Buck Rogers was written by Philip Francis Nowlan. "Anthony Rogers" first appeared as the hero of "Armageddon 2419 AD", a story which first ran in the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories. This was spotted by John F. Dille, who asked Nowlan to turn his story in to a strip, and came up with the name "Buck".
Since first appearing in an issue of Amazing Stories in 1928, Buck Rogers has appeared in a 1929 Comic Strip, 1932 radio series, 1939 movie serial, 1950 television series, and of course the 1979 movie and television series with Gil Gerard.
Buck Rogers produced a slew of imitators including Brick Bradford, and Flash Gordon. He has also been famously spoofed by Daffy Duck in "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century" in 1953.
Awakening was originally supposed to air only on television. It wasn't until after it was shot that the decision was made to release it as a theatrical film. It actually grossed more money during its first week than Star Wars did.
When the series started, it was not a certainty that Erin Gray would sign on to reprise her movie role of Wilma Deering. As a result, Buck has a few different female sidekicks in early episodes, notably Juanin Clay as Major Marla Landers in the episode "Vegas In Space." Clay was intended as a possible replacement for Erin Gray, until it was decided Gray would continue in the series.
Guest stars include Buster Crabbe ("Buck Rogers" in 1939 and most famously "Flash Gordon" in 1936), Jamie Lee Curtis, Roddy McDowell, Julie Newmar, and Jack Palance.
Alex Hyde-White (Wilfrid Hyde-White's son) played a technician in series 2. He also guest starred in "Battlestar Galactica".
While working on this series, Mel Blanc provided voices for the parody Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century (1980) (TV).
Mel Blanc was briefly replaced by Felix Silla as the voice of Twiki at the start of the second season. After protests from fans, he returned to the role for the final episodes.
Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers) went out of his way to diminish Erin Grey's (Wilma Deering) role on the show. Originally, the credits of the pilot were going to say "Starring Gil Gerard and Erin Grey", and Gerard demanded that her name not appear alongside his.
Erin Grey's (Wilma Deering) favorite episode is Space Vampire.
Erin Grey (Wilma Deering) has said the stretch suits she always wore were quite painful.
Throughout most of the first season, Erin Gray plays Wilma as a blonde. Near the end of the first season, and for the remainder of the series, she was allowed to return to her normal brunette hair color.
Erin Grey (Wilma Deering) only made $600 a week!
The show's theme tune, "Suspension", originally had lyrics, but these were only heard in the pilot.
Props from series "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) were used in this series.
In the movie version of "Awakening", William Conrad was the voice of the Draconia's PA system, but for the TV version, his voice was replaced by that of Vic Perrin.
In the episode "A Dream of Jennifer" when Buck is in the space port, there's a PA call for Captain Christopher Pike - the captain of the "Star Trek" (1965) TV pilot.
Although Glen Larson produced the series, he actually had very little involvement because his main focus at the time was "Battlestar Galactica" and then "Galactica 1980".
US broadcast of the second season was delayed until midway through the 1980-81 TV season due to an actor's strike. During the strike, the series was retooled to make it a variation on "Battlestar Galactica" (1978).
The studio decided to cancel the series before the last episode was shot. The producer was evidently incensed that this happened, without his prior knowledge, and began to clear out his office immediately upon hearing the news. To exact a measure of revenge, however, he assigned an intern, Guy Magar, to direct the final episode. Magar had just happened to pop into the director's office to see if he needed anything just after the producer got the call about the cancellation. The studio had no idea that Magar had never before directed a TV show (or anything beyond a student film). Magar went on to direct episodes of "Sliders" (1995), "La Femme Nikita" (1997) and other shows.
