Space1999.Net Forum Archive
Gaybase Alpha
Disucussion about Gaybase Alpha.
Musings on Space: 1999's appeal to gay men
Meant for anyone to respond to
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| The Obsolete Man 27 Mar 2003 11:48:48 |
Since this isn't specifically related to the Gaybase Alpha list, which I don't belong to, I hope it's okay to bring this topic up on the general board--especially since I'm interested in all opinions on the matter. The appeal of Space: 1999 to gay men seems to be undisputed. The Gaybase Alpha FAQ lists several good guesses as to why this is the case: 1. Sleek, fashionable production design. 2. The identification with the wandering outcast concept of Space: 1999. I'd like to offer some other possible thoughts on the gay appeal of the show, and see what everyone thinks: - The Rudy Gernreich uniform design. Space: 1999 featured probably the most fashionable, well-designed, and flattering-to-the-male-form uniforms of any SF show of its time (in that, it was a precurser to the uniforms of Star Trek: Next Gen). - The lack of gratuitous "babe" appeal episodes in season one. Koenig was never the mindless stud Kirk was on Star Trek, nor were the females of season one generally on display for their sex appeal. The regular females on the base had none of the babe-appeal obviousness of Trek women over the years either, whether Kirk's babe-of-the-week, or characters like T'Pol and Seven of Nine. Helena and Sandra were not unattractive, but they were depicted as generally no-nonsense professional women, and obviously not cast for TNA appeal. - The heavy male camaraderie of season one. While John and Helena were obviously meant to have a mutual attraction/interest thing going, this was very underplayed in season one. John and Victor's strong bond and relationship stands out as coming across as much stronger to me (and when did Victor ever show signs of interest in women?). The m/m connections of season one seem to me to outweigh most m/f connections in that season. Among supporting characers, Alan Carter comes across as very appealing, yet we didn't see him romancing the ladies either. His (sometimes rocky) relationship with John seemed stronger than his relationship with any of the women on the base. BTW, I don't bring this up to be controversial, but because I think it's an interesting subject. I belong to a Xena BB that is made up mostly of gay women, but in the case of Xena, it's not hard to discern the lesbian appeal of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship (the writers even consciously wrote it that way from season two onwards). The reasons for Space: 1999's gay male appeal remains more elusive, though, but the appeal is of course there. Just wanted to offer my musings and see what everyone else thinks about the subject. |
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| gba_cmdr 28 Mar 2003 15:51:07 |
O-Man: Good topic, if I say so myself.  While I like your thoughts, I'm not sure if they hit the nail on the head (at least for me). They seem to be too superficial. If things were more overt (say in the LEXX fashion), then I might be inclined to go with your argument -- but I don't think I was ever attracted to the series based on the points you outlined above. Always interested in thoughts on this subject though. |
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| Borg Duck 28 Mar 2003 17:25:54 |
   YEEEEEEAAAAHHHH!!! And whats with ABBA??? |
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| F-9000 28 Mar 2003 17:30:17 |
 Homosexuals : go away! You have a forum dedicated for you! F-9000 |
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| gba_cmdr 28 Mar 2003 21:07:00 |
Not really appropriate nor is it called for. So, cool it. |
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| Flamegrape 28 Mar 2003 21:33:06 |
Not being gay, I don't really have any point of view on the subject. When I first saw the Gaybase Alpha webpage, I didn't think it was particularly strange. It seems to me that all kinds of genres and interests have fans that are gay. It's just a statistical fact. But I never really thought that Space:1999 had a particularly gay appeal. ...except for the fact that the eagle is obviously a penis metaphore!  I've got a question. Is Gaybase Alpha for men, women, or both? Another question. What if Maya and Sondra were a couple? Wouldn't that be cool?  I could picture Paul being gay. Maybe that's why he went for boyish Sondra! He was conflicted! Maybe he was thinking, "I'll give this so-called heterosexuality one more shot!" Okay, now I'm going waaaaaay overboard! I'm sorry, when it comes to the subject of gays, I get a little silly!  |
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| gba_cmdr 28 Mar 2003 22:11:33 |
I can understand what you are saying, but I'm not really straight and I can comment on "straight" things...
For both men and women -- gay and straight actually (obviously, "gay friendly" straights -- some people wouldn't really need apply). It's heavily tilted toward gay men at this time, but that's not hugely surprising given that sci-fi in general seems to be a male oriented genre.
