I only saw portions of the BSG miniseries (though I’ve since seen every ep. of the regular series). So my only info. on the background on Dr. Baltar is that he (a) was given Helo’s place on the Raptor and (b) he became the science advisor, etc., on account of being such a super genius.
So … he’s obviously a traitor. But what did he do in the miniseries prior to his evacuation on the Raptor? What was his involvement with sexy No. 6 in the miniseries (who I did see kill that infant on Caprica…)? Why the heck (or is it still unexplained) is he still chatting with the presumably nonexistent No. 6?
In the mini-series, Baltar doesn’t at first know that Six is a Cylon. He thinks she’s just some hot scientist babe that he likes to shag. Baltar is responsible for much of the programming of the world’s defense systems. He is supposed to make them secure from outside infiltration (aka, the Cylons). Number Six has been helping him and has supplied him with many of the “breakthroughs” that earned Baltar praise as a ‘genius.’ So he implements her designs into the defense grid. Then the Cylons show up and attack. The colonial ships are helpless because the Cylons are able to disable them by sending out some kind of signal that shuts down their ships’ computers. The human defense system is basically worthless, because the programming that Six gave Baltar actually allowed the Cylons to control it. Six tells Baltar that she’s a Cylon and he realizes that he unknowingly helped bring about the destruction of his world.
(The Galactica and its older squadron of fighter ships are not affected by the Cylons’ kill signal because they are still operating on older technology.)
Number Six, for reasons not completely explained, helps Baltar survive the initial attack on Caprica. She also implies at some point that she might have implanted a microchip in his head while he was sleeping, and this is the reason that he can see her and converse with her when others can’t. This hasn’t been shown for a fact, yet, and there is still the possibility (though I think it slim) that the Number Six Baltar currently sees is a product of his own mind–in other words, he’s gone mad.
In any event, Baltar is driven by guilt and the fear that someone will find out that he was responsible for rendering his world practically defenseless against the Cylons. His actions are practically always purely selfish–he is always seeking to cover his own ass and work situations to his own advantage, which is what got him into trouble in the first place.
Also, even before Baltar knew Six was a Cylon, he still was culpable because he thought she was “only” working for a defense contractor looking for insider info that would win them a lucrative government contract. He knew she was boffing him in exchange for access to classified information, but he didn’t care.
BTW: What the heck name did she go by? Baltar surely didn’t call her “Six” or “Hey you” for months.
Baltar has really gone downhill since the pilot. Yes he was a cad, selfish, and shallow, but he still displayed intelligence, sophistication and even hints of character. But now he looks and acts like an imbecile. I really hope they aren’t going to turn him into a Doctor Smith.
Blech. Give me the Beltar from the original series. Betrayed the human race to the Cylons in hopes of being appointed its overseer after conquest. Didn’t get it. Then spent the rest of the series working for the Cylons, trying to hunt down the remaining humans, just because. Dude was evil! Not a wussy dupe like this Beltar.
Th Cylon detector storyline has gone on way too long. I groaned when Six made the comment about everyone passing the test. Really boring to be dragged on so long.
The new Cylons would have no need to a human to help them. They would simply kill Baltair and move on.
Well you have no idea what their plans for Balter are. It most isn’t necessarily to do with the Cylon detector
As Balter is basically a dupe, I feel a little sorry for him. This does quickly evaporate however with his ego and selfishness. I definately agree that he is going down hill, especially since the mini-series. I think this is intended to be a descent into madness, which is a result of his realization of his unintentional involvement in the Cylon massacere. It is also possible, the way that they are writing the “chipped” six, that it really is all in his head and it is just part of his madness. Whether it is or not, he is surely going crazy.
It could only be about the Cylon detector. Now Cylons can not worry about being detected because Baltair is giving everyone a pass. As for the Cylons killing him, I’m referring to the characters role in the original to this one. In the original the Cylons needed a human to hunt down other humans. In this one, they are far more efficient at doing it themselves.
I wonder how soon it will be until Baltar starts falsely accusing non-Cylons of being Cylons in order to remove threats to him. But we know so far that the senior staff, as it were, has been cleared, right? Adama, Tigh, the Prez, Lee–as well as Ellen and Boomer. So he can’t easily accuse them. I forget–did the doc clear Starbuck, too? Or was she seeing him for generic medical reasons relating to her injury?
The first thing that occurred to me is that how do we know, and how does Baltar know, that he really survived the attack? My speculation is that Baltar was replaced by a Cylon and that’s one of the reasons why he’s so easily manipulated, viz., the “visions” of Six, etc.
If he was a cylon there would be no need to manipulate him, as he would be “one of them.” Also we don’t know that they make cylons based on existing humans. We do know that there are only 12 models, so they are not going around killing people and replacing them with look-alikes, unless a model already looked like an existing person.
I would like to see Baltar develop some character and maybe find some way to resist Number Sex - and yeah, what name did he know her by? They have made mention of how well he multitasks, and once had a scene where he answered Number Sex and the humans and the same time, each hearing a unique and different meaning. Maybe they will let him develop that into something he can use against that Cylon chip in his head.
Just to play devil’s advocate–Boomer demonstrates that Cylons aren’t under perfect control. The BSG Boomer isn’t a fully-conscious Cylon, and is disobedient (witness bomb no. 3). The Caprica Boomer also seems to be wavering in its Cylon loyalties.
True, but it’s been 40 years since the Cylon war, and even though this is the first year that the Cylons went to the treaty space station, we don’t know how long the human-looking models have been around. They very well could have been living in the Colonies as human beings, in deep cover, for more than three decades.
Those are exactly my thoughts on Baltar, and about the only thing that will redeem him for me. Otherwise, he’s just too whacky, too useless, and certainly not evil enough to keep around, story-wise.
One cannot help but wonder if the Cylons are studying human behavior in themselves, or at least love and alrtuism. Perhaps Boomer is being tested and not Helo.
I’m sure this must have been raised elsewhere, but thinking re: the Cylons made me come up with this cheesy hypothesis for the ultimate end of the series:
The Cylons do find Earth, and, in fact, populate Earth. WE are the Cylons, and we don’t even know it. Dah-DUMM!!
I agree with this, and I have commented this could be the case (see my Could the President be a cylon thread), but my point was that Balter would not be replaced, as the orginal poster argued. In this case Balter would have been made cylon from the beginning.
I think that some cylons (six in particular) may begin to wonder if boomer is a “defective” model. I have commented on how she is sometimes may be just a little too human for cylon tastes.
I get the impression that the cylons clearly want to be “more human,” and are certainly interested in human emotion and study us, but in general don’t quite understand it yet. I think that part of the story may be “growth” in certain cylons.
