...On Purpose!

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Buck Rogers in the 25th century

In March of 1979, a two-hour TV pilot opened in American cinemas and grossed $21.6 million before a single episode aired on television. In the UK, it beat Doctor Who for sixteen straight weeks. Eighteen months later, the show was dead — eleven episodes into a second season, with no finale and no goodbye. The audience didn't leave. The show they were watching simply stopped existing.

This is the story of how a six-month actors' strike opened a door, how a Gunsmoke producer walked through it, and how Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was rebuilt into a different show wearing the old show's name — halved budget, abandoned Earth, sidelined Wilma, re-voiced Twiki, and a Battlestar Galactica premise grafted onto a Buck Rogers title card. Plus the one episode the cast forgave him for: Time of the Hawk.

🕒 TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Intro
00:35 - Buck Rogers Facts: The Setup
02:13 - Buck Rogers Facts: THE SHOW THEY ACTUALLY MADE
05:07 - Buck Rogers Facts: THE GAP
06:14 - Buck Rogers Facts: IT WASN'T HIS EGO
08:01 - Buck Rogers Facts: WHAT MANTLEY ACTUALLY DID
10:57 - Buck Rogers Facts: TIME OF THE HAWK
12:36 - Buck Rogers Facts: THE DORIAN SECRET