We’ve known for nearly a year now that a new version of Buck Rogers may be on the way. The story was first leaked by former series star Erin Gray here, and now it’s been picked up again by IGN, this time with details on who may be involved in making it.
They say that Frank Miller, the guy currently busy making The Spirit, may be directing it for Nu Image/Millenium Films. There’s no deal yet, and he’s not a lock, but apparently his name is on the list of contenders for the project. Meanwhile, the rumor goes that it’ll be written and produced by Flint Dille. Yeah, I have no idea who he is either, but apparently he’s the grandson of the publisher who originally published the Buck Rogers comic strips, and he also once wrote a Buck Rogers graphic novel. If being married to the president qualifies Hillary Clinton to be president, then I guess that more than qualifies him to write a Buck Rogers movie.
For the uninitiated, Buck Rogers is really cool, and has been cool for longer than you’ve been alive. The character was originally created in 1928, but he’s probably best known to most from the 1979 movie and subsequent spin-off television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starring Gil Gerard and Erin Gray. The movie and the series were an obvious attempt to cash in on Star Wars mania, but the premise and the universe it was based on is sound, even though the show has now aged poorly and is in retrospect, ridiculously campy.
Buck Rogers is a modern day human, in some incarnations he’s a military pilot in others an astronaut, who after being accidentally launched through time, wakes up in a far off future. There he puts his modern know-how to use helping future humans fight a battle against various forms of evil. Again, exactly what form that evil takes varies on the era in which the Buck Rogers tale was written. Buck Rogers has after all, been around for more than 80 years. He’s usually assisted by the plucky (and super-hot) Wilma Deering (played by the uber hot Erin Gray on the TV show) and a robot who likes to say beedeebeedeebeep.
If they’re going to make this a modern movie adaptation (and why not, Buck Rogers is eternal), I have a suggestion. Throw out the TV show. It’s campy, nostalgic fun, but you can do better. Take a look at a series of Buck Rogers books written by M.S. Murdock back in the late 80s. It’s a fantastic update, and would do nicely as source material for a more modern take on the whole Buck Rogers thing. Whatever gets done with him, just make sure he has a really cool robot buddy, and get Erin Gray a sizable cameo. The world needs her hotness.
