In memory of Richard Hatch, I have reposted this interview I did with him from 2006.
The
GENRE ONLINE.NET Interview – Richard Hatch
By
Mark A. Rivera
Most people may remember
Actor Richard Hatch from his starring role as Apollo in the classic sci-fi
television series “Battlestar Galactica,” which aired for one season on ABC
from 1978 to 1979 as well as his recurring guest starring role on SCI FI’s
reimagined “Battlestar Galactica” television series as Tom Zarek, a
character that allows Mr. Hatch to display a more three-dimensional human being
with a dark side while still evoking a natural honorability that I think is a
part of Mr. Hatch’s general personality. Richard Hatch is also an Author of
several “Battlestar Galactica” novels that continue the adventure where the
classic series left off as well as the creator of “The Great War Of
Magellan” science fiction franchise. In between acting and writing, Richard
Hatch has directed and produced “Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming,” a
trailer designed to ignite interest in “Battlestar Galactica” for what would
have been a feature film or television miniseries and Mr. Hatch is also a
Teacher and Mentor helping his students attain their creative and professional
goals.
I was fortunate to be
granted an interview with Mr. Hatch to discuss his career, both “Battlestar
Galactica” television series and much more. Richard Hatch is an avid science
fiction and fantasy fan and a man passionate about his interests. Of all the
genre icons I have interviewed over the years, I have to say Mr. Hatch was one
of the best interview experiences I ever had and I am proud to share this
interview with you all now.
Mark A. Rivera) Early in your career
when you were working on Broadway in New York City, you really roughed it out.
Literally you and several others in the theater group you were a part of were
sleeping within a theater, but in the end it lead to you directing and getting
noticed in the theater company and helped jumpstart your career. Is that
correct?
Richard Hatch) Yeah I had gone off
to New York with thirty young actors and actresses and we lived in an empty
ballet studio in Hell’s Kitchen in this little theater complex on 54th
street and we basically lived on the floor in sleeping bags and lived on
Campbell’s Soup that an actor’s father gave us because he worked for
Campbell’s Soup. He gave us a barrel of about 300 Campbell’s Soup cans,
which saved our lives I must say and basically we put on one act plays, poetry
readings, Shakespeare, anything we could to just not only work as a company, but
make any kind of money we could. We were just struggling actors who had been
part of a theater troupe out here in Los Angeles and we all decided to head out
to New York at the same time. And then that lead to an audition for “All My
Children” when the soap opera was just beginning and after multiple auditions
because I didn’t have much of a resume, I got cast as the original Phil Brent.
We were the original children of “All My Children” that debuted in 1970.
Karen Gorney, who went on to star opposite John Travolta in “Saturday
Night Fever,” and of course Susan Lucci was the other vixen I worked with. We
all were in high school together and that’s how the show really started and
then basically I was back here for three or four years doing the soap opera and
plays and I was starring in a rock musical off Broadway called “Love me. Love
my Children.” So that was like the beginnings for me.
MR) After you had done a TV series
with Karl Malden, you had gotten the opportunity to do “Battlestar Galactica”
and of course play the signature character of Apollo and I have to say that
being a fan of the original series and watching it as a little kid, you brought
a lot to the show, especially with the chemistry between you and Dirk Benedict.
As you look back now from the new Galactica to the classic Galactica, how do you
feel so to speak of being the leading man of “Battlestar Galactica?” I
realize you did the commentary for the DVDs and you have enormous respect for
Lorne Greene, who you were lucky enough to work with, but it must have been a
mind-blowing experience and I also understand that you yourself are also a
science fiction fan, am I correct?
SCI FI Photo By Carole Segal
RH) Oh yeah I am a very big sci-fi
fan. I like intelligent, visionary science fiction. I’m not one for cheesy or
just superficial science fiction. I like science fiction that explores the
theoretical probabilities and possibilities of this universe and also explores
the mysteries of the human heart. I think great science fiction brings all of it
together in a very unique and original way. For me I am always surprised at why
so many people who say they don’t like science fiction when you ask them what
they think science fiction is, they really don’t understand. They label
science fiction. They think it is just a bunch of gobbly gook and techno-babble.
