So Say We All

by Mark A. Altman

  DAVID EICK

  I didn’t attend the convention, because I thought, “Fuck those guys.” I said to Ron, “I think it’s great you’re extending an olive branch, but I think they’re going to throw it right back at you. I don’t know why you’d want to hang around those people, but have fun.”

  RONALD D. MOORE

  So I got up onstage at Galacticon. I was with Terry [Dresbach], she was my fiancée at that point, and was still trying to figure out what the hell I was involved with. We were in the elevator and there’s a guy, a gigantic man in a homemade Cylon suit, and she’s looking at me and going, “Where are you bringing me? What is this?” We go into the main hall and I go up onstage and I said, “Well, this reminds me of a scene in Patton where Patton gets up in front of the crowd and says, ‘I just thought I’d stand up here and let you people see if I’m as big a son of a bitch as some of you think I am,’ which got like virtually no laughs. Maybe a couple of titters. Not much. This is not a friendly crowd. I said, “Well, let me show you some clips. No one has seen these before. This is exclusive to you, and then we’ll talk about it afterward.” So I brought the house lights down, played the show, played it all the way through, and then the house lights come up and they booed and hissed. They really did. I’m not making it up. I’m like, “Holy shit.” And then it was, “All right, time for questions.” So I’m taking questions from the audience and they were unremittingly hostile. Didn’t like it, thought it was an affront, thought it was an insult to the original show and terrible. And they hated Starbuck.

  I’m fielding questions as best I can, and at some point somebody got up and finally said, “Well, I think you can see our reaction and our feelings about what you’ve done. If you actually go to series with this, will you make a commitment today to do a show that’s more in keeping with the Galactica that we know, and that we love, that would be a true Battlestar Galactica?” And I said, “Well, how honest do you want me to be?” And suddenly people are yelling, “Be honest! Tell the truth!” And I went, “Well, the truth is, no. If we do the show, it’s going to be this show. You don’t have to watch it and you don’t have to like it, and that’s fine. But this is the show we’re going to do.”

  Now people are really upset and they’re standing up and they’re yelling. Suddenly, out of nowhere—and I hadn’t even noticed him in the audience—Richard Hatch stands up like Moses and goes, like, “O children of Israel.” Everybody shuts up and he’s standing in the audience and says, “Look, this isn’t what I would do with the show, but this isn’t fair to Ron. He’s our guest here and we have to treat him with respect. I don’t like the things said today, but I just think we have to stop this. You know, he’s an artist. It’s not my vision of the show. I really disagree with some of the things he’s doing, but this isn’t right.” And it just took the wind out of the audience and it was an amazing thing.

  RICHARD HATCH

  I was producing the twenty-fifth Battlestar anniversary convention for mostly the original fans at the time, and they were very angry that I was inviting Ron Moore. It was a very, very difficult convention, because of all the controversial feelings, and people had gotten bags of popcorn to throw at Ron Moore because Ron had made a statement—he’d taken so much criticism and had gotten a little frustrated with everything—and said, “If you don’t like it, throw popcorn” or “eat popcorn” or something like that … I can’t remember the exact wording, but I was sort of terrified that they we’re going to throw this popcorn at Ron.

  RONALD D. MOORE

  Later, I went backstage and met Richard for the first time in the green room. And I said, “Wow, I really appreciate you doing that.” He was like, “Well, I meant what I said. I mean, I really don’t like what you’re doing here; I don’t think it’s the right way to go. But that just wasn’t cool and I just couldn’t stand that.”

  RICHARD HATCH

  I didn’t change my mind. People mistake changing your mind. To clarify that, I have always been for a continuation. I think the most viable way of going with the series would have been a continuation. If I was Universal I would have even hired Ron Moore and Tom DeSanto and those people to do the continuation. Because I think Ron Moore is an incredible visionary, a talented, gifted writer. The only difference would have been, he would have kept the same backstory. He would have evolved the story forward twenty-five years. And then you could have evolved the Cylons and you could have got into the cutting-edge, provocative storylines that the new show [did]. But you would have had a continuation. That would have been the difference and obviously, that was my preference.

