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Gaius Baltar
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Gaius Baltar
Dr. Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series Battlestar Galactica played by James Callis, a reimagining of Lord Baltar from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series. He is one of the show's primary characters.
Gaius Baltar regularly uses a well-developed acting talent to spin yarns on virtually any subject when he feels the need. He possesses a dry, cynical sense of humour but is prone to bouts of neurosis. A charismatic genius and womanizer, he is initially portrayed as a self-serving opportunist, but becomes a braver and more caring character over the course of the series, expressing regret for having been "a profoundly selfish man." Baltar is initially an atheist, but ultimately converts to the Cylons' monotheistic religion. Baltar is described as "weak", "arrogant" and "a coward" by Lee Adama while Caprica Six describes Baltar as "narcissistic, self-centered, feckless and vain." William Adama once indicated that Baltar consistently sees himself as a "victim," allowing him to escape responsibility for his guilt. Later in the series, his most profound changes begin during his adoption (against his will) as a religious figure, and he begins demonstrating increased compassion and bravery. His eventual self-awareness, love for Caprica Six, and compassion for the Agathons also motivate him to humble himself, serving in the Colonial Fleet during Hera's rescue mission and eventually choosing a quiet life as a farmer.
Gaius Baltar claims to be from the colony of Aerilon, and that at the age of ten, finding the Aerilonian dialect to be detrimental to his career dreams, he trained himself to speak the Caprican dialect in hopes of one day being considered a citizen of one of the more respected and wealthy colonies such as Caprica. He also has a very troubled relationship with his father.[citation needed]
At the onset of the show, he is involved in a sexual relationship with a blonde woman. Believing her to be working for a corporation in the defense industry, and desiring a more permanent relationship with her, he gives her access to the highly classified Colonial defense mainframe (an act of treason punishable by the death penalty) so her employers can have an advantage in future contract bidding. In exchange for his access to the government mainframe, she helps him design a navigation program used by Colonial warships, covertly creating backdoors in the program. When the Cylons attack the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, they use those backdoors to penetrate software security firewalls, disabling entire fighter squadrons outright and sabotaging vital capital-ship systems. On the day the Cylons attack humanity, the woman reveals she is an advanced Cylon, model Number Six (later known as Caprica Six), and she used the information that Baltar gave her to shut down the Colonial defenses, thus making him responsible for the Cylons' successful genocidal campaign against the Twelve Colonies. Baltar manages to survive the nuclear explosion that destroys his home due to Caprica Six using her body to shield him.
As a result of the nuclear blast, Number Six is killed, and as a Cylon her memories are automatically "downloaded" during the blast to be later resurrected, as revealed in later episodes. For the duration of the series, Baltar is haunted by a version of Six only he can see. This woman toys with alternate explanations for her existence, from a Cylon chip in his brain sending signals, to an hallucination created out of guilt over the attacks, and thirdly to her being an Angel sent by God to watch over him, and Baltar finally assumes the latter following a medical checkup and rationalising that her extraordinary information to solve problems cannot simply be his own mind.
Having unintentionally brought about the near-annihilation of the human species, Baltar flees Caprica when Karl Agathon gives up his place on a Raptor, feeling that his own life is less important to save than a famed scientist's. The Raptor returns to the Battlestar Galactica, where Baltar attempts to endear himself to Laura Roslin, the new President of the remnants of the Twelve Colonies, and hopes to conceal his involvement in the genocide that has taken place.
Once a part of the fleet, Baltar is haunted by visions of Number Six, with whom he converses often (cf. Head Six). It is unclear to Baltar whether these projections are from a chip Number Six implanted in his brain while they were together on Caprica (the explanation originally given by the Number Six vision, which she later disclaimed) or if she is simply a manifestation of Baltar's own mind. Although the vision of Number Six manipulates Baltar through his fear of discovery, she lends him an edge by granting him knowledge of situations. The model of Number Six who had seduced him on Caprica later experiences similar visions after her consciousness was downloaded into a new body. Whereas Baltar experienced visions of her, she experienced visions of him. Both visions acted in similar ways: they were seemingly crueler than the person they were based on and often manipulated the affected party against his or her own species.
Shortly after Baltar comes on board Galactica, Head Six reveals that a device that he had previously seen in possession of Six on Caprica has been surreptitiously installed in Galactica's Combat Information Center (CIC) (the command and control center of the battlestar). Head Six tells him it wasn't her job to put it in there. Baltar realizes there is a Cylon on board Galactica, but knows he cannot reveal that information, or indicate the device is not a part of the ship without implicating himself in the destruction of the Colonies. Baltar decides to implicate a person on board who goes by Aaron Doral because he is a civilian who has had access to the CIC during the last several weeks and, as an outsider, would be more likely to not be trusted by the Galactica crew. Having already been put in charge of testing the fleet for Cylons, Baltar informs the Executive Officer that he discreetly collected hair samples of crew members and has found Doral is a Cylon. Baltar, however, had no method at the time for testing for Cylons in the fleet. Baltar also explains he saw Doral doing something with a strange-looking device in the CIC he does not recognize. This forces him to develop an actual method for testing the fleet for Cylons, having already "demonstrated" an ability to do so. The process he eventually creates is reliable and is done through the testing of blood samples, but is time-consuming (it takes 11 hours to test one person).
