Line Art for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Starfighter

Science fiction hero

This commodity is about the fictional grapheme. For specific works featuring this character, or for other people with the same name, meet Buck Rogers (disambiguation).

Buck Rogers
Publication information
Publisher	daily newspapers
First appearance	January 7, 1929
Created by	Philip Francis Nowlan
In-story data
Total proper noun	Buck Rogers
Partnerships	Wilma Deering Dr. Elias Huer

Buck Rogers is a science fiction (and subsequently, peculiarly space opera) adventure hero and feature comic strip created past Philip Francis Nowlan first actualization in daily US newspapers on January vii, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books and multiple media with adaptations including radio in 1932, a serial moving picture, a boob tube series, and other formats. On Baronial 27, 1928 the National Newspaper Service, (the Syndicate) and Philp F. Nowlan (the Producer) entered into a contract to produce a characteristic comic strip, named Buck Rogers: the Producer being the creator of sure material suitable for paper publication and hereinafter referred to as a characteristic, entitled "Buck" Rogers, this feature being a story in strip form of conditions in America some five hundred years hence. Philip Nowlan, an American author wrote science fiction novelettes, detective short stories and syndicated columns. Richard Calkins was hired as the illustrator.

The Buck Rogers strip, published 1929–1967 and syndicated past the National Newspaper Service (later called the National Newspaper Syndicate), was popular enough to inspire other paper syndicates to launch their own scientific discipline fiction strips.^[i] The most famous of these imitators was Flash Gordon (Male monarch Features Syndicate, 1934–2003);^[2] others included Brick Bradford (Cardinal Press Association, 1933–1987), Don Dixon and the Hidden Empire (Watkins Syndicate, 1935–1941),^[3] and Speed Spaulding (John F. Dille Co., 1940–1941).^[1] The Buck Rogers strip as well probably inspired developing a strip based on John Carter of Mars (United Feature Syndicate, 1941–1943) which was introduced in 1941 though based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs character starting time seen in 1912.^[four]

The adventures of Buck Rogers in comic strips, movies, radio, and television became an important part of American popular culture. Buck Rogers has been credited with bringing into pop media the concept of space exploration,^[5] following in the footsteps of literary pioneers such equally Jules Verne and H. Thou. Wells. It was on January 22, 1930, that Cadet Rogers first ventured into space aboard a rocket ship in his fifth newspaper comic story Tiger Men from Mars. This popular phenomenon paralleled the development of space technology in the 20th century and introduced Americans to outer space as a familiar surround for swashbuckling adventure.^{[6] [7]}

In 1933, Nowlan and Calkins co-wrote Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, a novella which retold the origin of Buck Rogers and also summarized some of his adventures. A reprint of this work was included with the first edition of the novel Buck Rogers: A Life in the Futurity (1995) past Martin Caidin.

Buck Rogers Comic strip [edit]

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D.
Writer(s)	Philip Francis Nowlan (1929–1939) Rick Yager (c. 1940–1958) Jack Lehti (1959–1960) Ray Russell (1961) Fritz Leiber (1961) Howard Liss (1960–1961, 1961–1967)
Illustrator(s)	Dick Calkins (1929–c. 1932) Russell Keaton (1929–c. 1932) Rick Yager (c. 1932–1958) George Tuska (1959–1967)
Current condition/schedule	Concluded daily & Sun strip
Launch appointment	January seven, 1929
End engagement	July viii, 1967
Syndicate(south)	John F. Dille Co. / National Newspaper Syndicate
Publisher(s)	Whitman Publishing Visitor
Genre(s)	scientific discipline fiction adventure

Publication history [edit]

John F. Dille saw the opportunity to serialize the stories every bit a newspaper comic strip. Afterwards Nowlan and Dille enlisted editorial cartoonist Dick Calkins every bit the illustrator, Nowlan adapted the first episode from Armageddon 2419 A.D. and changed the hero'southward name from "Anthony" to "Buck". Some accept suggested that Dille coined that proper name based on the 1920s cowboy thespian Cadet Jones.^[8]

On Jan 7, 1929, the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D. comic strip debuted.^[6] (Coincidentally, this was also the date that the Tarzan comic strip began, distributed by United Feature Syndicate.) Cadet Rogers was initially syndicated to 47 newspapers.^[9] On March 30, 1930, a Sunday strip joined the Cadet Rogers daily strip.

Writer Nowlan told the inventor R. Buckminster Fuller in 1930 that "he frequently used [Fuller's] concepts for his cartoons".^[10] Dick Calkins, an advertising artist, drew the primeval daily strips, and Russell Keaton drew the earliest Sunday strips.

Like many popular comic strips of the twenty-four hours, Buck Rogers was reprinted in Large Little Books; illustrated text adaptations of the daily strip stories; and in a Cadet Rogers pop-upwardly book.^{[half dozen]} At its peak in 1934, Buck Rogers appeared in 287 U.S. newspapers, was translated into 18 languages, and appeared in an boosted 160 international papers.^[ix]

Keaton wanted to switch to drawing another strip written by Calkins, Skyroads, so the syndicate advertised for an assistant and hired Rick Yager in 1932. Yager had formal art grooming at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and was a talented watercolor creative person; all the strips were done in ink and watercolor. Yager also had connections with the Chicago paper industry, since his father, Charles Montross Yager, was the publisher of The Modern Miller; Rick Yager was at once employed to write the "Auntie's Advice" column for his father's paper. Yager chop-chop moved from inker and writer of the Buck Rogers "sub-strip" (early on Sunday strips had a pocket-size sub-strip running beneath) to author and artist of the Sunday strip and eventually the daily strips.

