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Post by Servo on Dec 15, 2022 8:50:38 GMT
Must confess I have more fondness for Daffy Duck these days.
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Post by Cyggy on Dec 21, 2022 15:02:44 GMT
I like the original opening credits/music of the Pilot episode, with surreal images of Buck being repeatedly awoken by beautiful women for a passionate snog. This scene and the lyrics of the title song seem to suggest that these adventures in the 25th Century are merely a series of dreams he experiences while in suspended animation. Maybe... Must admit, I kind of like theories like this. Similar to the sometimes suggested idea that the events of "Star Trek V" are actually a dream of Kirk's while camping out at Yosemite.
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Post by trebor19602001 on Jan 2, 2023 0:08:03 GMT
I like the original opening credits/music of the Pilot episode, with surreal images of Buck being repeatedly awoken by beautiful women for a passionate snog. This scene and the lyrics of the title song seem to suggest that these adventures in the 25th Century are merely a series of dreams he experiences while in suspended animation. Maybe... Must admit, I kind of like theories like this. Similar to the sometimes suggested idea that the events of "Star Trek V" are actually a dream of Kirk's while camping out at Yosemite. The original opening titles of the pilot episode that got a cinema release in the UK.
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Post by GC on Jan 19, 2023 3:22:18 GMT
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Post by Future-Diver on Jan 19, 2023 10:28:58 GMT
I'm quite fond of the Season 1 'Space Vampire' episode (apparently, the writers were inspired by Colin Wilson's book 'The Space Vampires', which of course was adapted into the film 'Lifeforce'). Although this episode is very camp and silly, I like the goofy creature design (the space vampire is a Vervon and looks part Nosferatu, part Star Trek brainy alien). There's also a few nice little touches like naming the derelict spaceship 'The Demeter' (the ship that brought Dracula to Whitby in Stoker's novel) and having one of the Vervon hunters named Helsing. The possessed, vampiric Wilma Deering is very sexy indeed! Daft, but fun.
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Post by GC on Jul 26, 2023 21:16:25 GMT
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Post by heccy on Jul 26, 2023 21:39:07 GMT
A scene from the episode....
I read an article on Buster Crabbe, around the time this was broadcast, in STARBURST magazine. The author of the article (sorry I forgot the name) said it was a shame that George Lucas hadn't got Buster Crabbe to play Obi -Wan- Kenobi, instead of Alec Guinness. I'm sure Buster would have been up for it, as well as being a homage to the Flash Gordon serials that Gorge Lucas used for inspiration for STAR WARS. Buster was certainly still pretty sprightly at this time. The idea of the scrolling info dump at the beginning of the STAR WARS films was nicked from the 1930's Flash Gordon serials. George tried to get the rights to Flash Gordon, but they were too expensive, so he created STAR WARS.. Useless info scrolling title supplied at no extra cost to CAPRONA... I'll get me coat..
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Post by GC on Mar 17, 2024 4:58:08 GMT
"Now we all look like dickheads"
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Post by GC on Jun 29, 2024 22:12:11 GMT
Dan Monroe has a go at it. Skip from 5:44 to 8:01 - he's just plugging some health drink sh*t...
Whatever Happened to BUCK ROGERS in the 25th CENTURY?
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Post by heccy on Jun 29, 2024 23:32:06 GMT
I recently bought the soundtrack to the pilot episode/UK film on a digital download... I only wanted the theme song, but they didn't sell the tracks separately... Still. it's a great theme song.. PS. Did anyone have the CORGI Toys version of The Buck Roger's Starfighter?
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 2, 2024 14:54:58 GMT
The author of the article (sorry I forgot the name) said it was a shame that George Lucas hadn't got Buster Crabbe to play Obi -Wan- Kenobi, instead of Alec Guinness. George tried to get the rights to Flash Gordon, but they were too expensive, so he created STAR WARS.. That would have been cool. Whenever I watch Buster Crabbe in anything from back when, he always strikes me as one of the most charismatic actors Holllywood ever had in the 1930s and 40s.
