Just saw on Wikipedia’s list of recent deaths that Gil Gerard passed away yesterday from cancer.
The Buck Rogers TV show he is best known for was pretty awful, coming shamelessly on the heels of Star Wars the same way we got Battlestar Gallactica (and by the same people). But it was part of the zeitgeist of the time and therefore a big part of my childhood.
There was one episode that scared the piss out of me, involving space vampires. One of which was destroyed by having it fly into a star.
Gerard seemed to be a good sport and the show had its moments. But even at the tender age of 10 or so, I was mostly there for Erin Grey and her tight jumpsuits.
I thought the first season was pretty good, but the less said about the second season the better.
OK, objectively the acting, writing, and SFX were mediocre at best but I still found it watchable even when it reran on one of the X.3 stations (MeTV? ThisTV? H&I?) not too long ago.
Aw man. When that first season of Buck Rogers was on the air, I loved it. I was the right age for it and I loved Star Wars and science fiction. My dad enjoyed it as well, he was not a fan of sci-fi, preferring westerns, but something about Buck just fit that lone western hero trope just enough that it became something we enjoyed together. Years later, I was watching a Buck Rogers rerun on a Saturday morning when my mom came home from the hospital to tell my sisters and I that our dad died. That kind of put a weird circle on the show for me.
If I recall correctly, the format of that show changed with every new season. They went from dogfighting with aliens to exploring strange new worlds in a starship about the time I last watched it.
I remember going with friends to see the “full-length feature film” that was produced by splicing together the first three or four episodes of the series. It was a Sunday afternoon matinee, so the cinema was full of little kids who seemed to be bored by the whole thing.
My friends and I groaned when the “Disco Pavane” began and Twiki said “What a bod!” when he was introduced to the Princess. I kept waiting for someone to push him out an airlock.
The first was normal space opera, with princesses and evil villains and fighter craft defending earth. In the second, they took a starship called the Searcher (not the Finder? ) looking for lost “tribes” of humanity, unseen since the great war. It was more Star Trekky. Except for Bidi Bidi Buck, Wilma and Twiki, it was all new cast. I preferred the second season, but I prefer Star Trek over Star Wars.
I was a teenager (and, of course, a big Star Wars and science fiction) fan when the show was on. Even at that age, I realized it was pretty cheesy, but I still enjoyed it – and, yeah, the second season, with a complete change of premise, was not as good.
I met Gil Gerard, and Erin Grey, at the Gen Con gaming convention, maybe 15 years ago, where they were both celebrity guests of honor. I was only able to speak with him for a minute or so, but he came across as very down-to-earth and nice.
It almost didn’t include Wilma. They wanted to get rid of her for the second season. Erin Gray has credited Gil Gerard, among others, for insisting that her character needed to remain on the show. Sadly, her role was greatly reduced. Apparently their second season goal of re-creating Star Trek included relegating the women to doing little more than staying on the bridge and opening hailing frequencies.
I did enjoy the show, cheesy as it was, and Gil Gerard seemed like a charming and personable guy (please don’t tell me if he really wasn’t!). RIP, Buck.
I remember watching the show avidly as a tween in afterschool reruns. I’ll admit to even liking the Second season at that age, because, well, HAWK and his bird-fighter. A lot of episodes didn’t click with me at that age, but most did, and several I out-and-out loved.
My friend has the collection on his Plex server, and I rewatched a few episodes recently. The bad parts are just as bad as I remember, but it still has quite a bit of cheesy fun. Sure, it’s also full of internal contradictions, and these days I prefer a more serious tone and consistency, but I can go back and enjoy it they way I enjoy going back and watching OG Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek TOS, though there’s a wide range of “skip this episode!” between the three different series.
I met Gil at Dragoncon and he was short-tempered with me because I didn’t know the picture and autograph protocol. I don’t know why since there wasn’t anybody waiting their turn and he had all the time in the world to explain. But I remember the show and remember seeing the original theatrical release that became the pilot episode. My mom had the hots for ol’ Gil. She was the one I got the picture for.
As a kid, I saw BUCK ROGERS first, and so I pretty much thought, “huh, he’s like a less amiable Gil Gerard” upon eventually seeing reruns of some guy playing a Six Million Dollar Man…
I liked the show. I was way too young to worry about the cheesiness of it all. If you set your show in outer space, I was probably gonna lap it up. The episodes that I remember best include the one where a pre-Law & Order Jerry Orbach tried to sow chaos across the galaxy with crappy music, the one with the guy who can separate his head from his body, the one with the box that gave everyone terrible nightmares and the one with the space vampire.
) looking for lost “tribes” of humanity, unseen since the great war. It was more Star Trekky. Except for Bidi Bidi Buck, Wilma and Twiki, it was all new cast. I preferred the second season, but I prefer Star Trek over Star Wars.