Dirk Benedict On Galactica, 'Life' And Adapting To Ever Changing Situations
Source Dirk Benedict Central

8 August 2002

By Battlestar Galactica and A - Team Fans Everywhere

On July 28th Tracy B webmistress of DirkbenedictCentral put word out to the colonial fleet of Bulltetin boards across all majer BG fans sites that Dirk Benedict was volinteering his time to do a blanket interview with 10 fan sites across the internet. Sadly we here at Sci Fi Pulse missed the opportunity due to upgrades and various other things however the 10 websites that did participate in this blanket Q&A session aquitted themselves and rose to the challenge like true Colonial warriors. This was a rare opportunity for both fans of The A - Team and Battlestar Galactica because Dirk due too time constraints in his work and family life does not give out to many interviews. Below is a complete transcript of all the questions that Dirk answered as well as hyperlinks to all participating websites.

QUESTIONS FROM A-TEAM FANDOM

Hollywood of late and Universal studios in particular are leaning more to Re-imagining old TV formats and one of the most contraversial re-imaginings other than that of Battlestar Galactica is a movie version of The - A Team.

CRAIG ROBERTSON
Questions: Webmaster: Ateamresource: http://www.ateamresource.com

Q) What is your favorite memory from your time spent on the set of the A-Team?

DIRK: The day they fired Melinda Culea. Just kidding. My favorite memory is the first day I worked on the show (I wasn't in the pilot) and George Peppard was watching me work and after a scene he came up to me and said, "Great. I'm glad you are here. Now we have a hit." Incidentally, he was never that nice to me again.

Q) Which person did you get along with most, George Peppard, Mr. T or Dwight Schultz, why?

DIRK: Got along with all of them. Loved all of them. But Dwight and I became and remain very close. I respect him on many levels. As an actor, intellect, father and most of all for his passion for life. A difficult guy to be around as his very presence challenges you. Rare. And wonderful.

Q) If you are not playing the part of Faceman in the new A-Team movie, who would you choose?

DIRK: I will not be playing the part of Faceman. That I can guarantee. They would rather have Brandon de Wilde (and he's dead) than me. I can't think of anyone. Mel Gibson would have been great but he and I look the same age and so I assume he is now too old in studio's eyes. Owen Wilson comes to mind. And one of the actors from Friends TV show, can't remember his name. The one who got married on the show. Tallest of the bunch. Name escapes me. Not the slouchy one, or the one with the spiky hair, think his name is Mathew Perry, but then it might be the "other" one. Brad Pitt is not good enough at light comedy. George Clooney is too self confident. Faceman was always "off balance" and considered himself to be better at everything than he actually was. A basic low self-esteem issue. A (very) young James Garner would be perfect. Better yet, Jack Lemmon.

JIPSTER
Questions: Co-ordinator: Action Replay Convention (A-Team fandom) http://www.actionreplay2003.com

Q) What do you emotionally take away with you after meeting the fans and how does it feel to have so many loyal fans?

DIRK: It is a paradox. At once it is sweet, humbling and wonderful and tiring and depressing. Depressing only because they are fans of work I did 20 years ago. Part of the past. Also I am a writer and now a director and consider my work in those areas to be more interesting and important. If I were not busy being a Dad and raising my two boys perhaps I would be working still in Hollywood and have more current examples of my work as an actor and it would make it easier to talk to people. I am not a person who looks backwards, don't keep scrap books, rest on laurels and so it is hard to spend days dealing with something I did 15-20 years ago. Like going to a High School Reunion over and over and over and being told how wonderful you were "back then". Can make you feel like life is over.

Q) With 2003 marking 20 years since the A-Team first hit the TV screens, how important is that an event for you personally - how much do you think the A-Team deserves to be remembered as a TV classic?

DIRK: Oh I think it is very much a classic and with time the qualities that made it unique become more and more apparent. The production value alone is amazing. Nobody makes a show like that anymore. It is too difficult and very hard to find actors who can do that kind of comedy that fast (without rehearsal). It has always been seen as just a "gimmick" show by Hollywood but it was not the explosions or special effects that made the show popular, they were frosting on the cake of good writing and very funny performances. Also the conservative politics of the show make it one of a kind in today's soft liberal leftist world of sit-coms.

