In the episode "The Hub," Baltar was suddenly much more comic, much more silly. Talking to the Cylon centurion, yelling at the hybrid. Was that a note you received, or something you decided to do?

Only in the sense of, I knew there would be this huge explosion. I'm very much of the school that what I will give with one hand, I will take with the other. So because he's going to look like he's going to die, and he's going to say these dreadful things that he thinks in his mind about, "Hey, I'm absolved and it's okay," that that's so serious, it would throw you if the beginning of this thing was not that way at all. So it was kind of, just trying not to endgame so much. But the material lent itself to being kind of silly.

Do you think Baltar is the guy we're constantly waiting to get hiscomeuppance? And yet he always lands on his feet?

That could be. It could be that way. It's really odd. I actually realize now that I'm so much more fond of him than other people. No, I really care about that man. I feel so sorry for him. But yeah, I suppose on some level, he does subvert your idea about where he's going to end up. And it does look like, the episode's always threatening, "We'll expose you! We'll find you!" Etc., and then somehow like teflon he's squeezed out of it, he's somewhere else.

Some fans - such as Major Dojo - are coming up with somewhat convincing rationales behind why Baltar has Christ-like tendencies:

Looking back however you see another very interesting parallel throughout the entire series: the constant testing of his faith in God... That would make him by some measure the Son of God, and by another measure God himself... Suppose that Baltar, a brilliant scientist, was so obsessed with his own immortality that he sought a way to clone himself. Cloning of course is "easy" - the challenge is in the transference of consciousness. But this is exactly what Baltar discovered how to do, and what ultimately was the genesis of a new breed of cylons. In this way, Baltar became the Cylon's Creator, or God.

The first cylon he developed was modeled in his own image: meant to be the vessel for his own consciousness when the time came. However, while it would hold its consciousness, it would lack the knowledge of his true identity. Why? Because Baltar had a plan. In that plan, or destiny if you will, Baltar knew he would be tested in unimaginable ways. To help him along the way he programmed into himself a guide, an angel of sorts to instill in him a faith in himself (God) and is so doing help him survive and fulfill his destiny. This theory even helps to explain how an image of Baltar, a.k.a. "Head Baltar" appears to Six.

There has been a lot of uninformed commentary on the internet comparing Gaius Baltar to Jesus Christ. The people making this comparison obviously have no clue. Gaius does not represent Jesus, he represents Joseph Smith.

Jesus was the Son of God. Gaius, like Joseph Smith, is just a regular person and not divine himself. Joseph Smith was visited by the angel Moroni on numerous occasions (or so he claimed). Gaius is visited regularly by some supernatural entity that reveals itself as a Cylon model Number Six. Or maybe Gaius is just insane, but the Number Six in Gaius' head is supposed to represent the angel Moroni who visited Joseph Smith. Just as Joseph Smith received religious instructions from Moroni, Gaius receives religious instruction from Number Six.

Joseph Smith and Gaius were both politicians. Joseph Smith was the mayor of the town of Nauvoo, and he announced his candidacy for president of the United States in 1844. Gaius Baltar ran for president of the colonies (and won too). See the similarities?

Unlike Jesus, who was convicted at a trial and sentenced to death, both Joseph Smith and Baltar managed to evade any serious jail time at their trials. Joseph Smith was killed by a mob, and not by the law. It seems to me that the writers of BSG are also setting up Gaius Baltar to be killed by a mob. Every time he's out in public, the mob wants to kill him.

Of course, the biggest similarity between the prophet Joseph Smith and Gaius Baltar is the polygamy! Joseph Smith had two dozen or more wives. Gaius has a harem of female followers. Jesus never had any wife at all.

Who Baltar might really be [Major Dojo]
Gaius is Joseph Smith, not Jesus [Battlestar Galactica Blog]

Clothing website Enclothe shows off what just may become the must-have item of the upcoming season - the "Gaius Baltar is my Homeboy" t-shirt:

Sure, Gaius Baltar may be responsible for the extinction of the entire human race, but he's still my homeboy.

In celebration of the final season of Battlestar Galactica returning April 4th, we're geeking out and offering this limited edition Baltar T for one month only. Grab one now before its all over.

Baltar is my homeboy [Enclothe]