Buck Rogers

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Buck Rogers is a fictional pulp character that began in 1928 as Anthony Rogers, the hero of two novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine Amazing Stories. Rogers is best known from the long-running newspaper comic strip. He also appeared in a movie serial, a television series, a computer game, and in many other formats.

The adventures of Buck Rogers, whether in comic strip form, movies, radio or television, became an important part of American pop culture. This pop phenomenon paralleled the development of space technology in the twentieth century and introduced Americans to space as a familiar environment for swashbuckling adventure.

Buck Rogers has been credited with bringing into popular media the concept of space exploration, following in the footsteps of literary pioneers such as H.G. Wells.

Contents 1 Amazing Stories 2 Comic strip 3 Radio show 4 Film and TV adaptations 4.1 World's Fair 4.2 Department store promotion movie 4.3 Movie serial 4.4 1950–1951 ABC television series 4.5 Motion picture and 1979–1981 NBC television series 5 Role-playing games and spinoffs 5.1 Buck Rogers XXVC 5.1.1 XXVC books 5.1.2 XXVC video games 5.2 High-Adventure Cliffhangers 6 Planet of Zoom video game 7 Later novels 8 Ownership 9 Toys 10 Influence on language and popular culture 11 Satire 12 References 13 External links

Amazing Stories

The character first appeared as Anthony Rogers, the central character of Philip Francis Nowlan's novella Armageddon 2419 A.D., which first appeared in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories.

While surveying an abandoned mine, Rogers, a former United States Army Air Corps officer, falls into a coma after exposure to a leaking gas, and awakes in the twenty-fifth century. Together with his new comrades, the beautiful Wilma Deering and the intrepid Dr. Huer, he struggles to rid the world of evil warlords and "Mongol" hordes.

Armageddon 2419 A.D.'s sequel, The Airlords of Han, appeared in the March 1929 issue of Amazing Stories. The story's enemy force, the Han, were later renamed Mongols.

In 1933, Nowlan and Dick Calkins co-wrote Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, a novella that retold the origin of Buck Rogers and also summarized some of his adventures. A reprint of this work was included with the first edition of the 1995 novel Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future by Martin Caidin.

In the 1960s, Nowlan's two novellas were combined by editor Donald A. Wollheim into one paperback novel, titled Armageddon 2419 A.D. [1] The original 40-cent edition featured a cover by Ed Emshwiller.

These stories include racist stereotypes of the "yellow peril" variety. America is occupied by cruel invaders from China. Buck Rogers and his fellows not only free America of their rule, but also destroy their cities, kill their populations wholesale, and pursue them back to China. The stories include explicit reference to "the White Race" and "the Yellow Race" fighting it out for possession of America. A passage near the end of the second story seems to be an effort to soften the racism, as the "Chinese" invaders are revealed to be of mixed blood, part human and part space alien.

Comic strip

The story of Anthony Rogers in Amazing Stories caught the attention of John F. Dille, president of the National Newspaper Service syndicate, and he arranged for the author, Philip Francis Nowlan, to turn it into a comic strip for Dille's syndication company(name needed). The comic strip was named "Buck Rogers", and this name stuck in all later reworkings of the story. Dille assigned staff artist Dick Calkins to the project.

Some have suggested that Dille coined the nickname "Buck" based on a 1920s cowboy character named Buck Rogers.

On January 7, 1929 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D., the first science fiction comic strip, debuted. Coincidentally, this was also the date that the Tarzan comic strip began. Comic strip historians mark the beginning of the golden age of adventure strips with the debut of these two influential comics.

On 30 March 1930 a Sunday strip joined the Buck Rogers daily. There was, as yet, no established convention for the same character having different adventures in the Sunday strip and the daily strip (many newspapers carried one but not the other) and so the Sunday strip at first followed the adventures of Buck's young friend Buddy Deering, Wilma Deering's younger brother, and his girlfriend Alura. It was some time before Buck made his first appearance in a Sunday strip. Other prominent characters in the Sunday strip included Dr. Huer, who punctuated his speech with the exclamation "Heh!," the villainous Killer Kane and his paramour Ardala, and Black Barney, who began as a space pirate but later became Buck's ally. (Kane's real name was eventually revealed as Coe, while his heroic identical twin brother was named Nova; a play on the drug names Cocaine and Novocaine.)

Like many popular comic strips of the day, Buck Rogers was presented in Big Little Books, illustrated text adaptations of the daily strip stories, and in a collectible Buck Rogers Pop-Up Book.