Q) How do you feel about the acting profession now in America/Hollywood - if you were setting off on your path today do you think you would have still become an actor?

DIRK: Yes, but I would have stayed in New York and on the stage. Today's "actors" are not interesting in acting but in being rich and famous. So they are very good at selling themselves, getting publicists, managers etc. The real work is in getting a "team" behind you, not in being a great actor. Most actors have a "quality" and hope it will make them a star. It is the dream to be celebrity that drives actors (and all of America) not acting in classical sense. A real actor just confuses them.

QUESTIONS FROM BATTLESTAR GALACTICA FANDOM

Dirk is as remembered as much for his role as LT Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica as he is for his role of Face Man from The A - Team. During the revival efferts for BG Dirk has chosen to take a back seat due to again time constraints and a desire to work on his own projects and look out for his family. During the course of these questions Dirk reveals his thoughts on the revival as well as the re-imagining but more importantly informed his many fans on the many projects that he has been working on.

MICHAEL FARIES
Questions: Webmaster BSG.com: http://www.battlestargalactica.com

Q) You know your Starbuck character better than anyone. Can you provide deeper, personal insights into how you identify with him, how you played the character, any inspirations you used?

[Personal note: If you could share many of the ideas which you and Tom discussed about your character, the direction you hoped to take Starbuck, etc. -- that would be great.]

DIRK: Since Tom DeSanto's dream for BSG (and Starbuck) is deader than the 5 cent stamp I think it a waste of time to go on at length on "what could have been". I will only say, that I was excited to play Starbuck 20 years older. The same man. Still drinking, smoking and chasing women, but at 50 it has a completely different resonance than when you are in your 20's. This would have been interesting. Full of pathos. Still romantic and in a way charming and enticing but also lonely and a bit sad. Show what happens to a man who refuses to "grow up". Literature is full of this archetype. Tom agreed with me on these things. We would not have made him politically correct. Married, children, quit smoking, quit drinking etc. etc. Would have been wonderful and I think the fans would have enjoyed it extremely and he would have bee marvelous tool (character) by which to introduce all the young and the new stars of the revival. All not to be.

Q) Macrobiotics, personal philosophies: You have shared incredible insights in your two books, "Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy" and "And Then We Went Fishing." Are there additional insights about your diet/macrobiotic focus that you want to share? Are there any recent philosophical teachings/interests that you'd like to pass along? (Anything particular on your mind lately?)