Authorship of early strips is extremely difficult to ascertain. The signatures at the bottoms of the strips are not authentic indicators of authorship; Calkins' signature appears long later his involvement ended, and few of the other artists signed the artwork, while many pages are unsigned. Yager probably had complete control of Buck Rogers Sun strips from about 1940 on, with Len Dworkins joining later equally banana. Dick Locher was also an assistant in the 1950s. The strip's artists likewise worked on a variety of tie-in promotions such every bit comic books, toys, and model rockets.

For all of its reference to mod engineering, the strip itself was produced in an old-fashioned manner — all strips began equally Bharat ink drawings on Strathmore paper, and a smaller duplicate (sometimes redrawn by hand) was hand-colored with watercolors. Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, has an extensive drove of original artwork.^{[ citation needed ]}

The relations between the artists of the strip (Yager et al.) and the owners of the strip (the Syndicate) became acrimonious, and in mid-1958, the artists quit.^[eleven] Tater Anderson was a temporary replacement, but he did not stay long. George Tuska began drawing the strip in 1959 and remained until the terminal installment of the original comic strip, which was published on July 8, 1967. At that point, Buck Rogers only appeared in 28 newspapers.^[9]

Artist/writer credits:

• Jan 1929 to Sep 1939 – Dick Calkins (a), Philip Nowlan (w)
• Sep 1939 to Nov 1947 – Dick Calkins (a); Dick Calkins (w)
• Dec 1947 to Oct 1949 – Spud Anderson (a), Bob Williams (aka Bob Barton) (westward)
• Oct 1949 to Jan 1951 – Leonard Dworkins (a); John F. Dille (w)
• January 1951 to Jun 1958 – Rick Yager (a), Rick Yager (w)
• Jun 1958 to Apr 1959 – Murphy Anderson (a), ??? (w)
• Apr 1959 to Apr 1960 – George Tuska (a), Jack Lehti (westward)
• Apr 1960 to Oct 1960 – George Tuska (a), Howard Liss (w)
• October 1960 to Feb 1961 - George Tuska (a), Fritz Leiber (w)
• Feb 1961 to May 1961 – George Tuska (a), Ray Russell (w)
• May 1961 to Nov 1961 – George Tuska (a), Fritz Leiber (due west)
• Dec 1961 to Jul 1967 – George Tuska (a), Howard Liss (w)

Art assistants:

• 1929 to 1933 – Zack Mosley
• 1938 to 1942 – Leonard Dworkins
• 1951 to 1956 – Leonard Dworkins
• 1954 to 1955 – Dick Locher

Revival [edit]

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D. / Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Writer(due south)	Jim Lawrence (1979–1981) Cary Bates (1981–1983)
Illustrator(s)	Gray Morrow
Current status/schedule	Concluded daily & Sunday strip
Launch engagement	1979
End appointment	1983
Syndicate(s)	New York Times Syndicate
Genre(s)	Science fiction adventure

Revived in 1979 by the New York Times Syndicate, the strip was produced by Gray Morrow and Jim Lawrence. Shortened to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in 1980, long-fourth dimension comic book writer Cary Bates signed on in 1981, continuing until the strip's 1983 finale.

Characters and story [edit]

The starting time three frames of the series ready the scene for Buck's "leap" 500 years into Earth's future:

I was 20 years old when they stopped the world war and mustered me out of the air service. I got a task surveying the lower levels of an abandoned mine near Pittsburgh, in which the atmosphere had a peculiar pungent tang and the crumbling stone glowed strangely. I was examining it when of a sudden the roof backside me caved in and ...

Buck is rendered unconscious, and a strange gas preserves him in a suspended blitheness or coma state. He awakens and emerges from the mine in 2429 Advertising, in the midst of another war.^[6]

Later on rescuing Wilma, he proves his identity by showing her his American Legion button. She and so explains how the Mongol Reds emerged from the Gobi desert to conquer Asia and Europe and and then attacked America starting with that "big idol belongings a torch" (the Statue of Liberty). Using their disintegrator beams, they easily defeated the army and navy and wiped out Washington, D.C. in three hours. As the people fled the cities, the Mongols built new cities on the ruins of the major cities. The Mongols left the Americans to fend for themselves every bit their advanced engineering science prevented the need for slave labor. The scattered Americans formed loosely bound organizations or "orgs" to begin to fight back.

Wilma takes Buck back to the Alleghany org in what was one time Philadelphia. The leaders don't believe his story at starting time but after undergoing electro-hypnotic tests, they believe him and acknowledge him into their grouping.^[12]

Other prominent characters in the strip included Buck's friend Dr. Huer, who punctuated his speech with the exclamation, "Heh!"; the villainous Killer Kane and his paramour Ardala; and Blackness Barney, who began as a space pirate only afterward became Cadet'south friend and ally.^[half-dozen] In addition, Cadet and his friends encountered various alien races. Hostile species Cadet met included the Tiger Men of Mars, the dwarf-like Asterites of the Asteroid belt, and giant robots chosen Mekkanos.^[7]

When the Dominicus strip began, at that place was no established convention for the aforementioned character having different adventures in the Dominicus strip and the daily strip (many newspapers carried one but not the other), so the Sunday strip at offset followed the adventures of Cadet's young friend Buddy Deering, Wilma Deering's younger brother, and Buddy's girlfriend Alura, later joined by Black Barney. It was some time before Buck himself made his beginning appearance in a Sunday strip.

Comic books [edit]

Over the years, there have been many Buck Rogers appearances in comic books as well as his own series. Buck appeared in 69 bug of the 1930s comic Famous Funnies, then two appearances in Vicks Comics, both published by Eastern Color Press. Then in 1940, Cadet got his own comic entitled Buck Rogers which lasted for six problems, again published by Eastern Printing.

