Watching Buck Rogers In The 25th Century

[Qonundrum]

Buck Rogers was one of a number of TV series on the bubble that I followed which drastically changed formats. Some of them had transitional episodes, some just expected you to take the changes with a smile. Some shows just fell apart over time. Space:1999 just made a hard left with no explanations. They even rolled back the clock and effectively erased the first year. War of the Worlds (which was gutting), Human Target and SeaQuest all made extreme adjustments but at least they had episodes explaining them. V started the first few episodes in the style of the second mini series, but it rapidly went crazy and 2/3 of the way through, they killed off or jettisoned a third of the characters (some of the wrong ones honestly). Never have I seen a series change to quickly in a short time. Even Lost in Space evolved over a full season into all out comedy.

For "V", weren't the cast quitting due to the declining quality of the scripts? (It started out strong enough, despite the lack of Visitor reverberation vocal effect, which was probably jarring to viewers at the time as well... as well as even basic continuity issues, some were easier to roll with than others, until they completely pretend Nathan Bates' funky wristwatch heart monitor that was to emit a signal to release red dust should he die... ugh... then add in some subtle Batman antics, such as "the marriage of Charles and Diana", some underbudget Visitor full head masks that didn't fit, and despite expanding on Visitor culture and lore they did all the fighting (complete with ceremonial face makeup) while wearing their human suits, it felt as if nobody making the show really cared... even Julie was going to be written off (killed) in the season finale (not filmed, allowing the season to end an episode short and on a cliffhanger)... ugh...)

"Lost in Space"'s second season was trying to follow the same trend and camp it up because Batman popularized it. Didn't work and ostensibly proving the same format used in every show like a cookie cutter template... season 3 started a turn back with some seriousness and more action, but ultimately fell back to camping it up. The giant carrot episode is just too much combined with everything else.

I would have enjoyed a transitional episode for Buck. It didn’t have to be all that much different than Time of the Hawk, just have Huer assign Buck to get Hawk on their way out, have him say goodbye to Buck, Wilma and Twiki, and boom, done. Like 1999, they introduced a new third lead who had an episode based around him and then – the next week – is fully integrated and pals with everyone. Hawk was never awkward and never wavered from his friendship with the Searcher crew. I wish they had a full second season, it would have been interesting to see Hawk meet an outcast colony of his people and find that he really doesn’t fit in at all…

^^this

Totally agreed. It would have been nice. Even when I first saw the (new season), it was jarring. No more Dr Huer, Wilma now looks like a tennis player serving booze in a bar, Twiki's new voice is awful... I grew to like it and appreciated Mel Blanc returning, however. I was really into it with the final episode... taking cues from Star Trek, (especially) Battlestar Galactica and Twilight Zone but actually innovating on them, and ditching a fair amount of the disco camp was an improvement. (There are only so many plot tropes, how they're used seems better than the cookie cutter method. Especially as BSG was a retooling and retelling of certain Biblical stories.)) And I really wanted see more of Hawk, who got a great setup - only to be put to the side without any proper follow-up.

I liked the idea of a Space Navy and that it had military traditions, although the uniforms were goofy. The ship could have been laid out better, but for some reason I loved the giant sonar in the engine room.

Ditto. The Asimov reference was a little hokey and odd, yet had a certain charm.

 

[Christopher]

For "V", weren't the cast quitting due to the declining quality of the scripts?

Actors are under contract and can't just walk out mid-season. And the cast departures happened over episodes 11-13, with the actors being dropped from the credits after episode 13. That means their contracts weren't renewed after the initial 13-episode order, no doubt to save money by reducing the cast size. It's possible they weren't interested in remaining, but the main factor behind almost any decision in TV is going to be money. It's not uncommon for struggling shows to cut costs after episode 13 in order to get a full season order. (Something similar happened with Alien Nation in '89-'90. It credited a sprawling cast in its first 13 episodes, but several of the cast members were only infrequently used at all, so three of them were let go after episode 13. Although one of them, Jeff Doucette, came back later and ironically had his biggest role in the series as a guest star after he was dropped as a "regular.")

Especially as BSG was a retooling and retelling of certain Biblical stories.

I thought it was the Book of Mormon.

Ditto. The Asimov reference was a little hokey and odd, yet had a certain charm.