They don’t understand that great science fiction really, really is visionary,
is prophetic and has very powerful stories about life and about people you know.
It’s spiritual, it’s philosophical, and it explores all the mysteries I
think all of us at some point of our life begin to ask questions about.
MR) Absolutely and it also makes
comments at times about different contemporary issues sociologically speaking
and even a subversive comment and really say it in a more interesting way than
you can in other genres. I know exactly what you’re saying though. I’ve had
people tell me, “I like sci-fi.” And I say “Oh really, what’s your
favorite sci-fi?” and they say “Oh Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and I
say to them “Well that’s more of a dark fantasy with a mix of comedy.” I
wouldn’t even consider that horror, you know? What are your favorite sci-fi
and or science fiction since Harlan Ellison has definitely made an
understandable differentiation? To paraphrase, he says sci-fi is more fantasy
oriented and science fiction is more based on hard science and exploring
possibilities and that sort of thing.
RH) Well if you’re going to have
to label it, I think he’s absolutely right, but I’ve always enjoyed fantasy.
See fantasy to me doesn’t mean superficial or lacking in some deeper more
profound message or lacking in plausible scientific underpinnings. Fantasy
explores archetypes. It explores very powerful philosophical, spiritual,
psychological or whatever you want to call it and when the writer does their
job, no matter whether you’re old or young, boy or girl, everybody can relate
to it as witnessed by the success of “The Lord Of The Rings.” Fantasy allows
us a one step separation from where we are so that we can look at it, enjoy it,
and have just a certain level of detachment while being able to maybe look at
theoretical probabilities that could or could not be, but maybe in many ways
mirrors back to us things that are going on in our world and yet it does it in a
fresh, unique, original concept so maybe we are less threatened or intimidated
by it. See fantasy allows one step of detachment that allows us to look at
something we normally couldn’t look at if it was too close to home.
MR) Often I find the genres cross
between each other. I mean “Star Wars” is as much a fantasy and even
“Battlestar Galactica” has a lot of fantasy elements within it. The
original, particularly, is somewhat influenced by the space operas.
RH) Right.
MR) While the new Galactica from my
point of view, I’d say its biggest influence is probably Philip K. Dick and
“Blade Runner” with the replicants questioning humanity. But before I ask
you a few questions about the new show… You have been probably the strongest
voice of “Battlestar Galactica” since the show went off the air and I wanted
to ask you with regard to “Galactica 1980”, which I know a lot of people
find regrettable, was there ever any attempt to bring you on the show?
RH) 1980, you mean?
MR) Yes.
RH) Yes well… I don’t know how
serious it was. Dirk and I both received scripts, but the scripts had already
changed the names from Apollo and Starbuck to um…
MR) Troy and…
RH) Troy and whoever. And I don’t
know how serious they were, but we were offered to do it. I turned it down
because I just felt maybe they made a mistake and had already changed the names,
but I think they would have brought both of us back. It’s just I felt that
when they brought it to Earth and they cut the budget in half and they changed
everything… I turned it down because I felt that the original concept was so
wonderful and I felt the story was all about the journey, not about arriving at
the destination.
MR) Like “Jason And The
Argonauts.”
RH) Yeah, I just felt it was going
to lose all the wonderful things that made the original “Battlestar Galactica”
so special and I felt honestly with a second year they could have finally gotten
into the deeper richer stories that the Battlestar world had waiting to explore,
but instead of going deeper into the original story, they were all about
changing everything and I think they didn’t realize that “Battlestar
Galactica” was very successful for a first year series and that the changes
they wanted to make were not the changes the audience wanted to see. The only
thing the audience wanted to see more of was better stories.
MR) I agree. Especially after
watching them all on DVD and reviewing them all a few years back, I don’t
think ABC really knew what they had at the time. I think they dropped the ball
by canceling it and that’s been my opinion since. Now a lot of people,
including yourself and in your novels, as far as I know, pretend that
“Galactica 1980” never happened and the only episode from that series anyone
ever remembers fondly was “The Return Of Starbuck.”
