Random Googlebits, Part Dis

Is it dix...? Heh heh, dix! OK, it must be dis. Either way, ten. I'll stop with the French numbers after this, if only because I can't count very far in French.

Of interest: There's a new project on James' imdb bio. It's not FlashForward. It's "The Scholarship - details only on imdb pro." I'm very curious about this. Anybody here have imdb pro? *M reports that this movie has something to do with Nick Cohen. Interesting. It's apparently not a James co-write/co-produce thing this time, though.

This site seems to have some protection issues but the cache version works. It's an appreciation thread from 2008 and there's some meeting James stuff when you scroll down.

As someone who dislikes his character, I was thinking that I probably won't like him, but James was awesome to talk to. He was friendly and funny.

I mentioned that we were from fanforum.com, etc and he was interested in it...but the idiot that I am, me and my gf were kind of caught in the moment of "talking to a famous person" that we forgot to write it down for him. He was like "I'd like to check that out, I told him what it was, the site in general, and that he's got his own appreciation thread.

...

James said he enjoys lurking on BSG forums, etc reading what the fans have to say.

...James, are you reading this? :D I'm not super-surprised, because he reads the Unofficial site and recognized Matt and Nat of GalactiCast, but it's nice to know he reads fan sites. It's amusing to think of him lurking in forums. While I'd love for him to post more online (say in his own personal blog), I think it's wise of him to lurk and not start defending Baltar in online conversations. That would be messy.

Hilariously, someone said he was like Baltar, and someone else asked for a clarification:

Some of the mannerisms are like him. I asked him how it was to work with Lucy Lawless and Tricia and he said that they were totally in love with him. That's what I thought was like Baltar. But he was very nice and great to talk to.

LOL! That's called being facetious. And it's not like Baltar at all. Baltar would have said that and meant it. It's amusing that some people apparently can't tell when James does this.

Triniroslin found some promotional pictures of The Hub. Drool! I know he's supposed to be injured and all, but he had a little tummy. What can I do but gush? Also, The Hub is probably my favorite Baltar/Laura episode evah and contains some stellar performances from both James and Mary Mc. Plus it has Lucy. So James+Mary+Lucy plus a bunch of people touching his belly. I mean, is this episode designed to please me or what?

In a similar vein, there's also this full image of a distraught Gaius on the destroyed Earth. And a few other pictures from the shooting. OK, this is old stuff, but it's still nice to see it.

A very cool video of BSG vs. Beastie Boys song Sabotage. The link also contains a very cool mention of James:

No lie... James Callis sang part of Sabotage to me at Megacon last year, when he saw that I was wearing a shirt from that video. :P

Awesome! Maybe he likes that song? (*goes and listens to Sabotage several times just because James knows it*) (seriously speaking, it's not my favorite music style but the video is really cool, what with the monikers and great sync of BSG scenes.)

Christina Schild, who played Playa Palacios on BSG, recounts working with James on the bathroom stall scene:

Oh, it was so much fun to work with him. I remember walking back into the bathroom stall -- when he goes in and I follow him in -- I remember we had to try and keep ourselves from giggling, because we were squished into that bathroom stall. Waiting for the director to yell cut. We had a really fun time.

Hee! Actually, it's too bad she wasn't really seen after that. It might have been fun. Or not. Um, we didn't really get a very good idea of who Playa was.

Some 2008 Starfury stuff.

James Callis is absolutely stunning, and I didn't expect him to be so down-to-earth and thoughtful towards the fans. He really made an effort to write a different dedication on every autograph.

....

Tahmoh, I don't know, he is nice and intelligent and everything, but he doesn't have that special presence on stage that captivates you, especially if you compare him to James Callis. James starts talking and you can not NOT listen to him.

....

James - Seemed laid back and funny. Also commented on the pronounciatino of my name...

Awww. People often seem touched at how much effort James makes, and it does a fan's heart good. And - he was interested in someone's name again? It really does seem like he loves names. (L)!!!

Another cute fan meeting:

- HUNG OUT WITH JAMES CALLIS (BALTAR!) AND TAHMOH PENIKETT (HELO!) AT THE MARRIOTT BAR!!! Both the dudes were really cool, and James told us to watch what happens in the second part of season 4 - he said it's pretty heavy. He also told Anna she was very beautiful and that she should find him when she's dressed as Six, lol!

Hee! I bet he enjoys hanging out with the girls dressed as Six. ;) (I'm not jealous of Anna. At all.) (Not AT ALL.) (Hmph.)

A lovely discussion of the Bear McCreary concert (2008).

Me: Um. This will be a bit spooky but I have in my possession a large picture of your head.

James Callis: Ah. Well. That's all right.

Me: Uh. My roommate gave it to me. It's been hanging awkwardly in my room since, advertising your show. But um. Please don't think I'm creepy. I'm not trying to be creepy. Honest!

Gaius Baltar: o_o

LOL!!! Yeah, I imagine being pretty much that awkward if I ever meet him. "I write a blog about you. It's all about you. I think about you a lot. But I'm not creepy, I swear!"

Seriously though, there is nothing creepy about having his poster on your wall. But I have a feeling that if the fan gets incredibly defensive about it, it might begin to seem creepy. There's really no point in constant "I'm not a stalker, seriously" apologies, but I realize I make those on here all the time. I should probably stop. If James thinks I'm a stalker, there's nothing I can do to convince him otherwise, but really why would he? (He wouldn't, right? Right?)

On the other hand, there's this:

Grace Park, who plays a collective of Cylon characters (Sharon/Boomer/Athena), said she recently got "a box big enough to fit a golden retriever in" that was packed with intricately assembled scrapbooks. "This fan had clearly spent hours and hours putting this together, and every page was about me, all the places where my name has popped up in a story or on the Internet. This story will be in the next one, I'm sure of it. It's very nice, but it's also a little . . . much."

Note to self: don't send James scrapbooks. Ahem, not that I have scrapbooks. Seriously though, even I think that's a little much. Assembling a blog for fans to find the links, okay. But sending a scrapbook to a star..? Hmmm. Reminds me of the fan who gave Tahmoh Penikett a casket of fake money at a con, "for all his services". That was a WTF moment for most other fans. But that's not on James, so I digress. Also in that article: Ron D Moore apparently very much enjoyed the black-screen ending of The Sopranos. I did too, but I'm kind of glad they didn't do quite that with BSG.

OK, back to James. A cute little encounter story:

I met James Callis (Dr. Baltar from the new Battlestar Galactica) @ the same con. He saw my friends and I in Red Sox gear and mentioned he had attended his first baseball game a few weeks ago. He said "I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I kept drinking and booing Barry Bonds".

Hee! :D That's hilarious! It's especially funny because of baseball commentator Jim Callis, who I suppose is also named James Callis, but never goes by that. I wonder if James is a fan of soccer like most British men seem to be - or if he's just not that into sports? I know Aaron Douglas talks about sports a lot. I was going to add him on twitter, but he seemed to talk about nothing but ice hockey. Nothing personal, Aaron.

This was also the second story where James found a discussion topic just by looking at someone's shirt. It's a nice way of breaking the ice and giving the fan a story to tell. Plus it gives us more trinkets about James' personality, which is always welcome.

San Diego Comic Con 2008: A pic where James "chats with Eureka creator Jaime Paglia". He looks kind of nervous, like it's a fan meeting for him. So cute!

Random stuff that comes up in these searches

I won't link to this because it's obvious spam, but once again, this type of thing amuses and baffles me.

James Callis, best Naruto complete series dvd box set known as Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica dvd box set, has been cast in a recurring mad men dvd box set role on FlashForward, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

You know, I just don't see how adding "naruto complete series dvd box set" OR "mad men dvd box set" into the text accomplishes... well, really, anything. Does it sell something? Does it put a virus in your computer if you open it? Is it designed to get as many hits as possible through any means? There's a LOT of this stuff on Google blogsearch now. Maybe I search for James too much and spammers have realized it's a common search term.

Another constant result in Google searches is Game of Thrones, which HBO has apparently greenlit. Pretty much everyone thinks James should play "Littlefinger". I don't know anything about Game of Thrones, so I don't really have an opinion. However, I'm not sure how anxious I am to see him play "little" anything - not that he isn't adorably little, but if the character is specifically meant to be short or British or scifi/fantasy or villainous or whatever, I worry that it's just typecasting. Lots of people online haven't seen James as anything but Baltar. Most every week, there are tweets like "Hey! Gaius Baltar is on Bridget Jones' Diary!" Yes, James had a life and career before Gaius. It's odd how everyone is thinking this stuff at the same time.

