En el año 1987, la NASA lanzó la sonda espacial Ranger III, con el astronauta William "Buck" Rogers, en un viaje de 5 meses alrededor del sistema solar. Sin embargo, la nave se encuentra con una tormenta de meteoritos, que interrumpe su sistema de soporte de vida y lo envía en una larga órbita elíptica de la Tierra. En el año 2491, el Ranger III se acerca de nuevo a la Tierra, y es interceptada por el buque insignia extranjero Draconia, que está en una misión de paz a la Tierra. A bordo de la Draconia, Buck es revivido por la princesa Ardala y su segundo al mando, Kane, cuyo plan es atacar y conquistar la Tierra. Buck se envía a la Tierra con un dispositivo de rastreo oculto, que pronto se descubre por la Dirección de Defensa de la Tierra. Después de que Buck convence a los seres humanos de su verdadera identidad - un hombre del pasado - que les ayuda a repeler el ataque de los draconianos, con la ayuda de los mecanoides Dr. Theopolis y Twiki.

Most of Earth's defense squadron becomes incapacitated after ingesting poisoned food discs. Buck travels to the planet of the food's origin, Vistula, with Wilma and flight instructor Duke Danton (Groh), an old boyfriend of Wilma's. On the planet, they trace the plot to a man named Kaleel (Palance) who has been selling slaves to the planet's governor (McDowall) and secretly building an attack fleet. With so few fighter pilots, Earth's defense force is now outnumbered 10-to-1. Buck must rescue Wilma from Kaleel's mountain fortress and destroy the fleet before they can reach Earth. This episode was initially aired as

Buck is sent to the gambling city Sinaloa with Directorate special agent Marla Landers to rescue a young woman who has been kidnapped by the city's ruler, Velosi. Velosi plans to extract some information from the woman's mind in order to destroy one of his competitors. The information involves plans for the Draconian Hatchet fighters, which have been plaguing Earth's defense forces.

Some time before Buck Roger's arrival, Col. Wilma Deering had set out to capture two interstellar gun runners. A fire in their spacecraft left them disfigured and they now set out to take their revenge on Wilma and Earth. Capturing a freighter with 20th Century chemical weapons, they plan to poison the planet's atmosphere. With the aid of retired members of the Earth Defense Directorate's 69th Squadron, Buck and Wilma attack the gun runners' base to destroy them and the chemical weapons.

Princess Ardala returns to try to make Buck, who she considers the most genetically perfect male in the galaxy, her husband. With a powerful weapon poised in Earth orbit, she commands Earth's leaders to turn Buck Rogers over to her or else...

Buck is haunted by the appearance of a young woman who bears a striking resemblance to Jennifer, a woman who Buck left behind when he was propelled into the 25th Century. He follows her, finds out her name is Leila Markeson, and soon discovers that she was made to look like Jennifer in order to lure Buck into a trap set by an alien who wants Buck to stop a space freighter from delivering weapons to a planet his people hope to conquer. Buck gets Wilma to detonate a warhead to deceive the aliens into thinking the shipment is destroyed. Buck defeats the enemy, but loses Leila, and his lost love again, as she tearfully dies in his arms.