Best Written & Best Played Character

[Monkeyking1969]

I talked a little about Adama in one post, and we slipped into Admiral Cain for a few replies. But who was the BEST written and acted character?

For me it has to be Saul Tigh played by Michael Hogan. And, you know maybe his role wasn't well written since if you think back Tigh could have been in a Latin Telenovela given the twists and turns that character took. But Michael Hogan always took what was on the page and made you 'believe' such a person could exist even if the character he played was the impossible personification of down & out human pain. I can’t think of another character on the show where they gave a character such a wide arc, yet throughout it all they/he kept him Colonel Tigh.

Second place would be Tom Zarek played by Richard Hatch. They never gave the character his due and they rushed his lines, but Hatch pulled it through and always took what was given on the page and made it a 100% effort. Sadly, the caveat that he didn’t get many lines and his due is what makes it second place.

Who would you choose?

[brian]

Good topic. I think a strong case can be make for Tigh. He had an incredible arc, and even though I still think his being a Cylon was lame, Hogan played it believably.

Let's run down a few other characters.

Baltar. This might be my 2nd choice. I think Baltar was the hardest to write for, because he was the "villain" in some respects, and maintaining a balance of liking and hating him was tough. I think James Callis was one of the top actors on the show and took the character to places that other actors would have just reduced to camp. However, after the trial and the formation of his ridiculous harem, I thought the character started to lose it. There was one episode (written by Espenson, natch) towards the end that seemed like a caricature.

Adm Adama. This character was consistent, and well acted, but how much of a character arc was there from 33 to the finale? He was loyal to his ship and his family, and a skeptic of God(s). Not much change there. Yet there were the inexplicable scenes now and then where he'd put Callie against the wall to be executed.

Lee Adama. No comment.

Starbuck. The exact opposite of Tigh. Her arc was all over the place, vacillating between a hero and complete asshole (but too often the latter), and then veering into mystical nonsense. Katee did a great job playing a character that was so tormented--perhaps too much so, because the writers recognized that talent and went back to it again and again.

I could go on at length about the Eight and Six characters. I think those were great, and kudos to Grace and Tricia for pulling off what had to be a tough assignment.

[parsnip1981]

Yep - Baltar and Tigh no doubt.

I 'd also thrown in the chief. Aaron Douglas was sensational in the role throughout.

If i had to choose I would go for Baltar, and wasn't he great in escape velocity Brian!
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Chief Galen Tyrol: But how do you know I'm human?
Brother Cavil: Oh, well, maybe because I'm a Cylon, and I've never seen you at any of the meetings.

[Monkeyking1969]

All good choices...Baltar, Six, and the 'cheif'. And lets be honest, althought I hated the character, Mary McDonnell played the president well. But. she loeses because honestly they whip-sawed the character around with too much melodrama.

And, on second thought aside from the last few shows I felt the character of Six played by Tricia Helfer was in excellent role that she played well. In all teh roles of Six she played from Caprica, Head, Captive, etc she played them all prety well.

[Skiznot]

Chief!

I connected with his emotional turmoil more than any other character. Well written. Extremely good performances.
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Begin reintegration of right Hemisphere subroutines – There’s a hole in the bucket dear Liza, dear Liza - The long view returns patterns and repetitions – All this has happened before and all will happen again – End of Line.