Farscape: watch it or perish!
Apr. 25th, 2005 05:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI just wanted to recommend to the people on my flist a show that has been a severe obsession with me for years: Farscape I know some people on my flist (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sabaceanbabe, scottishlass, queenofthorns) are fellow Farscape fans, but the rest of you should really check it out.
You don’t have to worry about delayed gratification or hanging plot lines. All of the show’s 4 seasons (88 eps) and the concluding miniseries are out on DVD.
Farscape is the only show I’ve ever really loved. Heck, until BSG, it was the only show I regularly watched (not much of a TV person). And I really like BSG. I watch it every week, I tape the eps, I write fic etc etc. But my obsess…errr, love of Farscape was a whole other level. Never wrote fic for it though, as never thought I could come up with anything good enough.
This is the most heavily arc-ed show I’ve ever seen. In fact, this is a TV equivalent of reading a Dickens novel in installments. There is one plot, and beginning and an end. There is a reason why by S4, their “previouslys” have gotten ridiculously long. For someone like me, who does not like episodic, but likes her books and movies long, this is heaven. There is an amazing level of character development. If you watch John Crichton of the end of S4 and the beginning of S1, it’s going to give you whiplash. That is true of character interactions as well. That is why this is better when watched in order and together. And all the characters are so fascinating. Also, It is supremely angsty and utterly hilarious. Sometimes in the same episode. Oh, and it has really strong women characters.
Plot: John Crichton, astronaut, gets thrown through a wormhole “into a distant part of the Universe.” He ends up on a living ship (Moya), with a bunch of aliens, all of them refugees and outcasts. Throw in wormhole research, severe torture, neural implants, space battles, angst, and a death- (and cloning-) defying love affair, and you’ve got Farscape.
Characters:
John Crichton: main character. I liked him in the very beginning, when he was nice and peaceful and cheerful and sane. By the end, where he is a tortured, barely sane killer ready to betray the Universe to save the woman he loves, I was in love: line, hook, and sinker.
Aeryn Sun: Former Peacekeeper (a military totalitarian race, similar to humans that controls a part of the galaxy), she ends up on Moya because she is declared “irreversibly contaminated” by her xenophobic culture because of her contact with Crichton. She has issues (to put it mildly). Crichton and Aeryn are the OTP to end all OTPs. It takes them 4 years, insanity (his), family issues (hers), death (mutual), not to mention getting past Aeryn’s pesky “emotions are despicable” attitude to finally truly get together. Yet another “gender reversal” couple that I love. She is physically stronger than him, and he is certainly the emotional one in the relationship. The scene where he offers to give up everything: his hope of finding earth, home, family and she still walks away is…perfect.
Ka D’Argo: Luxan prisoner of Peacekeepers. Temper, great fighting skills, and John’s Best Friend. Also, tentacles or not, my secondary crush.
Chiana: She starts out as a social rebel: thief, whore, delinquent. Ends up Crichton’s little sister and D’Argo’s (for a time) lover. I fell in love with her meanwhile.
Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan: Priestess. Murderess. Plant. Can’t top that. So I won’t try.
Rygel: Looks like a slug, but is a former deposed ruler of many billions of subjects. As he’d be glad to remind you ad nauseam. Also greedy, untrustworthy and snide. A muppet this ain’t.
Jool: She came in Season 3. A former upper-class intellectual (don’t ask) who has a fondness for leather (also don't ask) she thinks she is above everyone else there. Good that Chiana is there to set her straight.
Stark: He is a former slave. However, since he channels the dead, he is a bit more than that (for one thing, he’s got the sexiest voice, and for another, rather questionable sanity). Zhaan/Stark, beautiful and doomed, is my secondary OTP for Farscape.
Captain Bialar Crais: Peacekeeper Captain. Pretty efficient. Pretty unscrupulous. A pity Crichton got on the bad side of him as soon as he got there.
Scorpius: Big Bad of the series. Won’t say more so as not to ruin the fun.
Pilot: He pilots Moya, the ship on which the rest travel.
Actually, in order to really see if you like Farscape, you are better off starting with Season One’s “Nerve/Hidden Memory” two parter. You’ll love it. If not, I despair of you :)
Links: http://forums.scaperoute.com
http://www.watchfarscape.com
sabaceanbabe, scottishlass, queenofthorns) are fellow Farscape fans, but the rest of you should really check it out.You don’t have to worry about delayed gratification or hanging plot lines. All of the show’s 4 seasons (88 eps) and the concluding miniseries are out on DVD.
