What's up, Buck?
I finally got over my fears of doing so, and watched the two halves of the pilot episode of Buck Rogers. Or more appropriately, "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century!!!" — to distinguish it from the host of previous Buck Rogers comics, radio shows, television shows, and movies.
I have to admit, it's both much better, and much worse than I feared. The space miniatures and special effects hold up quite well by today's standards — I still enjoyed the space battle scenes, as long as I didn't spend too much time pairing up the sequences and shots that get used over and over again to save money (e.g. at one point, if you watch closely, you can see Erin Gray's fighter targeting one of her own ships on the onboard computer).
The sets and props certainly show their age. The costumes are cheesy, yet still fun. And I laughed out loud at a clipboard with a ca. 1980 electronic calculator affixed to it, and at Buck's shiny silver Casio digital watch, when he checks the time.
And then the acting — oh god. In the first half, I think Henry Silva is reading from cue cards the entire time. The princess Ardala delivers her sultry lines as if she's proctoring an engineering exam. And then, magically, between the first half of the pilot and the second, it got a lot better. Practice? Emergency acting classes? The world may never know.
But the altogether most entertaining thing about the show is the nostalgia-soaked reactions I got from mentioning it on Twitter and IM.
Notable examples:
beedie-beedie! what's up, buck? :) bedebede Twiki! Bidibidibidi Erin Gray, huminahuminahumina I had such a crush on Erin Gray as a kid. Does it have the Erin Gray Silver Jumpsuit of Awesome? I had such a crush... Did I say "had"?
And then, of course, my wife's reaction when she came home last night to find me watching it:
She: What is that on the TV?!?
I: Buck Rogers! [big smile]
She: Oh. God. I remember that show.
I: So, what do you want to watch while we eat? The end of this epi...
She: No.
At any rate, it seems Buck Rogers nostalgia falls into two camps: You're either
A. A Twiki fan, or
B. An Erin Gray fan
(for the guys, anyway — I'm not yet sure what the opposite sex equivalent is, but I can't quite see anyone in this day and age swooning over Buck's chest hair erupting from the collar of his space suit, but maybe)
Which are you?
Update: We now have one vote for Dr. Theopolis.
I have to admit, it's both much better, and much worse than I feared. The space miniatures and special effects hold up quite well by today's standards — I still enjoyed the space battle scenes, as long as I didn't spend too much time pairing up the sequences and shots that get used over and over again to save money (e.g. at one point, if you watch closely, you can see Erin Gray's fighter targeting one of her own ships on the onboard computer).
The sets and props certainly show their age. The costumes are cheesy, yet still fun. And I laughed out loud at a clipboard with a ca. 1980 electronic calculator affixed to it, and at Buck's shiny silver Casio digital watch, when he checks the time.
And then the acting — oh god. In the first half, I think Henry Silva is reading from cue cards the entire time. The princess Ardala delivers her sultry lines as if she's proctoring an engineering exam. And then, magically, between the first half of the pilot and the second, it got a lot better. Practice? Emergency acting classes? The world may never know.
But the altogether most entertaining thing about the show is the nostalgia-soaked reactions I got from mentioning it on Twitter and IM.
Notable examples:
And then, of course, my wife's reaction when she came home last night to find me watching it:
She: What is that on the TV?!?
I: Buck Rogers! [big smile]
She: Oh. God. I remember that show.
I: So, what do you want to watch while we eat? The end of this epi...
She: No.
At any rate, it seems Buck Rogers nostalgia falls into two camps: You're either
A. A Twiki fan, or
B. An Erin Gray fan
(for the guys, anyway — I'm not yet sure what the opposite sex equivalent is, but I can't quite see anyone in this day and age swooning over Buck's chest hair erupting from the collar of his space suit, but maybe)
Which are you?
Update: We now have one vote for Dr. Theopolis.