James Callis Quote of the Week: The Gaius Baltar Award for Moral Cowardice

From the awesome Onion AV Club interview. It's from 2008, quite long, and if you haven't read it, read it now. In-depth, with long James quotes, just beautiful. (Also he references to Shakespeare, Plato and Chaucer within the same interview. Which amuses me a little.)

I might pick another quote from this interview another time, but for a little light relief, I really liked this:

"I think that there should be a Gaius Baltar Award for Moral Cowardice given out to people every year. And this man—it's just, seriously, reading it, I was like, "Christ, this guy is Gaius Baltar!" He's a schoolteacher. The earthquake hits. And he said, "Stay still, everybody, you'll be fine," and just ran! He ran for his life, without any of the kids who he's supposed to be looking after. And the miracle of it is that the earthquake didn't touch his school in the same way. He went back to the class, and they're all alive, thank God. And they were like, "But teacher, why did you run away?" And his replies are just extraordinary. It's like, "I'm not a brave man. I am a coward. And in situations like this, it's every man for himself. I don't really feel very guilty, because I didn't cause the earthquake, and quite frankly, if it had been my own mother sat next to me, I would have left her as well."

Hee! I love the idea of that award. Who would be the first to get it? Moral cowardice might be Gaius' most dominant characteristic (or at least the one that he exhibits the most on the show).
As a news story, that's really pretty shocking, and could have ended horribly. But that's human nature - is it personality or attitude? Gaius, at least, would have felt guilty and tortured about not being the great, admirable person he thought he was. So I feel like he's above that teacher in that sense.

I think there's a similar reference to that in the 2005 TV Guide interview. Let's see:

It's fair to say Gaius is amoral. He's compassionate, he has a conscience, he suffers from remorse, but that's not really morality. His weakness is not standing up for anything, he's always trying to sidestep.

He may be painfully aware of not being a hero, but he doesn't really work to redeem himself - until the very end, when he did stand up for something. He could have left with the cult, but he stayed to fight; he admitted he didn't truly believe in what he preached. He even stood up to Cavil and protected Hera. So maybe that's the biggest personal growth Gaius had: growing a moral spine.

I still think that award is an awesome idea though.

James Callis Quote of the Week: "We're Not So Significantly Different"

There are so many great interviews I have yet to transcribe, thought I'd make a little weekly feature (which will probably not remain weekly for long, but I'm optimistically making a label for it) - a quote from an interview that I think is particularly good.

The first one comes from the Hypaspace Podcast for May 2, 2008. It's a one-question interview about Gaius' "You are perfect just as you are" speech in Escape Velocity (Season 4.0). I think it's a particularly beautiful and eloquent response, and I want to especially compliment the Hypaspace Podcast for letting him speak without cutting in with stupid jokes or comments that he needs to react to the whole time. (The link goes to an mp3 file; the James interview is first, right after the news.)

"An extreme amount of pressure is being, um, burst(?) upon this person, and a lot of it is self-inflicted. The more pressure that is exerted... it seems the more extreme the reactions are to that pressure. And what we see in somebody like Gaius Baltar is somebody going thru the run of... You know, it looks like it can't get any worse, and then it suddenly does. And he's just going thru lower and lower cycles, and he's in a desperate, as it were, desperate self-need of... wanting not to be guilty anymore. I don't know if that's redemption necessarily. So he's finding it for himself, it's kind of... You know, he's the person who WANTS to believe it more than anything else... and I think on that level, those things look most impassioned and there's people to hear it.

But on another level, you know... It's a cry for help and also a cry for hope in some way. Essentially he's saying that... Once you've looked into the very deepest place within yourself... You will understand that so many people are so similar to you. That all of the things that you think divide you are just... They're an illusion, they're constructs. And that's why you know the truth about others, because you know the truth about yourself, we're not so significantly different, nobody... When you know the truth about yourself, and when you look deep within yourself, it's like looking into... I don't know.

There's a lot of things that everybody is capable of when push comes to shove, when your life or those that you love are threatened. When that happens, I believe your brain works in a different way. And I think that there's something about seeing in the darkness which then makes you run... Run for the light, run for the hope. And on that level, he's just been... You know, the darkness is, one man's just beaten the shit out of him. And actually beating him up... of... some logical.. what was it? Legal ... thing... they weren't allowed to be more than twelve people in assembly. So what is it... monsters follow the dream of reason, something like that."

I've noticed James says "on some level" and "on one level" and similar things a lot, and it's not just in this interview. Maybe it speaks of his multi-layered way of thinking: nothing's really that simple and you need to acknowledge the different levels of thought and emotion involved in our reactions.

I found this quote particularly touching, because you can hear his deep compassion and respect for other people so well. It's one of the things I love the most about him. He sees all people as equally valuable, and while I don't think anyone is free of biases, I really admire people who try to see everyone as equal. A part of that is appreciating variety in personalities and views, but also seeing the similarity underlying them. I think this kind of thinking is the basis for all diplomacy or equality or peace, because we need to see each other that way to build a society where we can truly be free and be human.

When he says things like this, I feel a deep, warm connection with him. Maybe it's because we have similar values, or because I struggle with seeing myself as valuable, and it feels healing to think James would value me like everyone else. Or maybe it's because he's expressing a deep connection all humans share on some level. Because we're not so significantly different.

Gaius Baltar - He's the Motherfrakking Shit!

I saw the finale yesterday. I was blown away and excited and meh and disappointed, all at the same time. I might or might not be able to write about all that today, because I'm still an emotional wreck. But since this is a James Callis/Gaius Baltar blog, I want to write about my feelings of fulfilment regarding the character. I am so happy about that right now. Obviously, spoilers for those who haven't seen the final episodes.

I'd like to give a standing ovation to everyone involved in creating the character of Gaius Baltar. He was awesome and he got an awesome sendoff.

He was awesome as a womanizing egomaniac.
As a guilt-riddled, cowardly weasel.
As a scientist and visionary.
As a redeemed, better man.
Last, but definitely not least:
He was awesome as a head character.

The redemption of Gaius Baltar was beautifully done. It was subtle. It wasn't "woke up one morning and now I'm preachier than Bill, Laura and Lee put together". It wasn't "OMG I'm the mastermind behind all this" (which, honestly, was a slight disappointment for me, but it could have been super lame too, so I'm going to be happy).

This is what it was:
After all of my experiences
and all the guilt and fear
all the guidance
and all the mistakes
this is the man I am.
No longer of afraid of taking sides
or taking a stand.

Absolute best case scenario. This is how you write a character. This is how people, in real life, grow and are redeemed.

I'm honestly very surprised that Caprica and Gaius got together in the end. I didn't expect that. I thought Lee and Kara would be the couple to walk into the sunset, but this was so much better. Gaius crying and Caprica comforting him was one of the most touching moments ever between them. Caprica telling Gaius she's proud of him, and that's what was always missing, and Gaius pulling her into a passionate kiss... Wow. It was all a bit sudden, but I felt more wasn't needed, because these two have a long history together. They loved each other through it all. I guess I can confess I'm a shipper. And I feel totally validated.

The Opera House scenes were beautiful. Gaius got to fight alongside the good guys and save Hera. His speech about God was beautiful - not the simplistic drivel he's been spewing for the cult, but something new and true he'd found:

God's not on any one side. God's a force of nature, beyond good and evil. Good and evil, we created those.

The moral ambiguity of this show - one of my favorite parts of it - and the villains and good guys finally completely mixed: humans and cylons side by side, "villain" Gaius fighting for the greater good. To me, this was the best part of the finale.

I realize I didn't get around to publishing that post about Daybreak part 1, so I'll also mention the superb flashback scenes. (I do have a post, which I will publish a bit later.) I'm a bit disappointed there wasn't more to the father backstory in part 2. It was beautiful that we got to see Gaius' ungrateful, cranky father and the troubled relationship between them. The pain and desperation in the scene where Gaius is hitting his father was some of James' best. Acting. Ever. In the light of what Caprica did for him, maybe giving her the access codes wasn't a simple act of selfishness and lust. So maybe that redeems Gaius a little as well.