DIRK: This question deserves another book. Which I may some day get around to doing, now that I won't be acting in BSG II. It is interesting to me that my words in Kamikaze Cowboy (KC) are more true today than 20 years ago. America is more sick and dying, not less, than when I wrote it. And all my predictions are coming true. I told people that soon somebody would sue the fast food fascists and hold them responsible for their obesity. It has just happened. People refuse to accept responsibility for their life styles. I was very much against the passage of anti-smoking laws and the fraudulent bilking of the tobacco companies of billions of dollars. If this were truly a free country it never would have happened. America is dying, basically, from what it feeds itself. Not smoking. We are a gluttonous, lazy, whining culture. Looking to Congress to pass laws to take care of us. It is a sad and slippery slope we have started down and I don't see it stopping until we reach the bottom. By the way, it would have been fun to see what kind of "condition" Starbuck was in 25 years older. We are a nation, people, frightened of the passage of time, when we should revel in it. The new BSG is going to be "hot, young, sexy". The network/studio doing the remake are terrified of having "old" people in the show cuz "old" people are not "exciting". It is all so pathetic and backwards and neurotic. So they are going to just remake the original pilot with a "new" Starbuck, Apollo, Adama, etc. etc. How much imagination does that take. And they had better be careful that they find actors who are as, or more, interesting than the original or they are finished before they start. Cuz people will remember the original due to all the reruns. Even people born after the show originally aired have seen it so it isn't only the "old folks" who will be noticing. I digressed....but my life has always been lived as a tangent. America is getting what it deserves. If you ask other people to decide what you eat, drink, smoke, read, you are their slaves. We, as a people, live our lives by other peoples judgment, not our own. Starbuck would never have allowed that. Never have been for anti-smoking laws. We should all be free to choose our own poison. And anyway, life is supposed to be full of RISK, that is what deepens us, reveals unto ourselves our true self and creates wisdom. And yet we want to pass ever more laws making the world "more safe". Consequently the world is more dangerous than it has ever been. The more laws a country has the more lawless it becomes. I say to hell with the "experts", whether it be Network/Studio execs saying OLD actors are boring and the audience doesn't want to see them; or Surgeon General saying I shouldn't be allowed to smoke. Or eat too much cholesterol....which is coming soon. It is amazing to me that the people making this revival of BSG are pissing away all the history of the show and simply making it over again with "new" people. They could have had both. Original characters and New characters and the richness of a history. But we are afraid of that as a people. History means we are getting older and that is terrifying and why all of America is racing to the Plastic Surgeon to erase the history reflected in their faces. I told Tom DeSanto that it would bring so much resonance to the show just to see how Starbuck, etc. had AGED. You could comment on it, joke about it, etc. So the new show will lose all of that. America, more than ever, is feeding itself in the food troughs of the Fast Food Conglomerates and all of our physical, emotional, spiritual diseases are a result of this. Too simplistic? Change your ways and see if your life doesn't change too.

JOE BEAUDOIN: WEBMASTER: "THE GALACTICAN" http://www.thegalactican.com

Q. Given the multiple attempts at reviving Battlestar Galactica, do you still believe that if everyone worked together that the series would have been on the air by now?

DIRK: No. The decision to do or not to do is in the hands of those who run Universal Studios (USA Studios) and they have had no interest in reviving it. As TV series. The reasons are too numerous and stupid to go in to. The good news is it is being, finally, done as 4 hr. "remake" for Sci-Fi Channel. They want it to be like "Black Hawk Down". They do NOT want any original (old) cast members in it because this must be "fast paced, young, hot, sexy.". Having said all of this....the only people that "they" listen to are the fans. If enough of the public clamors for something long enough, it eventually materializes. They are nervous as hell, I think, that the fans are going to turn against this revival and are trying to find ways to soften the fact they have ignored fans wishes by not including any original cast members. Tom DeSanto, as you know, was going to use original members to bridge from what was to what would have been. I regret he was distanced from the project.

Q. What are your thoughts on the current situation in America regarding TIPS and the government's attempts to root out terrorism?

DIRK: I admit I don't know what TIPS is. "Rooting out terrorism" is impossible in the political environment that permeates America today. We are a bunch of gluttonous, litigious, whining, cry babies who are terrified of EVERYTHING, including our own image (hence plastic surgery) and as a people (majority) believe that whatever happens to us that is not what we wish to happen, is somebody else's fault. We try to legislate social behavior. The more laws a society has, the more lawless it becomes. And we are buried in rules and regulations. And still delude ourselves into believing we are "free". Anything close to REAL freedom terrifies the shit out of us. Freedom to smoke, to NOT wear seat belts, to drive above 75....all terrifying behavior. And now of course we are going to hold The Big Mac responsible for our obesity. Joe Camel is just one of a long list of Evil Doers that made us do things we didn't want to do. It is all so idiotic as to drive one batty. Islam and Christianity have been at war for thousands of years. Christianity won and now it is their turn. People better decide whether they want to start "getting tough" or just going with the flow. It is amazing to me that the Women's Rights Groups (for example) have not said Boo about our refusal to "profile" Mid-Eastern types when hunting for terrorist on planes etc. It is the Nation of Islam that considers women chattel, to remain uneducated, completely covered, and SILENT. And not one WORD from the women of America saying, Yes, let's go get the bastards. Rather we hear that we must "honor" their culture and try to learn what it is that we did that made them so mad. Apply this line of thinking to any of the previous Wars in past 100 years. Including our own Civil War. We should never have retaliated against the Japanese but tried to figure out what it was we did to make them so angry as to attack us. Fundamental Muslims wish to destroy America. We are The Infidel and they will never stop trying. And, obviously, this writer believes we are in for a long period of terrorist attacks on our homeland. Until either we make a stand or roll over.

