The Battlestar Galactica Character You Didn't Know Was Played By A Chimpanzee
by Witney Seibold · /FilmIn the original "Battlestar Galactica" TV series, the young Boxey (Noah Hathaway, also from "The NeverEnding Story") had a pet canine named Muffit. Although played by an ordinary Earth dog, Muffit was said to be a daggit, which is an alien creature that just happens to look exactly like a dog. Sadly, Muffit is killed in a Cylon attack in the show's pilot episode, "Saga of a Star World" (September 17, 1978). Boxey grows despondent over Muffit's death, and refuses to eat. To assuage his mourning, a character named Dr. Wilker (John Dullaghan) constructs a half-furry robotic clone of Muffit, called Muffit II.
Muffit II was a very odd-looking creature, and wouldn't fool any child into thinking it was a dog. It had big round bubble-like eyes, electronic pivoting ears, and a thick fur coat that was interrupted by large metal bands around its body. It looked like a Teddy Ruxpin that had been left in a sump for several weeks. It was also uncanny the way Muffit II moved, like it was a living animal.
As it so happens, Muffit II was a living animal. The robot dog was played by a living three-year-old chimpanzee named Evolution, aka Evie, outfitted in a special, full-body costume. John Dykstra, incidentally, designed the chimp's costume, and it was up for auction about 20 years ago, and a lot of the character's details were revealed in the booklet. Whenever Muffit II was still on camera, the showrunners would stuff it with an articulated chimp double. All the live scenes starred Evie. Some lucky fan must have bought it.
The actors from the original "Battlestar Galactica" talked about working with Evie in a special behind-the-scenes video included on the show's DVDs, and it seems she was a demanding performer.
Muffit II, the robotic daggit, was played by Evie the chimp
Noah Hathaway described Evie as "brilliant," and clearly enjoyed working with the young chimpanzee. "She could do anything, and was loving. We were best friends. We were always together." Show director Alan Levi noted that Evie was being trained all the time, any moment she wasn't on camera. If there was a notable stunt or physically grueling scene that Evie had to perform, the animal trainers stayed with Evie all that time, working on the stunt. "If there wasn't more than one or two of those a day, [she] did damn well."
Boone Narr was Evie's main trainer (although Narr doesn't have "Battlestar" on his IMDb). Evie was an amenable performer and behaved very well inside of the bizarre Muffit II suit; she was selected for "Battlestar" because of how willing she was to wear it. This was according to a 1978 issues of TV Guide.
Director Richard A. Colla, however, remembers that some days with Evie were difficult. He said:
"I do remember the times when that chimp just decided she wasn't going to work at all inside that suit. [...] How do you make her work, you know? You can control her ears, get a little remote control and make her ears move, but how do you make her [work]?"
Christian Nyby, another one of the show's directors, recalls a day when he yelled "action," only to find that Evie had removed her Muffit mask and left it on the floor. There's no way to make a chimpanzee act if she doesn't want to act. Actor Herbert Jefferson, Jr., who played the character of Boomer lamented the lost days of filming, stymied by a cantankerous chimp.
Evie was afraid of the explosions
Herbert Jefferson, Jr. even recalled a scene wherein Evie joined him and his co-workers for a notable battle scene. They all had to run as guns were going off, and there were real controlled "explosions" on set. Evie, he recalled, was startled by one of the explosions, ran away from the set, and went to hide up in the rafters. The crew had to spend a large portion of the day coaxing Evie back down again.
Some vintage footage of Evie revealed that she would occasionally make noise from inside the suit, another thing that would interrupt filming. Jefferson also remembered how difficult that would make certain scenes. Jefferson, it should be noted, was not hateful in his descriptions of Evie. He just noted the realities of working with an animal.
Noah Hathaway also told a story wherein Boone Narr was on set, and Evie was trying to get back to him in the middle of a scene. Hathaway, then only still a child, thought he could hold Evie to keep her in place, but she was not happy with that, and bit Hathaway. He remembers being terrified and screaming. After that, one can assume he was more cautious. Hathway ended the interview by restating that Evie was a very good animal friend, so there were no hard feelings.
Of course, as anyone who has worked with chimpanzees can tell you, they are only docile when they are very young. Adult chimps are very violent, feral animals that tend to attack people. There's a reason why all the chimps you see in movies are tiny. Only the babies can be trained. Evie was born in 1974, so it's likely she has passed away by now; an average female chimp's lifespan is only 38.7 years.