RH) I basically wove that theme into
my books. In the first novels we explore the fact that he has been missing for
five years and then we go back and we find him. I wanted to weave that idea into
the books because I did like that part of the story.
MR) You have been writing a seven
novel series over the years.
RH) Well it’s actually an on going
novel series and we’ve done seven so far and the company I, Books just went
bankrupt and Byron Priess passed away. He was killed on the highway.
MR) I’m very sorry.
RH) So right now everything is kind
of up in limbo, but we’re hoping to write the eighth “Battlestar Galactica”
novel because I wrote a two-book story arc for the last two books and we’ve
only done half of it. So they told me we would do eight novels and then they
told me they would determine whether they would pick it up for another three,
but unfortunately after writing seven, all that stuff came to pass.
MR) I am very sorry to hear that. I
apologize.
RH) Oh, don’t even worry. These
things happen all the time and things go through changes and shifts so you know
I’m doing a lot of work right now. I mean I’m really busy with the new show
and I’m also writing the first novel for my “Great War Of Magellan” series
that we put together and we filmed a theatrical trailer and we are doing a
graphic novel of it so I have been working very hard developing this new sci-fi
story and it’s been an extremely busy time for me.
MR) Do you think there will ever be
a time when it will be possible that any of that footage that you shot for
“Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming” may be included in a future
Universal release?
RH) They tried to put it into the
DVDs of the original series that came out, but then when I told them that we had
made a special deal with SAG and that it was only a presentational piece and
that they would have to pay all the actors and work out the licensing fees, they
didn’t want to put out the extra money in order to do it. Otherwise they would
have put it in the DVD. And we offered it and they were actually interested in
it. It’s just that the expense of making it viable was a little too much. They
didn’t realize the popularity at that point with “Battlestar Galactica”
and I think they were all shocked when they realized how many DVDs sold of the
original series. It went well beyond their expectations.
MR) Do you think there is ever any
chance or possibility, if it was offered, to make “The Second Coming” as a
feature film or TV movie as a parallel Galactica film series that continues from
when the original series left off and would you do it?
RH) Of course, but I don’t think
at this point in time. They’ve opted and chosen to do the new reimagined
version and they’re putting all their energy there. The only thing that
remains an unknown possibility is the movie rights still belong to Glen Larsen
and I know there is talk and discussions about doing a movie or animated movie
of the original “Battlestar Galactica” series, which is definitely a
possibility and I think in this day and age the new show is so firmly
established it’s credibility and success that like “Star Trek,” which had
“Deep Space Nine”, “The Next Generation”, and “The Original Series,”
I think they realize that there’s room and there wouldn’t be any competition
at this point or threat or anything. I think the new show is so firmly
established and his it’s own fan base. I think that if they did an original
version of the Battlestar either through a movie or animated version, it would
be very successful and it would be very satisfying to those three generations of
fans who followed the original show and also help lay the history for all the
new fans to realize where the seed for the new show generated from. The new show
is quite different from the original although I must say as the show progresses,
they have brought more and more of the original premise and backstory into it
and some of the wonderful things about the original show have been brought
forward and obviously evolved and up leveled, but I think it would be wonderful
if they were able to do that. I mean I realized long ago when I did The Second
Coming trailer I was hoping to inspire a revival and knew once Universal did get
excited about “Battlestar Galactica” again that ultimately they own it and
they would make there own decision about what they felt they wanted to do and I
conceded that was a risk, but never the less I love the story and I felt the
potential of “Battlestar Galactica” and so I and many, many others worked
the bring that back, but at some point you realize that we learn, we grow
through the things we love and ultimately if we want to do something in our own
unique way either as an actor, writer, producer, director then you have to make
something that comes from your heart. That’s why I started writing “Great
War Of Magellan.” That was my baby that began to delve into exactly what we
talked about. I wanted to create a very mind expanding, visionary, cutting edge
science fiction story that would explain the mysteries of the universe and the
human heart and I wanted to put that all together and that’s why I formed my
company Merlin Quest Entertainment and that’s why we’ve been working on this
for the last four years now.