Q) How has producing and directing your own movie changed your view and feelings towards Hollywood?

DIRK: The writing/directing/producing of my film, CAHOOTS, is to mainstream Hollywood film making as the Viet Cong guerilla tactics were to our Military during Viet Nam War. Basically, lots of generals sitting in Washington making decisions as how to take a hill in Viet Nam. Complete insanity. Disconnect from reality. Numbers Crunchers (Bob MacNamara), CEO, Business Types run the military and they run Hollywood. NOT film makers. Capra, Wilder, Cassavetes, etc. would NEVER get many of their best, greatest, films made in today's highly efficient Marketing Driven Business of creating a product called Movies. It is all about marketing. All about having correct "formulas". So I got to have the most wonderful, creative, zany, chaotic, wild, spontaneous experience making my film. Very rare in today's world. I had COMPLETE control (and very little money). In Hollywood directors have TONS of money and absolutely NO control. I wouldn't change my experience with any director's experience making any of the 100 million dollar flicks running at any given time in the theaters of America. It is all opiate for the masses. Designed to keep them from noticing that the terrorists are coming into our country by the millions. We are an unconscious people and our films are designed to keep us that way. My film is the opposite it screams, demands that you wake up and think. It provokes. Raises questions and asking the audience to supply the answers. This is seldom done in today's world of cinema. I can honestly say it is made in the true tradition of the auteur.

KEN THOMPSON JR.
Questions: Webmaster Demonslayers.com: http://www.demonslayers.com

Q) Tell us about your experience making the movie "Sssssss." I remember seeing that movie a long time ago and getting pretty creeped out. What attracted you to the role of a guy slowly getting transformed into a snake?

DIRK: I thought it would be great fun from an acting standpoint. It was just another acting job as far as I was concerned. And I loved working with Strother Martin. We became friends and had great times together. He was such a character. All the people who created that film were wonderful. Dan Striepeke, John Chambers, the make-up artists who won academy awards for Planet of the Apes but a year before created the snake makeup. And Dan produced the show. Bernie Kowalski, the director was so much fun. Heather Menzies was fun and sweet to work with. But the film failed at the box office and "hurt" me in Hollywood. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't do the film but would have returned to New York, where I was living at the time, and stayed in the theater.

Q) What do you want to do next?

DIRK: Take a nap. Really?....Direct another movie from one of my several scripts. Write another autobiographical book. Write a novel based on my Hollywood experience. Get ONE chance to play a great role in a good script with a great director before I die....this is the least likely to happen of all the above. Except the taking of a nap.

SHAWN O'DONNELL
Questions: Co-founder: Battlestar Fan Club.com:
http://www.battlestarfanclub.com

Q) With all the efforts that have been put forth towards a revival of the show with the original cast and themes intact...what do you think of the news that has been coming from the Sci-Fi Channel and Ron Moore?

DIRK: I must admit I'm not up on the "news". I only know that they do not want any of the original actors. That they are doing a "remake". Same show as original but with new (young) actors playing Starbuck, Apollo etc. That requires less imagination than trying to bring the show forward and incorporate the history (past) of the show in a "new" story. Ron Moore is a very fine writer but I will never understand why you would revive a show but ignore what went before. They could have done Prequel or a Sequel but they are just doing the same show and quite frankly the weakest part of the original WAS the story in the first 3 hrs. in my opinion. Who wants to see that all over again where the only thing different will be the actors playing the parts. One of two things can happen, the actors will either be better or not as good....but the story will be the same. There is a reason why they did Star Trek the NEXT generation....they didn't simply remake the original episodes. And when you have Richard Hatch and Herb Jefferson and myself all healthy and functioning it seems just a tremendous waste of resources. But I KNOW the way networks think and they don't want to be associated with OLD actors from and OLD show, in any way, they want to "discover" the next....whomever.