Gaius Baltar was great and probably his best role so far, but I worry that people will only want to see him as another version of Gaius Baltar from now on. He's so much more than that. But if you've never seen Going Wrong, or Sex and Chips, or even Beginner's Luck, you wouldn't know. I hope he's going to get roles that exhibit different sides of him as an actor.

I know James is careful about typecasting, so if Littlefinger is anything like Gaius Baltar, I suspect he's going to disappoint a bunch of fans and just not do it. Like he did with Dr Who. (Although I don't know if they actually offered Dr Who to him.)

James Callis at FedCon 2009: The Panel, Part 2

This image will come up again later, but it just looked so amusing up here with James staring at the title with an open mouth...

OK, part 2 then. I was going to sprinkle Elina's comments again, but I must admit I've forgotten most of them by now. So I'm afraid it's just me babbling and digressing worse than James himself. My apologies.

This starts at about 30 minutes of the panel.

Question: Gaius' attitude on Laura Roslin seems ambivalent. How does James think he sees her?

How does he see Laura? Well first of all, Mary McDonnell, as you know, is the most phenomenal, beautiful actress, and working with her was an absolute privilege. She's uh... stunning! [applause] And that's the thing she, you know, before our scenes most of the time, she couldn't even look at me, she was getting ready to be Roslin and just you know, beat me up. Although to hear her talk about it, she's always like, "Oh, James is always beating me up." We both had a persecution complex. Roslin thought Gaius was after her. But actually, Gaius wasn't after her. He was after on... on some level, that political grandstand. He's possibly one of the only characters that Roslin did not have her way with. She rolled the law with everybody, he was the one person who was like.. No, I'm not gonna do that, I'm not gonna sing your tune. Not gonna sit in space for another year so you can be the president when everybody wants to go down on the planet.

He had some very pragmatic things. One thing is especially, cos like I said, I don't think Gaius Baltar is malicious. He always respected Laura Roslin in a way that he knew she hated him. It's one of these things, a kind of love-hate. There was something special about her and honest about her. And I think there were some lines, in that thing.. oh yes! When she wins the election, the lines I had to Zarek about, "She tells the truth. She's honest. Which is why we lost. Cos our campaign wasn't like that." So a lot of respect, yes...

Like, there's a scene when I wake up on the cylon baseship and she was kissing me, in the dream. Well, originally in the script, that was a gun, she blew my brains out. [laughter] I was like, that's a bit obvious isn't it? Wouldn't it be kind of far more fun if you really don't know what the hell's going on and then Gaius is like "I'm dreaming, aren't I?" and we're out. That kind of thing worked really well. He had a profound respect for her.

It's an interesting point that Gaius had his own way while the others obeyed Roslin. He wasn't much of a leader but at least he wasn't just her sockpuppet. It kind of elevates him above some characters, sometimes even Adama. (But then he was in love with Roslin so maybe he gets a pass.)

Every time I have a dream where I ask "Am I dreaming?", others reply, "No, this is reality!" and every time I ask that in real life, people mock me by saying "Yes, it's all a dream! It's all in your head!" So that bit kinda bugged me. But I loved that scene because it's just so Gaius. Everyone forgives him so easily, and while HeadSix - maybe representing his conscience in the dream - tries to bring it back to his awful guilt, the humans are still just smiling goofily, and then it all turns into sex. "I've always wanted you" - pretty much what Gaius would expect any woman to say, especially if he finds the woman attractive. I also loved how Gaius wakes up and his hand just shakes a little - a very nice touch, because people don't generally jump up in bed when they wake up. (Something Gaius did do in the annoying season 4.5 scene where he dreamt of Adama being killed.)

When he saved her life.. through the.. I dunno, organization of the cells from the baby. That wasn't really about saving her life. See, this is where he's a strange man. That was more about: "I'm so brilliant! Here I am, discovering this thing. Oh yes, I can also save her life. But that's really not so important." It's more about that crossword satisfaction of coming up with something completely novel and genius. And he saved his life, which I brought up again and again and again in the script. Every time she hated me, I was like: "You know, I saved your life! You can't bear it!" There is a truism in nature that.. what is it? You know, some people can't forgive you the good turn you do them. That's what I'd say. [applause]

That's interesting because we just rewatched that scene in the Gaius/Six rewatch community, and I think you can really tell he's on a "mad scientist" kick, complete with crazy facial expressions. Baltar's motivations in the scene may be a matter of interpretation, but James certainly plays heavily on Mad Scientist Performs A New Trick.

What was the meaning of the coda in the end, where Baltar says "Silly silly me"?

I have a telephone here, maybe we should ring Ron Moore, find out. For those of you who don't know, Ron Moore is the producer of BSG, who was actually in the last scene reading a newspaper, or we were reading a newspaper over his shoulder. Um, I don't know. I think it's the simple answer. I didn't know what Six was from very early on, but I worked off something that she was either some facet of my personality or... my deep-seated guilt that just would not leave me alone. Like a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder, a form of MPD or something like that. I suppose on a kind of iconic level, they're voices of good and the voices of evil steering Gaius forward. Although really only he had six as his guardian. What did the end mean? Well, they cut some lines out, you see, which I think did make it rather difficult to totally understand. But um..

[thinks] Essentially it was.. the "silly silly me" was replying to a line that Tricia had had about what the stakes were. I think it's like.. silly silly me. "What are the stakes" The most important .. do you see? If we're gonna do this thing, does it happen again? Should we have a bet? What's the betting, that this world is gonna end up like, you know, Caprica that we all screwed up? And I'd come like "What is the bet?" She just gives me this look or says something and then I reply, "silly silly me". That's supposed to mean like: I understand the stakes are enormous. Getting it wrong this time means the destruction of everything.. again. That's what that's supposed to mean, I believe. Was there another part of your question?

Fan: "No, that was all."

James: "OK, good."

[applause]

I've had so many searches for this. "Baltar silly silly me", "Baltar you know it doesn't like that name", and so forth. I was glad that I saw the David Eick video blog of the final read-thru, because there you have James saying the lines about "what are the stakes", and I was able to actually inform people in that post about the finale. That's one of the few cases where people searched for something specific, found my blog, and actually got what they were looking for. I get so many search terms where I think "Wow, that must be one disappointed visitor". Best example: "When a man gains weight, does his penis get smaller?" Um, I really don't know, and I swear I never considered this aspect of James' random weight gains. If this blog were a place where you can find that sort of ramblings, you'd have my permission to slap me with a fresh fish of your choice.

But I digress. I'd rather they had kept the final scene the way it was in the script (or the read-thru we saw anyway), because it just seems - well, hard to follow and kind of hurried the way it is. They even seem to speak as fast as they can, and then there's the longg robot montage. But hey, it's James and he got to be in the final scene of the show and speak the final lines. And that's really something.

A question about the finale's message. The fan seems to think it's an anti-technology, "luddite" episode.

Well, you know. First of all, it is a TV show, and maybe if there was more time and [effort?] You know, like, any one decision we always thought on Galactica would lead to a 1000 conversations that we couldn't necessarily film. So when Lee had the idea that we shouldn't bring technology down, you know, if it had run for another few seasons, there could have been a whole show about half the fleet up in arms about whether or not that was a good idea, if you see what I mean. Just wasn't an avenue that was explained cos I think we were trying to get to the coda, as you said.

It's a very very difficult.. in fact it's impossible, we have our creature comforts. I'm speaking to you right now on the microphone, cos when it went down, you couldn't hear me. You become accustomed to the things that you think make your life easier. And Lee is an idealist and always has been. And everybody seems to put ther trust in him. We haven't, luckily, so far been involved in a nuclear holocaust that wipes out everybody we know. But if we had ben, maybe your question would be slightly different. I swear to god if there was something, no matter how many people would be left they'd be, hey, do we really need the microwave? Do we really need it? Maybe we can do something else.

