Talk:Buck Rogers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of the following WikiProjects:

Contents

[edit] Biography

As with Carmen San Diego there's no in-character biography for this character, biographies which other fictional characters do get... Instead there's tons of info on the media related to ti which would better fit a Buck Rogers merchandize article than the character's article itself. Herle King 21:18, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] SOURCE

I think someone had better cite a reliable source for that Erin Gray/Eric Server anecdote.

The source was Erin Gray herself. She told me this when I met her at a convention 8 years ago. 23skidoo 02:29, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Copy-editing

One of the main problems is the odd and confusing switching back and forth between present and past tenses in large parts of the article. There are other problems, and I've started tidying (I haven't yet reached the main area with which I found problems; I did do a full-scale copy-edit — and the College computer system crashed. I've only just started feeling able to start on it again). Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 23:30, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] More Copy-editing

I just wanted to bring some attention to some questions I had when I was copyediting the first 4 "historical" sections. I don't know the answers, but I thought they were questions a reader who was unfamiliar (or even only vaguely familiar) with Buck Rogers would ask. Red are my questions, Green are those that someone else had asked. Thanks! --Keairaphoenix 15:22, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)

  • 1st paragraph: "In the original novella, Rogers was not referred to as "Buck" Rogers; that nickname was later given to the character when the comic strip first appeared in 1929. Where did the comic strip first appear? In what paper? The name "Buck Rogers" was taken from an old Western fiction cowboy story scenario, which included characters called "Buck Rogers" and "Tom Mix" and a horse called "Trigger". " This sentence is a bit obscure; what's meant by "scenario" here? Answer: series.
    • I believe Buck Rogers was a syndicated strip (King Features, I believe but this needs to be checked), so to say which newspaper specifically is not applicable in this case as it debuted in a number of newspapers at once. 23skidoo 16:24, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)


  • 2nd paragraph: "Buck Rogers, a United States Army Air Corps officer, falls into a coma When and under what circumstances does he fall into it and why does he get revived out of the coma? from which he is awakened in the 25th century."
    • I need to check my copy of Armageddon 2419 but my recollection is he was exploring a cave and was overcome by some sort of gas (cave-in?). Years later an earthquake or something lets fresh air in and he wakes up. 23skidoo 16:25, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • Second Movie: 5th paragraph: "There are some racist undertones in the film. For example, workers on the planet Saturn, who are called Zugs, are portrayed as ugly, dark, hulking brutes (played by Caucasians in makeup) who are unable to think for themselves and who immediately worship and attend to a catatonically brainwashed Earthman."
  • Second Movie: 7th paragraph: "The serial had a small budget and saved money on special effects by using background shots from Just Imagine1930, a futuristic musical, to depict the city of the future. Recycled set pieces included the garishly stenciled walls of Kane's penthouse suite (which originally were from the Azura palace set in Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars) and the mock-ups of the flying machines were derived from the "Strato-Sleds" of the later movie too (those made for the musical had already appeared in the Flash Gordon series). Really confusing and difficult to follow. Whose flying machines? What are the Strato-Sleds? What later movie did they come from? Flash Gordan or Buck Rogers? And if it was used for a later movie, than they would have been original set-pieces for the serial, right? Hopefully someone knows that answer.

[edit] Splitting off XXVC products

Originally, the TSR product line XXVC was a seperate article because of its size and because of the differences between the older Buck Rogers material and the TSR product. As it is a specific product, I feel that XXVC is deserving of an independent article. There are precedents in many articles about other RPG spinoffs.

