An Evening With James Callis - The Panel: Part 3

Pictures by René Kissien from Caprica-City.de, many many thanks in that direction again. We've rolled up our sleeves and taken off our coat and are working the vest.



So this is about the events on New Caprica in the first three episodes of season three.

[thinks for a moment] Maybe it's the same for every person. Yes. Yes. they were terribly difficult to do. I'm not going to.. I'm not lying about it or joking or whatever, I put myself thru... excuse the phrase, a huge amount of shit. But maybe everybody did. You know, you're playing somebody who's got.. who's a puppet, a quizling. And in their name of not in their name, people are being killed. And you're trying to show that as real. So that is um.. horrendous. Possibly the most difficult thing...

You see, I'm not Gaius Baltar. I'm James Callis. And myself, I'm...I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid of any kind of confrontation or whatever, if I don't like something you're going to find out about it. I'm not gonna be shy or retiring, I'm gonna be the first in the front to tell you what I wanna do, how I wanna do it. What I was playing was an abject coward. Somebody who was always reunning away and.. that's really not me! There's a certain fun in the liberty of being somebody totally different to yourself.

But when it came to signing death warrants, that made me sick. Sick to my stomach, even for the character that I was playing. You can't do this, you can't... And I went thru a huge deal with them because in the orig... I was sent a script of all those things and I was very excited, I was like, "Why am I being sent a script really before everyone else? It's because they like me so much." And I was reading all this stuff, like you're watching on New Caprica, and I was like, "This is brilliant, this stuff, it really is amazing." And then, whatever... They ask me to sign the death warrant and I did! With no.. without so much as a ? in the script.. it was like "Hey, you sign it" and I just did!

That's when the shit really hit the fan and I went potty and I was like, whatever... I was actually in India at the time. I spent a lot of money ringing to LA going, "I'm not coming back, I won't do it! You'll change it round. You'll do some other things. Because otherwise you've destroyed the character, and destroyed the integrity if he had any... I'll tell you something: if you do that, I don't actually wanna play him. I feel sick. And then nobody'd want to...It is irredeemable." Cos we know, in today, about people who do that kind of thing.. I was like, it doesn't wash with me. So to help me out... I said, I'm gonna have nightmares about this, this is some guy I'm playing on television. I'm not supposed to have like personality disorders after the show finishes cos I was so upset with what you've done.

So they did this thing whereby they shot Number Six, first of all, they said, "Listen, she can be resurrected but you can't". I said, OK, that's a plus. That's something else. And one of the things I suggested was that you never really saw him sign the document. And then what would happen was, because of his living in this ulterior world with Number Six, when she's talking to him, it was in that moment while she's talking that the thing is signed. He looks down and it's done already. I said that way, you don't see him physically sign the thing, you've also protected him, because it's happened in some mental whiteout.

I then saw the cut of the thing, where they had cut the thing where they shot Tricia, so.. and they showed me signing the letter. And I went crazy. I mean, I really did go crazy. And I rang up the producers and said, "You wrote all this stuff, you put it all in, that's why I agreed to do it, now you've taken it all out! So now it just looks like they say sign it, that's what I do!" And even while we were filming it, the guy who... Matthew Bennett, Doral, they, everybody went there with me. I said, "listen, the only way I'll ever physically this thing, it's gotta look like one of those Al-Qaeda torture videos, where essentially shortly after you put the gun to my head, you're going to cut my head off. It has to feel like that nad look like that, otherwise I'm gonna spit in your face. So make it... make it like, whatever." And by that time Dean Stockwell was like.. [does an amazing Dean Stockwell voice and face, walks around ] "Sign the fucking thing... How much longer is this gonna take... Sign it, sign it, it's acting, just sign it!" [laughter] And we spent uh.. a long time.



And then the producers came to me and went, "We can't. We've changed it round, it's already gone to the press, and it's like this and it's just too bad. That's a lot of money that we spent processing the negatives and the sound and everything. That means now we've gotta [unlock?] the picture, go back, put this stuff in, change the sound out and everything." I said, "You gotta do it, you've really got to do it. Cos otherwise you don't have a character. He's pretty irredeemable anyway, but otherwise it's all lost." And I must say to their incredible credit, after the picture was locked, after it had been shown to the journalists, they went back and they did put in that thing where Number Six was being shot, and they did haze it over with the signing of the document, and for that, I will be, like, eternally grateful. As I told them. Cos the thought of it made me ill. And I'm glad that they helped me out [?]
[applause]

Here, we get an interesting glimpse of James the person, as well as James the actor. He has strong opinions and feelings about things, and he's not going to hide them. I don't consider him confrontational necessarily, because he's so kind to and about the people he works with. But I remember David Eick mentioning that James is such a personality - he'll come in hugging you one week because he loves the script, or he might come in breathing fire because he hates what they're doing. The temperamental side of him doesn't really come out in these interviews, even if he's obviously someone with strong emotions (and you'd have to be, as an actor). Honestly I can't imagine him angry, but I can imagine him being stubborn and saying "I won't do this."

I can't believe that they would have just had him sing the paper. What the frak? The reason that's so powerful is because a) they shoot Caprica Six, b) Head Six appears, c) you don't see him sign the thing. That's what makes the scene so great. I was pretty appalled to hear how close they were to cutting all of that. There are many fans who, in a conversation about Gaius' conscience or lack thereof, still quote that he signed the death list. Even if he opposed to it, he did sign it in the end, and that already makes him irredeemable to some fans. I can't even imagine what they'd be saying if he had just signed it without any resistance.

When James talks about Six being shot, he makes a gun with his hand and points it in the air. And he does it again when he mentions the shooting for a second time. I love how much he talks with his hands.

I also find Dean Stockwell's reaction interesting. I wonder if this is a difference between "old school" actors - just do what's on the page - and younger actors, or Americans and Brits, or if James is just one of the few who really dare speak up and have an opinion about their character.

The fact that they gave James so much leeway... I wonder if it's because he's such a stellar actor and brought the show so much acclaim. Or maybe because they really wanted to make a show where the characters were thought out and believable. They obviously had strong feelings about how to write Baltar, and I'm surprised and, like James, grateful that they listened to him.



Two questions: 1. how did he like the character development in season 4, with the cult? (The fan herself doesn't seem very convinced by it.)
2. The last day of shooting, tell us something about filming the finale.

Um.. I think they're both good questions. I think it's fair to say that the producers or writers, whatever, didn't necessarily know what they were gonna do with me. Because actually, what they wanted was for the end of season three, they wanted to have a verdict at the trial that would basically send me back to prison. Not that I would be exonerated and not that I would be found guilty, but that it would be a hung jury and an extension and I would go back to prison. But I'd spent the whole of season 3 in prison, I just said, "I can't do that again." You know, this just.. on some level it's boring as well. It's just like, alright here we go, back to the cell, here he is. So.. I dunno where the idea came from about breaking out of there, but the whole idea was about...[??] On some real level about making it more interesting for me as an actor to play, rather than just you know, the charater.

I was like, what if there are people, you know there are always these nutcases, who, whatever, write to somebody in prison, they want to save this person's soul... What if there's a crowd of these people who have silently been gathering momentum, and they're going to... You know, they think this guy is the bee's knees, or they're going to appropriate him for their own needs? How weird would that be? I don't really know who had the idea, but there was something funny and edgy and strange about this man, who is a social pariah, ending up in his own cult. [laughs] And what's funny about that as well is that, you know, most of these guys who start their own cults, they start them. They've got their helpers, disciples, they've got their own weird speech, thought in their mind about what it is they're for or what it is they're against. This was a totally different deal. This is like the man is plucked from one thing and um... and then he has this group of people.



