#14: Baltar's Escape

[Croft2014]

Another solid, enjoyable if largely unremarkable episode. The Nazis .... sorry, Eastern Alliance flunkies aren't up to much but are amusingly cliched. However, John Collicos remains good value as Baltar. The series really does lose something when Colicos exits the series; a wonderfully old style hissable villain played to a turn. It's a shame they never really developed his character with more nuance.

[johnnybear]

John Colicos as Baltar was excellent, much, much better than the other guy in the remake! I preferred the Eastern Alliance Enforcers here more than in Greetings From Earth and they seemed more militarily trained here than in the last episode where it was shown to be so easy to beat them and take control of their destroyer!
JB

[Croft2014]

Much as I liked Colicos, the role he has in the classic series is more of a cartoon character. The remake is far superior in every way bar one ... it's just not fun and I have no nostalgia for it.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Over the top villains were commonplace in the days of BSG 1978, as were the all too perfect good guys. In comparison to today’s storytelling, it may seem a bit cardboard I agree. But honestly, I miss those days.

Stories should contain a reason to exist: to teach a lesson or challenge social issues. To do that effectively in the scope of a short TV story, you need to use archetypes. Colicos was perfect for the time and the role.

I disagree that the reboot was better in every way. You are of course entitled to your opinion and I absolutely respect it. My opinion is the reboot is typical of the modern banal entertainment that is churned out of Hollywood with these tiring multi-season story arcs. They focus solely on “emotional conflict” without providing any reason to exist beyond the experience of the moment. What was the reboot’s point... humanity repeats its mistakes? Okay, great. That point could have been told in one episode like a great Twilight Zone plot. Instead they took 3 seasons to get that across while filling in all the rest with a lot of arguing and conflict about nothing. Yawn.

I don’t see any point of watching “things happen to people” and listening to them argue with each other incessantly. That’s just lazy writing that seems to have started with Lost. Lots of mysteries that go nowhere and mean nothing. What’s the point? I want writers to put in some effort to provide thoughtful commentary on humanity.

[johnnybear]

Yes I agree that the old villains were very over the top in their evil and they had no real reason that we knew of to be evil where as today we know that the villain doesn't see himself that way and thinks that he is doing what he does for the betterment of all! But Colicos was a far superior baddie to the Alexander Siddiq clone of James Callis! All we know about the original Baltar's ambitions was that he wanted his colony to be spared the Cylon aggression and then to be imbued as the supreme leader of the human survivors but later on he tries to trick Adama into returning with him to Cylon and wipe out the machines as their forces are scattered throughout the galaxies! Was he being true or false? Probably both!
JB

[Croft2014]

James Callis was superb as Baltar giving a nuanced performance and managing to make him somewhat sympathetic. I doubt whether Larson et al had any great nuanced planning in Baltar's future had a second series been commissioned.

[bishopdonmiguel]

You shouldn’t have sympathy for Baltar, he’s an evil traitor that sold out humankind to the machines for the promise of personal gain. John Colicos’ Baltar was unquestionably the bad guy. His crimes were unforgivable. I’m not sure what James Callis’ Baltar was... perhaps certifiably crazy? Certainly makes any point the show was trying to make a muddled mess. No disrespect to Callis by the way. His acting was excellent, it’s the writing I take issue with.

[johnnybear]

If the second season had of been made, would we have seen Baltar back with lucifer on their Basestar? Or would he have been dumped on the nearest ice planet with enough food for two years and a portable cabin with blankets and we'd never see him again anyway? When Thames showed the series in 1980/81 they played Mission Galactica last after Hand of God and in that you could assume that Baltar had been rescued by Lucifer and was up to his old tricks!
JB

[Croft2014]

Baltar is human, he has different facets some of which may be relatatable if not exactly good. Look at the superb film Downfall (2004) which quite rightly portrayed Adolf Hitler as a rounded human being; compare it to Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973) which tells the same story but much more superficially. The writing of the 2003-09 is superb as are the performances and production, but it lacks levity and I don't have nostalgia for it. That said, I do wish that the writing and science were better in the original series.

[johnnybear]

The original series did have a slight cheesiness to it I must admit like it's reliance on the Wild West style planets they kept landing on and it almost seemed as though life was pretty easy on the Galactica for everyone except those in the refugee ships which we hardly ever saw outside of the one or two times they were mentioned! The newer show was more grittier and harsh but to me it didn't have the charm or the excitement! The only time I really sat up and took notice was when the four members of the crew heard that music and realised they were Cylons themselves! But much wasn't really made of that afterwards sadly!
JB

[Cylon-Knight]

I never was keen on the Eastern Alliance in Battlestar Galactica.

But I loved them in Spaceballs.
Hail Skroob!

Alas... Centurions were beaten not by the Colonials, but by bean counters.
Their chrome costumes became a casualty of earnings vs expenses...
...sew up some suits... and create a wonderfully trite new villain subset out of nowhere that has nothing to do with anything. Eastern Alliance - HOORAY!

I fear that Baltar (campy or calculated) - nor the Cylons - would have been in season two at all. Nope. Human villains of the week like others ala Lost in Space, Star Trek or the impending Buck Rogers.
(< Gary wouldn't have been in season two either... )

[johnnybear]

Do you really believe that neither the Cylons or Baltar would have appeared in the second season? I would have thought they would have been! Perhaps not as often as in season one but they are as much a part of the series as the main characters like Adama, Apollo and Starbuck! Plus Commander Cain and Count Iblis too! I wonder if the Pegasus was still out near Gammoray hitting and blasting at Cylon targets or were they actually destroyed by taking on the two advancing Basestars?
JB

[oneofbaltarsfewfans]

It's a Baltar episode, so by default, I like it.

But seriously, I do love the addition of the Nomen, and Lloyd Bochner as Com. Leiter.

[johnnybear]

Both Leiter, his Enforcers and the Borellian Nomen are more vicious here than they were in both their introductory episodes, The Man With Nine Lives & Greetings From Earth! It makes you wonder how they were so easily beaten first time around! I wonder what sort of existence Maaga and his boys had on Lunar one afterwards with the Eastern alliance leaders?
JB

[Specter]

Baltar's Escape is my favorite standard-length episode. John Colicos really owns the screen as Baltar goes through alternating triumphs and disappointments, and Tigh gets a great chance to shine as he gets increasingly fed up with Siress Tinia. Nice to see the Nomen again. Wonder what happens when those guys land on Lunar Seven.