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Farscape Signs for 2 More Years
Dimes noted that the scifi channel has signed Farscape for 2 more seasons. 44 more episodes of my favorite sci-fi on TV (Well, maybe Lexx gives it a run for its money ;). New episodes start in January, and I'm a happy camper. Related ramblings: TNN is doing a marathon rerun of all of ST:TNG all this week. And I finally watched Enterprise- that theme song really has gotta go. But I'd like to see more, if only I could get it in my area. So much potential if they don't screw it up.
What I really like about Lexx is how each episode starts off dull, but gradually gets weirder and weirder until you're asking "What the FUCK were the writers smoking?!"
Oh, and the sex is good. Yes, I'm shallow, but dammit, I like it, so bug off.
*sniff* Makes me proud to be a Maritimer.
3 simple words that describe Farscape. I don't think I've seen a Scifi show ever that is like Farscape. ST:TNG was good, but it was never as interesting as Farscape. I think it's partly because everyone can relate to John Crichton. Just a semi-regular guy who was in the space industry sucked into a wormhole and into the middle of another part of the universe. Completely stupidified by everything. It makes you think man what is he going to find out next. And it's the simple stuff, like the second episode of the series he finds out how the people he's with brush their teeth. There are plenty of unanswered questions, like why do Peace Keepers look so much like humans, why is Jool's DNA related to Crichton's, ton's of stuff. They haven't even really elborated on the characters in the show very much at all. Mostly basic stuff and a little extra here and there, there are worlds of ideas and topics they've yet to cover, and thats what makes this show so good and fresh in my opinion. Now I'll click Submit and check back for a fresh amount of flames because I said it was better than ST:TNG.
..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
Perhaps it is just a throw-back to those days in my youth watching McGyver, but this is a good show, scientifically plausable, interesting plot, and compelling characters.
Not actually on any more, but recent enough to be interesting. Amazing special effects, and an interesting plot where you never really know whether the aliens are good guys, bad guys, or somewhere in between (the reality being the latter). In that sense, it mirrors the complexity of real life.
While the last season got somewhat depressing in places, the people behind "The Onion" have consistently provided a tongue-in-cheek, very funny dialog which, until recently didn't take itself too seriously. Also, new season just starting, can't talk long.
One of the few ways to watch TV News which actually talks about that insignificant part of the world outside the US.
There is just something about the consistent style, interesting plots, and slightly sick humor that makes this the best Cop show since "The Bill" (it's a Brit thing - Yanks need not worry).
I've been hearing a lot about Farscape, but never watched it because I didn't want to jump in in the middle.
Thankfully SciFi started re-airing it and this time I caught it. I think Season 2 just started on the reruns. Can anyone tell me what they're up to in the 'real' ones? I want to start watching those but I don't know where exactly they're at (Season 3 somewhere?)
I'd have taken notice of Farscape a LOT earlier if someone had told me Jim Hanson's Creature Shop was involved. The look & feel of the alien muppets beats the living daylights out of the "Nose Of The Day Department" who seems to do Star Trek. Then again when Farscape does have Human-Like aliens it's usually "Different Skin Colour" aliens.
I also love how everyone except Crichton has an Australian accent. And how badly they're trying to hide it. Yes, I know it's because the show's filmed there.
Plotwise, it's ok. The first season did have quite a few "Standard SciFi Plot #42" episodes, and some corny stuff (Scorpius? I mean... come on...), but I still like it. The characters are a lot more real than in Trek.
It's still not Babylon 5, but hey.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
The problem isn't so much the theme itself, IMHO, it's that in ten years, it will seem incredibly dated. (Actually, I'm willing to bet that it will seem dated in 2-4 years, but I'm being conservative here.)
:-) )
Even TOS theme isn't that dated, though it does bear a certain '60s vibe.
Is that a crime? For any other show I'd say no. But for a sci-fi show (and this goes for damn near all of them, not just Star Trek), I don't want a theme that screams "Contemporary!!" In a subtle, yet real way, it pulls me out of the show and drops me back in the year 2001... where, I might add, I'm not much on pop, or light rock, or post-disco semi-calypso, or whatever the hell genre that fits in. (Like I said, I'm not much on it
I don't watch a whole lot of other alternative Sci-fi shows... my cable system doesn't run many. But I do get syndicated Stargate SG-1 (which I think is excellent)... same music as the movie. Granted, it takes place in the present time, but still, the theme doesn't drag me into Hip Culture.