Q) A lot of attention has been focused on Battlestar Galactica...have you ever been approached to do a remake of the A-Team?

DIRK: No. And never will. For reasons too numerous to go into. Stephen J. Cannell who created the show has said on Television that he would never hire any of the original cast because they are "Television actors and we need film stars." There is nothing to be said when you are dealing with this kind of egoistic mentality. They have been trying for years to make the feature with major film stars (Clooney, Carrey, Brendan Fraser etc.) but can never get the script right....or so I hear. 100 million budget. Or about. I would bet my ranch it will never happen and if it does they will miss completely the "fun" of the show, which is the reason it was so successful. NOT the explosions, car crashes, and special effects. It was the "chemistry" of the cast and the level and kind of performances given. The show had a kind of performance in it that is hard to find. IL don't think anyone connected, (network, producers, writers) realized that. They thought that pretty much any actors could pull it off. Very much not the case. All the actors involved were from the theatre, except Mr. T and he WAS his character. We all, aside from the kind of acting we did, we all had vitality, snap and, need I say, charm. And that was the secret. We were funny and lovable. And had lots of fist fights and car crashes etc. Anyway Mr. Cannell wants to make a BIG Feature film....anything less would be boring to him for he has already done it and at this point it is all about ego.

NATHAN PROIA: Webmaster
Battlestar Galactica Club
Questions: Asked by forum members: http://www.battlestargalacticaclub.com

Question #1 Why weren't you more vocal/supportive of Richard's ideas pertaining to this new Battlestar Galactica mini-series?

DIRK: Because I believed it to be an exercise in futility. I either knew more about how the "system" works or have less passion for the show than Richard. I just KNEW that Universal was not going to let Richard revive the show. And not only was I right, they wouldn't even let Tom DeSanto do it, the man who made half a BILLION dollars with X-MEN! Now the studio/network is getting what it wants....what it deserves. Hired guns, writers/producers/actors....with no previous involvement with the original show, REMAKING the first 3 hr. episode. Sounds exciting eh? I have so many of my own projects, things I have written, and they get all my passion. I am very aware of how little influence I have in Network Television. Which is why I can be so open in all these questions, nobody in Hollywood cares what I think. It is the only profession, entertainment, where the younger and more inexperienced you are....the more people are eager to believe you a genius. Wunderkind. If the people making BSG revival were wise, they would (at least) be picking the brains of Richard and I and others who actually were a part of the show's success first time around. Having us in it might also be a wise decision.

Question #2 As the powers that be seem determined to destroy our classic Battlestar with their re-imagining, have you ever considered going the route that Richard has and writing your own continuation of the saga from the viewpoint of Starbuck? Perhaps taking up where Starbuck was lost in Galactica 1980 and having him rejoin the fleet with Cy in tow. He could be like Hugh the Borg in Star Trek and help the fleet in fighting the Cylons.

DIRK: BSG is the property of Universal Studios. That means Starbuck too. It would be a waste of my time/talent/energy. Also I am busy writing my own characters in my own stories. Have you read my two books? Seen the film I wrote/directed (CAHOOTS)? It is interesting, don't you think, that all the people who are close to BSG think it would be wise to use some of the original actors playing their original roles and yet NONE of those who are now in control, think that a worthy idea. We'll soon know who was right. That is kind of exciting.

Editors Note: If you have not read any of Dirks Books, and would like to go to this link where you can sample some of Dirks writing.

Question #3 What did you think of the final reviews and the public acceptance for "Cahoots". Were you pleased with how well it did at the various film festivals where you presented it? And what kinds of comments did you receive from your peers about your effort.