Gaius: "The things men do for love."

Caprica: "Love? Gaius..."

Gaius: "...Yeah, well, you know what I mean, don't you?"

Hee! It was kind of strange seeing James play old-style arrogant Baltar, the new redeemed Baltar, and HeadBaltar, all in one episode. These are three very different characters, and his acting was subtle and beautiful. Gaius, as he is in the final season, has a completely different body language and way of talking, even his voice has changed to some extent. HeadBaltar is, of course, arrogant and ominous on a completely different level.

I loved the little scene where they're looking at the tribal community and Gaius and Cottle discuss their discoveries with Adama.

Doc Cottle: "Their DNA is compatible with ours."

Gaius: "Meaning we can breed with them."

Adama: "You have a one-track mind, doc."

Gaius: (indignant) "What?! I'm talking about the survival of the human race, actually, not some... get-together with the natives!"

Adama: "You also have no sense of humor."

(Tigh does his ho-ho-ho laughter.)

Gaius: "... Right. Right. I'm sorry."

Hee! I loved that moment. Gaius seems fascinated by the natives, but also solemn and grateful - he sees a divine hand at work here. The atheist scientist now believes in God.

I'm not that happy with the idea of Gaius as a farmer - after all, his true gift is being a scientist. It was beautiful how he broke down and cried after he said, "I know about farming", finally recognizing that side of his life, where he came from. But for such an intelligent and ambitious man, it doesn't sound like a great future. I like to think he taught the natives about cultivation and medicine, maybe became some sort of wise man/doctor for them. And of course had lots of hybrid babies with Caprica - who knows, maybe the mitochondrial Eve wasn't Hera but one of their children? That's my fantasy.

HeadSix and HeadBaltar

I love that the Head Characters were there, and that both Caprica and Gaius could see them this time. I was seriously worried at some point that we'd never see HeadSix, let alone HeadBaltar, again, and that Gaius would be killed off five minutes into the finale, a hero but never mentioned again either. This was so much better.

So, Gaius and Caprica saved Hera - I was sort of hoping there would be more to the plan than that. But they kind of addressed that and left it open:

Caprica: That's it? That's all God wants of us?

HeadSix: God's plan is never complete.

(Gaius and Caprica give each other a look)

Gaius: Great.

HeadBaltar: But I think it's safe to say that from now on, your lives will be less... eventful.

(Head Characters disappear.)

I also love that HeadSix and HeadBaltar were in the very last scene of the series. James got to speak the very last lines of the show! I'm glad the Head Characters were real. It makes it seem worthwhile - the most disappointing thing would have been if they were just Gaius and Caprica's conscience, or hallucinations, or even cylon chips. I liked that they were a higher power.

However, I'm also unhappy, because I wanted to see an explanation. No, not spoonfed an easy and utterly unsatisfying answer, just some kind of resolution. Like, say, why they took the shape of Gaius and Caprica and still kept that look in our time. Maybe even just a flashback to Tyrol and Tory having visions of them a thousand years ago. Or were the man and woman they saw different? Were they HeadTyrol and HeadTory?

Or are Gaius and Caprica, like some fans suggested, avatars of some higher power beings? Is there a new Gaius and Caprica in every generation, or at least every point in time where God decides to reshuffle things? You know what would have been nice? Another Gaius Baltar walking in the crowd, and HeadSix and HeadBaltar following him. Something like that would have been vague but satisfying. I felt this was vaguely unsatisfying.

It seemed a bit confusing why HeadBaltar says "silly me" after saying God - or "it", whatever "it" is - doesn't like to be called God. The final read thru video - which is very touching - shows that the dialogue was edited and lost one important aspect, which was this:

HeadBaltar: "You know it doesn't like that name. In any case, it would have required mankind in all its flaws to have learned from its mistakes."

HeadSix: "Stranger things have happened."

HeadBaltar: "I think I'll take that bet. What are the stakes?-Silly me."

I.e., the stakes are - the fate of mankind. How silly of him to even ask.

I'm not sure what happened here. Did they decide that if they cut that bit out, somehow this will be a more cryptic ending? Was this intentional, or was it cut for time? The DVD's will contain an extended finale, so maybe we will see the full scene there.

It was still deeply satisfying to me that the final image of the entire series was HeadSix and HeadBaltar walking away.

Conclusion

I've always felt that Gaius Baltar is one of the most misunderstood and underappreciated characters on television. I'm sure many fans will still hate him, but to me, the fact that he got this ending shows that he's ultimately not a villain. He was a pawn in a greater plan. Humanity and cylons had to be destroyed and start afresh. A man needed to be so weak that he'd give access codes to a cylon to start it all. That was Gaius. Now that he's fulfilled that purpose, it was time for him to grow to be a better man, one that can be the father to a new generation of human/cylon hybrids.

His soul-breaking guilt can cease, and he can rest in the knowledge that HeadSix really was there and he's not crazy. He gets the respect of other people without needing the ridiculous hero worship of the cult. He's happy with one woman, whose respect and pride he has earned. This was a great arc and great character development.

Thank you Ron D. Moore, David Eick, Michael Rymer, and all the writers.

Most of all, I want to thank James Callis. Thank you for making and keeping the character sympathetic. Thank you for bringing the funny. Thank you for being subtle. Thank you for crying - especially in that last scene - and being so emotional. Thank you for the empathy you brought to the character.

Thank you for the scene where Baltar refuses to sign the death warrant. Thank you for the scenes with Gaeta during and after the mutiny. Thank you for saying "What have I done?" in the miniseries. Thank you for making Gaius a smoker - and for all the other smaller or bigger changes you made.

You, more than anyone else, made this character. Thank you so much for giving him to us.

First Reactions: "Blood on the Scales"

OK, I just saw this episode and am very moved. I'm going to start with all the negative, pissy things that bugged me about this episode, and move on to the great things that really left me moved. I will reveal everything major that happens in the episode, so if you haven't seen it, be warned, or be spoiled.

Pissy, angry and very frustrated notes

Firstly, the editing choices in this episode were completely botched in my opinion. I get that they shot a lot of scenes and some had to be left in the cutting table, but did we really need to see that many scenes with people shooting guns? Seriously, this kind of thing is below the show. Some action is fine, but so much of it just makes for a chaotic, sub-par episode. Lee killing a guy with a pen? Romo going all action hero? Halfway thru I was going "OMG, this is the worst episode ever!!" I don't think so anymore, because of the ending, but I give a big minus for the editing of most scenes in this episode. Also: a lot of what was cut was Baltar's story on the baseship. OF COURSE. Gigantic eye-roll.

Secondly, not just one but TWO scenes where Adama is almost executed - except not. Argh! We knew you wouldn't kill him, OK? Either have the guts to actually do it, or don't show any scenes like that at all. This show is smarter than this.

Thirdly, and this goes a bit deeper. I used to like Laura Roslin. A lot. I admired her when I was watching season one. I thought her position as the president - against her own will and completely suddenly - was touching and powerfully played by McDonnell. I think there are still great moments (The Hub) but I must say that during the last few seasons, I've generally come to hate her. In tonight's episode, she showed that nothing matters to her but Bill Adama. Not the deaths of innocent people. Not the security of the cylons they've allied with. Not peace. Just Bill Adama. Maybe I should be saying how human this is and how it's credible that she'd react this way, but what kind of selfish leader only cares about her love and not about the people?

The mutiny is not about Bill and Laura. It's about peace in the fleet. It's about people having to come to terms with the cylons somehow, when they're used to fleeing them and hating them - and this is a valid concern, by the way. Because, while there may be a lot of racism there, it's also very hard to kiss and make up when the cylons destroyed your home planet and everyone on it. Bill and Laura should have given a lot more thought to this. They should have listened to the people a lot more. They should have realized that just because they had a change of heart, it doesn't automatically produce a change of heart in all of the people in the fleet. For this, I think both are pretty bad leaders. Or at least used-to-be-good leaders who let their power go to their heads and became tyrants.