MR) I’m not familiar with “The
Great War Of Magellan.” Would you tell me a little bit about it? I could get
the information on my own, but…
SCI FI Photos By Carole Segal
RH) Yeah, although the new page will
be up in the next month, you can over to www.greatwarofmagellan.com
and you will see a theatrical trailer there and a behind-the-scenes making of
trailer and a little bit of an overview although the new web page when that goes
up, it will be a much more dramatic display. That will give information on the
new comic that is being put together right now and a novilzation of it. It’s a
little bit like “The Lord Of The Rings” in terms of how epic it is in size.
It follows an ancient star mariner who’s thousands of years old that crash
lands on the moon Titan and is found by the first manned mission to Titan and a
hologram of this ancient star mariner begins talking about the Great Wars of the
Magellanic Cloud and he takes them into the history and into the relationship of
his civilization to Earth and what took place there and why they suffered so
many catastrophic wars and destruction and it really explores some of the root
questions that I’ve had forever about our world here. Why does mankind have
this penchant for war and self-destruction? Why is it that every time we build
to certain pinnacles of achievement every civilization, such as the Mayans, the
Egyptians, the Romans and then we self-destruct? And even in this day and age
we’re reaching another pinnacle where we could destroy ourselves and I explore
that through a human civilization in the Magellanic Cloud. I obviously am
borrowing from some of the greatest books I’ve ever read, some of the greatest
physics books, and some of the most visionary writers because I wanted to delve
into these mysteries and explore it as honestly as possible. Through the
Magellanic Cloud, we get a chance to see and explore. Not only that, I always
thought that the prodigal son and the word redemption were powerful words. It
seems like the greatest of our world have been put up on crosses and burned at
the stake. Why is it the some of the greatest among us are thrown into such a
dark path? Why is it that many of them have to struggle to find their way back
and those that do manage to find their way back become wise. But truly it’s
the story in the Bible of the prodigal son, of the son who has really fallen off
the path and has gone to the deepest dark of dark and somehow finds a way to
come home. Can you come home again and can you be redeemed? Can you be forgiven?
We saw that in “Star Wars” with Anakin Skywalker being thrown into the
darkness and of course later on he is redeemed at the end of the whole saga, but
I just felt that story wasn’t deep enough or full enough or rich enough and it
never was plausible enough to me though I love the “Star Wars Saga,” but it
always seemed to me the way that Anakin fell seemed a little pushed. You know
for him to go and kill all of those children five minutes after he bows down and
becomes a Sith. Even if you know there are things leading up to that, to take
that final step as he does in the film, somehow it didn’t quite make sense to
me. It seemed that somebody would have to be so pushed to the “nth” degree
and be totally destroyed as a human being before they could go to that place.
Never the less, obviously Lucas had the courage to explore it. I applaud him for
that, but I’ve always been fascinated because in this society you know in a
sense we’re Christian on a certain level, but we have trouble forgiving those
who fall in the darkness. Yet sometimes the greatest among us have fallen and I
explored it in my Battlestar books with Baltar. Can a man who basically
destroyed a lot of the human race be redeemed and if so can he be of value? And
I thought someone who has been to the darkness and returned is going to have a
story to tell and is going to have a greater wisdom than any of us. A line in
“Revenge Of The Sith” that fascinated me was when Palpatine said to Anakin,
“You are not a true master unless you’ve mastered both the dark and the
light.” And I thought you know, that’s really true, if we don’t master the
darkness we’re always going to fall victim to it. We’re always going to be
vulnerable to it. And so maybe that’s part of the journey for those who choose
to be called, to listen, or to be awakened. They’re cast into the darkness and
then the heroic journey, the journey of the hero we talked about is the journey
back, and many don’t make it back, but in my story we explore the journey of
one who did.
MR) Well you know what I’ve
noticed in general, I mean you can look at this through mythology and
contemporary genre films, “The Lord Of The Rings”, “Star Wars”, and even
“The Matrix Trilogy.” It seems that a chosen one in any type of story ends
with a great sacrifice.
