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Buck Rogers

1939

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1

EP1 Tomorrow's World Apr 11, 1939

Having escaped death during the crash of his airship. Buck and his crew survive by using a strange suspended animation gas. Awakened 500 years later by scientists he finds the earth under the rule of gangsters like Killer Kane. The only chance is to seek help from another planet.

EP2 Tragedy on Saturn Apr 18, 1939

Escaping from earth Buck and his crew travel to Saturn. Having been followed by two of Killer Kane's ships, they are shot down over Saturn. Escaping the crash by using gravity belts they are pursued by Kane's men and captured by the forces of Saturn. Having gone to Saturn to get help against Kane, They find the people of Saturn less than helpful. Buck and his crew stand trial on Saturn, and escape back to Earth.

EP3 The Enemy's Stronghold Apr 25, 1939

Buck delivers a war pact from Prince Tallen to Killer Kane.

EP4 The Sky Patrol May 02, 1939

AIR MARSHAL KRAGG orders the Kane Ship entering the "Hidden City", crushed in the outer gates, only to find the crew to be Buck, Wilma and Buddy, who used the ship to escape from Saturn. BUCK informs Kragg and Doctor Huer of Laska's treachery by inciting the Saturnians into believing the "Hidden City" people were revolutionaries plotting against benevolent "Killer Kane". BUCK and BUDDY gain entrance to Kane's private council chambers preventing Prince Tallen signing the treaty that pledged the Saturnians' support to Kane. CONVINCING TALLEN of Kane's brutality, Buck, Buddy and Tallen escape to an outer terrace.

EP5 The Phantom Plane May 09, 1939

BUCK ROGERS and Buddy Wade, in Kane outfits gain entrance to Kane's chambers in time to expose the brutal "Leader" and prevent Tallen signing the treaty. Escaping in the Killer's personal ship, Buck, Buddy and Tallen head for the "Hidden City", but are attacked en-route by Wilma Deering's "Hidden City" squadron, who mistake the for enemies in a Kane ship and follow it down to a landing. DISCOVERING their friends, the "Hidden City" Squadron head for home, expecting Buck, Buddy and Tallen to follow in the Kane ship. BUCK finds his rocket ports damaged and before repairs can be made they are attacked from the air by Kane's pursuit ships.

EP6 The Unknown Command May 16, 1939

WILMA DEERING and the "Hidden City" squadron encounter the Kane Patrol that is bombing Buck, Buddy and Tallen from the air. Combating the Kane ships and forcing their retreat, Wilma lands and takes Buck, Buddy and Tallen to the "Hidden City", where Buddy, who has been seriously wounded, is removed to the hospital. PRINCE TALLEN pledges his people's support to Doctor Huer by signing the treaty entrusted to him . Unable to make radio contact to ratify the treaty, Buck, Tallen and Wilma fly to Saturn, only to discover Laska in a Kane ship has already arrived to prevent the alliance. BUCK decides to disable the Kane Space Ship, making escape of Laska and crew from Saturn impossible.

EP7 Primitive Urge May 23, 1939

BUCK and Wilma arrive on Saturn with Prince Tallen, where they are trapped in a space ship by Laska to prevent their having the treaty ratified. LASKA, forcing lethal gas into the control cabin, renders Wilma, Tallen and Buck unconscious. TURNING Buck and Wilma over to Patten, his lieutenant, Laska by means of a ray filament inserted inside Tallen's helmet transforms him into a human robot. BUCK and Wilma escape their captors and rush into the Forum, to find Tallen in a hypnotic stupor condemning Buck and the "Hidden City" people. SIEZING Tallen bodily, using him as a shield, Buck and Wilma start toward the tunnel car.

EP8 Revolt of the Zuggs May 30, 1939

AFTER crashing into the outer gate in their attempted escape by tunnel car, Buck and Wilma remove the filament from Prince Tallen's helmet, restoring his senses. CAPTAIN Laska and his forces, fleeing from the Saturnians, find one of their human robots in control of the primitive Zuggs. TAKING advantage of this situation, Laska commands the Robot to order the Zuggs revolt against all Saturnians. THE COUNCIL of the wise pledges support to Buck and the "Hidden City" people as Laska and the Zuggs march on the Forum.

EP9 Bodies Without Minds Jun 07, 1939

CAPTAIN LASKA, Killer Kane's emissary, takes over the Saturnian Forum with the aid of the revolting Zuggs. BUCK ROGERS frees Wilma and Prince Tallen from prison and the three make their way into the Forum through a secret panel, to find Laska in full control. COVERING Laska, Buck removes the filament from the robot's amnesia helmet. The robot proves to be a former Hidden City soldier. FREED from Laska's influence, the robot orders the Zuggs to imprison Laska and return to their Saturnian rulers.

