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In the year 1987, a Space Shuttle piloted by Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard) is launched into space - but it gets off course, gets into a space storm or something, and Buck is cryogenically frozen. The Space Shuttle just drifts on through outer space, until at the tail end of the 25th century it's picked up by the Draconian flagship, commandeered by lovely but deadly Princess Ardala (Pamela Hensley) and her second-in-command Kane (Henry Silva). They're on their way to earth to sign a treaty between the earth and the Draconian Empire, but it's pretty obvious they have ulterior motives. They thaw up Buck, and while the Princess takes an instant liking to Buck, she also takes him for a spy from earth - so she lets him go, figuring if she equips his ship with a tracking device, she might find the secret corridor through the earth's safety shield. Now Buck actually makes it to earth, which has long been turned into a wasteland by a nuclear war, but he's not welcomed as a hero or at least prodigal son but is considered a spy of the pirates, common enemy of earthpeople and Draconians, and he's made a prisoner, minded by bumbling robot Twiki (Felix Silla, voiced by Mel Blanc) and supercomputer Dr. Theopolis (voiced by Howard F. Flynn), who soon become his staunchest allies. But they can't save him from being convicted as a traitor. However, he's allowed to, along with Colonel Wilma Deering (Erin Gray), to fly up to the Draconian flagship so the Princess can confirm his claim - which she does not, so Buck is to be brought back to earth to be executed, but on the way, they're attacked by pirates, and it's only thanks to Buck's ingenuity and old American fighting spirit that they come out alive - and thus his conviction is overturned. Now Buck sees a flaw in the Earth/Draconian treaty, but he's the only one, so when the Princess and her entourage arrive, he woos her with some disco-dancing, so much so that she's more than happy to take him back with her to her ship to you-know-what, but instead he drugs her, does some spying, and finds a fleet of pirate ships ready to launch in the flagship's holding bay. He fills all the ships' jets with bomb so they blow up pretty much upon launch, which alerts the earth forces, and they attack the Draconian flagship, but Wilma saves Buck (along with Twiki and Theopolis) just before the ship's blown to Kingdom Come. The Princess and Kane escape of course, to return in later episodes ...

When Star Wars pretty much blew up the box office in 1977, everybody wanted their share of the pie, and suddenly space operas were in high demand. Glen A. Larson had already brought Battlestar Galactica to television in 1978, with some success, so doing another science fiction series where he could re-use sets and even (often originally discarded) special effects only made economic sense. The outcome is even campier than the earlier series, and definitely has its low points (bumbling robot Twiki among them) as well as a few too many leaps in reason to overlook, but it's also fun. And while Gil Gerard is far from being a good actor, at least he fills his character with enough irony to come across as relatable.

Sidenote, in many territories this pilot was slightly re-edited and released in theatres as a feature film.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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