Count Baltar
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| Baltar | |
|---|---|
 John Colicos as Count Baltar in the opening credits for Battlestar Galactica |
|
| Race | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Portrayed by | John Colicos |
| Rank | Count |
| Colony | Picon |
| Affiliation | Colonials / Cylons |
In the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica movie and ABC television series, Count Baltar was a leading antagonist character who betrayed the human race to its enemy, the robot race of Cylons. He was portrayed by Canadian actor John Colicos.
Towards the last years of The Thousand Yahren War between the Cylons and the Twelve Colonies of Man, Baltar acted as a liaison between the Twelve Worlds and the Cylons, and arranged for a peace conference that would bring an end to the war. Unknown to the Colonials, however, Baltar had made a deal with the Cylon Imperious Leader: Baltar would conduct the peace conference to lull the Colonials into a false sense of security, while the Cylons prepared for a massive attack on the Colonial military and the Twelve Worlds. In return, the Imperious Leader promised Baltar that Baltar's own Colony would be spared from the attack, and Baltar would be installed as dictator of that Colony. (It was never stated which of the Twelve Worlds was Baltar's home Colony, though it is indicated to be Picon).
Since the Cylons are dedicated to the complete annihilation of humanity, the Imperious Leader went back on his word, and destroyed all twelve Colonies in the attack (with a handful of humans fleeing in civilian ships under the protection of the sole surviving Battlestar, the Galactica). Baltar went before the Imperious Leader, enraged that the Cylons had not held up their end of the bargain. The Imperious Leader responded by explaining to Baltar that every human being must be exterminated, and sentenced Baltar to death.
In the theatrical version, Cylon Centurions executed Baltar on the spot by beheading him.
In the television version, the Imperious Leader ordered that Baltar be brought away for public execution; soon thereafter the Imperious Leader was killed when the Colonials (in a viper attack led by Apollo and Starbuck) destroyed his base ship over the planet Carrilon.
The succeeding Imperious Leader spared Baltar's life, believing that Baltar, being human, would have a superior insight into the minds of the remnants of humanity which the Cylons were pursuing. To this end, the Imperious Leader installed Baltar as the commander of a Cylon base ship, with Lucifer as Baltar's second in command.
For approximately the first half of the televised Battlestar Galactica series, Baltar was the commander of the Cylon forces that ruthlessly pursued the Galactica and its rag-tag fugitive fleet of civilian ships. In the episode "War of the Gods," the charismatic miracle worker Count Iblis influenced Baltar to voluntarily surrender himself to the Colonials. For the remainder of the series, Baltar was a prisoner on board the Colonial prison barge. The episode "Baltar's Escape" featured an attempt by Baltar and other imprisoned villains (Borellian Nomen and Eastern Alliance officers) to escape from the prison barge.
In the final episode of the series, "The Hand of God," Baltar made a deal with Adama: Baltar provided the Colonials with technical information on Cylon basestars (which Apollo and Starbuck used in that episode to destroy a basestar), in exchange for which Adama agreed to release Baltar on the first habitable planet that the Fleet passed.
In material deleted from the final broadcast of the episodes, it is explained that Baltar was originally a Colonial military officer who led an expedition to discover new sources of tylium for mining. After discovering a particularly rich tylium deposit on Carillon, Baltar decided to go into business for himself, and left the military. He falsified records, declaring Carillon too minimal for mining, and set himself up with the Cylons and Ovions who were mining Carillon.
