Starbuck's connection to a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character made Battlestar Galactica a better series. With Starbuck as one of its principal characters, Ronald D. Moore's 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot was notable for having a darker edge to it than its kitschy predecessor. Airing against the real-world backdrop of the War on Terror, BSG was a sci-fi take on both humanity's relationship with technology and the moral complexity of modern warfare.
Ronald D. Moore had been one of the senior writers on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which examined similar themes through the Cardassian occupation of Bajor and the Dominion War. Moore and the DS9 team created one of the most acclaimed Star Trek shows by interrogating what Gene Roddenberry's utopian future looked like in a time of war. Moore took this same approach with his remake of Glen A. Larson's Battlestar Galactica, and his Kara Thrace character, played by Katee Sackhoff, was emblematic of DS9's influence on BSG.
Ronald D. Moore Pulled Starbuck's Real BSG Name From Star Trek
In the original Battlestar Galactica, Starbuck was the given name of the character played by Dirk Benedict. Such an overt science-fiction name would have felt out of place in Moore's more grounded and adult drama. Ronald D. Moore was then faced with how he could honor original BSG characters like Apollo (Richard Hatch) while also giving the characters more believable names. The decision was made that, since they were Viper pilots, Starbuck and Apollo would be their military call signs, rather than the character names. Moore then had to decide who the call signs belonged to, and what their real names were.
Speaking to the Edinburgh Television Festival in 2016, Moore said (via Radio Times) that he drew inspiration for Starbuck's real name from his DS9 job. "I had just finished up on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with Kira Nerys. So I thought 'Kara' will be her first name." As a forthright and determined member of the Bajoran Militia, Kira was a forerunner to Kara's forthright and determined persona as a Viper pilot in BSG. As for "Thrace", Starbuck's surname, Moore revealed that he plucked it from an ancient Greek myth, foreshadowing the mythical nature of Starbuck's BSG finale twist.
BSG's Starbuck & Apollo Call Sign Change Made The Reboot Better
The realism of Moore's Battlestar Galactica reboot was key to its broad appeal beyond traditional sci-fi audiences. Edward James Olmos, who played William Adama, was famously attracted to the show because of a lack of aliens or broad sci-fi ideas. It was a human story about technology, war, survival, and identity. There were dazzling action sequences and spectacular space battles, but at the core of BSG was a complex political drama about conflict. That's why Starbuck and Apollo had to have real people behind the names, rather than the archetypal hero figures of Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch in the original show.
Starbuck and Apollo of the original series are sci-fi heroes, whereas their reboot counterparts are fallible, human characters, who battle their own demons while also fighting the second Cylon war. The decision to change these classic character names to call signs was an inspired choice that signaled the more mature approach that Ronald D. Moore was taking with his Battlestar Galactica reboot. It's one of many smart changes that ensured the reboot surpassed the quality of the original show.