on the 1979 television series "buck rogers in the 25th century", kane is reimagined as a defector from earth to the draconian realm, a powerful empire said to have conquered three quarters of the known universe. known simply as "kane" in this version, he is the supreme commander of the draconian forces under emperor draco. while the original killer kane was the absolute leader, on the tv series, kane answers to draco and (grudgingly) his daughter princess ardala, who acts as draco's emissary (although princess ardala did not appear in the 1939 serial). in this version, ardala is a princess (which she was not in the original comic strips) who also commands kane (in the comics, it was ardala who was kane's subordinate). in the 1979 pilot film, the role was played by henry silva while on the follow-up series, he was played by michael ansara. the two portrayals are somewhat different. silva's kane was much cooler and more calculating who often took a firm hand with ardala whom he had designs on, whereas ansara's kane was more subservient to ardala.