James Callis - Dr. Gaius Baltar - GalacticaBBS

QUOTE (Starbuck1128 @ Jun 5 2009, 01:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You warned me...but I had to watch. Love that metrosexual thing... And, being a "Smurfette" (Thanks a lot, Tinman!), I like 'em smaller...they are easier to control that way...heh, heh, heh.

But, seriously, my favorite thing he did with Baltar was the unexpected flashes of Much Needed humor. Especially when playing a scene with the unseen Head Cap. He was brilliant! And, his character arc was fascinating and had depth. He really did change and grow by the finale. I think/hope he has a great future ahead of him.

Just as I thought (after meeting her and seeing her onstage in person) that Katee Sackhoff could be the new Jennifer Aniston/Meg Ryan (only a lot less annoying), I also thought James Callis could have a brilliant career ahead of him as a comic actor lead in movies as well.

My advice to both? Get new agents who can get them BOTH out of the Sci Fi channel ghetto! Stat! Both actors (hell, ALL of the BSG actors) are far too talented to waste on routine, made-for-video/TV actioners.

I think we can all agree it's actually a really tough call with Battlestar to pick a 'favorite' actor due to the calibre being just so damned high on the show. But if I had to name one, it would be for me James. The guy never ceased to amaze me in what he managed to bring to the fore: one minute devious and cunning for no other reason than his own selfishness and self preservation, the next the deepest darkest despair and lonliness in his eyes that could break your heart.

I think that is why I really connect with his character - out of everyone on the show (and I realise this is all relative and not everyone will maybe agree with me), he's the most human because he is the most flawed. He's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and he makes descisions based upon moment to moment - just like I think we all do. There is a lot to be said for forethought and planning, but at the end of the day we all have that moment where descisons are made and we're stuck with the ramifications and consequences of them.

There are so many scenes I could mention where James' acting blew me away, but the one where this really hit me hard was during Season Threes 'Taking A Break From All Your Worries' - here is a man wracked by the deepest guilt, with absolutely nobody to confide in apart from 'Head Six', and he's now being tortured by his own people. The sheer sense of utter lonliness (and the fear of that lonliness) absolutely crushed me. But to be able to actually convey that in such a small window of a few scenes in one episode? I've just no words to describe how that made me feel.

I'm sure we're all quite aware by now that James, like the rest of the cast, is an intelligent and affable guy with a huge amount of personal integrity. I've posted a few videos below that although may be dotted around the site in other areas, are not present on this thread and I think deserve to be.

You know that age-old question: "If you could invite anyone you wanted to a dinner party, who would it be?" My answer would be James, every time.

Finally, I implore all of you reading this to set aside 90minutes of your time and watch the following fan event recorded in Bonn on 12th September 2009. You can stream it on Scifi-trek.de's page, but there are also two download links available too - the first being a lower quality flv file, the second a much higher quality mp4 file.

Being the kind of animated and funny guy he is, 'An Evening With James Callis' is a lot of fun, and a joy to watch with some really interesting stories being related about his time on Battlestar Galactica.

Enjoy.

An Evening with James Callis