  But they, Universal, made a decision not to do that. So for me, it wasn’t about being against the new show, because I didn’t know what the new show was. It was always for the original continuation. But I always was fighting to get into the darker, more provocative storylines, getting into the struggle to survive in space, getting into the meat of what Battlestar’s story is all about. But we couldn’t do that, the network [ABC] wouldn’t let us. I was always frustrated as an actor and also as a creative artist. I felt it was such a great story, but we were barely touching the surface of what that story was all about. The network, the studio, everybody was afraid of science fiction. Everybody was afraid of rocking the boat. Everybody was afraid of getting too deeply into something that might alienate somebody, so they played it very safe.

  RONALD D. MOORE

  When we were backstage at that con, I said to Richard, “You know, I have a lot of respect for that. I really admire you. If we actually do get picked up to series, I want to talk to you about appearing in the show.” He says, “Well, we’ll see. Let’s just talk about that when the time comes.” So I just kind of filed that away in my head, and once we got picked up to series, then I was going to find a place to bring Richard Hatch into that show.

  DAVID EICK

  There was a time, not too soon before hiring Richard Hatch, when both Ron and I would’ve absolutely scoffed at the idea of bringing anybody from the original Battlestar into the show. We were trying to stake out our claim, because we knew the fans of the old show didn’t like what we were doing anyway, and some of the stars of the original show had said really nasty things about what we were doing, so we were like, “Fuck them.” We’ll have our nods—we designed the Galactica to kind of evoke the original, we kept the Viper sort of the same, we reinvented other stuff. We thought, “We’re nodding enough; we don’t need to be bringing in Lorne Greene’s daughter or something.” You know, give me a break.

  RICHARD HATCH

  Battlestar Galactica has played such a huge part in my life, from playing Apollo in the original version up to the new version, where I would get to play one of my most challenging and favorite characters ever: the complex and unfathomable Tom Zarek. It is rare in an actor’s life that he gets the opportunity to play two such diverse characters in the same story so many years apart that not only speak to the heart of who I am as a human being, but who I have become as a result of the trials, struggles, and tribulations that follow all artists in their journey to find meaning and their place in the world.

  DAVID EICK

  When Ron came back from that convention and said, “Look, I spoke to Richard Hatch, and I think we should offer him a job,” it was still a shock to me. But at that point in time I could see some wisdom in it. I could see that this guy, who’s been the most outspoken about this version of Battlestar, and Starbuck … whatever his name is; Dirk Benedict … was just sort of nasty and dismissive, but Richard Hatch had tried for years to do his own version. He had made a short and tried to pitch and sell it. He wrote novelizations and did a bunch of conventions, so to me it almost became ironic. And then I started to love it, because I thought if we get the most outspoken critic, the guy who was the most vociferously against what you’re doing, to be on your show, that’s so insidious and underhanded that I love it. It’s like we went and robbed their bank.

  I think Ron had very different reasons for liking this id
ea. Mine were probably much more childish and subversive. I loved the idea of subverting all of that nasty blogosphere stuff about what we were doing by taking one of their own.

  RONALD D. MOORE

  When Richard did appear on the show once it went to series, I think it absolutely changed the view of some of the fans. The thing about it is, it could’ve gone either way. If he had been a rallying point for the fans as someone from the show saying terrible things about it, it could’ve really kept a core group of people that were opposed to what we were doing. I don’t think it would have affected the sense of the show overall, but there would’ve been more of a negative core to some elements of the fandom. But Richard’s endorsement and participation in it, and then advocacy of it, I think went a long way toward just saying, “Hey, look, they’re not shitting on the original. They’re just saying, ‘Hey, we’re doing a different version of it,’ and they’re actually trying to celebrate the original in some ways.” And everybody just kind of got on board. There’s that moment in the miniseries where the ships are flying to the original theme. I never wanted to pretend that it was completely original. I’d always wanted it to be Battlestar Galactica.