That's not necessarily luddite, either. I mean, luddite is just smashing up the machines, ha ha... for the hell of it, because.. on that scale, the mills in.. when the industrial revoultion was coming in, they were like, oh my god, they've got three of these spinning jennies and 400 people are out of work! Smack them down! -That's not what this is about at all. And the coda towards the end? It's kind of fantasmagorical. It's this happy thing. yeah, weve all survived, it's all great. And isn't it nice, there are angles or maybe demons walking among us. But like you go back to the tv screen and it looks like all of this has happened before and all of this might very well happen agian. Just in a kind of... in a more sweet? version than our fans are normally used to, given the apocalyptical nature of our show.

Fantasmagorical.

Quite simply the BEST word ever devised. It's a mixture of the words, 'fantastic', 'amazing' and 'magical' all in one juicy little package. It's important not to overuse the word. It's reserved for when ordinary, boring words just won't cut it.

Yet there's also another definition here that seems to be different:

A misspelling of phantasmagoric, but used generally as a synonym for cool. Phantasmagoric means the constantly shifting series of intertwined pictures like you experience during dreaming. Fantasmagorical draws on this definition, but more describes an interesting experience.

So um... the coda was either a series of intertwined pictures like in a dream, or just really awesome? Maybe he means it was really confusing.

It's probably true that they just wanted to hurry the plot along. There was a post at Galactica Sitrep at the time, and it was about how abandoning machines would be a likely thing to do in that situation, kind of what James is getting at here. I think it makes sense in the context of, if they wanted to have flushing toilets and computers and all that, they'd have to stay on the ship, and they've been confined there for the last five years and want to explore the land instead. To me, this makes perfect sense. Sending Galactica to the sun doesn't make that much sense, because they could have used a lot of what was still on the ship (medical supplies?) and it could have served as a home for some people at first. I don't necessarily see the ending as luddite, also because there was no way they could have gotten more electricity and all that, if there was none invented on the planet yet.

What I do find kind of irritating is the thing with the robots on the TV screen. I think that was a mistake. Maybe with the one robot, the one that looks like an Asian woman - the reference to Eights? - but not a dancing robot and my god, not a bunch of toy robots rocking out to All Along the Watchtower. That just took me off the mood, after a very emotional and fulfilling episode. I also think the angels' dialogue was a little too... obvious. Like, what they were wasn't explained, and who they appear to wasn't explained, but they did make a very obvious point about humanity going too far and destroying ourselves. I actually think it would have been cute if a modern-day Gaius Baltar had been walking in the crowd and they'd followed him.

Elina had some point about microwaves. I think it was that they wouldn't work if we'd been thru a nuclear holocaust, and also that microwaves save electricity. Am I remembering this right? She read my last panel post and didn't even remember saying those things until I reminded her in Finnish. I know we were both on severe sugar high when we watched this, but still. Tsk tsk.

When the question is extra demanding, there needs to be some hair-pulling. Does he pull the answers out of his hair? Luscious hair gives luscious answers!

The next fan says he wants to lighten up the mood with something "shallow and superficial. "Good!" says James.

Were there any pranks on set that he can tell us about, was there a lot of fooling around?

James: Normally I must say no. Most people concentrated so hard, very few people were, as it were, larking around particularly. One thing I do remember is.. I'm very friendly with Jamie Bamber...

Fan: Have you seen him naked by the way?

James: Uh... No. [smiles] No, in a word...

Fan: Sorry about the interruption.

James: No, not at all. [my note: It does seem to throw him off though, because he has to think for a bit. Hee!]

So... I was speaking to him and he had a very serious scene coming up with Edward James Olmos. He said, "You know, I've got this big scene, I'm thinking about doing a few things I'm thinking about a few things like this and like that.. what do you think?" I said, "I think you should think about the fact that LEE spelled bakcwards is EEL." [pause, laughter] "I think that will come in handy." And then he turned around and he said, "Well BALTAR backwards is RATLAB!" So there you go. [laughter]

It's not a new story to me, but it's always fun to hear. I'd imagine James might be a prankster on set, but I guess he was not.

The next fan starts by saying that James did a good job of being unlikeable on the show. It was nice to see someone say something like this. It's honest and refreshing, there's no need to fawn over him. (Even if I know I do.) I'm not saying the fans who praised him were necessarily dishonest or putting on an act, but I think it's possible to overdo it a little bit. I can understand that though. I can't even imagine what embarrassing things I would say.

Fan: With you, I was mostly thinking, "Not him again!"

James: [mock-scolding] There's always one, isn't there?

Fan: So my question is... What are your musical ambitions, because I heard you play instruments?

James: Don't really have musical ambitions, but I do play music and it really helps me.. chill out. There's a quote by.. I don't know why I know this, it's obviously a university thing I picked up, something I picked up at university while trying not to learn anything. There's some quote by some guy called Mallarme, and the quote is: "All art aspires to the condition of music." And I think it's true. And being on touch on some level with ... I was just listening to Kruder & Dorfmeister, has anybody here heard Kruder & Dorfmeister? Thank you Germany! Supercool. Yes, no real musical ambitions, but music is for me, on that scale.

It's interesting that James, an actor who studied acting and literature, still upholds music as the highest form of art. I'm a bit surprised he doesn't value cinema or theatre above music. It's a beautiful thing to say, though, and I wonder about James' relationship with music. I read in an interview that he originally wanted to be a rock star, which is not something he often brings up. He was adviced to go with acting instead because of the risk of being a one-hit wonder. We all sometimes ponder on how it could have been, if only. Obviously James has many talents and you can only do so much in one lifetime. But like I've said before, James' music impressed me, and I always wanted to hear more. Maybe one day we will?

I'm amused that even Professor James himself wonders why he remembers a certain quote. We all have a bunch of stray knowledge in our heads, stuff we read somewhere or heard from someone we know who's an expert. I think this is particularly true of university students and alumni. So much useless knowledge floating around.

Also - I actually checked Kruder & Dorfmeister out on Youtube. It is pretty cool; they're Dj's doing a kind of jazzy club music. One thing though - they are from Austria, not Germany. So that's like saying "I love U 2 - thank you England". But I haven't seen anyone complain about this in the FedCon reports, so it must not a big insult to Germans to be confused with Austrians.

Asked about the Six models - which was the most interesting one?

James: That's... I just can't answer that question, I don't know. He was in love with one and they all reminded him of the one he was in love with. So the most interesting one must be Caprica six. Who I think, on some level, has a very big tie with the HeadSix. For the longest time, as you know, Gaius couldn't differentiate between the two. So yeah, I don't know about all of the others. I don't know if he even got to meet all of the others, maybe he did. It's hard to tell, isn't it? If they all look identical, whether it's, you know, and they've all got the same name... [goes silent like he doesn't know what to say. mischievious smile]

Well, I wouldn't say Caprica, Gina, Natalie, and Shelly all had the same name? Weirdly, I think he's confusing Six with all the Eights - they all had the same name and I guess the Simons and Dorals went by the same name too (which is just sloppy writing in my opinion, because wouldn't they just have names as a cover to work with humans?). But Sixes were different, they had different hairstyles and different names.

The answer almost sounds like James, much like his character, confused the different Sixes.

The next question is about the humor with Baltar.

James: [thinks] I just remember trying to do... at the very beginning.. what's the word? When something is very inappropriate, it can be funny. And I remember very early on there was this very serious scene I was doing with Alessandro. where he said I'm very sorry bc it looks like your defense cdodes or because you had a hand in that.. half the planet's been killed. The normal reaction to that sort of thing is.. I dunno what you do.. you couldn't look somebody in the eye or... it's very very serious. I dunno why, but I just thought, what if Gaius Baltar is a barefaced liar, and he's a really bad liar, as well. It's something I found funny. So when he asked me the question, I went.. [face] I dunno... You're talking about millions of people being killed,

so that kind of puts it in a strange, perverse context.

James does the miniseries face.

The joke of it is, on that level, while it's funny... We call it Schadenfreude, I believe. It's never funny for him, which is why it's so funny. If it'd ever been funny for him, we'd all have been in the audience going, "No, I don't think this is right." Whereas he was always in panic and fear. And the way he displayed that panic and fear was so self-serving and so transparent. So yeah it's... Again, this is a useful tool because if he didn't have that going for him, what the frak does this man have going for him? So it's one little tick in his box, at least he has a sense of humor. Which is more than we can say for a lot of people. There it is. [applause]

Well, he's handsome - come on, James, you are - and rich... and highly educated, and intelligent... So you can tick those boxes. That's about it though. I think the new aspect in this answer is the idea that it's not funny for Gaius. He is funny to an outside observer, but tragic for himself. Actually, if he had more of a sense of humor about himself, he might behave better, because he'd see how silly his narcissism is.

