Once a critic of the Ronald D. Moore-led reimagination of "Battlestar Galactica," actor Richard Hatch (Apollo on the original 1970s series) will give his stamp of approval to the new Sky One/Sci-Fi Channel series with a guest appearance in the first season.

While that is not news to most fans, Hatch said that making the decision to join a show that he has qualms with wasn't the easiest decision he made in his life.

"I had fought for seven, almost eight, years to bring back the original show," Hatch said in a recent interview with Sci-Fi Pulse. "I had put tens of thousands of my own dollars, energy, money and time to convince the networks to bring back the original series. Nobody worked harder or gave more to accomplish this. But when the decision was made by the network and the studio to reimagine, we were ina situation where there was nothing more that I could do at this point in time. I had done everything possible to inspire a continuation along with many dedicated fans around the world, and the biggest and most painful realization for me was that regardless of my personal feelings and efforts, I had to comt o terms with the fact that I don't own 'Battlestar.'"

Hatch is credited as one of the key people that helped renew the interest in the franchise, which was cancelled by ABC in 1978 despite high ratings, and which was brought back for a short time two years later in "Galactica 1980." Hatch created a trailer for an idea to continue the series, despite the death of star Lorne Green, which was well received by many fans.

When director Bryan Singer was attached to the project, he had chosen to take a continuation route. But when Sci-Fi Channel brought in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" producer Ronald D. Moore, he opted to start from scratch and recreate the universe.

"It feels very violating when you've bonded with a story and now have to let others follow their own vision, but I've finally come to terms and accepted that," Hatch said. "I think after watching the new show, I had to look at and deal with the fact that this is a completely different story. You can't compare the two series due to the fact that the backstory -- the Cylons and many of the characters -- are completely different. I almost wish that they had named it something else or a spinoff was made, because at least that way fans wouldn't compare the two shows, because that doesn't serve either show."

Hatch's character in the new show, Tom Zarek, is a Nelson Mandela-like political prisoner who starts to stir the pot in the Colonial fleet of refugees.

"Any actor will tell you that he loves playing a character that is not all black and white," Hatch said. "Characters that are more multi-dimensional and -- in the case of most of us -- conflicted. We all have a dark side and a light side, and we all struggle to reconcile those two extremes, and I felt that although this character was very idealistic, he obviously had multiple agendas going on inside of him in terms of what he believes and what he is willing to fight and die for. I just found this character very exciting to play. Just the idea of the character and Ron's passion inspired me to take a leap of faith because I had not seen the script, and I had not yet been offered a deal."

Hatch will appear in the third and eleventh episodes of the 13-episode season, making his debut on British satellite television next week. He said that while he still has his heart in the original, he hopes that the new series will get something that the original didn't -- a chance to succeed.

"Even though these two shows seem so different, some fans may cross over and like both shows," Hatch said. "Some fans may like only one show, but eh new show will probably develop its own core group of fans if it's on the air long enough. My only wish is that htis show gets the opportunity which the original series never got, which I thought was tremendously unfair to all the millions of fans out there."

Sci-Fi Pulse's complete interview is located here.

"Battlestar Galactica" currently airs Mondays on Sky One, and will premiere on the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States in January.