Buck Rogers

TV Series (1979-81)

"The year is 1987 and NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes. In a freak mishap Ranger 3 and its pilot Captain William 'Buck' Rogers are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support systems and returns Buck Rogers to Earth 500 years later."

This incarnation of Buck Rogers was released to theaters on March 30, 1979. On September 20 of the same year it aired on NBC as the pilot episode for the originally intended television series.

In 1987 NASA launches a manned probe on a 5 month trip around the solar system. The probe's pilot is Captain William "Buck" Rogers. Something goes wrong, however, and Buck's life support systems are frozen and he is propelled into deep space. When the spacecraft returns to the vicinity of Earth, the year is 2491. Buck awakens from his deep cryogenic sleep to find Earth in the aftermath of a late 20th Century nuclear holocaust. Because of his piloting skills Buck becomes a valuable member of the Earth's Defense Directorate, which is headed by Dr. Elias Huer. Buck also finds himself a part of a fighter squadron headed by Colonel Wilma Deering. Among his other compatriots are Twiki--a likable robot who becomes Buck's pal--and Dr. Theopolis--a mechanical brain who is part of Earth's Computer Council.

In the show's second season, Buck, Wilma, and Twiki join the crew of a starship named Searcher. The ship, commanded by Admiral Asimov, is on a mission to locate the lost tribes of Earth -- humans who fled their home world after the nuclear holocaust. Also aboard the Searcher are scientist Dr. Goodfellow and Crichton -- a snobbish robot built by Dr. Goodfellow. The humans are later joined by Hawk -- a birdman whose people were hunted almost to extinction by a band of murderous humans.