Dr. Who is cheesy and beloved.

It's too bad a writer's strike probably cost us a full second season of Buck Rogers.

Wikipedia:
Future Films
Frank Miller has been slated to write and direct a new motion picture with Oddlot Entertainment, the production company that worked with Miller on The Spirit.
Click to expand...

Given that THE SPIRIT mostly sucked, that doesn't sound good.
 
I actually liked the second season of the Gil Gerard series better than the first. It had one of the best episodes of the whole series, Testimony of a Traitor. Don't even try to tell me that wasn't good television. I also liked The Dorian Secret (especially the very last scene, where the Dorians all remove their masks...that still gives me chills) and The Hand of Goral.

What I don't particularly care for is the 'retro' vibe that the new series has. Perhaps it's like Doctor Who where the first Doctor you see is always your favorite; my memories of Buck Rogers rest with the Gerard series, so that will always be my starting point. It was one of my favorite shows as a kid. So even though the new series has more of an authentically 30's vibe to it, like the comics, that is not what I'm used to. (I do like the idea of having Buck's parents played by Gil and Erin, though.)

Oh, and speaking of Erin Gray... After all these years, she's still got it. :devil:

Also: I remember Gil was not looking well for a number of years but he looks MUCH healthier now. What happened to him? Did he have some kind of surgery or something? In any case he looks OK now.
 
Is the new series the James Cawley one? I didn't realize that had been released.
 
My brain tended to shut off whenever Erin Gray was on-screen... Lack of blood flow or something perhaps. ;)

But yes, cheesy fun until S2. Then... *oy*

Cheers,
-CM-
 
There was an interview with Gil Gerard between seasons, in 1980. He talks about how disappointed he was with the show:
"At times, Gerard felt almost embarrassed about the show. "I felt that I had misled people
inadvertently, by saying that the show was going to have good characterizations and that
there was going to be substance to it."

Here's a link, warning, it's a direct link to a pdf:
http://buckrogersinfo.tripod.com/ArticleStarlognov1980.pdf
 
I still have no idea why the series' format changed into Battlestar Galactica all of a sudden with the introduction of Hawk. I almost resented him for that. And without Erin Grey, there's just too much testosterone, and hawk had a bird, and was cutting into Buck's action. He was like someone's idea of a spin off but he was getting too silly. OTOH, the Gary Coleman episode was great. They had great bad guys before things changed and Buck became an unneccessary third wheel without Dr. Huer and Erin Grey and Earth itself it seemed. ???
 
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Wilma was in season 2 but sidelined quite a bit. Worse she went from a hot liberated pilot in spandex to a mousy flight attendant (just look at her season 2 duds!).
 
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