  DAVID EICK

  After the decision was made about Richard, and we’re on set, I’m terrified. Now that we’ve gotten past the schadenfreude of it, now I’m terrified, because not only do I not know if this guy can act, I’m pretty sure he can’t. I mean, I’ve seen enough little bits of the original Battlestar that I was like, “Well, that doesn’t really even apply to what we’re doing.” And then you look at his credits and go, “Well, what has he done that speaks to an ability to just be naturalistic and real and vulnerable? And to kind of be able to sustain what we’re doing with the rest of the show?” You know, to not be in another movie the whole time. But I’ve got to tell you, I was there for a great deal of his first episode, and during that time I’m kind of getting to know Richard Hatch. And what I’m discovering is that he’s really good. Much better than I would’ve thought.

  Richard and I talked about the character that day, but I think he knew or sensed that we were naturally going to be worried that he wouldn’t be able to carry this kind of material. I could tell he was very intent, asking the director, “Is that too much? Do you want less?” He was aiming for naturalism and minimalism. And I thought, “He’s here to be a team player. He’s not here to sabotage, he’s not here to badmouth, he’s not here to just show us up. He’s here to be a member of the team and really try to make this good.” I just developed immediate respect for him, right then and there.

  KATEE SACKHOFF

  (actress, “Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace”)

  Richard had the most uncanny ability to make whoever was standing in front of him that he was speaking to feel like they were the most important person in the world in that moment. It was absolutely beautiful to watch, and he truly cared about every single person he came in contact with and what they were doing with their life, and he was interested to hear about it. He wanted to talk to everyone, because it motivated him to keep working.

  RICHARD HATCH

  This epic and profoundly moving story called Battlestar Galactica has always gone light years beyond its deceptive moniker and sci-fi nomenclature, delving deeply into the human condition and exploring mankind’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. As an artist, I have always been just as interested in the story as the characters I’m asked to play, and the underlying story and subtext of Battlestar has provided me a powerful opportunity to look into my own soul and learn the most difficult lesson for all of us: to not be afraid to explore, embrace, and forgive our proverbial dark side, our flaws and imperfections, which we all have and need to come to terms with if we are to fully utilize our God-given talents and find our true path in the world.

  RONALD D. MOORE

  He was a true believer and really trying to get a new version done. So this was a blow to him. I understand that, and I can’t say enough about what it takes to then stand up and protect me from that crowd, and then to come all the way and be on the show and be an advocate for it. He had an investment in not going that route, and he was able to sort of change his mind and embrace what we were doing. I give him a huge amount of credit for that.

  DAVID EICK

  From my point of view, during his first episode I was watching Richard and Jamie Bamber very closely, because I was worried about it. But I thought Richard was very gracious to Jamie and vice versa. I thought they didn’t tiptoe around each other, but they both really seemed to be sensitive and compassionate about the other’s awkward position to each other. I really respected Richard for that, because I thought it would’ve been easy for him to come aboard and then find little ways to undermine the job that the new Apollo was doing. I’m sure that would be the obvious soap opera version of what could happen. The fact that none of it did, and I never even sensed that it got anywhere near that, is a real testament to both of them, but I think particularly to Richard, because he had the harder job there.

  RONALD D. MOORE

  To be honest, I felt that Richard really stepped up his game a bit, and he was embracing this character that I think was just complex, dark and kind of different. Certainly completely different than Apollo, and different than other things I’d seen him play. It was a complex character, and I think he enjoyed finding those darker corners and playing against his own type, and the image people had of him as a person and the characters he had portrayed. Suddenly he got to play a villain, a charming one, and a guy with levels and smarts and running circles around other people. I think he just really enjoyed it and I was always really happy he was on our show, which is why we kept using him. It wasn’t because we wanted to keep getting the PR value of it. The PR value was in the first one, and the subsequent episodes it was because we started really liking having him on the show. We could do more with Zarek, and Richard would be fun. As writers, you just started looking forward to things you could give him.