DIRK: I was very "pleased" with the life CAHOOTS, my film, has had so far. It OPENS the Great Lakes Film Festival on Sept. 4. Keith Carradine and I will be there. It got rave review in several publications, including VARIETY. It is a film that is very different and powerful. A very provocative (politically incorrect) film. It will someday reach the public I am sure. It suffers from what my book (Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy) suffered....being too "different", ahead of it's time, politically incorrect. But the themes of the film are universal and so it will not become passe'. It is not a "trendy", hip, film capitalizing on any of the current issues. I consciously made a film of a certain kind. Riddled with paradox and designed to make an audience think....the hardest thing to do in the cinema which is a medium of images not ideas. A medium of emotion, not intellect. People do NOT want to be made to think. They want to be told what a film is about in the first 10 minutes and then watch it all happen. 99% of all films today you know how it is going to end in the first five minutes. But the production value is so amazing it keeps you watching. And the sex is graphic, the violence. Like sugar coated food....tastes good but is not only empty of calories but in the end BAD for you. People are asleep and cozy in their politically correct naps and don't want to be shaken out of their snooze. My film asks, demands, that an audience supply the answers. It merely raises a lot of questions. But it is humorous and dark and sexy and full of erotic undertones. I am proud of it and, at my age, not afraid to clap myself on the back for having managed to make such a film in today's world. It is the most difficult thing I have ever done (including beating cancer) EXCEPT being a Single Dad raising my two boys.

Joint question asked by both Michael Faries and Shawn O'Donnell:

Q) When, oh when, are we going to see another book (or books) from you, whether a continuation of your Kamikaze Cowboy book, your experiences with "The A-Team", insights from a single dad, even a "Battlestar Galactica" novel of your own, etc.? AND Are you considering writing another book or a series of books, perhaps a set that fits in a narrative way together?

DIRK: This question kills me. I am drowning in commitments that keep me from writing. I have spent 2 hours answering all these questions and as I answer I think of how this and a myriad of other "things" always keep me from creative writing. I am so over loaded with the duties of being a Single Dad that there is very little time. That is very little time I am willing to take away from being a Dad to write a book/screenplay, etc. Someday I will write about my experience of being a man who is doing what women have run away from doing for the past 40 years thanks to feminist movement. Staying at home and cooking/cleaning/etc. I find being a parent as creative as writing a book. Each day is a chapter that you can make exciting or sad or funny or boring or nuts or whatever. But it takes imagination and passion. At the end of each day I have no energy for writing, it has all gone into my children. Soon, however, they will be off into the world and then I will write all of it down. I have two plays and two screenplays that I would like to get mounted. Much of what I wrote in my Kamikaze Book (18 years ago) has proven to be true. And ever more so with each day. And I want to write another which also will be vilified and alighted at by the experts just as the first one was. Remember the "experts" are ALWAYS wrong. You can go to the bank on that. I just read, as example, that it isn't cholesterol that is the big killer in heart attacks, but "inflammation". So for 20 years the experts are admitting they have been wrong. My book's message is STILL the surest way to have health in this world and will continue to be so because it is the TRUTH. My journey is based on eternal TRUISMS. I want to write about the war I have fought for 15 years, war with all segments of Society, to raise my children according to my judgment rather than the judgment of "others"....doctors, teachers, peers, federal government, in-laws, etc. etc. I am my own expert, as I wrote in my book. My children are so different from other children in today's world that you could write a science fiction story on that alone. The last truly "healthy" children. Most of kids today are FAT. Many are OBESE. It is stunning to me how unaware parents are of this, but then they too are fat and/or obese. And taking medication for all their illnesses, giving their kids aspirin by the bottle, Ritalin, etc. Childhood diseases are increasing. This in the most "modern" country in the world. We are a sick and dying people and do NOT even know it. Because the sickness and death is increasing slowly, slowly and we are passing laws against it so feel it isn't happening and we have our band-aid treatments to make the symptoms go away (for awhile) and so think we aren't really sick when we are. Plastic surgery to hide the premature aging. Fat pills, diabetes shots, Prozac, Viagra. Pills for sleeping, for getting up, for sex, for acid indigestion, for headaches....all these things that are now considered NORMAL. My kids don't have runny noses, ear aches, head aches, stomach aches, etc. etc. They are FREAKS in today's world of kids who are always sick with something. Science Fiction. They have never had sugar, dairy, Big Mac, Ice Cream, etc. etc. And it has been a WAR. But now they are old enough to SEE the difference. To see that Dad is a lot younger looking than his peers, has more energy, can play sports, doesn't take pills, can see that all their friends are always getting sick and they never are....so I don't have to do/say anything anymore, don't have to fight for them. THEY GET IT. Ages 12 and 14 and they have learned to say "NO", learned to discriminate, learned NOT to trust authority, not to trust experts, learned that THEY have God Given instincts as to what is BEST for them and no matter how many people tell them they are crazy they are encouraged to trust those instincts. Because they have seen their Father be laughed at and ostracized and attacked for his views. But I tell you BEING HEALTHY is the best revenge. I wish I could have played Starbuck as 50 year old guy just to show how much life there can be in a 50 year old guy. But the networks/studios think that it is more exciting to have a 20 year old guy play Starbuck, REIMAGINE Starbuck (for gawd'sake). THEY HAVE MISSED THE ENTIRE POINT OF REVIVING BSG! Only the fans really get it. But remember the fans are not "experts", but laymen. The "experts" are the network and studio execs and they know better. But now you know that the experts are always wrong....so don't know what that bodes for this re-imagining of BSG. It really isn't a "re-imagining" anyway, from what I know, but a simple "remake". Like marrying the same woman twice but putting a different dress on her. I don't think I answered your question but to be honest I forgot what the question was.