And I said to them on several times, "Listen, one week it's all about God and God exists, and the next week he doesn't believe in God, it's all rubbish... it's all rubbish!" And [?], he was like, "Have you never listened to these people on the radio? That's exactly how it is! Just listen to these people on the radio! One week it's all about this, the next week it's all about something else! These people never make up their minds, it's all crazy horseshit! Enjoy!" I suppose on some level, it was possibly the weakest material, because Gaius is really making it up as he goes along. And um... yeah, it was... I don't know where they were going to take it or what they were going to do. I don't.. They tried several things. Um... Revolution between the two forces, and I thnk Gaius' group was supposed to get a lot stronger within the fleet, and there may have been some social revolution

What they said [?] He's a dangerous, unknown quantity. And so that people like Adama and Roslin leave him alone, he's got to have his own backing somewhere in the bounds of the fleet, whereby they leave him alone. We don't want him coming down here all the time, it screws up the storyline. So essentially their idea was that because I was appropriated by the cult and trying to make it on my own, it was a big power base for Gaius baltar that meant he had to be taken seriously by people in authority. I'm not usre how seriously they took that, but that's where it came from.

Exonerated. Found not guilty. Professor James teaches me new words again. I should make a list sometime of all the words I've learned while writing this blog (that's several just from this interview).

I find the idea of Gaius in prison for season four... yeah, slightly boring and I think there might not have been very many scenes with him, because what more could they do with that? On the other hand, there may have been more HeadSix, and maybe there could have been a thing where his and Caprica's storylines would have mixed more. Like Baltar/HeadSix and Caprica/HeadBaltar and why not more complex things as well? I think that would have been interesting, but on the other hand, it would have completely removed Baltar from the main storylines, and that would have led to him being pretty much ignored. And while I would have loved extra Head scenes, I don't think they would have done that. So I don't know.



The thing about the cult is, I liked it at first. It was a good concept. The last episodes of season 3, and the couple of first episodes of season 4, it was pretty awesome. But then it just kind of... dwindled into nothing. Gaius was barely on screen, for one thing, and I'm still mad at Faith for having him on only as a voice booming in the background of one scene. I felt like in the earlier seasons, Gaius' storyline was tighter and more interesting to follow. The finale was great, but it went back to Ye Olde Gaius, rather than expanding on Cult Leader Gaius. I've wondered if the cult storyline really served any purpose, other than to bring some comic relief back to Gaius after torture-suicide-prison. Here he is again, having sex and saying crazy stuff and lying, this is the old Gaius we know and love but with a twist, he's maybe found something. -Or has he? It's an interesting setup, but like many other things in season four, it didn't really lead anywhere.

And the thing about the last few days...We shot... I can't remember the name of the place, it's the third.. oh, Kamploops it's called. Kamploops is where we shot for Africa in Vancouver. Kamploops is, I think, the third largest town in British Columbia, which is quite alarming. [laughter] When you drive through Kamploops, there are these cars outside people's farms or homes that stopped working in either 1950-something or 1960, and they're just sinking into the ground outside these farms. I say that because it wasn't just one. We were driving, it was like all these cars, just disintegrating into the earth, I really mean it, like the tires, you can't see them. Kinda slowly falling into the earth, they've just been left there. These old Studebakers or you know.. very rural, very beautiful.

Kamploops. Well, the Wikipedia entry makes it sound bigger than James' description, but I think it's mainly a large area of joined villages, rather like the village in the Finnish countryside where I grew up in. There's apparently still a large native population, and the name is a Shuswap word for "meeting of the waters". Very interesting. One of those places I'd probably never have heard of if it weren't for James. And I can't imagine a car sinking into the ground, but I'll take his word for it. The picture is of him showing the sinking.

There was a... I suppose it was... It didn't really feel like the end so much cos we actually felt we were shooting the end when we arrived.. I can't remember which episode it was, burt it's the end of one season, where we arrive on the first Earth - and it's desolate. On that beach. So that's actually when we thought we were finishing, cos there was a writer's strike in LA and we were told, really, that we weren't gonna come back. Nobody knew really what was going on. I've never seen so many cast members in one place, all 20 of us on the beach and they were like, "You ten sit there, and you ten sit there." They didn't really know what they were going to do with us. Didn't know how it was gonna... That felt more like the end than the final day. And uh...



I do know this actually. On the final, I had a big speech. It's all coming out now. I had a big speech at the end to Cavil about how Hera is not a thing, she was... How she was, you know, the savior of both of our races. I'd been preparing for this for some while, I mean it's the denouement of the whole show. Unfortunately Michael Rymer had sent Dean Stockwell home. So I arrived ready to do my big scene, and it's like... ready to do my big scene, "Where's the man I'm speaking to?" Oh, damn! Sent him home. I said, it's 2 o'clock in the morning! Yeah, but I'm here! So I actually had to deliver that to Michael Hogan, who, as you know, was actually supposed to be on the balcony with his eyepatch as one of the final five! He kept running down the stairs to stand in front of me as Dean, say his lines and then go back up the stairs. The magic of cinema.. so that was one of the amusing things that happened the last few days.

Hee! :D I love these little behind the scenes stories. We get so few of them, don't we?

It strikes me as odd, again, how the episodes blend in for him so that he can't even remember what episode the first Earth stuff was in. I'm sure all fans remember bitterly how long we had to wait for season 4.5. It would have been an incredibly dark ending for the show, and I would have grieved the lack of a Six/Baltar ending. I've wondered a few times, though, if some fans wouldn't have been happier with that ending rather than the one we got. Some people complained about it being too happy, or too open-ended, or too tying-all-knots-together. I'm happy we still got those ten episodes, even if I didn't enjoy all of them, and I felt 4.5 was, all in all, the weakest season or half-season. I did enjoy the finale.


Will Head Baltar appear in the series Caprica?

"I'm not sure. I'm not sure."

Fan: But it could be possible?

James: "Oh, yes, it really could be possible. Uh... I um... I think Caprica's a great show. Have you seen it yet? Yeah. Um... There've been discussions to be honest, there have been discussion, but I wasn't interested in uh... appearing for a minute or something like that in the new show. Cos I actually felt that it cheapened the character. Like if you really want to go somewhere with this story, or this thing, it has to be more than once, but I'm not sure that that's something they want to do. So... we'll see. Never say never. I thnk mabye Gaius comes back in like Tricia's dress [laughter] Oh he can't, they've already sold it at auction. Drat!"

Hee! *tries to imagine James in Tricia's dress* :D :D It'd be a lot of chest hair in the cleavage, that's for sure.

I haven't seen Caprica yet. Needless to say, if James is on it, I will see at least those episodes. I'm glad he's protecting the character and that they're letting him do so - they could always hire someone else to play HeadBaltar, I guess. The character is important for James, and I'm glad he's still invested in its integrity. I also kinda wish they'd write him into the show, because I want to see more James on TV. But there will be other projects.



The only non-BSG question is about Bridget Jones' Diary. Could he tell us a bit about that?

Sure. Everyone thought I was gay. [laughter] That's about the thick of it. I arrived one day when my wife came to see me, and it was like, "Your...wife.. is that like really your wife..?" The first film was a lot of fun. I got cast... I think on Thursday or Friday, and they started fiming on Tuesday. I must have been the very last person to that party. Shows how important I was, essential.

I auditioned singing Tainted Love, [laughter] I'm pretty sure it was Tainted Love. I didn't even have any lines, I just had to walk into a room and like do this [shakes his hips a bit], Tainted Love. Apparently my singing wasn't great but the way I shook my bum was. [laughter] That's the message that came back, it was like "yeah, you shook your arse nice". And now you're going off and you're meeting... cos I then ended up meeting Sally Phillips and Shirley Henderson, the two friends, who had been cast years ago. Years! Everybody [?] except me. And we had a lot of fun. Mostly it was just myself and Sally Phillips and Shirley Henderson in a trailer waiting to get to set. It's one of those big films as well.. It's not like TV, where you gotta finish the things for the week and make your day and everything, it's like... There's obviously still a schedule, but I thnk like any person who's been playing a supporting role or sth in film, you spend hours, sometimes days, waiting to get to the set."What's going on on set?" one day they let you get there. In the meantime you know, don't get there.



