The Duelling Starbucks
Source SciFi Pulse
25 May 2006
Two years ago a certain actor turned writer, philosopher and all round nice guy Dirk Benedict wrote an article, which highlighted the difference between 70’s television and the politics thereof and modern television. This article caused much controversy amongst fans of the new re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica and even had Katee Sackhoff up in arms, even though the article in question didn’t single her out at all as was claimed. In the new issue of Dreamwatch both actors were given a chance to talk about this and hopefully make peace and below are just a few excerpts.
For his part Benedict feels that much of what was written was taken by certain media outlets and taken completely out of context.
“I think a lot of people have ‘re-imagined’ my article,” revealed the actor. “I’ve seen a lot of comments about it saying things like, ‘Dirk Benedict is a bitter, old, washed - up actor who’s hiding in the mountains, angry he’s not a part of the new show’; or Dirk Benedict obviously hates women, he’s a misogynist.’ That pretty much covers the range of people’s responses to it. I haven’t heard one astute comment on the piece itself. And I find that astounding… and sad.
“When you read my piece, it should be very clear that what it’s really about is the politics of the TV Business; the culture of the 1970’s versus the culture of today; and most importantly, the war against masculinity. It’s about how the television industry and the world have changed since the 1970’s. It’s more a political commentary than anything else. So people who read the piece should debate these issues, rather than just call me names.”
The actor does however re – affirm that he would rather have had Starbuck remain of the male gender, and still feels that the sex change of the characters wasn’t truly necessary. He also added that his commentary was based primarily on the script of the mini series, which he still hasn’t seen to this day, nor does he watch the new series.
“I don’t have any axe to grind about the existence of the new Battlestar Galactica,” he said. “I don’t bear a grudge against anyone. I have never trashed the show. And, unlike Richard [Hatch, Apollo in the original] I never fought to stop it getting remade.”
With regards to the article having supposedly hurt the feelings or Katee Sackhoff. The actor was quite surprised that it had such a ripple affect.
“I never imagined - or should I say re-imagined? – The piece would hurt Katee’s feelings. When I met her [for the 2003 Sci Fi Channel Battlestar Galactica: The Lowdown], I thought she was very cute and charming. My article had nothing to do with her. I hoped she’d laugh about it. I had far worse things written about me when I did the original show.”
With so much water under the bridge the million-dollar question is whether or not Dirk would accept a role on the new show if it were offered.
“After all of this, if they offered me a good part on the new show and the money was right, would I do it? Sure,” he reveals. “I’m an actor after all, so of course I would. I would walk onto the set and they could say, ‘Here’s the asshole himself!’ And I would say, ‘Yup, here I am’, and then give them a copy of my article. “
In regards to Katee Sackhoffs attitude. She may have been somewhat more sensitive to the article or the re-imaginations of it due in a large part to the amount of hate mail she got during the early days of the re-imagining.
“I got a hell of a lot of hate mail when I first got the job,” Sackhoff confirms. “That sucked. But things have definitely changed since then. I get a lot of fan mail – and it’s definitely better on this side of things!
“The new show has proven itself beyond any doubts,” she continues. “My hat is off to the shows writers, producers and crew, as well as the rest of the cast.”
In regards to the Dirk Benedict article she feels that everything got totally blown out of proportion.
“I felt that Dirk had stabbed me in the back,” she recalls. “I had met him when we were promoting the mini series and he had never said anything like that to me, so I felt really disappointed and upset.
“But I’m over all that now,” she adds firmly. “People have been making too much of a deal about it anyway. If he’s on the show, he’s on the show. If he’s not, he’s not. It’s as simple as that.”
You can read much more of what both Benedict and Sackhoff shared in the new issue of Dreamwatch Magazine which is out now in all good newsagents throughout the UK.
If you would like to discuss this or any other story that you see posted at Sci Fi Pulse why not log in and register an account at our new forums, which are located here.
