Sex in Sci-fi Television

First off let's keep this somewhat mature.

I've been meaning to create a thread like this for a long time and I'm glad this new forum has offered me the chance. Sex plays a large part in most modern day sci-fi(older sf, too, but less of a role). Sometimes it's handle very well like in Battlestar Galactica while other times it is handled very poorly like in Star Trek: Voyager/Enterprise.

Sometimes sex is just a ratings boost while other times it's an intergral part of the program. What are your thoughts on sex in sci-fi? does it belong? Only a little bit? None at all?

 

There's been a bit of a row over some of the sex content in Battlestar Galactica, with several questionable scenes.

 

Yeah, nothing screws up a sex scene more like a woman yelling Lee, when its Baltar she is sleeping with.

And lets not forget Baltars infamous excercising in the lab in front of Starbuck.

Tricia Helpfer had to sit under the table for the entire scene and not laugh her butt off.

 

One of the funniest scenes I've seen on BSG.

 

Yeh, On the subject of Sex in BSG, Whats with the red spines when the Cylons are gettin their kicks?

 

Potential Spoiler I think that when the spines light up, that's when they get pregnant. Just an opinion.

And as to the question, it can be an essential part of a series. At some point any modern show has to deal with the issue. Look at X-Files. They kept the sexual tension at a simmering level for how many seasons, to the point where they painted themselves into a corner with it. If they hadn't let Mulder and Scully be together, it would have done serious damage to the believability of the characters. And of course Buffy is the text-book example of the way sex can be an important plot device and a way to give the audience what they want. Buffy's involvment with Angel, as was pointed out earlier, gave a fresh look at an ancient situation. And Buffy's involvement with Spike was partly for ratings (IMO), but it also gave rise to the issue of bad relationships.

 

I think it certainly has a place in scifi/fantasy, but some shows handle it better than others.

Like others here have said, I think Buffy is the show that handled it the best. While there were some rather explicit sex scenes at times, the show also brilliantly used visual metaphors in place of actual sex, like in the season 3 finale Buffy and Angel biting scene and with Willow and Tara's witchcraft "love scene" in season 4.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have a show like Star Trek: Enterprise, which shoved awkward sex scenes into a franchise that did not know what to do with them. Why did an emotionally cold, cerebral Vulcan have to be naked so often? They did fix things near the end by having an actual meaningful relationship with Tripp and T'Pol, only to screw it up in the awful final episode.

 

There's also Firefly, where there are a number of sexual scenes. The introduction of Kaylee, for example, and not to mention Inara's postition as a companion.
But it's used as part of the story here in Firefly, not for the ratings.

 

I like how Inara is a companion, yet she is never portrayed as a "slut". She's treated as a strong character and the sex scenes are all tastefully done. Kaylee's "fun" view of sex in "Out of Gas" and Serenity is also a novel approach to the subject.

 

To be honest, that's exactly what ruined Enterprise for me. I was really enoying the story line until they suddenly decided that the best way to get SF geeks to watch was to put T'Pol into various stages of undress. It got to the point where it was actually embarrassing. A little sex appeal in Sci-fi is always a good thing. Just don't insult us with it.

 

Dude, they did the "show T'Pol's body off" thing in the freakin' pilot.

 

My point was that it actually went downhill from there. There was an episode where part of the crew was infected by a virus and had to spend the entire show in their underwear, the episode where Archer was lusting after T'Pol and just had to tell her, the episode where Tripp is forced to shower with T'Pol and the translator.

 

In fairness though, the clumsy, awkward sexual stories covered in StarTrek are reasonably accurate representations of the clumsy, awkward sexual encounters that StarTrek fans have.

 

So in ironic fashion, their attempt to relate more to ST Fans is ultimately their undoing.

 

Exactly, it was also one of the reasons I didn't like Enterprise much.

They proved they could succeed at sexual tension/relationships with TNG(I do have to wonder how much of that was helped along by Peter David though), but then un-did all of that with Enterprise.

 

TNG was simply a much more mature show than Enterprise all around. They handled a lot of issues better than Enterprise did, including sexuality.

Despite all these comments, I was very angry when Enterprise got cancelled. The final episode aside, Season 4 was the best Star Trek in many years.

 

end on a high rather than continue with a weaker product.
I'm happy it ended when it did because every single season was gold - even the 'filler' episodes were highly watchable.

no need for Picard to jump the shark

 

Sex is a part of life, so to my mind it's OK in sci-fi shows as well. Although I would prefer it if it actually played an important part in the plot, instead of being gratuitous as it sometimes is.

 

With Doctor Who I know I won't get profanity and filth.

 

I despise the use of gratuitous/needless sex that the SciFi channel uses to spice up its unoriginal "original" miniseries and movies. (Like Cube 2. If your trapped in a giant bloody cube, with only a few days to survive, having sex would be the last thing on my mind).