Six Degrees of Separation

"Six Degrees of Separation" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season 1, Episode 7
Writer(s)	Michael Angeli
Story by
Director	Robert Young
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	107
Nielsen Rating	2.2
US airdate	2005-02-18
CAN airdate	2005-02-26
UK airdate	2004-11-29
DVD release	20 September 2005 US 28 March 2005 UK
Population	survivors
Additional Info
Full Credits
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Litmus	Six Degrees of Separation	Flesh and Bone
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
Continuity Errors Present – View
Deleted Scenes
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
Photo Gallery			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
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Shelly Godfrey, a copy of the humanoid Cylon Number Six claiming to be a former aide to Doctor Amarak, arrives on Galactica and accuses Gaius Baltar of collaborating with the Cylons.

Summary

• Gaius Baltar is mocking Six's belief in God, which quickly escalates into an explosion of anger on his part—and Six vanishes from his head.
• Called to CIC, Baltar "finds" her there, and is confronted by Adama, who claims that "Miss Godfrey" has made some disturbing claims against Baltar.
• With a shock, Baltar comes to realise that "Miss Godfrey" is in fact a copy of Six, and that everyone can see her.
• "Miss Godfrey" then produces photographic evidence she claims will show Baltar planting a bomb in the Colonial Defense Mainframe on Caprica - a claim he strenuously denies.
• The image itself requires a full day of processing to reveal whether it does in fact show Baltar as "Godfrey" claims. Until that time, Adama suspends all work on Baltar's Cylon detector and places an embargo on Baltar leaving the ship—something even Roslin is unwilling to override.
• But Roslin herself is far from well—during her call with Baltar, she collapses, causing a fleet-wide scare when Billy orders the flight deck to make a fleet-wide broadcast requesting medical assistance. It transpires that Roslin has been overdoing her cancer medication - but the truth is hidden by a story that she has the flu.
• As Felix Gaeta works on enhancing the image, Baltar becomes more and more desperate for news - even following Gaeta into the head (lavatory) for news on his progress.
• Elsewhere, "Miss Godfrey" meets with Adama in private, and behaves in typical Six fashion - coming on to him.
• "Godfrey's" behavior prompts Adama to order a watch be kept on her movements on the ship.
• Elsewhere on Galactica, Tyrol and Cally are analysing the captured Cylon Raider, using Kara "Starbuck" Thrace's notes, but not making much progress, despite comments to the contrary to Colonel Tigh, who isn't fooled.
• Tigh visits Starbuck in sickbay, and despite her efforts not to fall for his reverse psychology, he goads her into getting out of her cot and going to help Tyrol and his crew.
• Boomer arrives at the Raider, and after an awkward moment with Tyrol, suggests that they might make better progress if they treated the Raider more like an animal – a hunter – than a machine. Her behavior with the Raider, stroking it as she speaks, spooks Tyrol.
• During a meeting with Adama, at which he protests his innocence and tries to get Adama to make "Shelly Godfrey" to submit to a test with his Cylon detector, Baltar learns that Adama plans to have the detector dismantled if the photographic evidence points to Baltar's guilt.
• During his conversation with Adama, he continues to search the house in his mind, trying to find "his" Six.
• Driven to extreme measures as the time required to enhance the image draws to a close, Baltar sets off a fire alarm as a distraction, breaks into the lab where Gaeta has been working and tries to destroy the evidence as it does indeed reveal his face - only to be stopped by Adama and arrested.
• Down on the hangar deck, Kara Thrace joins Lee Adama, Tyrol and Cally in their investigations of the Raider - even to the extent of climbing inside the craft despite her leg injury ^{(TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again")}.
• Tyrol repeats Boomer's advice to Thrace, and despite feeling incredibly stupid Thrace plays along and encourages the Raider to "giddy up." To her astonishment, the Raider powers up.
• In the brig, Baltar is visited by Roslin, whom he believes has come to oversee his release. Instead, she is uncharacteristically vindictive, stating she knew he was a traitor. Baltar is infuriated that the President would condemn him solely on her "gut feeling."
• In the pilots' locker room, a tired-seeming Boomer opens her locker door only to find that the word CYLON has been written in yellow on the mirror on the other side. She desperately rubs it off with her hands, declaring that it's not true.
• As a result of Roslin's visit, Baltar finally sees his only way out is to do what Six has been urging him to do: give himself over to God's will. He gets down on his knees and starts praying.
• He repeats his prayer several times, and suddenly "Six" is beside him once more, telling him everything will be all right.
• Gaeta enters the brig and throws Baltar into a wild panic: he is convinced he is about to be summarily executed.
• Calming Baltar, Gaeta tells Baltar he is a free man - the photographs delivered by "Shelly Godfrey" have proven to be fakes.
• As Baltar is released, Adama learns that "Shelly Godfrey" has literally vanished, her watchers reporting she turned a corner in a corridor, and when they got to it, she had simply disappeared. The only thing left are her glasses.
• On Colonial One, Roslin holds a press conference publicly exonerating Baltar.
• While acknowledging the act, Baltar meets with Six in his fantasy world, and she points out that he is now next to invincible: he's been through a trial by fire, and no-one would dare accuse him of acting against the Fleet again. She then starts stripping as she climbs the stairs to the bedroom.
• Following her, Baltar can't help asking her one question: was "Shelly Godfrey" ever really "here"? Her response is a coy smile.

