BUCK ROGERS
IN THE 25 CENTURY

Released: Nov 16th
Amazon Price: $62.99
MSRP Price: $89.98 
Costco Price: $59.99

The Buck Rogers Website at Universal 
Buck Rogers.com
Scifi2k.com's Buck Rogers Page

Number of Discs: 5 

STARS: Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Tim O'Connor, Thom Christopher (Hawk), Wilfred Hyde White, Jay Garner, Paul Carr, and Felix Silva. 

Guest Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween & True Lies), Frank Gorshin (Riddler), Markie Post, Cesar Romero (Joker), Roddy McDowell, Jack Palance, Ray Walston, Gary Coleman, Anne Lockhart, Richard Moll, and Buster Crabbe.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century premiered on NBC in September of 1979. I even went to see the pilot movie in theaters back then. 

I have secretly been waiting for the set to hit stores since word spread that Captain Buck Rogers has been thawed from his frozen chamber. I stood in aw as I unwrapped the shipping container which contained my review copy. Oh the shivers that ran down my spine. 

When the Sci-Fi Channel aired the series for the first time many years ago I made sure to record my own set of VHS tapes. Despite having them edited down to 40 they've been a joy to have.  I still have them today... packed away somewhere.  It's now time to retire the tapes into fine resting place.

It was a rare treat in the 70's and 80's when a new genre series actually made it into a weekly series. Fans were starved for the material when it came along watching religiously regardless of the shows quality. It just didn't matter.

Universal has done us all a great favor by selecting Buck Rogers for DVD. A fun series packed with laughs, spandex outfits and hot babes, space ships and bad effects. What more could a fan ask of a 500 year old man. 

PACKAGING: 
Universal went above and Beyond for the packaging of Buck Rogers. The five disc set comes in a book style box with a nice clear slide with Buck Rogers and Wilma Derring on the front. The artwork for the disc container looks sharp appearing through the insert. 

VIDEO: 
I found the quality of the video to be excellent. The video color is vibrant and accurate with just a bit of debris here and there. The detail is sharp and the contrast is excellent. The video gets a positive grade from me.

AUDIO: 
The sound is a Dolby Digital 2.0 mono from the original soundtrack. It's crisp and clear with a bit of metallic twang on the special effects. It would have been perfect had Universal given the set the 5.1 digital treatment. 

BONUS FEATURES: 
Universal took the short sighted route here. Rather than delay the set for a month or two to add commentary from Gil Gerard and Erin Gray the set was distributed with no bonus material. No outtakes or Glen Larsen commentary. For me it doesn't matter as the material is only worth a view once or twice. I just want the series on disc.  

SUMMARY: 
You can't fault the quality of the boxed set despite the lack of extras. It's all fun and games with the cheesiest science fiction series ever.     Buck Rogers episodes were 50 minutes without commercial, which means they were cut down to 40 minutes to air in syndication.  It's not worth the $90 price tag Universal has latched onto the set, but if you shop around you can find Buck Rogers in the 25th Century for under $70. This is a must have boxed set. Buck Rogers episodes were 50 minutes in length making so this is likely the first time since the series first run the episodes have been seen in their entirety. Episodes today run from 40 to 42 minutes. It's just so much better watching them without commercials.

Buck Rogers Boxed Set Rating: B - for the lack of a 5.1 mix it could have used and no extras from the shows stars that would have been important to many fans. These guys aren't getting any younger. 

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