Like I said everybody thought I was gay, especially Hugh Grant, it was very funny.[laughter] He kept on avoiding me, literally. I would wave, and he'd be like,[walks away] Bye... [laughter]

What they said to me in the beginning was, "I dunno what you're doing, it doesn't feel right.. you're likeable enough, I just.. We wanna make him really silly, James." I went yes. "And really camp." And I went yeah. They went, "So just don't do anything." What would you mean, what are you talking about? [laughter] "I mean just be you!" I was like, "Hey, wait a minute! I'm not really silly and I don't think I'm particularly camp." They went, "Fantastic! What you're doing right now! What you're doing right now, that's great."

Um... and I was actually slightly uncomfortable about it myself, I didnt' know... I've got a friend in London who was like, [very gay voice] "Well I know who you based that on." [laughter] Wait, I didn't base it on you! Where did you get... I just came up with the voice, it wasn't... I can't say it was the finest point of acting ever, it was just a lot of fun. I remember forcing myself to look at this guy's bum. He came past me, I was supposed to like check him out. It was like, what am I supposed to do? So I was like, rather than looking at his face, I looked at this bottom. And the same friend went, "And it's so obvious, the way you check that guy's bum. Nobody does that, nobody. It's far too obvious. You're not subtle."[laughter] So that was that..

Otherwise the second fim... I dunno, I didn't enjoy the second film as much but I'm not sure anybody did particularly. [laughter] At the time I was in India and my second... my first kid was being born, and they wanted me to come to London. I was like, "Look, I told you, my kid's being born..." Basically it was a lot of journeys from India to London and then back to India. It was a bit... There wasn't really much sense of continuity for me. I dunno,they say they're making a third one... apparently, allegedly. Maybe Tom turns straight in the third one [mischievious smile]

Heee! :D I love the Tainted Love story and the friend's voice he does. It's surprising and delightful that there are facets to the Bridget Jones role that he hasn't mentioned before. I must admit the bum-check-out seemed very authentic to me. He managed to look pretty lusty there. And I still think Hugh Grant is a royal ass - or arse, if you prefer that word - for acting that way. What did he think James was going to do? The interesting thing about BJD is that James talks quite fondly of it, like he had fun filming it and he liked the co-stars. You can tell he doesn't think so much of the films and the acting he had to do, but it was a positive experience.

I have to quote him a bit from the old messages he left at the Unofficial Website:

During the shooting:

I've been BJDing for quite some time but in effect am not so seminal to main story line, there is of course another storyline that is whipped up every day, impromptu like, by myself and the other delightful lesser mortals whom malign fate has called upon to be B's "friends", as we sit in the spooky caravans and dream of one day getting onto the set, and perhaps (and I know this is crazy) that someone might make a mistake and we might actually end up in the film after all, but at the moment the caravan storyline isn't being shot.
(10-07-2000)

After the first film:

Have seen the trailer to BJD and read a few preview articles on da web, most say that the "friends" are given short shrift in the film (couldn't agree more) but one web site quoted something I do as " the best bit in the film" I didn't even pay them any money.... Is there a sequel? Apparently Renee's been approached and so has Kate Winslet... sadly I have not been approached as yet, but maybe they'd like me to take over from where Hugh left off (As if)
(31/03/2001)

I wish he had gotten Hugh's role. Would have made it a lot less one-note. I've probably mentioned before that I really think there would have been so much more material, especially about Tom, in the books. I don't know why they chose to focus on other, less funny stuff when they had James.

And it sounds like they haven't actually approached him about a third film. I'm kinda sorta hoping he won't do Tom again, and kinda sorta hoping he will. I feel ambivalent.

Actually, just a few days ago, I had to explain to someone at work who James is. I said he played Gaius Baltar in BSG - the coworker starts shaking her head - "Well, did you see Bridget Jones? He played the gay friend."
"The... gay friend..?"
"You know, one of Bridget's friends, the gay guy, ex-pop singer..?" Coworker shakes her head again.
"OK.. Do you remember the scene where Hugh Grant and Colin Firth are having that big fight in the restaurant?"
"Yes, yes I do."
"Well, Tom is the guy who comes in and shouts, It's a fight! A real fight!"
"Oh! Now I remember him! He was really funny."
James is like one of those guys people have seen but can't quite place. It's kind of funny. I hope he gets some notable main roles after BSG.

The last question. James goes, "Aww, is that the last question? See, don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've got til it's gone?" He sounds sort of genuinely bummed, and so much love for that.

The same fan who asked about the season four development earlier asks a follow-up question about Gaius being religious. She found it a bit hard to buy, and felt the writers didn't really know what to do. It's a loaded question, but it produces one of my favorite James answers yet about the topic.

This is one of these things that any writer can have a problem with. What do you do when some person in the story develops a presence or an understanding beyond the [welkin?] of your own perspective? I dunno, coming back from the dead... You're an actor, which means you're only a human being which means you only have your own experience. So that, so... Trying to find a deep spiritual meaning has actually evaded so many people who are in a better place to talk about it. It's kind of like the spiritual equivalent of somebody really going through the eye of the needle. There's a significant change in spirit. Somebody will say different things.. Because they're touched, they're anointed, they are enlightened... The spark has taken off in them...

The thing is, with our own experience, which is rather more hum drum, mundane - how do we write that? How do we write the person who's gone thru the eye of the needle and make sense? And that's actually one of the problems we have with... it's not just a problem with Gaius Baltar, it's a problem trying to do... anything that touches on God, or the mind of God or the will of God. These are things really... I would imagine most people, we've got a spiritual yearning of you've got something that throbs inside of you, you don't quite understand although you have a.. magical understanding, I suppose that's the best way I could put it. How do you puit that into words without sounding like an idiot?

To quote somebody else: Sam Harris, in his book The End of Faith, was like.. why is it that there's a guy who wears a dog collar in church and he says, "Last night the angels spoke to me and they told me this.." and you in the congregation are all gonna believe it, why not? He's the pastor. But if somebody says a similar thing about, "What I did to speak to angels was wire myself to a kettle", then you stick them in a mental asylum. On that level, it's ... The dichotomy actually isn't so terribly different. But true um.. true understanding of something other than yourself about the greater spirit or the unconscious is uh... terribly hard to quantify, to put into words. I think the closest that they came to it was the speech I had after I was beaten up. It was, I think.. They don't necessarily make sense on a literal level and they're rather beautiful and elliptical. Because one would imagine, there must be something mystical about the mind of god. Otherwise I dunno, it would be like getting a Subway or McDonald's, for everybody, access for everybody. That's not the way it is. You have to be deeply in touch, perhaps deeply in touch with yourself. They say the third eye is the eye that looks inwards, not ouwards.

And so he has this speech where he says when you find out the truth about them and others and yourself.. I can't remember the whole thing but it's like.. the truth is, you're perfect. You're all perfect. Essentially that doesn't mean very much, but in the room at the time, and the feeling - it meant something huge. And the connection.. I think that's the closest they touch in the whole thing to Gaius getting somewhere or some understanding.. and when you get to that place and that platfrom.. you're gonna go up. That's even more difficult, I'd imagine, because it's out of the experience, not only of the performer, but also of the writers. Does that make sense?

It's interesting, because he seems to speak highly of spirituality, and when he discusses having a spiritual yearning, he puts his hand to his chest, so it seems like maybe he's had these thoughts himself. When he was talking about this before, in the Dragon*Con panels last year, it seemed more anti-spiritual, but when you think of that Sam Harris quote, it could mean that
a) people have genuine spiritual experiences, but only ones within the bounds of organized religion are accepted;
or
b) all spiritual experiences are signs of madness and should be ridiculed.

I think maybe I read it more as b) last year, but it looks more like a) here. He sounds respectful and genuine about spirituality, and that also came out earlier when he mentioned that Michael Rymer is a "spiritual, enlightened" director, which sounded like high praise.

I'm surprised I see his comments as less anti-religion now. It could reflect my own change of heart over the last year. If I may digress just a bit, I was raised in the Lutheran church and believed for a long time that faith=Christianity and religion=spirituality. Personal spirituality has always been more important for me, but I didn't really consider until last December that I could believe in God, but not believe in Jesus. It's weird how long I equated religion with spirituality.

