Starburst Special #21 (Classic Sci-Fi Special) (October 1994)

Battlestar Galactica

The Return of Starbuck

A Starburst interview by David Bassom

More than fifteen years after the rag-tag fugitive fleet began its

quest

for a shiny planet known as Earth, Dirk Benedict is still remembered

as the

lovable rogue Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica.

The most ambitious, most publicized and most expensive show of its

day,

Battlestar Glactica still holds a controversial place in television

history. A pretentious failure to some, and an underrated triumph to

others, Glen Larson's all-action space opera was originally intended

to

emulate the success of Star Wars, but was swiftly - and prematurely -

condemned as a visually-stunning but hollow experience.

        At the very least, however, the show did succeed in propelling

actor Dirk Benedict to international stardom, a position he

consolidated

some three years later as the irresistable swindler

Templeton 'Faceman'

Peck in The A-Team. Looking back at the epic Sci-Fi series, the laid-

back,

intelligent and charming actor displays nothing but warmth and

enthusiasm

for both the she and the character which first made him a star.

Happy Memories

"It was a very romantic time of my life," he explains. "Although

nobody

knew it at the time, I had just come out of my cancer experience, so

I was

just grateful to be alive and to be healthy and then to have this

happen

was very exciting, it was really too good to be true. It was a kind

of a

watershed for me.

        "It was also my first experience at being what one calls a

celebrity and I enjoyed it. It was interesting and I didn't take it

too

seriously, nor do I now. Battlestar was fun and certainly The A-Team

and

the other things that have come since have been very different."

        Given that Benedict breathed such life and depth into a

character

which could so easily have been a two-dimensional caricature, it's

hard to

believe that the ABC Television Network didn't want the blond, blue-

eyed

actor to play Lieutenant Starbuck.

        "Glen [Larson] was the one who wanted me originally, he sold

me to

Universal Studios and then ABC was very resistant," he recalls. "I did

about five or six screen tests for them, starting in

November/December 1977

all the way through to February of 1978, and when they started

shooting on

March 1st 1978, they still refused to hire me.

        "Finally, Frank Price, who was then the head of television for

Universal, said 'Either you hire this actor, Dirk Benedict, or we're

not

going to do the show', and I was cast on March 4th. The actor that ABC

wanted was Barry Van Dyke, and in fact the next year when they did

Galactica: 1980 they hired him to play the part [Starbuck's successor,

Dillon]."

Simply Irresistable

Although Apollo (played by Richard Hatch) was the clean-cut, squeaky-

clean

and square-jawed hero of Battlestar Galactica, Beneduct's wise-

cracking,

devil-may-care Starbuck proved to be the show's most popular and most

charismatic character. To the show's younger audience, he could fly

his

Viper and handle his blaster better than any human or Cylon, while

older,

more hot-blooded viewers turned green with envy each week as the

colonial

warrior fought the amorous intentions of numerous love interests. Yet

beneath Starbuck's cool, care-free surface, Benedict instilled an

underlying depth which made the character a caring, sensitive and

lovable

individual.

        "I made him a guy who was not the first to volunteer for the

most

dangerous mission, he would rather be gambling, having a good time and

smoking a good cigar. I think his light-heartedness, the sense of

humour

covering up a more serious nature, and his sheer reluctancy are very

close

to home. They wrote serious shows where he had emotional scenes but

it was

all very much underneath and I really let Starbuck show that side of

him.

        "Out of all the shows I've done, Starbuck was the one time

when I

did a fully dimensional character who was not only humorous and

light-hearted but also, at the other end of the spectrum, had a

seriousness

and an underlying emotional quality."

        Reminded of the numerous women who made Starbuck's life so

interesting, Bendict (sic) smiles. "I remember them well," he

laughs. "And

there were other equally gorgeous women in real life who were making

my

life interesting!"

Verdict

In Battlestar Galactica, the eponymous starship led a 'rag-tag

fugitive

fleet' on a desperate quest for a mythical home of fellow human beings

known as Earth, with the deadly Cylons in constant pursuit. While

popular

opinion of the series still remains divided, Benedict feels that the

show

got something of a raw deal from audiences.

        "Production wise, there's never been a Science Fiction show on

television that could compare to it, it's just the greatest," he

claims.

"Our show's struggle was trying to find what kind of a show it really

was.

We had some wonderful episodes and we had some that didn't work so

well, as

the writers were trying to find the nature of the show.

        "In terms of experience, it was just unbelievably rich. It was

taking over the whole studio, it was the show of shows. Battlestar

Galactica was outrageously expensive. The first premier show [The

three-hour Saga Of A Star World] cost about 14 million dollars in

1978, and

each episode was costing one a half to two million dollars, which was

just

unheard of. In comparison, Star Trek, either the First, Second or

whichever

generation, has always been very cheap, Mickey Mouse in terms of

special

effects, because the show is about something else. It's just a lot of

talking.

        "Production-wise, when you look at it, Battlestar could have

been

made yesterday, which is more than you can say for Star Trek. From the

times I've seen the tapes, you couldn't tell that this is a show made

fourteen to fifteen years ago. The only thing that dates it is the two

guys' haircuts and their outfits," he laughs.