What you said about the films rights was DEAD-ON. I mention this because, for decades now, many people have been telling a different story, which I am convinced was dreamed up years after-the-fact to "make George Lucas' look better".
From what I've read, George Lucas wanted to do FLASH GORDON as far back as when THX-1138 was released. But he couldn't afford it. So he wound up doing AMERICAN GRAFFITTI to raise money so he could do his space adventure. And then decided it was cheaper to create "new" characters (while shamelessly ripping off arguably dozens of different things at the same time-- which, frankly, is more genuinely creative and gives one far more freedom to do whatever they want).
But sometime in the late 80s (I think), the story began to circulate that George Lucas couldn't get the rights to FLASH GORDON because Dino DeLaurentis already had them. THIS IS TOTAL B***S***!!! Why would Dino get the rights to FG and sit on them for nearly a decade before doing anything with them?
Filmation wanted to get out of the "Saturday morning ghetto", and bought the screen rights to FLASH GORDON, then sunk everything they had into the most expensive, lavish animated cartoon they ever made, intended as a theatrical feature film. They ran out of money halfway thru production, figuring they could finish the film if they could use what they'd done to interest a distributor. But NOBODY in the US wanted to touch it, because of the stupid, narrow-minded attitude that "animated cartoons are ONLY for kids"-- and their film clearly WASN'T.
It was Rafaella DeLaurentis, who ran her father's distribution company, who came to their rescue. She LOVED what they'd done, and they made a deal. She put up the money to finish the film, IN EXCHANGE for the film distribution rights. She got FLASH GORDON: THE GREATEST ADVERNTURE OF ALL (1979) into theatres in Europe, where it did very well. Her father had NEVER HEARD of FG until then! When he saw it, he got the idea to do one of his own. (I like to joke he may have said, " 'Ey! I can do somet'ink like-a DIS!" ) From initial idea to RELEASE DATE, in less than ONE YEAR. Geez!!! There was NOBODY in Hollywood who could have accomplished that.
But it does help to explain the crazy, schizophrenic nature of the 1980 FLASH GORDON. If you watch the 2 films back-to-back, it's clear the 1980 film is in many ways a remake of the 1979 film. Except brighter, "flashier", more VIOLENT, SEXIER, and with the most insane level of comedy added. Apparently, the Italian crew wanted more sex and violence. The Amercian crew wanted "Adam West BATMAN". No wonder Lorenzo Semple Jr. was involved. Like the 1936 Universal serial, the dynamic between Flash, Dale & Aura was far better-written in the 1979 film than it was in the original comics. In both, Flash & Dale agree to accompany Zarkov to save Earth. But the 1980 film had the same scene much-closer to what was in the original comics-- where Zarkov is half-insane, and forces Flash & Dale to accompany him AT GUNPOINT. An in the 1980 version, it's played for laughs. (ALL the characters from the comic-strip were BETTER-written in the Universal serials-- even in "TRIP TO MARS", by far the least of the 3.)
My main problem with the 1980 film is it makes Barin really stupid for half the film, some of the dialogue is idiotic... and Sam Jones (THE STAR!) is the worst actor in the film. I kinda wish they'd have gotten Dirk Benedict. Jones & DeLaurentis had a falling out before the film was finished, they had to get someone else to loop his dialogue, and the 2 planned sequels never happened.
I recently heard Jones as a guest on a Youtube live video interview, and I must say, as a person, he seems to be a really nice guy, which was good to learn after all these years.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 2, 2024 15:48:25 GMT
I have a long history with the 1979 BUCK ROGERS. I first saw it in theatres, and enjoyed it for what it was enough that I went to see it 3 times! It was no BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (which I loved) but fun.
Then I saw the heavily-altered TV version, expanded to fit a 2-hour slot (with commercials). They removed the "James Bond" style opening credits. They re-arranged several scenes. They cut certain lines of dialogue ("I'm freezing my ball-bearings off!") and the shot where Buck kicks Tigerman in the groin. They added the scenes in Buck's apartment, which did nothing for me. They added the entire epilogue to set up the TV series. I probably forgot to mention some of the changes, but I was so terribly disappointed by the TV version, compared to the theatrical version.