I would imagine that James thinks about these things and other profound stuff a lot. It would be interesting to have a chat with him sometime about life, death and God. Maybe I'll have a chance to do that before I die.



So that's the end of the panel. Applause. The people in the audience look happy. As would I. You lucky bastards!!! -eh, sorry. James walks out, probably to smoke a cigarette or two (I must admit I'm impressed he can go without for 90 minutes).

At the end of the video, some visitors are asked how they found the event. This is in German and I'll just paraphrase quickly. They say James was very nice and funny, he answered the questions thoroughly and was easy to understand even if you don't speak perfect English.

You can see a bit of the photo session, and James looks very comfortable and happy posing there. All in all, looks like an awesome event. Sigh. Well, maybe next time there's something like this, I'll actually be able to afford it. The autograph was so beautiful though, I almost feel like I got to meet him.

After the fans, the organizer is interviewed. He says the event was a success, and they got good feedback both about and from James, although there could have been a few more guests (I believe it was a bit under 100). You can tell it was a well-organized con, and James looks relaxed in all of the pictures. If I haven't said this before: THANK YOU FKM EVENTS - it was an awesome con and, at least for me, the high point of the year fandom-wise. Standing ovation.

James Callis at San Diego Comic Con 2009

Updated on Friday, 7th August, at 3:10 AM Finnish time.

Friday updates:

Spoke too soon. I think this update is the cutest I've seen so far, from any can. Two photos with James holding a baby. My heart just melted looking at these. Awwwww! He looks so kind and natural with the child. DaddyMan! (L) (L) (L)

And three other pictures here, here and here, all very cute, but I'm still staring at James with the baby.

Wednesday updates:

OK, looks like that's about it for the con updates. I'm not going to be actively searching anymore.

But I did find one more picture, with a very amusing if awkward grin. Is he just beginning to smile? Or joking around? Or is he like "ehh" because the fan's being odd and scary? You do the math. Cute either way. :D

Final words in case I won't update this anymore... Eeee I love his hair!!! (L) Well, I think I already said that a couple of a times. :D I think he's a bit bigger than FedCon, which is also much appreciated. One of these days I'm going to get a microscope so I can better estimate his weight situation at all times.

Next up: An Evening with James Callis on September 12. Eeee! Pedda from Caprica City has kindly offered to get me James' autograph, and I'm pretty excited over that, so there may be even more gushing than usual. So look forward to that next month.

Monday updates, part 2:

Thanks to Artemis_Neith: The beautiful James images from the SyFy party are posted here, at the Caprica City forum! I linked to the thumbnails earlier, but here are the full-sized photos. He's so charming! (L) Seven pictures all in all, scroll down to see all of them. Gush! I can't decide which is my favorite one - shyboy grin, or "Yeah, I'm alright". He looks amused at himself, and like he's having fun posing a little. Gorgeous.

Coke! Yay! I always look forward to the Coke shots, and almost thought I wouldn't have one this time around. The coffee's been there for "caffeinated beverages fetish" purposes, but Coke is better, maybe because I drink it myself.

Again with the hand-shaking! What is he gesturing? The table? Himself? "Come here"? I love the golden little spiral that his wedding ring makes. And unlike some fans, I'm not at all bugged by the presence of said ring.

And his table, albeit without him. You can see his sign, with the altered photo price of 20 bucks. I guess I should critize that or something, but all I can think of is "aww, he's written it so neatly". The fangirl is fangirling. Also, those are some nice-looking photos that you can get signed.

Monday updates, part 1:

Bear McCreary has written a long post about his Comic Con experience, including three cute James photos! Bear is the composer for BSG, and his blog is insightful and well written. (Plus I have a soft spot for him since the mockumentary he did with James.)

What's going on here? It looks like Hogan is crying, Eddie's soothing him and James is looking on, ready to burst into tears himself. Are they just hearing about Harvey Frand? Or maybe they're joking around and Hogan's pretending to be crying? Weird.

James is shaking his hand again. And his hair is looking endearingly scruffy, like he just got out of bed or something. :D I wonder what that sticker in his chest said? Does anybody remember?


Sunday updates:

Dianora's Comic Con report part one, with two photos of James. Dia's met James many times before - much fan envy, grrr! - and mentions being "strangely reticent" this time, so maybe James was really just tired on Friday evening. He does look tired, but cute. Mmm. Dia, like someone else earlier, mentions going wild over the leather jacket (who didn't?). And she calls the EVIL hat a trucker hat. It always amuses me when people make the trucker reference, for some reason.

Puppy eyes. Awww.
Posing with Eddie and Hogan here, here and here. Since James never had many scenes together with them, it feels a little more special to have these shots of them together.

There are a bunch of photos from the BSG concert, but I'm only linking to a couple that show James from upclose. He's put on his regular glasses and the EVIL text of the trucker hat is no longer hidden under the sunglasses. It makes it somehow more amusing, yet I also wish to see his hair. Here's two in color:

Mischievious-looking grin.
In thought.

I like it when he wears glasses. It makes me feel closer to him, because I wear glasses. This means we're totally soul twins and understand each other about everything and all that. And maybe it's because it's so hot right now, but I cannot imagine going to California and wearing a leather jacket PLUS a flannel shirt PLUS a boy next door shirt. Why wasn't he boiling?

For some reason, these are all black and white:

Talking with his hands. (Michelle looks damn hot and very different from Admiral Cain!)
Hand on his heart.
Looking amused.
Applauding. Hee! He has his mouth open and looks very happy here. So cute.
Looking at Michelle while smiling all cutely. Does he have a ponytail? Ahh, the hair!

Saturday updates:

A very cute picture with a very cute young fan. Awww.

Talking to a fan. His head is cutely tilted and he looks interested in what the fan has to say. Awww again. Also: I love his ear and the locks of hair over and under it. His hair looks SO GOOD right now. Guh.

There's a gigantic post here, but if you have a slow connection, you might want to skip straight to the James pictures, here and here. Somehow these are very amusing photos. He has this cartoonish look on his face in both of them. Maybe the fan he's talking to is saying something funny.

Baltar. Nuff said. Slightly blurry, but I love these frozen moments - again, it looks like he's making "signature" movements in the air. Maybe he air-signed for some people who didn't want to pay? ;)

That seems to be all for now. I'll keep an eye on the reports at least for a few more days. I'm working again, so there may not be as frequent updates, but I'm still searching.

Friday updates:

Video linky! DEWDcast had a nice little chat with James about Comic Con and how fans approach his character. Apparently they got a little more positive about Gaius by the end. "After the first season they were like, 'Oi, you', and after the second season they weren't too keen either." :D He looks and sounds lovely and I can't get over how second season Baltar he looks! *loves*
(Also, it seems like they caught him while smoking, since there are others smoking in the background. That just adds to the cuteness in my book! ;) )

A lovely meeting story from verymiao:

I happened to be walking by and did a double-take when I saw him and EJO posing for a picture. I gawked for a bit, then he sat down and I realised he was signing autographs. I thought there must be a long line, but no, he was just... there! So my man & I went up and started chatting to him. We talked about Sex, Chips and Rock & Roll. I was like "You were brilliant... with your, like, 2 lines" and he looked a bit miffed and said "Did I have 2 lines? I think I had a few more than that" and then I said something about how he was mostly looking pretty with his long hair. Hopefully I didn't offend him! He asked me if I was drooling over Dallas and I just kind of gave him a weird look and said "Uh... no". Duh, James, I was drooling over you?

The worst part was that we realised as he was signing a pic that we'd just spent most of our cash, and he didn't take credit card. We paid him with our last $17 and a £5 that we randomly had.

Anyway, there you go. I was kind of randomly insulting, stiffed him on his fee, and he was still nice to me.

SORRY JAMES!

