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
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-25 09:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-25 09:35 pm (UTC)I never even heard of "fandom" until I saw the season 4 cliffhanger (which has since been resolved in the Peacekeeper Wars, thus making my efforts "alternate universe").
Only two shows have inspired me to write: Farscape and BSG. They are my fandoms. (Although I've had a couple of peeps trying to push me to write Lost or Firefly...)
Hee. Farscape. Quite literally, I laughed. I cried. It changed my life.
No go out there and rent (or buy) the DVDs!
no subject
Date: 2005-04-25 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-25 09:43 pm (UTC)Fic question
Date: 2005-04-25 09:56 pm (UTC)From my experience, the vast bulk of FS fic is J/A shippy. That's great since that is my second favorite ever ship (first being Lymond/Philippa of Dunnett's "Lymond Chronicles"), but it makes it hard to find other ship fic. (I think BSG is sort of tending this way with most fic being either K/L or L/L).
Actually, if you know good John/Chi fic (besides your lovely Left Behind), I'd love to check it out. I think that even in canon (leaving aside AU) S1 Crichton, or even VERY early S2 Crichton maybe could have had a thing with Chi. Though I think by mid S2 it was definitely too late, as there would be (to use a melodramatic Victorian expression) "no other woman for him but Aeryn).
no subject
Date: 2005-04-25 10:34 pm (UTC)I fear, though, that I am somewhat behind and just now catching up with Star Wars. I read the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, and then watched Return of the Jedi. I blame my sobbing at the death of Darth Vader entirely on your livejournal. Did you know they re-edited it on the DVD and at the end of the movie, instead of seeing Darth Vader's ghost-thingy Luke sees Anakin?
no subject
Date: 2005-04-25 10:45 pm (UTC)I blame my sobbing at the death of Darth Vader entirely on your livejournal
*evil cackle*
Yeah, I know about the change. It gave me a bit of a lump in my throat when I first saw it...
So, wanna share your reaction to RotS? I loved it:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/dangermousie/22696.html#cutid1
http://www.livejournal.com/users/dangermousie/23913.html#cutid1
http://www.livejournal.com/users/dangermousie/25128.html
lazypadawan, elvensapphire and I had a bit of a discussion:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/dangermousie/23768.html#cutid1
http://www.livejournal.com/users/dangermousie/23012.html
no subject
Date: 2005-04-25 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-25 11:12 pm (UTC)Humans (Crichton) and Sebaceans (Aeryn) are pretty much the same (or actually the same, but I don't want to spoil it for those who are interested). So you can ship that :)
Stark and Zhaan are different races but his is semi non-corporeal anyhow.
And Chiana and D'Argo: hey, they are both consenting and sentient. Why not? That is speciism :D
Come on, all that angst....... Seriously speaking, I don't know if this would be your cup of tea.
Spoilers!
Date: 2005-04-26 12:17 am (UTC)My reaction? Kind of mixed. I mean, putting aside any thoughts on the writing style, I just thought it was so depressing. The parts with the "this is how Anakin Skywalker feels for now" and the "This is how Anakin Skywalker feels forever" just made me start crying.
I hated knowing that it wasn't going to turn out happily, and it wasn't going to be finished. I had to watch ROTJ just to know it ends, because I get depressed over movies that have no sense of decision.
I did love the sense of falling into insanity, because I've been reading a lot of books like that lately. Mmm....if I had been in a better mood at the time, I probably would have enjoyed it more. Also, I was crying, and it felt weird because it was Star Wars, this scifi film that my family mostly only likes for the special effects. Being attached to any character feels so...different. (Keep in mind, though, I cry during most movies. I actually cried during Pocohontas, the Disney version, yesterday).
Sorry, I just realized this is kind of long.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 12:28 am (UTC)I really adore the show. It's brilliantly written, acted and shot. The story arc alone is epic and the bad guys have depth too and nothing is really black or white.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 03:29 am (UTC)Sebaceans are a kind of human, so interbreding works.
