Buck Rogers in The 25th Century (TV Series) - Merchandise

Merchandise

Two novels were published by Dell Publishing based on this series, both by Addison E. Steele. The first (ISBN 0-440-10843-8) was a novelization of the pilot film. The second, That Man on Beta (ISBN 0-440-10948-5), was adapted from an unproduced episode script.

A fumetti book entitled Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was published by Fotonovel Publications in 1979.

Gold Key Comics published fourteen issues of a Buck Rogers in the 25th Century comic book based upon the show. The first couple of issues adapted the movie, but picked up the numbering from a Buck Rogers revival in the 1960s. The comic books started with issue number two, because issue number one was published in the year 1964 in the style of the old comic strips. Starting with issue five, new adventures were created in the series continuity. The first three issues (two - four) were reprinted in a "Giant Movie Edition" and was distributed by Marvel Comics. Artists on the series included Al McWilliams, Frank Bolle and Jose Delbo. Ironically, the comic outlived the series by several months. Issue number ten was never published and this comic book series was cancelled after issue number sixteen. The comic book remained within the continuity of Season 1 and did not feature any characters from Season 2.

A strip based on the television series also ran in two publications in the UK: 'Look-In' with 64 weekly installments covering 10 separate adventures between autumn 1980 and early 1982, and 'TV Tops', which picked up the rights from 1982 for two shorter runs. Both were based on the format of the first year of the series.

Two sets of action figures were produced by Mego, including a 12" line and a series of 3.75" figures and scaled spaceships. Milton-Bradley produced a Buck Rogers board game and a series of jigsaw puzzles. Other companies produced a variety of tie-ins, including model kits of the spaceships from Monogram, die-cast toys from Corgi, Topps trading cards, and a painted metal lunch box.

In 2011, Zica Toys began production of a new line of action figures based on the TV series. These 8" action figures are loosely based on Mego designs, but as noted above, Mego did not produce an 8" line of Buck Rogers figures, so Zica's line is actually the first line of 8", cloth-costumed action figures based on the TV series. Characters planned include Buck Rogers, Hawk, Killer Kane, Tigerman, and Draconian Warriors.

The popularity of the TV series led to the revival of the Buck Rogers newspaper strip, daily and Sunday, drawn by Gray Morrow and written by Jim Lawrence. The strip ran from September 9, 1979 to October 26, 1980, and was reprinted in its entirety, with the Sundays in color, in a large trade paperback.