In this day and age, psuedo-classical like the Voyager theme is very neutral to us; it probably wouldn't be if we could listen to our culture with truly fresh ears, but we are who we are. It doesn't take us to the universe of the show; but there's no music that could do that directly. It also doesn't firmly ground us in the early days of the millenium.
That said, your description: "conveys the theme and mood of the series quite well - we're explorers, and tired of being held back" can be equally well done in a more culturally neutral style, and in fact, probably better. (May be an unpopular opinion, but the style the credits are in now, whatever style that may be, is IMHO one of the least expressive styles imaginable. Plop in some sad words and flip the song to minor and you're a long way to "me and my baby broke up, but I'm screwing her sister so who really cares".)
All IMHO, but that might help clarify some people's reasons for disliking it.
Or they may just not care for that style of music.
It's ironic that Farscape is filmed in Sydney, Australia where I live, but Channel 9, co-sponsor of the show isn't showing it since season 1 finished last year. In the regular sci-fi timeslot of Tuesday and Wednesday nights they are showing ST:TNG (again) and Roswell. They aren't even repeating B5 yet!
The I hear runours that it's showing in other cities in Australia, but still not Sydney. What's the story? It's even been taken off the Channel 9 web site, which makes it even harder to work out what is happening.
It's quite surreal to see Sydney bush scenes, with the plants spray painted blue or something similar, or Sydney beach scenes (remember, I've only seen season 1) for what is primarily an American show.
Oh, of course. How silly of me, it's on cable. Unlike the US, cable TV doesn't have the same market penetration over here yet. Well, I can always go over to my mum and dad's place and watc them ... at 3:30am!
-- Huh, what?
I take it you haven't seen several episodes in the third season, which doesn't end until January. Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan is dead for good (the actress who played her left the show) and one of the two John Crichtons died. Crichton was duplicated in the episode "Eat Me," with each copy eventually traveling on different ships while attempting to evade the Peacekeepers. The only character that was ever truly resurected was Aeryn Sun, but the process proved quite detrimental to Zhaan's health. All of the other characters only died in the sense that some hospital patients may die and be resuscitated while undergoing an operation.
"I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
"Decepticons FOREVER!!!" - Ravage
Farscape completely nails the space opera genre. Period. While nailing it, the characters are very well developed, and you actually care about them. The plots are incredible because:
1. They don't always come out on top, or completely walk away supreme victors in conflict.
2. A lot of the time (much like in cowboy bebop) they don't come out ahead in the end because of something they did, they do because of weird luck, or the source of conflict making a huge mistake. So it's not predictable.
3. They focus a lot on things that happen in the past to season plots without overdoing flashback sequences (also like cowboy bebop)
4. Their technical voodoo bullshit sounds reasonable.
5. They will kill a character off.
6. They have the soap opera feel, and the cliffhanger crafting completely nailed also.
So basically, it's done intelligently. I hate watching a show and having my intelligence insulted. There's only been once episode (that crappy dance club, people milking episode) that truly sucked ass. I swear they accidentally let some brain dead shitty 60's movie director man the helm for some unknown reason. The only scifi I watch on TV at this point is Farscape, Outer Limits, cowboy bebop, outlaw star (more to see where they are going with it) and Stargate SG1 reruns. Even though Stargate SG1 is pretty predictable most of the time, it still has a big screen feel to it that I like. The characters are better than the plot, but good enough that watching it is still fun. I initially caught the first episode of farscape on scifi by accident at a friends house (Hey Dave) around the time it first aired, and they were playing it 3 times a day. I was hooked from then on. I had just grown completely sick of X-Files, and it completely replaced it. I can't wait for the new episodes. The awesome thing is that as the show matures, it gets better. My girlfriend and I were really worried that they'd apply the LEXX treatment to the show to try to push the ratings, or keep it on top. Then they brought the annoying big titted redhead on the show, and it really looked like it was going that way. I swear they must have changed directors or something for a little bit. Either way, things improved and it's me and my girlfriends favorite show at this point.
