Hello Fellow Colonials!

I bid you a good weekend!

I hope that all of you are well across the world.

Of course, my message today is not just to bid you all a hello, but a farewell of sorts.

As of August 1st 2018 I will be stepping down as President & Owner of the Battlestar Galactica Fan Club.

Stepping up as President will be my Vice President, Cherry aka DragonLady I have faith that she will lead the BFC on to even greater heights with the team she has behind her.

She has my full support & I ask all of you to render your support as well.

First of all, you may ask why I might be stepping down?

Well, I will tell you.

I have actively been doing the Battlestar "Thing" for 20 years now and to be honest I felt that I had done the things I had set out to do.

To be honest, I have been a fan of Battlestar Galactica since it first aired, so when I say "Thing", I mean to say being actively involved in it's resurrection and then it's continuance.

I would say it's obvious that the first goal was accomplished & the second one is ongoing...however, I know that all of you will keep the faith & stay on course.

Also, by handing off the reigns, I hope to give the entire movement a fresh outlook...and not only that, but to set a precedent.

I want to make sure that this organization is never based on just one person, that when the time comes for whomever is in charge to make the call & pass the leadership along to another person who can lead and so on...in order for the organization to continue on it's path, always powered by all of you.

This group has been around for 19 years so far...I want to see another 18 years & 10 times that for the future!

We owe so much to the past in order to maintain the present & build the future.

I will say this without any hesitation, that Battlestar Galactica, the franchise that you know today, would not exist without the dedication of one many: my dear friend Richard Hatch.

He was the leader, the spirit & the lifeblood of the resurrection of Battlestar Galactica...he was as in the song from Rainbow & Ronnie James Dio, truly "The Man On The Silver Mountain".

He had some help of course, yours truly being among them who helped lead the charge & focus the fans towards the goal of bringing the show back.

So ALL of us together did that.

I personally took inspiration from Bjo Trimble (who I interviewed), in her amazing quest to bring back Star Trek in the 1960s.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to have someone on the inside so to speak...we had Richard, she had Gene Roddenberry!

All said, Richard never claimed to have originated BSG & he never would have...that began with Glen Larson...it was something that Glen created & fostered...Richard took up the challenge of bringing it back.

If things had been different, BSG would have come back in a different form...if they had gone exactly the way that Richard had envisioned them...as a matter of fact they almost did...X-Men & Transformers writer Tom DeSanto was almost there.

It wasn't exactly the vision that Richard had, but it was the closest it was going to get.

Production offices were established...sets built...and the September 11th, 2001 happened.

The shock of that momentous day was felt everywhere, including the entertainment industry...which adjusted itself to another worldview...and scheduling.

By the time that production would begin on ANY new shows, the Tom DeSanto version of BSG was left behind...in it's place a show called "Firefly" was premiered.

BSG did not sit for long though...it was given the green light in a "re-imagined" version under the creative hand of Star Trek veteran writer Ron Moore.

BSG now had a grittier, darker mood....perhaps to underscore the changed world we lived in.

It was not exactly what we had all worked for...Richard's vision of the original cast returning with new characters...BUT it was damn good, that's for sure...and it WAS a return for BSG!

Richard was offered a spot on the new show & after some hesitation took it...and I think embracing the reality that even though it wasn't quite a remake of the original show, it WAS Battlestar Galactica!

So now you know him as Tom Zarek as well...who was the opposite of whatever his original character of Apollo was.

The original Apollo was full of goodness & virtue...Tom Zarek, eh...not so much.

Actually, Tom Zarek was probably a more believable human being, for better or worse.

Anyway, the total of all this being the sum of all our efforts...we have come a long way baby!

Battlestar in some form will continue as long as you keep the flame lit & I KNOW you will.

I want to give my thanks to not only all of you, but to team here at Battlestar Galactica Fan Club...we couldn't have down it without you.

I thank all my friends (and yes, you know who YOU are...I just don't want this particular note to turn into a book!).

Specifically, I want to thank Richard Hatch, whom without all this would not be possible.

I also want to thank some dear personal friends of mine from the original cast:

Jack Stauffer (Bojay)

Sarah Rush (Rigel)

Terry Carter (Tigh)

Anne Lockhart (Sheba)

Stu Phillips (Composer)

Also thanks go to Dirk Benedict (Starbuck) & Herbert Jefferson Jr.(Boomer) as well as Noah Hathaway (Boxey).

Posthumous thanks to John Colicos (Baltar)...whom I sat across from during dinner at a Bennigan's no less...Stauffer, you remember the Cherry Tree (Pit) Hotel right...you & Mark Goddard got stuck there in Pennsylvania!

Thanks of course to Glen Larson, who I met in L.A. in 2003.

If I miss some people, bear with me!

I want to thank Tom DeSanto who is actually a very cool guy...as well as Ron Moore, another very cool guy.

More posthumous thanks to Denny Miller & George Murdock...wonderful fellows.

Thanks also go to:

Edward James Olmos (William Adama)

Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin)

Tricia Helfer (Number Six)

Jamie Bamber (Lee Adama)

Grace Park (Boomer)

Kandyse McClure (Dee)

Tahmoh Penikett (Helo)

Nicki Cline (Cally)

Michael Hogan (TIgh)

Leah Cairns (Racetrack)

Bear McCreary (Composer)

Luciana Carro (Kat)

I know I'm missing people here, so remind me!...believe it or not, think they only folks on this long, long list who I have not met face to face would be Ron Moore (phone calls, email) & Grace Park (email, did a great interview with her when she first started with BSG).

Thanks also go out to George Takei (great interview) one of those who I've encountered only via email & David Prowse (the original Darth Vader, who showed up at my Birthday Party in Atlanta Georgia in 1999!)...and I did cut him a piece of cake!

All, I will remain as a member of the BFC as an one of the original Founders along with Chris Feehan who put it together with me in 2000 & I'm there to answer questions if you have them or just to chat...and always to lend support, advice & help when when I can.

Keep The Faith!

So Say We All!

Shawn O'Donnell

President

Battlestar Galactica Fan Club