New Teaser For Cawley’s Buck Rogers Web Series

As we have reported before, James Cawley’s production team are branching out from their ‘fan made’ work on Star Trek Phase II, to do a new web series based on Buck Rogers, but this time it is fully licensed and authorized. The show will premiere in 2010 and today they released the first teaser trailer. Check it out below.

 

Buck Rogers Teaser 

The teaser shows off Buck’s star fighter which was designed by Cawley and Jeff Hayes, and was animated by Tobias Richter. Cawley tells TrekMovie the teaser is "Totally Retro Cool and slightly steam punkish, That is our New Buck! Just a peak at what is to come!"

The pilot ("Armageddon: 2491") for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is slated to debut in the Fall of 2010. Some of the production is already complete, with more shooting slated for Spring. The show stars  Phase II’s Bobby Rice as Buck Rogers, and the cast also includes Gil Gerard and Erin Gray from the NBC Buck Rogers TV series.

Here is a poster for the show.


Gil Gerrard and Bobby Rice in "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"

For more on this new Buck Rogers In The 25th Century web series, visit buckrogersbegins.com.

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Wow. That looks excellent!

cool….

Looks great.

I recently wondered out loud to my friends how long it will take until Hollywood does a full on steampunk movie. Its begging to be exploited. It really is an awesome look…that, if used correctly, with a good story to tell, could really be a cash cow for the studio that does it right.

Nice work James and to Tobias as well. It looks like that you are going to have another masterpiece on your hands!!! Keep it up.

Erin Gray still looks great.
Just sayin’…

Please tell me why Buck Rogers looks like a refugee from the Third Reich.

Saw Erin Gray at Dragoncon…….yes she is still awesome looking!

Um, looks terrible.

5 – Clearly Bobby Quinn Rice and Gil Gerard are playing ‘doughboys.’
One of them needed a uniform.

HEY — just kidding, Gil. Love ya, man!

Spaceship looks good; love the pulsing jet exhaust.

That was Gil Gerard?

Looks nice… looks retro… looks exciting…

I cannot wait!

Cute ship…

The years have not treated Gil Gerard well, though….

@7 — I had to take a look at Erin Gray as she is now, for comparison, so I Googled her, and you ain’t kidding… she looks great!

Is Andy Probert still doing designs for the show?

Ship looks great, tho’. Love the “retro” looking exhaust.

Interestingly enough, I bought the boxed DVD set to the entire 1979-81 NBC TV series over the weekend and enjoyed watching it far more than I should have.

The first season, really incredibly cheesy (what do you expect from Glen Larson?), had its moments. BUT the second season went off in a totally different tangent and I found it surprisingly satisfying in many ways (although I hate to admit there was one late-in-the-season episode that would have been perfectly at home on ‘Lost in Space’ or ‘Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea’).

I’m not sure I liked the idea of searching for the lost tribes of Earth, a bit too reminiscent of Larson’s ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ but there are a lot of good sci-fi moments in the second season. And while I liked the character ‘Hawk,’ his presence, at times, was to the detriment of other established characters such as Col. Wilma Deering.

One thing I did find of interest was the change of Twiki in the second season. I hated the character in the first season, and with the arrival of the new producer, John Mantley (from TV’s ‘Gunsmoke’) on the second season, Twiki received a new voice that was even MORE annoying than the first… so much so that the producers recognized this and changed it back to ‘his’ original voice. LOL!

It’s too bad NBC cut the series’ lifeline that second season far too soon.

Again, I look forward to this new version on the internet!

13 – Hey now…you’ll grow old too someday. If Indy can still crack a whip, and the Shat can sit in the chair next to his wax self, then by golly, Buck can still kick 25th century ass with that little robot friend of his….

looks really cool! :)

Looks good! Looking forward to it. Are these episodes getting issued on Blu-ray eventually as well?

If you look at Gil Gerard’s Wikipedia entry, you’ll find a much better photo of him, dated October of this year. (This makes the above photo somewhat puzzling, since it’s almost as though the above image is of a different man.) Also, I just learned from reading it that he has successfully battled some serious health problems. Bravo to him, and may he enjoy good health for many more decades to come.

@17 – I’m not trying to be mean (& I’m no spring chicken myself), some people just have better genes, and we can’t ignore the effect of lifestyle… In any case, #20 is right, the Wikipedia pic does him better justice.

EEDEE-BEEDEE-BEEDEE

Looks excellent guys! Very cool look!

What does the the “L” in Buck Rogers’ name stand for?

Tobias should have been picked up by the major studios a long time ago. My buddy should be up there in the limelight way above Cawley. Not a fan of this guy but surely a huge fan of my boy Tobias!!!

Cawley tells TrekMovie the teaser is “Totally Retro Cool and slightly steam punkish, That is our New Buck! Just a peak at what is to come!”

It should be *peek*, unless he’s talking about mountains…

Sweet looking ride that Buck has there. Nice work, James and co.

I want you to meet Gil in person and then rethink “time not being kind”. When his age you are, look so good you will not. And Erin is hotter than ever!

The star fighter is great!!! Love the way you’re going with this, James

@23 I’m curious too, I can’t find anything on this L. Is it for Lawrence/Larry, as in “Larry ‘Buster’ Crabbe”? I could understand a pilot choosing not to be “Larry Rogers” when “Buck Rogers” will do.

