’Heroes’ will feature it, could Battlestar Galactica be next?

(July 09 2006) - It took putting an openly gay man in charge of BBC’s "Doctor Who" to help break down some of the sexual barriers in that iconic Welsh television show, and it looks like a little bit of the same is happening with the new NBC show "Heroes" as openly gay former "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" writer Bryan Fuller is helping to introduce a gay character on the show.

But could such movement in what seems to be new territory for science-fiction shows spill over into SciFi Channel’s "Battlestar Galactica"? You know, like, ahem, Gaeta?

"Well, as far as you know, you haven’t seen any gay characters," Executive Producer David Eick told Out Magazine. "As we evolve through the series and get further away from that cataclysm (of the human race’s near annihilation), we may feel like it’s less of a stretch to start showing people getting involved with each other. Who’s to say who won’t turn out gay?"

Jamie Bamber, who plays the pretty obviously straight Lee "Apollo" Adama in the series, agrees.

"There’s no reason in a world that is gender-blind, on battlestars and across this fleet, that we haven’t had an overtly gay relationship come to fruition," Bamber said. "It should be there, and it should be as unabashedly honest as the heterosexual relationships."

Introducing gay characters, even on a network like NBC that has lived and died off of the gay comedy "Will & Grace," is still a little uncomfortable for some of the network’s top executives. NBC, by the way, is owned by the same company — NBC Universal — that owns SciFi Channel and the rights to "Battlestar Galactica." In the pilot for "Heroes," a popular high school cheerleader confides in a male friend about her superhero-like ability. While it’s not spelled out in so many words, the male character is gay.

"There was a moment on the set where (series creator Tim Kring) was with an NBC executive, who shall remain nameless, and the exec said, ’Hmm, you need to watch (the cheerleader friend) because that character could be interpreted as gay,’ and Tim said, ’Why do we need to watch that?’" "Hereo’s" Bryan Fuller told Out.

Kring said that there are many possibilities of introducing gay characters into the series, something the genre has seen very little of outside of Capt. Jack Harkness on "Doctor Who" (and soon to be "Torchwood") and Willow Rosenberg of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

"I am intrigued by a gay character front and center, and we are openly discussing it in the studio and in the writers’ room now," Kring said. "It doesn’t scare me at all (despite his run-in with a network executive), and it’s always been a battle with networks on that sort of thing. there’s a subversiveness that you’re forced to think about these things with. You try to come in through a side door."

It’s unknown if shows like "Battlestar Galactica" will ever see a Gaeta character, er gay character anytime in the near future. Back in the late 1980s, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was rumored to have a gay character, and was even reportedly admitted to by series creator Gene Roddenberry before the series aired. However, outside of some passing references, there was never any major gay storyline.

Both "Heroes" and "Battlestar Galactica" will air in the fall, the former making its series premiere. "Doctor Who" recently wrapped its second season in the United Kingdom and is expected to make a fall premiere in the United States on SciFi Channel.