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By Chris Snellgrove
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Although things have steadily improved, many still see science fiction as a genre that appeals to mostly men. Because of this, sci-fi runners are particularly sensitive about broadcasting anything that could possibly drive female viewers away. A great example of this is “the farm,” and Battlestar Galactica A chapter that their plot for women were forced to become “baby machines” to make the production team worry that they would lose their female audience.
To understand why producers were concerned about “the farm” so much, it may be necessary to repeat what this chapter meant. While the B plot included Commander Adama and President Roslin competed for leadership, the plot included Starbuck connected to the resistance on Caprica before the Cylons captured it. She wakes up in one of the titular farms, which she finds out as specialist prisons where the colors use women to try to create man/machine hybrid children.
In his own way, “the farm” is one of the eerie Battlestar Galactica Chapters because it shows the depths of wear and tears that the colors can make and that fats are truly worse than death for surviving humanity members. Also, the Cylon Simon is picking away about how women who bear children are “valuable commodity,” which echoes some of the more nasty real -life arguments over the role that women should play in the face of the decline of the population. For all these reasons and more, the chapter’s production team was worried that this particular story would drive away female viewers.
This tidbit comes for “the farm” to us by kindness of Battlestar Galactica Podcast commentary Ronald D. Moore for the episode. He revealed that some of his production team thought the story of the episode was so dark that he would drive women away from the show. These concerns were affected by production, and Moore revealed that only a “Valley of Darkness” season 2 episode had such a controversial process.
Apart from the general plot points of “the farm,” the Battlestar Galactica Producers were also worried about specific story beats, including the heavy suggestion that Simon had given Starbuck a pelvic exam. It certainly coincides with the bleak story where Starbuck destroys cylon machines and effectively destitute women who explain that they would prefer to be dead than to be “baby machines.” The producers forced the episode, but were understandably worried that all of the female viewers away from this new show could rightly drive when so many people needed as many people as possible.
“The Farm” is a great episode of Battlestar GalacticaBut we can’t help but think that this story about her troubled production is just as interesting as anything we saw on screen. After all, the producers were right to be concerned … it is a chapter that paints human women as special targets of cylon violence, all in not distracting so much to the kinds of sexual assaults real women are everyday subject. It is a miracle that the episode broadcast, but the exact fact that Ronald Moore and the rest have taken so much chance is one more reason BSG is the most ambitious sci-fi A show ever made.
