Thursday, April 7, 2011

Awesome Characters - Wilma Deering

"Oh Buck Rogers, does that mean that we will be together for always?"


There are characters we fall in love with. The perfect mix of actor and writer that breathes magic onto the screen or inside the television.

She was the Girl Friday for the future, a hellova fighter pilot, a stalwart defender of Earth, and a true friend to Buck Rogers. And for those who grew up in the late 1970's and early 1980's there was one, and only one, version of Wilma Deering worth mentioning.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century gave us the adventures of Captain William "Buck" Rogers who was frozen in time only to be awoken in the year 2491. There he would meet friends, enemies, and more than a few beautiful women in need of his help.

When first introduced Wilma was cold, calculating, and distrustful of Buck and his wild stories. However, over the course of the series Wilma warms to Buck and learned to let down her guard. She was smart, talented, beautiful, and loyal. (And it certainly didn't hurt that she was almost always clad in a form-fitting one-piece jumpsuit that made you wish future fashion couldn't get here soon enough.)

The character was played by the lovely Erin Gray. And over the course of Buck Rogers' two seasons Wilma fought terrorists, crime lords, Draconian thugs, strange riddles, lizard men, mutants, aliens, and even a space vampire (in Gray's favorite episode). I had the honor of meeting her at a local Comicon a couple of years back and can say she's as warm, lovely, and awesome today in person as she was more than two decades ago on television.




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