The Sad Failure of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

While fondly remembered now, NBC's Buck Rogers in the 25th Century wasn't on for very long and was cancelled in the middle of a season, partly because of the behind the camera fighting.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between September 1979 and April 1981 on NBC, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film before the series aired.

Buck Rogers was played by Gil Gerard, Erin Gray played Wilma Deering and don't forget Twiki, the robot voiced by Mel Blanc.

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[georgeniebling]

There is nothing wrong with that show that more of Erin Gray couldn't fix

[jamied]

Gil Gerard worked for my grandfather at the AIDC in Arkansas before he left to be an actor. Everyone liked him.
Also season 2 Wilma went from being a squadron commander to a flight attendant.

[brianknapp]

The first season was really fun to watch- especially all the guest stars: Roddy McDowall, Jack Palance, Jamie Lee Curtis, Cesar Romero, Frank Gorshin, Markie Post, Peter Graves, Gary Coleman, Ray Walston, Dorothy Stratten (a tragic tale), Richard Moll, Anne Lockhart, Jerry Orbach, Judy Landers, Sid Haig, Vera Miles, Julie Newmar- and Buster Crabbe!

Edit: looking over this list- I realized that _three_ of the villains from the 60's Batman series were guest stars!!

[kennethfharkin]

This and Battlestar Galactic both had outstanding first seasons and disastrous, near unrecognizable, second season which ended the shows. I remember both and even as a 10 year old kid could not understand why both shows were destroyed.

[freakyzed]

Colonel Deering was my first TV crush.

[hepchaos]

As a fan of the genre, I have to point out that Edgar Rice Burroughs published the first John Carter novel in 1912, a full 12 years before the publication of Buck Rogers.

[swanofnutella]

For a "failure" they sure did rerun this show a lot. This was a cornerstone of my tv upbringing.

[mattwho]

Gotta love a future where pilots are so dependent on computer targeting that the Drakonis can beat them simply by jamming the target sensors. Then a 500year old dude turns up and say, “Why not shoot manually?” And everyone amazed.

[retro_reflections]

Erin Gray - hotter than fire. Twiki - criminally underused. The second season - almost as bad as Galactica 1980.

[triphazard]

I always wanted the Battlestar Galactica fleet to finally get to earth and find the Buck Rogers crowd there. A crossover that would have thrilled kids everywhere.

[dwiggins]

One of my all time favorites shows as a kid! I even met Gil Gerald and Erin Gray at Wizard Con a few years ago.

[wtk]

As a kid, I didn't get the semi-satirical seventies vibe that ran throughout the first season, but, rewatching it as an adult, I appreciated the added texture it gave the show. It made it smarter and self-aware, and it was sorely missed in the second season when that kind of thing mostly vanished.

[rojui]

Was a fan of Erin Grey as a kid after watching some Buck Rogers reruns.

[MudSluggerBP]

Wilma Deering was my first childhood crush ❤️

[navbuoy]

I could have sworn that the Starfighter design was actually a throwaway from Star Wars itself and was eventually repurposed as the Snowspeeders in Empire Strikes Back. Ralph had a lot of unused designs from Star Wars that sorta popped back up in BattleStar Galactica too.

[MarcTheLoneGamer]

The Buck Rogers opening music is one of the best and nostalgic TV themes ever IMO. :)

[kj]

Erin Gray was my huge crush back then ❤

[ottototo]

The space vampire episode with Wilma Deering in the satin, magenta, jumpsuit...

[EastsideShowSCP]

As a fan of stuff like Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordon, I did enjoy the TV show and played Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday on the Sega Genesis. That game is one of my favorites on the Sega Genesis. You can watch Buck Rogers on MeTV every saturday night on Sci-Fi Saturday nights with a bunch of other shows. Its a nice nostalgia trip.

[jacobhope]

I met both Gil Gerrard and Erin Grey at the 1st Annual Twisted Terror Convention several years ago. My wife and I went to see some of the actors from The Walking Dead, you know, back when that show was actually pretty good.
For me though, ole Buck Rogers easily stole the show. We talked for about an hour, and he's a really cool older guy. Apparently, he and Erin Grey still don't get along. He had a funny, but still respectful way of talking about it. They had separate booth on opposite sides, and opposite ends of the main convention hall.
I spoke briefly with Erin Grey. She was as beautiful as ever, and gracious. I could see though that hearing "You were my first crush" all day long was taking it's toll on her. So I told her "My first crush was my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Sneed, but I used to wish my mom was more like you on Silver Spoons." That got a genuine laugh from her.