MOVIE NEWS – A nonagenarian science-fiction legend is gearing up for a theatrical comeback that could challenge Star Wars; the studio behind Dune is developing a feature adaptation of the classic Buck Rogers adventures.

The lightning-strike success of Star Wars in 1977 ignited a full-blown space-opera craze across film and television. Paramount revived Star Trek as a blockbuster, while NBC gambled on two kindred yet distinct TV projects: Battlestar Galactica (1978), which drew a lawsuit from George Lucas, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979). You probably know the first, especially its acclaimed reboot. The second might be something your dad or granddad remembers – and it may soon become familiar to you as well.

According to Deadline, Legendary Entertainment – the outfit behind Dune and the Monsterverse films (Godzilla vs. Kong) – has accelerated the Buck Rogers movie. The studio hired Zeb Wells, writer on Deadpool, Wolverine, and Marvel Zombies, along with numerous Marvel comics. His involvement does not guarantee a quick premiere, but it is a meaningful step that makes a big-screen return feel more plausible.

Buck Rogers, Space-Opera Trailblazer

Who is Buck Rogers? In short, an early pioneer of space opera to whom the genre owes a great deal. Debuting in 1928 as a pulp-novel hero, he quickly jumped to comic strips, radio serials, short films, and a brief 1950 TV run. Only after Star Wars did NBC sense the timing for a larger revival, yielding the two-season 1979 series mentioned above.

The premise evolved over time. In Philip Francis Nowlan’s Armageddon — 2419 A.D., the protagonist appears as Anthony Rogers, a World War I veteran trapped in a mine, exposed to radioactive gas, then suspended for nearly five centuries before waking to a grim future packed with threats. Early arcs were earthbound, mirroring interwar geopolitics. By the 1930s – in parallel with Flash Gordon, created in part as a response to Buck’s success – the action went interstellar, pitting Rogers against space pirates, galactic tyrants, and technologically superior alien powers bent on exploiting Earth.

Buck Rogers helped codify today’s space-opera staples: ray guns, starfighters, interplanetary travel, and more. At heart, it is swashbuckling adventure in a futuristic cosmos, led by a brave, idealistic archetypal hero fighting for freedom against oppressive regimes with fortresses, private armies, and warring realms. That template powered 1979’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, developed by Glen A. Larson, who recycled elements from Battlestar Galactica to keep budgets in check after that show’s cancellation. Here, instead of a Great War veteran, a cryo-slumbering astronaut awakens to battle formidable foes, notably the Draconian forces.

It is entertaining material with ample plot and creative latitude to become a worthy film if the backing is there. If Legendary truly commits, a venerable name could step back onto the galactic stage as a credible counterweight to Star Wars.

Source: 3djuegos