I have a guess about this: I think they just don’t know how to do it convincingly, and I’m not sure if they can. BSG’s writers have dealt with sexual politics by mixing the cast up completely in terms of what we come to expect from the usual TV portrayals of gender, and for the most part forgeting all about it (though we’ve seen some disappointing cliches come out of Starbuck’s character). I’m pretty sure that’s quite intentional. I think they’re very wise in treating the gender of the characters as henceforth irrelevant, and make quite a statement by going about their business as much as they can in a very natural, unselfconcious manner. You really don’t think about the fact that, of the top three sticks in the Fleet, two of them are women. You just don’t. Cat and Starbuck are great pilots, and besides being quite teh hawt, you just don’t give a second thought to their female status. It’s utterly believable. However, a gay character (and it pains me to say this) might be a bit too “activist” to maintain this quality. Maybe if they’d put some in at the very beginning, but after that, well, I don’t think it can be done without having that character be obtrusively “the gay character”, like they’re putting one in because, hey, our show lacks “the gay character”. And I’m sorry, but I think having “the gay character” might really suck under those circumstances. It would be pointlessly distracting.
I really don’t think having a gay relationship would be too distracting, because the relationships we’ve seen so far don’t take up much time, at all. They exist mainly as foils to character development.
Even when characters have their relationship as a large part of their story arcs – e.g., Helo + Boomer, Billy + Dee – their story arcs haven’t really been about the relationship. The relationships proceed on while other things happen to the characters.
The only ones I can think of where the relationship affected the character’s life, and not vice-versa, were the Tighs. The others we get brief glimpses while other things go on. And I think that any relationship – gay, straight, or lightly toasted – is going to get this treatment on BSG. And then probably implode in some gut-wrenching emotional disaster.
And I’d think it doesn’t have to be a major character, either. One of the pilots (or Capt. Kelly) hanging out in that observatory love nest that Billy & Dee went to, and no one finding it shocking, would do much to make this frakking topic just go away.
Well, I simply cannot believe that sexual tension between Lee and Kara isn’t going to be a big part of the coming season. And I’ll be up front right now by saying I’ll be really disappointed if they don’t handle that well, because I don’t want this show to turn into a total frakking soap opera.
That’s the exact episode & scene I was think of where Moore dropped the ball. He missed a huge, free “gimme” window of opportunity to shut people up.
I can. It’s been, what, a couple of years. He’s married to Dee now, apparently happily, and she’s still messed up from the Leoben treatment. And they’re both out of shape now, too.
As for the gay stuff, I just don’t see where it would help advance any particular story line, or even develop any characters, without promoting some minor one into a major role. That would, however, be just like putting some cute moppet on a dying sitcom’s last season.
That’s just it. I actually am inclined to agree that they blew a good opportunity at inception, but now…it’d be so obviously contrived I just don’t see how it couldn’t be a glaring discontinuity in focus and tone.
Dualla didn’t have to marry Apollo. Cally marrying Tyrol and having a baby didn’t serve any particular story line. Starbuck marrying Anders didn’t advance the story. Helo didn’t have to marry Boomer.
But Ron Moore ran around marrying everyone off anyway.
Remember Duck from the webisodes? He lost a spouse and that’s what made him go suicide bomber. Did his significant other have to be a woman? Why? I’d have cried foul of course. Why’d they have to kill the gay guys? But at least they’d have established they exist in the BSG universe.
This is one of the reasons Ron is avoiding the issue, I’ll bet. What’s the point of introducing a character characteristic if you are just going to take shit for anything bad that happens to that character? Gay characters have to be just as expendable as any other character. Otherwise I have no problem with it one way or another. But when the demands turn to “they have to be gay, and they have to be happy, and they have to live” then forget it. What Whedon went through when he killed Tara was a nightmare. I think Ron has learned a thing or two from that.
Besides, nobody is going to be married much longer, methinks. Too much darkness approaching…
I think making Starbuck a woman pretty much proved Ron Moore owns a pair of flame-proof underpants.
Alphaboi already made the point that the best way to handle it right, is to handle it just like every other relationship he’s created. If they have to die, let them die. You’ll never please everybody.
I’ve heard a few comments over the series about a lack of black characters in prominent roles. Should Ron Moore just not have any blacks on the show so he can avoid the whole issue? “Sorry, but in the BSG universe, there are no blacks.” Oops, there goes Dualla. But she was only a token Uhura anyway. Answering the phone. Typical.
Oh wait, she suddenly got promoted to officer, XO and married Apollo.
Roger that! 
I wonder when he’s going to have the balls to kill off a really major character?
Who’s been in more than a couple episodes that’s been killed off so far? I remember the priestess lady earlier and now Ellen. Were there any others (Cain and the Peggy XO were on too short a time to count).
My boyfriend doesn’t get my fascination with this show. So far, I haven’t been able to convince him to start watching. He’s convinced it’s a typical sci fi show and he doesn’t like sci fi (he has his faults). He can accept that I watch it, but he’s having trouble accepting that Friday night is Battlestar Night! No, I won’t wait to watch it later–I’m watching it as soon as it airs. Then there’s the post show read and post on the internet about Battlestar time, discuss Battlestar with friends over the next couple days, then (around Wednesday) start getting psyched for the next Battlestar episode. That confuses the poor guy.
You and me both.
Heck, Apollo and Starbuck might as well have “doomed to be tortured soul” tattooed on their foreheads. I’m not surprised that Blanders was too dim to pick up on the fact that any relationship Kara gets into is foredoomed, but I’d thought better of Dualla. She could have stayed with nice Billy (who’d still be alive, too), but noooo, she had to go with the Hot Body Of Preordained Frakkitude.
She’s toast, I think. And probably Helo, too.
Nobody gets out unscathed on this show.
I’m thinking whatever happens to them, “and they lived happily ever after” is not in the cards for Sharon and Helo.
The big three to me would be Adama, Apollo & Starbuck. I think Apollo and Starbuck are safe, but I could almost see a time when EJO gets bored and says “kill me. I’ll make occasional appearances as a ghost or something.”
After that you’ve got Roslyn, Baltar, Tigh and the Cylons. Can’t easily kill off one of the Cylon models. I could see Roslyn or Tigh going.
After that, just about anybody could go. Either for story-telling purposes or one of the actors gets a better contract. I could see the actor who plays Tyrol getting a better contract. He’s a pretty good actor. I could see Helo getting it because even though I really like both the actor and the character, I’ve gotten the feeling RDM didn’t have much use for him after he served his purpose season one.
Wanna bet? Rumor has it that a model gets “boxed” before too long. Close enough for me.
“A hundred Sharon throats may be slit in a single night by a running Cally.”
A model? Like, the whole line? Or do you mean an individual Cylon of a particular model?
[spoiler]All individuals of one model are supposed to be taken offline this season.
No spoilers yet on which model; only speculation. Me, I’m guessing D’Anna will be the one, and Xena will move on to other things.[/spoiler]
Damn you! Damn you and your spoilers I can’t resist!
I bet it’s the Boomer model, leaving us with with just the good Boomer. Or, Dean Stockwell is bored.
At this point it’s completely up in the air. I can see valid reasons for any of the above. Or not. Interesting conundrum, isn’t it?