History YMMV / BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury

* HilariousInHindsight: November 22, 1987 (the date Buck is told that WorldWarIII began) was indeed historically significant in real life, but for a much, much less tragic reason: that was the day of the infamous "Max Headroom" signal intrusion in Chicago[[note]]short version of the story: someone (to this day, no suspect has been apprehended or even identified) overrode the signals for both [=WGN=] and later that night more famously [=WTTW=] with live footage of a man in a "Max Headroom" mask ranting and acting erratically[[/note]]. What makes it even more hilarious is that when ''Buck Rogers'' was broadcast in Britain over Creator/{{ITV}}, the show far exceeded the ratings of ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[note]]the British broadcast of the first episode was run opposite a first-run ''Doctor Who'' season opener, part one of "The Leisure Hive" and handily beat the latter in the ratings -- who would have thought that "the human Polish Sausage" would be a bigger threat to The Doctor than the Daleks?[[/note]], which would be the show airing in the second of the two intrusions that night, ''and'' November 22, 1987, would be the day just before ''Doctor Who'' would have its 24th anniversary.

* EvilIsSexy: The show is noted for fan service, but in a notable example, Wilma Deering comes under the influence of a space vampire and tries to seduce Buck while acting highly aroused. While Wilma was always intended to be sexy, it's as if she wasn't even trying until that moment.

* HellIsThatNoise: The "Beedee beedee beedee" noise Twiki makes at the start or end of most sentences.

* TearJerker:
** In the pilot movie, Buck Rogers mentions his family that he left behind. While it's not touched upon very much, he does mention wanting to see his family and the woman he loves, only to find that not only have they been dead for centuries, the world was in such a bad place when they died that they weren't deemed important enough to have their dates of death engraved on their own tombstone and, as Dr. Theopolis points out, it's a miracle that they even got their own grave since people were dying so quickly that entire families were buried together. Buck wishes he had been there to die alongside them, and when he is later sentenced to death, seems to welcome it, and who could blame him?
** When Dr. Theopolis spots Buck dressed in the enemy's armour, he sneaks up on him and pulls Buck's own gun on him before calling him a traitor, not knowing he's actually in disguise and is sabotaging the enemy ships. The confusion is quickly resolved but the sense of betrayal in Theopolis' voice after having defended and stuck with Buck for the movie can be difficult to watch.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic
** The intro. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1obwMjzUY9M Judge for yourself]].
** The pilot movie actually began with an extended intro and a ''song'' version of the theme music (you can watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BINijYepahA here]], or if that video gets taken down, here's an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM0p9VHeoyA audio-only rendition]]). For extra kitsch points, fans of ''[[Music/LawrenceWelk The Lawrence Welk Show]]'' were tickled to learn that the singer was the Lennon Sisters' kid brother, Kipp.
** The pilot movie (complete with theme song) is part of the DVD collection of the series.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZYxdeRmvvM French version]] has its own music and lyrics -- deliciously kitsch.
** The music resulted in the series' only Emmy win for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eQKH7Ay7Pw The Satyr]]"

** In the pilot movie, Buck Rogers mentions his family that he left behind. While it's not touched upon very much, he does mention wanting to see his family and the woman he loves, only to find that not only have they been dead for centuries, the world was in such a bad place when they died that they weren't deemed important enough to have their dates of death engraved on their own tombstone and, as Dr. Theopolis points out, it's a miracle that they even got their own grave since people were dying so quickly that entire families were buried together. Buck wishes he had been there to die alongside them and when he is later sentenced to death, seems to welcome it and who could blame him?

* HilariousInHindsight: November 22, 1987 (the date Buck is told that Main/WorldWarIII began) was indeed historically significant in real life, but for a much, much less tragic reason: that was the day of the infamous "Max Headroom" signal intrusion in Chicago[[note]]short version of the story: someone (to this day, no suspect has been apprehended or even identified) overrode the signals for both [=WGN=] and later that night more famously [=WTTW=] with live footage of a man in a "Max Headroom" mask ranting and acting erratically[[/note]]. What makes it even more hilarious is that when ''Buck Rogers'' was broadcast in Britain over Creator/{{ITV}}, the show far exceeded the ratings of ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[note]]the British broadcast of the first episode was run opposite a first-run ''Doctor Who'' season opener, part one of "The Leisure Hive" and handily beat the latter in the ratings -- who would have thought that "the human Polish Sausage" would be a bigger threat to The Doctor than the Daleks?[[/note]], which would be the show airing in the second of the two intrusions that night, ''and'' November 22, 1987, would be the day just before ''Doctor Who'' would have its 24th anniversary.

