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Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
aka: Buck Rogers In The Twenty Fifth Century
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Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction series that ran from 1979 to 1981. The feature-length pilot movie was released theatrically several months before the series itself aired, inspired by the success of Star Wars two years earlier. The film and series were based upon the Buck Rogers character created by Philip Francis Nowlan that had been featured in comic strips and novellas since the 1920s, and on the CBS and Mutual radio networks, airing several times each week from 1932 to 1947. 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.
This series contains examples of:- Action Girl: Wilma Deering
- Actor Allusion: Retired Badass "General Gordon", part of the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits brought in to fight an invasion in the second episode, is played by Buster Crabbe - who of course played Flash Gordon in the old serials as well as the original Buck Rogers.
- After the End: The series proper takes place after a nuclear war in 1988.
- Ancient Astronauts: Part of Hawk's backstory; his race lived on Earth in the distant past until humans drove them into space.
- Badass Grandpa: all members of the titular squadron in Return of the Fighting 69th.
- 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 Lost Colonies of hawk-people by joining them.
- By the Eyes of the Blind: The Vorvon in the episode "Space Vampire" could only be seen by its intended victim.
- Captain Ersatz: Dr. Theopolis & Twiki for C-3P0 and R2-D2.
- Clip Show: The episode A Blast For Buck
- Clothing Damage: Gil Girard's hirsute chest is displayed on more than one occasion.
- Cold Sleep Cold Future
- Cool Starship: The "Searcher" from the second season.
- Coy Girlish Flirt Pose: Wilma
- Cute Kids and Robots: Twiki. Also, Gary Coleman was the MacGuffin in the episode "Cosmic Wiz Kid" in the first season.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Princess Ardala of Draconia is at least as evil as her father Emperor Drako.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Wilma Deering.
- Domed Hometown: New Chicago.
- Evil Diva: In "Space Rockers", the music of the band Andromeda is used by their producer to drive the youth of the galaxy to riot in a bid for power.
- Explosive Leash
- Exty Years From Now: Averted. Buck stays frozen for a non-round 504 years.
- Fakeout Escape: In "Flight of the War Witch", Buck, Princess Ardala and a Pendaran captive use this to get out of their cell. Buck and the captive use a Ceiling Cling to hide, while Princess Ardala simply hides under the bed.
- Fanservice: Erin Gray in spandex jumpsuits and miniskirts. Pamela Hensley in even less.
- And the opening credits to the theatrical version of the pilot episode.
- Fighter Launching Sequence
- Fire-Forged Friends: Hawk and Buck
- Forgotten Theme Tune Lyrics: The theme tune had lyrics that were sung by Kip Lennon during the opening credits of the original Pilot Movie.
- Food Pills: Notably in "Planet of the Slave Girls".
- 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 Buck uses it for its intended purpose and escapes capture.
Buck: Get the message? - The Future
- Future Music: Complete with an entire episode devoted to the idea.
- Future Spandex: In the first season, Colonel Deering and Buck sometimes wore spandex jumpsuits.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: After Buck saves a rookie pilot from being jumped by pirates, the pilot's instructor chimes in:
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 'interfering', there's something wrong with your Funk & Wagnalls! - Girl of the Week: To the point where they did a Lampshade Hanging of it halfway through first season.
- Harmless Freezing: For 500 years...
- Heavy Worlder: 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 telekinetic powers.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Mel Blanc as Twiki (in the first season).
- William Conrad (Cannon!) as the opening credits narrator.
- Human Popsicle: Buck himself.
- Insufferable Genius: Crichton, who substituted for Dr. Theopolis as Robotic Smart Guy in the second season.
- Ironic Echo Cut: When Buck is on trial and Dr. Theopolis is defending him.
Dr. Theopolis: We haven't a thing to worry about. (cut) Judge Captain Rogers, the council finds you guilty. - Lady Land: The planet Xantia, as seen in Planet of the Amazon Women.
- The Lancer: Hawk from the second season.
- Last of His Kind: Hawk, the last survivor of a Lost Colony of hawk-people.
- Lizard Folk: The Saurians.
- A Little Something We Call Rock And Roll: both in the original pilot movie and in a later episode about space rockers.
- Mechanical Life Forms: Earth's Computer Council (Dr. Theopolis and his colleagues) are descendants of AI that reached the point of building and programming themselves; they're treated as citizens, and viewed as the saviors of humanity after the nuclear apocalypse.
- Memory Gambit: In one episode Buck finds himself on trial for causing World War III. In fact, he had allowed himself to be brainwashed in order to infiltrate a conspiracy in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent World War III.
- New Neo City: New Chicago.
- Nice Hat: Princess Ardala's horned headress in the pilot is only the first of a long line of fancy crowns and headresses - which 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 Zeerusted).
- 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."
- The Other Darrin: Bob Elyea as Twiki's voice in the second season.
- Pilot Movie
- Pleasure Planet: The episode "Vegas in Space".
- Prop Recycling: The Earth starfighters were a draft design for the Colonial Vipers from Battlestar Galactica; Buck's shuttle Ranger 3 and the stock footage of New Chicago were recycled from Galactica's "Terra" arc. At one point in the Pilot movie, a closeup of the Earth starfighter's joystick is identical to the 3-button joysticks in Galactica (later episodes used a different joystick prop).
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Hawk in the second season.
- Retool: The second season, which tried to 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.
- 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.
- Robot Buddy: Twiki, one of the Trope Codifiers.
- Robot Me: Ardala Returns
- Shout Out: In the episode "A Dream of Jennifer" the intercom can be heard paging Norrin Radd as Buck is arriving, and Captain Christopher Pike a short time later.
- Space Fighter: Using rejected models from Battlestar Galactica.
- Space Pirates
- Spared by the Adaptation: Ardala's 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.
- Trapped in Another World: In the two part episode "Flight of the War Witch", the Pendarans trap Buck, Dr. Huer, Wilma and Princess Ardala's entire flagship in their universe to help them defeat her.
- Trapped in the Past: A temporal inversion. Buck comes from the past.
- 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 states all three of them after having his brain inserted in Crichton's body.
- Unique Pilot Title Sequence: The end credits
 to the pilot feature the theme song's lyrics.- And the theatrical version of the pilot features Fanservice images of a swimsuit-clad Pamela Hensley, Erin Gray and an uncredited model. The TV version just uses a standard starfield. The theatrical opening credits also feature the vocal version of the theme song (which is titled "Suspension").
- The Vamp: Princess Ardala.
- Verbal Tic: Twiki adds "Beedee beedee beedee" to the beginning or end of most sentences, except for the episodes in the second season where Mel Blanc is not doing his voice.
- Villainesses Want Heroes: Princess Ardala to Buck Rogers, sometimes.
- Although the only time she makes a really HARD play for him is when she needs a 'suitable' mate to keep her throne. She doesn't get Buck, of course, and it's unclear if she keeps her throne or not.
- Weird Science
- Wagon Train to the Stars
- We've Got Company: "Stop breathing, we've got company!"
- Yellow Peril: The "Hat" of the Draconians, complete with swarthy Mooks and kabuto Samurai helmets.
- Zeerust
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