But you know what? This is still all good in some way, because a lot of viewers will disagree with me. I have a right to read Adama and Roslin this way, and their fans have a right to read them the opposite way, just like some people hate and despise Gaius, while I love him despite his flaws and mistakes (and partially because of them). Not everyone is going to agree about Adama and Roslin, and on some level, I think this still goes back to the greatness of this show - the fact that no character is perfect, not even the heroes.

But. There is someone I've hated throughout the show and still hate, and that is Tom Zarek. And this is something I only realized tonight: I hate him because the show wants me to. He has always, without fail, been written as a complete scoundrel with no redeeming qualities. He has no family, no lover, no faith in anything, no real backstory. He's just a rebel for the sake of being a rebel; he's willing to execute the entire quorum simply because they called him vice-president. He's an evil cackling villain for no reason at all. What baffles me is that both Michael Angeli and Richard Hatch said he's not a villain. What is he then? Who is Tom Zarek?

You can say what you want about Gaius Baltar being a coward, a liar, a nymphomaniac, an abuser of various substances, a weakling who will always run away from his guilt (although I am intrigued to see if he will change now). You'd be right. But he's a character with a soul. He does feel guilt. He does feel empathy - in this episode alone, he had empathy for his cult AND Gaeta. And whatever you may say, he never meant anyone any harm.

No, Baltar is not the villain of this show. Tom Zarek is. And they gave Zarek no redeeming qualities. And in a show like this that is otherwise so good, this is just lazy writing. He could have been an intelligent critic to Adama and Roslin, a true voice of resistance, but he wasn't. Epic fail.

I'm torn about Adama shooting Gaeta in cold blood. Zarek, sure - he "executed" the quorum and he's tried to sabotage the fleet so many times, he deserves to go just for the history alone. But Gaeta? From a storytelling point of view, this was a powerful way to kill him. But from the point of view of Adama's character? They were once friends. Gaeta worked for him for so long. Now he questions Adama's authority and deserves to die? I really don't know. I wish Adama at least had some remorse over it, or questioned the decision. But he probably won't.

One more brief note - why would you bring back Romo only to butcher the character? Argh. "Don't let your pride get in the way" was good. The running around with a gun and almost not stopping for Starbuck and Anders? Not good. At all. I like Romo, the way he was in Crossroads, but if they're going to write him like this episode and Sine Qua Non, just stop writing him.

Awed, excited and very positive notes
(yes, you guessed it, mostly about James Callis.)

It was nice to see Tory Foster again, taking a lead in the cylon fleet. She's been sadly ignored throughout the season, but I like that she, unlike the other final four, stayed with the cylons. However, I was hoping she'd say something back to Laura about that "wider view" on things - Laura only seems to care about Adama herself. Gaius, on the other hand, was talking back to Roslin, which was awesome.

I enjoyed seeing random Sixes again - when was the last time we did? One possible one in Sometimes a Great Notion. And even if I'm still mad for the miniscule role of Caprica Six lately, it was nice to see her carrying Hera and saying, "I can take care of myself!" It really felt like, in today's episode, the cylons were back. I've missed seeing Tricia, and I hope we'll see a lot more of her yet.

I feel like saying something very mad about still not having any Gaius/Head Six scenes, but the sexy and beautiful scenes with the random six on the baseship almost made it up for me. James and Tricia together again! Squee! I say almost, because I would have liked to see a LOT more of it, to make sense of it and give it more space. But the baseship with its flickering, streaming colors is always beautiful to me, and Tricia with brown hair usually looks more beautiful to me than with blonde hair - it is her natural color after all. They definitely should have had more long-haired Sixes on the show. So beautiful. As always, her tenderness with Gaius was touching. What is the attraction between Gaius and the sixes? It was nice to see Gaius interact with a cylon again, and as usual, it seems to make him search his soul. And this was the first scene in the episode that didn't feel rushed or chaotic. It was calm, it was about the characters - it made me feel like maybe this episode isn't so bad after all. Great acting from both James and Tricia, and their chemistry together never fails.

After a nightmare about Adama being executed, Gaius wakes up to feel guilty for leaving the cult - for running again, not even for fear this time, which seems to make him feel worse, as if fear somehow makes it OK. He ran because he didn't appreciate the cult - something you could plainly see, but it's still nice to hear him admit it to someone. I think that, on a deeper level, it's his guilt for failing Gaeta so many times; his guilt for running away from responsibility all those years and not admitting to his role in the attacks; his guilt for Gina and New Caprica... Well, he has a lot on his conscience. It's possible that the brown-haired Six reminds him of Gina, which brings up painful feelings of both loss and guilt.

Finally he takes responsibility for something or someone - if only for the cult, which I hope won't have a big role in the last episodes (I hope for more Gaius/cylons). Is this what James meant about Gaius finally growing up? Some people are already saying he won't be fun to watch anymore, but I wouldn't necessarily take this to mean that Gaius will be a complete hero who never lies again, etc. He's got a lot of work to do to become a hero - or even "a good person". Even if he became a boring goodie-goodie, I think James would bring the funny somehow. And suggest scenes that subvert the goodness.

A slightly negative side note.
The scene is edited a bit awkwardly, so that you can't see Gaius' naked chest, and I have to wonder if it's because James was so sick and emaciated while doing these episodes (he had a stomach parasite). I knew about it and thought I'd be prepared, but my heart just sinks when I see it. His thinness has never bugged me, because it's always seemed so natural for him. But this time it's just... different. There's some fundamental difference between being thin because you're sick and just naturally looking that way. And his eyes... just don't look right. They look miserable and in pain. I'm glad to know that he's better now and that it's not something serious that still affects him. He's a good guy and deserves to feel good. *fangirl sniffle*

However, his acting is still as good as ever. The following scene made me forget all about his illness, because it was so frakking amazing.

"I know who you are Felix."
This scene was so powerful, perhaps the most powerful scene so far in 4.5, at least for me. Both James and Alessandro do a lot here with just a look. Before being executed (sniff!!), Gaeta sits with Gaius. They smoke, drink coffee and talk. This scene was in the previews, and I think I misread it as Gaius being in jail and Gaeta coming to see him, when it's really the other way around. What can I say - it feels weird to see Gaius on the side of the "good guys" and Gaeta on the side of the "bad guys", although my sympathy for Gaeta never stopped throughout the mutiny. I think he genuinely wanted to bring peace to the fleet, Zarek just had his own agenda, as usual.

Gaius: Felix..
Gaeta: What? And please, no religion.
Gaeta's eyes: It's OK, Gaius. I'm going to die, but somehow this was all worth it.
Gaius' eyes: I always failed you. This could have been avoided if it weren't for me. I'm so sorry.

We already knew he'd say "I know who you are Felix" - I half hoped for him to say more, but rewatching it, maybe it's best left like this. Gaius says very little, but his eyes talk a lot. This is Gaeta's big scene, his final one before he dies - and yet it's also a big scene for Gaius. I love that the stories of these two men have always been somehow intertwined. If you read Gaeta as being in love with Gaius - and as we know now, AJ totally meant to play it that way - this scene is also a bittersweet goodbye between him and the man he loved. There's nothing sexual about it per se, but there is a tenderness to how Gaeta talks to Gaius, how he still, on some level, seems to admire him as a scientist (if no longer as a person).

The execution scene. The silence - the look between Gaeta and Zarek, and then -

"It stopped."

The pain in his leg? The restlessness in his soul? That was just beautiful.

I will miss Gaeta a lot, but I feel like he was given a worthy sendoff. I'm very sad to see him go, yet very happy with how it was done.

Alessandro Juliani - thank you for giving us Gaeta. You touched us, and you made your character alive. I hope to see you soon in other roles that are worthy of your talent.

Starfury Q&A - James Callis / Mark Sheppard, Part 1

I promised this a few days ago, and it's always a bad idea to promise a time frame, because that's when your internet connection will go down. The problem I had with this file was that I really didn't get Mark Sheppard's accent very well in the beginning, but I think I'm getting the hang of it now. There are still some question "marks" (heh heh), so if there's someone reading this who was there and wants to correct me, feel free to leave a comment. (Be gentle though - I am not a native English speaker.)