  Things did not go as smoothly with Battlestar Galactica creator Glen Larson, who had tried over the years to relaunch the franchise himself and was fairly vocal in his disdain for the new series, despite the substantial fees and screen credit he was receiving for the reboot.

  RONALD D. MOORE

  I had no interest in direct interaction with Glen during development of the show. The first time I had any awareness of him was when I started reading things that he was being quoted as saying. You know, the show was being developed and he was starting to say snarky things about it, which I thought was kind of shitty and not cool. So I had a sort of predisposition. I would ask, “What is it with this guy? Like, we haven’t even talked and he’s already slagging on us in the press.”

  DAVID LARSON

  (son of Glen Larson)

  That show was my father’s legacy. Ron didn’t make an arbitrary decision to change Starbuck into a female, but that was an iconic character for my father. To just say we’re going to gender-swap, we’re going to do this, we’re going to move this around, and we’re going to change some of the mythology, was painful for him. I imagine any author, any writer, would have the same instincts. You want to protect your story.

  RONALD D. MOORE

  The biggest thing that stuck in my craw was he arbitrated for credit on the miniseries writing. If you look at the miniseries writing credit, it’s not written by me. It’s written by me and “Christopher Eric James.” It’s Glen Larson’s pseudonym. And what happened was he actually took things to arbitration with the WGA that he wanted part of the credit. I thought, “All right, yes, I’m adapting the original.” My point of view was, “I’m perfectly happy to give Glen complete story credit. Let him have the ‘story by’ credit, but I think I deserve the teleplay credit, because nothing in this script has anything to do with the original.” Glen felt otherwise. So it goes to arbitration committee and somehow they agree with him. That’s the decision I have to abide by and that’s fine. So the final writing credit was shared by him and me. B
ut what stuck in my craw was that after he wins the fight, he doesn’t put his own fucking name on it. So it’s not written by Ronald D. Moore and Glen Larson, which at least sort of would acknowledge the roots of it and my contribution versus the creator. It’s my name and some other guy’s name, which makes it look like I was either rewritten or someone else contributed in some way. I never quite forgave him for that. My speculation is that he was hedging his bets. Like he thought it was a piece of shit and he didn’t want his name associated with it, but he wanted to cash the check. With Galactica, I always tried to talk about what we owed the original and that our show would not exist without it. I never took anything away from Glen, but when he took something away from my writing credit, I took that personally.

  After the success of the Battlestar Galactica miniseries, a new waiting game began on whether or not it would be picked up as a weekly series. And during that process, neither Moore nor Eick could afford to sit around idly while corporate decisions were being made.

  RONALD D. MOORE

  We had a very troubled, very difficult first year on Carnivàle, which taught me even more about running a big, giant, complicated show. By the time that year one was over, I had had such an unhappy experience, I didn’t want to go back. And Sci-Fi hadn’t quite made up their minds whether they were going to do Galactica as a TV series, but they were willing to offer me a deal—an overall deal to be at Universal. If Galactica did become a series, they would have a deal there and would I take it? I said yes. So I left Carnivàle, went to Universal, and then took my chances. I wanted to see what was going to happen. I was there for a few months before they ultimately pulled the trigger. It was a lot of drama back and forth in the interim period where I was on that deal. You know, are they going to make the Galactica show as a series? Are we not? How much money was it going to be? It went up and down and up and down. David at that point had gone back to being a studio executive. He wasn’t a producer anymore. But ironically, because he was a studio executive, then he was able to work the inside track to make the Galactica series happen, and then he could go back to being a producer again. A lot of machinations in those days.