Dirk Benedict Looks Back Fondly On His 'HUGE' Contribution To Battlestar
Galactica
Source SciFiPulse
7 February 2004
With the recent UK release of the Battlestar Galactica DVD box set, Dirk Benedict did his part to help promote the series DVD release by signing copies of the DVD's for fans in London fairly recently. David Bassom caught up with the actor who is remembered by fans of the original Battlestar Galactica as the devilish rogue and womaniser Starbuck.
The journey into Battlestar Galactica for Benedict was a road paved with many curves. To start with the studio did not think that he was sexy enough for the role, and it was only down to perseverance on the part of producer Glen Larson who had taken a liking to Benedict, that he was eventually cast. In spite of this initial difficulty Benedict did eventually come up trumps and enjoyed whatever life aboard the Galactica offered him.
"You know, it's funny. Battlestar was a difficult show to make, because it was just such a big production." Revealed the actor. "It really was like a movie. But I had just survived cancer - which is what my book, Confessions of a Kamikaze Pilot, is about - so I was just happy to be alive and working, and I was having the time of my life. I had lots of girlfriends and I just stayed out of the politics that surrounded the making of the show - and there was a lot of politics. I just showed up, did the work and went home.
"The show gave me my first experience of being a celebrity, which was fun. But I never took it too seriously. I always knew I was just an actor who played a part.
"I especially enjoyed making the episode with Fred Astaire [The Man with Nine Lives]. Fred and I became very close, actually. But I think the character was actually best written in the episode that was done for [the spin-off show] Galactica 1980. I loved playing that."
When asked to sum up what he felt made Starbuck such a popular character, and what it was that endeared him to TV Viewers Benedict provided the following thoughts.
"I think he is very appealing because he had joie de vive; he embraced things with a smile and was always happy in the face of sorrow. The rest of the show was very noble and serious, especially in the beginning. I saw that and I consciously wanted to make Starbuck different. Everyone was so heroic, so I made him a reluctant hero. He was always the last one to go into battle."
Of course the original portrayal of Starbuck by Benedict is quite the contrast to the female equivalent of Kara Thrace Starbuck as depicted in the recent Ron Moore mini series. Kara cannot wait to get into battle, and is so hyped up that she screams orders at chief Tyrol's technicians, when her viper fails to launch. When asked for his views on the mini series Benedict revealed that he chose not to watch the show.
"I haven't watched it. That way, I don't have to have an opinion. But I have read the script. I think the new show reflects today's television, as did the old show. It reflects the politics of American television. You cannot have my character, Starbuck, running around being a chauvinist pig, smoking cigars, blatantly chasing women and being kind of reluctant to do things, because that kind of swashbuckling rogue is not politically correct. They had a problem with my character, so they made him a her.
"The new show is female driven, like most TV shows today. The new show is from a woman's view: the men are bad or weak or dumb or drunk. And whereas our show was a family show, the new show isn't. The sex is all on the surface. That's television today."
Just a year prior to Sci Fi Channels announcement of the mini series, Benedict was preparing to pack his bags to reprise his role of Starbuck in a television project which was going to continue the Galactica story and the story of Starbuck but only 25 years after the events we witnessed in the late 1970's. The project was being headed up by X Men producer Tom Desanto, and sadly the continuation television movie came to somewhat of a halt during pre production after the tragic event of September 11th. However Benedict was happy to share what he felt Starbuck would have been like 25 years on had this continuation project ever had seen the light of day.
"I was going to play Starbuck as an older man. It was Starbuck 25 years later and, of course, I had a couple of bastard children who were the new characters.
"I told Tom I'd only do it is they didn't change the essence of the character. The first thing you were going to see was a cloud of smoke, and then I turned around and it's an older Starbuck. I told Tom I wanted to show the loneliness. He still would have been a great guy, but I would like to have shown the loneliness - he couldn't be married with kids in the new show.
"We were six weeks away from filming. I was packing my bags to play Starbuck. It's a great shame it never happened."
You can read much more of what Dirk Benedict had to say in issue 114 of Dreamwatch magazine which is out now in all good news agents throughout the UK.