Saturday is the day where we embark upon that trip to galaxies far away and discover new worlds while doing battle against the evil forces and invaders from the luxury of our "Futuristic" Space Craft.. Welcome to SCI-Fi Saturdays..
The character of "Buck Rogers" was actually invented back in 1928 by writer PHILLIP FRANCES NOWLAN in a magazine entitled "Amazing Stories" (not to be confused with the STEVEN SPIELBERG directed TV series of the same name) as ANTHONY ROGERS.. "BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th Century" was published in 1933 by NOWLAN in a long form novel which was co-written by comic strip writer LT. DICK CALKINS.. This novel told the origins of the character of BUCK ROGERS..
Around that same time, the tales of BUCK ROGERS were heard on radio across America as the first Sci-Fi Radio Show of All Time.. There was also a comic strip that was published in newspapers across America..
The episode that you are about to see is actually from the 2nd attempt at the "BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY" television show.. The first was done by ABC Television in the Early 1950's but was short lived.. The 1979 adaptation of the show was picked up by NBC and starred GIL GERARD as BUCK ROGERS, which actually went on to be his most successful role..
This tale of BUCK ROGERS focuses on a US Air Force Pilot who commands a Space shuttle called "Ranger 3" that was launched in 1987 (which at that time seemed almost a decade away), but becuase of a freak accident with gases, he is frozen until the 25th Century.. Upon waking, he learns that Planet Earth was now protected under the "Earth Defense Forces" and had been united after a major Nuclear War in 1988.. Those evil DRACONIAN SPACE ARMIES are planning an invasion..
The BUCK ROGERS TV Series lasted from 1979 to 1981, and although short lived, the series did inspire an ATARI and COMMODORE 64 game of the same name during the "video game boom" of the mid-80's.. The game was called "Buck Rogers and the Planet of Zoom"..
The episode that I am featuring this week comes from Season 2 and was the 5th episode of that season entitled "The Golden Man".. Season 2 sadly was delayed from airing due to a massive network writer's strike, similar to that of the 2007 writer's strike but this episode DID air in 1981 during the show's final days..
Enjoy! PEACE!
Season 2 Episode 5: "The Golden Man"
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