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
Until recently I'd never seen more than ten seconds of Farscape. They don't run it on any of the free-to-air channels in Sydney, much to the ire of many. I'm not much of a TV watcher myself, but I don't mind the odd episode of ST:TNG and happily admit to having been hooked by Babylon 5 when they were playing it on late night timeslots four years ago here in Sydney. I only knew about Farscape because my brother once played a bit part in an alien bodysuit for one episode. But now I've seen three whole minutes, and what's more, most of them not yet seen by the public, because last night I sang in the soundtrack recording for the penultimate episode (21) of the 3rd season at the Sony studios in Sydney. The production company contracted us (the Sydney Chamber Choir) to provide sixteen male voices for a couple of hours. The music was dark and Mozart-Requiem-like with lots of low notes, and we had to make it sound as much like a Russian choir as possible (for the choral iliterati, that means cavernous and subsonic).
SPOILER FOLLOWS
In the scenes we accompanied, an immense spaceship was being destroyed, water everywhere, and there was a tense meeting between some human bloke and a mean-looking alien commander in a black leather headpiece with a shrivelled face and pointy teeth (seems it was his ship being pounded). They both wore identical technological amulets which they discarded while talking. This seemed to be significant. There was no dialogue track, so all we had to go on were the visuals. Does any of this make sense to you diehards out there?
There have been a few more than that.
In the episode with the Tavloids, er Tavleks, Rygel gets choaked to death by a guard before a commerical, then after the break he is brought back to life by the squid thing in the cell next to him.
Stark is killed when he's dispersed as a punishment for blowing up the nuclear waste aliens' ship after D'argo rats on him. But then he comes back to life in another episode.
Durka, the captain of the Zelbenion, is a dead corpse in the episode "PK Tech Girl", but in "Durka Returns" it turns out he faked his death and was captured by the Nebari and frozen for 100 years or so. His ship is sucked out of Moya and explodes at the end of that eposide. But then later it turns out he lived (he ducked when the ship exploded) and now leads the Zenetan pirates. He appears right before a commercial break and then Rygel kills him and sticks his head on a stick right afterwards.
Maldus, the magic vampire guy, gets killed at the end of the episode, but then comes back in another and is killed again.
In one episode Crichton appears to have killed Scorpius after his cooling rods explode, but then we find out he didn't die, just got a headache.
D'Argo appears to get eaten in the episode "Eat Me", but then we find out the weird dude made a backup copy of D'Argo before eating him so he's still around. Chiana also gets eaten (not like that! maybe the uncut verison..) but we see her get copied first so it's not a return from the dead.
The weak surgeon alien that took apart Chrichton's brain appears to die when Scorpius breathes on him. But next season we find out he was just passed out, and he survies just long enough to put Chrichton's brain back before a scaran breathes on him and dies for good.
In one episode Chrichton is frozen in carbonite (it worked for Han Solo) and his head is cut off and tossed in a pool of hot acid. But carbonite is tuff stuff, so in the next episode they fish out his head, stick it back on, and revive him.
Aeryn's mother Xhalax cuts Rygel in half when she escapes in the episode "Relativity". But then Stark stiches him back together with magic healing vine and he comes back to life.
In that same epsidode, Crais kills Xhalax when they recapture her, but then she comes back in another episode because Crais just really just pretended to kill her.
And Zhaan might not really be dead. The last episode ended with Stark staying Zhaan is trying to contact him from behond the grave (compost pile?) and he's going to leave Moya for a while and look for her.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but clearly there have been quite a few "he wasn't really dead" plot twits.
What I like about Farscape is that it is a retelling of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs books, particularly the John Carter, Warlord of Mars series. These are pure escapist stories--literally. It is about escaping from familiar into the bizzare--into a land of danger, beautiful women, capture, rescue, and battles against evil. It is well done, has good eye candy, has a mishmash of appealing characters, and the plot twists are interesting enough to keep me involved. I like it.
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
It took me a good while to give it a chance, but damn is it good. Space opera is back with a vengeance! Farscape often tells stories better than any show I've on television. From the writting to visual effects, this show has it all. I think it's one of the best kept secrets on TV. It's not exactly the televised novel that B5 was, but many shows are connected and the series feels like it's going somewhere. Here's a few reasons to give Farscape a chance: