In the continuing saga of the GeekMom and I introducing a new generation to the TV series we watched as kids, they have now been exposed to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
It’s James Bond meets Star Trek in the opening titles with obligatory song. Only you won’t recognize the singer (or song), and instead of outlines of women dancing suggestively, you have the women starring in the show sliding around the floor Solid Gold Dancer-style. The fast-forward button was used after about a minute into the opening montage.
“Awakening” was the first two episodes. In it you get the back-story of Buck Rogers supposedly going on a five-month space mission that turns into a five-hundred year journey. An evil, war-mongering group rescues Buck, thaws him out, and introduces him to the year 2491. In particular the Princess Ardala of the
Draconians takes an interest in him – as does Colonel Wilma Deering
(Erin Gray).
“Awakening” is filled with innuendo and overt “situations.”
The GeekMom and I watching this with the kids, did not remember all the stuff that went on between Col. Deering and Buck and Buck and
Princess Ardala. At one point, our youngest objected to the fact that Buck kissed both women in the course of ten minutes.
These things gave us enough of a pause that we pre-viewed “Planet of the Slave Girls” (episodes 3 and 4) before letting the kids watch. Cruising Wikipedia’s info of Buck Rogers, we realized the first two episodes were a movie and based on the success of the movie, NBC slated the full TV
series which is much more tame than the movie.
The technology in the show is great (from a nostalgic perspective).
Think really, REALLY big computers (the kinds that fill half a room)
and you’ll see the occasional microfiche sitting on a counter. Think lots and lots of blinking lights and a bunch of toggle switches. One of the computers, Dr. Theopolis, is canteen-sized and worn around the neck of Twiki (a small robot that has the voice of Mel Blanc, so he sounds like a mash-up of Porky Pig, Barney Rubble and Captain
Caveman).
As with the Hardy
Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries, the kids can’t wait for the next
DVD to show up.
