Dirk Benedict cries about being castrated
One only needs to spend a little time on Twitter to understand the huge following the new re-imagined series of Battlestar Galactica has. Huge numbers of people claim it as not only the greatest sci-fi series ever made, but also as the greatest television series ever made. But not so the actor who played Lt. Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica series, Dirk Benedict.
It seems that being shunned from the new series and having his character reinvented as a female has taken its toll on Benedict. The aging actor (he’s 63 now) has posted a blog in which he shares his view on the subject and, well, it isn’t pretty. Benedict can’t seem to let go of the fact that the new Starbuck doesn’t have his cigar (phallic pun intended) and that Richard Hatch made it to the new series whereas he didn’t (conveniently, he doesn’t mention Hatch once in his blog post).
Clearly Benedict has more problems than the new BSG series. He gets confused between Lorne Greene (a real person) and Adama (a fictional character). In fact, he hates the new series so bad that he even goes as far as to allude that he’s unlucky to be alive in real life, pathetically stating his opinion that Lorne Greene would be happy to be dead because of the re-imagined series.
“Witness the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, bleak, miserable, despairing, angry and confused. Which is to say, it reflects in microcosm the complete change in the politics and morality of today’s world, as opposed to the world of yesterday. The world of Lorne Greene (Adama), Fred Astaire (Starbuck’s Poppa) and Dirk Benedict (Starbuck). I would guess Lorne is glad he’s in that Big Bonanza in the sky and well out of it. Starbuck, alas, has not been so lucky. He’s not been left to pass quietly into that trivial world of cancelled TV characters.”
Surely that’s enough to have the alarm bells ringing as to the reasonableness of Benedicts take on the subject. But, if there were any questions – and after his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother how could there be? – he goes on to say:
“Women are from Venus. Men are from Mars. Hamlet does not scan as Hamletta. Nor does Hans Solo as Hans Sally. Faceman is not the same as Facewoman. Nor does a Stardoe a Starbuck make. Men hand out cigars. Women “hand out” babies. And thus the world for thousands of years has gone’ round.”
So in essence he’s against departure from the same old same old. He’s against the idea that women have more to offer the sci fi genre (or any genre) than as objects for men to flirt with and blow cigar smoke at. Women hand out babies? Men hand out cigars? He talks about un-imagination, well these sorts of views are as un-imagined as you get. Put Benedict in his prime into the cage with Gina Caruno (MMA Fighter) and we’d see just how behind the times he always has been.
I could write more because he’s written so much nonsensical rhetoric that there’s an endless amount of material there to poke sticks at. But I’m not really sure if the medieval opinions of a has-been actor who never was are really that interesting. But, if you’re bored and want to have a laugh, get your bucket ready and go read his full drivel filled article here.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
This diatribe of Benedict’s comes as no surprise to those of us who watched the fraternity-like atmosphere of “The A-Team,” and who have read Benedict’s books.(If I remember correctly, at one point he rails against handicapped kids getting the special privilege of watching the actors on set, and of course his chauvinistic attitudes towards women have been documented in print more than once.) Nevertheless, you can’t help but feel sorry for the guy. It sounds like he had some drama in his personal life that might have affected his outlook. He always sounds bitter lately, and that’s a shame. Personally, I love both takes on Starbuck for different reasons, and I’d hate to have my fondness for the first Starbuck sullied by a, er, Bad Attitude.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 am
Yes, definitely sourness is the word. I also like both Starbuck’s (although my opinion of Benedict’s Starbuck dropped with his blog post, I admit). However, there’s no doubting in my mind that Katie Sackoff’s Starbuck has made the name ‘Starbuck’ more of a household one. As my girlfriend said, “I’d never heard the name ‘Starbuck’ until the modern BSG, and now I’ll never forget it.”
November 24th, 2009 at 2:46 am
I’m totaly ok with dirk benedict. And almost I can’t look to this serie because the camera is in movement all time. Hick head assured!
The adaptation is ridiculous. They’d rather create an other story not based over battlestar galactica.
I am fan of science fiction, I’m fan of galactica, and I’m fan of dirk Benedict.
Excuse my bad english language, I am frensh and I am not very good in english. I read it better than I write it.
Alors, bonjour de la France, et épargnez nous des nouveaux épisodes.
Et un grand salut à Dirk Benedict.
June 12th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
I agree with Dirk in some ways. The New Battlestar Galactica was, in all honesty, a gutless move by the sci-fi network: Draw some viewers in by using the old show’s name even though the new show has absolutely NOTHING to do with the old one… then, hope that some of the viewers you drew in with the flypaper you just set down will “Stick.”
If they had balls, they would have simply created the same show and called it something else, instead of trying to co-opt another intellectual property and use it for such purposes.
In my mind, there will always ONLY be one Battlestar Galactica. This new show–good or bad–is something entirely different and will never be considered Battlestar Galactica.
June 19th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Eh, I haven’t bothered with the new version. Reinventions and remakes just don’t interest me. It sounds like Dirk really cared about his old character, that’s pretty touching in a lot of ways and nice to see he had such an emotional investment in the part.
July 3rd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Benedict brings up one interesting point about TV executives and the quality of content we must now live with. By making Starbuck female, Hollywood executives are being rather self-serving – they are killing two birds with one stone. They get to pull in a larger audience – more females and they keep the males – even if the male part of the audience is only half as interested (because lets face it, BSG is technologically less interesting with its focus on characters and plot). Secondly they look PC, ala Tomb Raider/Charlie’s Angels. Unfortunately this makes BSG more “an all things to all men” kind of series, which keeps audiences half-way happy. Making people “really” happy generally lessens the appeal to the broader audience and decreases the audience size as a result (less money).
July 26th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
I agree with Dirk and I miss seeing him on the tube. He IS Starbuck, the one and only! No other actor ( man or woman ) can step into that character and do with it what Dirk has done with it. Love and miss you Dirk! You don’t want to be on that awful show any way.