There are lots of fans writing blogs - ahem - and talking about the show and the finale. But did they think about the fans' expectations while shooting it?

James: No, in a word. I was just saying in Paris.. just last week, it was like.. Somebody asked us why we're such good friends really, why we really do have this bond. Jamie described it like, the whole cast is like... have this bond like we're soldiers who served in a war. To some degree we kind of are. Acting does something to you. I said it's because we never knew if the series was gonna go ahead, we shot a pilot, we shot it far awya from everybody else in vancouver, and that is not Los Angeles. It is a bit like an outpost, and we were.. You know, in these studios, they basically lok like the spaceship. We did this thing for ourselves. We acted with each other for ourselves. Every day was like play for today, for the actors, for the director, for the writers, the people on set. What are we gonna create in this box right now? What sparks and colors are we going to make fly for our own edification and our own enjoyment? Then it was like, my god, is the rest of the world watching us? Are they... other people... They can see us?

We got very very close because... We were saying that there's other shows where I think people realize they're a big deal, they know eveyrone's watching it. Maybe they're like... This is the bit where I give the cool look. Cos the fans like that cool look. That's not what we were doing. Although.. [gives the cool look again]

The cool look.

Yeah, no, I believe on some very big level, we were doing it for ourselves, and when you love something that much yourself, it's no wonder that it creates energy whereby.. we finished filming over a year ago. And honestly, this room is packed, because you all loved the show. You definitely didn't all love Gaius Baltar and I'm the one talking here right now. So that kind of thing has a big effect. Nobody wants to be disliked by the fans, I don't think anybody wants to be particularly disliked by anybody. We weren't doing it.. I don't think in the sense of... when it becomes more instructed by the fans rather than the strange ? that you don't know what you're going to see?, it would be a case of the tail wagging the dog, which would.. I don't think it'd be a good idea. That's what I have to say.

The fan says that really came thru on the show, and that it's one of the reasons the show is so great. And I agree. James thanks her and looks like he really appreciates this sort of compliment. Not that he doesn't appreciate all the "you were great" type compliments, but I think this one somehow touches him deeper. Maybe because it's so specifically "you succeeded at this particular thing you were trying to do".

He was referring to the Jules Verne thing, and I believe Jamie Bamber made a reference to Band of Brothers, which he was in. Five years is a long time to work together, and it probably does give you time to form lifelong friendships.

Would the show listening to fans be the tail wagging the dog? I guess I'm biased as a fan but I will say this... sometimes some fans had deeper ideas than the writers. I remember all the discussion about what HeadSix is, what Daniel, the cylon number six, had to do with everything, and so forth. There were many avenues Ron Moore could have explored, just by looking online. Maybe that would have been lazy writing, but I do think he should have at least checked what level the fans were thinking on. I think he sort of went under the expectations and didn't even try to resolve some things. This is not to say he should have done anything specifically because the fans wanted it, but it's a bit disturbing to me that some blogs had deeper and more interesting explanations than the finale itself. I did enjoy the finale, but it was still lacking in some (deep thinking or sci fi) aspects.

The next question begins with "You are a successful and very good actor..." James frowns like he's thinking "Wait, are you talking to me?" The question is what tips he'd give to aspiring actors.

"Who, me?!"

Everybody acts, every day. Everything. Even people like going into a store and asking for something. So much of our performance and the way we are socially.. you are acting little bits. It's a kind of diffiuclt question.. bc you said successful actor. Everything is so relative.. really relative. I want to be an actor, and I think a lot of people want to be stars. That's a very... You know like these all these.. what is it, Pop Idol, I'm sure you have it over here. These kid of star making shows about being a celebrity eather than necessarily being an actor. I would say if you wanna be an actor, there's nobody else like you in the universe. You are unique. Be unique, be yourself. Don't be like anybody else. I think lots of people try to be like other people.

And another thing actually, something I worked out.. I've just been in LA right now, and I saw a lot of people auditioning. Not just auditioning for like a job. I saw like a lady with very high heels and a very tiny dog that looked more like, I must say, a rodent than a dog, and this jacket.. [walks]

And I looked in a pizza stand.. this guy doing this stuff! it's like everybody is auditioning all of the time! I dunno for what.. so you look at them, so you pick something different... I'd say on some level, stop auditioning. Start being... just in the moment, the time, just be yourself. That should be fun.

[applause]

It would be interesting to ask him more about this. Does he intend to portray a certain image to us fans, or is he really just being himself? How easy or hard is it to be yourself in front of the audience, when you know the whole world can see you? I feel like his personality does come through in everything he does - but then that's just my image of his personality, so I could be wrong.

I think LA might just be one of those places where going down the street is a performance. But yes, some people actually consider you successful because you've been on an internationally acclaimed and popular show. Who knew?

And don't knock little dogs, James! Especially when I just likened you to a dachshund not long ago. He seems woefully unaware of his little-dog-like appearance and should be made aware of this. I challenge con-goers to have him sign a picture of a dachshund. Or maybe I have to do it. I wonder if Dora Negri-Crutchfield has available publicity shots.

A question about Baltar's Aerilon accent - could he do it again?

James: [accent] I can do that right now for you darling. I spent 3 years in York University, which is up in the North of England. And first time I arrived up in York, I went to the pub, and I said [in his own accent] "Can I please have the pub lunch?" And the lady said, "Whatcha want darling, beef -ow-park?" I said, "Beef and ..what?" She said, "Beef-ow-park?" I said, "Is that French, does it come in a pastry?" [laughter] Seriously, I thought somebody was going to stab me thru the head! Like this guy said to me, he went, "Beef or pork, you idiot." Oh.

So yeah, there's a very.. and York was quite you know.. [accent] quite tough, they were very very tough. I remember going to the chip ship one night and after going to the.. local disco called Toff's, and students would all jump in line, I'd be here, like at the front of queue, and I'd have three mates who were like, "Hey James, can you get me some chips as well?" So more and more people were jumping the line. There aren't any kids in here, are there? If I get a bit x-rated?

Ahoy, Captain! Really James, if you worry about the language, just use "frak". I see he's already forgotten it because the show hasn't been shot for ages.

Partly? just the language, but there was some big old guy going, "'appens every Friday night! Fucking students coming in here! Stop cutting in the line. I want my chips!" I'm like okay, pal. OK. So yeah, that's where it came from.

A tough Yorkshire expression.

The accent is a hit, but not as much as in the Starfury panel from 2008 - I wonder how well the German fans understand his Yorkshire English. I'm fascinated that the accent is so thick James himself had trouble with it at first. Initially, when I was learning English, I couldn't understand a word Scottish or Irish people said, but I've gotten better at it. (Albeit not necessarily that good, see my attempts at transcribing Mark Sheppard.) I do have a sort of sad memory about Yorkshire accent specifically - I loved the books by James Herriot, and had ordered one into our library in English. I was twelve, had studied English three years at school, and felt all confident I could read the book and enjoy it in the original language. Then I open it and see all the attemps at transcribing Yorkshire dialect, as well as the medical terms. It took me ages to get through even one chapter. Very disappointing.

I had to google "pub lunch" to know what kind of food inspires the question "beef or pork". I think it's um... delicious-looking... British food is... interesting... I would totally eat that... *gags* No offense to the Brits, Finnish food isn't so great either. The German subtitles provided on the DVD say "poplunch", which might be a misunderstanding or a German type of pub lunch. Once again, I digress to ponder on the food references. I should make a whole "What James Eats" post sometime and really dig on the issue from a more... academic... viewpoint. If you want to see such a post, please let me know.

The next question is about Baltar being tortured, "with the water" and...

James: Oh by the colonials as opposed to by the cylons? What a good life this man had! Yes.

