September 20, 1979: “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” Ppremieres

September 20, 1979: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century premieres. Its pilot was filmed at the same time as the 1980 film version of Flash Gordon. Both Buck and Flash had been played in 1930s and '40s serials by Clarence "Buster" Crabbe, a swimmer who won a Gold Medal at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The original version of Buck Rogers was a comic strip, debuting in 1928. Creator Philip Nowlan saw crime lords like Al Capone wreaking havoc, and wondered what it would be like if one of them conquered the world. Now, with Vladimir Putin and his lackeys such as Donald Trump, we know.

Contrary to the opening narration by William Conrad, America did not have anything like Ranger 3 in 1987. That’s the bad news. The good news is, in the show's history, there was no nuclear war later that year, forcing civilization to rebuild.

Gil Gerard played Buck, whose spacecraft was frozen in 1987, and thawed out in 2491. He now aids the new Earth government through its Defense Directorate, reporting to Colonel Wilma Deering (Erin Gray), who reports to Dr. Elias Huer (Tim O'Connor). They are aided by Twiki (body by Felix Silla, formerly Cousin Itt on The Addams Family; voice by cartoon legend Mel Blanc), a robot who acts as the show's analogue to Star Wars' R2-D2, and a small computer usually hanging around Twiki's neck, named Dr. Theopolis (voiced by Eric Server), who serves as the C-3PO equivalent.

Along with Earth's interstellar allies, accessed through "stargates" (before the 1994 film that started the TV Stargate franchise), the oppose the forces of Emperor Draco (who was never shown onscreen), commanded by his daughter, Princess Ardala (Pamela Hensley), who wants Earth for her command, and Buck for her bed, but he knows she's too evil to mess with in that way. Killer Kane, the main villain in the original strip, is reduced here to Ardala's henchman (Michael Ansara).

The show looked great to a 9-year-old sci-fi fan. In hindsight, it had 2 things going for it: Erin Gray wearing tight jumpsuits as Wilma, and Hensley wearing less than that as Princess Ardala, the hottest bad girl in TV history. Sorry, Catwoman, but your record was broken.

The less said about the 2nd season, the better. It was so much of a departure from the 1st season's idea, and so bad, that there was never a 2nd half of that season, let alone a 3rd season.

Mel Blanc died in 1989, Michael Ansara in 2013, Tim O'Connor in 2018, and Felix Silla in 2021. As of September 20, 2022, Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, Eric Server and Pamela Hensley are still alive, although Hensley has retired from acting.

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September 20, 1979 was a Thursday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 3-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Geoff Zahn outpitched rookie Dave Righetti, making only his 2nd major league appearance and start. Reggie Jackson appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The New York Mets were swept in a doubleheader by the Montreal Expos, 6-3 and 2-0 at Shea Stadium. Scott Sanderson pitched a 7-hit shutout in the nightcap.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a walk. Pete Rose went 2-for-3 with a walk. Willie Stargell went 0-for-4.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Carl Yastrzemski did not play.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-7 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Eddie Murray, Lee May and Rich Dauer hit home runs for the O's.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-6 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Rod Carew went 2-for-4 with a walk. George Brett went 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-1 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 8-5 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Johnny Bench went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 3-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Bob Welch (4 hits over 5 innings) and Joe Beckwith (3 over 4) combined for a 7-hit shutout.

* And the Chicago White Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Oakland Athletics, the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers were not scheduled.