Thinking about how Battlestar Galactica wouldâve been different if Baltarâs âHead Sixâ had remained a CylonâŚ
Number Six was the character through whom we mainly learned about the Cylons during the miniseries and season 1. We rarely saw the Cylons directly early on, so the scenes between Six and Baltar were our best look at this machine society, their religion, and their mysterious goals.
As the story and its mythology evolved, the writers changed this character so that she was not the same woman Baltar knew on Caprica and not even a Cylon at all. She ended up being a higher being, an angel/messenger, acting on behalf of the mysterious entity known as God for most of the series.
I donât necessarily dislike the direction the series took, but I do miss what this Six brought to the Cylons when she was their main representative. Their entire vibe shifted as it diverged from this character.
So, hypothetically, how would it have worked out if âHead Sixâ had remained a Cylon throughout?
Maybe Six being a chip in Baltarâs brain was the only way for her to have remained a Cylon. Or maybe she wasnât the chip itself, and this was only a tool that allowed her to communicate with Baltar after she was physically reborn on the Cylon homeworld?
That wouldâve allowed her to be the main viewpoint character if the story ever took us there without making it a different Six. In fact, early episodes and the series bible suggest Cylons of the same model were meant to be much more closely connected to each other. They could communicate through nonverbal means, though they were not a hive mind. So, would a copy of Six in the Cylon world also know whatâs going on with Baltar in the fleet? Maybe this creates plot holes, but early on, I always got the impression that the Cylons knew what the fleet was up to anyway.
Also, if this Six had remained a Cylon, maybe the Cylons wouldâve stayed more closely aligned with the character we knew as the Cylon God. They became a more secular group as the series evolved. But in season 1, they were more mystical and connected to prophecies and the Cylon God.
Itâs hinted that the Cylonsâ big plan is related to prophecies, that they are indirectly guiding the Colonials down a foretold path to Earth. Besides Sixâs comments to Baltar, we saw that Leoben had prophetic visions and insights that he shared with Starbuck (and maybe Roslin?). And the Cylons encountered by the colonials on Caprica and Kobol allowed them to gather clues about the path to Earth with only nominal resistance. This was also hinted at in the series bible.
Maybe the Cylons knew that their future lay in Earth, as a hybrid race with the humans, but that they had to follow the tortuous path of prophecy, which required the humans to go on this journey?