[The question is how it was to shoot those scenes]

James: It was horrible. Honestly it was horrible. People are being tortured right now, people have been tortured. God only knows what the fuck that feels like.. how utterly horrible that must be. So you.. I've said this before because that's the real thing, you don't want to look like you're not committed to it. I think that's the sign that this is surprisingly all over.. [pretends to swim thru the fog]

James goes dancing in the fog a little bit, and the camera can't even keep up. Our boyish guy. He's just probably trying to get closer to the fans, as he stands there at the edge of stage and talks seriously after a moment. It just looks suspiciously like he got excited about the fog and went crazy there for a second. Normal for James. ;)

The only thing I will say is that when I had my head strapped to that thing, Edward James Olmos wanted my eyes to be pinned open wit these clamps. That we did try. They got this doctor round. I was lying on the table, and he put these, like, crocodile clips inside my eyes,like to keep them open. And I said, "This one hurts, this one really really hurts." The guy went, "Oh I'm sorry. I sat on it in the car, I bent it.. tsk tsk." [laughter] I looked across at the proruder I went, "get me out of here right now!"

And Eddie was like, "It's vital! We can't do the scene without the crocodile clips, it's impossible!" [laughter] I was like, "I will be able to do the scene eddie, but I can'twear the crocodile clips, I'm sorry.

Edward James Olmos face. He's always so intense!

[The fan asks if he had been watching A Clockwork Orange.]

James: That's exactly where this idea came from. And I... Not to be ridiculous but you know, if you were making a movie and you had that kind of peraration, or to be, on another level, you were being compensated in some form, it might be worth it. But to actually go blind for an episode of Battlestar wasn't.

"Going blind for an episode of BSG was NOT worth it." Not sure what making a frog face has to do with it, but it looks adorable.

Hee! It's like in Dragon*Con a few years back, but even funnier. And his expressions are priceless.

That's where the panel ends. James gets huge applause and he comes back to take a bow, and I wonder how it must feel to stand there and see just how much people appreciate an hour of you talking.

Cos to me he kind of looks surprised and awed by it.

There was supposed to be an interview with James on the DVD, but it's really just a mini-blurb about what he thinks of the con. It's lovely, but I'm not sure if I'd call it an interview.

"It's quite humbling meeting all these ppl. And you realize.. I was saying that the little things we did for each other in Vancouver, everybody else is seeing. It's very special to be appreciated, it's really nice.

People here have been charming and know the series and know us, and it's been a real pleasure, a real pleasure."

"It's humbling meeting all these people". You can say that humbly or arrogantly - I've seen people say "I feel really humble" and look the opposite. But James actually does look touched and humble, bless him. (L)!

James Callis at FedCon 2009: The Panel, Part 1

Screenshots by me, from the DVD.

First of all, huge thanks to Artemis_Neith for a) suggesting that she get me the FedCon DVD, b) getting me the FedCon DVD as soon as it came out. Also huge thanks to those responsible for putting together this release. I have to advertise it a little before I go any further.

If you want to see this on a DVD, do order it. It's great. It has the panels of James, Richard Hatch, Edward James Olmos, Michael Hogan, and Mark Sheppard. James had to leave early because of Rubins, so he was not able to give more than one panel. But it's a great panel, a full hour, and lots of good questions/answers.

I watched this together with Elina, which was quite amusing. She made some remarks, which I think I'll actually sprinkle around this transcript to add another voice into it. I wasn't able to answer some of her difficult questions - "What does FedCon stand for?" was one. But she made my day noticing that, even though James is quite thin here, there's still a small round belly on him. (I won't go on about that, but it's adorable, it is.) She made my day even more by suggesting that he may have worn the tight teen-style shirt just so I could see the belly. Hee! Granted, it's far more likely that, like Elina also suggested, "he's having some sort of age crisis." But a girl can dream, right?

We all know James has a pretty severe dash problem with his writing. But there's also a verbal addiction he has: levels. I took the liberty of counting how many times he talks about various "levels" throughout this panel and the results are below. It's not pretty, my friends.

On some level: 17 (!!!)

On a basic level: 2

On a very basic level: 1

On another level: 1

As usual, lots of cute gestures and moving around amusingly. I wasn't sure what to make of this:

Itchy or flirty?

OK, let's get to the panel. He comes in, and I give the presenter props for referring to James as "some of the nicest people" and minus for saying Baltar is one of the nastiest characters.

Well, here I am. I was just saying yesterday when I came out on stage.. I didn't even see the balcony. I was just like this (peers with his hand) Christ, there's so many people. Then I looked up and thought oh my god, there's more people. (peers) There's certainly a lot of you here. Well, this is my first time in Bonn. I've been to Germany several times before, but not for a convention. I'm obviously not so jetlagged, I think it's an hour difference from London. And I actually start work on a film [Re-Uniting the Rubins] tomorrow morning at seven o'clock in London, so I'm afraid that after this.. session I've gotta dash. Get to work. Let's get my jacket off, excuse me. [He takes his jacket off, the audience woos] Who knew?

Hee, he said "dash"! :D Our dashing man with the dashes. Actually, I just realized I never use enough dashes in my transcripts. Surely in his head "let's get my jacket off, excuse me" is "let's get - my jacket off - excuse - me". But in the name of legibility, let's just write like ordinary people. We can't all have the James brain.

So, I think it's best if you guys wanna ask me some questions. And I'll try my best to answer them. Or just lie very effectively. Okay? I believe you guys know the score and you came down and you're hit by a spotlight.. hopefully it's only a spotlight.

I don't wanna bash anyone from BSG, but... OK, I'll admit it: I do want to bash Richard Hatch a little bit, because he's also on this DVD and he started his panel with a five-minute monologue. You know, people have come to ask you questions, so let them ask questions. I think James has the right idea here: just open the floor to the fans after establishing a conversational tone.

The first question begins with a wish that he doesn't take up half the panel to answer, because Edward James Olmos took half the panel answering this guy's question. (Oh dear, Eddie. I know he took half another panel answering some fan's question and others yelled at her for it. It can't be the same person because this fan is male. I don't want to bash Eddie, actually, because he seemed really cool and thoughtful in his panel. But still.)

Fair enough, but I think the shorter the question is, the better. And starting by "please don't be too wordy" may not be the best way. It's not directly offensive or anything though, and James doesn't seem bugged.

So the question: Does he have any idea what happened to the cult after the finale?

James: It's a very good question..

Fan: And my second question...

James: Oh that was only the first part? My god!

Fan: The other question is very short.

James: Oh, OK.

Hee! :D "My god!" could be a bit offensive if said in the wrong tone, but James just sounds amused and like he's gently ribbing the guy. (L)!

The second question is... something about Bridget Jones and all the flight attendants recognizing him from it.

OK, very quickly then. I have no idea what happened to the cult afterwards. There's some email that goes around: people are in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. It would seem that the cult was in Gaius' life for a season and a reason, but not a lifetime. And I dunno where they went, they obviously felt the love between themselves. Maybe NBC Universal will make a spinoff series "Baltar's Lovecult". [laughter]

Fan: I'd love to see you there.

James: Me too, me too.

Fan [something about Paulla]

James: Indeed. And Jeanne. And all my holy ladies. So that was that. There was nothing in the script about their demise, they left, that was gone...

Why do all flight attendants recognize me from Bridget Jones' Diary? I'm sure there'll be some who are, obviously, like "Hey, I have no idea who that guy is, I dunno what they're talking about." My experience is that.. it would seme that ... being a flight attendant, perhaps you have to learn first aid and you must have watched BJD. That's the comparison.. That's certainly my feeling. How was it filming that film? First one was a lot of fun, a lot of people, including me, had a very difficult time keeping a straight face. Because I personally found Renee Zellweger terribly funny. And... yeah, cracked me up. I worked with Sally Phillips and Shirley Henderson. We were like a little threesome and we had a lot of fun.

We've heard him quote Shakespeare and many other well-known classics, but I'm glad to see he's not a big snob, since he can even quote a chain email. And it seems like he hasn't really thought of the cult at all after the finale. I'd love to see Baltar's Lovecult though, of course. I like that there was some closure to Gaius-the-prophet, but I didn't really care about any of the cult members, because they weren't really developed as characters. As always, I wish the cult had been expanded on more. And that the membership had been open for fans. Well, James did invite me to join his cult, so I'm happy. I'd rather belong to his cult than Gaius'.