Kelloggs Cereal Company produced two Cadet Rogers giveaway comics, one in 1933 and again in 1935. In 1951, Toby Press released three bug of Buck Rogers, all reprints of the comic strip. In 1955, an Australian company called Atlas Productions produced v problems of Cadet Rogers in the 25th Century.

Golden Key Comics published a single issue of a Buck Rogers comic book in 1964.^[thirteen]

A 2nd series was based on the 1979 television receiver series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and was published from 1979 to 1982, starting time by Gilt Key,^[14] then by Whitman Publishing,^[15] continuing the numbering from the 1964 single consequence.

TSR, Inc. published a 10-effect series based on their Buck Rogers XXVC game from 1990 to 1991.^[xvi]

In 2009, Dynamite Entertainment began a monthly comic book version of Buck Rogers^{[17] [xviii]} by writer Scott Beatty^[19] and artist Carlos Rafael.^[20] The beginning issue was released in May 2009. The series ran 13 issues (#0-12) plus an annual, later collected into 2 trade paperbacks.

In 2012, Hermes Press announced a new comic book series with artwork by Howard Chaykin. The series was collected into a graphic novel titled Howard Chaykin's Buck Rogers Volume 1: Grievous Angels in 2014.^[21]

Books [edit]

Starting in 1933, Whitman (an banner of Western Publishing) produced 12 Buck Rogers Big Little Books:^[22]

1. Buck Rogers, 25th Century A.D. (1933)
2. The Adventures of Cadet Rogers (1934)
3. Buck Rogers in the Metropolis Below the Sea (1934)
4. Buck Rogers on the Moons of Saturn (1934)
5. Buck Rogers and the Depth Men of Jupiter (1935)
6. Buck Rogers and the Doom Comet (1935)
7. Buck Rogers in the Metropolis of Floating Globes (1935)
8. Cadet Rogers and the Planetoid Plot (1936)
9. Buck Rogers in the War with the Planet Venus (1938)
10. Buck Rogers Vs. the Fiend of Space (1939)
11. Cadet Rogers and the Overturned World (1941)
12. Buck Rogers and the Super-Dwarf of Space (1943)

Radio [edit]

In 1932, the Buck Rogers radio programme, notable as the first science-fiction program on radio, hit the airwaves. It was broadcast in iv separate runs with varying schedules. Initially broadcast as a 15-infinitesimal show on CBS from 07 November 1932, it was on a Monday through Th schedule. In 1936, it moved to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule and went off the air in May of that yr. Mutual brought the prove dorsum and circulate it three days a week from April to July 1939 and from May to July 1940, a xxx-minute version was broadcast on Saturdays. From September 1946 to March 1947, Mutual aired a 15-minute version on weekdays.^{[6] [23]}

The radio show over again related the story of our hero Buck finding himself in the 25th century. Actors Matt Crowley, Curtis Arnall, Carl Frank and John Larkin all voiced him at various times. The cute and stiff-willed Wilma Deering was portrayed by Adele Ronson, and the vivid scientist-inventor Dr. Huer was played by Edgar Stehli.

The radio series was produced and directed by Carlo De Angelo and afterwards past Jack Johnstone.

Film and idiot box adaptations [edit]

World's Fair [edit]

A x-infinitesimal Buck Rogers film premiered at the 1933–1934 World'due south Fair in Chicago. John Dille Jr. (son of strip baron John F. Dille) starred in the film, which was called Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: An Interplanetary Battle with the Tiger Men of Mars. It was later shown in department stores to promote Cadet Rogers trade. It was shot in the Action Film Company studio in Chicago, Illinois, and was directed by Dr. Harlan Tarbell. A 35mm print of the film was discovered past the filmmaker'south granddaughter, donated to UCLA's film and television annal, restruck and later posted to the web. It is available on the VCI Entertainment DVD 70th Ceremony release of the 1939 Cadet Rogers serial. The characters featured include Cadet Rogers, Wilma Deering, Dr. Huer, Killer Kane, Ardala, Rex Grallo of the Martian Tiger Men, and robots.^[24]

Picture serial [edit]

A 12-part Buck Rogers series film was produced in 1939 by Universal Pictures Company. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) and his young friend Buddy Wade get caught in a blizzard and are forced to crash their airship in the Arctic wastes. In order to survive until they tin can be rescued, they inhale their supply of Nirvano gas which puts them in a land of suspended animation. When they are eventually rescued by scientists, they learn that 500 years have passed. It is at present 2440. A tyrannical dictator named Killer Kane and his henchmen now run the world. Buck and Buddy must at present save the world, and they do so with the help of Lieutenant Wilma Deering and Prince Tallen of Saturn.

The serial had a small budget and saved money on special effects by reusing material from other stories: groundwork shots from the futuristic musical Simply Imagine (1930), equally the city of the future, the garishly stenciled walls from the Azura palace set in Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, equally Kane's penthouse suite, and even the studded leather belt that Crabbe wore in Flash Gordon'due south Trip to Mars turned upward equally function of Buck'due south uniform. Between 1953 and the mid-1970s, this film serial was edited into three distinct feature movie versions.^[6]

1950–1951 ABC boob tube series [edit]

The first version of Cadet Rogers to announced on television debuted on ABC on April 15, 1950, and ran until Jan 30, 1951. There were a full of 36 black and white episodes in all (allowing for a 2-month summer hiatus).^{[6] [25]} One episode of the show survives today.

Its fourth dimension slot initially was on Saturdays at half-dozen p.thou., and each episode was 30 minutes. The programme was later rescheduled to Tuesday at 7 p.thousand., where information technology ran against the pop Texaco Star Theatre hosted past Milton Berle.^[26] The show was sponsored by Peter Paul candy bars.