So this Q&A was the day before the Katee/James Q&A. The difference is that the latter is really the Katee show. She's obviously more popular and does fewer cons, so she gets the majority of questions. The James/Mark Q&A, on the other hand, is the James show. It's not just the audience, either - it seems to me like Mark is genuinely fascinated by James' work as Baltar and seems to talk more about that than about Romo Lampkin. The interaction between James and Mark is also very different from the James and Katee dynamic. James has a crazy sense of humor but Mark's is even crazier; James seems protective and big brother-like with Katee, while the interaction with Mark is much more "buddy"; the humor is racier and James seems more teasing, albeit not in a mean way. They don't have the same kind of warmth that James and Katee seem to share, but there is a camaraderie there.

They set up and James jokes something that I can't really hear. Mark says that people usually ask questions in these things. James, who's in a very cheerful mood, decides they should interview each other a bit. The questions are very deep and analytical:

James: Well, I suppose if you don't, we can ask each other a few questions. How are you feeling today, Mark? (laughter)

Mark: Not bad, I had a good sleep, you?

James: Yeah, actually similar myself.

Mark: Did you come far for this?

James: No, I didn't. Just down the old circular.

Mark: That's great.

James: It's a lot sunnier today than it was yesterday, which is nice. Although trying to have phone conversations outside is difficult with the planes going over your head (laughter) every second.

Mark: Welcome to Heathrow(?).

James: So has anybody got some questions for us since we're here? Hi, here's a question.

James' tone here is hilarious, he sounds totally amused with himself. Like in the Katee Q&A, James acts as an ice-breaker and gets the situation going. He's got quite good skills at managing these things, it seems. I actually think the fan Q&A's could benefit from having some kind of moderator. I'm not sure if I'd dare just stand up and ask something in a situation like that.

"A completely random question for James. Was that your own singing on Sex Chips and Rock'n'Roll?"

James: Yes, it was actually. It's all our own singing on that, and a bit of our own playing as well. I did a show called Sex, Chips and Rock'n'Roll. And I dunno, they described it as like, one character got all the sex, not me. One got all the rock'n'roll and they went, "You're just chips." (laughter) In the mix. I was the drummer, and the funny anecdote about that is that these.. The people when we were doing it, set all of this stuff, I was on stage here, for example, playing the drums, and they had the guide? track being played at speakers right at the back of the hall behind the camera. And then they kept on coming up to the band and then like, "You're late! You're not in time." And it didn't really take a physicist to kind of say that, "Sound travels slower, you put the speakers at the back of the room." That's why, you know, musicians always have pieces in their ears rather than... somebody shouting out the time in the back.

So yeah, it was my own singing voice. The drumming to a certain extent a bit, and then on the day that the rack was being recorded, they got in this guy who was the most phenomenal drummer, and totally went.. can I just say apeshit on the drums? (laughter) Hit the most off, like.. like... I just remember watching him, cos there was a thing where I'm acting it and I gotta pretend to be him, and I'm like... even if I had an entrance planned, it's not going to be that way. (laughter) So...like that. I think to subvert that dilemma, there were lots of shots of me just hitting the cymbals. (laughter) ? there it is.

I love that someone brought up a show other than Battlestar. Not that there aren't any good questions left to ask about BSG and Baltar, but I've seen so many interviews with James about Baltar and so few about the other shows. It's refreshing to hear about Sex and Chips, and incidentally, I just watched the show myself and loved it. This is a British miniseries set in the 1960's, and James plays a drummer called The Wolf. He's very skinny, has very long hair, and wears very sexy tight shirts. Also, he's absolutely charming in the role, and the character he plays is both funny and warm, so it suits him well. Highly recommended, if you can find it. But I did chuckle at the cymbal-hitting, because he's not exaggerating about the drummer going apeshit in that track. It really does sound like the drummer totally took his own lead there.

A rather long-winded guy asks Mark about Romo's accent and why he seems to sound Irish. Ironically enough, I had real trouble understanding Mark's accent in this bit, but hopefully it makes some sense anyway.

Mark: I think it was the fact that... David Eick gets very confused at times about where I'm from, because ? like an Irish, but I have various back(?) I used to live in Dublin. I left Dublin to go to America…from Dublin…through the Eighties or so. And uh... so actually I had a thick Dublin accent when I left then. I think David wasn't sure what my accent actually was and... so he was very polite when he...was stating the idea of the character, I think he said he was Irish brogue or something like that. And I thought there was a directive, (laughter) so I followed it. And there was a situation where it couldn't be too thick or it would be too difficult for the American audience to grasp it. So like a little bit, added in to add a little interest to the character. I think it was fun to do, it made it more… I tried to make it a bit more poetic (?). I thought it made him a little more poetic in a way, that’s what I was reaching for.

I'm not an expert on the dialects and wouldn't have recognized it as Irish, just "a thicker British accent than James's". One thing I always found funny is how differently people pronounce Baltar - the American/Canadian actors say Ball-tar, while the British accent seems to make the a sound more like in "cat". James' pronunciation of Baltar isn't as close to "cat" as Mark's though. When you hear Romo say "Gäius Bältär", it's really amusing. Um, at least to me. No offense to any Irish people.

The same guy asks James - equally wordily, I might add - if the humor with Baltar and Head Six was James' own genius or someone else's.

James: No, I .. you know.. it's not... I brought that to the party, I think, and I brought it to the party for lots and lots of reasons. Ron wasn't actually there during the making of the pilot, David certainly was there. And I think I got the audition um... on the strength of a.. [a plane goes overhead and James stops talking; laughter] when you're...(chuckles) Actually, when you're filming, I mean...

Mark: Everybody waits.

James: Everybody waits like that. It's like one of those things...

Mark: Holding for an ?

James: Holding for an ?, can't use the sound, that's a weird thing I found myself doing. (laughter)

Mark: I've been doing that a lot.

James: So it was something I brought to the party, and... yeah, they liked it. Initially I think they were a bit nervous about it, but like... from after the miniseries I think they really ? ?. And I went that way because um... I suppose I couldn't take myself seriously next to this... next to the beautiful Tricia Helfer (laughter), and play it like I was some guy who really knew what was going on...I just thought that would be even more ridiculous. So I was kind of... striving for something slightly different.

And I do remember when we were filming the thing in the CIC, essentially the big comedy came... It's called horrid laughter, there was this thing where Gaeta's saying to me about, "Oh you must feel really dreadful about something" and.. Six has her hand on my... testicles. (laughter) And uh... you know, essentially it was just this thing about... I decided very early on Baltar would be a bad liar, he'd be a very very, you'd see thru him totally...so there was all this "Terribly sorry, isn't that awful." And that just looks so... inappropriate when you're talking about the genocide of the planet. "Oh, I'm very sorry your dog ran out this morning...Dreadful..." I mean, you know... [??] I thought it'd have more ? like that.

I loved that scene. "Oh yeah, I do feel... responsible... in a way..." All the while, HeadSix taunts him about not having a conscience, which obviously he does have, and if you read HeadSix in that scene as a manifestation of his conscience, it's even more meta and amusing. I think it was one of the moments that made me love Gaius Baltar, because it's somehow a very defining moment. It's like he's not quite like other people - he's much more narcissistic and in his own world - but he wants to pretend to be like them, so they'd appreciate him and love him. I got the feeling that's always been his game, and then to add to that, there's the truth about who caused the genocide, so it just adds to that.

To James - Baltar is such a ladies man, and "having gone thru pretty much the whole cast" (laughter) - is there anyone else he would have liked to sleep with? (laughter, applause)

James: It's funny you'd say that. We had a .. we made a book at the end that all in the cast wrote in, all of the crew.. like a Battlestar yearbook. It's one of a... it's a real priced posession. And in that we all wrote little notes and one of the things I wrote was you know, "Over time now, hopefully David Eick and Ron Moore and Michael Rymer will see what a very bad idea it was that I didn't have sex with you know, multiple copies of Six and like you know, more and more and... Where was the bed scene with Mary McDonnell..." (?) (laughter, woos) I wrote this stuff..So you know, yeah, Baltar's sexual habit is gracious and inexorable. As far as he's concerned, far too many people who escaped his...