The strip ran continuously for 38 years, with the final installment being published on July 8, 1967.

The comic strip was revived in 1979 by Gray Morrow and Jim Lawrence. The strip was retitled Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in 1980, and longtime comic book writer Cary Bates would sign on in 1981 until the strip's ending in 1983.

See also: List of Buck Rogers comic strips

Radio show

In 1932, the Buck Rogers radio program, notable as the first science fiction show on radio, hit the airwaves. The radio program aired 4 times a week for fifteen years, from 1932 through 1947.

The radio show again related the story of our hero Buck finding himself in the 25th Century. Actors Matt Crowley, Curtis Arnall, Carl Frank, and John Larkin all voiced Buck at various times. The beautiful and strong-willed Wilma Dearing was portrayed by Adele Ronson, and the brilliant scientist and inventor Dr. Huer was played by Edgar Stehli.

The radio series was produced and directed by Carlo De Angelo and later by Jack Johnstone.

Note: Johnstone recalled in 1988 how he worked with the sound effects of Ora Nichols to produce the sound of the rockets using an air-conditioning vent. [2]

Film and TV adaptations

World's Fair

A ten-minute Buck Rogers film premiered at the 1933-1934 World's Fair in Chicago. John Dille Jr. (son of strip baron John F. Dille) starred in the film, which was called Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: An Interplanetary Battle with the Tiger Men of Mars.

Department store promotion movie

According to Robert Lesser's 1975 book "A celebration of Comic Art and Memorabilia" ISBN 0-8015-1456-8, a special movie short was produced in 1936. This was designed to be shown in department stores to promote Buck Rogers merchandise. This live action short, presented "a series of exciting scenes and is complete with sound effects." "A special cast was employed to produce the picture which was filmed in the studios of the Action Film Company, Chicago, under the personal direction and supervision of Dr. Harlan Tarbell." The characters in the short include Buck, Wilma, Dr. Huer, Killer Kane, Ardala, King Grallo of the Martian Tiger Men and Mechanical Robots. Unfortunately, this film has not been shown since the 1930s. A few stills from the production were included in Lesser's book.

Movie serial

A twelve-part Buck Rogers movie serial was launched in 1939. In this version Buck Rogers and his young friend Buddy Wade are involved in a dirigible accident in a remote place. Immediately afterwards they somehow get into suspended animation waiting for rescue. When they are finally discovered and revived, they learn that 500 years have passed. A tyrannical dictator named “Killer Kane” and his henchmen now run the world. Buck and Buddy must now save the world, and they do so with the help of Lieutenant Wilma Deering and Prince Tallen of Saturn.

The serial starred Buster Crabbe, who had previously played the role of Flash Gordon, a role he was later to reprise as "Brigadier Gordon" in the Buck Rogers television series — the only crossover between the two characters. Constance Moore played Lieutenant Wilma Deering, the only woman in the film, and Jackie Moran was Buddy Wade, a character who did not appear in other versions of the Buck Rogers franchise, but who was clearly modeled on the Sunday strip character Buddy Deering. Anthony Warde played "Killer Kane", Buck Roger's enemy; this was the only time that Warde, who usually portrayed evil underlings in serials, played a lead villain.

Korean-American actor Philson Ahn, younger brother of noted actor Philip Ahn, played Prince Tallen, a Saturnian native who befriends Buck Rogers. As was typical for the times however, all other Saturnians were played by Caucasian actors. There are some racist undertones in the film. For example, workers on the planet Saturn, who are called Zugs, are portrayed as ugly, dark, hulking brutes (played by Caucasians in makeup) who are unable to think for themselves and who worship and attend to a catatonic brainwashed human.

The noted actor and "crown prince of stuntmen" David Sharpe, who appeared in over 4,500 films over the course of a seven decade career, also appeared in the Buck Rogers serial in several roles: as a Kane pilot, a Hidden City sentry, and a Saturnian lieutenant.

The serial had a small budget and saved money on special effects by re-using material from other stories: background shots from the futuristic musical Just Imagine (1930), as the city of the future, the garishly stenciled walls from the Azura palace set in Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, as Kane's penthouse suite, and the "Strato-Sleds" of Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, as mock-ups of the flying machines.

In 1953, the 1939 movie serial was re-edited and re-released as a motion picture entitled Planet Outlaws. This reissue was subsequently edited again and retitled Destination Saturn for broadcast on television in 1965.