** The pilot movie actually began with an extended intro and a ''song'' version of the theme music. (You can watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BINijYepahA here]], or if that video gets taken down, here's an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM0p9VHeoyA audio-only rendition]].) For extra kitsch points, fans of ''[[Music/LawrenceWelk The Lawrence Welk Show]]'' were tickled to learn that the singer was the Lennon Sisters' kid brother, Kipp.

* HilariousInHindsight: November 22, 1987 (the date Buck is told that WW3 began) was indeed historically significant in real life, but for a much, much less tragic reason: That was the day of the infamous "Max Headroom" signal intrusion in Chicago[[note]]short version of the story: someone (to this day, no suspect has been apprehended or even identified) overrode the signals for both [=WGN=] and later that night more famously [=WTTW=] with live footage of a man in a "Max Headroom" mask ranting and acting erratically[[/note]]. What makes it even more hilarious is that when ''Buck Rogers'' was broadcast in Britain over Creator/{{ITV}}, the show far exceeded the ratings of ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[note]]the British broadcast of the first episode was run opposite a first-run ''Doctor Who'' season opener, part one of "The Leisure Hive" and handily beat the latter in the ratings -- who would have thought that "the human Polish Sausage" would be a bigger threat to The Doctor than the Daleks?[[/note]], which would be the show airing in the second of the two intrusions that night, ''and'' November 22, 1987, would be the day just before ''Doctor Who'' would have its 24th anniversary.

* InformedWrongness: In "The Dorian Secret", an alien woman escapes from her home planet aboard a passenger shuttle and is pursued by its authorities. When the shuttle docks with the ''Searcher'', the aliens demand her return. Asimov refuses, so the aliens gain control of the ''Searcher's'' and the shuttle's life support systems and start alternating both ships' temperatures between extreme heat and extreme cold in an effort to force the woman's return, each time making the temperature shift more extreme. Crichton estimates everyone on both ships will be dead within the day from either heatstroke or hypothermia. The passengers aboard the shuttle finally vote to turn the woman over to the aliens, and do so via an emergency airlock. When Colonel Deering discovers what happened, she angrily upbraids them for their "cruelty" in letting the woman go, and the show clearly expects us to take her side. However: They were just passengers on a shuttle. They didn't ask for a fugitive to be placed in their midst, and expecting them to sacrifice their lives for a total stranger is a major, major stretch.

* NightmareFuel: Tina, Twiki's girlfriend from "Cruise Ship to the Stars", may be this for some viewers. She looks like the robot equivalent of an aging starlet after one bad facelift too many. The fact that Twiki, gruff Creator/MelBlanc voice notwithstanding, pretty much looks like a child only makes things creepier.

* {{Tearjerker}}: In the pilot movie, Buck Rogers mentions his family that he left behind. While it's not touched upon very much, he does mention wanting to see his family and the woman he loves, only to find that not only have they been dead for centuries, the world was in such a bad place when they died that they weren't deemed important enough to have their dates of death engraved on their own tombstone and, as Dr. Theopolis points out, it's a miracle that they even got their own grave since people were dying so quickly that entire families were buried together. Buck wishes he had been there to die alongside them and when he is later sentenced to death, seems to welcome it and who could blame him?
** When Dr. Theopolis spots Buck dressed in the enemy's armour, he sneaks up on him and pulls Bucks own gun on him before calling him a traitor, not knowing he's actually in disguise and is sabotaging the enemy ships. The confusion is quickly resolved but the sense of betrayal in Theopolis' voice after having defended and stuck with Buck for the movie can be difficult to watch.

