Just got through watching the first season of 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century', which ran in 1979 -80 and was way fun. Mega-cheesy even by the Disco Years standard. The premise is that astronaut Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard) was accidentally frozen in his spaceship in 1987, only to be thawed out 500 years later. He now works with the defense division of a post-holocaust Earth. Buck's a rebel and has a way with the ladies, which gets him in all sorts of trouble (imagine that!). He mainly works with Dr. Huer (Tim O'Connor) and Wilma (Erin Gray), who's a Colonel in the starfighters.
Some show highlights:
- Any episode with Princess Ardala. She's the chief villainess of the show, who's primary mission seems to be to 1) get Buck to marry her and b) destroy the Earth. In that order. Pamela Hensley is smokin' and turns the vamp wattage up to max.
- The 'space age' disco dancing. In the future, we'll be dancing with weird cylinder-like things or lighted cords or big rubberbands. Don't ask me why. However, the best dance scene is the space roller boogie performance at one of the banquet dinners for the princess. Four glittered, spandexed, big-haired guys and gals give it their all. Beyond awesome.
- Twikki...sometimes. I thought it was pretty cool that Mel Blanc (of Looney Toons fame) voiced Twikki, though the little robot could get irritating sometimes. Biddy-biddy-biddy-biddy.
- The season 1 finale featuring Julie Newmar, who faces off with Buck and the princess we love to hate. Julie's dressed like the wicked queen from 'Snow White'. That kinda tells you all you need to know.and, of course . . .
- The slutty space outfits. The ability to breath was evidently not included as a requirement in Gil and Erin's contracts, because Buck and Wilma (the hottest head of military ever) sport the tightest of tight spandex more often than not. Of course, they're dressed more conservatively than the 'damsel of the week', who inevitably falls in love with Buck as he rescues her. I'm amazed they got Pamela Shoop's outfit in one episode past censors.
In season 2 (1981), the series tones down the camp and gets into more serious sci-fi territory. Buck, Wilma and Twikki head off in an Enterprise-like research ship with assorted crew members. The clothes are a lot looser (Wilma's in a kind of sailor suit) , Mel Blanc is no longer Twikki's voice and one of the new crew members is an old British guy who dresses and talks like he's in the 1940s. I'm not really surprised that the show only lasted 13 more episodes.
p.s. Saw Gil and Erin at Dragon-con in Atlanta a few years back and they both still look really good. How 'bout a sequel?!
