Two strictly non-political bits of news

[selenak]

A happy and a sad one. Today is composer John Williams' birthday, and I can think of no better tribute than this A Capella rendition:

Watch on YouTube

Sadly, it's also the day we learned Richard Hatch has died. I have no feelings about the original Battlestar Galactica one way or the other, but I thought he was excellent as Tom Zarek in the rebooted BSG, and if the writing in s4 simplified Zarek into one dimension, that wasn't Hatch's fault. Favourite Zarek memories: his debut in Bastille Day, of course, and each and every scene he subsequently had with Laura Roslin, especially during their uneasy team-ups in early s2, and early s3. Unsurprisingly, one of my few BSG stories is a missing scene from the Pegasus arc between Roslin and Zarek, Interlude. Hatch's willingness to embrace the new BSG and graciousness to old and new fans alike also contrasted sharply with the behavior the original Starbuck. From what I've read of him, he always struck me as a gentleman in the best sense of the word. Farewell, and thank you for one of the most interesting recurring characters in the new BSG,Mr. Hatch.

Comments

[likeadeuce]

Hatch definitely wanted Zarek to go in a different direction i remember an interview to that effect.

Oh Tom Zarek, my problematic fave.

And Hatch, who just really loved BSG and wanted to be part of it in whatever form.

[selenak]

Sometimes it can go wrong when actors are too involved, and sometimes it hurts if they don't care at all, but Hatch struck me as keeping a happy balance - he loved BSG, as you say, and he had his own opinions, but he just wasn't the type to go on the attack against writers or fans. I'm really glad he got involved with rebooted BSG, and we got Tom Zarek out of it.

[kalypso]

Oddly enough, I hadn't realised Richard Hatch was in the original series until last night. But I loved his Zarek. I was annoyed with developments in the last season (ruthlessness, fine; gratuitous violence, no, that's not my idea of him). Even then, I did enjoy his final moments with Gaeta, when he felt like my Zarek again. But my favourite scene of his was probably when he met Roslin on New Caprica, on their way to almost certain death, and they greeted each other as old friends.

[selenak]

Yes to all of this except not knowing about Richard Hatch having been the original Apollo. I had seen two or three episodes of the old show back in the day, so I knew it and got the inside joke of him getting paired with Lee Adama in his first outing.

That New Caprica scene was golden. I maintain that he had the best chemistry with her among the male cast, too.

[kalypso]

An example of how chemistry needn't have anything to do with romance - I think Tennant and Tate had the best chemistry of any Doctor and Companion since 2005, though I might put Capaldi and Coleman quite high on the list.

[watervole]

Yes, Zarek became very one-dimensional, which was a shame. It felt wrong as character development given where he had come from.