Mark: Well, how you explain? out in space when you wanna go and get her? (laughter)

Inexorable. "a process which cannot be prevented from continuing or progressing; a formal word." Wow. That's hilarious, actually, but it's even funnier that James doesn't use, like, "unstoppable".

Let's quote him directly, since we have the scans of the book now (random dash alert applies):

"Hopefully more critically - but sadly a little too late - I hope I've managed to change your minds and make you see that NOT having Gaius sleep with Boomer, Athena, Pilot 8, Natalie, all the six's in the Resurrection Hub, Laura Roslin, Cally, Racetrack, Seelix, Starbuck more than once, Head six (in every episode), Caprica six in every other, - was a HUGE MISTAKE on your part - which hopefully you will readdress in all the upcoming work - you will be lavishing my way..."

I heartily second at least the Head Six in every episode bit - I've really missed that part of the show lately. And don't stop there, James - what about Dualla, Elosha, Maya, Ishay the nurse, Emily the dying woman (although she did seem to be a Baltar fan so who knows), Sarah, Rya, the hooker Lee was with in The Black Market, any random journalists apart from Playa... The list goes on and on.

James is asked about impersonating other cast members.

James: We all take off each other and what's funny is that nearly always people take each other off, not to your face. You only find out about it when somebody looks at you and bursts out laughing, like, "That's so funny, that's how Aaron Douglas does you." (laughter) (?) So I um... I think the easiest one really is Eddie. Only because you know.. (EJO voice) Very few people...will have that kind of voice... (laughter)

(I think Mark does EJO here as well, there's a lot of low-voiced grumbling. Something about "sea bass". Hee!)

James: (EJO voice) .. what the real Edward James Olmos would sound like(?). (back to his normal voice) And so there's a.. yeah, I suppose Eddie is the most...

Mark: Can you do Jamie?

James: No, I couldn't possibly, I sound too similar to Jamie. (laughter) No. But yeah - Eddie, essentially.

Actually, he tried a Mary McDonnell in the one David Eick video blog, but I think that just made him sound gay. His Eddie is pretty good though, and I love how he can just suddenly launch into EJO mode in interviews. It's always a big hit.

A guy starts asking James about the soft porn thing in his character. The audience laughs. James, who's in a very good and apparently mischievious mood, decides to misunderstand on purpose.

James: Who's he talking to? Is it you, Mark? You got yourself doing that soft porn. (?) The hardporny rocket? stuff is ok, but...

Mark: (?) Parasol..

James: Exactly.

The guy, sounding pretty amused now, continues the question, apparently wanting to know what James would still like to do as Baltar.

James: It's too late, its' all finished.

He says he knows it's too late (still sounding amused but pursuing the question confidently), but was there anything left undone that James would have liked to do?

James: I think if there's something else I'd like to add...

Mark: Singing.

James: Yeah, exactly, juggling and dancing at the same time. Trying to save from the airlock. (laughter) That's a very good idea Mark, you should be a writer. (laughter) No, to be honest, I think that I've had a barefoot? exposure and been allowed to.. The interesting thing about Baltar, the reason he's been allowed to be so many people, is he's not on some level high bound to the idea of his own personality and there are.. For example, the heroes in our mix, like for example Adama or... Apollo, they've got quite a rigid set of parameters in which they play in between, and Baltar never had any of those, really. So I got to playing lots of colors in that room. I've been really truly satisfied, it's been amazing.

This is a really good point about Baltar. He can be what he wants to be, because he's "not on anybody's side" - he's the political buskin, like James himself said in the James/Katee Q&A. Baltar's inability to stand up for anything, which James has previously mentioned as his greatest moral failing, really makes him a versatile character. He can be anything or anyone. That's what makes him so much fun to watch and, obviously, also a lot of fun to play.

Asked about the cult, and if Baltar really believes in the cylon God. I think this came up in the Dragon*Con panels also. It seems to confuse the viewers a lot.

James: I don't think he believes in the cylon God, I think he's one of these... The joke about the cult and everything was that it was going to be... after the ? and the trial?, it's dreadful being in a prison cell, it's actually worse being idolized and worshipped by a bunch of nutcases (laughter) and you're the only strangely sane one in the mix. We have this joke for that... even in Monty Python and The Life of Brian, they've got this thing where, I think somebody.. is it Brian? He drops his sandal... "We will follow the sandal!"And then they're like, "I will follow the sandal!" And then he drops his water tank which is a gourd, and they're like, "No, we will follow the gourd!" You get the idea of people.. people coming to see magic? almost over nothing.

Um.. no, I didn't totally believe it... Not believing in the cylon God, I don't know about Baltar believing in God in that way. But Baltar did believe that there was... If you were a cylon, it wasn't your fault if you were a cylon. You couldn't do anything about that, you were made, you were fabriated, you were a robot. So a lot of the hatred that the colonists have for the cylons and their very being, I felt that Baltar was kind of a step above that in his level of consciousness. Maybe because he was sleeping with so many of them. (laughter)

Ah! He mentioned Life of Brian! We have seen the same film! How can this be? Worlds collide. Sorry, I went into spontaneous fangirl mode. I'm still not sure how to really deal with the cult plot. I don't think it's totally in character for Baltar, and I don't think it necessarily fits in with his story. Despite what I just said above about him doing and being anything. I sorta got the feeling that, after the trial, they had to think of something for Baltar and that was the only thing they came up with - because hey, he loves himself and beautiful women! The problem is that it's not really established whether he's purposefully being a false prophet or whether he believes in what he's preaching. It's a bit confusing. But maybe they will tie it in some nice neat package that all makes a lot of sense.

It's interesting that James also mentioned Baltar's sympathy for the cylons in another recent interview (the Sky1 interview, also made at Starfury) - and then, too, he ended with a joke. It seems almost like he feels touched after talking about it, so he has to deflect into joke mode. Maybe this is a part of his own approach on people. There's a general sympathy he seems to feel for other human beings, which - sniffle... Now I feel like ending with a joke. Tigh's eye, Gaeta's leg and Baltar's schlong walked into a bar... Hm, I'd best not continue that, it started out very badly.

But yeah, this is a side of Baltar that is very rarely mentioned and bears repeating: he's actually less prejudiced and less hateful of others - especially cylons - than most of the colonials, especially people like Laura Roslin and Bill Adama, who are usually toted as the heroes. He doesn't hate anyone, while many of the more morally straight-backed characters do.

Mark is asked how it is to work with Joss Whedon. He simply says, "You've got interesting theoretical concepts.. ask Joss." Laughter. Heh, but I'd be kinda embarrassed if I asked a question and he did a joke like that. It sounds a bit like "your question sucks, next please."

OK, another question instead: what if Romo Lampkin were the final cylon?

Mark: Well, would it make a difference? I mean I've always wondered. The first time I ever read Romo in the script, (?) the first question came up: (?) the final cylon? And then the second question that came out was: Does it actually make a differnce? And I'm really not sure if it makes a difference whether you find out that Romo's the fifth cylon or not.

James: But how is it working with Joss? (laughter)

Mark: Alright, so. Okay, so I get a phonecall, I'm doing Leverage, (?) and I get a phonecall: "Joss has something, it wasn't originally for you, but he wants you to work anyway. Do you want to do this thing?" And I'm like, "Sure, it's always fun to go work with Joss." So I said, "Sure", and I get the script secretly sent to me with my name printed on every page. (?) I get the script and the character's name is Tanaka. (laughter) I'm like, "Hmm, I wonder if this is written for a person of a slightly different ethnicity?" (laughter) So when I arrived at Fox, the very next day, Joss met me backstage. I said, "Hi, this is very interesting." I said, "Can I keep the name?" He goes, "I knew you were gonna say that." (laughter) So I'm called Tanaka. That's... all I will say. (laughter)

I like the Joss story, but what to make of the final cylon thing? It might be that the final cylon, indeed, doesn't really mean anything - if there was a thirteen tribe that was made of humanoid cylons, then there's no knowing what the ramifications of that are. I think Romo, while a fan favorite, isn't an established enough character to be the final cylon - we've really only seen him in four episodes. Ellen, while not one of my favorites, was at least more established than that.