RH) Right.
MR) Anakin dies in the course of
bringing balance back to the Force by destroying the Sith, Frodo destroys the
ring and saves Middle Earth, but in the end he can no longer be a part of it,
and Neo gives up his life literally to save the three worlds – the machine
world, the program world, and the human world. If you want to look at it from a
kind of Hindu point of view, he stops the cycle of creation and destruction that
was revealed in the middle part of that trilogy that the machines created Zion
and every so often in order to reboot the program they do this whole thing and
then they start over again. For lack of a better expression, he breaks that
cycle. He finds a way out kind of like finding enlightenment if you will and
also I think you’re right too after seeing movies like the original “The
Razor’s Edge,” which I think covers that and to a far more darker and
somewhat unresolved extent Coppola’s “Heart Of Darkness” inspired
“Apocalypse Now” definitely has what you are talking about in there.
Speaking of a character that have experienced the darker side of himself, I
wanted to ask you about Tom Zarek. I love what you have done with the character.
Even from talking to you now for the first time, I have noticed from the
original series and from what I’ve seen on the Internet and DVDs, and the new
series, you have a natural honorability about yourself and you bring that to Tom
Zarek and as a result it makes Tom Zarek a much more interesting character.
He’s not the hero that Apollo was in the original Galactica, but that was a
different time and a different type of show, but he still has the same type of
honor if you will and I really believe that in Zarek’s own mind he believes he
is doing what’s best. I don’t think he’s as cardboard a villain so to
speak as how Baltar was portrayed in the original series because that was what
was written for him and we are talking post-Star Wars expectations and lots of
things had not been given the opportunity to develop. Tom Zarek is actually not
quite a villain either. He seems to be somewhere in between. So what do you
think of your character on the new series and also have any of your ideas from
“Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming” and from the novels found their
way into the new series and if you do not mind my asking, perhaps do think
you’ll ever get an opportunity to write or direct an episode?
SCI FI Photo By Frank Ockenfels
RH) First of all I love the
character of Tom Zarek because I truly feel he is one of those idealists who
paid a big price and he is a damaged human being psychologically, emotionally,
and spiritually. He spent twenty years in prison, saw many of those he loved die
so therefore his agenda is colored by probably his pain and his rage at the
powers that be. You know many a revolutionary, many a political idealist pay a
huge price for their idealism in this world that sometimes does not honor
idealism at all. Tom Zarek wants to
do good, but you have a lot of pain and trauma in the way and one of the hardest
things to deal with when you’ve fought for something you believe in is that
when things don’t work out or if you’re stopped in a very abusive way that
you don’t let the rage and the pain and the anger consume you. And as we saw
in “Star Wars” with the anger, you know that’s something we all have to
deal with. That’s why the new “Battlestar Galactica”
is so powerful because it’s making us all look at ourselves and we all
realize no matter who we are we have to struggle with the good and bad things
within us.
MR) I understand, but again for lack
of a better expression I have got to give you props because your character is
one of the best guest starring roles on the series and I hope it gives a hundred
times more career opportunities and notice than you ever have gotten before and
I mean this sincerely because if anything for people who are not as familiar
with all of your work and endeavors I think what you do with Tom Zarek from my
point of view is you’ve created a character that as I have said before has an
honorable quality to him that is not unlike your role as Apollo in the original
Galactica. The main difference with Tom Zarek is he is a far more
three-dimensionally written character and you have the wisdom of 25 years on top
of the work you did in the original Galactica between 1978 and 1979 that you
bring to the Tom Zarek character. Do you think you might be able to get any
other of your fellow classic Galactica veterans to appear on the series?
