Space Opera, Doc...

Well, where would space opera be without Buck Rogers? Buck first appeared in Phillip Francis Nowlan's Armageddon 2419 AD, though he was known as Anthony Rogers. Where he really came to life and popularity was on the funny pages, where he set the world on its head and launched a thousand imitators. Buck ends up in suspended animation, awakening in the 25th Century, where he battles evil warlords, invaders, monsters, and much more. This serial captures all that is great about the strip, with Buster Crabbe launching a career as a space hero. Unfortunately, we only got one Buck serial.

On of the best imitators of Buck Rogers was Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon. Where Buck defends the earth from enemies, Flash takes the fight to space, ending up on the planet Mongo, where he seeks to thwart Emperor Ming's evil schemes and bring freedom to the people of Mongo, while also saving the earth. Buster Crabbe is great as the hero, solidifying himself as the king of the sci-fi/space opera serial.

Flash and company are back, this time fighting threats from Ming and Queen Azura. This one is really good; best of the three serials, in my opinion.

Flash and the gang are back on Mongo, helping protect Queen Fria from Ming's forces. This one had a lot of influence on Star Wars and the Hoth setting in Empire.

Early space opera tv series, with a bit of a Buck Rogers influence, as well as some EE Smith.

More of the Buck Rogers/Lensmen crowd, aimed at kids.

The Rocket Man serials, from Republic, started out as pulp/superhero adventure. The second serial pushed more into the space opera realm, as Commando Cody fights to stop an evil alien despot. It moved more into the Buck Rogers realm than the first. It has moments; but, it also has some long boring stretches.

Flash came to early tv, in the form of Steve Holland. This series was primitive, but made excellent use of footage of post-war Berlin.

More of the intergalactic police-style of space opera.

Antonio Margheriti delivers this classic space opera tale, on a low budget, with so-so results. A wandering planet takes orbit around the Earth and launches an attack on an exploratory mission. This leads to all out war.

"Animated" series from Cambria Studios. I use the quotation marks because there is little movement in Cambria's productions. What there is, though, is some great stories, excellent voice work, and great designs from people like Alex Toth and Doug Wildey. Space Angel is an intergalactic troubleshooter for the Earth Space Intelligence agency, and deals with natural disasters, as well as intergalactic villains. Great fun.

Classic BBC children's series, with plenty of adult fans. It has fluctuated over the years; but, the core of it is classic space opera: a hero who saves the universe from evil. It plays fast and loose with scientific principles, depending on the writers. It was wonderful adventure, even of the budget and technology couldn't match the imagination.

Probably more space opera than the series, though it seems more hard sci-fi on the surface. An eccentric genius has created a machine that can traverse time and space, which is bigger on the inside than out. Then, the genius ends up on an alien planet where he helps save a group of humans from mechanical monsters. That's where the space opera elements really come into play.

Italian film, part of Antonio Margheriti's "Gamma One" loosely linked series of films. Aliens are stealing people and the heroes are out to stop them. Followed by three sequels, though with diminishing returns. This one is at least fun.

The movie Doctor returned; this time, in Earth's future. It's a bit wilder than the first film, though not quite as compelling. It has some really great moments, though.

Okay, before anyone blows a gasket, I'm putting this one here with a caveat. Star Trek had a lot of hard sci-fi in it; but, it also had the grandiose space opera elements. It was a nice mixture, which is part of why it had an appeal beyond just the sci-fi crowd. The space opera elements are more prevalent in episodes like those with the Klingons and Romulans, where adventure elements are stressed. It's a seres that kind of illustrates the argument between sci-fi and space opera. I'm going to leave things with the tv series and use it as a placeholder for the entire Star Trek universe, spinoffs and all.

The original comic was more satire than space opera, though it was satire in a space opera setting. The movie ups the adventure quotient a bit more, while sanitizing the sex.

The film that did much to revive space opera. The film borrows heavily from Flash Gordon and the Lensmen Saga of EE Smith. In fact, the attack on Leia's ship, in the first act, is straight out of Smith's novel, The Galactic Patrol. What more needs to be said about this film?

