RH: Well, it happened by default. Basically, I was going to college, not knowing what I wanted to do, taking a general liberal arts course and literally was more interested in sports, athletics and music.

I was a classical pianist, had studied classical piano from the time that I was a child and had always been drawn to music, but didn't really know if I was going to have a career in music or not.

I was really kind of undecided between the two and then I fell into an oral interpretation class, which was an elective, an English elective that was available to me or rather the only English elective available to me that I could take one semester, due to the fact that everything else was filled up.

So essentially what I got into was a public speaking class, which is probably the number one horror, actually I think it IS number one with death is number three on the list of horrors for human beings!

RH: No .and for Richard Hatch, the shy, introverted, scared to death human being who could not even imagine talking face to face with a girl he was interested in!

And here I was standing up in front of a whole room of people having to talk about different subjects.

Essentially I almost failed the class, that is until I was given a particular challenge to go out and find an article that was meaningful to me and bring it in and read it.

So, I brought in an article based on the assassination of President Kennedy and I remember how touching it was.

It was actually in the sports section of the paper, which at that time was about the only page I read.

It started out with "Today we're not going to talk about basketball, we're going to talk about...."

It was a very moving article.

RH: Yes, So I started in about President Kennedy and I remember how emotionally it affected me and as I started reading it, it was like every other thing I'd done in class.

I could barely whisper I was so nervous!

Nobody could hear me and everybody thought I had a speech impediment because the fear would make my tongue do weird things!

But what happened was as I started reading the material, I slowly started to get into it and as I got into it I got emotionally moved by it and then I basically forgot myself and all of a sudden my voice came out and I started speaking like a human being.

My so-called speech impediment went away and all of a sudden I started making eye contact and projecting, it was like a transformation took place!

By the end of it I got this standing ovation in class and all of the kids in class, most of whom were actors came up and said, "God! You should take acting!" and "What happened to you?" and "Jesus! that was amazing!", it was like everyone COULD NOT BELIEVE that this shy scared to death kid who could not do anything right in that class all of a sudden metamorphosed into this performer.

RH: I didn't know what had happened, all I know is that it was an incredible experience and after that I got more and more interested in the world of theater and also I got more involved in politics and got more involved in the arts altogether.

That included music of course and slowly after a couple of years the curiosity led me to an acting class.

There is a back-story to my getting into the class, though.

In the meantime I had started dating a girl from Beverly Hills, I had met her during the summer when I was down at the beach lifeguarding and surfing...which was my big profession during the summer.

So I started meeting all these other kids whose parents were producers, directors, actors and stuff, so I started getting introduced to the Hollywood scene, but I still considered myself a surfer, kind of one of those guys from the other side of the tracks. And here I was, little surfer boy... in the midst of all this money and wealth and fame and it was a very, very weird place to be! But I did meet some very interesting people, one of which was a man by the name of Elliot Mintz, who was a radio disc jockey and also was a manager for Sonny and Cher, before they became Sonny and Cher... back at that time they were called "Caesar and Cleo"! Actually he was managing a bunch of people.

This man was THE YODA of Hollywood, I mean he used to talk for hours about philosophy, religion, spirituality, politics, about anything in life.

We'd just sit around and talk and talk and talk. Anyway, one day he recommended something to me, he said "You should go to this acting class!" and I said, "Me? an actor?", and then he said, "Well, you know its a class where you learn about yourself", he knew how shy I was and he says "Everybody recommends this class, a lot of my friends have gone to it". And here I was, me, surfer kid, going to this acting class, walking in and it had a sign up above the door saying "NO ACTING PLEASE"...and I thought how interesting for an acting class to have a sign that said "NO ACTING PLEASE". On entering the class found a lot of very New York types, very artsy and there I am,, a California surfer boy feeling very out of place.

RH: Oh, yeah..I mean people like Jack Nicholson and Sue Lyon who played the original Lolita and Hampton Fancher who co-wrote the screenplay for "Blade Runner" were hanging out in that class.

So anyway, they thought I would come and go like so many other people did, but for whatever reasons I really ended up getting a lot out of the class and I learned how to be comfortable in front of people. I learned how to deal with my emotions and feelings and how to embrace those emotions and feelings and not feel so weird about them. Also I got comfortable expressing them.

I mean the whole class was teaching me how to undo all the bad habits I had learned in life, how a person holds it all in, the insecurities that keep us from being honest and true to ourselves and here was a class, an acting class, by God, that was teaching me how to be more honest with my emotions and feelings

Basically teaching me how to communicate and express what was going on inside of me and how to really open up and creatively express myself. So, I ended up really loving the class, but never thinking about acting at all as a profession, but I really loved that class!

RH: Well, after about a year I did a scene from This Property is Condemned in class.

Now, this was after all the millions of exercises our teacher, Eric Morris would put you through to get in touch with what you were feeling and how deal with your parents, etc., etc.

The man dealt from a psychological place, he was always helping you to work through your psychological walls and blocks and fears.

