Talk:Messengers/Archive 1

We should add some more specific examples of what the hallucinations have done. A picture of Internal-Baltar with Six would also be good.--Noneofyourbusiness 15:48, 14 March 2006 (EST)

Aside from marking the page as primarily speculative, I agree this page should stay. This is one of the things that people immediately notice when watching this series, and therefore deserves a place here. --Durandal 01:02, 20 March 2006 (CST)

"Most likely"[edit]

The article suggests that Six is "most likely" an actual, downloaded personality on a chip in his head. I disagree with this, in part because RDM himself has stated otherwise in his podcasts, but also because I think they've been very careful, for the most part, to leave the question balanced. Gaius Baltar is a genius. If Internal-Six is an hallucination, then he's officially a mad genius, but he's a genius, nonetheless. Almost all of his insights into Cylon motives, actions, and character can be explained simply by his being a genius with multiple personality disorder.

And example, from the miniseries: Six points out the device (later revealed to be a kind of transponder) on the underside of the DRADIS console. Baltar (like Gaeta, who admitted having seen it) has undoubtedly seen this device out of the corner of his eye the whole time he's been in CIC, and it is pretty obviously out of place with the rest of the ship's tech. A "normal" person would either ignore it (as Gaeta did, thinking it was part of the transformation of the ship into a museum) or start speculating silently to themselves what it might be and how it got there. The difference is that Baltar now has a dissociative personality that closely resembles his Cylon lover to talk these things through. Everything he knows or speculates that's related to the Cylons now comes from this split personality, because he's desperately trying to evade his own complicity.

In short, it's just as likely (if not more) that Baltar diagnosed himself correctly from the beginning. He's basically gone mad. And since he's not being treated, he will undoubtedly get worse before he gets better.--Uncle Mikey 14:41, 14 March 2006 (CST)

Clarified.--Noneofyourbusiness 16:19, 14 March 2006 (EST)

I think this page is redundant and should be removed.--The Merovingian 14:56, 14 March 2006 (CST)

Why? It discusses both Internal-Six and Internal-Baltar, who constitute a single phenomenon or two closely related phenomena, so it doesn't belong under either Number Six or Gaius Baltar. All the information from the Internal-Six section of the Six article has been removed and put here. --Noneofyourbusiness 16:26, 14 March (EST)

I disagree with Merv that it's redundant, but I do think a lot of it is speculative. We've been tightening the standards on speculation in episode articles, but I'm not certain what the standard is outside them.--Uncle Mikey 15:12, 14 March 2006 (CST)

Since little concrete is known about the hallucinations the page about them is of course full of speculation, but they're too important not to have a page. The changes in prevailing theories as new evidence airs is noted. I agree that episode articles should not be speculative. Also, most of this content was already on this site, it has merely been moved to this more appropriate page.--Noneofyourbusiness 16:46, 14 March 2006 (EST)

A fair point, and I'm not even sure I would have noticed the speculative aspects as worthy of mention until yesterday, when the policy for "Questions" in episode articles shifted. Now, tho', I'm sensitive to the question of which articles should be strictly encyclopedic and which can and should be more speculative. I'm not saying I'm certain this article should be heavily edited to strip out speculation. I'm saying I'm not certain either way.--Uncle Mikey 15:28, 14 March 2006 (CST)

It sounds like Uncle Mikey might be ripe for recruitment. --Steelviper 15:41, 14 March 2006 (CST)

Thou shalt not make a machine mind in the image of a human mind. Oh, wait, that's the Butlerian Jihad... :-D --Uncle Mikey 09:44, 15 March 2006 (CST)

Nonetheless, there are only two instances of this. Further, Baltar was definately a hallucination by Caprica-Six, clean and simple. Meanwhile, we still don't know what virtual Six is, but that goes on her own page.--The Merovingian 06:43, 15 March 2006 (CST)

How so? Is it just a coincidence that she has an inner Baltar and he has an inner Six? --DrBat 06:06, 17 March 2006 (CST)

Further, and this is my biggest arguement against this (practicality): most of the information here is actually cut and pasted from other arguements. The entire last paragraph is just taken from the virtual Six article.--The Merovingian 06:44, 15 March 2006 (CST)

I don't necessarily see that as an argument to eliminate this article. Having a single article that consolidates information about a particular topic is not a bad thing, and this topic is certainly one of wide interest.--Uncle Mikey 09:44, 15 March 2006 (CST)

