By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Although things have gradually improved, many still see science fiction as a genre that mainly makes dishes for men. For this reason, science fiction showrunners are particularly sensitive to disseminating everything that could potentially hunt female viewers. An excellent example of this is “the farm”, a Battlestar Galactica The episode whose intrigue on women is forced to become “baby machines” has raised fears of the production team that they would lose their female audience.
To understand why the producers were so much concerned with “the farm”, you may need a rapid summary about what this episode was. While intrigue B involved commander Adama and President Roslin in the running for leadership, the intrigue involved Starbuck binding the resistance to Caprica before the cylons captures it. She wakes up on one of the titular farms, which she discovers specialized prisons in which cylons use women to try to create hybrid children / machine children.
In its own way, “the farm” is one of the most frightening Battlestar Galactica Episodes because it shows the depths of depravity whose cylons are capable and that there are really worse destinies than death for surviving members of humanity. In addition, the Simon Cylon stands out on how women carrying children are a “precious goods”, which echoes some of the more nasty real debates on the role that women should play in the face of the decline of the population. For all these reasons and more, the production team of the episode feared that this story would push viewers.
This treat on “the farm” comes to us with the kind permission of Battlestar Galactica The commentary on the Podcast of the Ronald D. Moore showrunner for the episode. He revealed that part of his production team thought that the story of the episode was so dark that she would keep women from the show away. These concerns affected production and Moore revealed that only the episode of season 2 “Valley of Darkness” had such a controversial process.
Aside from the general points of the intrigue of “the farm”, the Battlestar Galactica Producers were also concerned about specific history beats, including the strong suggestion that Simon had given Starbuck a pelvic examination. It is certainly integrated into the dark history in which Starbuck destroys cylon machines and effectively condemns women who clarify that they prefer to be dead only to be “baby machines”. The producers forced in the future with the episode, but they were naturally worried that all of this could move away from many viewers of this new show when she needed many people as possible.
“The Farm” is a big episode of Battlestar GalacticaBut we cannot prevent ourselves from thinking that this story of its troubled production is just as fascinating as everything we have seen on the screen. After all, producers were right to worry … It is an episode that depicts human women as special targets of cylon violence, while attracting so little attention to the types of sexual assault that real women are submitted every day. It is a miracle that the episode was broadcast, but the very fact that Ronald Moore and the rest took such a chance is only another reason why BSG is the most ambitious science fiction Show never done.