Awww! Maybe he thought you were drooling over Dallas and didn't even notice he had more than two lines? I actually thought his role was pretty central, but I can imagine choking up like this in front of The James. And I don't think that was very insulting at all. I love the haggling bit - when I saw that on twitter, I thought the guy was just a haggler in general. :D

A lovely photo and meeting story here:

He was extremely friendly / funny. The guy who was before me asked what he was up to now and his first response was, “Well, sleep mostly.” After taking the picture he told me to make sure I liked it, then looked at it and said, “I think it’s pretty cool actually.” He too kinda seemed like his character, again, without the sociopathic tendencies.

Hee! I thought he was having sleepless nights in the suburbs? Maybe Anika is sleeping all night already.

And a very friendly smile here. Awww!


Thursday updates, part 2:

Baltar's babes. *drool* *stares* OK, I have a new favorite. It keeps changing, but this is just... *drool*

With Nicki Clyne. Baring his teeth, which looks adorable.

And uh... that seems to be all for today! We'll see if there's a bit more stuff coming in tomorrow, or if it dwindles down for now. Stay tuned!

Thursday updates:

Some new photos!

Gorgeous thumbnails on this page, with James showing up at some gala or other. However, when you click on them to enlarge, it tells you to log in. Blah. Still, the thumbnails are big enough to see his beauty. Thumbs up!

My new favorite, looking up at a fan so happy and animated. (L)! And the hair! So pretty.
Closeup. I love how his chest hair just creeps up and won't be hidden. It has a mind of its own.
Talking about something, which always looks cute when frozen in a picture. That's one gigantic cup of coffee he's got there.
Looking down. Chest hair, again, creeping up. Between that and the hair parting... guh! Had to turn on the fan.
A funny face. He looks grief-stricken, but maybe it's just the way his face happened to be at the moment the camera snapped. Hee.
Talking to EJO and Nicki Clyne. There's a bit of a blur here, but the hair can be seen.
This one only shows his arm, but Nicki looks lovely, so I'm going to include it.
And a couple of more photos with him talking to EJO and Hogan, here and here. And talking to... someone else here.

Again, a bit blurry. I'm not sure if I endorse snapping a photo of someone else's photo with stars. But James looks gorgeous, so linkage.

I wonder if the blue shirt is the same one he wore at last year's Dragon*Con. It looks the same. The white one could be the shirt he had on for The Music of BSG, but he's ditched the suspenders.

Edit: There was a bunch of back and forth between me and Dan Radke, but since he published it all in his own blog, I've decided to delete it from here. I consider the matter closed.

Wednesday updates, part 3:

James with a couple of cosplayers. The hair of it all! (Hmm, maybe bigger than FedCon after all..? *drools* *slaps self*)

A picture with a fan. I think I already linked to this blog earlier, but it's a bigger photo. You can see James' eyes well here, and he looks great! I wonder why he was wearing two shirts though. Isn't it hot in California?

James Callisto. Looking very cute as he's signing an autograph. He looks downright tender. (L)!


Wednesday updates, part 2:

More photos! James can be seen in the background in a few, but my absolute favorite is the one with him in the blue shirt posing with a fan. I.e. this one. I'd say something witty or intelligent, but... I dunno. My brain seems to have melted.

From another blog post:

Just as K and I were looking at James Callis, he gave us a "oh yeah, the chicks dig Gaius" look. He instantly switched into the character and sent us into giggles. So much so that we bolted, not believing we'd been reduced to such behavior. I still giggle when thinking about it.

LOL!! :D That's so... I'm glad he's used to the fangirling and can play it cool like that. It must amuse him after a while that girls stare at him and giggle. I just hope this blog doesn't come off that way (especially this post and some donut-related ramblings). I want to at least appear intelligent, but sometimes it's hard.

Observations... hmm... Observations... umm.. he's hot! So hot! Oh god!

Some photos of James talking at a BSG concert. I wish I knew what he's saying.
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
He's probably talking about Harvey Frand, and he has that warm look on his face that tells me he's saying something beautiful.

And here he's looking cute listening to someone else.
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
Part 4.
Part 5. Awww, so adorable!

Clapping, although the motion blur messes it up a bit. He just looks so happy that link I must.
And part 2.

This outfit isn't so much "trucker" as it is "boy next door". It's cute how he dresses down. I'm not sure which I prefer, this one or the stylish white shirt the following day.


Wednesday updates, part 1:
(I apologize for just gushing and not having much to say, but I just woke up and James is just really gorgeous in these.)

A blog post about Comic-Con, including two lovely photos:

This is my favorite moment of the whole con, I got my picture with James Callis who is Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica. He is my favorite character on the show and the picture with him was only 10$ so wahoo! He was really cool and nice.

Awww! (L)

SyFy party arrivals: James Callis. How beautiful is he? He's SO beautiful. The hair! The face! The glasses! I... I'm running out of comments. *gush!*

Gush, part 2: The son of gush.

How is he so beautiful in every picture? It's just... wow. Hmm, it doesn't really look like he has a donut belly here. Maybe it was just the shirts. *sigh* Well, if he's gonna be this gorgeous, it doesn't really matter. Mmmm.

And then there's the leather coat. That's... It really... Oh my god. These seem like another set of sneak photos: getting set up, eating something (awww), talking?...

Did I link to this one before? He's talking to the guy next to him, and I love how he puts his hands in his armpits. So cute.

In the series of "I'll take a picture from afar so no one can charge me": OMG Baltar. Does he have a backpack on?

Tuesday updates, part 3:

Hey, I forgot to check flickr for Baltar! SO HOT.

ZOMG indeed! When I saw this, I had to get some ice cream with chocolate chips. (interesting reaction, actually.)

Intense, if a bit tired. Hmm, I wonder if James took this one himself? It seems to be that close up.

OMG, the hair. So beautiful. On Friday he had a scruffy chin, on Saturday he was clean shaven.

Is it just me or is he looking more like Baltar than he has in years? I mean early seasons Baltar. Is he getting younger-looking lately? Guh!

The ladies love Baltar.

The cap AND the boy next door shirt from FedCon! (They actually go together!) He looks very thin in some of these pictures, but not so thin in others, so... OK, have I become one of those annoying people who comment on how thin he looks all the time? I think I'd rather be the annoying person who thinks he looks fatter in every picture, just because I hope so. So I give you this picture and my assessment that while the shirts seem to be bunching up, the shape of his body does look different from FedCon.

A new picture on Flickr.. hmm, damn, that is a lot of shirt. Maybe I'll just focus on his hair again. Mmm, hair.

Baltar face. Hmm, not exactly what I looked for but very cute nonetheless. I knew people were naming their dogs Gaius Baltar left and right, but this is the cutest one I've seen yet. This one's pretty good too though. It looks soo guilty!

Tuesday updates, part 2:

An article on BSG at Comic Con. James is quoted talking about Harvey Frand, a BSG producer who died recently. RIP, Harvey!

"He always made us feel like he was looking after us, which is rare in this cutthroat business we're in," James Callis said.

I can't remember offhand where I got this idea, but I had the impression James is quite fond of Harvey. I should look into this more later. Edit: Just to avoid confusion, I'll add that the quote does sound like he likes Harvey a lot; I just can't remember why I thought so in the first place.

A picture from the concert, with James wearing the leather coat and the trucker cap!

From this Livejournal, some cute pictures. James sipping coffee! (No Coke pictures this time, but there was coffee and water next to him.) And - wrestling with Hogan? Hee! :D I don't know what they're doing exactly, but it looks hilarious!

An interesting meeting story:

James Callis was sitting there all alone so I thought, oh what the heck, dug out my $30 and approached. "A fellow Brit!" he exclaimed "where are you from?". Bless my sausages, he'd heard of Woking, and even done some filming there (unless he says that to everyone about their home town!). He actually took time writing a message, and spelling my name right "what a lovely name!" - very smooth, very polished, very - to be honest - fake.

Hmm. That's one I haven't heard before. Maybe it's impossible to be genuinely excited over every fan who comes over to talk to you, but still. It could be a cultural difference, since James has spent a lot of time with Americans, and mentioned he prefers their courtesy over the British behaviour. I guess it's one of those "can't believe this of MY James" things. I won't believe he's fake, sorry. He'll have to be fake at ME before I believe it.