In the wake of Star Wars, space opera and sci-fi was back in vogue. Filmation added this space opera series to Saturday morning. The academy of the title exists to train the next generation of space explorers and law enforcers. It was very much a a child of Star Trek and really heads in that direction,more than in the Star Wars direction. It led to another series which fell more squarely in the space opera camp.

Japanese space opera, inspired by Star Wars; but, filtered through the classic Ishiro Honda film, Atragon.

The movie version of Leiji Matsumoto's epic space opera, Space Battleship Yamato. Earth has been devastated by violent attacks by an alien race. The surface is scarred an irradiated. People live underground, and are slowly dying. An alien race contacts Earth with an offer of a device that can save the planet, if they can get to the alien world to retrieve it. A daring plan is hatched as the battleship Yamato is raised from the sea and converted into an advanced starship. The crew must battle their way to the alien world and back, with the clock ticking.

The BBC broadcast a classic space opera series, post-Star Wars. A group of freedom fighters band together to oppose intergalactic oppression. It had a bit more depth than Star Wars, as it was aimed at a little older audience; plus, it had the other influence of Doctor Who. The only thing that held it back was budget. Highly influential on later space opera, like Babylon 5.

Filmation followed up Space Academy with a series that was more inspired by Star Wars and classic tv sci-fi/space opera shows, like Tom Corbett and Rocky Jones, as well as Buck Rogers. Star Command is an offshoot of Space Academy, which deals with intergalactic threats. Enter the biggest threat in the galaxy, the conqueror Dragos. The series was low budget; but, had a great sense of fun. The real standout was Sid Haig, as Dragos. Julie Newmar turned up later on, adding some more delicious villainy to the series.

Cheapie Italian Star Wars knockoff, distributed by Roger Corman. Mostly notorious, these days, for the appearance of young David Hasselhoff. At the time, the selling points were Christopher Plummer and Caroline Munro, as a sort of sexy female Han Solo. Marjoe Gortner is way out of his element. It's pretty bad, but watchable, in a cheesy kind of way. Should have been covered by the MST3K crowd.

Leiji Matsumoto's next work was about a space pirate, who owes a bit to Han Solo and a lot to the works of EE Smith, Buck Rogers, and Gardner Fox. Like Yamato, the ships look like warships in space. This one is tragically romantic, since Matsumoto cut his teeth on shojo manga, which is filled with romantic tales. This is space opera in its purest form.

Great space opera, at times. The idea of doing Exodus in Space was perfect space opera fodder. Unfortunately, the ideas didn't quite stretch to a regular series. If they had followed the original idea of a series of movies, it might have worked out better. There are really great episodes and several mediocre ones. There are also too many homages. Some were done well, others were just a bit too blatant and distracting.

Most blatant Japanese Star Wars knockoff, though more filtered through the Kurosawa lens than Star Wars. It's nothing to write home about, unless you like to see Vic Morrow slumming, just before he was tragically killed.

Second Yamato film, covering the battle with the Comet Empire.

Matsumoto turned a one-two punch into a three shot combo, with another space opera series.

The Americanized version of Yamato, familiar to most fans of the genre. The plot is left mostly intact, though the names are given more of a Star Wars feel. After the Gamelons are defeated, the Argo (as the Yamato is known) faces two more threats, as new enemies pop up in each of the sequel seasons.

In the wake of Star Wars, space opera, and sci-fi in general, were hot. As such, Buck Rogers makes a triumphant return to theaters. well, it did okay. The movie was originally the pilot for the tv series; but, Universal decided to try it in theaters first. The tv version had some slightly different scenes and a new coda, setting up the series. This one is great fun, with the Draconian's plotting to destroy the earth; but, Buck has been thawed out and has a thing or two to say about it. Lots of fun, in the grand tradition.

The tv series followed the movie and gave us all kinds of space opera fun, with more skirmishes with the Draconians, space pirates, slavers, terrorists and many other baddies. Buster Crabbe turned up in the two-part Planet of the Slave-Girls, as Brigadier Gordon, as an homage to his roles as the original Buck and Flash Gordon. When Buck compliments him on his shooting, he replies, "I've been doing that sort of thing since before you were born!" Of course, buck was born 500 years in the past...

Horrible, horrible Star Wars knockoff, that had nothing to do with the HG Wells novel (or the film, Things to Come) or anything with a connection to quality or even entertainment.