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What if Ron Moore did Buck Rogers in the twenty-fifth century?

Maybe there is a way to redeem Twiki -- instead of a phallic-headed boy robot, have him be an intelligent online software agent who compiles the world's knowledge and presents it to Buck, Wilma, et al. on request.

That's right -- he'd be Twikipedia!

:D
 
Either way, the point is that they don't need to be included, since they aren't an intrinsic part of the Buck Rogers universe, just an invention of that one mediocre TV adaptation of it, like Twiki was. I'm pretty sure Ardala is unique to the '79 series as well.


No, Ardala and Kane come right from the original comic. Only the ways they were presented in the series were unique.
 
Maybe there is a way to redeem Twiki -- instead of a phallic-headed boy robot, have him be an intelligent online software agent who compiles the world's knowledge and presents it to Buck, Wilma, et al. on request.

That's right -- he'd be Twikipedia!

:D

:rolleyes: Eav'oq jokes are funnier than that. :p
 
No, Ardala and Kane come right from the original comic. Only the ways they were presented in the series were unique.

Okay, I knew about Killer Kane, but I wasn't sure about Ardala. Apparently she was Kane's sidekick/partner in the comics, not his boss, and not a princess. The most specific description I can find for her role is "evil adventuress."
 
^Wikipedia (not Twikipedia) says Bob Elyea dubbed Twiki's voice in the early second season. Elyea has only one other screen acting credit (16 years later!) and one associate producer credit, not on Buck Rogers, so why he ended up doing the voice is unclear.
 
Maybe there is a way to redeem Twiki -- instead of a phallic-headed boy robot, have him be an intelligent online software agent who compiles the world's knowledge and presents it to Buck, Wilma, et al. on request.

That's right -- he'd be Twikipedia!

:D

That was sorta my idea for Theopolis. All the solar system's computers networked together created (every planet, station& spaceship) an artificial consciousness. This consciousness is literally greater than the sum of it's parts and, once consciousness is achieved, it would take a massive amount of computer destruction to kill him. Nobody at first knows of the existence of Theopolis. Clues would be given throughout the first season with the AI finally revealing himself (itself?) to Buck at the end of the season finale.

I liked Twiki and imagined him being inserted completely as is. Of course, I really wouldn't want to without Mel Blanc's voice.
 
Hmmm. Interesting idea.

I'd expect a lot more angst from Buck - missing his friends and family, mourning not only them but the world and times he knew.

I imagine that the technology would be something like that in BSG - no lasers or phasers, weapons more like hi-tech guns and cannons.

In the first season of the Gil Gerard series, there were some interesting ideas that were never followed up on - the wastelands on Earth and people living out there. Expect a lot more like this. I think you'd also see more about how 25th Century Earth was still struggling to come to terms with the devastation caused by previous wars and in trying to find new sources of food or energy.

Ideas like Col Deering being an ace fighter pilot, carrying the same rank and doing the same job as well as a man would be right at home with Ron.

Finally - Twiki would be nowhere in sight.

Agree.:vulcan:
 
^Wikipedia (not Twikipedia) says Bob Elyea dubbed Twiki's voice in the early second season. Elyea has only one other screen acting credit (16 years later!) and one associate producer credit, not on Buck Rogers, so why he ended up doing the voice is unclear.

Maybe Mr. Blanc was simply unavailable for a few weeks?

I'm sure somebody somewhere will come up with the answer.
 
^No, I meant why Elyea in particular was chosen as the replacement was unclear -- though I guess why Blanc was dropped is also unclear. But I don't think it was meant to be a temporary departure. For one thing, voices are recorded in post-production weeks after the episodes are shot, and it doesn't take very long at all to record a voice part, so they could've easily had Blanc record half a season's worth of episodes all at once after his schedule cleared. For another thing, I've read that the reason Blanc was brought back was due to popular demand -- audiences reacted badly to the replacement voice. Which means that the intent was for Blanc to be gone for good.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the reason they dropped Blanc was to save money. An obscure, uncredited performer would've been far cheaper to use than the most famous and accomplished voice actor in the world. But the replacement went over so badly that I guess eventually they scraped together enough money to hire Blanc back.
 
No, Ardala and Kane come right from the original comic. Only the ways they were presented in the series were unique.

Okay, I knew about Killer Kane, but I wasn't sure about Ardala. Apparently she was Kane's sidekick/partner in the comics, not his boss, and not a princess. The most specific description I can find for her role is "evil adventuress."

Which is obviously not as dramatic as "Evil Space Princess." It fits. In the comics Wilma was Buck's sidekick. So both characters got an upgrade.

Of course, they'll probably end up gay men in an RDM reboot...
 
^No, I meant why Elyea in particular was chosen as the replacement was unclear -- though I guess why Blanc was dropped is also unclear. But I don't think it was meant to be a temporary departure. For one thing, voices are recorded in post-production weeks after the episodes are shot, and it doesn't take very long at all to record a voice part, so they could've easily had Blanc record half a season's worth of episodes all at once after his schedule cleared. For another thing, I've read that the reason Blanc was brought back was due to popular demand -- audiences reacted badly to the replacement voice. Which means that the intent was for Blanc to be gone for good.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the reason they dropped Blanc was to save money. An obscure, uncredited performer would've been far cheaper to use than the most famous and accomplished voice actor in the world. But the replacement went over so badly that I guess eventually they scraped together enough money to hire Blanc back.

Mel Blanc was also doing voice work for Captain Caveman so there might've scheduling problems.
 
^ How can you have scheduling problems with voiceover work? You sit in a studio and record a bunch of lines. You could do three or four shows at once!
 
^ How can you have scheduling problems with voiceover work? You sit in a studio and record a bunch of lines. You could do three or four shows at once!

It was towards the end of his career and his voice wasn't the best and he did the voice of Heathcliff the following year. And seeing as how the second season of Buck Rogers only had 13 eps. it's surprising that they brought him at all.
 
^Was that Jeffrey Hunter?


It was towards the end of his career and his voice wasn't the best and he did the voice of Heathcliff the following year.

That doesn't make sense. It's not like a voice actor can only do one show at a time. There are plenty of voice actors who are working on half a dozen shows or more at the same time, because recording a voice part hardly takes any time at all. You can do a whole episode's worth in a few hours, tops (since you don't have to worry about wardrobe or makeup or cameras or lighting or any of that). Blanc was working on multiple Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera projects at the same time he worked on both seasons of Buck Rogers, so it's not like adding just one more gig would've been too much for him.

Also, Blanc was still working steadily until his death in 1989, so it's totally untrue that his voice was failing him in 1980-81. According to a speech therapist who studied his throat and larynx late in life, Blanc had the most incredibly robust vocal apparatus the man had ever seen and he didn't expect it would ever give out.
 
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