On Caprica

• Karl "Helo" Agathon and Valerii are on the run from Cylon Centurions.
• As they camp out for the night, Agathon confesses he couldn't bear to see anything happen to her.
• Hiding a smile of victory, Valerii silences Agathon's words with a kiss, and as a thunderstorm threatens, they make love.

Notes

• A week has passed since "Litmus."
• Sharon "Boomer" Valerii is accidentally revealing more and more of her Cylon nature.
• Karl "Helo" Agathon has passed another test on Caprica; he's now sexually active with "Caprica" Valerii.
• Felix Gaeta admires Gaius Baltar and may be his one true friend on Galactica.
• Baltar appears very close to completing his Cylon detector.
• Cylon Raiders are purpose-bred, semi-intelligent bio-machines, as later proven in "Six of One."
• The Colonials use QWERTY keyboards, in keeping with the "naturalistic" feel of the series.
• According to the "The Story So Far" special, which summarizes the first two seasons, it was another crewmember who wrote "Cylon" on Valerii's mirror. "The Plan" adds some debate to this when Valerii (under her summoned "sleeper agent" persona) confesses to Cavil her belief that she wrote it.
• Shelly Godfrey claims to have gained the information about Baltar from Doctor Amarak, who was previously referred to in season one's premiere, "33". Prior to the destruction of Olympic Carrier, Amarak warned President Roslin that a traitor was in her midst.

Analysis

• There are those who erroneously believed that Shelly Godfrey to be the "clearest indication" that Baltar's Six is not only an implant in Baltar's head―but that "she" is in direct contact with other Cylons scattered within the Fleet, and they are working in concert with one another in order to fully subvert Baltar to their will. The idea that Shelly Godfrey is a humanoid Cylon working to prevent Baltar from finalizing his Cylon detector would make her arrival on Galactica at the precise moment Six vanishes from Baltar's head push coincidence to the limits of credibility. Later events, including "The Plan," show Godfrey to be a Six working for Cavil trying to discredit Baltar due to his Cylon detector. Godfrey is indicated to have made the evidence easy to find out due to her own attraction to Baltar and she disappears as another Six, disguised as her, takes her place long enough for her to slip away while the other Six presumably just removes her disguise afterwards. Godfrey's complete disappearance is due to the fact that Cavil blew her out of one of Galactica's airlocks as she was now useless, though she undoubtedly later resurrected in the Cylon fleet.
• Godfrey's mission seems to be to strengthen Baltar's position within the Fleet by using evidence that can be discredited relatively easily. Further accusations of treason against Baltar will be more suspect.

Questions

Answered Questions

For answers to the questions in this section, click here.

• Is Head Six in communication with her "sisters" in the Fleet?
• Will Gaius Baltar forgive Laura Roslin for her condemnation of him?
• Even if Baltar completes his Cylon detector, will any results it gives be trustworthy?
• Who wrote "CYLON" on Valerii's locker mirror? Could it have been Ms. Godfrey, a suspicious human crewmember, or Valerii herself?
• Where did Shelly Godfrey go after her disappearance?
• If Godfrey is still on Galactica, is Valerii unwittingly helping her like she may have helped Aaron Doral in "Litmus"?

Unanswered Questions

• What is the range of actions in Baltar's fantasy world that are translated over into the real world?
• Why do Cylon spines glow red during the act of sex, and is this seen by their partners?

Official Statements

Cast

• James Callis discusses his approach to portraying Baltar in the episode:

James Callis: "I really wanted to find as many different emotions as I could in this episode. The storyline is actually very serious: Baltar is accused of treason and he's going to get shoved out of an airlock. What could be more serious than that? But there's a lot of humor in the episode too, which comes out of seeing someone struggle with something really serious that they're not really equipped to deal with."

• Tricia Helfer on distinguishing Shelly Godfrey from other Number Six models:

Tricia Helfer: "I thought that episode was a great opportunity. After I read the script, I immediately called Ron Moore and told him how I wanted to play Shelly Godfrey. I wanted to distinguish her from the Number Six you see with Baltar and the Number Six on Caprica by making her a little bit more straightforward and intellectual. She doesn't rely so much on her sensuality. Ron liked the idea and allowed me to do it."

