Anyone care to discuss Farscape?

Karl Hungus

Well, it seems that there's nothing but Battlestar Galactica on everyone's mind right now, but with Season 3 just released on DVD and The Peacekeeper Wars aired in the states recently, it seems that there's more to Sci-fi than just BSG these days.

Not being much of a fan of TV I didn't get a chance to watch Farscape when it was on, but what little bits I did see was enough to snatch my intrest, and once I got seasons 1 and 2 for my birthday this year, I was completely hooked altogether. Season 2 really left me hanging with one of the most phenominal cliffhangers on TV, alongside that of Angel's 3rd season. I finally got my hands on the Farscape season 3 box set, and just finished watching it today. Excellent altogether, and I really want to see season 4, I'm just not going to shell out for the 5 individual volumes.

So, anyone else a fan? Why do you love it, or hate it, or are indifferent to it?

Use spoiler tags, seeing as the Peacekeeper Wars isn't out this side of the world yet, and there's no season 4 box set out on DVD yet either.

c0y0te

I'm a huge fan, and will post on this, but don't have time at the mo.. so I just wanted to correct one item on your post.

The season 4 box set has been out for ages. I've got the whole series on DVD to date, just waiting for PKWars to hit the shelves.

Anyways - will post more later.

c0y0te

ixoy

c0y0te wrote:

The season 4 box set has been out for ages. I've got the whole series on DVD to date, just waiting for PKWars to hit the shelves.

Although, it must be noted, that's Region 1 DVD. Then again this IS Karl Hungus about and if anyone's invested in a region free DVD player....
I have heard that the R1 DVD transfers aren't as good as the R2 DVD ones - anyone have anything to say? Or is merely a PAL/NTSC thing?

Stark

Well I've heard complaints about the Region 1&4 transfers but no complaints about the Region 2 transfers. I have Season 3 in Region 4 format and haven't really noticed.

So how did you rate Season 3 compared to Seasons 1&2 Karl? I thought Season 3 was the best of the lot myself. Season 2 was a whole lot of fun, but Season 3 was when it really went epic.There were a lot of crappy episodes in Season 2 but the only episode I disliked from Season 3 was "I-Yensch, You Yensch" and that would have been good if it wasn't for those annoying blue aliens.

I like the way Farscape stands apart from other sci-fi shows in its insanity and in the way many aspects could be considered art-forms (Many of the sets and designs are fantastic and stand out as being truly alien. And when

Scorpius is standing on the steps in the penultimate episode with the water gushing down, man if I had a poster of that

).

c0y0te

Just for the record, my stuff is all region 2, sourced from play.com.

c0y0te

Praetorian

I have every single episode. I really loved that show! Lots of loveable characters like the invulnerable Scorpious, the crazy Stark, the sincere Pilot and the hilarious Rygel.

Karl Hungus

I found season 3 quite excellent, bar a few episodes. I thought that 'Self Infilcted Wounds' was fairly poor, and the final episode was nowhere near as good a finale as that of season 2.

Other than that, it was quite excellent. I really liked that

Once John was cloned, they didn't wrap it up the next episode, but instead chose to run with it for half the season, and the aftermath seemed to have pretty deep repercussions with John & Aeryn's relationship. If this were a lesser show, they'd have everything back to normal by next week, and there's few shows brave enough to do something like that at all. Fantastic stuff altogether.

c0y0te

I place Farscape in the same realm as Babylon 5.

That sentance alone - for anyone who really loved B5 - should be enough to tell you how good Farscape really was.

They did some pretty inventive things, sticking to a long story arc where it never really worked out as you expected it to (most of the time).

They had a terriffic villan in Scorpius, not to mention the comic interludes with 'harvey' in Crightons head.

They had a fantastic and outlandish set of characters on the the living ship, which kept pushing the boundaries of what was considered 'safe' and 'acceptable' in a sci-fi show (think about that for a minute, there was a sex bomb female with no inhibitions, a delusional muppet with no morals or ethics, a warrior with no control, a nazi who didn't realise she'd been a nazi until there was something else to compare it to, a plant (good ol' bluey), a granny with some rather strange traits to say the least and so on, and so on...

The ideas, the sets, the camerawork and the sense of timing on the show was always top notch. Some of the eps were absolutely legendary. Overall I fell for this show right from the first season, becuase I sensed in it the possibility to be great, just like B5.

I hold just such hopes for Battlestar Galactica right now, most of all because it treats its audiences like adults, and doesn't shy away from the difficult calls.

