Most Obnoxious Baltar

[Jim]

Another thread had this exchange:

Matherly: Say, if Baltar was actually a Cylon...

Vonmazur: He's not a cylon, just annoying as heck....

ToSeek: Man, I was so wishing he was going to get assassinated in the last episode.

So, granted, the current incarnation of Baltar (http://www.gateworld.net/galactica/miniseries/graphics/016.jpg) is an annoying, obnoxious, bootlick. But, is he more so than the original Baltar (http://www.battlestarpegasus.com/images/actors/johncolicos_montage.jpg)?

[banquo's_bumble_puppy]

current one by far

[ToSeek]

The original Baltar was entertaining, at least.

[Jim]

The original Baltar (John Colicos) was a true villian of the old boo-hiss school... campy and over the top. He was bad, he knew it, and he enjoyed it.

The new Baltar is far too weak to be threatening. There have been times when he has shown some backbone, but not for long. Maybe he'll become more Colicos-like as the season progresses.

[jrkeller]

The original Baltar (John Colicos) was a true villian of the old boo-hiss school... campy and over the top. He was bad, he knew it, and he enjoyed it.

The new Baltar is far too weak to be threatening. There have been times when he has shown some backbone, but not for long. Maybe he'll become more Colicos-like as the season progresses.

Do you think he'll join (lead) the Cylons like the original one did?

[Jim]

I think it could be worked into the storyline. Consider...

Galactica gets most of the humans off of New Caprica. Some stay behind because they think they're better off with the Cylons; some just miss the boat.

The Cylons decide that the humans who stayed with them are the ones they should convert to the True Religion; the rest will need to be exterminated to prevent contamination. (Cavil already proposed something similar.)

Baltar decides it's "better to rule in hell than serve in heaven," and decides to help the Cylons. They give him a ship manned by the pro-Cylon humans and some tin cans, with a skin or two as "advisors."

Or, something completely different could happen.

[publius]

Possible spoilers below. Stop reading now if you don't want to know.

......................









A month or so after Season 2 ended, I read some purported spoilers that Baltar was indeed going to go with the Cylons, in particular with his Caprica Six. However, I don't know about that now, as some of the episodic photos on very web sites show a scene with Adama, Roslin, et al confronting Baltar sitting at the desk on Colonial 1 (presumbly in space). His Chip Six is standing there as well (red dress, which is apparently Chip Six's calling card).

Apparently, Chip Six can only be there when Cap Six is not (I wonder if the same holds for Cap Six's Chip Baltar -- I like him -- that we haven't seen at all this season).

Another possible spoiler is that one of the Cylon's will be "boxed", that is their consciousness will not be put in a new body after they died, but simply stored on a hard drive somewhere. This could be Cap Six or Boomer (or perhaps even Sharon, whom they view as a traitor -- "Boomer" = the original one whom Cally killed, and Sharon = the one who hooked up with Helo).

The writers might have some fun comparing with the two traitors. Baltar for the humans, and Sharon for the Cylons.

I do know the Cylons are going to get their hands on Hera, Sharon's baby.


-Richard

[davidlpf]

Well if balter does not go with the cylons he is toast.

[publius]

You would think he would be toast, out the airlock courtesy Roslin, but the writers might pull something. What is a plausible way Baltar could sleeze himself out of an airlocking, we can speculate. Maybe he claims he didn't really collaborate, the Cylons put a gun to his head and he was just trying to save what was left of humanity. If he didn't play along, the Cylons would've killed them all, etc, etc. Now, suppose that Gaeta buys the farm somehow, and doesn't live to tell any tales. Baltar could claim *he* was the one who authorized all the leaks to the resistance.

That wouldn't buy him love, but it might save him from the airlock. Roslin knows about him and blondy Cap Six before the attacks, but she can't prove it.

-Richard

[davidlpf]

They may keep him just to kill nearer the end of a series, just like Kai Winn and Dukat in ds9. Pretty much every series has a character you wish they would just throw out and airlock like balter.

