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Richard Hatch's campaign to revive Battlestar Galactica goes at least as far back as the early 1990s. Richard was one of the key participants at the 15 Yahren Reunion in Los Angeles in October 1993, where he actively campaigned for a continuation among both the fans and his fellow cast alumni. In April 1994, Richard told television audiences on E! that he had written a trilogy of scripts.

In his October 1996 newsletter Hatch revealed that he had met with the Syndication Department of Universal Studios regarding Battlestar Galactica series, and that they were favorable to the idea of reviving it. He was also in the beginning stages of writing a Battlestar novel, and in Februrary finalized a deal with Byron Preiss books to publish a trilogy of hardcovers. The same month, in DeeJay Driscoll's newsletter for the upcoming 20 Yahren Reunion, she wrotre that Richard was writing a BSG script "utilizing the original cast members, with a possible release through Sci-Fi Channel. He's gathering letters of intent from the fellow original cast members and negotiating with Sci-Fi Channel. He said that he knew Glen Larson was currently working on a new BG 'pilot' without the original cast, through MCA/Universal."

By 1998, Richard had decided to try something new, a Battlestar Galactica trailer. He developed the script with Sophie Laporte early in the year (based on ideas presented in his novels) and had several meetings with Barry Diller at Universal. In the online chat at the 20 Yahren Reunion he stated: "I have been pitching Battlestar to Universal and Barry Diller's company for the past three months and am putting together a short presentation as part of out pitch to clarify our concept of building a bridge between the old show and the new one. It follows the same line as the books which update the original series with the original characters 20 years in the future."

Many of the live action sequences in the trailer were shot during the convention, including the last filmed appearance of the late John Colicos, who died in March 2000. Other original cast members included Terry Carter as President of the Council, Jack Stauffer, and George Murdock, with Hatch reprising the role of Apollo, this time as Commander of the fleet. The roles for Athena and Boxey/Troy had been recast. Produced by Johnny J. Young, Richard co-directed the trailer with Jay Wolhoul. As he told Entertainment Weekly in July, "I've never [directed and produced a movie] before. It scares me. But I got tired of waiting for someone else to do it." Many other people donated their time and expertise to make this effort possible.

Special effects were supervised by cinematographer Dean Kundey (Apollo 13) and Brick Price of Wonderworks (Deep Impact) as well as personnel from Foundation Imaging. Principal photography ended in December, with the intent to have it edited by February and presented to Universal by the end of May, although by April not all the F/X had been completed. It was slated to have its first appearance on the July 4 weekend at Atlanat's DragonCon.

The Glen Larson / Todd Moyer annoucement of March in Variety came as an unpleasant surprise to Richard's team. It was not clear that Larson's project would involve any of the original cast, although an official statement from Todd Moyer's "No Prisoners" in March stated that the rights to a BSG film resided with Larson and that the door was open to Richard's involvement in the feature film if it was "appropriate to, or helpful to the project." In his official response in June, Richard Hatch said that he met with Moyer the previous December but that was the last he heard from him until the Variety annoucement, which he described as a "paid advertisement". Hatch also stated that he was told that Universal was the copyright holder and that Larson had sold his interest to them years ago.

A 2 1/2 minute rough cut of the trailer previewed at DragonCon, with Jon Carroll commenting that "while some of the shots looked a little rough, it was still quite impressive considering the resources it was done with." The final 4 1/2 minute edit was presented by Richard and his team at San Diego Comic Con on August 13, and received a standing ovation by convention goers. He showed the trailer again at GoMainLine convention in Philadelphia on August 28 and answered questions from the crowd. Richard told the crowed he had mortgaged his house to finance the trailer, which cost roughly $20,000 and consisted largely of volunteer work from the people associated with the project. Otherwise it would have cost several hundred thousand dollars. He said he had raised $40 to $60 million from investors interested in a Richard Hatch Galactica production. By November in a radio interview, Hatch had raised that number to $80 million.

In an interview in SFX in September, Benedict commented on the rival Larson and Hatch efforts. "The rights stuff is very complex. But you know what? I think they should get together, they should work it out. It's just silly." In the same interview he said that he'd love to play Starbuck "older, still gambling, still womanising, but slightly slower." By 2001 this nearly became reality, when Tom Desanto signed him onto his Battlestar pilot.

By 2000, it was clear that Larson/Moyer had grounded, with very little news on that front. Arbitration had taken place between Larson and Universal on the rights issue in July and the Larson/Moyer Battlestar Atlantis trailer had been shown in August. French conglomerate Vivendi had acquired Universal from the Seagram's group. Meanwnile, Hatch tarried on, continuing to air his trailer on the convention circuit.

In an interview on the SciFi Wire Bonnie Hammer indicated that the SciFi Channel said it might produce new episodes of Battlestar Galactica. In late January 2001, they announced, and then retracted, that they were going to produce a new Battlestar Galactica production without the involvement of either Richard Hatch or Glen Larson. "The series would resemble its predecessor in name only, offering new characters, a new villain to replace the Cylons and a new ship, the spokesman confirmed." Reliable rumors leaked through Michael Faries indicated that this was a project spearheaded by Hammer, and involved no battlestar, but a main ship with biodomes, and a plotline similar to that of the StarLost.

In Februrary 2001, the Singer/Desanto revival of Battlestar Galactica was announced. That project was grounded not long after 9/11 and the departure of Bryan Singer. That paved way for the Ron Moore/David Eick remake that was announced April 2002 leading to the December 2003 4-hour miniseries. As of late 2003, Glen Larson still holds theatrical rights to do a Galactica movie, and there is hope within fandom that he will partner with Tom Desanto and use the original cast including Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict.