Why would you think that? Because the original book is "racist"?
Imagine Buck Rogers re-imagined [Oh, that's just silly!]
- Thread starter Wingsley
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Why would you think that? Because the original book is "racist"?
I'd like to see a new version of Buck. Not any sort of 'I'M BUCK GODDAMN ROGERS' Frank Miller version (wasn't The Spirit enough classic comic strip to destroy?), but something in the vein of BSG. As someone said, ignore the 1970s/80s version, make it a new adaptation of the classic comic.
If, say Flash Gordon, were to be re-done (again, an adaptation of the original comic, nothing to do with the 1980 movie), I'd like to see it bright and breezy, though not camp. Sort of Star Wars ANH meets Firefly, meets Indiana Jones. But Buck could suit a dark makeover. All his friends and family, in fact everyone he knows, are dead, humanity has survived a nuclear war, there are barbarians at the gate ... Hardly feelgood material.
Of course, even if Millar doesn't mess BR up, we'll probably only get some crappy Sci-Fi channel version, with sh1t special effects, a 13 year old in the title role and a script on a par with teletubbies ... Oh, to see someone do for Buck what Chris Nolan did for Batman.
If, say Flash Gordon, were to be re-done (again, an adaptation of the original comic, nothing to do with the 1980 movie), I'd like to see it bright and breezy, though not camp. Sort of Star Wars ANH meets Firefly, meets Indiana Jones. But Buck could suit a dark makeover. All his friends and family, in fact everyone he knows, are dead, humanity has survived a nuclear war, there are barbarians at the gate ... Hardly feelgood material.
Of course, even if Millar doesn't mess BR up, we'll probably only get some crappy Sci-Fi channel version, with sh1t special effects, a 13 year old in the title role and a script on a par with teletubbies ... Oh, to see someone do for Buck what Chris Nolan did for Batman.
Upon reflection I don't think she's strong enough to carry the part. She's hot but doesn't strike me as the strong confident stand-up kind of woman that I picture Wilma Deering as being.
Hmm... should give this some thought....
Oh, I've got my ideas for Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon remakes. With Buck I'm stuck coming up with a really plausible way to get him into the future. Life support malfunction still works for me but I'm wondering how realistic that is.
Other possible ideas have the Draconians living on Saturn (well, the moons of Saturn). Why can't aliens come and colonize our outer solar system? This even stays true to some of the early Buck Rogers were the enemy were from the outer planets. I've also played with the idea of keeping the entire series within our own solar system. With 8 (or 9) planets, countless moons along with the asteroids, Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt there are plenty of potential locations and no need for FTL.
My Flash Gordon cocnept involves Mongo being a Ringworld Megastructure and the complete destruction of the Earth.
1) The post-apocalyptic wasteland aspect, which was featured in the 1979 movie but got pretty much ignored in the subsequent series, isn't downplayed. Some episodes/arcs could deal with a) exploring the wastelands, b) re-claiming and re-buildung Earth, c) discovering what actually caused the nuclear war centuries ago.
2) Also keep the re-imagined series closer to the 1979 movie by making Earth an underdog in the interstellar community. Earth would also possess no space colonies so far. (This would actually make Buck Rogers reminiscent of Enterprise... but then again, I liked that aspect of ENT.)
3) The second season, which didn't do much more than to rip off Star Trek and Larson's BSG, is completely ignored. This means no Hawk and no "Searcher" starship.
4) Other "silly" or "cheesy" aspects from the old series are downplayed, ignored, or changed. For example, Twiki is no "cute" robot anymore (old series' Twiki merely ripped off C-3PO/R2-D2 anyway).
2) Also keep the re-imagined series closer to the 1979 movie by making Earth an underdog in the interstellar community. Earth would also possess no space colonies so far. (This would actually make Buck Rogers reminiscent of Enterprise... but then again, I liked that aspect of ENT.)
3) The second season, which didn't do much more than to rip off Star Trek and Larson's BSG, is completely ignored. This means no Hawk and no "Searcher" starship.
4) Other "silly" or "cheesy" aspects from the old series are downplayed, ignored, or changed. For example, Twiki is no "cute" robot anymore (old series' Twiki merely ripped off C-3PO/R2-D2 anyway).
While both Farscape and Buck Rogers have the "man displaced" theme, Farscape is closer to concepts like John Carter or Lost In Space, I think.
You're exactly right; that show was a direct descendant of the Buck Rogers concept. Also, Roddenberry's Genesis II was a modernizing (for the time) of the idea.
So you think it will look like visual Mexican-knock-off-odd-brand-Chicklets. I get it know.(But why do you have that other link? And how did you get them confused?)
1) Cryonics. He did in an accident, and his next of kin had his remains frozen. He wakes up after medical technology has advanced sufficiently to revive him and repair his injuries. This creates a central technological conceit that most injuries can be repaired, even fatal ones, allowing characters to reasonably survive severe injuries, and requiring extreme damage to actually kill them off. If taken logically, it doesn't have to detract from dramatic peril, but it can if handled badly.
2) Relativistic speeds. This doesn't make much sense, as sending a 1 guy exploration vessel on a 500-year round trip is stupidly wasteful, and getting the math right might be difficult.
In the original, Buck was fighting Asians, first Han Chinese and then Mongols, though I don't think anyone involved actually understood the difference at the time. The yellow peril aspect needs to be removed, unless it is an over-the-top offensive comedy, but I say that the lack of alien intervention should be kept intact, because aliens tend to be cheesy, and just have him dealing with a totalitarian empire run by humans. Make him an Iraq war veteran, have him use the knowledge he gained fighting insurgents to lead an insurgency, just as he used the knowledge he gained fighting WWI to lead the Americans to victory in the original.
Another example of a Buck Rogers-style character was Frank Poole in 3001; ACC postulated that he was quickly frozen after being knocked away from Discovery by HAL and having his spacesuit damaged. The advanced medical technology of the 31st Century was able to save him.