Buck Rogers in the 21st Century - Page 5

So the theatrical version was shown on tv just the same as all theatrical movies, but in an extended edition ala Superman...except that the series followed. SO, in essence the original intent was to release it in theatres first? In other words, the pilot movie should be taken on its own terms and not part of the series?

I think they wanted Buck Rogers to make a splash that would hopefully lead to a weekly tv series. They started with the belief that they'd try a tv miniseries. But after filming had already begun, they reconsidered whether the splash should be from a tv mini-series or from a movie -- and they decided to try it as a movie. Either scenario could have led to a weekly tv series.

This is why we really needed a commentary track - to explain all of this!!!


If the pilot movie had done poorly and not caused the weekly tv series to be created, it still would have held its own as a cute b-movie.

The pilot movie can stand by itself as a nice b-movie, but it also serves perfectly well as the lead in to the tv series. The only thing you need to overlook when watching the theatrical version is that the movie featured (ever so briefly) Princess Ardala's daddy, Draco... but Draco never returned for the tv series, so it would be best to just forget his minute-of-fame from the movie.


I don't think that comparison is apt. The tv version of the Superman movie restored contemporaneous footage; stuff from the cutting room floor. But the tv version of the Buck Rogers movie, in contrast, added new footage that was shot much later; a new scene or two meant to tie-in to the weekly series a bit better.

Another thing to overlook, of course, is the fact that Killer Kane is played by Michael Ansara in the series rather than Henry Silva.

As for the original intentions of the show: I think I'm remembering right in that what happened was it was originally to be a six-hour mini-series (which could explain the two 2-hour stories in the first few weeks of the series as-aired), but NBC changed its mind and decided to pass on the project. Then, Universal considered whether or not to shop the show to another network or to go to theatres. The did the latter, and the rest is history.

How Buck went from TV to movie and back was covered in an old Starlog. I'll try to remember to look up the article and report back if my account isn't accurate.

Darn! Just got my set in the mail today when I got home from work. Disc 1 Side A is defective. Doesn't work at all... NUTS!! The other side works and so do the other discs. It's just that first one. This is the first defective dvd I've ever purchased.

oh well, going right back to Amazon. I guess I'll just have to wait a few weeks to watch it.

I had all sorts of issues with the Galactica set from pixelization to freezeups. I had to get 3 sets to make a complete working one. I wish Universal would abandon these doublesided disks.

Has anyone been able to contact Universal about this screw-up? I mean having the movie version of the pilot is great, but it's just an extra, one would think that on a "Complete Epic Series" package they would have the actual TV pilot on the DVD. I know it maybe a little early but I just thought I'd ask, just to get the ball rolling, or am I the only one concerned about this?

Bob, I am very concerned about it as well. The televised pilot should be considered episode one. The theatrical version should have been included as an extra.....for $69.99 and no extras, I mean, come on. There are too many other shows out there that are more complete to collect.

They could have included the five minutes of extra tv material as a bonus featurette. But it's hardly a screw up.

It might not be a screw-up, but you can't call something Complete when it isn't. The televised version even had different titles. I have only so much money to spend on tv on dvd. I have to choose wisely. Universal may not have "screwed up" but they lost a sale. Just not a very classy move on their part.

I like the set; looks good and seems packed (except for disc 5 side B). I understand the need to use double-sided discs but I too wish they had not. There is a scuff on my disc 3 which I have yet to test out. But overall, I think we're fortunate to see this released in this fashion. I suspect it will be the only release this show ever sees.

Oh, we could've done without the previews on disc 1, side A. No justification for those when you leave out the movie trailer and next week promos.

I noticed that Bill Hunt added an update to his review at the Bits that mentions the missing TV version of the pilot. Here's a link to the review. Like Bill, I'll also take the theatrical version if we have to pick, and it wasn't enough to keep me from buying the set. It is a curious oversight, though, especially since they had plenty of room, with there being only one episode on Side B of the last disc. And as others have said, you really can't call it the "Complete Epic Series" if it's not really complete.

Maybe Bill (or anyone else, I guess) could try to contact Universal and see if they are even aware of this, and whether or not it was intentional. It's not really a huge deal to me, but it'd be nice to know why the TV version was not included. It'd be even nicer if they were to press a disc with it on there and send it to everyone that sends in their proof-of-purchase. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here.

Anyway, I'm not going to get too uptight about this, but I'm just curious as to their reasoning.

