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Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Difference between revisions
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[[File:buck.jpg|frame|[[Star Wars|Does this remind you of anything?]]]]
''
The series starred Gil Gerard as Captain William "Buck" Rogers, a US Air Force pilot who commands "Ranger 3", a space shuttle-like ship that is launched in 1987. Because of a freak combination of gases, he is frozen in space for 504 years and is revived in the 25th century. There, he learns that the Earth was united following a devastating nuclear war in 1988, and is now under the protection of the Earth Defense Forces, headquartered in New Chicago. The latest threat to Earth comes from the spaceborne armies of the planet Draconia, who are planning an invasion. Aiding him are Col. Wilma Deering (Erin Gray), a Starfighter pilot, and Dr. Elias Huer, head of Earth Defense Forces, and a former star pilot himself.
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* [[Banana In the Tailpipe]]: Buck's master plan to foil Ardala's surprise attack on Earth in the pilot movie -- load missiles into the exhaust pipes of the Draconian fighter ships. A few seconds after takeoff... '''BOOM'''!
* [[Beware the Superman]]: A regular plot in the first season.
* [[Bilingual Dialogue]]: Twiki communicates in beedees as well as in English. Buck can eventually understand them, although initially he needs Dr. Theopolis to translate.
* [[Boxed Crook]]: After capturing Hawk in the second season premiere, he's effectively left in the custody of Buck and the crew of the ''Searcher''. Hawk agrees to cooperate in the hope that they might find other [[Lost Colony|Lost Colonies]] of his people.
* [[By the Eyes of the Blind]]: The Vorvon in the episode "Space Vampire" could only be seen by its intended victim.
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* [[Forgotten Theme Tune Lyrics]]: The theme tune had lyrics that were sung by Kip Lennon during the opening credits of the original [[Pilot Movie]].
* [[The Future]]
* [[Future Imperfect]]: There were few records of the 20th century, so 25th century historians confused a hairdryer with an "early model hand laser".
** In "Return of the Fighting 69th", a 20th-century belt-fed machine gun is mistaken by the bad guys for an "ancient communications device". They are suitably surprised when a captured Buck demonstrates its proper use during his escape.
{{quote|'''Buck:''' Get the message?}}
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* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: After Buck saves a rookie pilot from being jumped by pirates, the pilot's instructor chimes in:
{{quote|'''Major Danton:''' Recon One, I appreciate your concern, but I'd appreciate it all the more if next time you'd refrain from interfering in a Directorate training mission!
'''Buck:''' What? If you call that
:(Which is also a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In]]''.)
* [[Girl of the Week]]: To the point where they did a [[Lampshade Hanging]] of it ''halfway through first season''.
* [[Hammer and Sickle Removed For Your Protection]]: In "Testimony of a Traitor" it was revealed that just before Buck left Earth, there was a conspiracy of high-ranking American officers to launch a first strike against "The Other Side".
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* [[Heavyworlder]]: A one-shot character by the name of Toman, who used his heightened strength to become a hitman. Another heavy worlder in an earlier episode had [[Mind Over Matter|telekinetic powers]].
* [[Heel Realization]]: Poor Ardala, in "Flight of the War Witch".
* [[Hollywood Law]]: In "Testimony of a traitor" Buck is brought up on charges of supposedly being part of a rogue conspiracy to make an atomic first strike. Except the charge given was "treason". The proper charge is "war crimes." Buck is never accused of being traitorous to Terra which did not exist politically at the time. And Terra in turn has no jurisdiction by which to charge for treason against the United States.
* [[Human Popsicle]]: Buck himself.
* [[Insufferable Genius]]: Crichton, who substituted for Dr. Theopolis as Robotic [[Smart Guy]] in the second season.
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* [[Nice Hat]]: Princess Ardala's horned headress in the pilot is only the first of a long line of fancy crowns and headresses - which [[Male Gaze|no male viewer ever notices]].
* [[No New Fashions in the Future]]: Buck's civilian clothes wouldn't look out of place in the late 1970's. The other characters wear clothing that at least looks futuristic (albeit [[Zeerust|Zeerusted]]).