1950–1951 ABC television series

The first version of Buck Rogers to appear on television, debuted on ABC on April 15, 1950 and ran until January 30, 1951. Its time slot initially was on Saturdays at 6:00 P.M., and each episode was 30 minutes in length. Later, the program was rescheduled to Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. where it ran against the popular Texaco Star Theater hosted by Milton Berle which trounced Buck Rogers in the ratings, and led to the series' cancellation.

There were a number of changes to the cast during the show's short duration. Three actors played Buck Rogers in the series: Earl Hammond, Kem Dibbs and Robert Pastene. Two notable actresses portrayed Wilma Deering in the series, Eva Marie Saint and Lou Prentis. Two actors would also play the role of Dr. Huer: Harry Southern and also Sanford Bickart. Black Barney was played by Harry Kingtson.[3]

The series was directed by Babette Henry, written by Gene Wyckoff and produced by Joe Cates & Babette Henry.

The series was broadcast live from station WENR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Chicago, Illinois. There are no known surviving kinescopes of the first Buck Rogers television series.

Motion picture and 1979–1981 NBC television series

Main article: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series)

In 1979, Buck Rogers was revived and updated for a prime-time television series for NBC Television. The pilot film was first shown in cinemas in Spring 1979. Good box-office returns led NBC to commission a full series, which started in September 1979.

The series starred Gil Gerard as Capt. William "Buck" Rogers, a US Air Force pilot who commands Ranger 3, a space shuttle that is launched in 1987. Because of a freak combination of gases, he is frozen in space for 500 years and is revived in the 25th century. There, he learns that the Earth was united following a devastating nuclear war in the late 20th century, and is now under the protection of the Earth Defense Forces, headquartered in New Chicago. The latest threat to Earth comes from the spaceborne armies of the planet Draconia, who are planning an invasion.

Co-starring in the series were Erin Gray as crack Starfighter pilot Col. Wilma Deering, and Tim O'Connor as Dr. Elias Huer, head of Earth Defense Forces, and a former star pilot himself. Ardala appeared (played by Pamela Hensley), as a Draconian princess supervising her father's armies, with Kane (played by Michael Ansara) as her enforcer. Black Barney did not appear as a character in the series, although there was a character named Barney who appeared in a single episode. New characters added for the series included a comical robot named Twiki (embodied by Felix Silla, with voice provided by Mel Blanc), who becomes Buck's personal assistant, and Dr. Theopolis (voice by Eric Server), a computer brain Twiki carries around.

The series ran for two seasons on NBC. Broadcast of the second season was delayed until 1981 due to a writers' strike in 1980. When the series returned it had been retooled in a manner which was strikingly similar to a previous Glen Larson produced series, Battlestar Galactica. Now rather than defending Earth, Buck and Wilma were on a mission to track down the lost colonies of humanity aboard the deep-space exploration vessel "Searcher." The series was cancelled at the end of the 1980-1981 season, but remains a cult favorite 25 years later.

Two novels based upon the series by Addison E. Steele were published; a novelization of the 1979 feature film, and That Man on Beta, an adaptation of an unproduced teleplay.

Role-playing games and spinoffs

Buck Rogers XXVC

Main article: Buck Rogers XXVC

In 1988, TSR, Inc. created a game setting based on Buck Rogers, called Buck Rogers XXVC (abbreviated XXVC here). Many other products were produced that were set in this universe, including books and video games. In the role-playing game the player characters were allied to Buck Rogers and NEO (the New Earth Organisation) in their fight against RAM (a Russian-American corporation based on Mars). The games also extensively featured "gennies" (genetically enhanced organisms). The gameplay dealt with token movement and resource management. There was a single expansion called the Martian Wars Expansion.

XXVC books

From 1990 to 1991, eight graphic novels set in the XXVC universe were published, entitled Rude Awakening #1, #2 and #3, Black Barney #1 and 2. and Martian Wars #1 and #2. There has been speculation that two more stories were printed but not widely distributed.

Ten paperback novels set in the XXVC universe were published, starting in 1990: Arrival, The Martian Wars Trilogy, Rebellion 2456, Hammer of Mars, Armageddon off Vesta, The Inner Planets Trilogy consisting of First Power Play, Prime Squared and Matrix Cubed and the Invaders of Charon trilogy consisting of The Genesis Web, Nomads of the Sky and Warlords of Jupiter.