I wonder what Renee Zellweger thought of James. I've never seen her refer to him, maybe I should use my superior googling skills to find something. He's always spoken highly of her, so she must have made quite an impression.

Also note that he can't even joke about all the flight attendants knowing him without adding that some probably, in fact, do not know him. Our humble guy.

Next question. The other characters have inspired various military people, but does Baltar inspire anyone? What kind of people might he inspire? James looks very amused at the idea. Or, what does he want the viewers to take with them?

It's another good question. The kind of people Baltar is inspiring. Maybe we don't really want to know who they are [laughter] or what he's exactly inspiring them to do. I don't know, uh.. start up their own religions or..? There's certainly several people on this planet who've done that already.

What does he give to an audience? On a basic level, I don't know. But I know what, as it were, I was trying to do. And on some level I was like, this guy is a real.. he's so morally bankrupt, he's made so many mistakes, he's actually in so much spiritual...distress. Sad, and lonely and guilty and ashamed. And... on a basic level when this goes out in America, what is he? He's a [American accent] scum-sucking sleazeball, essentially. The idea I had was.. if this.. scum-sucking sleazeball can occasionally do the right thing, then so can you. Everybody. Nobody ? too bad. That's my answer.

[Applause]

What is a scum-sucking sleazeball? Do I even want to know? I actually happened upon a conversation about the phrase sleazebag and apparently it has to do with feminine hygiene. I never knew that. The conversation was about whether that was a sexist thing to say, and there were people for and against the idea, as always. It was very confusing to a Finn. I've used to using "sleazebag" as just a synonym for "asshole" or something. Maybe asshole is actually safer, since we all have one. No sexism there.

It's funny because in some way, I do identify with Baltar, although I don't think we have a lot in common. Well, we're both short, and we wear glasses, but I'd almost say it ends there. He doesn't inspire me.

Although I may have said it before, James frequently does inspires me to be a better person. I keep asking myself "What would James Callis do?" (And, since I don't know him all that well, I can always fall back on "He'd eat some junk food" and indulge.)

Some of the other cast members had been to a previous FedCon and asked who on the show they'd like to play. They'd all said Baltar. Who else would James like to play?

Well, I joked in a former podcast that I'd like to play Six... So that I could then play WITH myself, that'd be fantastic. [laughter] The only thing better than being me would be acting... That's a joke. Um.. yeah, I really.. the part was amazing. It really was the most incredible part. Cos he was, on some level, so many different things to so many people, and also to himself. And this allowed me and the writers and the directors.. I think uh.. an extraordinary liberty. He was never just one kind of guy or one kind of Gaius. There's lots of different.. personalities vying for superiority within his own mind. Like on a very basic level he could be funny, and he could be sad, or he could be perverse or he could be honest. He could be totally like.. he goes over his head or doesn't care. And then he can be very compassionate. He could run thru the litmus of emotions and that was a real gift to be able to do.

It's very true about Gaius, and it's a beautiful thing to say and in case you missed it, he did not answer the question at all. I work at a phone survey job and this reminded me of that. You'll ask someone a question and they answer with something only slightly related that gives you nothing to work with. Like "how often do you visit this particular supermarket?" and the answer is, "You know, I just went there today, and then I realized on the way home I forgot to buy soap, so I had to go right back! Isn't that funny." It isn't really, and it has nothing to do with what I asked, but thanks for telling me.

Now I digressed worse than James, but my point is that he's never answered this question seriously. That might mean he can't imagine playing anyone else on the show, because he identifies so much with Baltar. Or that he doesn't think as much of the other characters on the show (at least the male characters whom he could conceivably play). Also, he still always seems amused at the guy-Gaius pun.

Also observe his facial expressions when he describes Gaius' many emotions:

Sad.

Perverse.

Honest.

Doesn't care.

Compassionate.

It's like he goes through those emotions while answering the question. Beautiful.

The next fan is kind of apologetic about their question, but it's amusing, so here's a partial transcript of that.

Fan: I have a question but I have to be very diplomatic, because if I word it wrong, the crowd here might just lynch me. Um, Tricia Helfer is a beautiful, tall woman.

James: ...Yes.

Fan: And you're not.

James: [amused] No. [laughter] And I see you're all wearing glasses. Congratulations.

[So the question is if they meant to cast such height-wise unmatched actors or just went with what they had.]

James: Do you know, it's a good question.

Fan: [anxiously] Please don't hate me!

James: [shakes his head as if to reassure her: no, I don't hate you]

We were cast together, in fact. They weren't looking for A Baltar or A Six, they were looking for Baltar AND Six. I think that we uh.. and they saw something that I suppose we didn't see at the time. We complement each other, there's a natural chemistry. Also on this level, she's supposed to be a killer robot. So the joke in the relationship was that this very feminine creature had some very masculine attributes. And myself, as supposedly the male in the scenario had some very feminine attributes. There was always twisting on this dime?.

Normally it's the big burly guy who saves the damsel in distress. This was always the other way around. It was the strong cylon saving a waiflike Gaius. And obviously, Tricia's not that tall, we had to stand her on a table so she'd look so much taller than me. [makes a hilarious self-effacing face] Thanks very much.

[applause]

He doesn't look at all offended by the question. I'm not offended by it, as a fan, although I must say it sounds more offensive with the apologizing, as if his shortness is a terrible flaw that must be approached carefully. Most of the fans find it endearing. It's amusing, because the fan is so anxious about her question and seems to worry that James will be mad or something. James looks very kind listening to her. (L)!

I kinda admire that James was willing to play such an unmasculine role. I won't pretend to understand the male ego and how it all works, but it seems like playing a role where you have to be weak in front of women is a problem to some guys. James is probably pretty comfortable with his feminine side if he can play such a part. I also love that he calls Gaius "waiflike". I had to check if I had the right idea of waif - I was thinking "child" or possibly "fairy". It seems to be an orphaned or abandoned child. Awww, pirpana! (<-old Finnish word for small child)

It's invisible to the camera, but I know this because the con reports had it: someone from the other side of the room has a question, and they have to rush the microphone there. James: "Run. Forrest." Hee! I hated Forrest Gump, which I always feel the need to mention. But it's a really cute reference. A pretty old reference, really - he has this fast wit that works in situations like that.

He gave Lucy "the full monty" - hee! - and does he do this often or..?

Oh dear. At home, more times than you'd care to know.

On set, we were actually we were joking, because we'd been talking about watching King Kong and how incredible the actors' performances are, given that obviously they weren't acting with a real King Kong. And Lucy was joking about essentially it's most o fthe time when you're doing a green screen or graphics, there is like a microphone stand with a tennis ball on the top of it with a cross of it for your eyeline. I thought that they'd do that, that's what we're gonna do.

But when I came out naked in that scene, Lucy almost fell over. I said you can either look at me, or you can look at a microphone with a tennis ball on the end. Which would be better? One of the curious moments that Lucy was speechless. The joke about that is that.. yeah, it's a very liberating thing getting naked in front of a lot of people who aren't. And all I remember is the sound guy who was so terrified that he might see me and then ruin the rest of his life [laughter], he actually walked head first to a wall cos he was holding the boom, kind of [stands up and shows] whack! Into a wall. That was kind of amusing."

I remember people being really confused about this microphone/tennis ball reference. It makes sense in context - James is probably quoting Lucy with "I thought that's what we're gonna do". Lucy came into the room expecting a microphone with a tennis ball on it, and instead she saw a completely naked and well-endowed James Callis, and that was enough to throw even Lucy Lawless off balance. Hee!

Yes, I did get smutty thoughts from "at home...", but let's not go there. I wonder if Elina and I discussed that - I can't remember anymore. We talk smutty so much that it all blends in together.

Pretending to be the boom guy. I know the second picture has motion-blur but I had to add it because it's so full of James-like boyish energy. "Whee!!"

Did he ever want to play Baltar differently than what was scripted? James looks like he has to think hard about this question. [Um, Baltar signing the death warrant?? I can't believe he doesn't even mention it here.]

Umm.. no, not particularly. But I always um.. I think that the whole show, Battlestar, really did something to the genre of science fiction. And one of the.. if it's fair to say, we tried to make everyone as three-dimensional as possible. So occasionally I would feel that I was.. some of the scenarios or some of the things I was placed in.. were tending to lose me a dimension. And I wasn't prepared ... I wasn't prepared to live it out that way.

