Leslie Stevens (1924–1998)

Truly bizarre story of two men--Allen and Oates--stalking lovely Kate Manx from the house next door. The performances, especially by Allen, who later became a prolific director, lift it above the sordid--or a least make the sordidness bearable. Allen is absolutely magnetic as he moves between charmer and pyschopath. A young Oates excels--as he often did later--at playing a character who doesn't talk much. The film also has a morbid and curious interest as well. Director Leslie Stevens cast his then-wife Manx. Her performance is not always consistent, but she has a compelling screen presence. This was made in 1959. In 1964 they were divorced, and only a few months later Manx committed suicide by swallowing a lethal number of sleeping pills. Stevens went on to marry a few more times. It's really hard to know what to feel about the film knowing the background--but it is well made and builds to a cataclysmic climax. Kate, we really wish you had stayed with us.… (más)

It was the turn of the decade 1970/80. Star Wars had been and gone - and had changed peoples expectations of science fiction forever. Revenge of the Jedi (sic) was not yet even a rumour; and studios were struggling to feed a 'Star Wars' hungry market with films that simply could not begin to compete with the special effects technology that Lucus had used years earlier, but which no-one else apparently had knowlege about.
Enter Glen A. Larson, hot on the heels of his highly profiled Battlestar Galactica series (which ultimately ran aground) with 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' - a re-hash of the defining 1930s serial. This would be financially more successful because it was going to cost even less to produce - and the studio executives (who were still confused over the success of Star Wars) liked that idea a lot.
Glen A. Larson could recycle stuff left over from his other shows (namely Battlestar) and 'recycle' would be the key to this new venture; recycled stories, recycled props and recycled stock footage from its own show. Much like Weissmuller's Tarzan infamously swung through the jungle on the same vine in practically every shot, Buck would fly the same ship formation on almost every take-off and landing (weather he happened to be flying the same model of ship or not); and as for the ship explosions, don't even get me stared! But, in the early 1980s we were starved for science fiction and happy to consume mass amounts of poor quality nourishment as a result.
After its theatrical release, what seemed like, a month or so earlier, the television series, complete with re-edited pilot directly from the movie (which let's face it was made for TV quality at best) arrived on our sets, and it was (or at least felt) amazing!

Is it still as good as we approach the 40th anniversary of the series? Well, what do you think?
Oozing with nostalgia, ridiculous hero costumes, villains with a penchant for bad S&M garb, celebrity cameos that made some episodes feel like you were watching the Muppet Show (without Jim Hendson's awesome puppets), and did I mention those terrible ship explosions already? Oh! I did?
If you recall watching this series the first time around - you'll probably love it. But, just as with 'Galactica 80', you may wish to dispense with viewing the later 'Searcher' episodes. This is when the producers switched between wanting to please the Star Wars fans, and tried to cater for the Star 'Trek' audience. They even gave 'Buck' his very own 'Mr. Spok' with 'Hawk Man' - no pointy ears, but he did have a lovely feathered swiming cap.… (más)