* EvilIsSexy: The show is noted for fan service, but in a notable example, Wilma Deering comes under the influence of a space vampire and tries to seduce Buck while acting highly aroused. While Wilma was always intended to be sexy, it's as if she [[UpToEleven wasn't even trying]] until that moment.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In the first episode of the second season, the two part ''Time of the Hawk'', just as Hawk is about to be sentenced to death, Buck cut's them off, approaches the stand and whispers to Hawk, desperately trying to get him to speak up for himself and not resign to death after all he's been through and told Buck. This is the first time that Buck uttered any form of swear word on the show.
-->Buck: '''"Damn it, Hawk! Do you understand they're going to sentence you to death?"'''

* HilariousInHindsight: November 22, 1987 (the date Buck is told that WW3 began) was indeed historically significant in real life, but for a much, much less tragic reason: That was the day of the infamous "Max Headroom" signal intrusion in Chicago[[note]]short version of the story: someone (to this day, no suspect has been apprehended or even identified) overrode the signals for both [=WGN=] and later that night more famously [=WTTW=] with live footage of a man in a "Max Headroom" mask ranting and acting erratically[[/note]]. What makes it even more hilarious is that when ''Buck Rogers'' was broadcast in Britain over Creator/{{ITV}}, the show far exceeded the ratings of ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[note]]the British broadcast of the first episode was run opposite a first-run ''Doctor Who'' season opener, part one of "The Leisure Hive" and handily beat the latter in the ratings -- who would have thought that "the human Polish Sausage" would be a bigger threat to The Doctor than the Daleks?[[/note]], which would be the show airing in the second of the two intrusions that night, ''and'' November 22, 1987, would be the day just before ''Doctor Who'' would have its 25th anniversary.

* HilariousInHindsight: November 22, 1987 (the date Buck is told that WW3 began) was indeed historically significant in real life, but for a much, much less tragic reason: That was the day of the infamous "Max Headroom" signal intrusion in Chicago[[note]]short version of the story: someone (to this day, no suspect has been apprehended or even identified) overrode the signals for both [=WGN=] and later that night more famously [=WTTW=] with live footage of a man in a "Max Headroom" mask ranting and acting erratically[[/note]]. What makes it even more hilarious is that when ''Buck Rogers'' was broadcast in Britain over Creator/{{ITV}}, the show far exceeded the ratings of ''Series/DoctorWho'', which would be the show airing in the second of the two intrusions that night.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Hawk's BoxedCrook status is mostly forgotten after the first episode. He becomes the equivalent to a fully trusted senior officer aboard Searcher. Without having seen the two part first episode ''Time of the Hawk'', one could not be blamed for assuming that Hawk's backstory was the typical run of the mill ProudWarriorRace, IOweYouMyLife scenario without the darker aspects of his GenocideBackfire.

* HarsherInHindsight: "Cruise Ship to the Stars" sees Buck having to protect the "genetically perfect" Miss Cosmos, from forces who basically want to kill her through exploiting her. Miss Cosmos is played by future [[Magazine/{{Playboy}} Playmate of the Year]] Dorothy Stratten; [[Film/Star80 who would be killed by her controlling husband/manager]] less than a year after this episode's first airing.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Due to the Challenger explosion, 1987 (the year of Buck's launch) was a year that had no actual NASA launches.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: ''Time of the Hawk'' stands out especially as it tried to establish the second season as being more serious in tone than the first. Apparently birds were mostly extinct and they were a rare sight on Earth. Also mentioned was the loss of the passenger pigeon, giant stork, bald eagle, and condor due to human short sightedness. The RevengeIsNotJustice Aesop is actually downplayed in favor of the GreenAesop about protecting endangered species. Appropriate since in this situation, no side of the debate comes out looking any shinier than the other.

* AnviliciousAKASomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: ''Time of the Hawk'' stands out especially as it tried to establish the second season as being more serious in tone than the first. Apparently birds were mostly extinct and they were a rare sight on Earth. Also mentioned was the loss of the passenger pigeon, giant stork, bald eagle, and condor due to human short sightedness. The RevengeIsNotJustice Aesop is actually downplayed in favor of the GreenAesop about protecting endangered species. Appropriate since in this situation, no side comes out looking any shinier than the other.

** The music resulted in the series' only Emmy win for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eQKH7Ay7Pw The Satyr]]"

** Markie Post of ''Series/NightCourt'' fame appears in "The Plot to Kill a City."