We all... Essentially I don't believe any one of us was acting when we were on the show. We were all living through those characters. Anything that didn't quite come up to your expectation had to change slightly so it could be accommodated. I never did anything differently from the way it was scripted necessarily... but I suppose.. like if there was one scene where it's just like he's supposed to be a bit mean and he doesn't care, I'd know myself that there'd be something, even if it was a look in the eye, where I'd have to show that he doesn't know. Bring in some other human equation. If that answers your question.

But why doesn't he bring up the times he fought against the writers? The gun to his head while signing the death warrant? I'm sure there were other examples but I can't think of them offhand. Maybe he couldn't think of any either, because he seems a little apologetic about this answer.

How much did they improvise while shooting BSG?

You can only improvise so much. It's not like you'd improvise scenes. Everything you're improvising around is based on the lines of the scene in the script. And everybody on our show imporoivsed. And that's not just the actors. That's the writers, directors, producers.. there was a real synergy whereby ppl trusted each other enough to go with it, to go with something in the moment. And there was really never a time where it was like "No you can't do that! We must not veer off this path!" Because we did not necessarily know what that path was until we created it.

So it's not like uh.. I don't know if you have programmes here like Give Us a Clue, where actors are just given a line and they have to improvise a whole play, it was never like this. It was more like ad libbing than improvising. Which is like adding some things or taking some things away that you think could suit the personality you portray. Ok?

Ah, I didn't realize there was a difference between "ad libbing" and "improvising". I thought they were synonymous. Professor James teaching me new stuff again.

In terms of plot cohesiveness and the finale, I do think it's a shame that they didn't know where they were going. But it can also be a good thing, because the actors were able to shape it a bit. Maye it's more exciting to work on a story that's about to unfold before your eyes than something set in stone before production begins, i.e. Babylon 5 and the like. I don't know. I'm certainly glad they got to ad lib and change things based on what they felt was right for the character.

I loved this next question, but I might want to explain the context for those who haven't watched as much BSG. In the season 3 episode Taking a Break From All Your Worries, James has a scene with Alessandro Juliani (Felix Gaeta). Baltar whispers something in Gaeta's ear, which makes Gaeta stab him with a pen. Later, in the web series Face of the Enemy, they show the scene again and this time we hear what Baltar whispered. The question is: did they redub the scene, or was it always planned that way?

The whispering in the ear really as Alessandro's ... it came from Alessandro. This is actually almost to answer the last gentleman's question. This was something that was improvised, it wasn't in the script.

But Alessandro said, "If I'm gonna stab this guy thru the neck with a pen. It's like, I've been so.. I've gone there at the right time, I'm talking the shit with him about the plans and how they might save his life and then suddenly I just.. it's not enough. I want something, I want him to drive me crazy, I want him to say something, DO something to me, that would make me get a pen and stab him thru the neck." So I was like, isn't that great? So that's where that came from. And at the time, we had no idea what it was, or the provocative nature of what it was that I was saying. But whatever it was, it was supposed to.. like a red rag to a bull, that would make him go crazy. So yeah, that was kind of an afterthought that I think was very cleverly worked in to the episodes.

I think so too. And I think it was a good idea to have an intriguing moment like that between the two men, who had surely experienced things together on New Caprica. (That sounds a bit dirty, but I don't necessarily mean sexual things.) Gaeta had seen who Baltar truly is, but Baltar had also seen who Gaeta truly is, even if it might be easy to forget that. Gaeta was disillusioned by Baltar, but maybe it also works the other way around. At any rate, there are always secrets you can tap into when you know someone that well. It's kind of a moment where Baltar shows his intellect, he knows how to play people in some way, even if he can be so socially bumbling too.

It speaks volumes about Alessandro that he wanted that in. He seems to have thought of his character as much as James thought of Baltar, and wanted to really have Gaeta react to something rather than just stab him for no reason.

Did he ever think he'd be the fifth cylon?

I.. no, I knew it wasn't me. Couldn't be me. Umm... that... cos I was too human on some level, I think that would have been.. not a good turning point. But I had no idea who it was, at all. But when I found out I was like.. you are kidding! You are kidding me. What? Where does that come from? How does that work? OK, fine, as long as it's not me, I don't care. It's funny because all those other final cylons Michael Hogan as Colonel Tigh, and Aaron as the Chief.. especially these two are so.. these are the people who led the resistance back on New Caprica, you should have seen their faces when it was like: Hey guys, you're on the wrong team! [points] [laughter] Yeah, not Gaius, you! Oh dear.. so that was good.

Hee! I can imagine him ribbing Aaron about this. Tigh and the Chief were good choices for cylons, because they were so central and so anti-cylon at some point. But my regret is that they didn't explore the "old Earth" cylon community storyline much further than that one episode.

Well, does he think it's a good choice, who the fifth cylon is?

Uh... Do you know, it is a good choice. And not a lot we can do to change it right now. [laughter]

Tell us a bit about the film you're going to shoot (Re-Uniting the Rubins, although the name is never mentioned here).

It's a comedy, a kind of romantic comedy although nobody falls in love. It's about a family that..uh, had a tragedy happen to them back in the day and then.. because of this thing, in years apart, can't really look each other in the eye or the face. And due to circumstances, they all come back together again. It's gonna be exciting and fun and also, you know, not in space. Actually set in London, so that's kind of cool.

That sounds really interesting. And I'm confused that some fans reported that he could not tell them more than that it's a family comedy. I mean, he says quite a bit about the basic theme of the movie here. He just doesn't go into specifics like what happened to the family. He sounds excited about it, and I'm really hopeful and optimistic about this project, I really am.

Would he have liked to be the final cylon?

Not really, to be honest, no. That would have been very confusing for me.. already I was pretty confused if you've seen the show.

I didn't need anything else to make me more confused. That's... [??]

All of the actors said the same thing: nobody wanted to be the final cylon. It would have ruined Adama and Roslin and Baltar and so forth. I'm not really sure. I think it would have added depth to a character in a way, if they had spent the rest of the season trying to find their cylon selves. With Baltar, however, it might have been dull, given that he's spent most of the show interacting with cylons and wondering if he is one. He's already gone thru a part of that crisis. So maybe that wouldn't have been a way to find something new about Baltar.

Silence for a moment. James jokes: "Talk amonst yourselves, I don't mind. Oh hello."

The next fan has a very strong accent and at first I don't understand her (and James looks like he's focusing really hard too, listening to her). But I think the question is basically: does Gaius love Caprica-Six?

It's a really good question and I think uh.. there's a simple answer. I'm sorry to blow it for those who haven't seen it. Yes, this man is in love. And he's been in love with the same person for years and years. One person on his mind, one .. everybody reminds him of this one person. He's so vain nad he's so narcissistic, he can't see it. He's in denial. It takes so much to get his head bumped into this reality of: yeah, there's one person, one person who is his angel, his guardian. I think yes, I don't necessarily understand it myself, but I think that is the case. Does that answer your question?

Awwww! (L) I love that they got back to Gaius and Caprica in the end. I don't usually get that excited about couples on TV, but I just had to ship Gaius/CapricaSix, because honestly, they're so fucked up and so funny, so wrong on so many levels, yet somehow so... right? It's hard to say what I love about them. Probably it falls in the category of "not cliché". I thought there was something a bit expected about Kara/Lee and Adama/Roslin, and Gaius/Six was just a different kind of couple. (As was Helo/Athena, actually.)

I think both Gaius and Six were kind of deluded for a while, wrapped up in their own concerns and even other relationships (Six with Tigh and Gaius with.. well, everyone). But it's kind of beautiful and poetic they found back to each other. I just wish it had happened a little sooner in season 4.

A follow-up question to the evil theme earlier: he said Gaius is morally bankrupt, is there a difference between that and evil?

Of course, there's a huge difference. No, I think... I find it very .. I think that evil on some level.. I don't really understand what that is necessarily, but I think one of the things about it is: it comes with malice, it comes with premeditation. That's not Gaius Baltar at all. He is somebody who winds up in something thru circumstance. lots to do with his own ego, but that doesn't make somebody evil. Evil is when you have a mind to it.