Think about the ending in season 4, and tell me you weren't blown away by the two last episodes, and especially the 10 last seconds. Farscape had it all, the sexy gear, the great characters, the muppet(s), the plots and most of all - the quirky humour.

c0y0te

Stark

I found season 3 quite excellent, bar a few episodes. I thought that 'Self Infilcted Wounds' was fairly poor, and the final episode was nowhere near as good a finale as that of season 2.

I thought "Self inflicted wounds" was great, but for the character tension, not the plot. Some classic bits were

Stark freaking out with Jool - "You want to cry little girl? I'll show you something that will make you cry forever", and the Harvey scenes

. I used to think the Season 3 finale was inferior to the Season 2 finale but it really is a grower. They could have ended the series on that note if they wanted to and it would be perfect. In fact I disliked Season 4 for going back on those vibes a bit (but really their optimism was misplaced). I really loved when

The aliens are in wedding gear and giving Crichton imaginary parting words. "Everything good I do with the rest of my life, I do because of you", "You'd better not ever forget, you'd better not ever forget that I love you". And Rygel's "of all the lesser species, I admit I've grown to like yours the best". And when Scorpius and the peacekeepers bust the wedding, wow. "Tell me John, what did you expect?"

.

Other than that, it was quite excellent. I really liked that

Once John was cloned, they didn't wrap it up the next episode, but instead chose to run with it for half the season, and the aftermath seemed to have pretty deep repercussions with John & Aeryn's relationship. If this were a lesser show, they'd have everything back to normal by next week, and there's few shows brave enough to do something like that at all. Fantastic stuff altogether.

Oh god yes.

I love the way they tease you with Talyn John bleeding to death in "Thanks for sharing" then save him at the last minute. I tuned in for his actual death scene and that started me on getting hooked. The follow-up "The Choice" was fantastic, man can Claudia act and the sets looked like they were right out of Blade Runner. I thought it was fantastic the way she and Moya John interacted in "Fractures", really had you tensed up. The way she walked past him in the docking bay leaving him looking like a lost little puppy, warming to him a little when she saw him with the video recording of Talyn John and then allowing her Peacekeeper training to overrule her feelings when she goes to be at his side when he makes his closing scene call to arms. But overall I really liked the way they were adult enough to portray perfectly what any of us would feel if confronted with a perfect copy of our dead lover. Really hit home that love is more than sum of parts, that just because the two Johns were identical, she still fell in love with only one.

.

Karl Hungus

Yeah, and Aeryn is mega-hot too!

Though you're probably right, I'll more than likely warm to the season finale.

It is an amazing show altogether, and far better than anyone can expect from Scifi with muppets really. They did have some fantastically outlandish and imaginative aliens and sets aswell as downright meticulous plotlines.

You're quite right about the characters aswell, Coyote. Remember the episode DNA Mad Scientist?

They just go straight in and lob off one of pilot's arms! If this were star trek, they'd never even consider the posibility, and even if it was suggested, they'd moralise it to death. That's something that's quite fresh about the whole thing.

c0y0te

Quite right about that scene KH... makes me also think of how Talyn ended. Considering the journey that Crais and Talyn made (in respect of character development and (can we call it?) relationship... it was a terrible and beautiful ending to that arc on the PK carrier.

Again - no dodging of bullets there, no easy option or nicely wrapped up finish to keep the execs happy.. They just kept faithful to the story arc and the character development and did what "should" have happened.

Yup - a hell of show.

c0y0te

Capt'n Midnight

Nice that they all don't have america accents too

Makes such a change from the usual guff about "the prime directive" why all the fuss about it if you didn't kill wesley for falling on the flower bed..

Some of the sets and special effects aren't great but its the screenplay that keeps you watching. Anyone ever watch Lexx on C5 ? (cringe)

Stark

Quite right about that scene KH... makes me also think of how Talyn ended. Considering the journey that Crais and Talyn made (in respect of character development and (can we call it?) relationship... it was a terrible and beautiful ending to that arc on the PK carrier.

Again - no dodging of bullets there, no easy option or nicely wrapped up finish to keep the execs happy.. They just kept faithful to the story arc and the character development and did what "should" have happened.

Aye

Talyn was disturbed right from the beginning (probably from a combination of being experimental technology and having some of Crais's psyche) and he was destined to "die" one way or the other, whether it being due to having his brain wiped or the "hero's death". A very fitting conclusion even if I did miss them a lot during the 4th season.

Some of the highlights for me:

Self Inflicted Wounds - great cliffhanger in the middle what with the

Three stooges tape, which provided momentum for John's wormhole obsession. I like the way it's partially John's fault that Zhaan died. Stark perving on Aeryn was also kind of disturbing and added darkness to the whole Aeryn being the only female on Talyn bit later in the season

Deeper

The beacon the Pathfinders installed in Moya's hull was the reason Moya got sucked down the wormhole at the end of the season. But it's not what you think and you have to wait a half a season to find out the resolution to this point

Different Destinations -

No happy endings here. The elasticity of time thing gets re-referenced in Season 4.