I also got the tabloid-size comic-book adaptation, which collected the 3 separate issues of the comic-book that had adapted the movie-- each chapter done by a different artist, apparently, so they could get it into stores quicker. Crazy thing: the comic is BETTER-WRITTEN than the other 2 versions, and apparently, was based on the original teleplay. I strongly suspect the comic is how the film was when it was originally shot, but it was heavily-re-edited TWICE. In effect, there are or were probably 3 DIFFERENT cuts of the story-- and the 1st-- by far the best-- has NEVER been seen by anyone.
A major plot-point LOST in both the theatrical (2nd) and TV (3rd) edits, is that before Kane left Earth to join up with Draco & Ardalla, he RE-PROGRAMMED the President of the computer council, who in turn, re-programmed the Earth Defense Forces' fighter-jet battle computers. That's why Buck was only able to fight back by turning off the battle computers. But this important plot point was never explained in either cut of the film seen by audiences. As a result, it was then later explained in a different fashion, several episode later in the TV series.
They kept changing their mind on this project. At one point, Glen Larson wanted to do 3 TV-movies (continuing his pattern on McCLOUD and QUINCY M.E.), but they only made the first, then sat it on for almost a year! (Yes, I was rather shocked to recently learn, the BR pilot was actually shot just before the BG pilot-- not a year after it.) They then heavily re-edited the pilot and released it theatrically, and then, later, re-edited it AGAIN for TV, and then took the other 2 movie scripts and filmed them as 2-parters. ("Planet of the Slave Girls" and "The Plot To Kill A City")
I thought "Planet Of The Slave Girls" was a massive downturn / disappointment after the first story. I was so disappointed, that I actually STOPPED watching the show after that, only watching the odd one here and there ("Ardala Returns" and "Flight of the War Witch").
By the time the 2nd season arrived, I had my 1st VCR, and somehow managed to tape the entire 2nd season. But it was terrible, and I have trouble sitting thru those episodes. How could anyone take a semi-decent show and completely RUIN it the way they did?
Over the years, now and then, I'd see the odd episode from season 1, and they tended to be more entertaining than I imagined. I also at some point taped the TV version of the pilot, and realized that many years after I'd first seen the story, Pamela Hensley's "Ardala" had been one of several people in the back of my mind when I created a "bad girl" in my own stories.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 2, 2024 16:18:59 GMT
Several years back, I was doing a sci-fi movie marathon, and decided to do it chronologically, starting with METROPOLIS. Money was tight, but I decided to upgrade a FEW favorites from decades-old self-recorded VHS to DVD, and buy a few I never had.
I wanted the 1979 BUCK ROGERS movie-- but found it was only available as part of the TV series. Okay. I went with that.
Turns out, what I got was the 2004 box set. This had both season 1 and season 2, but, it did NOT have the re-edited TV pilot, only the theatrical plot! Well, that was the one I wanted, anyway. I enjoyed it immensely all over again, and figured, okay, since I now have the entire TV series, might as well watch that, too.
Parts of "Planet of the Slave Girls" still bothered me, like the "fighter pilot class" where all the students are laughing at Buck's use of unknown football teminology, or the one guy who decides to get into a fight with him (but who he later becomes friends with after they've crashed in the desert on another planet). Jack Palance's acting is HORRIBLE. What is with that guy? Wilma Deering (Erin Gray) seems like a completly-different (and far-more likable) character than she'd been in the pilot. This was explained when I found out the pilot was filmed almost a year before it hit theatres, and when they finally got around to deciding to do the TV series, Erin Gray DID NOT want to come back! She felt her character was to stiff and unlikable, and her best scene in the pilot-- where she tells Buck she's started to care about him-- was cut to ribbons in the theatrical edit. (The scene of her & Buck dancing to the song "Chicago", at the very end of the story-- if it was ever filmed-- was missing from BOTH theatrical and TV edits.)
Surprisingly, for me, the series GOT WAY BETTER as it went! And I didn't find this out until decades after-the-fact. I wound up watching Season 1 3 times!! (But I only re-watched Season 2 ONCE. It's that bad.)