-------

EDIT: Well, I went and done it. Here's the e-mail I sent to Universal's customer service:

---------------------

Dear Sirs or Ma'ams:

I recently purchased the "Buck Rogers-The Complete Epic Series" DVD set. Overall I am very impressed with the AV quality of the episodes. They all look and sound very nice, especially considering the age of the materials. I'm also happy that the episodes all seem to be uncut, even including the original teaser sequences that preceeded the episodes. I do wish there were some substantial extras, but I am glad to have such a good presentation of the series itself.

However, I did have one question regarding the pilot for the series, "Awakening." Although I am happy that the uncut theatrical version is included, I was just curious as to why the television version of this episode was not also included. The TV version did leave a few things out (which is why I'm glad to have the theatrical version), but it also featured several minutes of footage that were not in the theatrical cut, most notably an epilogue that better set up the series.

Once again, I appreciate this series being released, and if I have to pick, I would say that I prefer having the theatrical version of the pilot. I just wonder, though, why the TV version couldn't be included also, simply for the sake of comparison, and also to make this set truly the "complete" series. There was certainly room; Side B of the 5th disc only contains one episode; surely that extra space could have been used for one of the versions of the pilot.

Could the materials not be found? Was it simply an oversight? Like I said, I'm just curious. It's not a huge deal to me, but I guess it is just a little disappointing that this "Complete Epic Series" DVD set is actually not quite complete. I appreciate your consideration of these questions.

Thanks,
Bryan Tuck

----------------------------

Boy, I'm a geek. I guess we'll see what happens.

Well, they sent me a pretty fast response. However.......


?????????????? I don't know if this is an automated response or what, but they apparently didn't quite get it. I wrote them again; waiting for a response.

I watched "Planet of the Slave Girls" last night and was surprised to see that they mis-spelled Roddy McDowall's name in the credits at the beginning. No one has ever been able to get that man's name right in print, but in the credits of a series?

I just wanted to add something about this set. Apparently the theatrical version of the pilot is presented here in mono. I still own the old LaserDisc of the film, and that contains a stereo soundtrack. Did Universal forget that the film was put out in stereo, or is the package labeled incorrectly, or what?

I'd really like to have the theatrical version with the stereo audio, and also have the TV version (even with mono sound) included as well. My LD is suffering from some extreme laser rot, and won't last much longer.

I have this on my Amazon wish list, but I'll be buying some other discs first, since this set doesn't really seem to be complete.

I'm content to enjoy what I have without complaining about it, because I know more of the story than you folks ever will (certainly not from me), and suffice it to say that you should be happy you have what you have. The same issue that caused the extras to be scrapped came darn close to scrapping the entire set. Since the set went ahead, I made an effort to get a campaign going to get Uni to change their minds about the extras, but alas it didn't work.

I do regret that the TV cut of the pilot wasn't included, because in the 2nd episode in Buck's quarters you see he's painted the yellow glasses and smile on his big red computer unit, but the scene at the end of the pilot that explains how it got there was missing. New fans won't know what the deal was unless us old fogey types explain it to them.

It WAS fun seeing the opening credits to the film version again, though...I'd forgotten just how that sequence went and had certainly forgotten the words to the theme song, "Suspension". Great to see it again.

Now I'm off to Costco in an hour to exchange my copy of this for another, because my first disc freezes in the middle of the 2nd episode, on three different players. Sigh...DVD-18s can be so problematic.

Well, I'm certainly not complaining about this set as it is a really nice one. But, what would be nice is an explanation from Universal as to why they omitted the pilot episode of the series. Lets see, first, they say on the back of the box, "This must-own, five disc collection presents the entire Buck Rogers series and theatrical pilot on DVD." Secondly, the theatrical pilot movie did not air on September 20, 1979. And, finally, there was certainly room for the TV pilot because on the last side of the final disc, there was a total of one episode. Okay, maybe I am complaining just a little, but I gave you my evidence and I hope someone can talk to Universal about this because it doesn't make sense.

I like the set, and as I said the other day, I think it is the only release this series will ever see, so I am glad to have it. The thing to keep in mind, I think, is that none of these sets are going to be perfect. As fans, we have in our head an idea of what would make up the perfect DVD set for our favorite shows, and when that falls short, many people get mad. I just don't know that those are realistic expectations. I agree that sometimes studios cross the line (I think the recent Alf season set that released episodes cut for syndication crossed that line) but I don't think Universal did with BR.

No, I don't want a "perfect" DVD set with needless extras. I just want to have all of the episodes, from the original TV pilot to the final episode and that's all, there is a missing episode on this set and I hope that Universal is aware of this so they can, possibly, do something about it.

