Buck Rogers (serials)
Space hero Buck Rogers,
he of that seemingly constant state of suspended animation, was created
by John Flint Dille and Phillip Francis Nowlan, and debuted as a comic
strip in Amazing Stories during the late 1920’s.
In 1934, the first Buck episode was made, called Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
About ten minutes long, Buck and Wilma Deering do battle against the
Tiger Men of Mars. Never mind that you can see the strings to which the
spaceship models are attached…the crowds at the 1935 World’s Fair in
Chicago were entranced.
More Buck Rogers serials were promptly produced. Flash Gordon's
Buster Crabbe was loaned out to Universal for these, and 12
cliffhanging episodes were made in the latter half of the 1930's. As in
the comics, Buck awakens in the 25th century, going to work against the
universe’s various scamps. Together with Buddy Wade, Buck stirs from
his suspended animation to match wits and brawn with Killer Kane and
his supergangsters.
A newly-edited version of the serials appeared in 1939. Dubbed Destination Saturn,
the feature condensed over four hours' worth of serialized cliffhangers
into one 90-minute installment. 1939 also saw the making of Buck Rogers Conquers the Universe, the first official full-length Buck Rogers feature and another spacefaring action opus.
Decades later, Buck would hit the silver screen again, updated for the post-Star Wars era in 1978's Buck Rogers
TV series, carrying the time-displaced hero into a new batch of danger
and outer space excitement. And if the past was any indication, he was
more than up to the challenge.
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