Have you been jonesing for new Battlestar Galactica as fiendishly as I have? Have you been counting the days until the Season 4.5 premiere? (I would be if I could do that kind of math…remember, I’m an entertainment journalist.) Well the good folks at Scifi.com are offering up an appetizer before the main course: Face of the Enemy, a series of 10 webisodes running twice a week from now until Jan. 16. And judging by the first two—in which we find morpha junkie Felix Gaeta trapped in a raptor with two pilots, a construction dude, and two Boomers—they’re what you want Galactica to be: taut, tense, and dirty.
But there is revelation I didn’t quite see coming. SPOILER AHEAD after the jump.
Gaeta is gay? Huh. I’m not entirely sure it was necessary to drop that bit of information. Aside from Apollo, Starbuck, and Baltar, everyone on that show feels kind of asexual—each character is defined, by and large, by the crisis on the horizon and how they deal with it—and revealing Felix’s homosexuality doesn’t seem to add anything to the story at hand. But it does shed new light on his relationship with Baltar: It’s easy to be drawn to a man with Gaius’ charisma, and Felix followed him around like a puppy. They were like an interstellar Smithers and Mr. Burns…at least until President Baltar all but sentenced humanity to Cylon extinction while wallowing in cheap pills and easy women. That sort of behavior will squash a crush, tout de suite.
Ah, but I digress. You should go watch. They’re really good. Short, but good.
More Battlestar Galactica:
Battlestar Galactica prequel coming in 2010
Tricia Helfer cast for role in Chuck
only one thing… only one chapter have seen today. The next ones will be on Mondays and Wednesdays.
I totally heart Gaeta
New BSG! God, even the webisodes are like water in the middle of the empty desert of bad TV.
Aw, c’mon Marc. For the past four years we’ve had PLENTY of steamy heterosexual action, occasionally puctuated with glowing spinal columns. But when Gaeta shares a brief kiss with a fellow crewman, you have to get all snarky about it.
Well I for one find it a refreshing development. Gay men, especially those of the “bear” persuasion, are voracious consumers of science fiction, so it’s nice to be given a nod once in a blue moon.
Um, Mark…
The Gaeta/Hoshi relationship has been confirmed on the web (and in print) for weeks. Why was it a revelation to you? Aren’t you a reporter? Oy.
Ever since Gaeta lost his leg and went all singing-in-the-sick-ward, I have fell in love with his character all over again. I feel like BSG has a tremendous cast, from the littler players like Gaeta to the brilliance that is EJO and Mary McDonell. I’m hoping that once BSG is over, Caprica and Dollhouse will fufill my larger-than-life-and-sci-fi tv drama quotas.
Hey, Chuck…I’m not getting snarky, and I’ve no problem with Gaeta being gay. I’m just wondering aloud if doing it in such a manner objectifies it…especially on a show where sexuality is usually so intertwined with the drama. When Razor showed that Adm. Cain was in love with a No. 6, that betrayal underscored why Cain was so brutal to everyone she encountered, none more than that “Gina” model herself. Sexuality is a powerful weapon in a dramatist’s arsenal and, as such, it should be deployed with care.
I think given the current climate that our country is facing with prop 8 and intolerance that its great for shows set in the future to at least have gay characters and acknowledge that this is a group of people that exist today and are relevant to telling human stories; even those, and maybe even especially those, set in fictional futures.
If anyone is questioning why they made Gaeta gay, listening to the commentary by Jane Espenson makes it more clear. Great webisode, looking forward to the rest.
Marc: Why do you assume it hasn’t been deployed with care? I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of Hoshi in these webisodes, and this relationship could provide motivation for some of the drama. I say we wait and see. In any case, I think Gaeta of all people desrves to have something good happen in his life.
See, I think you’re off base on your sexuality commentary for two reasons. 1. Sex and its relationship drama have been hugely present for many characters (Baltar/Six, Baltar/Starbuck, Starbuck/…everyone, Helo/Boomer, Boomer/Chief, Chief/Cally, Apollo/Dee, Gina/Cain, Bill/Laura (probably), Saul/Ellen, Ellen/Cavil…) and sex and babymaking is a pretty prevalent part of the entire conflict, so your suggestion that it’s only been a limited part of the show is a little odd, and, 2. I think it is a good thing when shows put these really small things in: this guy kisses other guys. Which isn’t relevant to the rest of his ability to do his job, and look, you didn’t even know by his pink shirt or his froofy drinks. It’s possibly also true of your neighbor and that guy who bags your groceries. You can’t tell by looking. Perfectly normal good people are gay all the time. I don’t WANT every gay character on TV to be About Being Gay, like I don’t want every Latino to be The Latino.
I think that Gatea’s homosexuality does not add much to this episode….but on the whole, isn’t the main differance between Cylon and Humans that humans can procreate? Wasn’t Roslyn’s first thought, that the fleet had to make a lot more babies?
So as a homosexual male in the fleet…is he more cylon or human?
Ah BSG….I missed you so much.
I’m frankly shocked that anyone is even phased that Gaeta is gay.
Wow. A gay character, what a shocker. This is so cliche. I hope this isn’t a sign that the writers of Battlestar are running out of ideas. That being said, I like the idea of being stranded with 2 Boomers. What shall we do to pass the time?
LOL! @ “They were like an interstellar Smithers and Mr. Burns.” Come to think of it, that’s a great way to characterize their early relationship. And once Baltar became President on New Caprica and Felix started to work against him, that’s just like how Smithers turned against Burns when Burns wanted to block out the sun. Mr. Burns had “…crossed that line between everyday villainy and cartoonish super-villainy.” LOL!