It seems Glen Larson didn't want Gil Gerard, felt he was already too old, but director Daniel Heller pushed for him. But as Season 1 went on, Gerard developed an attitude, complained he had too many fight scenes, and caused so many problems behind-the-scenes that most of the writing staff QUIT about halfway or two-thirds of the way thru Season 1. GEEZ! (Fortunately, you can't really see any evidence of this in his acting.) The quality of the scripts started to go downhill (again) with the changes in writing staff.
Then there was a much-publicized (at least in STARLOG) change in direction with the season finale, "Flight of the War Witch", promoted as closer to what certain writers had always wanted it to be. Well, when I re-watched that... OHHH MAN. Was I disappointed. It felt like they painfully stretched one hour's worth of story to two, the acting of most of the guest-cast was awful... exceptions being Julie Newmar, Pamela Hensley, and Michael Ansara, who was actually funny for once. "Ardala" was forced to actually grow up when Julie Newmar's character PUT HER in her place, and Buck showed that he actually LIKED Ardala when she wasn't always behaving like a power-mad spoiled child.
Then things went COMPLETELY to hell. Turns out, Gerard didn't want to do a 2nd season unless they made a lot of changes. The entire format of changed, it became "Star Trek lite" (in fact, it reminded me an AWFUL LOT of the feel of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, quite a few years early). And he actually DIDN'T want Wilma to come back. WTF? What the hell was wrong with this guy? The more I learned about the actor, the less I liked him. And this was happening decades after-the-fact.
"Time of the Hawk" was bad enough, but "Journey To Oasis" was INTEMINABLE. That 2-parter felt like THREE hours. I wondered, when is this thing gonna be over with?
Halfway thru the short season, it seemed somebody knew things were bad, and the writing changed FOR THE BETTER. But it was clearly too little too late, and Season 2 ended with only 13 hours. At a total of only 37 hours, I doubt the show was ever able to become really successful in syndication. So much chaos, so much indecision, and so much behind-the-scenes bad feeling, the latter because of the show's star.
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Post by GC on Jul 2, 2024 16:30:57 GMT
I recently bought the soundtrack to the pilot episode/UK film on a digital download... I only wanted the theme song, but they didn't sell the tracks separately... Still. it's a great theme song.. PS. Did anyone have the CORGI Toys version of The Buck Roger's Starfighter? Yeah I did. It came with little plastic figures of Buck and Twiki. I also had a Draconian Marauder plastic model kit bought from Zodiacs a few years later. All chucked out. Sigh.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 2, 2024 16:32:27 GMT
Some time after I got that 2004 box set, I learned they'd reissued the series in a more complete form.
Season 1 was reissued in January 2012, once again featuring the theatrical pilot rather than the TV pilot.
Season 2 was reissued in January 2013, but this time, with the TV pilot as a bonus.
As I hate season 2 and don't care much for the TV version of the pilot, that 2013 box doesn't really give me the urge to buy it, just to be a "completist". Maybe they figured nobody would want Season 2 unless it had something that hadn't been on disc before!
And then I found out in November 2020 they reissued the theatrical pilot from a new scan and in WIDESCREEN for the first time, on Blu-Ray. (I'm thinking about getting it... one of these days.)
It's funny, if I'd known about that before, I might have gotten that and completely skipped getting the whole series (which I did wind up enjoying a lot... well, most of season 1 anyway).
I keep hearing that Universal is terrible when it comes to their film archives, and if there's anything they've ever done with scenes cut out or edited or whatever, they tent to throw things away, making later restorations impossible. This may be why, if it ever existed at all, we may never seen the original, unreleased pilot for BUCK ROGERS. Also, why it took somebody until 2021 before the 1st season of McCLOUD was out on DVD intact, instead of just the horribly re-edited TV-movie versions.
By the way, until very recently, I never realized that the McCLOUD pilot (which was TERRIBLE!) was all Leslie Stevens' baby. Glen Larson wasn't hired until the short 1st season that followed it.
To this day, I still have no idea exactly how much or how little Leslie Stevens contributed to both BUCK ROGERS and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. (I now list them in that order because the BR pilot was made first. Who knew?)
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