[Doodler]

Meh, they're both pretty much the stock villain of their generation. Seems all the worst villains in current scifi are slipping into the same kind of "not-quite-evil" that this Baltar is. Less plain manipulative powermongering cusses who's butt you're desperately trying to plant your boot against, than some slimy manipulative cretin who's got just enough lawyer in him to stay legally untouchable.

John Colicos was always better as Kor to me, anyway. Especially his return in Deep Space 9. :)

[Trantor]

Well, the original Baltar was great as a traditional evil villian. He was bad and he showed it. Kind of like the Emperor Palpatine, it was fun to see him in action. Palpatine was probably the badest of the bad, but the original Baltar was not far behind.

The new Baltar is a totally different animal. He is just selfish, confussed, and nuts. It would be interesting if he was driven to be more like the original. Perhaps, he stays with the Cylons and saves the day for them in some way; Would the Cylons return the favor and give him a powerful position in their society? Or perhaps, we learn that Baltar is not only a Cylon, but a copy of the man who originally created the Cylon Race(he is a genius after all) - making Baltar their father!

In my opinion, the new Baltar is more annoying, but I enjoyed the original Baltar better in the role. And yes, John Colicos was great as Kor.

[davidlpf]

the only good thing about the new baltar is six.

[publius]

My, oh my, oh my, at the lastest episode. Tigh putting Ellen to sleep...........My oh my, I never saw that coming..........

And the sequence of Galactica jumping in mid atmosphere and free-falling while launching vipers was awesome.............This is indeed the best sci-fi show ever.

-Richard

[davidlpf]

well something to look forward to tomorrow night.

[Maksutov]

http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/muede/d035.gif

[tofu]

And the sequence of Galactica jumping in mid atmosphere and free-falling while launching vipers was awesome

Yeah that part was pretty good. I hope they can keep it up.

I wish that the first season had been this good. I was disappointed with the whole "oh wow, all the other battlestars are gone but it happened off-camera, just trust us" thing. The space battles tend to be good. I guess it costs a lot of money to do all that CGI though. But since the series is now so popular maybe they'll have more money to spend on effects and battles. I just hope they don't go back to some of the more boring storyline like the one about the tribunal that turned into a witch hunt.

And I kind of like Baltar's character. He's grown. If he was still only concerned with himself he would have left with the cylons and let them nuke the city.

[Disinfo Agent]

Baltar II is a wimp.

[dgavin]

Warning *spoilers*

My understanding is in the next episode, that the Pro-Cylon humans are getting Lynched by a makeshift tribunal of those that were improsoned and torchered by the Cylons. So there won't be many pro-cylons humans left for a base star crew.

As for Baltar, it's hard to decribe him, one minute he's behaving as if he's a snivelling coward, then later on he shows back bone and courage. I think Daffy Duck summed it up best when he said "You're Despicable".

[publius]

Yeah that part was pretty good. I hope they can keep it up.

I wish that the first season had been this good. I was disappointed with the whole "oh wow, all the other battlestars are gone but it happened off-camera, just trust us" thing. The space battles tend to be good. I guess it costs a lot of money to do all that CGI though. But since the series is now so popular maybe they'll have more money to spend on effects and battles. I just hope they don't go back to some of the more boring storyline like the one about the tribunal that turned into a witch hunt.

And I kind of like Baltar's character. He's grown. If he was still only concerned with himself he would have left with the cylons and let them nuke the city.


I guess it's in the eye of the beholder, but both previous seasons were darn good all in all to me, with the exception of a stinker episode or two like "Black Market" that just wasn't up to par.

At first, I hated the whole New Crapica and the 1-year time jump but now I see it as brilliant. Shook things up real good.

About Baltar. I would not use like except in the sense of love to hate or something like that. This character is just taking self-interested sleeze to all sorts of new heights.

Speaking of character, I guess my favorite part was when Adama thought it was over and they were going to die. He just stopped and said, "It's been an honor, gentlemen".

-Richard