Buck Rogers' season 2 producer John Mantley had attempted in 1978 to produce a film adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot with Harlan Ellison writing the screenplay. So he was probably acquainted with Asimov through that project, explaining the homage. (Apparently Mantley was unjustly shut out of that film after bringing it to Warner Bros. and won a fraud case against their executives eleven years later, well after the movie project collapsed. Ellison’s screenplay was later published in book form.)

 

[publiusr]

I rather liked the Searcher myself. Also a fan of Hawk.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

That final episode of Lost In Space is what canned the show. The cast couldn't stop laughing between takes making shooting drag on for too long and series ratings by then were firmly in the toilet.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I rather liked the Searcher myself. Also a fan of Hawk.

It was Shit.

How many human colonies did they actually find?

 

[Skipper]

For "V", weren't the cast quitting due to the declining quality of the scripts?

If I remember correctly, it was just a decision to cut costs (it was a relatively large cast for a weekly series).

 

[Guy Gardener]

If I remember correctly, it was just a decision to cut costs (it was a relatively large cast for a weekly series).

Well it would have been a dick move, to only invite half the cast from the miniseries, back for the ongoing series.

 

[diankra]

Michael Ironside had some of his best stuff in V just before he was dropped.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Michael Ironside had some of his best stuff in V just before he was dropped.

He was great in Andromeda

 

[Galileo7]

It was Shit.

How many human colonies did they actually find?

Agree, the mission was a disappointment.

Albeit, I did like the Searcher [a reuse of season one cruise spaceship] and Hawk.

 

[theenglish]

V was the first heavily serialized science-fiction show...that I saw anyway. I really enjoyed how it continued from week to week and was disappointed when it started to fizzle out after only a few episodes. People forget how big and culturally significant the two mini-series were at the time. It was an event show that everyone was watching at the time, whether they like science fiction or not.

Buck Rogers was also very well known at the time because it played on nostalgia of the older generation. The Buster Crabbe appearance was a big deal at the time.

 

[Herbert]

I loved Buck Rogers as a kid. I recently watched a few episodes and umm yeah, it didn't hold up well compared to my memories of the show.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Agree, the mission was a disappointment.

Albeit, I did like the Searcher [a reuse of season one cruise spaceship] and Hawk.

Nothing sexual, but imagine a half naked oiled up Hawk wrestling a half naked oiled up G`Kar.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Well at least in one episode they used the correct term Contraterrene generator for an anti matter generator

 

[JD]

Nothing sexual, but imagine a half naked oiled up Hawk wrestling a half naked oiled up G`Kar.

Yep, nothing sexual about that at all.

 

[Christopher]

Albeit, I did like the Searcher [a reuse of season one cruise spaceship]

A reuse and remodel. They repainted it and made the windows bigger to suggest a smaller ship. I didn't really care for the model, since it didn't look good from many angles.

V was the first heavily serialized science-fiction show...that I saw anyway.

There were earlier shows with varying degrees of serialization. Lost in Space's first several episodes were serialized (since they spread out the original pilot footage over the first five episodes), and after that they did a sort of faux serialization where each episode ended with the teaser of the next. The first seasons of Filmation's Jason of Star Command and Flash Gordon on Saturday mornings were done like old-style movie serials, with cliffhanger endings at the end of each chapter/episode.

Galactica 1980 was surprisingly serialized for its day, with continuity from episode to episode and a loose arc developing over its brief run. For instance, there was one episode that ended with the characters talking about heading for a meeting that then happened at the start of the next episode. A few years before that, there was The Fantastic Journey, which was episodic in its plots, but mostly did a good job of having each episode pick up right where the previous one had left off, at least until the last couple of episodes.

I really enjoyed how it continued from week to week and was disappointed when it started to fizzle out after only a few episodes. People forget how big and culturally significant the two mini-series were at the time. It was an event show that everyone was watching at the time, whether they like science fiction or not.

Yes, the original miniseries was a powerful piece of political allegory about the rise of fascism (all the more relevant today). Unfortunately, the sequel got dumbed down and the series even more so, and thus audience interest waned.