And after about a year of this work I got to the point where I could relax enough in front of the class and doing the dialogue from that play, and for the first time I started to connect to the material.

I started to connect to the other actors and all of a sudden it was like breathing.

We were really all relating to each other and from moment to moment this organic life was happening.

Just like that experience in speaking class, just like that transformation, another transformation took place and I realized this incredible feeling of expanding beyond this concept of who I thought I was into this magical place where I felt like anything was possible.

I realized this acting experience was a lot more than I thought!

RH: Well, Eric Morris said to me after that, "You know Richard, if your willing to work very hard and really deal with all these little insecurities and issues and stuff that get in the way of expressing yourself, you could be an actor, a professional actor if you really wanted to".

And at that point I still didn't take it seriously, but I continued to take the class and then I started getting advice from the other actors who suggested that I go out and do a play etc., and I went out and auditioned for a couple of things, and all of a sudden I was starting to enjoy getting up on stage and performing and having my parents come see me!

Slowly I was starting to do a lot of community theater and then I got into another acting group...an acting company actually.

Then I started doing plays and theater... again still not taking it too seriously...just thinking it was fun, having no concept or idea or ever even imagine myself being on television or movies, that was another world!

But I did get into this acting company with a bunch of serious actors who wanted to go to New York, and I ended up going with them.

RH: Yes, I ended up living in a little, empty ballet studio, sleeping on the floor and eating Campbell's soup for about six months and doing one act plays and poetry readings.

That was when some agents came out to see some of our readings and one of them decided to handle me.

That was when I actually started getting sent out for television stuff, commercials and that type of thing.

So did I ended up getting a couple of commercials.

Of course four or five months had gone by and New York was going to Spring to Summer to Fall and into Winter, which was a very scary thought!

I had never been through a frozen Eastern Winter before and I was sleeping in this VERY cold empty ballet studio and all of the people in my group decided to leave for Italy

That's when I decided I wasn't about to leave New York!

RH: Well, I thought... here I am in New York... I'm thinking I'm an actor and this is a cool place to be and I ended up staying.

I actually ended up moving into an even SMALLER room about nine flights up, it was the basically the size of a bathroom, with no kitchen, no stove, no nothing.

You had to walk nine flights down to go to the bathroom!

NINE COLD FLIGHTS DOWN!

So finally around Christmas, I auditioned for a soap opera called "All My Children" with Susan Lucci... and I got the role!

I read about twenty-two times and tested three times and finally they went with an unknown, inexperienced actor and it was my first big break.

I finally got started to get paid for what I do and obviously I started to earn the money to be able to get myself a small little apartment, which I did, but that was the beginning of the acting.

RH: First of all, I love science fiction, I love the genre.

I'm not that much into the B-movies that science fiction has been relegated to though, but more into the science fiction that explores the human condition, that explores theoretical

probabilities and possibilities and really deals with it in a more philosophical, more spiritual way.

I just think great science fiction has the ability to tell phenomenal stories that allow us to peer into where we're going as the human race, or where we could go, depending on the choices or the decisions we make and I just think that it stimulates the brain, but it also stimulates the heart and emotions.

I think it's a great one-two three punch when it's done right.

Those are the kinds of movies I've always wanted to make and I've always felt that Battlestar was that kind of a story, it was very epic, it was about the human struggle, it was political, it was spiritual, it was philosophical, and the mythology was wonderful.

I just love those type of stories, they are very archetypal, and I think that's why most people love to go see them.

That's also why people fell in love with Battlestar.

RH: I've always felt that this show never really got the chance to do what it was capable of doing.

If your an actor and your going out and auditioning for lots of shows after five or ten years of doing the same stuff, you realize that you didn't get into this business to do the same thing over and over again

You get into the business to do something extraordinary, to go on a journey.

For me everything is a journey to expand and explore my soul, my spirit, who I am and all those unanswerable or unanswered questions that constantly confront us...and Battlestar did that, and I couldn't shake that Battlestar Galactica story!

Finally, after hearing so many people talking about Battlestar but nobody doing anything about it, I thought, God, somebody's got to do something!

This show deserves a real FIRST chance!

So I just started, from the point of view of an actor and somebody not really empowered or very confident about putting anything together...just started on a journey of exploring how one would bring back a show like this.

RH: Over the last four or five years I just began learning and reading books and then slowly moved into developing the comic books, then the novels that brought back Battlestar.

And of course getting more involved in the business end and learning how to put projects together.

Then finally putting together the Battlestar trailer.

It just kind of grew, little step by little step.

BGR: As far as epic stories, what really stands out to you?

RH: I think for me, Battlestar really epitomizes the kind of story that I love the most.

There are other science fiction stories that I love as well.

The Dune trilogy for instance.

There are a number of great science fiction writers... Philip Wiley who wrote "The Disappearance" is one.

That was a wonderful book I would love to do as a movie.