A blurry photo of James here, talking to a woman at a bar. (Second picture in the second row... I think that's James, judging by the hair. :D)


Tuesday updates, part 1:

Wow, it feels like it's been a while. I did quite a bit of searching on flickr and twitter with my mobile phone, but not all pictures load up on my mobile. And of course I couldn't update the blog bc linking didn't work. So good to be back. I think I'll divide today's updates into text and photos.

Text updates (mostly from Twitter):

Blog updates haven't really started coming yet, but I want to thank FanGrrl Magnet for their lovely linkage to my blog. (They also have lots of links to Comic Con items, but I have yet to go thru them). Welcome to any new readers - I love James Callis, is pretty much all you need to know. Hope you enjoy the blog!

frogs_breath: I met James Callis at Comic Con today after my friends had him call my voicemail to embarrass me. It was amazing!!

*bristles with fan envy* James never called my voicemail. I don't have a voicemail, though, so maybe that's why.

RejectRobert: Mark Hamill and James Callis just shook hands. Nerd moment! Col Saul Tigh is here too

That sounds awesome! I hope someone got a photo.

s5: just haggled James Callis for a signed photo from $30 to my last $17 and a £5 note. #comic-con #bsg

Hee! Haggling at a con! :D

adorkablegrrl: James Callis (BSG - Dr. Gaius Balter) just lit my cigarette. Who knew smoking would pay off? He's hotter in person & very sweet! #BitchBuzz

Every con has a random cigarette mention, and this is it for Comic Con. I always feel warm and fuzzy when people are surprised at how sweet he is.

adorkablegrrl: James Callis, "Comic Con has been great, but I'm kind of ready for it to be over." (We all are, James! Well mebbe just me & you.) #BitchBuzz

Awww, maybe he was looking forward to meeting his baby girl again *gush gush* But yeah, it must be stressful for the stars to be at the con. I'm kind of impressed he's even doing it this year with all the family stuff going on.

cynicgrrl: Of course TODAY James Callis looks super hot in a leather jacket. I got him in a trucker hat. Sigh.

LOL! Glad I'm not the only one who got a trucker vibe!

GeekParenting: Just saw the Mighty Boosh live. James Callis (Baltar from Battlestar Galactica) was standing next to me in the balcony! I didn't bug him.

Good for you. He probably wouldn't have minded, but it's still nice to know he got to do something without fans clinging onto him.

seiken1: only james callis, aka "gaius baltar" can sport a trucker hat saying "evil" and get away with it and still be cool.

Hee! I know!

candacetwilson: I got to hug James Callis!!!! I got my Baltar sandwich today!!!

I'm not envious. *grumbles and turns green*

geekgirldiva: I have a feeling James Callis may be the most patient man in history. Took 3 tries to get this shot. http://twitpic.com/bi53p

Awww! He is a sweet guy. I've heard that he wants to make sure the photos turn out right, and is willing to have a new one taken if it doesn't work. Also, he doesn't look annoyed or bored at all in that pic. Gush!

geekgirldiva: Squeeeeeee! Just got pics, vid and cheek kisses from Michael Hogan, James Callis and Adam Baldwin.

Cheek kisses?! *turns green all over again*

Mindbomb2000: #sdcc Standing about 10 feet from James callis, They won't let me take a picture. Charging 10 bucks. But I'm absorbing the vibe for free.

Like I've said before: if you're not willing to pay the price, you might not be all that into the star. (With the exception of Mark Hamill who charged a HUNDRED bucks for an autograph. Poor fans!)

emperorjb: @EvanCudworth I'm expecting James Callis to play a drum solo with his penis tomorrow to compensate for Katie playing your show.

Bwah! Sadly, he didn't. Or if he did, I haven't found the mention yet. (I think I would have found it by now.)

janewiedlin: OMG. Gaius Baltar sitting in seat behind me on train!!!!!!!!!!!!! Swoon.

*imagines being in that situation* Eeeeeee!!!

dustchick: Giggled like a member of his harem in the presence of Gaius Frakking Baltar.

*imagines being in that situation* Giggle!!

I wonder if I'd be less giggly - or more giggly than the average fangirl at these cons?

Photo updates:

Lots of new photos on Flickr!

Firstly, let's drool over this - a tiny donut belly! (L)! It's not big, but it does look bigger than at FedCon, so I'm a happy puppy. He looks vital and beautiful. Drool!
Edit: M noted that he's wearing two shirts in this picture, so that might explain it. I need to look more closely at the pictures with just a T-shirt on, but at least I was happy while looking at that picture.

Not sure what's going on here, but it seems to require a lot of concentration. Besides a trucker vibe, the cap gives me a little boyish vibe, and I'm going, "Awww" while watching these.

The pose. Calm look straight at the camera. And we're looking lovely. It's surprising how many photos are of James alone, since it was only ten bucks for a photo WITH him. I know which I'd rather take.

This is off topic, but as soon as my girlfriend saw this outfit, she said, "LOL, he looks like Travis!" Apparently in Silent Hill: Origins, Travis wears something very similar. It's the same shirt, the only difference is that James didn't tuck it in his pants. Hee!

Then for some more hair drooling! On Saturday, James had ditched the EVIL cap and was showing the top of his lustrous hair. Very second season Gaius Baltar, very sexy. I think this has to be my favorite hair length and curliness. A stylish white shirt plus the rare treat: glasses! I do wonder about those glasses. Does he wear them on a regular basis or can he pick and choose? Does he wear contacts when he doesn't have them on?

Signing. Again very focused. OK, maybe it's not the cap, maybe it's just James. When he's really focused on something, there's this little boyish vibe to him. Awww.

Speaking of awww. Gorgeous! This picture had me wondering if I actually prefer him without glasses. I'm not sure. Some of my favorite Baltar pictures are with glasses, but Baltar is not the same as James. They do add a certain je ne sais quoi, but on the other hand... drool... I must ponder on this further.

This photo looked really awkward on my mobile, and looking at it on my screen, it... still looks pretty awkward. It doesn't really even look like James. Judging by the text, someone just snapped it instead of getting an autograph, so that explains it.

The only one I've found so far of Sunday: James with Eddie, Hogan, Bear and... some other people I don't recognize. Sunglasses again, but no cap! Love his smile there. (And with his arm around a beautiful lady, of course!)

Saturday updates:

Just a quick update before I go (I'm not feeling well so I might postpone it, but no promises.)

Two new photos: here and here.

And a meeting story!

He was friendly as ever but seemed pretty tired. I showed him the picture of the girls and I from LA and asked if he'd mind signing it, and he laughed and said of course - he held it up to the guy sitting next to him dealing with the money and said "Baltar's babes!" I told him we joked we were Baltar's "nymph squad", as Laura put it, and he laughed again. I asked if he was going to the concert, and he said yeah, but not tonight, and asked if I was - I said no, I'm not 21 yet, but I'd really like to. He said not to do anything illegal, haaaah! Oh, I'd do illegal things with you, James Callis ;)

Hee! I'm thinking of this picture, and I wonder if it's the same one. And he signed it:

"Dear Avery - Baltar's Babes Live 4 Ever! Love James Callis."

Hee! :D I love "Baltar's Babes". And somehow I love it when he uses 4, 2, u r and all those netspeak things. I'm not saying it makes him hip and cool but... well, I guess I do think it makes him hip and cool. :P

And he apparently went to see Diablo Cody's new offering, Jennifer's Body, which sounds incredibly weird, even more so than Juno. A picture here and - seriously, what's with the cap? He looks about to fall asleep in this picture. I wonder if Anika is keeping him awake at night. (L) (Curly chest hair!!)

Friday updates:

The first closeup! He looks beautiful. His eyes so brown and soft and the hair... Ah, the hair...