Previously, the original strips based on Armageddon 2419 had “Anthony ‘Buck’ Rogers”, and the TV series of course was “William ‘Buck’ Rogers”.

Will we see in the internet series, that L. Rogers’ father portrayed by Gil Gerard is named “William Rogers”? (Is his grandfather going to show up under the name “Anthony Rogers”?)

I’ll just be fascinated to see Erin Gray as Dr. Huer….

Gil plays Buck’s father “William”. Erin plays his mother.
Buck is wearing that uniform in the photo above because he is a WWI pilot just as in the original strip.
Gil Gerard is in Fantastic shape. He has overcome many difficulties and health issues. #27 IS CORRECT- If you saw him in person, you would say nothing negative. I admit that the lighting in that photo does not show you what he actually looks like.
As to Buck’s first name, it does start with an “L” and he does have a brother names Anthony. Some updating has been done, but it is essentially the original take on the character.
James

Very much looking forward to seeing this.

LOVE IT!
I have this Buck Rogers coffee table book of all the old comics, and the look is spot on.
Finally it’s being done right! And Tobias’s work rocks!
Thanks James!

That actually looks pretty cool! I’ve never seen Buck Rogers, but I’ve heard about it (50’s TV show or movie serials?). I’ll look forward to watching it.

Where’s “Twiki”?

Mr. Cawley, well done sir. It was about time someone brought Buck Rogers back– who, by the way, is considered one of the pioneers of sci-fi.

I’m sure this series will be 10x better than the SyFy adapt of Flash Gordon– which just goes to show you that when given the responsibility of a much beloved franchise it’s best that a fan, in some capacity, be allowed creative control.

Oh and by the way, the above statement isn’t a slight jab at Star Trek 2009. I loved that movie and I felt several fans (Orci and Kurtzman to Quinto and Karl Urban, etc…) worked in front of and behind the camera…and their love shows.

James Cawley, thanks for putting this together. I’m looking forward to seeing it. Gil Gerard is great. Keep up the great work.

The only thing I didn’t like about the BUCK ROGERS clip was the title card. Looked out of place after seeing the awesom spaceship. They need to make the title card look less polished.

And I think Gil looks pretty darned good. Of course he isn’t the buffed Buck from 30 years ago- but then none of us are now!!. Sadly I wasn’t even buffed 30 years ago!
He was great as Buck though.

re/#6 (retro Nazi)

Because that uniform look was the look in the original Buck Rogers.

This article is listed under fan productions. This is a professional production.

Buck’s (Bobby Rice) uniform is the US Army Expeditionary Force of the Great War, World War I as it is now named. This scene, and much of the pilot will be set in Autumn 1918.

This is in keeping with both the original comic strips, YET providing some backstory to Buck Rogers prior to awakening in the 25th century.

Gil looks older and somewhat deep-in-thgought in this photo. That is part of the script that goes with his role as Buck’s father in this particular scene. Also, remember that Gil is garbed in 1918 era Sunday-best clothes. Saying any more would be spoilers!

Notice behind Gil, ti his left (right in pic) Erin Gray – still vivacious and beautiful! Behind Gil to his right (left in pic) is Samantha Gray Hissong (barely visible), Erin’s daughter who is Buck’s finceé in Autumnal 1918 rural America. Bobby Rice as Buck, of course. And, that fab Model-T auto.
Gary Evans

I love Hawkman

You just don’t F$*k with Hawkman

Plus Sarek could take his head off and carry it around on Buck Rogers

#42 Nice Mark Lenard reference…..I had forgotten about that.

42 – That’s right! Sarek lost his head. And the midget robot had a big medallion that talked. And the women ran around in jewelled bikinis.

Excellent..
Shows how sticking to original design work and just adding to it works so well and gives such a distinctive look and feel and can be totally successful and original, erm, cough, Mr Chambliss!

24. Marc B. Lee – December 1, 2009
Yes his work is great and I’d like to get in touch for some cg for an small independent sci-fi seeking arts funding next year that I’m supervising VFX on…
But I can say with experience and speaking for myself, it is far more rewarding to be working on a smaller indi job where you get noticed and your work is very visible than on a main feature where you end up just doing tiny pieces of clean-up, fixing shots etc which never get noticed and you are a small cog in a huge machine army of artists.
His name deservedly will headline on this production and will be far more rewarding. Feature VFX can be suprisingly uncreative and claustrophobic for artists.

And Tigerman was a badass as well

James I want Tigerman!!! Tigerman is a must for true Buckitude

Space Vampire too!!

Gil Gerard is the man. Mt. Rushmore of Men’s Men will be Shatner, Gil Gerard, Sonny Chiba and Oliver Reed

The Searcher was a lame ass ship though

Uh…what does it mean to be “steam punkish”?

And will this version have a twiggy in it? Maybe since Mel Blanc is gone it could be voiced by….oh, who’s the guy who does Futurama? Can’t think of his name. He’s kind of the Mel Blanc of our time. Billy West. That’s it.

And on Buck you don’t screw with Jack Palance because he has burning glowing hands

And if Jack Palance doesn’t get you watch out for the little blue riddle quoting midget guy. Creepy and dangerous!!!

I like the looks of the new Buck trailer, but I tend to like the “retro future” and / or “steam punk” look. Good luck to them.

48 – And don’t forget Twiki and Gary Coleman becoming best buds. Gary Coleman had all kinds of cool friends: Twiki, KITT, and Mr. T.