Nice effects though.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Originally made as a TV movie pilot, Universal and producer Glen Larson followed the pattern they'd used for 'Battlestar Galactica' and released it theatrically first. It proved to be a modest hit (raking in $21 million), and thus NBC commissioned it to be turned into a weekly series.It starts off with a rather Bondian opening title sequence, featuring several lovely ladies wriggling and writhing their way around, over and under a sleeping Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard) as a vocalized version of the 'Buck Rogers' theme plays. I found this to be the highlight of the movie.The rest of the film plays like a discount 'Battlestar Galactica' (even recycling many of its props and sound f/x), keeping logic at arm's length while testing the lactose tolerance of the viewer. The Über masculine Gerard gives a charming performance as Buck and Pamela Hensley deliciously vamps her way through her scenes, but they're the equivalent of two chefs attempting to make a gourmet meal out of store brand ingredients.

"Captain William 'Buck' Rogers" (Gil Gerard) is an American astronaut who has taken off on a 5-month deep space flight. Unfortunately, he is pulled out of his normal orbit and becomes frozen in time and drifts for over 500 years until eventually being picked up by a Draconian space ship which is en route to Earth as a peaceful emissary of Drago the Magnificent. As it turns out "Princess Ardala" (Pamela Hensley) is under orders to attack Earth once inside the secret force field that surrounds the planet. To that end her suspicious security officer, "Kane" (Henry Silva) decides to send the now-conscious Buck Rogers in his spacecraft back to Earth where it will either destroy itself upon entering Earth's orbit or reveal vital information regarding a secret path inside the force field. Anyway, rather than detail what happens next I will just say that, while definitely dated, this is a fun science-fiction movie all the same. Personally, I think Gil Gerard fit the role as Buck Rogers almost perfectly and having two lovely women like Erin Gray (as "Colonel Wilma Deering") and the aforementioned Pamela Hensley makes it even more enjoyable. Likewise, the robotic drone known as "Twiki" (Felix Silla) is icing on the cake. Granted it's not a great movie by any means but it served its function as a pilot to a television series quite admirably and I rate it as slightly above average.

Hmpf! I've read a fair deal of criticisms about Larson's movie and none of 'em credits substantial kudoes. Well here's why: you have to know Germany to enjoy it, if not BE German.Wasn't it a funny movie to watch (just like Galactica was)? Didn't the special effects look pretty good at that time (just like in Galactica)? - and: weren't the spaceship starting sequences just stunning (exactly identical to those from Galactica)?Irony notwithstanding.To German citizens, Buck Rogers is a classic. Alongside 'The Persuaders!' (featuring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore) Buck Rogers is the one example to show why dubbing a movie is not all that bad. Of course the guys at 'Berliner Synchron' knew right away that the thin dialogues of the original movie wouldn't make a killing if anything at all, so they added a few lines that made Buck Rogers a full-fledged comedy. Just like they did with Tony Curtis and Roger Moore.Besides this fact what would a Hollywood Science-Fiction movie be without Germany? The only real building shown in the movie is the Berlin Convention Centre (although people often mistake it for the BMW office building in Munich). And the Draconian's version of barn dancing is but a copy of Kraftwerk's 'Die Mensch Maschine' (The Man Machine, Kraftwerk, Dusseldorf, Germany). So it seems like the Germans live in what a US movie maker imagines the future to look like.Well what the heck, learn German, watch the German dubbed version and have a great bit of laughter! Because you're worth it.

We all did stupid things when we were young, things that we seriously regret as adults. One of my regrets is liking this show as a kid. I knew even then that it wasn't good science fiction, but having seen it recently, I had but one reaction. Oh. My. God. The 70s weren't really this embarrassing, were they?The plot was nonsensical and often non sequitur. Producer and writer Glen Larson used every cliché in the book, and then some. By the end, there was so little plot left that the movie was reduced to minutes on end of spaceships blowing up (and repetitive stock footage at that) and stuntmen being blown through the air. If James Cameron has been criticized for having a tin ear for dialogue, this makes his ear seem like solid gold.By tying itself so much to a 1979 man, it dates itself far worse than Battlestar Galactica, also produced by Larson. And what a man Buck was. An arrogant, chauvinistic, hot-headed, perpetually smirking smart aleck with no regard for the rules or for the safety of others yet who somehow still manages to save the day by going with his gut. Oh, and he gets his own robot and all the women swoon over him. It's the fantasy of every pubescent and prepubescent boy, probably including Larson. Of course, by this time, Larson was already in his 40s, and his conception of what was "cool" for 1979 is laughable. But not as laughable as Gil Gerard in the tight, white uniform. All through the first season, my friends and I cracked up whenever "the paunch" would show up onscreen. Somebody should tell "futuristic" costume designers that most people don't wear skintight outfits for very good reasons. Had this been made 20 years later, Bruce Campbell could have done Buck with much less mugging.Pamela Hensley's Ardala wasn't nearly as hot as she was made out to be. Her only distinction was that she spent most of the movie in her gold lamé string bikini. In today's world, she would pale - both literally and figuratively - beside the silicone wonders that infest Hollywood. On the other hand, Erin Gray's Wilma Deering was quite attractive in a clean, wholesome sort of way. Alas, Deering inexplicably changed from a strong authority figure into a fluttery schoolgirl who all but giggled at the sight of Buck.Velveeta and Cracker Barrel have nothing on Glen Larson, the king of cheese and high camp.