Someone asks about the use of props, stating that James and Mark are two actors who use props more than others on the show. I'm not sure if I agree - I hadn't thought of that before.

James: Well, I think it's rather unfair to call Tricia a prop. (thunderous laughter, applause. He continues but it's drowned out:)...very beautiful... (not fair to?) the people involved.

No, I um... I'm trying to think... For my sins, I smoke cigarettes, and I wanted to bring in... Having a cigarette, whatever, maybe it doesn't but psychologically, it calms me down. And that's one of the things I want to be is calm and comfortable in myself, even if I'm playing like a fruit loop on television. And... So I found initially I wanted a cigarette in the scenes and then there was this whole thing about, (mock-strict voice) "You can't smoke! You know, it's Battlestar Galactica.." I'm like, I'm not exactly a role model. (laughter) I think it's OK if the baddie lights a cigarette now and then, I have killed all these people... (lots of laughter)

I think that there is... There is danger certainly with - what we call it is business, actually. It's like there's too much business going on. And I, in that sense, have certainly found myself caught out in scenes sometimes - it's like I have an idea of wanting to take the sunglasses off, then have a drink of this, then have a cigarette.. busy doing so many things, like - oh, and I forgot to act. (laughter) Sometimes you think it's terribly useful like uh... they're telling of character. I'm just interested in that sense of.. I know that Mark has sunglasses... Yeah, and the cane and the cat...

Mark: Dead cat. (?)

James: Lucky old cat... (laughter) Lot of props that I haven't used a lot.

In the beginning of the quote, it could be "for my scenes", but it really sounds like "sins", so I'm guessing he's being gently self-mocking (he sounds amused at himself, but when doesn't he?) My girlfriend and I were talking about this, and neither of us can imagine Gaius without the cigarettes. It's an important part of his persona, and once again, I'm surprised that it was brought in by James and not a part of how he was originally written. I've been watching James' older stuff lately, and he smokes in almost every role. With each character, he smokes differently; it's like he applies the character's personality to it. How they take a cigarette, how they light it, how they breathe out the smoke, is different each time. It's fascinating.

I think it would have been idiotic to forbid Baltar from smoking. James sounds very mocking about the "you can't smoke" attitude, so I'm guessing he feels the same way. I mean, if that's an issue, why do they let Doc Cottle smoke in like every single scene, why is Tigh shown smoking all the time, etc.? I remember Ron D. Moore saying that if people want to smoke, let them, we're all adults. I think it's a good attitude - health nannyism doesn't change anything, and it would be dishonest to portray a world where no one ever smokes.

The "Tricia being a prop" joke is a huge hit, of course, and it takes a while for the laughter to die down. James has this quick wit; he sometimes hits upon something quite brilliant, and I think this is one of those moments. One thing that bugs me, though - if you are in an audience (or listening to a recording taped among the audience), it's impossible to hear what they say on stage if the audience is still laughing. You should really wait until it properly dies down, because probably only Mark heard what he was saying there.

The guy who asked the question wants to know a bit more, clarifying his point a bit: "you interact with the environment more than any other actors."

Mark: (?) I mean, sitting still and speaking the line would be incredibly insulting.

James: I remember when we were doing the scenes together in preparing for the trial, and uh... There really was a lot of us doing things like writing things down and.. you know, to make it look more plausible, like we were having a real...

Mark: We did the scene least four times, there was so much stuff that had.. The pen, the writing..

James: Drinking.. I always felt, when you watch sci fi as well.. Eddie talked, we've all talked about this. Other shows, they never got to eat or drink... Or go to the bathroom, it's like you know.. they're just on the set. "I'm gonna press that button here and...(?)" So I felt, really, that having a relationship to...seeing people eating on Galactica is always fun. Especially when, now, you think that the only thing they eat is algae weed. (?) That's all we've got to eat, which is gross.

Mark: Are you happy with that answer?

Fan: Yeah, it was good.

It's a common problem on many shows, I think. I'd say soap operas are the worst culprit in this respect, but probably it's true of any genre where the focus isn't on realism. On something like The Sopranos, you will see people going to the bathroom (which isn't always a good thing), and you will see them eating and drinking. That's the realistic approach. I think it's nice to see people eat, drink, smoke and use the bathroom on Galactica, but it's not like they run around in the corridor shooting and then have to take a bathroom break, which would really take away from the drama. I think it's a fairly good balance.

But I have to say, when speaking of Baltar, that it bugs me how we very rarely see him eating. He seems to enjoy smoking, drinking, sex, and even occasional pill-popping - surely a hedonistic person like this would love eating as well. I'm trying to remember eating scenes, but the only one that comes to mind is the one where Baltar went to Tory in Six of One. Also, he had an apple in his hand. Where did that come from? Was it an apple made completely out of algae? Um, I digress.

They're asked about future roles and what they've been working on, and Mark is asked to say more about Dollhouse.

Mark: Uh.. yeah, I play a guy called Tanaka... (laughter) My character on Dollhouse is intercepting a lot with Tahmoh's character, which is really interesting. That's all I'll tell you. I've got a lot of stuff going on right now, a whole bunch of stuff I've been doing back-to-back, which is really (?). I just got to work with my Dad a couple of weeks ago. I was doing a TV series called Leverage on TNT, starts this week... I have this a wonderful role on the show, it's fun... Got a call like, "Do you want to come and do Dollhouse?"

Then I get a call, "We're offering your Dad an episode on NCIS, we'd like to do these flashbacks." So my Dad and myself just went and played a Polish torturer who feels no pain. (laughter) He has a genetic disorder, he feels no pain. So I was on set with my Dad for a couple of days, we worked out... We decided he's gonna take his eye out in the role, so he's actually taking his eye out of its socket. (?) scar (?) socket and stuff... So I'm playing the young torturer and he's playing the old torturer. We got to work together. I was doing Burn Notice, I missed Tricia by about two days. (?) (to James) Have you been busy?

Aww, how sweet, father and son playing torturers together. I still remember Mark from his role on Medium, where he plays the ghost of a serial killer that goes into doctors' heads and makes them murder young women. It's not as corny as it sounds and Mark is pretty damn good in that role. It's not all that different from Romo, apart from the moral aspect - he gets to play his wry wit there. It's interesting that he gets these darker roles a lot. He really seems quite laid back and sympathetic in this Q&A, so it's not like he's so menacing. Also, he sounds genuinely interested in what James has been up to, which is nice.

James: Well, no, I haven't been as busy as that. I just did one short movie now, called Merlin and the Book of Beasts. And it's kind of a strange story, I haven't seen it yet so I don't know what it's going to look like. All I know is that I had uh... personal hair extensions down to my bum. The hair extensions didn't exactly match my hair. (laughter)

Mark: Did it match the hair on your bum? (laughter)

James: I don't know ?, otherwise I woud have been in a lot of trouble. So rather than dye the hair extensions that are too expensive and too important, they had to dye my hair (laughter) so it matched the hair extensions. And it was a kind of... what's the word.. coppery kind of metallic color, and I had a beard, large beard that we dyed kind of amber blond. And I looked like a kind of missing link between the human being and the orangutan. (laughter)

And I was halled? up in the Sutton Hotel in Canada, where by looking like that, I looked like a kind of homeless Jesus. (laughter) And then when I would ask for things in the store, I was like, "Hello. Can I get some batteries?" The shop assistant was like, "It's homeless Jesus with a personality disorder. (laughter) This guy thinks like he's English or something." (laughter) I got followed around, not let into taxis in the sense of looking.. so undesirable.

And then just recently like the very last few days I was going up in the lift, and this couple... like, standing there in the lift... (I think he's imitating how they looked; laughter) I mean, the looks I would get like... "You know, totally unnecessary to look like that... Do you own a comb or brush...?" I could hardly tell people, it's not really mine. You needn't worry. (laughter)

And so anyway, they're holding back and then we're going up and up and up in the lift, and I can see this man is like, you know, "I'm in the lift with a... weirdo. Who shouldn't be living in a hotel." He went, "You got a room here, buddy?" (laughter) I'm going like, "Yes, I have." And he, "You uh, you staying long?" I went, "Oh, about six weeks." (laughter) The look on this man's face was that I was the orangutan who's also a multimillionare. What was I doing living in the Sutton Hotel, looking like that, for around six weeks? It wasn't normal.