The producers were trying to emulate the success of DuMont's Captain Video, but the series probably failed as a result of its minuscule budget. The decision to put the show on a summertime hiatus for virtually two months also undercut efforts to build an audience.^{[vi] [25]}

In the 1950 Tv series, Cadet Rogers finds himself in the yr 2430. Based in a secret lab in a cave behind Niagara Falls (the city of Niagara was now the capital of the earth), Buck battles intergalactic troublemakers.^[27] Due to the minuscule budget, virtually of the episodes took place mainly in the underground lab.

There were a number of changes to the cast during the series' short duration. Three actors played Buck Rogers in the series: Earl Hammond (who starred as Cadet very briefly), Kem Dibbs (whose last appearance in the role was aired on June 3), and Robert Pastene (whose first appearance in the role was aired on June 10). The serial apparently went on summer hiatus from around July 7 until the end of Baronial, probably reappearing on the air again around Labor Day with Robert Pastene nonetheless in the lead part. (Kem Dibbs went on to have a long acting career in film and television receiver.)

2 actresses portrayed Wilma Deering: Eva Marie Saint and Lou Prentis. Two actors would also play Dr. Huer: Harry Southern and Sanford Bickart. Black Barney Wade was played by Harry Kingston.

The serial was directed by Babette Henry, written past Gene Wyckoff and produced past Joe Cates and Babette Henry. The series was circulate alive from station WENR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Chicago. There is 1 known surviving kinescope of this first Buck Rogers television series, airdate 12-19-50, episode title "Ghost in the House". The surviving episode states information technology originated from ABC in New York, casting some uncertainty on the Chicago WENR-TV claims. Perhaps as the prove was remounted the base of operations changed. At the time of broadcast, the ABC owned and operated station was WJZ-Goggle box New York, which in 1953 became WABC-Television receiver New York.

Motion picture show and 1979–1981 NBC television serial [edit]

In 1979, Buck Rogers was revived and updated for a prime-fourth dimension television series for NBC Television. The pilot pic was released to cinemas on March xxx, 1979. Practiced box part returns led NBC to committee a full series, which started in September 1979. Glen A. Larson produced the film and the kickoff season of the eventual series.^[half-dozen]

The series starred Gil Gerard as Helm William "Cadet" Rogers, a United states Air Force and NASA pilot who commands Ranger Iii, a infinite shuttle-like ship that is launched in 1987. When his transport flies through a space phenomenon containing a combination of gases, his ship's life back up systems malfunction and he is frozen and left drifting in space for 504 years. By the time he is revived, he finds himself in the 25th century. There, he learns that Earth was united following a devastating global nuclear war that occurred in the late 20th century, and is now under the protection of the Earth Defense Advisers, headquartered in New Chicago. The latest threat to Earth comes from the spaceborne armies of the planet Draconia, which is planning an invasion.

Co-starring in the serial were Erin Gray as crack Starfighter pilot Colonel Wilma Deering, and Tim O'Connor as Dr. Elias Huer, caput of Earth Defense Advisers, and a old starpilot himself. Ardala appeared (played past Pamela Hensley), as a Callous princess supervising her father'south armies, with Kane (played by Henry Silva in the picture show; by Michael Ansara in the series) as her enforcer, a gender reversal of the original characters where Ardala was Killer Kane'southward sidekick. Although Black Barney did not appear as a character in the series, there was a character named Barney Smith (played by James Sloyan) who appeared in the two-part episode, "The Plot to Impale a City". New characters added for the series included a comical robot named Twiki (played by Felix Silla and voiced by Mel Blanc), who becomes Cadet's personal assistant, and Dr. Theopolis (voiced by Eric Server), a sentient computer that Twiki oftentimes carries around. Buster Crabbe from the original serial series had a cameo in the series as well.

The series ran for ii seasons on NBC. Production and broadcast of the second season was delayed by several months due to the 1980 actors strike. When the serial returned in early 1981, its cadre format had been revised. At present rather than defending Earth, Cadet and Wilma were aboard the deep-infinite exploration vessel Searcher on a mission to rail down the lost colonies of humanity. Tim O'Connor's Dr. Huer was written out of the series and replaced by Wilfrid Hyde-White as quirky scientist Dr. Goodfellow and Broadway grapheme role player Jay Garner as Vice Admiral Efram Asimov of the Earth Strength. Besides onboard was Thom Christopher playing the role of Hawk, a stoic birdman in search of other members of his ancient race. The revamp was unsuccessful and the series was canceled at the cease of the 1980–1981 season.

Two novels based on the series past Addison E. Steele were published, a novelization of the 1979 feature film, and That Man on Beta, an accommodation of an unproduced teleplay.

Hereafter films and conflict [edit]

Frank Miller was slated to write and direct a new motion picture with Odd Lot Entertainment, the production company that worked with Miller on The Spirit.^{[28] [29]} Yet, after The Spirit became a box office and critical failure, Miller's involvement with the projection ended.^[30] In 2015, the producer Don Murphy announced that he was developing a Cadet Rogers moving-picture show based on the novella Armageddon 2419 A.D., however this conflicted with the Dille Family Trust, which claimed to hold the rights of the franchise.^[31]

In February 2019 the Dille Family unit Trust (DFT) entered into a Settlement Agreement with the Nowlan Family Trust selling the Trust's assets and assigning the DFT's intellectual property rights to Buck Rogers to the Nowlan Family Trust and the The states District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Civil Activity NO 15-6231 case was dismissed with prejudice on March 4, 2019. Subsequently, the Dille Family Trust filed for an adjudication and termination of the trust in Court of Common Pleas of Lawrence County Pennsylvania Orphan Courtroom, Case NO 43-nineteen OC Lawrence County, PA. The Lawrence County Court retains jurisdiction over the affair. On April iv, 2019 the Beneficiaries of the Dille Family Trust filed an Ex Parte Petition in SUPERIOR Courtroom OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES Probate Segmentation. The stated general purpose of the petition was to appoint the Beneficiaries as co trustees of the trust. Case No. 19STPB03164 was dismissed with prejudice on July 11, 2019. Again on Oct 29, 2020 the Beneficiaries of the Dille Family Trust filed an Ex Parte Petition for an gild blessing the termination of the trust, distribution of assets and waiver of bookkeeping nonetheless this time in the SUPERIOR Court OF THE State OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN MATEO, Instance No, 20PR001401. The case was dismissed with prejudice on April 4, 2021 and the November ii,2020 Social club vacated/set aside. The Lawrence Canton Courtroom retains jurisdiction over the Trust.