EP10 Broken Barriers Jun 14, 1939

BUCK ROGERS and Wilma returning from Saturn encounter a Killer Kane Patrol Squadron which brings their space ship down in flames. The Kane soldiers land and take the unconscious Hidden City people prisoners. Refusing to divulge the secret of the camouflaged Hidden City gates to Killer Kane, Buck is ordered to the robot battalion. BUDDY WADE does not share the belief of the Hidden City people, that Buck and Wilma were killed in the crash, and with the help of Captain Rankin flies over Kane's city.

EP11 A Prince in Bondage Jun 21, 1939

BUDDY WADE escapes from Kane's Council Chambers where he has gone in search of his friends Wilma Deering and Buck Rogers. MAKING his way along the palace terrace Buddy encounters Wilma and together enter the dynamo room, relieve Buck of his amnesia helmet, restoring him to consciousness.

EP12 War of the Planets Jun 28, 1939

ENTERING the control room, Buck and Marshall Kragg discover Carson, a Kane Lieutenant, operating the Hidden City gates. BEFORE Kragg can close the gates, two ships of Kane's squadron get through, but their crews are soon captured. BUCK and Buddy go to Saturn to enlist their Allies for a final drive against the outlaw forces of the earth.
6.8| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

A pilot and his young passenger crash-land on a mountaintop and are put into suspended animation by a strange gas. They awake 500 years later to discover that the Earth is now ruled by a tyrannical despot called Killer Kane, and they lead a fight to overthrow him.

