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Tired old SF clichés
Some further thoughts and a rant about the script of the Farscape episode Coup by Clam.
I was surprised to find this was written by a woman, Emily Skopov. There were some very good bits--the shellfish containing neurologically-linked bacteria which gave the people who ate them the same symptoms, and Crichton in drag which had me laughing out loud--but we had [rolls eyes] yet another society which oppresses women. Just what goes on here? Do writers think to themselves, "I know! I'll write about a culture in which woman don't count. That'll be original--it's only been done 5000 times, and it's not like it happens on this planet."
Bloody hell, why not write something really different, like a race with several sexes, all of which are needed for procreation, or one with a hive-mind? Or confound our expectations: I loved the garbage-collecting alien, Staanz, in The Flax who appeared male but was actually female, though he was cancelled out by the bloodhound couple Rorf and Rorg in Till the Blood Runs Clear who regarded females as inferior and owned by males. I think I've read only one or two stories in which females were dominant and usually this 'unnatural state' has been corrected by the end. Not that I approve of that sort of society either, but it would have been much more original, and also fun to see Aeryn and Sikozu in drag.
Sexist societies appear in every SF show I can think of. Hey, script-writers, how about a little more thought and invention and a lot less tired and offensive cliché?
no subject
It's obvious from above comments that you are already thinking of dialogue, which is the core of character, and character is the core of plot, so don't get hung up on it. What your goal for the story is, is to explore how all these interesting characters react to this recovering-from-a-destructive-matriarchy society.
Plot:
1. They go to the planet for supplies (they are always going to planets for supplies)
2. There is a misunderstanding, either because Aerin goes to get the supplies, or Rigel goes to negotiate for the supplies, or Crichton goes along with either one.
3. Crichton gets thrown in jail, and/or, Crichton gets accidentally involved with fringe reformers and gets thrown in jail
4. Aerin and Rigel try to get him out
5. Chiana tries to get him out
6. Various other characters get lost, stolen or strayed
7. Crichton gets out, having taught his fellow inmates and jailers something about equality. Or one of them, anyway.
8. They get the supplies, they leave.
There's your plot. The fun is in the dialogue. Go for it.
no subject
I'll have to work on it - the point would be the tension between legal equality (almost) and effective equality, which are not the same thing at all, but...
Oh, it would be fun. And Crichton does have an amazing ability to get himself into troublesome situations.