On Oct fourteen, 2020, it was announced that Don Potato, Susan Montford, Flint Dille and Legendary Entertainment will produce a Buck Rogers moving picture which is intended to launch a transmedia franchise.^[32] Legendary had no comment.

On December 10, 2020, it was appear that the same Murphy/Montford/Dille/Legendary consortium is developing a new Cadet Rogers idiot box series with Brian Chiliad. Vaughan writing.^[33] Legendary had no comment. On January 29, 2021, it was appear that Smokehouse Pictures will also co-executive produce. Smokehouse co-founder George Clooney is also suggested to star in the series.^[34] Legendary had no annotate.

Role-playing games and video games [edit]

Buck Rogers XXVC [edit]

In 1988, TSR, Inc. created a game setting based on Buck Rogers, called Buck Rogers XXVC. Many products were produced that were set in this universe, including comic books, novels, role-playing game material and video games. In the part-playing game, the player characters were allied to Buck Rogers and NEO (the New Globe Organisation) in their fight against RAM (a Russian-American corporation based on Mars). The games also extensively featured "gennies" (genetically enhanced organisms). The gameplay of the Buck Rogers - Battle for the 25th Century lath game by TSR dealt with token movement and resource direction. At that place is purported to exist a single expansion for the board game called the Martian Wars Expansion, just it is not known if this was always released.

Books [edit]

From 1990 to 1991, ten "comics modules" set in the Buck Rogers XXVC universe were published, entitled Rude Awakening #1 - #3, Blackness Barney #ane - #3. and Martian Wars #ane-#four. These shared the numbering as a series bug #1 - #10 with issue #10 equally a flip-book with Intruder #10. At that place has been speculation that two more stories were printed but non widely distributed.

Ten paperback novels set in the XXVC universe were published, starting in 1989 [edit]

• Arrival (anthology) by Flint Dille, Abigail Irvine, Melinda Seabrooke (Grand.S.) Murdock, Jerry Oltion, Ulrike O'Reilly and Robert Sheckley (TSR, Mar 1989, ISBN 0-88038-582-0)

The Martian Wars Trilogy

• Rebellion 2456 past Thousand.S. Murdock (TSR, May 1989, ISBN 0-88038-728-ix)
• Hammer of Mars by K.South. Murdock (TSR, Aug 1989, ISBN 0-88038-751-3)
• Armageddon off Vesta by M.S. Murdock (TSR, October 1989, ISBN 0-88038-761-0)

The Inner Planets Trilogy

• Get-go Power Play past John Miller (TSR, Aug 1990, ISBN 0-88038-840-4)
• Prime Squared by Grand.Due south. Murdock (TSR, October 1990, ISBN 0-88038-863-3)
• Matrix Cubed by Britton Bloom (TSR, May 1991, ISBN 0-88038-885-4)

Invaders of Charon Trilogy

• The Genesis Web by Ellen C. & Theodore One thousand. Brennan (C.Yard. Brennan) (TSR, May 1992, ISBN 1-56076-093-1)
• Nomads of the Heaven by William H. Keith Jr. (TSR, October 1992, ISBN 1-56076-098-2)
• Warlords of Jupiter by William H. Keith Jr. (TSR, February 1993, ISBN i-56076-576-3)

Also based on the game [edit]

• Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future past Martin Caidin, a standalone novel retelling the original story. (TSR, 1995, ISBN 0-7869-0144-6)

Pinball [edit]

At the offset of 1980, a few months after the show debuted, Gottlieb came out with a Buck Rogers pinball machine to commemorate the resurgence of the franchise.

Video games [edit]

Planet of Zoom video game [edit]

Sega released the arcade video game Cadet Rogers: Planet of Zoom (Japanese: バック・ロジャース：プラネット・オブ・ズーム, Hepburn: Bakku Rojāsu: Puranetto obu Zūmu ) in 1982.

Strategic Simulations [edit]

In 1990, Strategic Simulations, Inc. released a Cadet Rogers XXVC video game, Inaugural to Doomsday, for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Sega Mega Drive, and Amiga. Information technology released a sequel, Matrix Cubed, in 1992.

High-Adventure Cliffhangers [edit]

In 1995, TSR created a new and unrelated Buck Rogers part-playing game called High-Run a risk Cliffhangers. This was a return to the themes of the original Buck Rogers comic strips. This game included biplanes and interracial warfare, as opposed to the space combat of the earlier game. There were only a few expansion modules created for Loftier-Adventure Cliffhangers. Shortly afterward, the game was discontinued, and the production of Buck Rogers RPGs and games came to an end. This game was neither widely advertised nor very pop. In that location were only two published products: the box ready, and "War Against the Han".