RH) I don’t think it has anything
to do with me in the sense that I’ve found that all the actors from the
original show, I mean we’re all friends and every once in awhile we see each
other, but it depends on their agenda and what they want to do with their lives
and when I was doing “The Second Coming” trailer and working very hard to
bring back the original show, you know they all had different feelings. Some
didn’t want to pursue this anymore, some were lukewarm about it, some thought
okay, if it happens great. They had mixed feelings about it not because they
didn’t like Battlestar, but because 25 years later everybody was in a
different place in their lives. Married, had families, children, obligations,
responsibilities and “Battlestar Galactica” was a very small part of their
lives. It became a large part of my life because I happen to love the story and
I got involved in writing the comic books, novels, and pushing to bring back the
series, but it became a much bigger thing for me and also I was probably one of
the few people on the show that actually loved science fiction. I love science
fiction and I love the premise of “Battlestar Galactica” so I just think
there is a much different thing going on there and also this is a series that
Ron Moore very much in his heart, mind, and soul had envisioned and he’s still
laying out that vision. So when you are unfurling your own vision of an idea you
are very attached to it emotionally. You’re still exploring. You’re still
trying things and I think maybe at a later point, depending on how many years it
goes, they probably will open up to taking story pitches from outside writers
and ultimately you know they might start letting some of the actors on the show
direct, but I think that’s down the line and while there’s always a
possibility, I think the actors who are starring on the show would probably get
first opportunity like Edward Olmos or Mary McDonnell or Jamie Bamber and then
maybe at some point later on if it goes long enough, I might get a shot. Who
knows? I’m extremely fortunate to be on the show and still be around, but I
think their first allegiance is to the original cast they put together and like
I said, they were very gracious in inviting me to come on and play a character
they decided to develop and leave on the show. I don’t have any illusions
about any of that. I basically realize that they’re creating their version of
“Battlestar Galactica” and they’ve done a great job of it and it’s very
different from the original. You can’t compare them. They’re both great
shows for different reasons, but I think Moore very much has his own vision of
how he wants to go with it and at this point in time I think if Glen or my idea
of “The Second Coming” and all that other stuff you know, writers have their
vision of what they want to do and as we’ve seen Ron has gone back and mined
the original series for a few things like the Cain stuff and so forth. I don’t
think he’s going to use any of my ideas from “The Second Coming” or my
novels and Glen Larsen if he does his animated version or Tom DeSanto does his
version of the original series. You have to understand I was an actor, they’re
producer, director, writer and even though I’m getting into producing,
directing, and writing now I think they have their own very strong passionate
ideas of what they want to do with it.
MR) Can you tell me what your
favorite science fiction authors, novels, or books are?
RH) You know everybody loves Isaac
Asimov. I like retro sci-fi. I love H.G. Wells and read “The Disappearance”
by Philip Wiley, which I thought was an extraordinary book exploring what would
happen if one day all the men in the world disappeared and the second half of
the book is what would happen if all the woman disappeared. Powerful book when
at the end the men and women come back together again with a new understanding
of how important each other is in this world. I think it would make a great
film. From the time I was seven or eight years old, my teachers would get upset
with me because I would find a science fiction novel and I would get lost in it.
Once you get caught up in a book everything else ceases to exist.
MR) I know where you are coming
from. Believe me I was a real sci-fi fan even when I was like four or five years
old my parents took me with them to see “Logan’s Run” probably because
they had no babysitter I guess and I would be talking about the film to anyone I
spoke to even if I didn’t understand quite what I was talking about saying
things like “Oh there were weird shape buildings and there’s a robot and at
one point you see a naked woman” you know what I mean because I was a little
kid and of course I got some things wrong, but I know where you are coming from
because I still get lost in books by science fiction authors and it’s very
good to hear you say Isaac Asimov because of the fact I’d say the
“Foundation” series that he wrote, are among my personal favorites so I was
just curious to find out if you like “Dune” or the work of Arthur C. Clarke?
You have an interest in physics. Have you ever read a book called
“Hyperspace” or “Visions” by Michio Kaku.
RH) “Visions.” That’s one of
the books that is my bible. I loved “Visions.” In fact that book explores
theoretical physics with what might happen fifty years from now, a hundred years
from now, two hundred years, three hundred years and it’s written by 150 of
the top science and visionary thinkers in the world. It really takes pragmatic
down to earth real science and projects it forward.
MR) And in an entertaining way too.
