- [Buck and Wilma, flying Starfighters, witness Hatchet Fighters - both unaware that they are Draconian craft - slaughter a small squadron of Starfighters]
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: [shutting off his fighter's Combat Computer] Colonel, I'm switching to Manual and see if I can start dishing out what we've been taking!
- Colonel Wilma Deering: Buck Rogers, I'm ordering you back to the base!
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: [ignoring Wilma and sensing a Hatchet Fighter maneuvering to attack] Now then, let's see how you like a little old-fashioned Red Dogging!
- [Buck outmaneuvers the Hatchet Fighter, then spots another and blasts it to pieces]
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: One sacked. Six to go.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: [blasting a second enemy craft] Gotcha!
- [after blasting two more Hatchet Fighters, Buck notices two others closing on Wilma]
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Colonel, take it down! Straight down! Then hit your retros!
- Colonel Wilma Deering: [oblivious to the ineffectiveness of her Combat Computer] I can't! It's against all principles of modern aerial combat!
- [the Hatchet Fighters open fire, but Buck blasts them from high port side]
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Ha! That's called punching your linebackers.
- Colonel Wilma Deering: For a man that is legendary five centuries old, you seem highly opinionated.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: You're right. It's none of my business how you blow up your world. My generation didn't know what they were doing either.
- Princess Ardala: [after Tigerman has been removed for questioning] You have some explaining to do.
- Kane: I have some explaining to do?
- Princess Ardala: [smiling proudly] Tomorrow, I conquer Earth.
- Kane: Tomorrow, *we* conquer Earth, your Highness.
- Kane: We would be rulers of Earth now if you hadn't let Buck Rogers on board!
- Princess Ardala: He wouldn't have been necessary if you were more of a man.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: I lost everything that was important to me: a mother, father, brothers, sisters, a woman I cared for.
- Colonel Wilma Deering: I have something I would like to say.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Well, I...
- Colonel Wilma Deering: I thought you were a spy, Captain Rogers.
- [Wilma approaches Buck]
- Colonel Wilma Deering: I was wrong.
- [they kiss for a long moment. While kissing, Buck looks at his watch]
- Colonel Wilma Deering: [smiles] Would you like to go someplace?
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Um, I, uh, I'm not up to that yet. I've been out of it for quite a while. 500 years. I've got to go easy on re-entry.
- [Buck walks away]
- Narrator: For 500 years, Captain William "Buck" Rogers has been miraculously preserved, frozen by temperatures beyond imagination. Now, in Earth year 2491, he is rudely awakened by the sinister forces of the Draconian realm.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Do you have any idea what it's like for me, being totally alone? Look, I'm not just a visitor out of another place. I'm out of another time!
- Princess Ardala: [referring to Tigerman] Get him out! Execute him!
- Kane: No!
- [to a Draconian security guard]
- Kane: Remove him for questioning.
- Princess Ardala: You dare countermand my order?
- Kane: Under the circumstances, yes!
- [to the Draconian security guard]
- Kane: Do as I say!
- Kane: This was your doing, Your Highness! I oughta leave you here to burn up with the ship, but I want you alive to answer to your father. I have an emergency escape shuttle ready to leave now. It'll take us far enough away to reach your father's ships.
- Colonel Wilma Deering: Attention, alien spacecraft. Do you read?
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Watch who you're calling "alien." You don't look so familiar yourself, you know. Who are you?
- Colonel Wilma Deering: Please restrict your answers to yes and no. You are in grave danger.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: From who, you?
- Colonel Wilma Deering: You are traversing a narrow corridor into our Inner Cities.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Inner what? Look, lady...
- Colonel Wilma Deering: Colonel Deering. Now please be quiet. If you deviate from my orders by so much a thousand yards, you will burned into vapors - do you understand?
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Vapors? Yeah, yeah, I understand. What do I do?
- Colonel Wilma Deering: Do you have manual override?
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Sure.
- Colonel Wilma Deering: Then follow me very closely.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Be right on your tail.
- Colonel Wilma Deering: You're doing just fine.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Da svedanya.
- Colonel Wilma Deering: I beg your pardon?
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: I'm just trying to be friendly.
- Colonel Wilma Deering: Violating our airspace is an act of war, not friendship.
- Dr. Theopolis: Well, now, what an attractive man you are, Captain Buck Rogers.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Now, look. I've been waiting 24 hours to find out where I am, who I am, who you are. Could I have some answers?
- Dr. Theopolis: Certainly, Buck. That's why I'm here - to answer your questions.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Let's have it.
- Dr. Theopolis: Well, you're Captain Buck Rogers, and according to your ship's log, you left Earth in 1987.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: That much I know. Tell me what I don't know.
- Dr. Theopolis: Well, if preliminary data hold up, it appears you have returned to Earth 504 years later. You are now in the 25th century.
- [Buck has a long shocked expression]
- Dr. Theopolis: Buck? Are you all right, Buck? Did you hear me? Buck?
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: I think I will have that drink now.
- Twiki: L'Chaim.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: This is where my parents are buried. Well, at least I know part of it.
- Dr. Theopolis: We can't stay long, Buck. We're being followed.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: What happened? There's only one stone, no date.