Also on twitter: some people saw him eating a sandwich. No details on the type of sandwich. I will report later on any food/drink items if details should come in. ;)

Another picture from the second autograph session. Different shirt, same cap - same sunglasses over the cap. Hee! I'm in love with that lock of hair over his ears. It's gorgeous.

First picture! Guh! So hot! Long hair! Chest hair! He's pinching his own arm! Awww! (Also in this picture: his sign with the fees - 30 bucks for an autograph, only 10 for a picture, very modest in my opinion. The noteworthy thing in the sign is that it lists Relic Hunter and Soldier, Soldier as some of his previous work. WTF?! Soldier, Soldier is like worst show ever and only Brits would know it. Relic Hunter - he was in it for one episode. Why not list Sex and Chips, Ruth Rendell Mysteries, or even Numb3rs? Who writes these signs?)

OK, I see there's a whole bunch of photos already. See the flickr search. He looks adorable and very sexy. He's wearing his "evil" cap, and sunglasses over it. And a flannel shirt with the sleeves bunched up at the elbow. Does anyone else get a trucker vibe of this outfit? :D

He seems to be shaking his hand in many of the pictures. As if he's making "autograph" motions even when he's not signing. Maybe it's an involuntary movement that hits him when he's signing? :D So cute.

Mini edit: No new links, but it took me a while to get that in the "James Callis and Alice" picture, it's not a woman named Alice who likes to dress weird, but a cosplayer pretending to be Alice in Wonderland. Duh! :D This is quickly becoming my favorite new picture. James looks happy and amused at the costume. And his HAIR! Long curly hair! *gush*

James Callis at FedCon Germany

Last updated on Monday, 18th May, at 10:20 PM Finnish time.
(Obviously check back for updates, but I'm tired of putting that in the title)


(click for larger size)

Latest updates:

Caprica-City has a paraphrase of James' Saturday panel up. If you know German, you can read it here. If not, here's a free translation of the key points. Thanks to Caprica-City for the detailed report and Artemis_Neith for translation help! (I've left out the things I already covered from earlier reports.)

-James was asked what happened with Baltar's harem. He had to admit he doesn't have any idea. He feels that Baltar always knew his religious talk was fake and never truly believed in it.

-What kind of person would be inspired by Baltar? James said that maybe he doesn't want to know, but possibly someone who wants to start their own religion. Hee!

-Asked about the height difference between him and Tricia, and also who was cast first: James said they were both cast at the same time, and the casting directors wanted to see which two actors had the best chemistry. He added that Six, while very feminine, also had masculine qualities, while Baltar embodied some feminine qualities. (True, and something fans have often pointed out. It's quite brave of James to play a character that's sort of androgynous. I know some fans find Baltar annoying precisely because he's "not manly enough", while some others like myself find him all the more compelling and sexy because of that.)

-Whole scenes were never improvised during filming, but there were added bits. For instance, the scene in season three (Taking a Break From All Your Worries) where Gaeta attacks Baltar was changed. Alessandro Juliani wasn't happy with just attacking him for no apparent reason, so he came up with the idea of Baltar whispering something into his ear. (Very interesting, and not the first time I've heard of AJ adding to the role - the homoerotic vibes were his idea too. I wish we'd seen more of Gaeta throughout the show.)

-For a long time, James had no idea who the final cylon would be. He had someone in mind, but was very surprised about who it was, and liked the choice. He was also happy it wasn't Baltar. (I wonder who he had in mind then?)

-Asked about the naked scenes on the baseship... I'm not sure what this answer is supposed to mean, and Artemis_Neith wasn't sure either, so it's not just my German. He apparently said there was a lot of green screen, and when people had to be added later, they put a microphone stand with a tennis ball on top there, so it was better than that at any rate. (????)

-Someone asked if he wishes he had played Baltar differently in some scenes. James said that's not the case; he always wanted to make Baltar as three-dimensional and human as possible.

-Is Baltar evil? James feels that things simply happen to Baltar, who, while not moral, is not evil. Asked about the scene where Lee tells him he's never done anything unselfish, James says the scene was originally shot with Head Six there, so it might seem like Gaius is shaking his head etc., but it's not at Lee. ARGH WHY IS HEAD SIX ALWAYS REMOVED?! It ruins the rhythm of the scene!! Grr I'm angry. Um, sorry. Back to James, he said Baltar doesn't need Lee to tell him who he is, and that some of his acts weren't completely egoistical. (I'm so glad he mentioned that.)

-He was also asked about the project he had to leave for, but unfortunately couldn't reveal more than that it's a comedy about a family. (Aww, too bad. I'm very curious about the project, but we'll just have to wait and see!)

Sunday updates:

Aha - found an explanation for the "in bed with the cylons" magazine cover behind James in the panel pictures! Apparently this guy had made those covers, and James really liked his!

Nonetheless, he's the one responsible for the title of this post - he seemed really impressed by my work (resulting in his words on his signature - I never got a thank you on one of those before ;) ). "I will take that home with me, that's some great work - thank you very much!" PRIDE! :)

:) That's great! James is an appreciative guy! *gush* I was a bit confused about that cover, because it says "James Callis" at the bottom, so I was wondering if James himself wrote it - it does seem like that kind of humor. It's got that Baltar flavor, somehow. Great work!

And a couple more photos at flickr! The Q&A:
A dizzy view, a sly look, the suit looks white again, dammit, and can't think of what to call this one, it's just a very James smile.

Plus a cute jamming picture from the opening. Hee!

Thursday update:

Pedda of Caprica-City has posted photo galleries, including one of James' Q&A! He looks adorable! :) He's pretty thin right now, but you can tell in some of the pictures that he has a tiny belly, and it's driving me insane. Soft and juicy!

Wednesday updates:

A forum thread with lots of photo op pictures of James (see all pages). He's looking very cute but kinda tired - just like in the Starfury photo op pictures. Maybe the con days are very tiring for the stars, meeting so many people. And to be quite honest, the boy next door shirt and the coat together - not a particularly good combination. Typical James! :D

And yes, he doesn't seem to mind hugging perfect strangers, and yes, I did imagine myself there, once again. *fantasy cuddle*!

Tuesday update:

A picture gallery here with photos of James from the opening ceremony and the Q&A. I won't link individually to each of them, because there are quite many. A cute crazy-eyes look here though. And I love when he rubs his feet (perhaps without noticing?) like this while talking. It's very boyish. (In one shot at the In the Moment gallery, link below, he actually touches the sole of his shoe, which is a bit gross, but also really cute.)

Sunday updates:

A gorgeous series of Q&A photos at In the Moment. It's clearly a professional photographer's site, and he's captured a lot of hilarious James expressions. Beautiful!

"I had a farm in Africa" actually wasn't James' own idea - I'm surprised, that sounds like a very James autograph:

Could you write down
"I had a farm in Africa"
for us?
At first he didn't seem to catch it,
but then he went"You know, it's a pretty funny joke"
Then he laughed, and I could have colapsed XDD

Hee! :D So cute.

A picture from the autograph session! Yay for Coke! I was wondering why there weren't any pictures with Coke bottles this time around. (Don't abandon our dark master, James!) I wonder what's in the bigger bottles. A good array of pens will come in handy when you're signing, too. OK, it's a really cute picture of James smiling too, but I tend to get distracted with this "objects related to James" fetish. In the bigger picture, there seems to be some chocolate... Edited: I'm not sure if that's chocolate now, maybe it's actually a... hard case of something... :P That's a real puzzle.
There's also a cell phone, earphones... (OK, I think I can just publish the post and continue obsessing to myself at this point.)

Two new photos from the Q&A's at Flickr! Here and here. One of these links refers to a piece of news that was not given by James himself. It seems like this shouldn't have gotten out yet, so I will not comment on it until we hear from James. I am very happy though, and anxiously waiting for the news.

I'm going to buy the BSG DVD from FedCon, but it sounds like it won't come out until sometime in October. So look forward to my Q&A transcripts then. The reports seem to be dwindling down; there will probably still be some updates to this post though.

