'GALACTICA' AT 40: 'EXODUS'!

Ralph McQuarrie's concept versions of the Cylon Raiders loom large on the Galactica's view screen, of which our heroes prepare for the worst, in this fun cover art by Dave Cockrum for the MARVEL 1978 Comic series of Battlestar Galactica, whose second issue continued their excellent adaptation of Saga of a Star World, and the remaining humans escape into space searching for the Thirteenth Tribe.

OUT NOW ON UK BLU-RAY: 'BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY - THE COMPLETE SERIES'

Future fantastic! Buck Rogers comes to Blu-ray at last! Images: UNIVERSAL.

Arriving just in time for next year's landmark Fortieth Anniversary within the highest realms of Cult TV-dom, it's time for fans of the Gil Gerard starring incarnation of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century to start going 'Bidi-Bidi-Bidi' with joy at the super news that the series will finally (and well deservedly) be coming to home entertainment systems in complete unedited and HD remastered form via those space classic veterans at Universal/Fabulous Films, this April 2nd, 2018.

Developed for television by stalwart producers Glen A. Larson and Leslie Stevens, both of whom had prior given us Battlestar Galactica, the seventies incarnation of Buck Rogers, with its hints of space-age James Bond meets Star Wars, was a huge success worldwide, especially beloved in the UK, of which Gerard's amiable space pilot/kick-boxing lead, alongside the sexy and capable space colonel, Wilma Deering (the exquisite Erin Gray), plus beloved little 'Ambuquad', Twiki (Felix Silla, voiced by cartoon legend Mel Blanc), encountered and fought a diverse assemblage of weird, wacky and wonderful humanoid villains and aliens (played by a wide variety of notable guest stars- everyone from Jack Palance to Roddy McDowall, and then fresh-faces like Jamie Lee Curtis), amidst a universe populated by some of the most gorgeous intergalactic heavenly bodies ever seen on television sci-fi! Combined ingredients in a lively series that would make it an enduring family favourite!

Series One title sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1obwMjzUY9M

So, get ready to enter your nearest Stargate for a healthy dash of enjoyably colourful fun, looking better than ever in HD, alongside some fine 'Special Features'- most notably the series TV pilot Awakening, not previously released on VHS or DVD in the UK- prior individual/box set releases of the series (from CIC and UNIVERSAL) having past favoured the pilot's theatrical version (perhaps due to right issues ?)- first released in European/International cinemas during 1979.

Heroes of the space ways: Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard) and Wilma (Erin Gray).

FABULOUS FILMS release info on the set:

Sit back and enjoy all 33 episodes across 2 seasons of this timeless sci-fi classic, now fully restored and in Hi-Definition. 

Following the success of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, Glen A. Larson developed Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century for television. Props, costumes, effects shots and sets from Battlestar Galactica (1978), which was still in production at the time, were recycled for the series.

The series ran for two seasons in America from 1979 – 1981. ITV began showing Buck Rogers on 30^th August 1980. It was in the same Saturday timeslot that the BBC began screening season 18 of Doctor Who. Due to Buck Rogers’ popularity, Doctor Who’s ratings fell from a series high of 16.1 million to a low of 3.7 million - the lowest ratings in the programme's history. This prompted the BBC to move Doctor Who to a weekday evening slot. The BBC began airing repeats of Buck Rogers on BBC Two in 1989 and again in 1995-96.

Synopsis: The year is 1987 and NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes. Aboard this small starship is a lone astronaut, Captain William Buck Rogers. In a freak mishap Ranger 3 and its pilot are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support system and returns Buck Rogers back to Earth 500 years later. He is forced to readjust to a new world and its people - who blame his generation for a nuclear holocaust which left the earth a radioactive wasteland. Buck is soon enlisted to help save the Earth from an alien threat, working with Colonel Wilma Deering and a robot-droid known as Twiki. They roam space and planets to welcome back the lost and dispossessed.

Twiki was mainly played by Felix Silla and voiced by Mel Blanc. Felix Silla also played "Cousin Itt" in The Addams Family. Mel Blanc, was an American voice actor who voiced pretty much every cartoon character you can think of including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner and the Tasmanian Devil.

Cast: Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Pamela Hensley (Season 1), Tim O'Connor (Season 1), Felix Silla, Mel Blanc, Eric Server (Season 1), Thom Christopher (Season 2), Jay Garner (Season 2), Wilfrid Hyde-White (Season 2).

Extras: 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'- Theatrical version of the pilot episode 'Awakening’, feature Length version of ’Flight of the War Witch', syndicated 2 Part Version in Hi-Definition of 'Journey to the Oasis'.

Get the Blu-ray set here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Buck-Rogers-Century-Complete-Blu-ray/dp/B079V9GW1Z/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1520612712&sr=1-2&keywords=buck+rogers+blu-ray

'GALACTICA' AT 40: THE VIPER - CLOSE-UP!

The fastest and most advanced fighting craft of the Colonial forces, the Viper (aka 'Starhound fighter'), gets a superb close-up examination in this great art which originally appeared in Famous Spaceships of Fact and Fantasy magazine, from 1979.

'GALACTICA' AT 40: INTRODUCING MAREN JENSEN AS ATHENA...

Adama is blessed with a young and talented set of children, rounded out by Maren Jensen playing the lovely Athena, a communications/control expert on the Galactica bridge, and efficient personal shuttle pilot to her father (as seen with the pilot episode), then progressing to become a skilled but edgily volatile Viper pilot. Loyal and compassionate, her relationship with Starbuck is loving but bordering on fractious (even violent- inducing steam burns no less!) whenever his eyes start to roam...

'GALACTICA' AT 40: WHEN 'WORZEL' MET 'GALACTICA'!

You could always count on the UK children's TV listings/feature magazine Look-In to bring together cover stars of the most eclectic kind, as especially seen here - both Cylon and Galactica fused with the comedic British scarecrow comedy figure of Worzel Gummidge (as played by another sci-fi TV legend in former Doctor Who Jon Pertwee) for this fun 1979 artwork created by magazine cover regular artists Arnaldo Putzu.

'GALACTICA' AT 40: INTRODUCING ADAMA

Despite his own early misgivings and personal doubts about his abilities to lead them after the Cylon sneak attack, the remains of the Twelve Colonies of Mankind couldn't be in better hands for safety and protection in the search for the lost Thirteenth Tribe, than those of the passionate and commanding presence of Adama, as played with steely grit, authority and personable charm by respected Canadian actor Lorne Greene.

CLASSIC ART: BATTLE IN THE HEAVENS!

The Battlestar Galactica comes under attack as its moves into deep space, away from the attacked Colonial Fleet, as seen in this iconic Ralph McQuarrie art used in all kinds of film and series publicity at that time, like this lovely international poster for Saga of a Star World (in its feature-film composition) showcasing the superb design and evil Cylon villains. And, of course, the mighty Sensurround sound experience that UNIVERSAL loved to put in bigger showcase theatres back in those halcyon days!