James Callis as Gaius Baltar
Dr.Gaius Baltar is played by James Callis on the television series,
Battlestar Galactica. Raised in a dairy farm near Cuffle’s Breath Wash, Gaius began studying the Caprican dialect when he was only ten years old because he felt that his native tongue would hinder him from pursuing his dreams. Shortly after he turned 18, Gaius left the colony of Aerolon and headed to the much wealthier and revered colony of Caprica.
Upon arriving on Caprica, he worked long and hard and eventually established himself as one of the colony’s brilliant scientists. He also worked as then President Richard Adar’s defense researcher, and became highly popular for his Strong AI research. Despite his high intelligence, he did not see through the true intentions of female humanoid Cylon, with whom he had an intimate relationship with. The woman manipulated him into giving her access to the colony’s defense system, and when the Cylon’s attacked, she told him that she was, in fact, a Cylon known as Number Six. Because of Gaius’ careless mistake, the Cylons were able to destroy almost all of humanity. However, instead of coming clean, Gaius boarded the Raptor (taking Karl Agathon’s place) and fled to Battlestar Galactica, where he offered his services to the new president, Laura Roslin. His charm and confidence won the people’s votes, and he eventually was elected into the Vice-Presidency, beating out former terrorist, Tom Zarek.
Driven by his selfish desires, he ran against Laura during the next elections, and even enlisted the help of his former Vice-Presidential opponent, Tom. He used the abortion issue that Laura was involved in as leverage, and successfully gained the majority of the votes, especially when he told them about his plans of resettling the colony in New Caprica. Despite his past friendly relations with Laura, Gaius’ decision to run for the presidency was also spurned on by Inner Six, a Number Six copy who may or may not be a product of Gaius’ subconscious. Inner Six did not only serve as Gaius’ love interest, but also as his advisor and protector. When another Number Six copy, Gina, appeared, Gaius found himself in the middle of a strange love triangle between an illusory Number Six and a rape victim Number Six.
(Photo courtesy of Sci Fi)