There's a great line in the Shakespeare play, I think it's Much Ado About Nothing. And there is this character called Don John, the Bastard Brother. Very subtle, these plays in Shakespeare's time. And there's this gathering, of all these people being happy and laughing, whatever. He turns, his line is: [sinister voice] "I would the cook were of my mind." In the sense of you know, when they go to dinner, if I was the cook, I'd poison them all. That's evil, that's mean. But I don't think being morally bankrupt is necessarily as evil.

Yay for random Shakespeare references! Professor James! :D I have read some Shakespeare, because I had to, and I didn't really get much of it and still don't. I couldn't quote it offhand besides something really famous like "To be or not to be". Hmm. "I know I'm Thane of Glamis, but what of Cawdor?" or was it Clamis? Another one that jumps out of my mind: "He's killed me, mother!" because duh, if you were dead, how are you able to say that? Those are both from Macbeth, I think. James' ability to just quote Shakespeare like that is rather admirable and creepy at the same time. But maybe he's actually played some of those roles.

On topic: I think he should have explained what he meant by "morally bankrupt". (Or maybe, because he is James, he thinks quoting Shakespeare will explain everything.) I think from his earlier quote that he meant Gaius has already done so many bad things that he's sort of worn out by guilt and can't take any more. But the fan probably took it to mean that he doesn't have any morals, he's all out of it. This is the problem with a panel like this, when you touch upon deep concepts and don't really have a chance to keep up with who says and means what. In that sense, a moderated panel might be better because the fans are probably too nervous to ask him to elaborate.

The next question is about the finale and the fan is worried about spoiling. James goes: "Everybody who hasn't seen it, go like..." and puts his fingers in his ears, with this mischievious grin. (L)!

Anyhow, Lee tells Gaius he's done nothing but selfish things.

Fan: "I tend to agree..."

James: "Right. I'm out of here."

Then Gaius has a change of heart by stepping onto the side of the heroes and fighting with Galactica. "What's your approach on that change of heart?"

As James starts to answer, his microphone goes out completely. There's some laughter. He tries to just start talking. "You wanna use a microphone?" the fan says. I think James says, "You can't hear me?", because she says into her microphone: "I can but the rest can't." I envy this fan because she talks really calmly and naturally to James. I wish I could, if I ever meet him.

James walks closer to the edge of the stage and shouts: HI! so that everyone hears. And then starts to fiddle with his microphone bottom. Hee! He looks so serious and puzzled, as if he can fix it by just pressing some button. Actually, I think I can read his lips: "If I press this button.. hello?" But it doesn't help. Someone brings him another, and then that microphone doesn't work either and the sound guy at the top of the room is gestured. It's a cute little interlude. Wasn't there something like this in the Dragon*Con panels in 2008? Why does it always happen to James?

"Hmm. What do do..."

Trying to fix the microphone...

Looks up at the sound guy.

[loud voice] Hallo? [sound comes back] Hello hello hello... ah, here we are. [laughter, applause] Right. [lowers voice, amused at himself] OK, now I don't have to scream.

I don't think Gaius Baltar needs Lee Adama to tell him the kind of man he is. And when we were filming that scene, the director Michael Rymer was like, 'You go back to the point where... he'd have a knife up against his throat in a stall, he'd more concerned that the goon was gonna smash in Paulla's brains. And given the choice of pleading for his life, he pleaded for a child's...'

This part was a bit confusing at first. He's referring to He That Believeth in Me, i.e. season 4 episode 1, where Paulla and himself are attacked by two guys who hate Gaius for, well, everything he's done as a president. I'm not sure if I read the scene in the same way - was he morried for Paulla than for himself?

For me, the number one example of selflessness is Gina and his compassion for her. But then that might be a problematic one, since he did have trouble telling her from Caprica/HeadSix, and he did expect to get sex from her soon after. And then he gave her the nuclear warhead. Either way, that was the first time I saw him worry about someone else's ass than his own (in a non-sexual way). But I guess we're thinking of more recent season four things.

Yeah, he has done some things that are not.. what's the word? Totally selfish. I think it's a real.. it's about your perspective. It's about how close you are to that thing. And when Lee says all of those things to Baltar, there is a.. Yeah, the broad brush strokes are absolutely true. There's little bits in between that I think Lee has missed. That Lee has never seen, so why would he ever.. and the wonderful line that Baltar says is actually, "Yeah, I wouldn't trust me either." The interesting thing about that is that the whole scene was filmed with number 6 in the scene. She was right over Lee Adama saying, "Yeah, he's gonna die so I wouldn't worry about what he's gonna say." So if it looks like I'm going like this [looks around], it's because we did shoot it in a slightly different way.

And the ending of his man? He has nothing else, he knew the cult was a sham from the moment that he stepped into it. He just needed the right kind of pressure to leave it, and on some level, um... on some level, ever since he tried to kill himself, this is not a man who's necessarily afraid of death. Just afraid of doing the wrong thing.

They cut so much of HeadSix from season 4.5, and I still don't get why. It changes the tone of the entire scene when you see the deleteds and there's an extended bit with HeadSix.

Elina: "It's true, the other characters haven't seen him do those things. You forget that as a viewer."

It is like that and it's odd. Us viewers are sort of omniscient and we know Baltar has done these things, but did anyone even see him pray for the sick boy? Lee certainly wouldn't see anything other than "oo, Gaius Baltar the egomaniac is leading his own cult! How surprising." I could see why he thinks Baltar is completely selfish and I'm glad James pointed this out, because that scene did bother me for that very reason.

American TV seems to always have villains who are either German or British (James nods seriously: oh yes). Is Gaius bad or just misled?

There's lots of ways of playing any character. Except that very few characters have the you know, the blood of the whole world on their shoulders. So if on any level Gaius Baltar did know what he was doing, he would be a monster. Monstrous. That wasn't sombeody I was interested in playing. But I remember being in school and being in trouble, I said I'd be in one place and really I was in another place.. then you're gonna be found out by the head teacher. I remember a few years at school, just constantly like [looks around anxiously] where did I say I was going to be? Who am I going to tell.. that kind of panic.

LOL! :D I wonder what kind of little scoundrel he was at school age. You might expect that he was a straight A student and utter nerd, but apparently not so. Maybe his personality is so vibrant that school felt boring and he had to think of stuff to get in trouble with. Actually, my thesis supervisor said that he hated school and was always getting into trouble. The headmaster developed a way of knowing in beforehand when he was going to make a wisecrack. "Robertson, my office! Now!" And he became a literature professor.

(Do they call it "head teacher" and not "headmaster" in the UK?)

And.. fear, living in fear, is very much on some level living in the future. If you live in the moment, in the now, you can't really be afraid. But if you're constantly thinking abou tthe thing that might happen to you, you're gonna be very afraid. And I think I chose to work off those dynamics which in turn makes him slightly more sympathetic. Not necessarily that he is.

Fear is living in the future? Hmm. That's a really profound thought. I think he is sympathetic, mostly. To me anyway.

Another question: did he have any trouble at home because of his womanizing role?

No, my wife thinks... you know, she keeps on saying, "Cos it's on television James, that's why they're supposed to find you attractive. It's on television, you see? TV, it's not real, James." [laughter, applause]

I always try to decipher his looks when he talks about this stuff - is he genuinely so humble about his talent and his looks or is he just feigning it? He always looks genuine, and some of the fan compliments seem to make him almost uncomfortable. But then he is an actor.

Elina: "I wonder if his wife has to take him down a notch. Like he's been reading your blog too much so he's big-headed: oh I'm so gorgeous, everybody wants me."

Me: "Bwah!"

I wish! Well, I don't wish he were big-headed, actually. Maybe it's best if he doesn't read oh what am I saying, I totally wish he reads every post. Multiple times. And prints them and puts them in a little binder and draws hearts around his favorite bits and... Eh, I mean... next question.

It's apparently someone who's already asked one before, as James notes, "Hi. You moved. Flash!" and makes a "flash" noise. The question is if they shot the entire Opera House sequence at once, since we kept seeing more flashes of it later on. James' answer: "Yes. Very simple." That is all, and I guess the person isn't interested in the details of the shooting because they don't ask anything more. It would have been nice to hear a bit more about the sequence, which was both beautiful and intriguing. Gotta keep this in the file "Future questions for James", if I ever get a chance to interview him (fat chance) or send more questions through con-goers (fairly likely).

More in part 2!