Afterwards novels [edit]

Many of the afterwards appearances of Buck Rogers departed widely from the original circumstances of the Han-dominated America and the hero from the by helping overturn that domination; Rogers in his numerous later incarnations was given various other past careers which did non include the Han. However, in the 1980s the original Armageddon 2419 A.D. was taken up once again and authorized sequels to it were written by other authors working from an outline co-written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and loosely tied-in with their bestseller Match's Hammer (1977). The first sequel begins c. 2476 Advertisement, when a widowed and cantankerous 86-twelvemonth-old Anthony Rogers is mysteriously rejuvenated during a resurgence of the presumed-extinct Han, now called the Pr'lan. The novels include:

• Mordred past John Eric Holmes (Ace, January 1981, ISBN 0-441-54220-iv)
• Warrior'due south Blood by Richard South. McEnroe (Ace, Jan 1981, ISBN 0-441-87333-two)
• Warrior's World past Richard S. McEnroe (Ace, October 1981, ISBN 0-441-87338-3)
• Rogers' Rangers by John Silbersack (Ace, August 1983, ISBN 0-441-73380-8)

Toys [edit]

The beginning Cadet Rogers toys appeared in 1933, four years after the newspaper strip debuted and a year after the radio show first aired. Some mark this as the showtime of modernistic character based licensed merchandising, in that not simply was the character'southward name and image branded on many unrelated products, but likewise on many items of trade unique to or directly inspired by that character. Of the many toys associated with Cadet Rogers, none is more closely identified with the franchise than the eponymous toy rayguns.

The first "Buck Rogers gun" wasn't technically a raygun, although its futuristic shape and distinctive lines set the pattern for all "space guns" that would follow. The XZ-31 Rocket Pistol, a 9½-inch pop gun that produced a distinctive "zap!" audio, was at the American Toy Fair in Feb 1934. Retailed for 50¢, which was past no means inexpensive during the Great Depression, it was designed to mimic the rocket pistols seen in the comic strips from their inception. In the comics, they were automatic pistols that fired explosive rockets instead of bullets, each round as constructive as a 20th-century hand grenade.^[35]

The XZ-31 Rocket Pistol, was the first of six toy guns manufactured over the next ii decades by Daisy, which had an exclusive contract with John Dille, and so head of the National Paper Syndicate of America, for all Cadet Rogers toys. Most of these were pop guns, which had the virtue a being noisemakers that couldn't fire any actual projectiles and were thus guaranteed to be harmless equally one of their selling points.^[36]

The XZ-35 Rocket Pistol, a smaller 7-inch version without some of the particular of the original that'south often chosen "the Wilma Pistol" by collectors, followed in 1935, retailing for 25¢ and arguably offer less value for quintuple the initial cost. Near consumers hardly noticed, because in 1935 the floodgates were opened and they had a lot choices. Both the XZ-31 and XZ-35 were cast in "blued" steel with argent nickel accents.

The XZ-38 Disintegrator Pistol, the first bodily "ray gun" toy and such an iconic symbol of the franchise that it made a cameo advent in the first episode of the 1939 film serial, as if to evidence that what the audition was seeing was indeed the Existent Thing, debuted in 1935. It was a ten-inch pop gun topped with flint-and-striker sparkler using a machinery, not unlike that used in cigarette lighters, cast in a distinctive metallic copper color.

The XZ-44 Liquid Helium Water Pistol was produced in late 1935 and early 1936. Loaded like a syringe by dipping nozzle into a container of water and drawing back a plunger, it was advertised to be capable of shooting 50 times without reloading.

In 1946, following Globe War Ii and the advent of the atomic bomb, Daisy reissued the XZ-38 in a silver finish that mimicked the new jet aircraft of the mean solar day as the U-235 Atomic Pistol. Past then, pop guns were considered old-fashioned, and even the Buck Rogers franchise was losing its luster, having been overtaken by existent-world events and the prospect of actual crewed infinite flying.

By 1952, Daisy lost its sectional license to the Cadet Rogers proper name and even dropped whatsoever pretense of making a toy raygun. Its final offering was a reissue of the XZ-35 with a garish red, white, blue and yellow color scheme, dubbed the Zooka. The Cadet Rogers rocket pistol that had started information technology all 20 years earlier had been overtaken by the real world bazooka.

"Space guns" in general and "rayguns" in particular just gained in prestige as the Cold War "infinite race" began and involvement in "The Buck Rogers Stuff" was renewed, merely it was no longer enough to offer a futuristic cap or pop gun. A proper raygun needed to actually project some sort of ray if it were to capture the imaginations of would-be space travelers of 1950s Americans. Enter the era of the plastic battery-powered flashlight raygun.

In 1953, Norton-Honer introduced the Sonic Ray Gun, which was essentially a 7½-inch flashlight mounted on a pistol grip. Pressing the trigger activated not only the flashlight beam (which had interchangeable colored lenses for differently colored "rays") simply as well an electronic cablegram. It could, therefore, exist used as a pretend raygun merely also as an actual Morse Code signal device.

This toy, and its successor, the Norton-Honer Super Sonic Ray Gun, was featured prominently in the actual Buck Rogers newspaper strips of the fourth dimension, many of which ended with a secret bulletin in a Morse Code variant chosen the Rocket Rangers International Lawmaking, the fundamental to which was available just by sending every bit self-addressed stamped envelope to the paper syndicate or the "cheat sheet" included in the package with the toy.

In 1934, a Rocket Constabulary Patrol Ship windup crimson and green tin toy spaceship was produced by Louis Marx & Company with Buck seated in the cockpit holding a ray gun burglarize. A 2nd orangish and yellow Patrol Ship was released the same year by Marx with window contour portraits of both Wilma and Buddy Deering on the right side and Buck and Dr Huer on the left side. Both tin can toys are in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

In 1936, a line of Buck Rogers painted lead metal toy soldier iii-inch figures were made for the British market. These were a fix of six British Premium figures for Cream of Wheat and included Cadet, Dr. Huer, Wilma, Kane, Ardala and an unidentified Mekkano Homo Robot.

