Farscape... shadows of B5?

c0y0te

OK - so season one sucked big style, but show me any sci-fi show which had all the right things, in all the right places during season one and I'll eat my hat.

Having progressed beyond the usual mess of character intros, plot arcs and make-up disasters, this show has moved on to impress me. In fact, it reminds me of one of my all time favourites, B5.

JMS always said his first season was for the 'suits', just to give them confidence that he knew what he was doing and so he didn't surprise them too much until they gave him full control for season 2 and backed off. From there the show took off and became the legend it is as a result of the long story arcs, the very slow character development (which drew the viewer in as a result) and the odd surprise thrown in by JMS before the studio knew it was there.

Farscape is shaping up in the same vein. The first season was forgettable, but now I can see a new style, tempo and most of all a new approach for the recent episodes. The characters are evolving nicely, and the story arcs just got huge. Plots are becoming more compelling and the actualy quality of the episodes (production values, continuity, even acting) has increased tenfold.

Anyone else out there got a view on Farscape?

c0y0te

Supercell

Do aggree with you to some extent, yes the storylines are becoming better and the characters more believable, that said, the improvement is linear, not logarithmic, which it needs to be to approach B5, but thats just my opinion.

Still; its watchable fluff.

c0y0te

Tis a valid opinion, considering that I've yet to see any series approach the vaulted heights that B5 managed to scale during its tenure.

Btw.. have u heard anything about the spinoff series, B5: Rangers or something like that? Has it launched in the states yet?

c0y0te

Shinji

My issue with Farscape - which is not addressed by the later episodes - is the variance in quality.

Sometimes, it's GREAT - fantastic episodes, crackling dialogue, neat plotlines.

However, quite regularly, it's so unutterably abysmal that it'd genuinely scar you for life just to watch the episodes - truly awful stuff.

If they could just fix their scriptwriting team, they'd be set up as one of the best SF series' out there.

bonkey

having watched (and bought) the first two series of Farscape, I guess I am a bit more "pro" the series than most of the posts so far.

B5 - sure - classic. Series one was god-awful. Series 2 was pretty OK. 3 and 4 were outstanding, and (IMHO) series 5 was very weak - or at least v. weak in comparison to 3 and 4.

I think Farscape had the strongest season one of any series I've seen in a long time. Sure, it had weak episodes and all that, but its the first series I've seen in a long time where the main characters were all introduced in series one without any seriously "plastic" or "cardboard" characters.

Shinji - I think the scriptwriters are on very powerful drugs. There are too many seriously wacky episodes for there to be any other rational explanation. Unfortunately, sometimes, they lose it a bit

For me, Farscape ranks along B5 as the most promising SciFi I've seen in at least 10 years, (if not longer). While stuff like DS9, Stargate, and even Sliders have *developed* storylines, they ususally do so around series 4. Farscape has had one since ep 1 which has evolved and grown...and which is already more than a loose storyline trotted out from time to time.

Course - this i sjust my opinion The rest of you are, of course, free to like it or hate it as you wish

jc

koneko

IMO Farscape is one of the best shows on TV at the mo.
With the dire shyte coming out nowadays (Mutant X anyone?) it's hard to find good shows, especially with Voyager finished now.

Sure Farscape had a few weak moments, but there isn't a show out there that hasn't. At least it still has promise, something a lot of shows lose along the way.
I mean, look at the X-Files. It was absolutely brilliant for a while there. Now I can't even force myself to watch it anymore.

BTW, does anyone know when S3 of Farscape will be on DVD? The S2 DVDs are all out now, but no sign of S3.... hmm?

bonkey

Originally posted by koneko
BTW, does anyone know when S3 of Farscape will be on DVD? The S2 DVDs are all out now, but no sign of S3.... hmm?

I cant find anything on this either.

BUT...

S3 is still airing in the US, so I dont really expect the discs to come out before that ends.

of course, that said, Buffy Series 5 and Angel Series 2 released the first hald on vid before the season ended...

jc

koneko

Yeah, same can be said for S2 though I guess. As the eps are released in lil box sets of 4 eps, the earlier ones can be released (in theory).

There's no mention of it on amazon.co.uk, usually pre-orders are listed a good while b4 they're out so it's not lookin good. Ohwell.