Battle Beyond the Stock Footage

[Andrew]

Watched "Space Raiders" lately.  Some pirates accidentally kidnap a bowl-haircut-wearing little kid and then spend the rest of the movie trying to return him to his parents.  I was proud to recognize the one alien as Hawk from the "Buck Roger" series right away - even under that big alien makeup job.

All of the space scenes are straight out of "Battle Beyond the Stars," so I started trying to figure out just how many films use bits from "Battle."  There are a lot.

[Steven Millan]

                       Indeed there are(a lot of films that do this),Andrew,for even Jim Wynorski and Fred Olen Ray have freely borrowed footage from that famous 1980 sci-fi classic,just to spice up their films.
                      I'm just waiting for the moment when somebody borrow Sybil Danning's space Amazon(St. Exmin)scenes,and use either Pamela Anderson or Julie Strain doubling as Danning, for their films(if that succeeds,they'll then do that with John Saxon's,George Peppard's, and Robert Vaughn's scenes,and double them with the hottest B actor of the moment).

[Squishy]

"Ship..the ship...has...boobs, Spock!
Boobship! Eeeeeeeeeee!!
...I'm afraid to see what else it has.

[Fearless Freep]

All of the space scenes are straight out of "Battle Beyond the Stars," so I started trying to figure out just how many films use bits from "Battle." There are a lot.

I did a sorta informal count  just  of the movies I'd seen where I recognized footage from "Battle Beyond The Stars" and I think I'd seen about nine or ten that I could remember

[Flangepart]

What ever ya do, Squishy....don't look at the rear loading port. Ewwww....just remembered the The Fen in an episode of " Crusade"The B-five follow on show. They find these giant creatures in hyperspace, and one of them tries to...well....mate with the Excaliber. He he he......i should slap myself for thinkin ' of that cross over!

[Dano]

I guess now we know why they call a ship "she."  I vaguely remember seeing Space Raiders in the movie theater.  My dad left me and my sister and brother there about twenty minutes into it and was waiting out front when the movie ended.  Said something about not wanting to listen to the kid (in the movie) for one more second.  He was not a bad movie fan.

Question:  Was Buck Rogers a movie in the theater?  My brother says he is certain it was a TV movie pilot that got picked up for a show, but I would swear I saw it in the movies when I was real little.  But I've never seen it on video which supports his argument.

[Andrew]

I have the "Buck Rogers" pilot/movie on VHS.  To my knowledge, it was just that - a TV pilot.  Never saw it on a theater billboard.

[Mitch McAfee]

yes Andrew you are correct ...the Buck Rogers movie was a TV pilot. However in Europe & here in Australia it was released theatrically.

[Squishy]

Actually, the "Buck Rogers" pilot was released theatrically in the US as well. I saw it in Florida. The opening sequence was a VERY low-budget James Bond knock-off, with scantily-clad "space nymphos" sliding around the "Buck Rogers In The 25th Century" logo, to a vocalized version of the theme song (UGH)*. I forget whether the logo was a 3-D object or just painted onto a surface, but it was physically present. VERY low-budget indeed. The rest of the pilot was pretty much what was shown on telly.**

(Universal also released "Battlestar Galactica" theatrically, but I watched neither the movie or the show. I do remember the movie was advertised as "in Sensurround," for crying out loud.)

*If you search really hard on Google, you can find a page to download the song from. God have mercy upon your misbegotten soul.

**Correction! From "Alternate Versions" at the IMDB listing:

"--When the movie was broadcast on network TV in 1979 as the first episode of the spin-off TV series, a few changes were made. The original, sensual opening credits sequence was replaced with a simple starfield, some of Buck's more suggestive comments to Wilma were cut and Tigerman's death was removed (allowing the character to return in later episodes). Most notably, a newly filmed epilogue was added, introducing viewers to Buck's apartment, the notion of Buck working for Dr. Huer and New Chicago and, most memorably for fans of actress Erin Gray, it marked the first appearance of Wilma's trademark catsuit.

--The TV version of the film (called "Awakening") features scenes in Buck's 25th century apartment that was not seen in the theatrical version. The epilogue dialogue / setup for the TV series also takes place here."

[Squishy]

Oh, thanks a LOT, Flangepart! Now I giggle uncontrollably when I hear the phrase "docking procedure" and have an equally uncontrollable urge to watch the MST3K version of "Riding With Death." (I tried to come up with a gag linking death by explosive airlock decompression menstruation, but nevermind.)   :)

"'Coming up on your mud flaps'...people have such cute names for sex...(sings) I'll sing you to sleep...after the truckin' wears off."
--Mike and the 'Bots

[Squishy]

Correction: "...death by explosive airlock decompression AND menstruation." May the image in your head be equally disturbing!

[ErikJ]

Squishy wrote:
>
> Actually, the "Buck Rogers" pilot was released theatrically
> in the US as well. I saw it in Florida. The opening sequence
> was a VERY low-budget James Bond knock-off, with
> scantily-clad "space nymphos" sliding around the "Buck Rogers
> In The 25th Century" logo, to a vocalized version of the
> theme song (UGH)*. I forget whether the logo was a 3-D object
> or just painted onto a surface, but it was physically
> present. VERY low-budget indeed. The rest of the pilot was
> pretty much what was shown on telly.**
>
> (Universal also released "Battlestar Galactica" theatrically,
> but I watched neither the movie or the show. I do remember
> the movie was advertised as "in Sensurround," for crying out
> loud.)
>
> *If you search really hard on Google, you can find a page to
> download the song from. God have mercy upon your misbegotten
> soul.
>
> **Correction! From "Alternate Versions" at the
> IMDB listing:
>
> "--When the movie was broadcast on network TV in 1979 as the
> first episode of the spin-off TV series, a few changes were
> made. The original, sensual opening credits sequence was
> replaced with a simple starfield, some of Buck's more
> suggestive comments to Wilma were cut and Tigerman's death
> was removed (allowing the character to return in later
> episodes). Most notably, a newly filmed epilogue was added,
> introducing viewers to Buck's apartment, the notion of Buck
> working for Dr. Huer and New Chicago and, most memorably for
> fans of actress Erin Gray, it marked the first appearance of
> Wilma's trademark catsuit.
>
> --The TV version of the film (called "Awakening") features
> scenes in Buck's 25th century apartment that was not seen in
> the theatrical version. The epilogue dialogue / setup for the
> TV series also takes place here."



I remember seeing it in the theater as well. My co-workers think I'm nuts but I remember it. I saw it with my dad who took us to see every sci-fi film that came out at that time.(God rest his soul) I try to do the same with my kids

[BoyScoutKevin]

I, too, can remember seeing "Buck Rogers" in a movie theater, here in the U.S.

[Flangepart]

Ewwwwww!
....Are you saying Frank Poole was a tampon, Squishy?
....I saw the "Cattlecar Galaxitive" movie, with sensaround too. Diden't have anything better to do, that night, and the gang was easily amused....
....Twiki. Right up there with Muffet in the "Annoying Android & Rancid Robot" catagory. Curse you, Glenn Larson! How many robots could follow Twiki into the realm of "Robot Kenny"? Garf!
....Oh, wait...it wasen't Poole...it was Dave. Dave? Dave's not here, man.....
....Twiki....Muffet....lets name some other bots we'd like to see Crow and tom Servo feed into the trash compactor.

[Fearless Freep]

ARgh!  They have the video for Buck Rogers at the local video store I frequent.  Now I'll have to pick it up to see if it's the theatircal release or the pilot TV show