• Helfer on Shelly's seduction attempt with Adama:

Helfer: "That was fun. It was a different type of seduction scene from what Baltar's Number Six would do. Eddie and I both agreed that Shelly should try to appeal more to Adama's emotions and try to get into his mind that way. We discussed how it's often quite hard for a man to have a woman cry in front of him and not feel the desire to protect her, and I think that was what Shelly tried to use to her advantage. But it didn't work."

• Callis on the bathroom scene improvisation:

Callis: "I think the line was originally going to be, 'No more Mr Nice Guy', but 'No more Mr Nice Gaius' just seemed obvious to me. When I first did it, I remember David Eick looking at me and laughing but then going, 'I'm not sure that's going to work for the audience.' But he went with it in the end, and it's funny!"

• Alessandro Juliani on shooting the bathroom scene:

Juliani: "That scene was definitely a highlight of the first season for me. It was very specific that the camera stayed out the stalls — in fact in the script, it said in block capital letters, 'STAY OUTSIDE THE STALLS'. That obviously was adhered to, which I think contributed to it being so comical. James and I had a very good time shooting it. You can imagine the outtakes from that scene — they hit the cutting room floor, but they made it into our gag reel."

Crew

• Ronald D. Moore on the episode's conception:

Moore: "We were all in love with the idea of exploring what would happen if Baltar walked into CIC and Number Six was there for real. We didn't know what that meant, but there was just something really intriguing about that idea, and we knew we wanted to do it. We also knew we wanted to do something with Baltar, just because he is such an interesting character. And we knew the episode was going to have a lot of humor because of Baltar and Number Six."

• Moore on defending the bathroom scene:

Moore: "I was really adamant about keeping that. The network had its concerns and wanted to cut it at one point, and I was like, 'No! I know how to do this and make it work. Just trust me!' I just saw it in my head. I knew we'd stay outside the stalls and stay on their feet, and that was how it was going to work."

• Moore on the episode's ending:

Moore: "I thought it was nice to end it on a very disquieting, 'What the hell just happened?' kind of note. You know Shelly was physically there, but I wanted to leave what happened to Shelly a mystery at the end of that episode."

• David Eick on director Robert Young:

Eick: "We had a very interesting experience with Robert Young. He's a very senior film director, who had also never done anything like this before. He brought a very personal, performance-intensive approach to the show."

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Gaius Baltar to William Adama, confronting the accusation that he may be a traitor:

Gaius Baltar: And I don't like being accused of participating in the genocide of the human race based solely on the word of a woman whom I have already indicated to you may well be a Cylon agent...I did not conspire with the Cylons. I'm an innocent man who is being convicted in the court of public opinion without trial.

• In sickbay, Kara Thrace is about to start walking after recovering from her knee injury, sustained in "You Can't Go Home Again":

Lee Adama: C'mon Starbuck, you can do it.

(Kara Thrace gets out of bed, using it as a support.)

Adama (mockingly): Ah, that smarts. (walks over to Thrace on crutches) That smarts. But I. Don't. Care.

Thrace: You don't care?

Adama: I don't care. Because your pain is my entertainment. (hands crutches over to Kara) Your Crutches of Death, sir. Use them wisely.

Thrace: Shut up.

Doctor Sherman Cottle: It's going to hurt like hell, but it's supposed to.

Thrace: (wryly) Thanks doc.

(Thrace starts out, slowly)

Adama: No pain, no gain. No cliché left unturned as Kara Thrace returns to the world of the walking. Can she do it or will she fall on her ass?

Thrace: I swear to the Gods that I'm going to beat the crap out of both of you as soon as I get better... (pauses, retreats) No, I can't.

Adama: Yes you can. You did it.

Thrace: No I can't. I can't. I can't.

Cottle: You're not going to get better lying on your back.

Thrace: (getting on the bed) Oh, frak off.

Adama: We'll just take a break for five minutes.

Thrace: I don't want to do it again. I want a pill. Now. Please.

Cottle: Sorry, but we're weaning you off the magic pills starting today. Besides, I need them for myself. (ambles off)

Guest stars

• Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Galen Tyrol
• Tahmoh Penikett as Lieutenant Karl "Helo" Agathon
• Kandyse McClure as Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla
• Paul Campbell as Billy Keikeya
• Alessandro Juliani as Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
• Donnelly Rhodes as Dr. Sherman Cottle
• Nicki Clyne as Specialist Cally Henderson
• Christina Schild as Playa Palacios
• Biski Gugushe as Journalist Eick