I propose the removal of the XXVC content from this article, and the addition of a link in the appropriate location to the existing XXVC article. --KertDawg 17:42, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

I have no objection. XXVC also spun off novels and IIRC a video game too so it's a verifiable franchise. I think the TV series should be spun off separately as well. Thoughts? 23skidoo 21:37, 18 August 2005 (UTC)


I almost think that each incarnation of Buck Rogers should have enough material for a serperate article. The TV show, the old comics, the old Armageddon stuff, etc. --KertDawg 19:27, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] comic strip

I am adding a great deal of info on the comic strip. I've read the first several years of the strip, and cannot find any reference to the cowboy Buck Rogers being known in the fictional Buck Rogers universe. Can anyone cite a reference for this? Rick Norwood 19:22, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Splitting off the 1970s TV series

I decided to be bold and spin the 1979 TV series off into its own article. While the DVD illustration is still OK, maybe someone can substitute a book or comic strip image for it for this main article? I considered including the 1950s TV series in the spun-off article, but decided there wasn't enough information to warrant it, so I left it here. 23skidoo 21:41, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

I agree with splitting off the TV series. I have not heard anyone defending the idea of a connection between the cowboy Buck Rogers and the comic strip, and so I am going to move the cowboy to his own page, and make a disambiguation page. Rick Norwood 22:23, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Splitting off the western character

I've moved the cowboy Buck Rogers to his own page, and created a disambiguation page. A search on Buck Rogers still brings you here.

Now, about that song "Buck Rogers". Is it about "our" Buck Rogers, or unrelated? Rick Norwood 22:40, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Jack Johnstone

I hate to doubt Jack Johnstone's word, but air conditioning was very rare in 1932. Rick Norwood 00:57, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Current ownership?

The article states, "Today, TSR owns both the character Buck Rogers and the magazine, Amazing Stories, in which he first appeared," yet from what I understand TSR no longer exists, and its properties are now owned by Wizards of the Coast. The Amazing Stories article suggests that Wizards no longer owns the magazine, it last having been published by Paizo Publishing after Wizards cancelled their own publication. Later the Buck Rogers article states that the Walt Disney Company may or may not hold an option or copyright for film and television productions. So who really owns this now, and shouldn't these pieces of information be in the same subtopic? Canonblack 12:12, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

This would be a very good thing to know, if you can find a definitive answer. Rick Norwood 21:34, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
Just did a trademark search -- game and comic strip rights are vested in the Dille Trust, according to TESS -- copyrights before 1964 do NOT appear to have been maintained. I'd searched that earlier. 24.176.20.60 02:25, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Incorrect picture

Amazing Stories, August 1928

That's actually the illustration for E.E. (Doc) Smith's The Skylark of Space, not Buck Rogers.

True. It is, however, the cover of the magazine in which Rogers first appeared. Rick Norwood 14:24, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Buck Rogers actual name

Is there any reason why the name used in the 70's series was William 'Buck' Rogers rather than Anthony 'Buck' Rogers? I know there is precedent with the Incredible Hulk TV series having changed the name of Bruce Banner to David Banner for television, but does anyone know why this happened in this case. Douglasnicol 17:54, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] racism

It has been years since I read the stories. There are two comments now that in the second story there was an attempt to soften the racism by 1) making the asians part space alien and 2) praising black Africans. I have no memory of either. They may be there. They may be in the paperback version but not in the original magazine version. Does anyone have both versions to compare? Rick Norwood 15:34, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Don't have the original version, but I have the one revised by Spider Robinson. The part-alien comics and the ones praising the blacks are definitely in that one, in the last chapter. Since the original is readily available from Wildside Press (?), if someone's read that it should be easy to check. ( I can't afford it...) 24.176.20.60 02:22, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
In the epilogue of the Spider Robinson version the origin of the Han is speculated to have followed a meteor crash in the interior of Asia and the creation of an alien-human hybrid. Africans are described as "wise and spiritual". In the prologue the circumstances surrounding Bucks entrapment in the cave and entry into a state of suspended animation is explained. Are these due to Robinson? --Jbergquist (talk) 00:05, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
Found Armageddon 2419 AD and The Airlords of Han at gutenberg.net.au. The prologue and epilogue are there and, except for an introduction at the beginning of The Airlords of Han, the Robinson edition consists of both novellas. --Jbergquist (talk) 05:58, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] When did Dr Huer make his debut?

In the Aug 1978 reprint of the 1962 rewrite of Armageddon 2419 A.D., the Spider Robinson version, Dr Huer is not mentioned while Wilma Deering is. Does anyone know if the same is true for the original 1928 novellas? --Jbergquist (talk) 23:31, 14 April 2008 (UTC)