Actor turning battle for 'Galactica' into sci-fi business. (Up Front).

The show only lasted one season, but apparently there are enough fans still out there to make "Battlestar Galactica" a cottage industry for one actor.

Richard Hatch, who played Capt. Apollo in the 1978-79 science fiction series starring Lorne Greene, has spent the past several years mining the show's popularity to the point where a miniseries based on the show is being developed and a Star-Trek-like convention is slated for this fall. Hatch has also written a series of novels and comic books based on the "Battlestar Galactica" theme - all for a show that was canceled because it was deemed too expensive by the ABC television network.

"For actors, doing a role is like a one-time thing and you forget about it and you move on to the next one, but I never forgot about 'Battlestar' and Apollo (the role he played)," Hatch said. "It was about hope for the future, as well as being part myth, part spiritual and part adventure and I loved all those things."

The show, a Universal Pictures property, detailed the challenges faced by the crew of a giant spaceship who sought to find their long lost brethren who populated Earth. The show featured expensive sets, spaceship models and lots of special effects that often sent the show over its budget It also starred Dirk Benedict, who was later known for his role of Face on the "A-Team."

Benedict as well as several of the show's regulars, guest stars, producers, writers and film crew will be at the "Galacticon 2003" convention, which will be held Oct. 24-26 at the Sheraton Universal. Greene died in 1987.

Already having spent thousands of dollars out of his own pocket to plan the event, Hatch hopes to attract tens of thousands of "Battlestar Galactica" fans to celebrate the show's 25th anniversary. Hatch, who is a film producer but still acts in television and films, hopes the convention will become an annual event.

He is teaming up with trade show organizers and veterans of other science fiction conventions in planning the event.

Chris Feehan, president of the 2,000-member Battlestar Galactica Fan Club, said his members will attend.

"Sci-fi fans are fiercely loyal when it comes to a show and I can already see two to three thousand people attending," he said.

Small profit

Kevin Stadlee, chairman and one of the organizers of last year's World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, held in San Jose, said science fiction conventions are fun but not a big moneymaker.

"It depends on the turnout, but you make some money while the rest goes to pay your bills," he said.

For the San Jose Worldcon, organizers said they made a "small profit" and spent about $760,000 for a four-day event that gathered about 20,000 people who paid $45 per day or $200 for the entire run.

Hatch said his event would run three days and would be on a smaller scale than Worldcon which caters to science fiction fans rather than fans of just one particular TV show.

Hatch formed his production company in 1999 after he realized he needed to get behind the camera as roles for guest shots in television series became fewer and the pay for those roles was barely enough for him to get by.

So Hatch decided to try to resurrect his old show and produce an updated version after he realized how popular it had become when he was mobbed at a Star Trek convention in 1995.

Soon after, Hatch was convinced that the show had a big enough following to become successful again. Hatch then approached Universal Pictures, about the possibility of making a feature film about the show as a precursor to bringing it back to television.

"I figured that the best way to do it was to make a trailer of what a 'Battlestar' movie would be like," Hatch said.

Top-20 show

According to Nielsen Research, "Battlestar Galactica" was rated among the top 20 shows during its one-season run in 1978-79. But it was canceled after ABC grew weary of the show's high cost.

It took Hatch three years to get enough money together, mostly out of his own pocket and credit cards, to make the four-and-a-half-minute trailer outlining his vision for a "Battlestar Galactica" movie.

In the meantime, Hatch along with a ghost writer, began writing the first of five novels based on the show, along with a comic book with all-new adventures. His newest novel, "Battlestar Galactica: Paradise," is due out next month.

After completing the trailer, which featured computer-generated space battles, Hatch returned to Universal and screened his trailer to studio bosses who though enthused, still would not commit to make a new version of the show.

"They loved the trailer, but they wouldn't commit to a deal," Hatch said.

Despite Universal's resistance, Sony Pictures Entertainment agreed to finance a movie as long as Universal agreed to license the project since it owns the show. But at the last minute, the deal fell through in January of last year.

Although the project was dead in the water, Hatch was able to capture the interest of the SciFi Channel, a basic cable network owned by Universal which wanted to turn the show into a miniseries. But the network put together its own production team, effectively cutting Hatch out of the deal.

"I didn't mind if it meant getting the show back," Hatch said.