The show's premise is that Buck Rogers, a test pilot, and his friend, Colonel Wilma Deering (played by Mel Blanc in a few episodes as a voice, and then Tim O'Connor taking over the Colonel role with Ernie Prunetti for another), are on a mission when they are caught in a radiation storm. Buck's ship, the Ranger 3, is damaged, and they are forced to put the ship into suspended animation to survive. However, due to a malfunction, they awaken 504 years later, on January 27, 3045.