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Gaius Baltar
Dr. Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series Battlestar Galactica played by James Callis, a reimagining of Lord Baltar from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series. He is one of the show's primary characters.
Gaius Baltar regularly uses a well-developed acting talent to spin yarns on virtually any subject when he feels the need. He possesses a dry, cynical sense of humour but is prone to bouts of neurosis. A charismatic genius and womanizer, he is initially portrayed as a self-serving opportunist, but becomes a braver and more caring character over the course of the series, expressing regret for having been "a profoundly selfish man." Baltar is initially an atheist, but ultimately converts to the Cylons' monotheistic religion. Baltar is described as "weak", "arrogant" and "a coward" by Lee Adama while Caprica Six describes Baltar as "narcissistic, self-centered, feckless and vain." William Adama once indicated that Baltar consistently sees himself as a "victim," allowing him to escape responsibility for his guilt. Later in the series, his most profound changes begin during his adoption (against his will) as a religious figure, and he begins demonstrating increased compassion and bravery. His eventual self-awareness, love for Caprica Six, and compassion for the Agathons also motivate him to humble himself, serving in the Colonial Fleet during Hera's rescue mission and eventually choosing a quiet life as a farmer.
Gaius Baltar claims to be from the colony of Aerilon, and that at the age of ten, finding the Aerilonian dialect to be detrimental to his career dreams, he trained himself to speak the Caprican dialect in hopes of one day being considered a citizen of one of the more respected and wealthy colonies such as Caprica. He also has a very troubled relationship with his father.[citation needed]
At the onset of the show, he is involved in a sexual relationship with a blonde woman. Believing her to be working for a corporation in the defense industry, and desiring a more permanent relationship with her, he gives her access to the highly classified Colonial defense mainframe (an act of treason punishable by the death penalty) so her employers can have an advantage in future contract bidding. In exchange for his access to the government mainframe, she helps him design a navigation program used by Colonial warships, covertly creating backdoors in the program. When the Cylons attack the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, they use those backdoors to penetrate software security firewalls, disabling entire fighter squadrons outright and sabotaging vital capital-ship systems. On the day the Cylons attack humanity, the woman reveals she is an advanced Cylon, model Number Six (later known as Caprica Six), and she used the information that Baltar gave her to shut down the Colonial defenses, thus making him responsible for the Cylons' successful genocidal campaign against the Twelve Colonies. Baltar manages to survive the nuclear explosion that destroys his home due to Caprica Six using her body to shield him.
As a result of the nuclear blast, Number Six is killed, and as a Cylon her memories are automatically "downloaded" during the blast to be later resurrected, as revealed in later episodes. For the duration of the series, Baltar is haunted by a version of Six only he can see. This woman toys with alternate explanations for her existence, from a Cylon chip in his brain sending signals, to an hallucination created out of guilt over the attacks, and thirdly to her being an Angel sent by God to watch over him, and Baltar finally assumes the latter following a medical checkup and rationalising that her extraordinary information to solve problems cannot simply be his own mind.
Having unintentionally brought about the near-annihilation of the human species, Baltar flees Caprica when Karl Agathon gives up his place on a Raptor, feeling that his own life is less important to save than a famed scientist's. The Raptor returns to the Battlestar Galactica, where Baltar attempts to endear himself to Laura Roslin, the new President of the remnants of the Twelve Colonies, and hopes to conceal his involvement in the genocide that has taken place.
Once a part of the fleet, Baltar is haunted by visions of Number Six, with whom he converses often (cf. Head Six). It is unclear to Baltar whether these projections are from a chip Number Six implanted in his brain while they were together on Caprica (the explanation originally given by the Number Six vision, which she later disclaimed) or if she is simply a manifestation of Baltar's own mind. Although the vision of Number Six manipulates Baltar through his fear of discovery, she lends him an edge by granting him knowledge of situations. The model of Number Six who had seduced him on Caprica later experiences similar visions after her consciousness was downloaded into a new body. Whereas Baltar experienced visions of her, she experienced visions of him. Both visions acted in similar ways: they were seemingly crueler than the person they were based on and often manipulated the affected party against his or her own species.
Shortly after Baltar comes on board Galactica, Head Six reveals that a device that he had previously seen in possession of Six on Caprica has been surreptitiously installed in Galactica's Combat Information Center (CIC) (the command and control center of the battlestar). Head Six tells him it wasn't her job to put it in there. Baltar realizes there is a Cylon on board Galactica, but knows he cannot reveal that information, or indicate the device is not a part of the ship without implicating himself in the destruction of the Colonies. Baltar decides to implicate a person on board who goes by Aaron Doral because he is a civilian who has had access to the CIC during the last several weeks and, as an outsider, would be more likely to not be trusted by the Galactica crew. Having already been put in charge of testing the fleet for Cylons, Baltar informs the Executive Officer that he discreetly collected hair samples of crew members and has found Doral is a Cylon. Baltar, however, had no method at the time for testing for Cylons in the fleet. Baltar also explains he saw Doral doing something with a strange-looking device in the CIC he does not recognize. This forces him to develop an actual method for testing the fleet for Cylons, having already "demonstrated" an ability to do so. The process he eventually creates is reliable and is done through the testing of blood samples, but is time-consuming (it takes 11 hours to test one person).