Starring Gil Gerard in the title role and Erin Gray as Colonel Wilma Deering, it was produced by Glen A. Larson who co-wrote the screenplay with Leslie Stevens, based on the character Buck Rogers which was created by Philip Francis Nowlan in 1928.

They plant a homing beacon aboard Buck's shuttle to track a direction through Earth's planet-wide defense shield.

During his time in the city, Buck meets Dr. Elias Huer, the leader of Earth's Defense Directorate, the AI computer Dr. Theopolis, and the robot drone Twiki, with the latter two attempting to help him adjust to his current surroundings.

During the meeting, the pirate ships (actually Draconian marauders) attack their flagship as a diversion, but Buck manages to destroy them single-handedly, thus earning Wilma's respect.

Inspired by the massive success of Star Wars the previous year, Universal began developing Buck Rogers for television, spearheaded by Glen A. Larson, who had a production deal with the studio.

Production began in 1978, however, the pilot for Larson's other sci-fi series, Battlestar Galactica (1978), had been theatrically released in some countries and in key locations in North America, and had done well at the box office.

Scenes were deleted, others added to link to the ongoing series, the fate of one deceased character was revised so that he survived (Tigerman, who, in the movie was incinerated off-camera by an exploding bomb), and the suggestive opening credit sequence was replaced with a more generic version.

[3] Princess Ardala's father, Emperor Draco (played by Joseph Wiseman), originally had several scenes that were ultimately deleted.

However, the television version of the movie was finally released on DVD as a bonus feature in a reissued boxed set of Season Two on January 8, 2013.

Kino Lorber released a single-disc Blu-ray of the theatrical cut on November 24, 2020, featuring a new 2K master and finally preserving the movie's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.