He's one of pop culture's most beloved outer space adventurers, but we sure haven't seen a lot of good ol' Buck Rogers lately. (Then again, Flash Gordon's most recent incarnation was pretty awful, so maybe that's a good thing.) Born in 1928 from the pen of Mr. Philip Nowlan, Buck Rogers was a pilot / astronaut who fell into a five-century coma, only to awaken to find the world all futurized and stuff: robots, laser guns, spaceships, interstellar wars, all that jazz.On screens of various size, the character has appeared in a 12-part 1939 serial from Universal Pictures, a short-lived 1950 television series, and (of course) a 1979 movie / TV program that starred Gil Gerard and (sigh) Erin Gray. So the big guy is heading back to the cinemas? Yep. According to IGN Movies, it's Avi Lerner's Millennium Films that will resurrect the Buck Rogers character for a whole new generation of sci-fi nerdlings. (I guess Millennium is using their Rambo money on this project.)
But it gets even geekier! Apparently author / artist / filmmaker Frank Miller will be the one in the director's chair! IGN says that the $40 million Buck Rogers project will be Miller's next gig once he's all finished with The Spirit. The screenplay comes from genre veteran Flint Dille, but there's one thing that gives me a little pause, and it's this quote specifically: "The cheapness of the low-budget effects will be a running joke in the movie, which will retain the campiness of the 1980s TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starring Gil Gerard." Whoa, really? That's the direction you want to go in, fellas? Maybe I'm just an old-school Kaelist, but I think BAD things happen when you try to force "campiness." A sense of humor is fine, but let's not make a cheap joke out of good ol' Buck Rogers.
1. Whoa! Indeed. You had me up until the quote. I think BSG has proven that smart/intelligent Sci-Fi can find a following. And that if you start with an existing brand/property, you can leave the camp behind, and start two steps ahead.
Your reference to the latest Sci-Fi Channel's Flash Gordon is spot on. Count me out Mr. Miller... but I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
Posted at 10:39PM on May 8th 2008 by Brian Kirchhoff