In 1937, Tootsietoys put out a half-dozen-piece die cast metal ready of four 5″ long space ships and ii 1.75″ tall figures of Buck and Wilma.

In 2009 and 2011, two versions of Buck Rogers activeness figures were released by the entertainment/toy companies "Go Hero" and "Zica Toys". The first is a vintage version of Cadet Rogers equally he appeared in the original comic strip. This 1:half dozen scale figure of Cadet wears the 1930s period uniform including visor leather similar plastic helmet and vest, a glass bubble space helmet, a red light upwardly plastic flame jet pack, a mini gold colored metallic XZ-38 Disintegrator Ray Pistol and a wooden slotted lid box with the express edition number up to 1000. The second 1:ix scale figure is based on Gil Gerard wearing the white flying suit from the 1979 motion-picture show/TV serial and likewise features a Tigerman effigy.

In popular culture [edit]

Buck Rogers' name has get proverbial in such expressions equally "Buck Rogers outfit" for a protective suit that looks similar a space accommodate. During the mid 20th century, the bulk of the American public'southward exposure to science fiction literature came through newspaper comics, and their opinion was formed appropriately.^{[five] [37]} Stemming from this, a phrase in common use before 1950 was "that crazy Buck Rogers stuff" in regards to what they viewed every bit fantastical literature .^[38]

Such was the fame of Cadet Rogers that this became the basis for one of the well-nigh fondly remembered science fiction spoofs in a serial of cartoons in which Daffy Duck portrayed Duck Dodgers. The first of these was Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953), which was directed by Chuck Jones. At that place were too two sequels to this cartoon, and ultimately a Duck Dodgers tv serial.

Buck Rogers is featured in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster sci-fi moving-picture show E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). East.T. is inspired to create a makeshift communicating device (to 'phone home') by copying a Buck Rogers comic strip.

The Cadet Rogers appellation has become a peculiarly descriptive term for vertical landings of spaceships, which was the predominant mode of rocket landing envisioned in the pre-spaceflight era at the fourth dimension Buck Rogers fabricated his original advent. While many science fiction authors and other depictions in popular culture showed rockets landing vertically, typically resting afterwards landing on the space vehicle's fins, Cadet Rogers seems to have gained a special place as a descriptive compound adjective. For example, this view was sufficiently ingrained in popular civilisation that in 1993, following a successful depression-distance test flight of a prototype rocket, a writer opined: "The DC-X launched vertically, hovered in mid-air ... The spacecraft stopped mid-air again and, as the engines throttled back, began its successful vertical landing. Just similar Buck Rogers."^[39] In the 2010s, SpaceX rockets have besides seen the appellation to Buck Rogers in a "Quest to Create a 'Buck Rogers' Reusable Rocket."^[twoscore] or a Buck Rogers dream.^[41]

The animated television series Futurama, created past Matt Groening and David 10. Cohen in 1999, was strongly influenced by themes and characters from the "Cadet Rogers" comic strip, every bit well as many other science fiction books and films.^{[ citation needed ]}

"Buck Rogers" was a hit single by the British stone band Feeder in 2001.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Foo Fighters' self-titled album (1995) features Buck Rogers' XZ-38 Disintegrator Pistol on the album'due south encompass.^{[ citation needed ]}

Track ix of Hyphy Bay Area rapper Mac Dre's anthology Heart of a Gangsta, Heed of a Hustla, Tongue of a Pimp (2000) is titled "Blackness Buck Rogers".

In The Right Stuff (1983), the film virtually the The states supersonic exam pilots of the 1940s and 1950s and the early days of the U.s. space program, in i scene, the grapheme of the Air Force Liaison Human being tells test pilots Chuck Yeager and Jack Ridley and exam pilots and future Mercury Seven astronauts Gus Grissom, Deke Slayton and Gordon Cooper virtually the need for positive media coverage in club to clinch continued government funding for the rocket program, dramatically declaring "no bucks — no Buck Rogers!" In a afterward scene in which the 7 astronauts face the NASA rocket scientists who have been running the program to need changes to allow them to fly their spacecraft every bit bodily pilots rather than as mere passive passengers in vehicles totally controlled from the footing—threatening to reveal to the printing how they were being marginalized despite their public status equally heroes, which would in turn damage Congressional back up for the program—Cooper, Grissom and Slayton repeat the "no bucks — no Buck Rogers!" voice communication to the startled scientists to make their point.

In Martin Scorsese'due south ballsy drama The Aviator (2004), Howard Hughes refers the Hughes XF-11 as his Buck Rogers ship.

See too [edit]

• Brick Bradford
• Dan Dare
• Wink Gordon
• Stargate (asterism)

