Starbuck, the ORIGINAL Starbuck, from Battestar Galactica, was someone that you could count on to be kind of a wisecracking individual the relied heavily on luck and charm since obviously he didn’t have much else at times. He was a decent soldier and at least knew how to fly his spacecraft, but he was also the kind of guy that you didn’t always think to rely on when it came time to have someone watch your back. Or maybe you would, but you’d still end up watching his just as much as your own. Starbuck wasn’t a bad guy, but he was the ladies man of the Galactica and as such was kind of cocky and had a very laid back attitude a lot of times that didn’t sit well with others. In some ways he was almost like the Han Solo of his own show, though a little less responsible if that’s possible.
He did manage to make some pretty interesting moments though. Here are a few things you might not have known about him.
10. He was kind of a terrible pilot.
Despite being called the best and being lauded as one of the best pilots in the fleet he tended to crash quite a bit as was shown in the series. But of course there were usually reasons for this be it the fact that he sustained damage to his craft during battle or, well, something else. The point is that he could always walk away from the crash and never seemed to lose his reputation as a great pilot.
9. The original actor refused to be in the remake.
Dirk Benedict didn’t want to come back since he felt emasculated by knowing that Starbuck was being made into a woman for this new series. He flat out refused to make an appearance and went on to rant and rave about it to whoever would listen. Others however thought a female Starbuck was a nice change.
8. Don Johnson was almost Starbuck.
There was a constant back and forth battle between ABC and the show’s creator Glenn Larson. Larson felt that Johnson wasn’t tall enough to be Starbuck while ABC countered by stating that Dirk Benedict wasn’t handsome enough to be the womanizing pilot. Guess who won.
7. The original actor was not fond of the new Starbuck.
Benedict’s biggest gripe about the changed character was that Starbuck was made into a woman. He also didn’t think that Katee Sackhoff’s version of Starbuck was all that great since it changed the character’s profile entirely.
6. Starbuck had a fondness for cigars.
He had a fondness for the ladies too. Starbuck was a man of a few vices and wasn’t shy about letting others know. In many ways he was kind of a jerk at times but he was the kind of jerk that you wanted to hang with because he knew just about everyone and how to get around.
5. He was a very shameless character.
Starbuck didn’t worry over much and if he did worry it was momentary since he was a bit shallow at times no matter that he did have a big heart. He hid this away a lot in order to appear as the aloof character that he was.
4. The character became a Guardian of the Universe.
After being stranded on a strange planet the original Starbuck just disappeared and was presumed lost. But eventually he showed up again on the ship of light and made it know that he had ascended to a new plane of existence and had become one of the Guardians of the Universe.
3. He had his own comic book series.
The comic came out in the 90s so as you can imagine it had lots of muscles, tight clothes, big hair, and lots of shadows all over the place. The comics in the 90s were the type that you could read and almost hear the synthetic background music in the distance as the hero made his way across the panel.
2. His name was inspired by Moby Dick.
Take a look back at Moby Dick and realize just what the name of Captain Ahab’s first mate. Starbuck was the only man that openly objected to Captain Ahab’s insane hunt for the white whale, though as inspiration for a womanizing, cigar-smoking pilot it seems like a stretch.
1. The character’s name was one of the only ones that got carried over from the original series.
Starbuck was one of the six roles that managed to make the transition from the original show to the remake, while all the others had to be revamped and redone. Of course if they’d left Starbuck out it wouldn’t have been Battlestar Galactica. Well it would, but the feel of it would have been a lot different.
Out of all the characters ever to feature in science fiction shows Starbuck is definitely among the best known.
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