Well at least in one episode they used the correct term Contraterrene generator for an anti matter generator

"Correct" is an odd word for it. It was a 1935 coinage by Vladimir Rojansky, an alternative to the pre-existing 1898 coinage of "antimatter," and it only had a brief vogue in science fiction in the 1940s, popularized by Jack Williamson, before it was supplanted by "antimatter" as the standard term in the 1950s. Indeed, I'd say "contraterrene matter" is less correct than "antimatter" (as well as far more cumbersome), since it means "the opposite of Earthly matter," which is oddly specific, since Earth is made of the same kind of matter as everything else in the universe.

 

[Reverend]

Nothing sexual, but imagine a half naked oiled up Hawk wrestling a half naked oiled up G`Kar.

I refuse.

 

[Ssosmcin]

For "V", weren't the cast quitting due to the declining quality of the scripts?

As @Christopher said, NBC wanted to cut costs by trimming the cast. For some reason, V was the most expensive show they had even though it looks horribly cheap with almost no new effects and all of the set and costumes from the mini series being reused. Someone was getting some kickback... Faye Grant was the only one I had heard wanted desperately to leave. They didn't kill Ham or Robin as Michael Ironside was supposed to come back in that last unfilmed episode and the series reformatted to be a "quest/road" type show. I don't know if Blair Tefkin was though.

The cliffhanger ending was frustrating, but honestly, if you just delete that one line of dialog from Diana ("he's going to get a big bang out of it") setting up the assassination attempt of the Leader, it would just have been an open ended closing episode. Diana and James were headed to the homeworld in disgrace, Philip and Lydia were in charge of the peace making force, Elizabeth went off with the Leader and Kyle had snuck aboard to be with her. Oh and Willie found love at last. Not a great episode, it was actually pretty incomprehensible and a storytelling nightmare, but it did close off the war.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Actors are under contract and can't just walk out mid-season.

Didn't Mandy Patinkin do that very thing with Criminal Minds?

The cliffhanger ending was frustrating, but honestly, if you just delete that one line of dialog from Diana ("he's going to get a big bang out of it") setting up the assassination attempt of the Leader, it would just have been an open ended closing episode.

I always assumed that Elizabeth managed to sense and disable the bomb placed aboard the shuttle.

Some of the things they dropped in the series (such as the Visitors' voices having that reverb effect) actually made sense to me - by that point the Visitors had been on Earth for long enough that their voices must have adapted. And besides, many of the episodes directly depended on Visitors being able to pose as humans, so they pretty much had to drop that effect.

No, the thing that really stuck out was Philip. He and Martin are only ever seen in their human disguises, so how are they immediately recognized as twin brothers? Any Visitor can wear any human face, so even if they really are twins IRL, they don't have to look alike as humans.

Side note: There was one thing about the series that really freaked me out. Marta being convicted of killing Charles...and sealed in the casket with his corpse...

 

[Ssosmcin]

Didn't Mandy Patinkin do that very thing with Criminal Minds?

I suppose he asked to be let out of his contract. I don't know the ins and outs of his departure, but sometimes the production will agree to the break and sometimes they won't. Perhaps having a miserable lead badmouthing his series wasn't what they considered to be in their best interests (shades of Roy Scheider during SeaQuest's second season).

No, the thing that really stuck out was Philip. He and Martin are only ever seen in their human disguises, so how are they immediately recognized as twin brothers? Any Visitor can wear any human face, so even if they really are twins IRL, they don't have to look alike as humans.

Side note: There was one thing about the series that really freaked me out. Marta being convicted of killing Charles...and sealed in the casket with his corpse...

The whole mask thing was maddening even as a kid. Why were they still wearing them all the time? Especially when it became more or less common knowledge they didn't look like us (everyone was calling them "lizards" by the time the series got going). Why were they speaking English amongst themselves? Why didn't they have enhanced strength anymore? One punch from Donovan would knock one out. Why why why....and so on. The series was ridiculously sloppy. And yet...when it aired and even after it was cancelled, I was obsessed with it. I still love it, I just know it's stupid. And Dennis McCarthy's music was perfect.

Agreed about Marta. The series, while apparantly aimed at kids and wildly over the top (it was literally The A-Team meets Dynasty In Space towards the end), the show had a really vicious streak. It was kinky as hell, too.

I'll say this, the series had some of the best 80's fistfights on TV.