- Dr. Theopolis: Only a few fortunate ones were buried at all. It happened so fast, families were buried together. Dates became unimportant as all systems broke down. Finally, there were no more armies or fighting. Only starvation, contamination and lingering death.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: I wish I'd been with 'em.
- Dr. Theopolis: You can't go back, Buck. The past is gone. But you can still help us with our future. If there is a future.
- Kane: Your Highness, some of the ministers would like a few minutes.
- Princess Ardala: Later, Kane.
- Kane: Business of the realm comes first! Your father expects you to serve the best interests of the realm. If you don't, he has 29 other daughters that will!
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: [stuns Tigerman with a blaster and picks him up] Holy gee! Let's see if we can find your jammies now.
- Dr. Theopolis: Don't move, Captain Rogers.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Theo, Twiki, what are you doing here?
- Dr. Theopolis: This isn't going to be pleasant for any of us.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Will you guys get out of here? I got work to do.
- Dr. Theopolis: We can see that, you traitor.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Can't you see what's happening?
- Dr. Theopolis: I'd say someone is about to bomb Earth.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Do you recognize these ships?
- Dr. Theopolis: No, but I don't see how that's very important...
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: They're pirate ships.
- Dr. Theopolis: Why would there be pirate ships aboard a Draconian flagship? I'm sorry. You'll have to do better than that. Now come with us.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: No. Look, you half-baked load of electronic gibberish. I don't expect you to know everything, but have you ever heard of loading bombs into the tailpipe of a rocket ship?
- Dr. Theopolis: [Twiki chirps] You be quiet, Twiki. I'm getting confused.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Well, maybe I can "unconfuse" you. There are no pirate ships. There never were. Those are Draconian bombers disguised as marauders. They've been harassing your shipping lanes in order to force you into a treaty with Draconia.
- Dr. Theopolis: Of course. It's ingenious, if true.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: You got ten seconds to make up your mind who you believe in, me or Kane.
- Princess Ardala: And what of our intruder is so important it could not wait, Kane?
- Kane: The man lives. I am not sure why.
- Princess Ardala: You're not sure why? Is this a puzzle for me to decipher?
- Kane: The puzzle is for me to decipher. The ship is antiquated - unlike anything I've seen in the star system, or outside of history books, for that matter.
- Princess Ardala: Kane, please.
- Kane: He was frozen by a combination of gases - oxygen, cryogen, ozone, methalon. Almost a perfect balance.
- Princess Ardala: Well, these are techniques used throughout the galaxy for terminal illness and disease.
- Kane: Yes, today. However, there is another matter - the man's ship.
- Princess Ardala: Kane, you have one more minute.
- Kane: His instrumentation was stopped, frozen solid in the year 1987.
- Princess Ardala: Are you telling me...
- Kane: That the man may be 500 years old.
- Princess Ardala: You're serious.
- Kane: Yes. Frozen by elements so instantaneous and perfect that he is fully preserved and living.
- Princess Ardala: Hmm. What a fascination thought. Preserved young or preserved old?
- Kane: Very young.
- Princess Ardala: Any defects from the ordeal?
- Kane: Fortunately for him, we're quite advanced in cryogenics.
- Princess Ardala: Hmm. Well, I've never met a 500-year-old man. Prepare him for an audience.
- Kane: I'm afraid that he's liable to be not too coherent.
- Princess Ardala: I'll make allowances.
- Colonel Wilma Deering: We owe you a great deal more than an apology, Buck, especially me. I confess. I thought the princess had you beguiled.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Well, I will say she had the nicest set of... horns at the ball.
- Dr. Theopolis: Yes, it was an attractive hat.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: [Talking about his apartment] Oh, now, come on. Come on. Drop that 25th century mind-over-emotion stuff. Deep down inside, you really like this place, don't you? Huh?
- Colonel Wilma Deering, Dr. Elias Huer: [Long look around] No.
- Dr. Theopolis: Be a good drone, Twiki, and place me on the table where I can get a good look at the captain while you get him some liquid refreshment.
- [Twiki chirps]
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: That's all right. I don't need any liquid refreshment.
- Dr. Theopolis: Of course you do. You're extremely dehydrated from your ordeal, Buck. If I may call you Buck. Now rung along, Twiki, and get Captain Rogers his drink.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Are you a real, live princess?
- [laughs]
- Princess Ardala: I think we've given our captain a little too much medication.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: No, no, I feel great.
- Dr. Elias Huer: How do you do, Captain Rogers? My name's Dr. Huer. I'm very pleased to meet you.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Just what's going on? Where am I and what are you doing to me?
- Dr. Elias Huer: Well, we're studying you. It's all electronic and painless. But so far we're as boggled as you are by what's happened. But your testing is producing the most phenomenal data.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Terrific. Well, what is happening? If I'm dead, I obviously didn't make it to heaven. So, just what planet is this?
- Dr. Elias Huer: What planet? Oh, it's Earth, of course. You returned as your mission required to almost the precise landing area originally programed into your ship.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: Uh-huh. Uh, look, Doc. Now, I've been through a lot. But there is no way you can tell me that that city out there is anything like Chicago.
- Dr. Elias Huer: No, it isn't. There's nothing like Chicago left on Earth.
- Capt. William "Buck" Rogers: [after knocking out the guard and donning his outfit and helmet] Well, it's not Gucci, but what the hell...