The SyFy channel caused something of a stir in both the disability and gay communities when it issued the following casting call for an actress to play a quadriplegic scientist in the new Stargate Universe series:
[ELEANOR PERRY] (35-40) and quite attractive. A brilliant scientist who happens to be a quadriplegic. Affected since childhood, her disability has rendered her body physically useless. However, after being brought on board the Destiny as the only person who may be able to save the ship and her crew from certain annihilation, she is given temporary powers that enable her to walk again and to finally experience intimacy.sptv050769..Strong guest lead. NAMES PREFERRED. ACTRESS MUST BE PHYSICALLY THIN. (THINK CALISTA FLOCKHART).
io9 expands on the story by reporting that the script calls for the gimp scientist to trade bodies with a colleague who is a lesbian. Hilarity ensues when the scientist uses her colleague’s body to have some hetero sex.
The whole Stargate franchise always struck me as bland paint-by-numbers science fiction for people who don’t really like science fiction, so a high creative lameness factor is to be expected. I guess I should be offended that the casting implies call that people with quadriplegia are incapable of experiencing sex, but I don’t expect most Hollywood writers to have a clue about disability or homosexuality as it exists in the real world.
And there’s really no need to bring Calista Flockhart into all of this. The poor woman has suffered enough.
Okay, so what are the chances – I know I’m really going out on a limb here – that the borrowed body will become pregnant? (Nothing predictable going on here I’m sure.)