BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY: THE COMPLETE EPIC SERIES - DVD review

In the late 70s and early 80s there was an influx of material taking a cue from the extreme popularity of "Star Wars." Programs like "Battlestar Galactica" and movies like "Flash Gordon" sought to draw on people's sudden resurgent interest in space operas and science fiction. The quality of these programs varied widely, as the television budget or hurried feature film wasn't conducive to the quality produced by the product on which they attempted to capitalize. One of the earlier entries into the genre was 1979's rebirth of the anachronistic space hero, "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

A comic hero from the 20s and radio serials of the 30s, Buck Rogers is the story of adventure out-of-time. Buck is a regular Chicago Joe with all that entails. In the comics he flew about the skies on jetpacks, living in the Modernist vision of tomorrow, a true adventure hero. The radio serials were more operatic in structure than the comics and the television program of the late 40s attempted, with no success, to translate the far-flung adventures to the small screen. Unfortunately the program suffered from small sets and reflective budgets, and though it lasted for five years, failed to capture the spirit of the character.

The late-70s version of "Buck Rogers" looks as beautiful as one could imagine for the 25th century. The world he's encountered is expansive and as futuristic as one could expect from the minds inspired by Stars "War" and "Trek." Buck himself is a charismatic, affable, burly man who is as quick with his wits as he is with his fists. A lover and a fighter, Rogers is what every man wishes he could be, and reminds me of great characters like "The Six Million Dollar Man" or "The Fall Guy." He sings Sinatra and uses colloquialisms, knowing full well that his new compatriots will have no idea what he's on about.

As a television program, "Buck Rogers" has a great mix of action, intrigue, and romance. Is it cheesy? Absolutely, however that's passable as a piece of nostalgia and it holds enough suspense to pass my entertainment test today. The program has some great themes, like the interplay between fallible humanity and a calculating, soulless computer world that governs its existence. In the premiere, Buck is sentenced to death by the computers because their logic tells them he's guilty of treason, however human emotion leads to the proper conclusion. The computers guiding the ships are turned off to allow the humans to dogfight and use their instincts to defeat their enemies. These sort of subtle touches change the program from a goofy "Star Wars" rip-off to something slightly more substantive.

The individual programs feature a variety of themes with stories that sound remarkably similar to some "Star Trek" shows from the late 60s. I mean, honestly, the first episode of the series is called "Planet of the Slave Girls," (A perfectly-fitting pulp title) that reminded me instantly of an episode of featuring a man called Kahn and another known as Mudd.

Not all is well in the world of Buck. The acting from the majority of the leads is suspect at best. When delivering Sci-fi dialogue, one of the most important things to remember is that you believe what you're saying. Outside a few of the male leads like Gil Gerard and Tim O'Conner, the people in this world don't buy what they are exposing. Erin Gray falls into the trap of being "a girl," contrasting her strong, professional persona. Furthermore the characters of Twiki and Dr. Theopolis are so akin to R2-D2 and C-3P0 that it was almost distracting (aside from the fact that Twiki looks like a creepy robot version of the kid from "Eight is Enough").

The episodes on this set will take you to a wide variety of locations throughout the galaxy as Earth faces one threat or another that can only be conquered by Buck Rogers. The episodes themselves are formulaic and familiar to anyone who has seen machismo-laced television of the era, shows like "Magnum, P.I." In total, there are 31 episodes spread over the two seasons the show aired. My personal favorites include the premiere "Awakening," "Planet of the Slave Girls," "Happy Birthday, Buck" and "Space Rockers." These episodes best represent the adventurous nature of the series along with the social commentary that good Science Fiction should inherently possess.

"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" isn't for everyone. If you're looking for something akin to more contemporary production values of shows like "Firefly" or the quality writing of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," you'll be disappointed. This show is definitely mired in the era it was created in, chauvinistic themes and all. That having been said, I didn't mind revisiting a long-gone piece of my childhood. It's almost ironic that I was discussing this very program in a van on the way to Chicago on the weekend before it arrived at my doorstep. The first thing he said, when I said the name "Buck Rogers" was, of course, "I loved Twiki." Allow me to proudly say, in response, "Biddy Biddy Biddy."

Video:
As you would expect of a television product from the mid-70s, this show is in a 4:3 aspect ratio and looks pretty solid. There are copious amounts of grain that cover the transfer that are, it appears, from the source material and the black levels aren't particularly solid. Specks and flecks and scattered scratches dot the prints, though none that are overtly distracting. I don't see any sorts of edge enhancement and the definition of the video is good, considering the decades of age that is found on the show. It looks as good or better than it ever did on the SciFi Channel.

Audio:
The only audio option available for the DVDs is a 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono track that sounds very flat and lacks substantial definition. The tracks themselves are clean and accurately represent the original broadcast standard, and will sound better here than they ever did over the air. It sounds like they used a digital filter to remove the film hiss, and in the process flattened out the audio, but it's not so bad that you will even notice if you're not listening closely for it. The only problem is that they didn't get rid of that horrible, horrible disco soundtrack.

Extras:
Inside the handsome slipcase you'll find five dual-sided discs that house all 31 episodes in the series' run, including the "original theatrical premiere." A fold-out sheet lists all the episodes and their location in the set. I give this set a rating of "1" only because of this map.

I've heard that a large amount of material was created for this DVD set featuring Gil Gerard and Erin Gray that was excised before this set came out, and it would have been nice to have that included as this group is bereft of anything resembling an extra. Zilch. Not a retrospective, not a commentary, not even a documentary. It would have been nice to have something, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. It looks like your money will be going toward the excellent audio/video restoration that was done for "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

Film Value:
On par, the A/V of this set is excellent, almost better than could be asked for, considering the age of the material. The episodes haven't aged well and a new audience might not find the program as exciting and fun as those who grew up with Buck. However if you're familiar with the program and know what you're getting into, you won't be disappointed by these DVDs.