Why is that? Are gays not to be taken seriously? Are we frivolous in thought and action? |
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| Flamegrape 28 Mar 2003 23:14:48 |
Unlike many people around where I live, I don't view gays as a "threat." Instead, I think they are amusing. Because I'm kind of cute, I get hit upon by gay people. I have fun coming up with amusing and polite ways to decline their advances. In other words, sex is fun and I frequently associate sexual ineractions of any kind as amusing. To quote Bjork, "His sense of humor/suggests exciting sex". But as for serious gay issues, I really don't know anything about that. |
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| The Obsolete Man 29 Mar 2003 00:25:51 |
gba cmdr - To go beyond my initial thoughts, and try to go a bit deeper on the subject, perhaps it has something to do with the strong existentialist and spiritual (though never dogmatic) themes of Space: 1999 (mainly in season one). These aspects of the show certainly must appeal and resonate with anyone with an inclination towards introspection and a desire to question the nature of themselves and their place in the universe, which of course is something that can apply to both men and woman, gay or straight. But perhaps a higher percentage of gay men than straight men are inclined towards this sort of introspection and existentialist questioning, which might explain the large percentage of male fans of the show who are gay. I'm not pretending to have any answers here. Just doing a bit of Victor Bergman-esque musing. |
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| Validus 29 Mar 2003 01:08:47 |
Hmmmm...... Well, I'm a switch-hitter myself, but that never influenced my like or dislike of Space:1999 or any other science fiction show for that matter. I have to be honest and say that for me most of the cast isn't really that appealing to me in that sense. Only Maya inhabits my fantasies, and frankly as much as I like Catherine Schell I find Eve Haberman & Xenia Seeberg (LEXX) to be sexier. I guess I just have a thing for German women. |
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| F-9000 29 Mar 2003 11:13:51 |
Stop it, ladies and gentlemen! In such a forum, we have to speak about Space 99 and certainly not your sexual orientations! Please, let's come back to our favorite episodes! F-9000 |
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| Loveclassics 29 Mar 2003 17:03:42 |
I think it's all in HOW you want to read it. Personally I'm not Gay so I don't see the correlations. No offense intended. |
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| moonbasealpha_s1 31 Mar 2003 03:09:30 |
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| moonbasealpha_s1 31 Mar 2003 03:14:37 |
AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! It is, isn't it!!! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA....How come I never realized that...<duh>.....  |
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| The Obsolete Man 31 Mar 2003 12:51:06 |
moonbasealpha_s1 - It sounds like you went through quite a traumatic ordeal reading my posts, finding them "suspicious", "sickening", "uncomfortably offensive", and "insulting", all at once. I think I made it clear in my posts above that I don't claim that anything I posted is a fact or established statistic, or that the elements of the show that may appeal to gay fans can't also appeal to straight fans. Everything I posted was simply meant as possible thoughts and questions on the matter, thinking aloud if you will. And I make no claims at all on the sexual orientation of the characters in the series. I don't claim to have the answers to way there are a lot of gay fans of Space: 1999. I just personally think it's an interesting question. |
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| Borg Duck 31 Mar 2003 13:28:34 |
 I personally would feel very uncomfortable hanging around in Gaybase Alpha so I dont. |
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| gba_cmdr 31 Mar 2003 17:48:01 |
All: As a moderator on these forums, I have been monitoring this thread rather closely to ensure that it doesn't get too acrimonious...I fear we are on a slippery slope toward topic closure as it seems people can't put aside inbred prejudices to discuss an adult topic. First, while I can't speak for Obsolete Man, I know I have NO "hidden" social agenda by discussing the gay attraction to Space:1999. I mean, have we all become so anti-politically-correct that any discussion outside the lines is suddenly a "hidden agenda" discussion? Can we only talk endlessly about our hatred for Y2, the gaffes and/or the "puppet like" acting of Barbara Bain? Surely after nearly 30 years of fandom we can branch out and discuss "sensitive" subjects...no? I think we can. Second, there seems to be this idea that homosexual orientation and homosexual sex are one in the same. Surprise -- they are NOT! Yes, the two generally go together, but not always. Prisoners can engage in homosexual sex while NOT being homosexual in orientation. Likewise, some homosexually oriented people can refrain from any homosexual sex (ie, religious people, etc). I mention this because there is a knee-jerk reaction here to the "gay attraction to Space:1999" that automatically presupposes we are talking about SEX. We are NOT. We are asking "Why are people with a homosexual orientation attracted to this minor SF series?". That's the ISSUE -- NOT "I'd love to see __________ do ________ with me." See the difference? If you don't, then sadly you haven't matured mentally since graduating high school. Third, no one is linking/twisting/bending Space:1999 into a "gay show" or "being gay" or meaning you are gay if you watch. AGAIN, the question posed is "Why does this minor SF series seem to attract a disproportionate number of gay fans?" Very simple. The question could just as easily be "Why is there such a lack of miniority fan representation?" -- would the reaction here be the same? Of course, this all assumes that Space:1999 is attracting gay fans in higher number than other SF shows -- I don't know, as I don't have any data to make the analysis. Since I am not a "super fan" of any other SF shows, I don't know the make up of their fandom. I do feel that sci-fi in general tends to attract gays (for whatever reason) and perhaps something as popular as Star Trek has an even higher portion of gay fans -- but I have no clue. Finally (this is already long