        Benedict discusses his co-stars with complete

honesty. "Between

Richard [Hatch] and I, there was no chemistry or cameraderie or

anything,

we never did really have anything in common. I was quite close to

Lorne

[Green], we got along very well and I had a lot of fun with him. I

also

enjoyed working with Laurette Sprang, Maren Jensen and Ed Begley Jr,

that

was his first show. As for the guest people, we had Lloyd Bridges, Ray

Milland, Bobby Van, Ray Bolger and Fred Astaire, and I had a great

time

with allof them!"

        The mention of Fred Astaire brings us neatly to the actor's

highlight of working on the series. In Benedict's favourite episode,

The

Man With Nine Lives, Astaire made a rare television appearance to play

Starbuck's long-lost father.

        "Fred and I became very close, we spent hours talking and

spent a

lot of time away from the set too," he says with pride. "That was

probably

the one single highlight, although the whole damn show was kind of a

highlight. We worked thirteen months solid and we only took a couple

of

two-week breaks, but I think the whole thing was like a fantasy from

the

day I went to work until the last day we shot it. It was like being a

sugar

junkie in a candy store."

Cancellation

As the series developed, the Cylons were gradually phased out and the

Galacticans faced new friends, new foes and better, bolder storylines.

Then, on the verge of possible greatness, the show was cancelled

after just

one season totalling twenty-four hours of television.

        "It was a big shock," Benedict admits. "People ask me if I

have

anything from the show and I don't because nobody thought it would be

cancelled, so I left everything in my dressing room! It was a

tremendous

shock at the time, in May '78, when it was cancelled, but I was so

busy

working that I never had time to really register that it had been

cancelled

until January 1980 when I stopped working and was in the Bahama

Islands on

the beach. I was sad because I thought it was a very good show and I

loved

playing Starbuck, I have yet to get a character as fun to play."

Starbuck's Return

Upon Larson's persuasion, however, the Network agreed to produce a

spin-off

series, Galactica: 1980, in which the mighty Battlestar finally

reached its

long-awaited destination. An Earthbound follow-up, the series lacked

any of

the ambition, awe, and simple charm of its predecessor, something

Benedict

was aware of when he was offered a starring role in the show.

        "I didn't want to do that because it was not as good as the

first

series and I was too close to Battlestar Galactica. The scripts that

they

showed me were bad and they were going to cheapen the production

values.

Had the character and the scripts been great and you might have

thought

more about it, but it was nothing and I was very fond of Starbuck, so

I

just couldn't bring myself to do it. It would have seemed like

cheating on

your wife."

        Eventually, however, the actor was coaxed into making a guest

appearance by Glen Larson's script entitled The Return Of Starbuck.

Undoubtedly the only decent instalment of the spin-off series, it

features

a remarkably poignant performance from Benedict and stands alongside

the

very finest of the original show's episodes. Ironically, it was also

the

final episode of the whole Battlestar saga.

        "It was a great script and I actually talked to Glen about

doing a

series based on Starbuck. It could have been like The Fugitive or a

Western, with him going through outer space, through the various

galaxies

trying to find Earth and having these experiences."

Life After Galactica

Shortly after Battlestar Galactica, Benedict consolidated his

popularity

around the world as Face in the all-action adventure series, The A-

Team.

More recently, he returned to the Science Fiction genre with two

movies,

Blue Tornado and Official Denial. In the former, he plays a NATO top

gun

desperate to prove the existence of UFOs, while in the latter, he

ironically stars as a member of a special Air Force team assigned to

make

contact with a group of aliens.

        "Blue Tornado was shot in Italy over three months and was very

difficult to make," he says of the film which combines elements of

Close

Encounters of the Third Kind and Top Gun. "The locations were very

tough,

we were in the Italian Alps in February which was very cold and it

was a

very big production for the crew to pull off. The hours were long and

nobody spoke English except David Warner!"

        "By the way, I wrote all the scenes between myself and Patsy

Kensit. The director [Tony B. Dobb] asked me if I had some ideas for

the

relationship between my character and hers, and I wrote these scenes

which

he took and used in the film. He later then blamed me for the film not

being as successful as it was supposed to be, but I do know that I

made it

much better, and beyond that he could have rejected what I had given

him.

        "Official Denial was pleasant enough, I just didn't have much

to

do," he continues with typical candour. "I did it because (a) I

wanted to

go to Australia with my family and (b) I wanted to play a bad guy. I

think

it was a relatively good film. I only saw it once but it seemed to

work

fairly well.

Battlestar Revival?

In the years since Battlestar Galactica and The A-Team, the popular

actor

has moved towards writing, producing and directing with an ease

Starbuck

would be proud of. The author of two books, Confessions of a Camikazi

Cowboy and its follow-up, And Then We Went Fishing, Benedict is

currently

working on his third novel as well as directing his first short,

Christina's Dream. Despite his extremely busy schedule, however, Dirk

Benedict would be happy to pick up his blaster to play Starbuck in a

revival of Battlestar Galactica.

        "I'd love to do it, it the scripts were right," he declares

with a

glint in his eye. "I'm always surprised by the tremendous success of

other

Science Fiction shows that have been revived and I think it hasn't

been

done because the Networks don't realize what a following it has

around the

world. I do, because I've travelled around the world and I've met

people

from everywhere from the African continent to New Zealand to Malaysia

and

Taiwan who are big Battlestar Galactica fans."

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