* [[Notable Original Music]]: Composer Johnny Harris composed the [[Ear Worm|memorably funky]] music for the band Andromeda in the episode "Space Rockers". The song was actually released as "Odyssey (Pt. 1)" and became an underground hit. Most recently, it showed up in the game ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'', during the "Car Bounce Challenge" mission<ref>([[Rhythm
** And you can find it on one of the series' two soundtrack albums.
* [[Old School Dogfighting]]: Pretty much used in every episode. With the same stock footage almost every time.
* [[Opening Narration]]: ''"The year is 1987, and NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes. In a freak mishap, Ranger 3 and its pilot, Captain William "Buck" Rogers, are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support systems, and returns Buck Rogers to Earth... 500 years later."''
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* [[Really 700 Years Old]]: Buck Rogers was born in the 1960s, and is doing his thing in the 2400s.
** In "Return of the Fighting 69th", Buck notes that the members of the squadron don't look any older than 60 when Wilma informs him that they've all reached the mandatory retirement age... of 85.
* [[Retool]]:
* [[Retool]]: The second season, which tried to [[Follow the Leader|Follow The Lead]] of ''Battlestar Galactica'' and ''Star Trek''.
** To a lesser extent, the first season is retooled from the pilot movie, where Earth was a scaredy cat backwater burg compared to the rest of the galaxy with roaming gangs of mutants in the barren regions between cities, and where New Chicago is the only point of civilization. The TV series retooled this to feature numerous cities on Earth, and with the planet being part of an interstellar community.
* [[Robot Buddy]]: Twiki, one of the [[Trope Codifier|Trope Codifiers]].
* [[Robot Me]]: "Ardala Returns".
* [[Slept Through the Apocalypse]]
* [[Space Elves]]: In ''Journey to Oasis'' ODX (loosely justified as a genetic experiment gone bad) is a blue-skinned space gnome.
* [[Space Fighter]]: Using rejected models from ''[[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]''.
* [[Space Opera]]
* [[Space Pirates]]
* [[Spared by the Adaptation]]: Ardala's [[The Brute|bodyguard]], Tigerman, was killed in the pilot movie; the TV series version of the story let him live to reappear in future episodes.
* [[Stripperific]]: Pamela Hensley as Princess Ardala wore very, ''very'' little.
** And did it oh
* [["Three Laws"-Compliant]]: Twiki and other Earth-made robots are explicitly [["Three Laws"-Compliant]] - Twiki even quotes the First Law in the second season episode ''Shgoratchx'' and a few moments later {{spoiler|states all three of them after having his brain inserted in Crichton's body}}.
** Crichton even complains about this in one episode, mentioning that the creator of the Laws [[Shout-Out|had the same surname as the ship's commander.]]
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* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: At least during the opening scenes of the pilot, made in 1979, depicting the near-future year of 1987.
* [[Ultraterrestrials]]: Hawk's race evolved from birds and left Earth eons ago.
* [[The Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]]: The [[Ur Example]] in all incarnations. Even though his education and skills are 500+ years out of date, Buck has absolutely no problem adapting to 25th-century life and exploiting technology to his advantage, and Dr. Huer has no problem sending him on sensitive missions as a result. Buck using 20th century knowledge to solve 25th century problems is the theme of almost every episode. Among the highlights:
** 20th-century weaponry (including the nerve gas the bad guys have stolen).
** Sign language (almost unknown in the 25th century) to communicate with a mute servant girl who proves critical to the plot.
** Electricity (an obsolete technology in the 25th century).
** Gambling ability (card-counting in a computer-driven casino).
** Adapting American football plays for use by the Earth Defense Directorate's pilots in squadron maneuvers.
** Buck is also apparently the only pilot employed by Earth who is not completely dependent upon his ship's targeting computer because of his 20th-century dog-fighting skills.
* [[Unique Pilot Title Sequence]]: The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaPkROwOzgA end credits] to the pilot feature the theme song's lyrics.
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[[Category:Science Fiction Series]]
[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:
[[Category:TV Series]]
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