RH) And it leads us to you know what
people think is so far fetched in terms of the “Star Trek” world. It tells
us that we will be there so for me I love physics; I read science fiction,
fantasy novels, and watch films of course. You know I grew up on “War Of The
Worlds” and “When Worlds Collide” and that kind of stuff and then
sometimes we get what I call pseudo science fiction like movies that kind of
have a science fiction veneer, but not made by visionary science fiction writers
or people who understand the genre. I think a lot of the misconceptions to the
public comes from the fact that they think science fiction is just a bunch of
monsters and foreheads and strange creatures and science fiction is so much more
than that. It always amazes me that people don’t ask questions about the
universe, who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? How did we
evolve? It just seems to me that some people don’t want to look beyond their
nose and that’s a choice, but it’s just amazing to me that you can live in
this world and look up at the stars and not wonder.
MR) In “The Man Who Fell To
Earth” there’s a reference to where David Bowie’s character is asked if he
is the first extraterrestrial to visit here? And he answers in not so many words
no, I’ve seen signs that you’ve been visited by others and we have too and
we don’t know who they are and we have the same questions you do too. I liked
that scene because of what it leaves in the air for the viewer to speculate
about. Even in Galactica there are the subtle things that count such as I like
the fact that the Colonials have a polytheistic society where as up until now, I
don’t know how it’s going to be from this point forward after seeing the
second season finale, the Cylons have a monotheistic type of society with their
belief in one god while the Colonials refer to the “gods” instead of “Oh
God” or something like that. I also agree with you that science fiction that
does have a spiritual underpinning, not that it has to hit one over the head
with it, but anything that does have a spiritual element tends to be richer like
“Star Wars.” You know now I have heard this referenced at times, but I just
never completely understood it and I hope you don’t mind my asking I never
understood how George Lucas could attempt to sue “Battlestar Galactica” if I
understand correctly because he felt that somehow it was infringing on his
copyright or something like that?
RH) You know if you only look at it
on the surface you have guys running around on a big Battlestar and it sounds
like the Death Star. They’re not similar, but in some generic way it looked
like the show was inspired by “Star Wars” and obviously it was inspired by
the success of “Star Wars,” but certainly the story was totally different.
But I think in the beginning it looked like Universal was taking advantage of
the success of “Star Wars” and launching their own version of that and I
think they just wanted to challenge some things and think they saw my
character’s original name was Skyler and then they changed my character’s
name to Apollo. We had the lasers and ship battles and I think they just looked
at what I call the generic generalities of the show and compared them to “Star
Wars,” but they didn’t know the full story. I think they just wanted to
present a challenge to make sure or maybe even to find out what the true story
was and again people sue for multiple reasons. Sometimes they want to slow you
up. They get upset because they think someone’s piggybacking off of them. You
know in this industry a lot of science fiction projects didn’t get green
lighted until after the success of “Star Wars” so it changed the whole
market and opened up the door for shows to get green lighted and obviously
“Battlestar Galactica” was thrown into the works very quickly because they
really wanted to bring to the television something that would have the epic feel
of “Star Wars,” but was a completely different story. They did come up with
an original story and back-story for “Battlestar Galactica,” which is why
the Lucas representatives lost, but people sue for multiple reasons. Sometimes
they just want to cause you problems and they don’t want the competition.
MR) I realize you probably can’t
talk about what’s going to happen in season three of the new “Battlestar
Galactica” and whatnot, but I was just curious to find out if they have called
you yet?
RH) Well we’ll all pray. I have no
idea.
MR) Production has already started.
RH) It doesn’t start until the end
of March. They are in pre-production now.
MR) Are you looking forward to going
back to Vancouver?