I also developed my own story, "The Great War of Magellan".

It has allowed me to develop and create and expand into an entire Universe and fill it with wonderful characters and really kind of create all those things that I love so much about Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar, all those shows.

RH: Well it's an original story with new characters and I'm able get into those issues and explore those challenges that we as a human race are facing and I can put it into a very, very interesting context which I think will illuminate and allow us to look at it from a new perspective.

Again, that's my whole purpose as an artist.

I think that's what an artists reason is, to explore the underlying mystique of who we are, why we are, where did we come from, where are we going and I think any story I would be involved with would deal with some of those elements and The Great War of Magellan certainly does.

RH: I would love to do Battlestar Galactica!

And if not Battlestar Galactica, I'll do Great War of Magellan, actually I want to do both.

Regarding Battlestar...if down the road they finally come to a point of decision...which may be sooner than we think...I would be very, very willing to put together a team to do a new series and/or movie, but again the issue is not the will, its not the ability. It's not even the assets.

We have all of those, I think we have some of the most talented, gifted people in the industry!

We have the money that we need, we have everything we need to make a great Battlestar Galactica series and/or movie, and we have all the companies and artists, all the technicians who have come on board.

The key again is Universal, Universal has to come to a point of decision.

They have to recognize the worth of Battlestar and they have to be willing to either come onboard and do a joint partnership or put together a deal themselves.

The problem is: we don't know if Universal does it alone or with another company, or if they will turn out a great movie.

But, who knows?

In the past, most of these big companies haven't done a good job of bringing back wonderful shows and making them into new series or new movies.

They seem to forget the very core essence of what made those shows special, they throw that away and they sometimes just take the more superficial elements of the show and try to work with that...and fill that vessel with new water.

Unfortunately, very rarely does that work.

Very rarely does any show work.

When your dealing with a successful show you have to break it down and understand what made it successful in the first place and not just recreate it, but take that essence, that core heart of the show and then progress it, expand upon it, evolve it.

But if you lose the core essence, the core heart of the show, then you've lost any chance of succeeding as far as I'm concerned.

So, we'll keep our fingers crossed.

So if Universal does it or if Universal does a partnership with Glen or Glen does it or if they give our team a chance to do it...my whole premise is that this show, if its done right, with the right heart, the right spirit, the right people could be a monumental success and franchise for Universal.

The question is up to God.

I always say not my will, but "Thy will be done".

RH: I would say this, I feel it in my gut that Battlestar Galactica is coming back.

Whether its now or twelve months from now, or eighteen months from now...I feel very strongly that something is going to happen here.

I think that Battlestar Galactica has a destiny, Battlestar has a story, and it has something about it that has touched people very profoundly.

And people...and this is just like anything in life...we have to commit to what we believe in, we have to do what our heart believes in and we to have to have patience.

You have to be willing to forgive, you have to be willing to build bridges but you have to be willing to keep going the distance doing whatever is necessary in order to follow your heart, follow your truth.

If you believe in something enough, there's always a way to either bring something back or to create something that has the same spirit that something had before, you know there are more ways than one to skin...

RH: Skin a Daggit!

I think the key in life is to be creative and realize that every challenge is just an opportunity to challenge yourself to go to a higher level of your ability.

What I've learned in life is that no is just one step closer to a yes, every no gets me ten times tougher, ten times more creative, gives me ten times more energy and I go out there because there's always a way.

That's what I'm looking to do and I'm going to find every way I can to do Battlestar Galactica.

Like I said, if for some reason I can't do Battlestar I'll do another show that I can believe in with the same heart and the same spirit, because in my life, what's the use of doing something if you don't believe in it?

I mean, I've made millions of dollars, I've been famous all over the world.

You know, for me just to be famous or make more money is not enough, I want to do something in my life that means something that touches peoples hearts and challenges peoples minds and foremost inspires them.

I think the greatest joy of any artist and certainly myself is to inspire people to go out and know that anything is possible if you believe

Life is unlimited and though it sounds corny maybe, I believe it, I've seen it, and I've experienced it myself.

That's why I speak the way I do at conventions and that's why I'm doing what I'm doing now.

No matter what happens with Battlestar, I have learned a tremendous amount, I've gotten a college education in filmmaking.

I've gotten a college education in building self worth.

I've learned how to deal with fear and rejection.

I've learned how to deal with humiliation.

I've learned how, again, to take no's and turn them into yes's.

And I've really in a sense, grown up as a human being.

I don't feel like I'm a child waiting for someone to love me anymore, I feel like I'm empowered and I have the ability, the God given ability to go out and create it!

To mobilize people and bring them onboard and create something extraordinary.

People are dying to be part of something wonderful and if you have the courage to step out there and go for it, you'll find that there are a lot of people out there that will come onboard and support you and you learn nothing ever gets done alone.

Honestly, everything ultimately everything becomes a collaboration, its a synergistic relationship between you and a bunch of wonderful people who believe in something and co-create it together.