Female Audience / Space War Stories

[JoeD80]

Perusing the wikipedia entry for Caprica, I saw a comment from Ron Moore that Battlestar Galactica didn't appeal to a lot of women because there was too much of "war in space" in it. I found this odd, because Babylon 5 has a large war backdrop to it, but I know more female fans of Babylon 5 than male fans. Why might Babylon 5 appeal to women where Battlestar Galactica does not? I know there are going to be female fans of both, but at least of the people I know, it seems there are more who enjoy Babylon 5 over BSG. Comments?

[Karen]

I never watched Battlestar. The premise never appealed to me. We are talking about one group of people basically trying to kill another group. B5 began very differently. By the time of the war I was invested in the people. But even so, the story was about so much more than 2 groups wanting to annihilate each other. That's just me....

[Spoo Junky]

That's me too, it's the characters that keep me watching the show over and over. That's why Sleeping in Light is such a tear-jerker - by the time we get to that point of the story, I've become so invested in the characters I feel like they are friends.

I loved the original Battlestar when I was a kid, but when I rewatched them as adult, it didn't have the same appeal. I guess that influenced my not watching the recent version.

[Jan]

I started out thinking that the new BSG would be the long-awaited B5 equivalent but ended up givinbg it up due to the unrelenting grimness. I might have stuck with it longer except that A) it so often had stories come out of the blue (ie: a black market episode where there'd been *no* mention of one before) and B) the shakey-cam. I couldn't stand that!

I didn't have any problem at all with the fact that there was a war and that there were politics and I did like a number of the characters.

Jan

[Dr Maturin]

Is Moore basing his statement off of actual figures...?

[Morden]

Well, my girlfriend and I really are big fans of BSG (which in my opinion is of very high quality), as we tend to have the same taste regarding movies and tv-shows, so I have at least one example of a woman which likes BSG very much.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I started out thinking that the new BSG would be the long-awaited B5 equivalent but ended up givinbg it up due to the unrelenting grimness. I might have stuck with it longer except that A) it so often had stories come out of the blue (ie: a black market episode where there'd been *no* mention of one before) and B) the shakey-cam. I couldn't stand that!

I didn't have any problem at all with the fact that there was a war and that there were politics and I did like a number of the characters.

Jan

I think it's what Jan says. The grimness, the death that they really showed on screen that made you cringe. I can't really see that appealing to a female audience.

Babylon 5 had hope all the way through it and very relatable characters from both sexes. There were quite a few elegant and beautiful love stories written into the show - Marcus, Ivanova and Sheridan, Delenn. While Babylon 5 did have war as a backdrop, it was like we were just watching it from the outside not just thrown into it like Battlestar.

That said the dark violence and sex of caprica I don't know if that's what "appeals to a female audience" either really.

[DeMonk]

Well, I liked BSG too - war or no war - but I still think Babylon 5 was much better. People evolved quite naturally in the B5-universe whereas in BSG a lot of people didn't even know who they were... and the last episode was a total desaster compared to Sleeping in Light.

[Jonas]

My wife loves B5 and often complains about BSG, but her complaints are the same as mine, and have more to do with the writing and logic of the show. (We also liked the same things about BSG.)

[JoeD80]

It's been awhile, I got sick with a bad flu bug. Get your shots!

I never watched Battlestar. The premise never appealed to me. We are talking about one group of people basically trying to kill another group. B5 began very differently. By the time of the war I was invested in the people. But even so, the story was about so much more than 2 groups wanting to annihilate each other. That's just me....

Ah, this point makes a lot of sense. The BSG miniseries did just dive right into the show without much introduction, and you are immediately shown that Cylons are bad and Humans are good, and it wasn't so black and white in B5 (although Joe did start it that way by saying Narns = Bad, Centauri = Good so he could flip it on its head). I think what I am understanding is that the B5 story evolved into more complex levels as the show went on; the background of the story wasn't always Narn vs. Centauri; wasn't always Earth Civil War; there were bits and pieces that got shifted in the background and the characters evolved naturally through the events around them.

I might have stuck with it longer except that A) it so often had stories come out of the blue (ie: a black market episode where there'd been *no* mention of one before)

This always bothered me as well in shows in general; it's hard when you get a great idea three years later though, and then you want to shoehorn it in and make it seem like all the charcters knew it all along. It's probably OK if it happens once in awhile, but if BSG did this a lot I can see that grating after awhile.

I didn't have any problem at all with the fact that there was a war and that there were politics and I did like a number of the characters.

This is why I first was pondering the question; it seems most women I know are into war stories just as much as the guys, as long as there are interesting characters at the center of it.

Is Moore basing his statement off of actual figures...?

I don't know, my friend who's into BSG most tells me there were lots of female fans so Moore's statement might not be based on any more than his perception; but then my original question was based on my perception that there are more women into B5 than BSG, which isn't based on numbers either, just my experiences.

A lot of other good comments here to think about as well, thank you. My girlfriend has now decided to start watching BSG so we'll see what she thinks (she loved B5).

[KoshN]

Perusing the wikipedia entry for Caprica, I saw a comment from Ron Moore that Battlestar Galactica didn't appeal to a lot of women because there was too much of "war in space" in it. I found this odd, because Babylon 5 has a large war backdrop to it, but I know more female fans of Babylon 5 than male fans. Why might Babylon 5 appeal to women where Battlestar Galactica does not? I know there are going to be female fans of both, but at least of the people I know, it seems there are more who enjoy Babylon 5 over BSG. Comments?

It's simple. B5 was a far better story with far better characters.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

It's simple. B5 was a far better story with far better characters.

QFT. Nothing else to say.

[Andrew_Swallow]

This is why I first was pondering the question; it seems most women I know are into war stories just as much as the guys, as long as there are interesting characters at the center of it.

Does that mean that women are not into war stories but Warrior stories?

Particularly ones where the hunky hero is a bachelor who remembers to have a romance with a pretty girl.

[george1984osby]

I think I should finish watch the movie... reading your posts gives me interest to watch it... i'll be back after watching both movie

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