But wasn't season seven when they seemed to drop all pretense at being anywhere near the "thinking sci fi" Showtime ordered up and just sexed it up for all the characters? It's just more obvious with Sam because it looks like she could put someone's eye out with those things.

A lot of fans were making comments about the "arm porn" the guys were sporting that season, myself included, and I think TPTB (more along the lines of Sci Fi, not necessarily Bridge) seemed to take it seriously that's what we wanted to see -- and that's all we wanted to see. Plot and deep thought need not apply.