by Susan J. Paxton
Although many newer fans are
unfamiliar with revival efforts other than that of Richard Hatch, attempts to revive
Battlestar Galactica began almost immediately after its cancellation, and this first
effort in fact was very nearly successful. BG, after all, had finished the
1978-79 season a very strong 24th overall in the Neilson ratings. Executive Producer Glen
Larson and Universal shopped the series to both NBC and CBS, and both networks showed some
interest. NBC, however, was already committed to another Larson/Universal SF series, Buck
Rogers, and so did not pick up BG. CBS reportedly went so far as to
seriously consider adding BG as a midseason 1979-80 replacement series, but in
the end, for reasons unknown, did not.
Future revival tries would be severely,
even permanently handicapped by what happened next. The motivations of the parties
involved are still unclear and likely will remain so, but ABC ordered a BG
spinoff as a midseason 1979-80 series aimed at the so-called Children’s Hour—the
7 p.m. timeslot on Sundays that was at the time limited to either children’s
programming or news shows (hence the dominance of CBS’s 60 Minutes in that
timeslot). ABC, for reasons of their own, had apparently always considered BG a
children’s show in spite of demographics proving that the show was even more popular
among young adults (for every child in the audience, there were two teens, two women, and
four men watching) and, according to an interview with Glen Larson printed shortly after
the fact, had BG been renewed for a second season, ABC was seriously considering
shoving it into the junk timeslot its bastard offspring ended up in. ABC’s spinoff
was, of course, Galactica 1980. According to Larson, he didn’t want to do
it, but did it anyway in the hopes that it would keep BG alive. In fact, G80
did more than the original cancellation to kill BG dead. Forced into the kiddy
hour timeslot, G80 had to have a minimum of violence, and heavy
"educational" content. The Cylons practically disappeared and the Super
Scouts—Colonial brats who possessed phony super powers because supposedly the gravity
on the Colonies was heavier than on Earth—appeared, as well as Dr. Zee, a teenage
“genius” who seems to have been the prototype for the equally egregious Wesley
Crusher of Star Trek-TNG. Although the original intent was for G80 to
follow directly on BG (the original screenplay of the pilot, Galactica
Discovers Earth, featured Apollo and Starbuck instead of Troy and Dillon), Richard
Hatch and Dirk Benedict wisely found that they had better things to do, and only Lorne
Greene and Herb Jefferson Jr. returned, Greene as an elderly, bearded Adama, and Jefferson
as a slightly graying Colonel Boomer, presumably the Galactica’s executive
officer. Kent McCord, who had at one time been considered as a possible Apollo for the
original, portrayed Captain Troy, a grown-up Boxey (it is a strange but true fact that the
one persistent survival from G80 has been the apparent general agreement that
Boxey’s name, grown-up, is indeed Troy), with the likable Barry Van Dyke as his
sidekick, Lieutenant Dillon.
G80, needless to say, was an
utter disaster. Its ratings plunged rapidly as the stories grew increasingly inane, and
the only redeeming factor in the entire mess was the final episode shot, The Return of
Starbuck, which featured Dirk Benedict reprising his character in a screenplay
broadly based on a script or script idea that Glen Larson had originally created for BG.
Production was already underway on another episode when ABC thankfully pulled the plug and
put G80 and the viewers out of their misery. But the damage had been done.
Whenever suggestions of a BG revival would arise, the poisonous memory of G80
would come up as well.
Things got very quiet on the revival
front for several years. Fan activity continued at a good clip; dozens of fanzines were
being published in the US and abroad, and BG actors made occasional convention
appearances. Official novelizations and four original novels, written by Robert Thurston,
continued appearing until the mid 1980s. In the early 1980s BG returned to TV in
syndication. While some TV stations showed the original episodes, Universal also recut the
17 episodes into 12 2-hour “movies.” While this led to some strange pairings
amongst the one hour episodes, the episodes that were originally 2 parters—Living
Legend, War of the Gods, and so on—actually benefited from the
restoration of footage that had been trimmed to get them down to ABC running time.
It’s unfortunate that the 2-hour episodes have not been released to video in this
form.
Any hints of revival efforts were
nonexistent at this time. Most fans assumed that BG was officially dead, but kept
it alive for themselves with their fan efforts.
Suddenly, in the late 1980s and early
90s, there was a burst of rumors.
Many younger BG fans are
unaware that there was a genuine revival effort at this time, instigated by Glen Larson,
although Larson has never said a great deal about it. Sources within Universal Studios
confirmed at the time that something was clearly going on. There was even talk of
casting—in addition to the original cast, supposedly Peter Graves was considered as a
possible Adama (Lorne Greene having passed away in 1987). The rumors continued, and began
to peak just as the fifteen year anniversary of the original approached in 1993, to be
celebrated by a BG 15 Yahren Reunion convention held in Los Angeles at the
Universal City Hilton.