enough), I wanted to share some quick background to the origins of Gaybase Alpha -- Prior to the Breakaway Convention in 1999, I had no idea that there were even other gay fans of the series. I enjoyed the series just like everyone else. Thru some weird coincidences, I was put in touch with two gay fans [who were attending the Breakaway Con]. When they came back from the Con (and even prior to that as some Con pics were posted on the Web), I got an earful about the gay presence at Breakaway. From that point, the wheels started turning and I started Gaybase Alpha. Also, in chatting with a fan club president several years ago, he mentioned to me that whenever he met a rabid male Space:1999 fan invariably the person was gay... That's the genesis behind GBA and the "why are gay men attracted to Space?" query. Again, it's a minor series -- generally not looked upon favorably, usually dismissed in the popular press. To contrast, I don't think many fans of Gerry Anderson's "UFO" are gay....but perhaps I'm wrong. Please keep future discussions in this thread to an adult not acrimonious level. Let's pretend that we "all get along". |
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| moonbasealpha_s1 31 Mar 2003 19:14:17 |
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| gba_cmdr 31 Mar 2003 20:14:24 |
Moonbase... Sorry but you're totally wrong -- completely utterly totally wrong. Your logic is flawed and can't even be called "logic". The War in Iraq has ZERO to do with Space:1999 - that's why it was deleted. There was no attempt (that I recall) with even linking Iraq/Iraqi people to Space:1999 -- instead, this forum was being used as an "open mic" to espouse a political viewpoint. Political stands on the right and left of the aisle were being taken. Politics outside the faux future world of Space:1999 have NOTHING to do with this forum. Now, if we wanted to talk about the political nature of Simmonds or Dixon (Dragon's Domain) then that's fine -- as long as the discussion stays within the realm of the series. When it starts to leak over into the "real world" that's where the line is drawn. Gays' attraction to a series OR minorities such as women, blacks, Hispanics, etc. attraction to a series like Space:1999 is a perfectly VALID topic discussion as you are discussing the specific issue in the wider context of the series. There is NO espousing of a political viewpoint here -- it's mere speculation on what attracts a person of a particular background to a series such as Space:1999. This topic wasn't started (to the best of my knowledge) with the intent of furthering an agenda -- no one has mentioned ANY social issues. There's NO discussion about marriage, tax issues or any other "real world" social issue. Those issues would be WRONG to discuss here. Again, clearly, the topic is "Why are homosexually oriented persons attracted to Space:1999?" Where praytell is the socio-political hidden agenda/axe to grind issue in the above statement? Where? Would your furor be any different if the question were "Why do hobby modelists love recreating craft from Space:1999?" or how about "Why do few fans attend Cons in alien outfits vs. Alphan outfits?" Are those topics "OK" with you? Do you feel safe now? Maybe we can have an endless discussion about where the door on the Hawk is? Is that a better topic of discussion? Feel safer? Anyway -- I'll leave this topic open for a day or so and then move it to the GBA section of this forum. It's too bad that few people can discuss this issue without thinking there's some hidden axe to grind or worse, not having their own hidden axe to grind. |
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| AlphaGuy1999 17 Apr 2003 23:53:21 |
Well folks, This is my first post on this board and I hope that I don't get flamed the first time out.... As for Space:1999's appeal to gay men, I can only say that I don't think that it has a disproportionately gay following than any other sci-fi series. I'm a member of a few Sci-Fi groups and I feel that the gay culture is spread pretty evenly throughtout fandom. I can't tell you how many times I've had TV related discussions about other series with other GBA members. It would appear that what is happening is the same thing that happens in society. Gays are a kind of subculture of the rest of mainstream society. Sci-Fi is kind of the same thing... I remember a friend telling me when I went into the Air Force "Don't tell anyone that you are into Sci-Fi". Sounds like the "Don't ask, Don't Tell" policy, right? I know lots of people, both gay and straight that keep their interest in Sci-Fi (or Space:1999) in "the closet" so to speak. Some are just more outspoken than others and display their passion more openly than others and some don't care what others think and do what they want. As a gay man, I don't feel drawn to Space:1999 for any other reason than it is a very unique series given kind of stories it presented and the style it was presented in at the time it first aired. I don't think it's about the costumes, the sets, or the actors... There's something intangible that just grabs me when I watch it and I find that it has a very small, but loyal following. I have followed many TV series over the last 30-35 years from Lost in Space all the way to Enterprise and each show has been very interesting in their own way. Space:1999 has held up very well over the past few decades even though some say that the costumes look dated and the technology isn't up to snuff when comparing it to what actually appeared in the real-life 1999. Well, that was actually more than I was going to say, but I just have one more thing to say to those that have already done a bit of flaming on this topic: Surely, you can see what the topic is about before you came into this thread. That being said, why bother to come in here and make unfriendly posts just to exhibit your intolerance of something you just can't deal with. There's lots of room on this forum for everyone - If you aren't happy with the topics presented, start a topic that you would be interested in discussing. It seems like a waste of time to post something nasty or inappropriate and then have it deleted anyway. If you are going to take the time to write, make that time count and write something constructive - don't ruin it for everyone else just because you are uncomfortable. Anyway, my best to all and I hope that this forum is around for a while... Bryan |
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