Of course, the Sunday afternoon that I somehow persuaded my mom to take my sister and me to the film (how I managed that, I can't recall; my mother very rarely took us to the theater when we were young, and I never got to choose the film when she did!), I had no way of knowing that it was made for television. All I knew is that I loved it, camp humor and all. I've also always really dug the main poster image - to me, it really captures everything I enjoy about this kind of space opera: rayguns, robots, starships, and scantily-clad space princesses.
I wish I knew the name of the artist. Anyone know?
Anyway, the image at the top is the "teaser" poster, while the one at the bottom is the British "quad." It's interesting (to me, anyway) that in the U.S., the theatrical version was simply titled Buck Rogers, while the UK version carried the longer, ...25th Century title of the subsequent television series.
Oh yeah, I remember going to this and I remember (being a teenager) necking with my girlfriend at the time through most of it.
ReplyDeleteBATTLESTAR was also released as a movie, complete with "Sensurround," which would rumble the seats in the crackerbox Ohio triplex where I watched it, whenever there was a flyby of the fleet. It was jarring!
Well, I saw it with my mom and sister, so...
ReplyDeleteBut a year or so later, I'm proud to say that I missed most of my first viewing of FLASH GORDON because I was making out with Rose McCausland.... ;)
I find it rather amazing that Erin Gray is featured prominently in the center of your main banner and to the right of your "space babes" banner, yet there are no individual entries about her anywhere on your site.
ReplyDeleteJust curious. (great blog, by the way.)
Oh, have no fear. Ms. Gray will be making prominent appearances herein before too long.
ReplyDeleteWow we most be about the same age as I was taken or I believed dropped off to see this film. Hard to believe how excited I was the day or so to see it. I sometimes wish I had that amount of excitement to see a film these days.;) I still hope in the future to see some Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon films a bit closer to their source material.
ReplyDeleteThe original pre-credit sequence of the movie/pilot, which I saw for the first time recently, has the sleeping Buck Rogers sex-dreaming of various beautiful women, two of whom turn out to be Colonel Deering and Princess Ardala. There seems to be a strong implication that everything which happens subsequently is the fantasy of a dying brain...
ReplyDeleteFar beyond this world I've known...
ReplyDeleteI too saw both Battlestar and BR in theaters. I was 11 and I think my dad was uncomfortable with the sensual poses of the opening credits.
I was 12 when I saw Buck Rogers in the theater. I went with a friend and his Mom for his birthday. I remember stopping to eat at McDonalds first and then making a quick trip to Kmart before the movie. I think his Mom bought each of us a matchbox car too. Mine was something futuristic looking. I remember the sensual imagery in Buck Rogers and how it stirred me. Always loved that movie and the subsequent series.
ReplyDeleteBack in the Sommer of '79 the poster-art above the british quad was the very first thing I saw of this production. It was an full page colour advertisment in a movie magazine called "Cinema" which is even nowadays very popular here in Germany. As a spacemovie buff since the early 70ies having it's roots in the british TV series UFO and the original STAR TREK, I immediately fell in love with this movie poster art! The movie itself ran for only 3 weeks at my local cinema but I managed to see it there twice. I reqiered two copies of the german one-sheet (which even now I hold dearly). Later on I brought the movie on Super 8 (2 reels contained about 35 Mins. of the actual movie in colour and Sound) for an additional viewing experience (and along with "Star Wars" and "Battlestar Galactica" I watched these countless times)...
ReplyDeleteEven today BUCK ROGERS is one of my favourite movie posters (along with the MyCall art of the astronauts on the moon for a well known space epic made by Stanley Kubrick) in my movie poster colletion of about 1.800 pieces.
Ah yes, can you imagine how it feels when the series itself needed 6 more years 'till it reached our tv screens and with only 13 episodes picked from both seasons? As a space buff yourself I guess you can... ;-)
cincerely
Ralf
The artist is Victor Guadino. Victor started work in the mid 70's with the premise that "anything that Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo can do, he can do cheaper."
ReplyDeleteThis led him into designing movie posters, some of which you may know: First Blood, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger; some you probably don't: Convoy, Stryker...
Unfortunately, competing with Drew Struzan was limiting his opportunities, and he slowly moved over to novel cover illustration.
Victor remains a working artist who creates in paint and digital, as well as contributing to fashion and jewelry from his studio in Miami, FL.
More of Victor's work can be found online and a portfolio review book may come out sometime in the future.