Mark: You topped it off by going, "And I'm Merlin." (laughter)

James: And I'm Merlin, right. So uh... you know, it was like very strange being outside the character. And I think that genuinely, in the sense of, yeah, having a staff which is like your version of a magic wand and having CGI lights like flash thru so it looks like a thunderbolt going thru..I think it's more the domain of teenagers and that kind of market than really Battlestar Galactica. It was certainly a lot of fun to do, I just don't know what it's gonna look like.

Heee! :D But... why couldn't they afford to dye the hair extensions..? I still hope the movie is going to be decent (frankly even James sounds dubious), but I must admit I've taken to calling it Merlin and the Depressingly Small Budget. But of course, it's a hilarious story, and it's just delicious that someone like James, who's so sophisticated and well-read and - as mentioned by basically everyone who's met him - a true gentleman, would be mistaken for a hobo. If you haven't seen how James looked for Merlin, see here. Well, maybe it's not so surprising that they thought he was a homeless Jesus.

"If you had been a judge during Baltar's trial, would you have chosen guilty or not guilty?"

James: Well, that's a great question. (thinks for a moment) Baltar is certainly really guilty. He's guilty of so many things, but he may not have been guilty of the thing he was charged on in the trial. This is the whole deal that I... One of the reasons I have the platform that I do is because John Colicos was so amazing, he's edged into everybody's minds so there's a real thing about... Hey, this is the new guy and this is the other guy. His guy was really guilty. I mean he wanted to sell out his own race and species, and essentially the cylons gave him a bathrobe with his name on it(?) and that was enough. (laughter) Seemingly. Our one is slightly more complex.

I always used to say to the producers and the directors when we were goind the show, and they were like, "Ah you know, you're such a weasel and a snake and a bad guy..." I went, "Listen, for the cylons to want to kill all of the human beings, a deep moral rot has set in before Gaius Baltar was a twinkle in his mother's eye." We're talking about a mindset that... So literally, Gaius Baltar is the imbecile who was vain enough to get himself caught up in the clicking of a button. But he's like a domino and it strechtes way way back... Is he guilty about, like, the cylons killing all of those people? I'm not sure. He's certainly reprehensible. If I was a judge and I'm looking at the thing.. and in that courtroom and in the sense of Galactica.. No, I'm pretty sure it would have been...

Mark: That's my job.

James: Yeah well, I had the amazing, amazing defense in that... not just from Mark, but also from Apollo, from Lee. But I... yeah, I think that it was... You know, the judgement was subverted and I think Baltar... You as the au.. .Everybody wanted to see what the guilty verdict would be.

Mark: One thing that I thought was interesting, by the way. I remember going back and watching.. Eddie had given me Taking a Break From All Your Worries. And the line in Taking a Break From All Your Worries when he asks you - your response is what allowed me to have my defense. Which is when he was asking you about treason, which requires intent, the point being that it requires intent. And intent is something that was never...definitively... laid out as far as I was concerned by Baltar... which is what gave you... sure, maybe you're guilty of everything...

Which is what I was saying in Crossroads with Lee, when he's doing his...(?) "So, you know he's guilty, right?" (chuckles) And I'm like.. "Well, he's guilty of something. But is he guilty of what he's being charged with?" And that's always been the great question. I had no problems as a person defending ... I mean, if I was very angry about the fact that I had to defend your rights, in that manner, which I thought made the whole thing so ? ... Sure, you were guilty of a whole slew of shit, which is none of my business and nothing to do with me, I have no right to judge you for these things. but for the charge that you were being brought up with, you had every right for solicitation, because you, as far as I was concerned, you weren't guilty for what you had been charged with.

Interesting stuff, and a very central theme of Baltar's character. Personally, I don't think he's guilty of the genocide. The visual metaphor that I'd use is, like, they're frakking and Six just slams Gaius against the wall, and on that wall there's a button that makes a nuclear bomb go off. That's how I saw it and that's why I feel so sorry for Gaius. I'm a big softy though, and if someone feels guilty for what they've done, I usually forgive them on the spot because aww, they're feeling bad. But for Gaius, it really does seem more like he never intended anyone any harm. He's selfish; he's lazy; he cheats with his work, letting Six do it; he broke the law and many people's trust by giving her the codes; he cheats on women and lies to people all the time. But he's not a genocidal maniac who wants people dead.

Is he guilty of the New Caprica disaster though? He's responsible for them settling there; he's responsible for the cylons spotting them from space, so maybe he is. On the other hand, when the cylons actually came, what could he do but surrender? Resistance could have made things worse. Refusing to sign the death list, he would have been shot and the list would have been signed by someone else. So his big mistake was running for president and giving Gina the nuke, but I don't know what I would have done differently during the cylon occupation. (Maybe not taken quite as many pills.)

To be continued...

Naughty Gaius And the Soul-Breaking Guilt

The children!! Will someone please think of the children?!
Well, we at ACB - Appropriate Children's Books do. We want to tell it like it is, teach children about the world before they learn themselves and accuse us of sugar-coating things. The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica is a great and fun tool for teaching kids. We put the sci back in sci fi!

New in the Naughty Gaius series:

NAUGHTY GAIUS AND THE SOUL-BREAKING GUILT!



This massive 700-page opus will not only entertain, but also teach your child the essentials of the following themes:

-Conscience and guilt
-Sex and seduction
-Nuclear holocaust.

Age target group: 8-12.

Synopsis: Naughty Gaius' narcissism* and nymphomania* cause the destruction of mankind as the cylons decide to blow up the place and use him as a pawn. To punish him, Gaius' conscience sends him on a trip with no return - into the depths of a soul-breaking guilt.

* See Naughty Gaius Is a Nymphomaniac Narcissist.

"Did you know?" (tm) -footnotes will guide your child's reading experience throughout, explaining the difficult words and concepts. Who knows - maybe even the parents will learn something new!

Colorful pictures will show the child the varying stages of Gaius' psychosis*and mental devastation*.
* these words will be explained in the book!!

"How would YOU feel?" (tm) - tools to build the child's empathy level. How would YOU feel if you had unwittingly caused the destruction of mankind? Discuss with the whole family!

Learn from this (tm): Spelling out the lesson in each chapter helps your child frame his or her thinking. This technique is based on many studies*.

* We'd link to some, but you wouldn't understand. Trust us, we're experts.

Excerpts from the book:

Naughty Gaius is having the time of his life. He's a successful scientist, very famous and rich. He has a lot of girlfriends (a LOT). One of them is especially important to him. When Gaius is too lazy to do his own work, she will do it for him. And she's great in the sack*. For some reason, she doesn't have a name, but as Gaius will soon find out, she goes by a number instead: Six.


Gaius and Six are reaching orgasm* together. Look how happy they are! Wouldn't you also like to feel this happy?

Did you know? (tm): In the sack means in bed. While having sex.

Orgasm is when you feel really really really really really good after touching yourself or being touched by someone. Have you ever felt it? No worries if you haven't - you can reach it with the help of our easy guide! Girls, look at page 21 and boys, read page 22. If you don't know which you are, you can read page 23.

Learn from this (tm): If you're too lazy to work, you can hire others to do it for you. Sometimes, instead of giving them money, you can pay for it "the natural way".

Did you know? (tm): The natural way means with sex.

-----

After learning that he caused for many, many people to die horribly, Naughty Gaius suffers from a guilty conscience*. This almost never happens to him; usually he just doesn't listen to his conscience. He's too important, rich, and famous to do that - he can always buy his way out of any trouble. This makes his life easier and helps his brain focus on science. In fact, Gaius believes that guilt is something small people feel when they run out of excuses for their behavior - and Gaius is very good at thinking of excuses. But this time, none of them work. Gaius gets brutally tortured* by his conscience.