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} Ron Goulart, "The 30s -- Boomtime for SF Heroes". Starlog, Jan 1981 (pp. 31–35).
2. ^ Maurice Horn (editor) 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics (Gramercy Books: New York, Avenel, 1996) ISBN 0-517-12447-5. Wink Gordon entry by Beak Crouch, Jr., (p. 118)
3. ^ Peter Poplaski, "Introduction" to Flash Gordon Volume I: Mongo, the Planet of Doom past Alex Raymond, edited by Al Williamson. Princeton, Wisconsin. Kitchen Sink Press, 1990. ISBN 0878161147 (p.six)
4. ^ Wolfgang J. Fuchs and Reinhold Reitberger Comics; Anatomy Of A Mass Medium. Boston, Footling, Brownish, 1972 (p. 254)
5. ^ ^{a b} Patrick Lucanio, Gary Coville, Smokin' Rockets: The Romance of Applied science in American Picture, Radio and Television set, 1945–1962 (2002). McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1233-X
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f grand h i j} Garyn G. Roberts, in Ray B. Browne and Pat Browne (.ed) The Guide To United States Pop Culture. Bowling Greenish, OH: Bowling Green State Academy Popular Press, 2001. ISBN 0879728213 (p.120)
7. ^ ^{a b} Robert Jennings, "Bucking the Future: From 1928 to the 25th Century With Anthony Rogers". Comic Heir-apparent's Guide July v, 1990. (pp. 58, sixty, 62, 65-66).
8. ^ "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Advertisement". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on 2008-08-fourteen. Retrieved 2008-08-14 .
9. ^ ^{a b c} Phillips, McCandlish. "Returning From the 25th Century ...", New York Times (December two, 1969), p. 62.
10. ^ Fuller, R. Buckminster, Critical Path, ISBN 978-0-3121-7488-0, Chap.8, p.262
11. ^ "Passing the Cadet", Time (June thirty, 1958).
12. ^ "1302 Days with Cadet Rogers". rolandanderson.se . Retrieved September 19, 2019.
13. ^ "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1964)". Grand Comics Database. Retrieved 2009-12-02 .
14. ^ "Cadet Rogers in the 25th Century (Gold Key)". Grand Comics Database. Retrieved 2009-12-02 .
15. ^ "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (Whitman)". Grand Comics Database. Retrieved 2009-12-02 .
16. ^ "Buck Rogers (TSR)". 1000 Comics Database. Retrieved 2009-12-02 .
17. ^ Dynamite Debuts Buck Rogers for a Quarter, Newsarama, February 23, 2009
18. ^ Back to the Future: Barrucci and Beatty on Cadet Rogers, Newsarama, February 23, 2009
19. ^ Scott Beatty Talks Buck Rogers, Comic Volume Resources, March half dozen, 2009
20. ^ Drawing the Futurity: Carlos Rafael on Buck Rogers, Newsarama, March 9, 2009
21. ^ "Exclusive Buck Rogers Graphic Novel Available in May Previews". Comic Bastards. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2015-09-23 .
22. ^ Lowery, Larry. "Big Little Books and Meliorate Little Books: 1932-1949". Big Trivial Books.com . Retrieved viii July 2019.
23. ^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Fourth dimension Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Printing. pp. 122-123. ISBN978-0-nineteen-507678-3 . Retrieved 2019-10-03 . Cadet Rogers in the 25th Century, juvenile.
24. ^ Lesser, Robert. A Celebration of Comic Art and Memorabilia (1975) ISBN 0-8015-1456-eight
25. ^ ^{a b} "Buck Rogers -". Cadet Rogers. Archived from the original on February 4, 2005. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
26. ^ Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2009-06-24). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Nowadays. Random Firm Publishing Grouping. ISBN9780307483201.
27. ^ Buck battles intergalactic troublemakers Archived Feb 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Buck-rogers.com; accessed August 28, 2014.
28. ^ Frank Miller Helming "Cadet Rogers", Superhero Hype!, December 19, 2008
29. ^ "Cadet Rogers" Blasts Off Into 3-D Infinite, Borderline.com, March 24, 2010
30. ^ "Did The Spirit Kill Cadet Rogers? - IGN". 15 May 2009. Retrieved September xix, 2019.
31. ^ "The Legal Battle to Bring Buck Rogers to the Big Screen". The Hollywood Reporter. 20 July 2018. Retrieved September xix, 2019.
32. ^ "'Buck Rogers' Movie in the Works at Legendary | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com. fourteen October 2020. Retrieved 2020-ten-14 .
33. ^ Kit, Borys (December 10, 2020). "Brian K. Vaughan to Write Buck Rogers TV Series for Legendary". The Hollywood Reporter.
34. ^ "George Clooney to Produce, Star in 'Buck Rogers' TV Reboot for Legendary". Collider. 2021-01-29. Retrieved 2021-01-29 .
35. ^ Townsend, Allie (February sixteen, 2011). "All-Fourth dimension 100 Greatest Toys". Time . Retrieved September 19, 2019.
36. ^ http://www.toyraygun.com/buckrogersrayguns.html
37. ^ Thomas D. Clareson, Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction (1992). Univ of South Carolina Press. Folio half dozen. ISBN 0-87249-870-0
38. ^ "Mimosa 28, pages 102-107. "Roots and a Few Vines" by Mike Resnick". www.jophan.org . Retrieved September 19, 2019.
39. ^ "Restoration Centre Open House Highlights". New United mexican states Museum of Space History. 2013-02-12. Retrieved 2014-03-24 . The DC-X launched vertically, hovered in mid-air at 150 anxiety, and began to move sideways at a dogtrot. After traveling 350 feet, the onboard global-positioning satellite unit of measurement indicated that the DC-Ten was directly over its landing point. The spacecraft stopped mid-air once more and, every bit the engines throttled back, began its successful vertical landing. Simply like Buck Rogers.
40. ^ "SpaceX Continues its Quest to Create a "Buck Rogers" Reusable Rocket". 21st Century Tech. 2013-03-15. Retrieved 2014-03-24 .
41. ^ Elon Musk, Scott Pelley (2014-03-thirty). Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire (video and transcript). CBS. Event occurs at 03:50–04:10. Retrieved 2014-03-31 . Just iv entities have launched a infinite capsule into orbit and successfully brought it back: the United States, Russia, China, and Elon Musk. This Buck Rogers dream started years ago

External links [edit]

Media related to Cadet Rogers at Wikimedia Eatables

• ""Buck Rogers" Television Series (1950–51)". Archived from the original on 2005-02-04. Retrieved 2005-02-04 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL condition unknown (link)
• Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924–1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (official website, Cadet Rogers and Dille Family Trust) - checked 19 nov 2011—not available
• Buck Rogers at Curlie
• Buck Rogers serial listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Sound/video [edit]

• Public domain Cadet Rogers radio serials at the Net Archive

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Rogers

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