Eat Me -

Episode itself could have been done better and Guy Gross's score to this episode is overrated. The good thing is that you think it's going to be a standalone episode but then they introduce the Retrieval squad threat and THAT ending.

It's also noticeable that the quality of the ending scenes have VASTLY improved. They're now interesting and there's none of the crew simply sitting around moaning.

Thanks for sharing - Why does this episode remind me of Dune? Anyway

Very interesting twist where it looks like hooray Crichton and D'argo have swooped in and brought stability to a whole government when in actual fact they've frelled up and the brother was the lesser of evils all along. Oh and D'argo's your daddy More great production values also. And the ending is great. I hadn't seen this episode first time round and was wondering how did they decide which Crichton goes on which ship? Nice to see how Talyn John effectively "screws himself over". You'd think he'd at least leave some spare clothes, but it's obvious at this stage that neither acknowledges the other's viability. Classic quote: "Yourself and Stark will have to share quarters". "There'll be my side and your side, my side your side". "Oh don't start"

Green Eyed Monster - This episode was penned by Ben Browder and like Season 4's John Quixote it was frelling great. Lot's and lots of tension. And of course more wild Stark/Rygel humour

(pure genius making the two of them roommates ) -"My mother sucks what?" "<Vomit> I love that trick". Oh and FINALLY Aeryn and John are together

Losing Time:

Bloody great opening with Neural Clone Crichton being chased about my Scorpius. And bloody great ending too when he tosses Scorpius into the wormhole and Scorpius wakes up in shock. The rest of the episode wasn't that great standalone wise but we did get to see advancement in the Scorpius wormhole plot and we get introduced to Chiana's visions. Oh and it's the first time we see the Starburst sequence from inside Moya

Relativity -

Bloody great scene at the end where Crais is left to kill Aeryn's mother. Powerful stuff when Aeryn is remembering back and breaks free to Crichton to run back only to hear the shots

Incubator -

Some of the mystery of Scorpius unpeeled. Seems even Sebacean-Scarran hybrid bastards love their mothers. Great character memory from Ben Browder, the Crichton neural clone sounds exactly like Crichton did towards the end of Season 2.

Meltdown -

First Farscape episode I watched Was enough to gain my interest even if it's not a classic. I loved the bit at the start to torment the know-it-all fanboys - "Is that what you think? Is that what you think happened?" Was great seeing Stark become a Pilot. And the bit at the end was great too "Even if you slit my throat I'll still know". Leaves some great ambiguity to the Crais/Talyn relationship. Even though they died together and everything, how close were they really?

Scratch & Sniff - Well I liked it "Why don't you get dressed and give them a good show sweetheart" "I am dressed. Eek".

Infinite Possibilites - amazing stuff

Revening Angel -

God I laughed so hard when Harvey unexpectedly turned into a Looney's Tunes character. Some great funny moments in the episode even if the purely animated bits were kind of boring. Still it shows great originality, I bet you won't see a Battlestar Galacitca episode shot in Looney Tunes style

The Choice - one of my all time favourite Farscape episodes. Claudia girl, you can act and you're gorgeous. The bit at the end where she decides to go back to being a traditional Peacekeeper is quite powerful and she delivers her lines with perfection. I love the backup performances from Crais, Stark and Rygel. It was brilliant when

Aeryn in her grief confronts Crais and Stark for effectively sexually harrassing her during her time on Talyn.

Fractures - The crew being reunited should give enough for this episode but we're still treated to some serious wackiness.

The characters from the Peacekeeper pod were all great and I nearly cried when Chiana's friend died. And oh my god, Rygel gets laid. It's great the way Moya John finally acknowledges Talyn John but onlyl now that Talyn John is dead. That scene with Moya John and the vid recording of Talyn John was very touching and I love the way Aeryn is watching in the backgroudn. And that scene at the end when Crichton announces his decision to go after Scorpius is brilliance from start to finish

Into the Lion's Den -

It's really great seeing Aeryn having to confront her old Peacekeeper comrades and the destruction of the command carrier has to go down in the all time classic Sci-Fi moments. Trivialises the destruction of Earth Force One in Babylon 5. I really loved the way character development has gotten to the point where Peacekeepers are no longer just anonymous scum and the prospect of killing 50,000 of them becomes a serious issue. Also draws the fine line between one man's terrorist being another man's hero. I love when Aeryn is running through the planet simulator as it's collapsing trying to clear people out.