XXVC video games

In 1990, Strategic Simulations, Inc. released a video game, Countdown to Doomsday, for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Sega Mega Drive, and other platforms. They released a sequel, Matrix Cubed, in 1992.

High-Adventure Cliffhangers

In 1995, TSR created a new and unrelated Buck Rogers role-playing game called High-Adventure Cliffhangers. This was a return to the themes of the original Buck Rogers comic strips. This game included biplanes and interracial warfare, as opposed to the space combat of the earlier game. There were only a few expansion modules created for High-Adventure Cliffhangers. Shortly afterward, the game was discontinued, and the production of Buck Rogers RPGs and games came to an end. This game was neither widely advertised nor very popular. There were only two published products: the box set, and "War Against the Han".

Planet of Zoom video game

Sega released the arcade video game Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom in 1983. The user controls a spaceship that must destroy enemy ships and avoid obstacles; Buck is never seen, except assumedly in the illustration on the side of the game cabinet, and its only real connections to Buck Rogers are the use of the name and the outer space setting. Home versions were released for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari XE, Colecovision, Intellivision, MSX and Sega Master System video game systems, and the Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, and ZX Spectrum computers. A version for IBM PC using CGA graphics was also available.[4][5][6][7]

Later novels

Sequels to Armegeddon 2419 A.D. were written in the 1980s by other authors. The novels include:

• Mordred by John Eric Holmes ( Ace, January 1981, ISBN 0-441-54220-4 )
• Warrior's Blood by Richard S. McEnroe ( Ace, January 1981, ISBN 0-441-87333-2 )
• Warrior's World by Richard S. McEnroe ( Ace, October 1981, ISBN 0-441-87338-3 )
• Rogers' Rangers by John Silbersack ( Ace, August 1983, ISBN 0-441-73380-8 )

Numerous novelists have "reinvented" the Buck Rogers mythos over the years, including:

• M.S. Murdock who wrote a trilogy of novels in the early 1990s
• Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future by Martin Caidin, a standalone novel retelling the original story. ISBN 0-7869-0144-6

Ownership

Ownership of Buck Rogers and other works later passed into the hands of the Dille Family Trust. Flint Dille was John F. Dille's grandson. All trademark pertaining to "Buck Rogers" is now registered to the Dille Family Trust.[8] Those trademarks formerly specific to TSR have been cancelled.[9]

In 1997, in an interview for the Calgary Sun newspaper, actress Erin Gray of the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century television series stated that the film rights to the character belonged, at the time, to Walt Disney Studios but it is not known if this is still (or ever was) the case.

Toys

In the mid-1930's, "ray guns", modeled on the pistol-like weapons used in the Buck Rogers comic strip, were popular toys. The premier such toy was the disintegrator ray, gold in color and flashing sparks, with a scientific discussion of its workings by Dr. Huer printed on the box.

Influence on language and popular culture

Buck Rogers' name has become proverbial in such expressions as "Buck Rogers outfit" for a protective suit that looks like a spacesuit.^{[citation needed]} For many years, all the general American public knew about science fiction was what they read in the funny papers, and their opinion of science fiction was formed accordingly.^{[citation needed]} Another phrase in common use before 1950 was "As crazy as flying to the moon," and serious science fiction fans were often asked, "Do you really believe that crazy Buck Rogers stuff?"^{[citation needed]}

The British rock band Feeder wrote a song called "Buck Rogers", which became their first top 10 hit in 2001. It reached number 5 in the UK singles chart.

Satire

Such was the fame of Buck Rogers that it became the basis for one of the most fondly remembered science fiction spoofs in a series of Daffy Duck cartoons. The first of these was Duck Dodgers in the 24-1/2th Century, which was directed by Chuck Jones in 1953. There were also two sequels to this cartoon, and ultimately a Duck Dodgers television series.

Although not entirely satirical, a recent two-part South Park episode (Episode 1012 - Go God Go) and (Episode 1013 - Go God Go XII) of the animated series [10]pays homage to the Buck Rogers TV series (original airdate 11/1/06). This episode features Cartman entering a self-inflicted cryogenic state (to wait for the Nintendo Wii to be available in stores), only to be covered by an avalanche. He is thawed 500 years later, leading to the TV series theme song and opening montage spoof/homage. This is a two part episode. Part 2 aired the following week with Eric continuing in his quest to find a Nintendo Wii in the 25th century. The opening of the episode pays yet more homage to the Buck Rogers TV series with an almost identical spoof of the show's intro.

References

• Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.

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