Wilma Deering co-starred with Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,
the first Space-Hero, which was a comic strip in the 1930's. Larry (Buster) Crabbe
played both Buck and his rocketing rival Flash Gordon in the movies. |
Wilma was Colonel Deering in the newspapers, but the
movie serial only let her rank as a Lieutenant.
Big Band singer Constance Moore played her in 1938. Model Erin Gray did the role
40 years later.
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| Wilma
Deering meets Buck Rogers as he first reports to Dr. Huer after a five hundred
year sleep. The world of the 25th Century looks like Just Imagine -- the
1930 comedy where Flash Gordon's prop rocket ship originated. | This
serial has it's OWN style of noisy rocket craft. 20th Century aviator Rogers immediately
volunteers to make a mad dash to Planet Saturn. Lt. Deering knows how to fly a
spaceship, and saves their lives almost immediately. |
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| Later,
while running a blockade by bad guy Killer Kane's space forces, Wilma and Buck
are both captured. He is sent to a work gang, and she is imprisoned. | Wilma
bides her time until she wrests a ray gun from a stupid guard and breaks out of
her cell. Deering may be generally quiet, but she is also lethally efficient.
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| Wilma
purposefully races away to save Buck from Kane's prison. She encounters insufferable
20th Century cliche-sidekick 'Buddy,' but she also has a plan ... | Deering
lets her hair down, and enlists the help of this rather dumb, but brawny, teenager
in her quest to rescue Buck from the bowels of Killer Kane's dungeons.
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| Wilma
guides them through Art Deco corridors, while 'Buddy' runs along like a duck dog.
Patrols are looking for them, but they must be searching the wrong buildings! | There
ain't no place anything like this place around this place, so this must be the
place! Wilma straps her helmet back on, and they both reconoiter the battleground. |
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| Killer
Kane, gangster and dictator, spots Wilma on his Snoop - O - Scope, but it is too
late to stop her from executing her plan, and some more of his guards. | Deering
fights off Kane's attackers, and throws handy gas bombs, while 'Buddy' quickly
separates Buck Rogers from the work gang. They all escape through the haze.
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| Buck,
Buddy, and Wilma rush to the spaceport, where they scramble to steal a ship. Deering
knows how they operate, so she is able to start one without the keys. | Kane's
pursuing goons barely reach the spaceport doors as Wilma and her crew blow more
smoke in their frustrated faces and rocket back to home base. |
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| Lt.
Deering deserves a promotion for her own jailbreak, and the liberation of her
ally Buck -- 'Buddy' will eventually get a medal for surviving his own stupidity. | Wilma
returns to kindly Dr. Huer in the Hidden City of Earth, but there will be more
inventions to test (and fail) and more adventures in the 25th Century spaceways. |
|
Buck Rogers is the property of it's copyright holders. All images
are used for scholastic purposes ONLY in the context of this article.
Text and graphic design copyright by Michael R. Evans 2007 |