The 15 Yahren Reunion really should have
been the ultimate BG convention. Almost everyone involved with the series was
invited, and, thanks to the location of the con near their homes, many of them showed up.
Executive Producer Glen Larson, special effects expert John Dykstra, costume designer
Jean-Pierre Dorleac, composer Stu Phillips, story editors Jim Carlson and Terry McDonnell,
and producer Harker Wade highlighted the technical staff present, while Richard Hatch,
Dirk Benedict, Anne Lockhart, and Sarah Rush were among the actors who showed. It should
have been a triumph, and Glen Larson was hoping for a big turnout that he could use to his
advantage in his revival efforts. But it turned into a catastrophe for BG.
Even today the 15 Yahren Reunion is
controversial among fans. While it’s impossible to know why what happened happened,
what did happen is this; fans, press people, and actors alike were told by the hotel that
the convention was cancelled or simply did not exist, and many were discouraged and turned
away (Dirk Benedict reportedly had to find his way in through a side door!). Attendance,
hoped to be in the high thousands, was low, and Larson’s revival effort, which had
apparently included serious interest from the Fox network, was dead.
Once again BG revival efforts
faded into abeyance. Then, in the mid nineties, Richard Hatch decided to have a go. He
co-wrote an original BG novel, BG: Resurrection, and used it to
spearhead his own revival attempt.
From the beginning, Richard’s
efforts were circumscribed with difficulties. He had no reputation as a producer or
director, and he did have a reputation, whether deserved or not, for being a somewhat
difficult actor (Richard is a man who takes his parts very seriously. Jim Carlson and
Terry McDonnell both confirmed to me that Richard was serious about his role as Apollo and
while they found his suggestions and input valuable, others Richard worked with over the
years might not have been so open to an actor having opinions and ideas about his role).
Also, Richard had no legal rights to BG. In fact, for a long time, the issue of
the rights to BG was extremely contentious. Glen Larson, for his part, appears to
have found Richard’s efforts an irritant and a challenge, and so, instead of joining
forces—something that could have led directly to a revival—did his best to put
obstacles in Richard’s path.
In 1998, Richard decided that a good way
to promote interest in his revival and demonstrate his technical abilities would be to
make an actual theatrical quality demo trailer and he enlisted a number of technically
minded friends and fans to assist. Original actors John Colicos and Jack Stauffer (a long
time friend of Richard’s who had not only appeared in BG as Bojay but had
worked previously with Richard in All My Children) performed in the trailer. Also
appearing was actor Richard Lynch, who had been in Gun on Ice Planet Zero as the
convict Wolfe, and portrayed Xaviar in G80; in Richard’s trailer he played
Count Iblis, and so is the only actor to have appeared in all three iterations of BG!
Richard produced and bankrolled the trailer himself; everyone who helped, crew and actors
alike, worked voluntarily without pay.
Richard’s trailer, entitled Battlestar
Galactica: The Second Coming, premiered to fans at conventions in 2000 and was a
smash hit. Produced to very high standards and featuring exciting CGI special effects, it
gave fans for the first time a look at what BG could be in the 21st century, with
updated vipers and new types of Cylons wedded to the original cast and concepts. Many fans
lined up behind Richard’s efforts.
Meanwhile, Glen Larson was making a new
try of his own, likely as a reaction to Richard’s efforts. He joined with Todd Moyer,
the director of the film based on the computer game Wing Commander, in an attempt
to get a Battlestar Galactica feature film made. An official movie website
appeared in early 1999, and some preproduction work was actually done. Several rumors
about the form of the film filtered out; early indications were that Commander Cain and
the Pegasus were to be the center of the film, and while all fans loved Cain and
his ship, they understandably wanted the Galactica to be the focus. Later, a
battlestar named the Atlantis was supposedly to be featured, with no discernable
connection to the original show at all. Larson’s efforts faded out as 2000
progressed; there was briefly some talk about an IMAX BG film, but finally
Larson’s revival ended in failure.
As 2001 began, Richard was continuing
his revival attempt, with no success. Then a sudden burst of activity on the Sci-Fi
Channel’s website in January 2001 suggested that Sci-Fi was planning a revival,
reportedly one that would, like Larson’s, feature none of the original cast at all.
Sci-Fi denied these stories, in spite of information printed on their own web site
(“A spokesman for The SCI FI Channel confirmed to SCI FI Wire rumors that the network
is considering reviving the 1970s series Battlestar Galactica—but without
original producer Glen A. Larson or actor Richard Hatch (Apollo). The series would
resemble its predecessor in name only, offering new characters, a new villain to replace
the Cylons and a new ship, the spokesman confirmed” is a direct quote from a
Sci-Fi Newswire announcement on January 26, 2001). This remains mysterious. Either Sci-Fi
actually was planning a revival of their own, or perhaps the series of news releases and
rumors were a stalking horse for what was to follow.