I believe their disclaimer on the package stating that "theatrical version of pilot episode included instead of TV version" says it all, really: they do know and do not intend to go back and "fix" the problem. As someone else had said, they could've put both versions out there as there was extra space on the last disc. Obviously, they chose not to.

A slight glitch I've noticed: Sometimes (but not always) when I Fast Forward through parts of an episode (whether at 2x or 32x), the FFW occasionally "stops" and returns me to the episode's "play" screen. Really frustrating, especially considering that there aren't many chapter stops!

There is no missing episode......the TV version of the pilot was simply an edited version of what ran in theatres months before with a couple of extra scenes added at the end. It amounts to what, 2 minutes?

It should have been included; but it wasn't. What you do get is the ENTIRE series in good quality in one set.

I'm picking the set up this week, but this was my always my fear...going back to when the set was first announced. I knew that Universal probably wouldn't be aware of any differences between the two...and even if they did, would probably choose one over the other.

I will agree with others and say that if given the choice, I would prefer to have the theatrical cut over the TV version. I think the best of both worlds would have been to simply add the TV epilogue to the theatrical version. I can live without the other minor changes. I just think the epilogue was a nice way to end the pilot movie and it sets up the series really well.

Since it is highly unlikely that we will ever see a home video release of the TV version of the pilot...I suggest recording it off the Sci Fi channel. They are going to be airing both parts of "The Awakening" on Thursday, December 16th starting at 8am.

And a couple of substitutions (Twiki's "I'm freezing my ball-bearings off" and "What a body!" lines, and the removal of the "dream girl" title sequence).

I've just had a look at the R2 version of the set. It's a six-disc (DVD-9) digipak containing just the first season and the theatrical cut of the pilot. The artwork is completely different to the US 2-season version, but curiously includes a photo of Thom Christopher as Hawk from the second season. Image and sound is very acceptable for a show of 23 years of age and no serious restoration. Cheese factor is very high, so I'm well suited. Especially seeing the theatrical pilot again. I'd have hated for the tv version to be substituted.

Maybe it's the format, but I enjoyed the pilot movie a lot more on DVD than I did 8 or 9 years ago when I saw it on VHS (which was the first time I had seen it since the theater in 1979). It was good, campy fun. More Saturday-matinee style than most science fiction. Buck was part of a sea change in sci-fi after Star Wars, in which sci-fi was light-hearted. Before SW, sci-fi was very serious and often depressing, but also much more mature.

In any event, I found the Buck pilot to be good fun. Looking forward to watching the rest of the series, most of which I haven't seen since 1979-81, and even then sometimes I fell asleep!

So how much spandex is in this series, anyway? I remember enjoying this vision of the future when I was a child, but is there really enough spandex to make it kitchy and enjoyable today? Or will it seem tame by comparison to, oh, well, to real life people jogging down the sidewalk?

No, I do not believe that "says it all", I did read that fine print but it boggles the mind. If they just had a good reason why they did not include the TV pilot on the "complete" TV series, maybe that would be the end of this discussion. This set is really fantastic and this discussion should stay on how great it is, I just thought that we could possibly make a difference by making this set truly complete or atleast ask for a reason as to why we do not have a complete epic series.

The reason is they decided not to.

i used to watch the show as a kid and when they would have a scene set in a futuristic night club they would have this erstatz synthesized disco music and back then i thought "c'mon...couldn't they get a little more creative...why would anyone think it was hip to listen to some synthesized, droning melange?"

now that i look back...they weren't that far off from anticipating techno, trance etc.
if only Lucas had control of this show, we could probably give Wilma a pacifier in these scenes now.

Just got the set today and I'm so disappointed with the physical quality of the discs! Disc one has some kind of green glue or something on the edge of the disc. It's inside of the disc so I can't get it off. All of the other disc have scratches and marks all over. It's almost as bad as the Magnum PI set I picked up. I had to open three other sets at Best Buy before a found a halfway decent looking set of discs. I'm not waisting my time anymore with Universal. Unless they manufacture the DVD's with some quality I'll just keep my money. And yeah I did email Universal, but I'm sure they will tell me to return it to the store I bought it from. Then I can only hope DDD sends me back a decent set.

Y'know some people pay for that sort of thing

What I meant was it ends the disscussion of what was included on the set, which is all that was being debated at that point.

I don't know if you noticed, but this disclaimer was on a sticker which covers up the entire original specifications and contents box on the back.

So to me, it looks like the issue was only discovered after the discs and initial packaging were finalised and manufactured. So I guess the problem is "human error".