Dog with two bones - Definitely a grower.

As well as the bits I mentioned above, I love the running joke with the old woman who just happens to be on the ship without explanation in this episode. "Who is that old woman?" "I thought she was with you". Classic. Crichton's fantasy scenes were excellent. Have you watched the deleted scenes on the DVD with the D'argo congo line and a few others?

Karl Hungus

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Nice that they all don't have america accents too

Ah, but when John tries to pretend he's a peacekeeper, or gets taken over by scorpius... *Cringe* :eek:

Stark

I thought that was quite amusing actually first time round

Yeah the Australialness of it is part of the attraction for me, I love some of the Australian classic TV shows. It's a pity in Season 4 and in the mini, the australian accents become less noticeable.

Karl Hungus

Can't say I'd really agree with you there, I'd say Farscape is probably the best that's come out of Oz as far as TV is concerned. Other than that if I get reministant of old Ozzie TV, I'd either giggle with fond memories of Round The Twist, or have a spaz-attack and hit my head at the thought of the Flying Doctors.

Jack B. Badd

Just started rewatching Farscape again - this time start to finish with no missing bits. Oh, Farscape, how do I love thee! One of the best goddamn sci-fi shows ever Don't know how it compares with B5 cos I haven't seen it through to the end yet (and haven't seen the PK Wars at all). But I'm looking forward to finding out!

Pugsley

Way to ressurect a 2 year dead thread, but yea Farscape is excellent, have all 4 seasons and PKW on DVD.

Jack B. Badd

Well hell, the threads still relevant and I really like Farscape so why not ressurect it?!

Tree

farscape does indeed rule, and i also look forward to watchin it through w/o gaps when jack lends me said series!

wonderfully colourful show

Stark

I'm happy to have this thread bumped

Farscape. Best show ever without a doubt. You may notice my username also comes from Farscape

monkeyfudge

My side, your side! My side, your side! My side, your side!

madrab

love farscape, especially because alot of it is still kind of mysterious

sutty

I loved farscape from the moment I first seen it (when it first aired on BBC) I started buying the DVDs as soon as they where coming out at the time. The show gave me many enjoyable hours of watching with out disapointment!


PS... remember... the crackers dont matter!

Pugsley

madrab wrote:

love farscape, especially because alot of it is still kind of mysterious

Probably because we got Peacekeeper Wars rather than another full series

Jack B. Badd

I didn't have access to it at the time but I can't imagine what people must have felt when they heard (after watching the cliffhanger ending of season 4) that it was being cancelled. I would have cried!

bonkey

Jack B. Badd wrote:

I didn't have access to it at the time but I can't imagine what people must have felt when they heard (after watching the cliffhanger ending of season 4) that it was being cancelled. I would have cried!

On one hand, I was gutted.

On the other hand, series come, series go. C'est la vie.

Stark

If they had ended the episode 10 seconds earlier, it wouldn't have been as gut wrenching. If they had omitted the "To be continued" so we'd have the closure of thinking Crichton & Aeryn were dead, it wouldn't have been as gut wrenching. But leaving it with that cliffhanger, aggghhh!

Jack B. Badd

bonkey wrote:

On the other hand, series come, series go. C'est la vie.

Hmmm...I dunno. I have a list of very bad things I want to do to people who cancel unbelievably good tv shows...

Stark

Like make them watch every season of Charmed?

bonkey

Jack B. Badd wrote:

Hmmm...I dunno. I have a list of very bad things I want to do to people who cancel unbelievably good tv shows...

The biggest problem unbelievably good tv shows have is typically what makes them unbelievably good - depth.

Series 1 of almost every series is dodgy. Its enough to let you know whether or not you're on to something, but its generally a bit dodgy.

Problem is that all-too-often (farscape and b5 spring to mind) if you haven't watched series 1, you'll never be able to easily get into it. Thus, audience numbers are close-to-capped after a dodgy season.

With non-story-arc series, or series that are less story-arc focussed (i.e. have far less depth) you can pick them up and/or put them down.

The most successful series do a mix. They do mostly particle-of-the-week stuff for a series or two, then they start making moves on the story arc. Problem is that afterwards, those first two series really are just fluff.

Farscape was canned (afaik) because it was expensive to produce and its audience numbers were static, while cheaper shows were producing better returns.

Whether we like it or not, episodic tv is all about increasing the audience numbers, not just maintaining them. Getting that balance right is damned hard...hence my attitude. C'est la vie.

If they didn't have this approach, half the stuff you get mad at being cancelled would probably never have seen the light of day in the first place.

jc