Did you know? (tm): A conscience is a little voice inside you that tells you if you're doing the right thing or the wrong thing. If you do the right thing, you feel good. If you do the wrong thing, you feel bad, or guilty. But do you know what? People often disagree on what is right and wrong. It might be impossible to tell what is right in a new situation.

You may have seen funny conscience characters on Disney films, but in reality, it's pretty dull. There's no cartoon violence or singing Jiminy Crickets. You're just gonna feel miserable if you do something wrong. It's best to just ignore your conscience and try to get by doing what you feel is best. You'll only feel it if you do something really wrong, just like Gaius did.

Torture happens when someone hurts you and you feel really, really strong pain. They won't stop until you're almost dead. See page 550, chapter Demonic D'Anna and Her Terrible Torture Chamber.

Learn from this (tm): If you're feeling really happy, something awful is bound to happen soon. Life just isn't meant to be easy.

-----



Suddenly, Six is there again! And she looks as sexy as ever. But wait - no one else can see or hear her. Is she an angel sent by an unknown God, or a cylon chip in his brain, or a hallucination*? Either way, she can still give him a good frakking*. But she also helps Gaius remember the terrible things he has caused, loves teasing him, and won't leave him alone at all. And she's always touching him when others are looking! This makes Gaius very nervous and worried that others will find out. No matter what he does, he can't escape her. He's trapped on Colonial One, and with her.

Did you know? (tm): Hallucinations are like nightmares, but you see them when you're awake. You can't escape them by waking up. Hallucinations are really scary. If you have them, don't tell anyone because they will put you in mental hospital and you'll never get out.

Frakking - you guessed it, it means sex. It's close to another, more common word that we weren't allowed to print here. Hint: replace "ra" with "u". Hint 2: It rhymes with "ducking". Try it out - a good word for many purposes! :)

How would YOU feel? (tm): If Gaius doesn't tell anyone about all this, he will feel really bad and be all alone with it. If he tells someone, the others will hate him and kill him. How would this make YOU feel? Discuss with Mommy/Stepmommy and Daddy/Stepdaddy and/or Grandma/Grandpa/Other Legal Guardian.

Order the book TODAY. What are you still waiting for? Do you want to deprive your child of the joy of discovery and education? Don't be as selfish as Gaius - give your child the gift of learning NOW*!

$ 500 + shipping fee.

* in 5-10 weekdays.

Have you read these yet?:
Naughty Gaius Is a Nymphomaniac Narcissist
Naughty Gaius Is a Sex God

Crafty Kara Gets Drunk and Disorderly
Crafty Kara And the Mysterious Mandala
Crafty Kara Is the Harbringer of Death

Little Leland: Why Doesn't My Daddy Love Me?
Little Leland Has a Death Wish
"Little" Leland And the Treacherous Treats

written by Deniselle
cover by Deniselle
screenshots by Sidestepping

The Embodiment of Evil?

Sometimes I have to wonder what show people are watching.

Apparently, this site lists Gaius Baltar as the 21st most evil villain.

In the video, we start off with Alicia Quarles, "EP Entertainment Reporter", saying: "What makes a good TV villain is somebody that embodies pure evil."

Voice-over: "James Callis plays the embodiment of evil known as Gaius Baltar..." ['evil' music playing in the background]

Wait, what? This logic is so off, I don't even know where to start. Because one person - granted, she's probably not the only one, but her opinion isn't canon just because she said so - thinks a good villain is the "embodiment of evil", and because Gaius Baltar is on this list, he must be the embodiment of evil. This is not based on anything on the show, and I don't think she's even talking about Gaius Baltar. I hope she's not.

Gaius is not the embodiment of evil. Kevin Khatchadourian is the embodiment of evil. Hannibal Lecter or Sylar might be too. But Gaius Baltar? Half of his scenes in season one consist of "Gaius feels really, really guilty for unwittingly causing the destruction of mankind, and tries to escape the guilt". Actually, half of his scenes in the entire show are all about that. When I think "embodiment of evil", I think utterly remorseless, cruel, plotting, devoid of feeling, etc. etc. Maybe others have a different definition, but "causing a lot of harm by accident" isn't my idea of evil.

Michael Emerson from Lost describes Gaius, and this time I can agree:

"He's both vulnerable and manipulative at the same time. We're never really sure if we ought to feel sorry for him or if we ought to despise him."

Thank you, Michael. So - embodiment of evil? No. Vulnerable? Yes. The whole ambiguity that he describes here is what, to me, negates the idea that Gaius is evil. If he's completely evil, we're supposed to hate him. How could we ever feel compassion for a completely evil being? If we feel compassion, that must mean that he somehow shows he is worth it. We can relate to him on some level, and that must mean he has some goodness to him.

What baffles me is that they show James being photographed at the Comic Con, but don't actually have an interview with him, not even a soundbite. If they had, maybe he would have said, I don't know, something like this:

"My whole thing about baddies, anyway, or playing somebody who's uh.. morally bankrupt... You know, you always see these people and they're always, in some strange way, very powerful, and this.. he he hee, and you know, manic laughter. I think the reality of someone like that is that... you have to go through a lot of colors in your system or in your soul before you get to be that way. And I don't believe anybody's born bad and I certainly don't think Gaius Baltar is born bad, he's just made a dreadful, dreadful mistake." (Sci Fi interview)

This is why I think evil characters tend to be dull. It might be exciting to see them plot against the goodies, especially if they fail with their plans, but just to see an evil person go about his day is not very interesting. There's no moral conflict, no human edge, it's just some writer's idea of a completely bad person, and that makes it very black and white, very stereotypical. This is one of the things that elevates Battlestar above many other shows - they had the guts to write a character who's very human, very weak, sometimes does despicable things, yet feels bad for doing them. All of this raises questions about what good and evil really are and what makes a villain.

I'll probably write more about the guilt and "evil" of Gaius in the future, but here's a quick rundown of why I don't think he's evil:

Cruelty - I've never seen him be cruel. Well, maybe once, when he almost killed Chief to get an answer out of Boomer. But then he sat on the cell floor looking so guilty that it's hard to believe that he had thought it through. He seemed shocked by the prospect that someone could have died. It doesn't make the act itself less cruel, but it shows he has a conscience that might not let him be cruel in a premeditated way. (I'll admit that he almost never listens to it in beforehand, but even if his conscience might work with a lag, it would surely kick in if he was considering something really evil.)

Evil intentions - When has he ever intended to hurt, kill, or destroy someone else? He's caused a lot of bad things, but none of them were intentional, and he always feels terrible when he realizes his own role in it. He did provide the cylons with the codes for mass destruction - but if Caprica-Six had asked him, "Hey Gaius, wanna give me the codes so I can destroy mankind?", he would never have done it. I'm not going to defend the act of giving away military secrets to anyone, but Caprica-Six was someone Gaius trusted, so you could also argue that he was betrayed to do it. That's certainly the way he chooses to see it. But he didn't sell mankind out for his own benefit, and he didn't evilly cackle as he watched it unfold. And when the cylons asked him to sign that death warrant for 200 people? He flat out refused and only signed it because he was at gunpoint. That's how evil he is.

Hate - He doesn't hate anyone. He doesn't love people either, but there's a huge difference between hate and indifference, or even hate and superiority.

Lack of compassion - sometimes it seems that way, but other times he'll turn around and be very compassionate - in Pegasus with Gina, in He That Believeth in Me with the sick child. He's narcissistic, and by definition, that means you care way more about yourself than about others. But he's not completely without compassion. It's funny that people don't say Starbuck is without compassion, and yet she can torture Leoben and kill him over and over; Laura Roslin can airlock cylons left and right and lie to parents that their baby is dead and she's not seen as lacking compassion. I'm not saying that I think these two characters are completely narcissistic and don't care about other people; my point is that all characters on the show have, at some point, done things like this.

That's one of the things I really like about Battlestar, because no one's perfect and no one's a clear cut hero and villain. It's also the thing that baffles me the most about some viewers, because it really looks like some people try to make it more black and white than it is.