In many SF shows—or television in general—the male-female relationship exists only to add sexual or familial tension. Sometimes a woman is in the script simply to acknowledge that yes, the writers did realize that another gender exists in the world. While casting men and women opposite one another does hint that sexual tension will occur, when a man is introduced to a plot he is usually there to fill a role of his own, while a woman is frequently introduced to be a foil for the man instead of as an established character.

Battlestar Galactica (the new series) broke several rules that the old series had set up: the tone is darker, there’s no “let’s bring a child and his ineffective mother down to a planet for a mission!” plotlines, and the character of Athena is gone, removed because of the mere fact that she made little impact on the first series other than her looks and as a love interest for Starbuck. And speaking of Starbuck, there’s the slight case of her and Boomer being women, which caused an uproar from the longtime fans of the series (but also had the effect of bringing on new female fans—such as me). With the addition of more—and stronger— female characters, the new BSG features considerable depth in male-female relationships that were never explored in the old series, or nearly anywhere else in SF, for that matter.

The gender-bending of some main characters, in retrospect, seems like a perfect move. It’s clear to anyone  …