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| Coming to DVD 01/24/2012 |
Blast off to the 25th century with Buck Rogers, one of the most popular sci-fi heroes of all time! When 20th century astronaut William "Buck" Rogers (Gil Gerard) is awakened - 500 years after a deep space disaster! - to an Earth in recovery from nuclear war, he must join Colonel Wilma Deering (Erin Gray) against a galaxy of evil from the past, present and faraway future. Now with all 21 action-packed Season One episodes of the epic series the Associated Press called "razzle-dazzle good fun," and featuring phenomenal guest stars including Jamie Lee Curtis and Julie Newmar, you can join these legendary intergalactic crime fighters for an adventure you won't forget!
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| Season 1 cast |
In 2004, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released a DVD set of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - The Complete Epic Series, a 5-disc package (all double-sided DVDs) with the complete 2-season run of the show (32 episodes, including 5 double-length special episodes). The two seasons of the program were very different from each other, with the first 21-episode run (including 3 double-length installments) being based on Earth and having Buck, Wilma, and ambuquad robot Twiki (Felix Silla, The Addams Family's "Cousin Itt" and voiced by Mel Blanc, of "Bugs Bunny" fame) getting their mission directions from Dr. Elias Huer (Tim O'Connor) and the disc-like computer carried by Twiki, Dr. Theopolis (voiced by Eric Server, B.J. and the Bear). The opening credits were narrated by William Conrad (Cannon, Jake and the Fatman, and narrator on The Fugitive).
The second season (11 episodes, with the first two of them being double-length stories) had Buck, Wilma, and Twiki relocated to deep space, on board the starship Searcher, where they were led by Admiral Asimov (Jay Garner) and joined by Dr. Goodfellow (Wilfrid Hyde-White), the alien Hawk (Thom Christopher), and "superior" robot Crichton (voiced by Jeff Davis). This season was much less loved by fans, and likley has been most memorable for the (in)famous "off-think" scene (do a web search for that, if you're not familiar with it). Since it was relatively short, however, Universal included it in their "Complete Epic Series" DVD release 7 years ago...a collection which is still officially in print as of this writing, and lists for $26.98 SRP. However, it's become much harder to find than it used to be.
Universal has announced that on January 24, 2012 they will release Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - Season 1, a collection of JUST the original Earth-based season with Dr. Huer, Dr. Theopolis. It also includes a galaxy of guest stars that include Pamela Hensley, Henry Silva, Roddy McDowall, Buster Crabbe, Jack Palance, Tim Robbins, Cesar Romero, Frank Gorshin, Markie Post, James Sloyan, Peter Graves, Jamie Lee Curtis, Gary Coleman, Ray Walston, Michael Ansara, Dorothy Stratten, Morgan Brittany, Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, Mary Woronov, Anne Lockhart, Dennis Haysbert, Jerry Orbach, Judy Landers, Julie Newmar, and Vera Miles. These 21 episodes running 1166 minutes come on 6 single-sided DVDs, presented in full screen video, English mono sound, and with subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The original complete series release had no bonus material, and similarly there have been no extras announced for this title, either. Before anybody asks about a Blu-ray version, we'll just point out that nothing at all has been said by the studio about a high-def disc release of this show. Cost for the Season 1 DVDs are $24.98 SRP and you can pre-order it from Amazon currently for $20.