A brief silence ensued, and then,
suddenly, came a momentous announcement.
On February 22, 2001, Universal’s
TV division, StudiosUSA, officially announced that director Bryan Singer and producer Tom
DeSanto, coming off the success of their film version of The X-Men, would be
returning BG to TV sometime in the 2002-2003 season. Initial fan reaction was
mostly very positive. Tom DeSanto, it turned out, had been a BG fan from the
beginning, and he was clearly enthusiastic and optimistic about the project. For his part,
Richard Hatch was gracious, although he must have felt disappointment. “No one knows
better than me that there’s many ways to bring back Battlestar Galactica,”
he told fans in an official announcement.
Early indications seemed promising.
DeSanto was particularly visible, giving interviews and talking about the revival. Clearly
there was a lot of debate within the production team about what tack the BG
revival would take. A new BG would likely be darker than the original. There was
considerable controversy about when the show would be set. After the holocaust? How many
yahrens later? Would there be any original cast members? There was some talk about
starting over—begin at the holocaust with the original characters played by other
actors and rewrite as necessary. Evidently there was even some thought given to setting
the new series hundreds of yahrens before the holocaust. Fans followed all of the rumors with interest and
considerable discussion. Then a silence descended, extending from spring until the end of
June. Fans grew concerned.
At the end of June, it was officially
announced that Fox had picked up BG, intending to run the pilot sometime during
the 2002-2003 season. No other hard information was forthcoming, not even whether the deal
was for a series or a pilot only. Some fans, remembering the curt treatment of Chris
Carter’s promising X-Files spinoff series The Lone Gunmen at the
hands of Fox, were concerned that BG would not get a fair shake from the network.
More silence followed, broken
occasionally by rumors and mysterious postings by supposed insiders (some of whom, note,
may have been genuinely involved) on Sci-Fi’s BG bulletin board. It became
increasingly obvious that there were factions amongst the production team. It appears that
Tom DeSanto was a supporter of bringing at least some of the original cast back in their
roles, setting the new series perhaps 50 yahrens after the original, and remaining as true
as possible to the original series. But other insiders—reportedly Bryan Singer and
“show runners” Dan Angel and Billy Brown, who were placed on the production as
representatives of Fox—and Fox itself wanted to reinvent the show with a Friends-style
young cast, and use the established brand name merely as a springboard for their own
ideas.
Things really began to go wrong. Many
fans were increasingly angered that Richard Hatch was never even approached by the new
production team. They felt he had earned legitimacy not only in his central role as
Apollo, but by his courageous revival efforts. Apparently some other original actors were
contacted and according to rumors even signed, but not Richard. The official news blackout
continued. Fans wondered why no information was being released. After all, the production
of UPN’s new series Star Trek: Enterprise was heavily promoted throughout
this time. Pictures appeared, casting information, and other tidbits were released by
Paramount to whet appetites for the newest iteration of their Star Trek
franchise. But from StudiosUSA and Fox, there was nothing. There were reportedly promises
by the production team to release new information at the Battlestar Galactica Fan
Appreciation Day, September 1, 2001 at DragonCon in Atlanta, but the event came and went
with more official silence. Fans were stunned by the September 11 terrorist attacks but
soon began to wonder again about the official blackout. Word filtered out in October that
production facilities were being secured in British Columbia, that set construction had
either begun or was about to begin, and filming of the pilot was set for December or
January, but again solid information was strangely lacking.
Then, on November 3rd, in a shocking
development, it was revealed that Bryan Singer had pulled out of the BG
production to focus on X-Men II at the instigation of Fox, which felt that the
film would be a better money maker than a BG TV series. In spite of the fact that
Tom DeSanto, half of the team that had produced X-Men, was still involved and
enthusiastic, that other name directors were involved—reportedly one was Nick
Meyer—and that very prestigious, deep-pocketed commercial sponsors had expressed
interest, Fox apparently panicked and pulled out of the agreement. Production offices in
Vancouver closed, and a two-week warning went out; the handwriting clearly was on the
wall. Tom DeSanto began scrambling to save the production and fans put on a last-minute
burst of activity to help, activity that DeSanto acknowledged and appreciated in a message
he sent to battlestargalactica.com on November 16: “Our THANKS TO ALL OF YOU that
have signed the petitions, written letters and supported the return of Battlestar
Galactica. We are listening to you. And we appreciate your support, past, present and
future. We feel that you will not be disappointed with our production for the new Battlestar
Galactica. And we hope to bring it to you as soon as it is possible.”
But was it too little too late? Was the
final chance to revive BG a lost revival once again?
� 2001, Susan J. Paxton