Director

Producted By

Universal Studios

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Reviews

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
John T. Ryan BEGINNING its life in a humble enough manner, a story titled "Armageddon 2419 A.D. in an edition of AMAZING STORIES Magazine published in 1929, BUCK ROGERS was soon transcribed into the pages of the Nations Newspapers as a Daily and Sunday Color Comic Strip. Radio next beckoned with Hollywood waiting in the wings.WHEN Universal worked out a deal to make a Saturday Matinée staple out of it as a Cliff Hanger Serial (aka "Chapterplay"), they were well acquainted with the new sub-genre of the Science Fiction Movie, the Space Opera. Universal Pictures, long known as the top producer of the Horror Films. With such classics to their credit as FRANKENSTEIN (1931), Dracula (also '31), THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933), THE MUMMY (1932) and the first and still greatest of sequels with BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935); as well as so many more titles and sequels extending right up to the 1960's Space Monster Craze.UNIVERSAL was also one of the three main purveyors of Serials. Having begun the practice in their earliest days, even pre 1920's Silent Screen Days; Mr. Carl Leamelle's Studio was joined later by Mascot and some independents like Victory Pictures and Weiss Brothers Artclass Pictures. Eventually Mascot merged with some others to form Republic Pictures; which was the numero uno producer of Serials (along with the "B" Western Series) for years. The third major Serial Company was Columbia.FURTHER qualification for Universal was in evidence of its two previously highly successful outings featuring their adaptation of the Hearst King Features Syndicate's Comic Strip done by artistic giant, Alex Raymond by name.THE Serials' entitled FLASH GORDON (1936) followed by FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (1938) both starred former Olympic Swimming Champion, Clarence Linden "Larry"(Buster) Crabbe in the title character's role. Although Buster was a Contract Player with Paramount, he had already been lent out to Universal on three occasions; making three comic strip adaptations as Cliff-Hangers. In addition to the aforementioned two, he also did the honors as Earth-Bound Detective, RED BARRY (1937).*SO, when BUCK ROGERS became their next project, who would be better to fill Buck's 25th Century Boots than the athletic, likable and talented (as a screen Thespian) Mr. Crabbe. It became a fait accompli in short order; taking to the big screen much like the proverbial Duck taking to the equally proverbial small pond or slough of H2O. (That's Water, Schultz!).MOST everyone that screens the Serial today expresses the opinion that the movie is okay, but they prefer the Flash Gordon roles of the previously made productions. All of the viewers of the Serial when it went into its initial release of 1939 must have felt pretty much the same way. The young Mr. Crabbe may also have become strongly identified with the part of the Wealthy Yale Graduate and Polo Player (from Flash Gordon's Comic Strip Origin).AT any rate, there was no 2nd Buck Rogers project at Universal until the BUCK ROGERS Feature Film of 1977 with its subsequent BUCK ROGERS Television Series on NBC TV Network.AS for the BUCK ROGERS Serial, our subject today, it was as familiar a character as one could be; for everyone (and we mean literally EVERYONE was familiar with the character and its legend of 20th Century Man Buck getting put into a deep sleep (suspended animation) for 500 years only to awaken in a future Earth where criminals ruled the country. (You know, Schultz, kinda like Chicago's Daley Machine!) Just about everything is the same, EXCEPT the methods of Buck's being anesthetized.IN the original Prose Story in AMAZING STORIES Magazine, Mr. Rogers was out Spelunking all by his lonesome, when he was put under by some gas present in the cave he was exploring. In the Serial, he and Buddy 'Wade' crashed their dirigible near the North Pole, getting chilled into a deep, five century long nap. In the 1970's version, Buck is an American Astronaut who is in a space suspended animation thing for the time.(Buddy was Buddy Dearing in the Newspaper Strip, ergo was already in the 25th Century where he was born. There was no 'Buddy' character in the 1977 movie or its TV Series spin-off.) AS we said, there was little need for any origin exposition with the Universal Serial. Buck really "landed on his feet" and "hit the ground running"; as he was immediately commissioned an Officer in the underground (literal term).THERE'S no double talk in the BUCK ROGERS Serial whatsoever. Those were much more innocent times-at least for the kids! ROUNDING out the cast were serial veterans Constance Moore (Wilma), Jackie Moran (Buddy), C. Montague Shaw (Dr. Huer), Jack Mulhall (Captain Rankin), Anthony Warde (Killer Kane also referred to as "Leader Kane"), Guy Usher (Aldar), William Gould (Air Marshall Kragg), Phillip Ahn (Prince Tallem as "Philson Ahn), Henry Brandon (Captain Laska), Wheeler Oakman (Lieutenant Patten), Keene Duncan (Lieutenant Lacy), Carleton Young (Scott), Reed Howes (Captain Roberts) and last but not least Wade Boteler (Professor Wade). Also has a whole blank-house full more! NOTE: * Universal would have Mr. Crabbe do a third Serial portraying their most successful spaceman in FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (1940). POODLE SCHNITZ!!
W K Buck Rogers as rendered in this serial is a far cry from the comic strip. Somehow, the producers & director managed to create what amounts to a pale shadow of the original strip. The sets used in the 1939 Buck Rogers series are painfully and obviously recycled from the prior Flash Gordon series. Not only that, but some of the film sequences seem to be recycled shamelessly (e.g. the sequences of the underground subways).For anyone who wonders about the genesis of the homo-erotic themes of Batman, though, look no further! Buck and Buddy do seem to be the prototypes of the now common comic book stereotypes. I am not certain whether this was intentional or not. Possibly the director merely had in mind an appeal to the pre-adolescent social constructs of a bygone age? Buddy still looks like he's the "boy wonder" of this series, though, while the Buck Rogers films date back to 1934 or so, several years before the Batman debut (1939). There must be a master's thesis waiting to be written here.
Brian Washington This serial only proves that Buster Crabbe is definitely the king of the Saturday morning serials. He played two of the most memorable characters in comicdom, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. The main difference is the fact that Flash Gordon is more of an adult strip while Buck Rogers was more of a kiddie strip. In comparing the serials, Buck Rogers had as much action as the latter two Flash Gordon epics, however there was not as great a chemistry between Crabbe and Constance Moore as Crabbe had with Jean Rogers. All that aside though, on its own merit, its a great serial.
Shield-3 It strikes me that "Buck Rogers" is almost like a male fantasy come to life. Think about it: Buck gets to take a nice, long five-hundred-year nap! I'm ecstatic if I can get a fifteen-minute nap on a weekend! When he wakes up, Buck is the smartest, most dynamic guy around. Never mind that in real life you would treat someone five centuries behind the times like something that escaped from the zoo. Everyone needs Buck to go on exciting missions, fight the bad guys, test exotic equipment and fly rocketships (and crash them -- I think out of five or six flights Buck makes in the serial, he only lands successfully once).Now that that's out of the way..."Buck Rogers," the serial, is merely average: better than some serials, not as good as others. It's inevitable to compare it to the "Flash Gordon" serials, and in that contest, "Buck Rogers" comes in second. Buster Crabbe essentially plays the same character as Buck and Flash, but he had more style and dash (okay, more "flash") in "Flash Gordon." Constance Moore's Wilma tries to be a more proactive character than Jean Rogers' Dale, but Rogers just seems to inhabit her character more (and those belly-baring costumes from the first "Flash" serial weren't hard on the eyes, either). You can't even begin to compare Anthony Warde's Killer Kane to Charles Middleton's Ming: Warde could have been any gangster from any generic crime movie, but Ming was an archetype of evil right up there with Fu Manchu."Buck Rogers" does provide the requisite thrills and generates its share of excitement, although the rocketship crashes get repetitive after a while (as I said before, almost every time Buck goes near a rocket, he crashes it). It's a decent enough story on its own merits, I suppose, but it does pale in comparison to the "Flash Gordon" trilogy.