Saturday updates:

Nicole (flyergrafix@web.de) has given me permission to use the beautiful James pictures above.
She also shared her meeting story:

Even though I was not an explicit Baltar Fan to begin with, James was such a nice guy, I think I'll rethink.
When I showed him the painting, he was speechless. "That's brilliant" he said... and such a beautiful smile! The autograph reads: Nicole - there is no black and white, just shades of grey. You've captured that beautifully. Lots of love to you, James Callis."

Awww! :) I'm always glad to hear when someone sees how nice James is and decides to like Baltar a little. And have I mentioned how much I love his personalized autographs?

A cute little story from Caprica-City:

James Callis hab ich vor dem Zigarettenautomaten an der Garderobe gesehen, der wusste leider nicht wie man so ein Ding bedient, ein anderer Besucher schon u ich konnte English. Sah fetzig aus in weiss aber Mönsch ...ist der klein!

Translation with some help from Artemis_Neith: "I saw James in front of the cigarette machine in the wardrobe. Unfortunately he didn't know how to use it, but another guest did, and I knew English. He looked handsome in white, but man - is he ever small!"

White? I thought the suit was beige, aagh! But seriously, it's very cute. Artemis_Neith wants to point out that German cigarette machines have specifically been made difficult to use, so that children wouldn't be able to buy cigarettes. Somehow the idea of James fumbling with a machine like that sounds very comical to me though. I wonder why he didn't bring more cigarettes with him (are there limitations for that, or did he end up smoking more than he was planning to? And did he buy Marlboro or some other brand? Why does this fascinate me so much?)? Questions abound.


Thursday updates:

Plus a picture from the opening ceremony from the same blog.

And a review of Saturday in German, with some details (but no photos) of the James panel:

Auf die Frage welche Rolle er außer seiner gerne gespielt hätte war die Antwort, dass er gerne die Sechs gespielt hätte, dann hätte er sich den ganzen Tag irgendwo eingeschlossen und mit sich selbst gespielt - hehe. Ein Fan fragte dann noch, wo denn Baltars Harem hinverschwunden sei plötzlich. Das wusste er auch nicht so genau, aber er meinte eventuell sei ja ein SpinnOff mit dem Titel “Baltars Lovecult” geplant.

He was asked which other roll he would have liked to play, and he answered that he would have liked to be Six, because then he could have played with himself the whole day. Hee :D

A fan asked where Baltar's cult disappeared so suddenly, and he said he doesn't know himself, but there will be a spin-off with the title Batlar's Lovecult. :D :D

A report in French about one of the Q&A's. Lots of beautiful pictures, and some fun details! I'll translate a few bits that I understood:

Hop, une petite question à propos de Bridget Jones et des hôtesses de l'air. Oui, James est toujours reconnu par les hôtesses de l'air pour son rôle dans le Journal de Bridget Jones. Alors il se demande si regarder le Journal de Bridget Jones, ce n'est pas une condition obligatoire pour devenir hôtesse de l'air.

James said he's always recognized by stewardesses from her role in Bridget Jones' Diary, and he wonders if seeing the film is an obligatory requirement for becoming a stewardess. Hee! He also mentioned having fun with the other actors who played Bridget's friends and Renee Zellweger who played Bridget. (And something about Renée that I didn't understand.)

James was very charming. (Well, of course! :D) He did his Aerilon accent for the audience. It was apparently inspired by a visit to Northern England, where he couldn't understand anything the people said. I always thought those accents were insanely hard to get, but I didn't know even British people felt the same way!

J'ai bien aimé sa réponse à la question d'une jeune fille qui lui demandait quels conseils il donnerait à des jeunes acteurs débutants... pour lui, on est tous plus ou moins acteurs, même dans la vie. Et il suffit de puiser dans les situations où on se met en scène pour y trouver la bonne recette. D'ailleurs, il imite une californienne avec ses stilettos et son mini-chien et c'est très drôle !

He imitated a Californian woman with her stiletto heels and little dog. Hee! :D I'm not sure why he did - I think it's in connection to a question about how to become an actor, and he said we're all actors in our lives. But my French fails me at that point.

Oh, and apparently the same writer just commented on this post that the suit is definitely beige. So now we know. :D

Wednesday updates:

There haven't been any transcripts or videos from the Q&A's, so I'll mention now that I'm planning on purchasing the FedCon BSG DVD and transcribing from there. (It might take a while though.) But if any readers have photos or stories they'd like to share, please leave a comment or email me.

I love his personalized autographs - "I had a farm in Africa"! And another photo op picture! He looks more animated in the Q&A photos, but there's something endearing about these fan photo ops. I'm glad he got to do at least one of them.

A collage with a picture of James here - looking kind of adorably tired. Long day signing? :)

More photos from the opening and discussion in French here. Now the suit looks grey. Oh, dear! I think some of the fans are saying that James isn't as stylish as he was in France, but he's adorable anyway. :D

The first photo op picture here - James is looking very intense! And wearing the coat over the boy next door shirt! And the coat looks sorta white again - maybe we should agree it's off white, or some such shade. It's very confusing!

And James signing here, with some text in French. I think it says he was irresistable with his samll t-shirt and his hair "dans tout les sens" - not sure what that last bit means.

And a picture from the Q&A here.

That's about all for today!

Tuesday updates:

Another picture from the opening.

And a report from the con with a mention of James and a picture of the stars signing autographs, here! Apparently they gave the actors something called "stroopwafels", so maybe that's what James has next to his coffee cup in that one picture. (I almost wrote "God" instead of "James". Ahem. Well, I have the flu, so that explains it, right?)

Thanks to Airings for uploading them and Nicole for the link, there are tons of pictures at this LJ! He looks gorgeous! Sounds like he talked again about the torture scene where EJO wanted him to wear the eye clips:

And then James did an impersonation of Eddie, going all "No. You've gotta do the pins. It doesn't make sense without the pins" and James said "..I don't want to go blind for Battlestar Galactica". BUT THE IMPERSONATION, YOU GUYS. I DIED.

Also:

He said he had to be in London at 7am the next morning to film a movie! That's some dedication right there.

Just as I thought - Rubins calls! I'm glad he got to do two days of the con anyway.

The shirt is totally adorable and he looks so cute and tiny and fluffy-haired! I know I've been obsessing over the donut gut thing lately (and still am), and I can't decide if I prefer him chubby or skinny. Either way, he's really adorable.

These pictures come from Caprica City, where unfortunately most photos are members only. The reports have been mostly of Sunday so far, but I will keep an eye on them and post some translations where applicable.

A picture from the opening night. It's odd how the suit that looks beige in other photos looks white in others. So what color was it really?

And here, an adorable picture from upclose, while James is signing. Chest hair! Arm hair! His hair upclose! And - is that candy he's got next to the coffee cup? You know, I'm becoming vaguely obsessed with that shirt. Boy next door shirt!

Monday updates:

A picture from the Q&A's! What say we on the shirt? It's amusing because it looks like the kind of shirt I've seen on so many guys. I'm used to seeing James in costume, I guess, so it's always odd when he's wearing text. :D

And a brief but amusing tweet:

Got literally overrun by James Callis at the Friday night party and wrote on my autograph the next day: lots of love, gotta run.

Heee! :D That's so James!

That's about it for now. James was at FedCon for Friday and Saturday, but not Sunday. At least one photo op was cancelled. Views of Teamwak reports that the shooting for Re-Uniting the Rubins started yesterday, so he probably wanted to get to London in time for that. There may not be as much stuff this time because of that.

Saturday updates:
The con is still going on, so there won't be a lot to report at this point, but there are a couple of photos at flickr.

James with Eddie, Hogan, Richard and Nichelle Nichols here.
...the microphone here.
...Mark, Richard and Michael here.
...Mark, Richard, Michael and Eddie here.
Richard in light, James in the shadow here.
James waving here.

The hair is still fluffy! I'm glad he keeps it like that, instead of the slick-back he sometimes does. And I love how small he looks inside that suit. Our little man!

More later. The reports will probably be mostly in German, so I will be providing English translations where necessary, and Artemis_Neith has offered to help in case of need.