Joint Question asked by both Michael Faries and Ken Thompson Jr.

Q) If Starbuck had reappeared right now in a continuation of the original Battlestar Galactica series, how would you want him written/portrayed? How do you visualize him today? How has he grown/evolved? (Or has he?)

DIRK: I've answered this already in a question above. But simple. Starbuck was Peter Pan. Eternal Youth, or at least wanted to be forever the Kid. He was not the kind of guy to "settle down". Many men are like this. I wanted the writers to be true to that basic nature so 22 years later he is STILL smoking, drinking ambrosia, gambling and enjoying the company of women. There is at once something wonderful in that and something very sad. Pathos. I wanted to show that. That there is an aloneness associated with living your life singly. And let us not forget that Fred Astaire played my father and he was a single man (the character) and still gambling and womanizing so it is in the Gene pool, from Fred, to me and then I wanted them to have a male child, that would be in the new show, Starbuck Jr. who is in the same character type. Remember Starbuck had a child in the 1980 episode (Return of Starbuck). So it was all there. Astaire, Me, the child. But to be true to the essential nature of the character of Starbuck in the original I thought was crucial. Tom DeSanto agreed and so I was very excited. Starbuck was not going to be the "star' of the show nor did I want him or expect him to be but merely background and a way of grounding the entire new show and using the history etc. etc. (I couldn't star in a TV series anyway as I won't leave Montana where I am raising my two boys and in truth only wanted to work a couple days every two weeks.) So to see how Starbuck looked 22 years older. How he moved, thought, dealt with people (women). This would have been interesting to an audience and great character by which to introduce a wonderful YOUNG Starbuck. Why they would not use this kind of Gold Mine is beyond me....except of course they are EXPERTS and know better. Throw away EVERYTHING that went before. It isn't a prequel or a sequel or even a "quel" it is a simple (boring) "remake", not re-imagining, but remake. Make the same show over again but the actors are too old to play themselves 22 years ago so we get new, younger actors. Where the hell is the imagination in that?

Dirk Benedict would like to invite you his fans and friends to join him on his second Caribbean Cruise. If you would like the oppertunity as a fan to share some quality time with Dirk Benedict and friends you can find all the information about the cruise at this link on the Dirk Benedict cruise page at Dirk Benedict central.

On a final note: Sci Fi Pulse would like to thank Tracy B of Dirk Benedict Central and Michael Faries for kicking me up the rear end and letting me know that this was posted. Also thanks to all the BG and A - Team fans that posted questions and all sites that took part, and last but not least thanks to Dirk Benedict for taking time out to do this blanket interview for his legions of fans.