RH) Yeah, of course. Lets put it
this way. I love teaching. I love acting. I love writing. I love directing. I
love doing all of it, but playing Tom Zarek has been one of the true delights of
my acting career. It’s a scene here and there, but it’s always an
interesting scene and it’s a delicious character and the writing on the new
“Battlestar Galactica” is some of the best I’ve ever been lucky to be able
to participate with and the writers, the producers, the actors are all
extraordinary and the feeling on the Battlestar set is wonderful. Honestly it is
an absolute joy for me to go up there and film and be in Vancouver, which is
another place I love. My family is from Szechwan, Canada, but I was born in
Santa Monica, California. You know I have an affinity for Canada and I like I
said I love great science fiction writing. As an actor you love to play
characters that are juicy, multidimensional, conflicted, enigmatic, and have an
interesting back-story. I mean Ron Moore and company write characters that every
actor dies to play and to be on a science fiction show that really is a serious
drama exploring life and death issues, political issues, sociological issues
that mirror today’s world, I couldn’t ask to be part of something better,
you know…
SCI FI Photo By Carole Segal
MR) It’s the best show on
television.
RH) Yeah. There’s nothing better.
MR) “Battlestar Galactica” and
“Lost.”
RH) Any actor on there will tell you
how grateful they are to be a part of this show. This is entertainment with a
punch. It’s entertainment with substance and I just think that people that
don’t understand science fiction should really give this show a shot and
realize great acting is great acting and great writing is great writing and
there are wonderful delicious characters that you can relate to because it
mirrors all of us. I mean this is a show for men, women, for anybody looking for
something that’s going to entertain them, make them think, and expand their
mind and heart.
MR) In the 1990s, “Babylon 5”
was my favorite sci-fi show? What were yours?
RH) I was a big “Star Trek” guy
and I really liked the original “Star Trek”, “The Next Generation” and
so forth. I watched it all. When I
was in New York working as a young actor I’d come home every day and watch the
original “Star Trek” in syndication. I fell in love with the original
“Star Wars” and I loved the first “Matrix” film and “The Lord Of The
Rings.” Though it is not a sci-fi or fantasy film, “Braveheart” is one of
my favorite films of all time.
MR) Talking about archetypes in
storytelling, again what is “Braveheart?” In many ways its “Spartacus”
retold.
RH) Yup. Of course. That’s one of
the reasons why I like playing Tom Zerak because he is a political revolutionary
and I’ve always been into revolutionaries and those human beings that had the
courage to challenge the powers that be and whether right or wrong or good or
bad, I just found those individuals really extraordinary, interesting, complex,
and any time I get an opportunity to read a book about someone who challenged
authority I always read it because most people are terrified to challenge people
in positions of authority. Most people don’t realize the power in their hands.
I’ve realized in this society that we get uncomfortable with people who speak
up and yet at the same time they are saying the same words that are deep in our
heart, but we are afraid to say. We get afraid to stand up for ourselves and
seeking truth in the world and then somebody has the courage to stand up and
reminds us that we are not taking responsibility for us. A democracy demands
empowered populaces that just don’t listen to sound bytes, but really explores
the political issues and make intelligent and informed decisions. People tend to
want to just get on with their lives. They don’t want to worry about the
larger picture and then there are those individuals that don’t want to take
what they consider the inequities of life and thank God because society
wouldn’t have moved out of dictatorships to move to a political process in
evolution that at least is offering greater freedom than any other process
before.
SCI FI Photo By Carole Segal
Richard Hatch and I
chatted a little more about films and so forth after this interview concluded. I
found him to be quite inspiring and genuine. One can see both the original as
well as the new “Battlestar Galactica” on the SCI FI Channel. The second
season of the new show has just concluded, but it’s never too late to start
watching and Universal HD has broadcast high definition season two episodes as
well. In addition the complete original “Battlestar Galactica” TV series as
well as the theatrical version of the series premiere and the miniseries that
spawned the new Galactica TV series with seasons 1 and the first half of season
two are available now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Universal Studios
Home Entertainment. You can learn more about “Battlestar Galactica: The Second
Coming” by visiting www.battlestargalactica.com
and you can learn more about “The Great War Of Magellan” franchise by
visiting www.greatwarofmagellan.com
and also learn more about Richard Hatch and his latest projects by visiting www.richardhatch.com..
Big thanks to Richard Hatch for granting me this interview and special thanks to
Lana Kim and SCI FI Channel for making it possible.
© Copyright 2006 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
All Rights Reserved.