Zhaan and Stark don't have physical sex. Their concept of sex is all mental anyway.
D'Argo and Chiana: they find out that they cannot have viable offspring, but they can certainly perform sexual acts (nature unspecified). Makes sense to me.
Besides, it's scifi. You can't get all mired in realism. If you insist on really realistic technical nitpicky stuff, you would often miss interesting character possibilities. Just as a period movie with all the exact details would be deadly dull (for one everyone would have nonanacronistic attitudes (thus barely comprehensible), filthy hair and you couldn't tell them apart, moreover they would not speak English), I am willing to cut the creators a bit of slack on something that really does not affect the story in any way. If one of the premises of the story is that different species can interbreed, then fine. How is it different from having as a premise of Lord of the Rings that there are such beings as immortal Elves or anime concepts that people have magic and Babli eyes?
Re: Spoilers!
Date: 2005-04-26 03:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 02:26 pm (UTC)To this day, I think that's why my husband doesn't want to watch Farscape with me, even though he likes the show. :P
Re: Fic question
Date: 2005-04-26 02:40 pm (UTC)Those should keep you occupied for a bit. ;)
Re: Fic question
Date: 2005-04-26 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 03:10 pm (UTC)And yeah, D'Argo broke my heart. I've never rewatched the end of BT since then, until the mini was announced, because I knew I couldn't
stand it.
Husband is a huge FS fan, but he's never let me live that one down :)
Oh, now I am imagining Crichton & Co. running across the Galactica. Hmmmm....
no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 03:41 pm (UTC)Oh! Write that! Yesssss!
Re: Fic question
Date: 2005-04-26 03:43 pm (UTC)When you have the time, would you mind doing a quick beta for me on a 500 - 600 BSG word drabble? Reason I'm asking you is 'cause it was inspired by you - Optimist.
Re: Fic question
Date: 2005-04-26 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 03:51 pm (UTC)Maybe Six and Harvey could have a chat, implant to implant. And Aeryn and Starbuck could sorta bond. Though Aeryn would hate the lack of discipline. Actually, I think more like D'Argo and Starbuck. Chiana? Would go for Lee to make Starbuck jealous. Crichton: talk to Roslin, tell about Earth (his earth). Heck, maybe Zhaan could come up with a better Cylon test. And I would love Jool there...Or Rygel's take on Baltar.
And everyone would be sorta intimidated by Aeryn. Oooh, Ellen and Crichton. And Aeryn "seeing it." I would set it in FS early S3 (before Zhaan's gone) but then how to have Jool there, hmmmm....
*argh, plot bunnies*
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.
Re: Fic question
Date: 2005-04-26 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 03:56 pm (UTC)Hmmmmm, wanna co-write?
Re: Fic question
Date: 2005-04-26 03:57 pm (UTC)Re: Fic question
Date: 2005-04-26 04:01 pm (UTC)Helo+lollipop=OTP
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.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-17 06:56 am (UTC)Everybody is wearing leather by the end of season 2. John...leather pants...*mops up drool*
Also, Aeryn must be credited with being Goddess Pilot Queen of Angst.
She actually beats Kara out on that one.
Can you imagine Apollo, Aeryn, and Starbuck flying for the Galactica? Aery would be grousing about the Vipers, Apollo would be in worshipping awe, Kara would be soooo pissed, the deck crew would be in stitches (the Chief would have a soft spot for Aeryn 'cause she loves the fighters like he does, and she'd never make a bad landing), John and Helo would be having a hoot teaching eachother card games, sucking lolly-pops and drowning in ambrosia, Roslin would bond with Zhaan, D'Argo and the Commander would be all about battle tactics, Dee and Pilot would commiserate, Chiana would seduce all men on board and make Ellen look like a really lousy, utterly untalented, desperate slag, and Rygel would just bug everybody, like always, but particularly enjoy driving Baltar up the wall. Oh, and John would have groupies. And Rygel would beat Kara at Triad and smoke cigars. Crackers may not matter, But Farscape is the frelling dren!