Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)

In 1987, NASA astronaut Captain William "Buck" Rogers is piloting the space shuttle Ranger 3 when he flies into an unexpected space phenomenon and is frozen for 504 years. In the year 2491, his shuttle is found drifting in space by the alien ship Draconia, which is headed to Earth for a trade conference, under the command of Princess Ardala and her aide de camp, Kane, a former native of Earth. Rogers is revived from his cryogenic sleep and is sent on his way home. It turns out though the Draconians are actually planning to conquer the Earth through staged pirate attacks on Earth's shipping fleet, forcing Earth to seek a treaty with the Draconians and unwittingly opening up their defenses to the invaders. They plant a homing beacon aboard Roger's shuttle to track a way past Earth's planet-wide defense shield.

Buck is escorted to New Chicago, where he is interrogated and learns that Earth has been rebuilt over the centuries in his absence following a nuclear holocaust. While in New Chicago, he makes the acquaintance of Colonel Wilma Deering, an Earth defense officer, Dr. Huer, the leader of Earth's Defense Directorate, the AI computer Dr. Theopolis, and the robot drone Twiki who becomes his assistant. Against advice, Buck ventures outside the city to the ruins of old Chicago in an attempt to prove what he has been told is real. There he is accosted by several mutants, but is rescued by Wilma who arrives with a squad of troops. Buck returns to the Inner City, however, when the Draconian tracking device is found aboard his ship, the authorities accuse Buck of espionage. Buck claims the Draconians set him up, and eventually Deering decides to test Buck's claims by flying up to the Draconia and meeting Princess Ardala and Kane. Before Buck and his companions can discover some evidence about their true agenda, the Draconians stage a pirate attack on their own ship to throw off any suspicion. Initially, Deering's fighter squadron takes heavy losses due to their reliance on combat computers, which are easily outmaneouvered by the Draconians, but then Buck decides to use his old-fashioned dogfight training and easily defeats the attackers.

At the official diplomatic reception, Ardala, who has taken a liking to Buck, invites him back to the Draconia, but Buck merely goes along to find out the truth behind the Draconians. After drugging Ardala, he explores the ship and discovers their plans to attack Earth, which is imminent. Dr. Theopolis and Twiki, who have followed Buck aboard, eventually meet up with him and alert Earth to the Draconian threat. Wilma immediately scrambles Earth's starfighters and attacks the Draconia, while Buck sabotages the Draconian bomber fleet prepared to attack Earth. During the battle, the Draconia is critically damaged, but Buck, Theopolis and Twiki are rescued again by Wilma before the ship explodes. Ardala and Kane also escape the Draconia's destruction in a shuttlecraft, and Kane vows to return and to take his revenge on Rogers.