Mikey you've only got two "hallucinations". It is hard to consolidate two things. --The Merovingian 13:38, 15 March 2006 (CST)

This article is useful, and is not redundant in the least. It is speaking of a particular occurence of a character, which plays an important role and appears to be separate from all other instances of Number Six. It is silly to say that it is mere coincidence that both Baltar and Six are having hallucinations of each other, so it is a topic that should have a page listing information on each sighting of the hallucinations. After all, we have articles about marines who only have their names mentioned...considering the importance of virtual Six and virtual Baltar in influencing events, I think they more than qualify in importance in having their own article. As for the speculation, I would argue that an article about something that is as confusing as this will have a fair amount of speculation, until later episodes clear things up (if they ever do). I see nothing wrong with paragraphs beginning, "Thus far, it appears..." --Ravriem 19:48, 17 March 2006 (CST)

I am seeing no problems with this page. It works! --Shane ^{(C - E)} 21:10, 19 March 2006 (CST)

This page is extremely important. It is the only category in which Internal Six and Baltar (one of which is extremely important to the entire story) and all the hallucinations brought by six can fit. They don't fit anywhere else and to delete the page is to simply through these two and their "special effects" away. They are the reason behind everything that is going on. Face it, they are basically gods in the show, shaping the decisions of both sides. I wouldn't be surprise if they did indeed turn up being a part of the Cylon God. My point is, it is important to differentiate them from normal Baltar or any Six, they are not Cylons or humans, they are manipulative Hallucinations that have shaped things in their image. Arguing that they are only two is unfair, hallucinations refers to the entire set of hallucinations, the whole topic of mental six and mental baltar and basically the whole Six-Baltar story line. Its even more important to the story than one of the main characters like Thrace. -- Sauron18 20 March

No. In the podcasts RDM stated that the Baltar hallucination was just a hallucination, while they have been consistently ambiguous on ChipSix. Meanwhile, you even used the phrase "delete the thread"--->this is not a forum. --The Merovingian ^{(C - E)} 23:25, 19 March 2006 (CST)

That was a mistake. No point in making attacks on a simple error, they don't really help. And RDM did not say Batlar was "just a hallucination", he said he was a hallucination, but then we already knew that, both are, by definition, hallucinations, whether aided by a foreign device or not. You interpreted to mean that baltar six was absolutley nothing more than madness. --Sauron18 19 March 2006

In this one The Merovingian, you are out numbered. There are more people here and you are the only one who thinks this should be deleted. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 12:45, 20 March 2006 (CST)

If we have such a problem with this, let me pose a solution: virtual-Six and virtual-Baltar aren't the only hallucinations, technically. They're just the only hallucinations that talk back. Baltar also hallucinated that Six brought him to the Opera House on Kobol. Maybe this should be a category, not an article, and Six, Baltar, and the Opera House couls have their own articles. Also, if more hallucinations are introduced, it would be pretty silly to have deleted this only to have to put it back. Ragestorm 13:29, 20 March 2006 (CST)

I think it is important to note that theatrically these hallusinations are treated characters in their own rights. The hallucination of the baby in the crib on Kobol is essentially a prop and whereas the hallucination of at-the-time-Commander William Adama was a character in his own right, it was a one-shot deal that was part of the scene. Also, Roslin's dreams of Adar were just dreams and not an interactive character but Adar still gets his own page because of historical notes. Hallucination-Six is a re-occurring interacting character thru many episodes and may just be Baltar's hallucination due to his psychosis, but there has to be a back story involved with her knowledge of events involving the birth of Hera. I believe this will come out in season 3 and therefore this article should be here in preparation of this revalation. Hallucination-Balter may earn his own article piece in the same revalations. We will see. I think the jury is out depending on the re-occurance of that character. StrayCat0 09:21, 21 March 2006 (MST)

Establishing a Pattern[edit]

I was watching an episode of DS9 the other day (Waltz), and was struck by the similarity of the interactions between (the increasingly insane) Dukat and his mental apparitions. Towards the beginning he is able to hold it together like Baltar and Six do, playing off comments or looks that he makes to them. It doesn't take too long before he's trying to blast them with a phaser, though. I was not surprised when I hit the memory-alpha site to find that RDM did the story on it. --Steelviper 09:39, 21 March 2006 (CST)