Farscape is the only show I’ve ever really loved. Heck, until BSG, it was the only show I regularly watched (not much of a TV person). And I really like BSG. I watch it every week, I tape the eps, I write fic etc etc. But my obsess…errr, love of Farscape was a whole other level. Never wrote fic for it though, as never thought I could come up with anything good enough.
This is the most heavily arc-ed show I’ve ever seen. In fact, this is a TV equivalent of reading a Dickens novel in installments. There is one plot, and beginning and an end. There is a reason why by S4, their “previouslys” have gotten ridiculously long. For someone like me, who does not like episodic, but likes her books and movies long, this is heaven. There is an amazing level of character development. If you watch John Crichton of the end of S4 and the beginning of S1, it’s going to give you whiplash. That is true of character interactions as well. That is why this is better when watched in order and together. And all the characters are so fascinating. Also, It is supremely angsty and utterly hilarious. Sometimes in the same episode. Oh, and it has really strong women characters.
Plot: John Crichton, astronaut, gets thrown through a wormhole “into a distant part of the Universe.” He ends up on a living ship (Moya), with a bunch of aliens, all of them refugees and outcasts. Throw in wormhole research, severe torture, neural implants, space battles, angst, and a death- (and cloning-) defying love affair, and you’ve got Farscape.
Characters:
John Crichton: main character. I liked him in the very beginning, when he was nice and peaceful and cheerful and sane. By the end, where he is a tortured, barely sane killer ready to betray the Universe to save the woman he loves, I was in love: line, hook, and sinker.
Aeryn Sun: Former Peacekeeper (a military totalitarian race, similar to humans that controls a part of the galaxy), she ends up on Moya because she is declared “irreversibly contaminated” by her xenophobic culture because of her contact with Crichton. She has issues (to put it mildly). Crichton and Aeryn are the OTP to end all OTPs. It takes them 4 years, insanity (his), family issues (hers), death (mutual), not to mention getting past Aeryn’s pesky “emotions are despicable” attitude to finally truly get together. Yet another “gender reversal” couple that I love. She is physically stronger than him, and he is certainly the emotional one in the relationship. The scene where he offers to give up everything: his hope of finding earth, home, family and she still walks away is…perfect.
Ka D’Argo: Luxan prisoner of Peacekeepers. Temper, great fighting skills, and John’s Best Friend. Also, tentacles or not, my secondary crush.
Chiana: She starts out as a social rebel: thief, whore, delinquent. Ends up Crichton’s little sister and D’Argo’s (for a time) lover. I fell in love with her meanwhile.
Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan: Priestess. Murderess. Plant. Can’t top that. So I won’t try.
Rygel: Looks like a slug, but is a former deposed ruler of many billions of subjects. As he’d be glad to remind you ad nauseam. Also greedy, untrustworthy and snide. A muppet this ain’t.
Jool: She came in Season 3. A former upper-class intellectual (don’t ask) who has a fondness for leather (also don't ask) she thinks she is above everyone else there. Good that Chiana is there to set her straight.
Stark: He is a former slave. However, since he channels the dead, he is a bit more than that (for one thing, he’s got the sexiest voice, and for another, rather questionable sanity). Zhaan/Stark, beautiful and doomed, is my secondary OTP for Farscape.
Captain Bialar Crais: Peacekeeper Captain. Pretty efficient. Pretty unscrupulous. A pity Crichton got on the bad side of him as soon as he got there.
Scorpius: Big Bad of the series. Won’t say more so as not to ruin the fun.
Pilot: He pilots Moya, the ship on which the rest travel.
Actually, in order to really see if you like Farscape, you are better off starting with Season One’s “Nerve/Hidden Memory” two parter. You’ll love it. If not, I despair of you :)
Links: http://forums.scaperoute.com
http://www.watchfarscape.com
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 03:55 pm (UTC)And Ellen could totally squick-out Rygel by coming on to him, too, with him being a Dominar and all.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 03:56 pm (UTC)Hmmmmm, wanna co-write?
no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 04:12 pm (UTC)Heee! Side benefits :)
So how best to do this?
no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 04:51 pm (UTC)We could start with just the bare-bones-basic premise (you know, Moya stumbles across the Galactica, something like that) and then take suggestions from the audience? Once there's enough to work with we could start trading emails back and forth.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 11:40 pm (UTC)Oh, and I have some bare-bones ideas I'll pm you on Kansas.
I've gotten your story and read through it. Haven't noticed anything major at all, but will read it more carefully this evening...
no subject
Date: 2005-04-27 12:46 pm (UTC)*grumbles*
darn muses... I was *supposed* to be working on Kick.