Why exactly is FARSCAPE so "good"?

POSTED BY: FURYFIRE
UPDATED: Sunday, March 16, 2003 21:40
VIEWED: 16430
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RUSTYSLINKY

Wednesday, October 23, 2002 6:02 AM

Mel Profit: Only the TOES know. . .
"I had an urge for wine but decided to let it age longer. . ."

ENTILZHA

Wednesday, October 23, 2002 1:32 PM

OK, Furyfire, considering you started this thread with at least some sense of civility, was it necessary to start with the caustic language?

FURYFIRE

Wednesday, October 23, 2002 10:31 PM

Yeah I know about Wiseguy, but just forget about this thread, it was supposed to be about Farscape but i gave up on the show, so we dont need to tlak about it more. Cya round the board.

If you know anyone that can help my screenwriting career, please help! And yes, I am self-advertising here. Hehehe, me such a little devil.

KJB

Thursday, October 24, 2002 8:51 PM

>>SCIFI is much better now. <<

As compared to what? A root canal? SFC has been slowly going down the toilet ever since USA took full control of the network and it's only getting worse as time goes on. They hack their shows to bits, screw the viewers if they think there's a quick buck to be made and are now trying to force feed their audience a parade of John Edward clones. I am SO glad I'm getting a Canadian satellite dish so I can see Space: The Imagination Station.

KJB

REYVNDARKNIGHT

Sunday, November 24, 2002 7:59 PM

I have also noted that Sci-fi has started a slow slide away from quality.

What I can't figure is why the execs can't manage the use of that massive vault of classic series? Why doesn't Sci-fi use the classics as lead-ins to original series and then have a good sci-fi movie follow the original series?

BZZO

Sunday, November 24, 2002 8:53 PM

While this thread has slid away from its original topic, I wanted to put my two-cents in. (who doesn't?)

I heard people talk about Farscape as the best Sci-Fi show on TV, blah, blah, blah, so I tried to watch one. I couldn't follow it. It made no sense.

A month later I downloaded the Priemere episode and it took me another 3 months to finally watch it. Within 2 weeks I'd seen the whole first season, and I loved it.

Why? The writing is clever, but not too clever (Herc/Xena, anyone?). They can succesfully put in funny 20th (21st?) century comedy into a space-drama, not because our heros are hip, but because our hero is a displaced man from our century.

(By far my biggest gripe out contemporary sci-fi is that too much of the dialogue doesn't sound like it comes from a far away place, but from the mind of a Californian writer)

The story arcs are long, and the character development is slow. Watching the important episodes of the first two seasons is the only way to really appriciate it. Watching from the middle makes it almost impossible.

At the same time, it is not for everyone. I can understand the complaints of those who don't like it. But for an ex-trekker who grew tired of the same old Voyager / Enterprise re-hashes, I really enjoy it because it tells the standard 'lost in space' stories in a whole new way.

And maybe that's why I like Firefly so much, too.

KEF

Monday, November 25, 2002 2:46 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by FURYFIRE:
Yeah I know, I ahve no idea how ppl can watch that shit. So poorly written, like Law&Order, and West Wing, they dont deserve emmys, but thats because ppl are stupid, just as I found Farscape, it seems like it smade to satisfy thte type of ppl that like Fastlane on FOX>

West Wing and Law & Order are like Shakespeare compared to Survivor, American Idol, Fear Factor and other popular programing of that ilk. Hell has many levels.

As far as Farscape, I only managed to catch episodes very sporadically, so that I never really understood much of what was going on when I did get to see it. Nevertheless, I always found it entertaining and compelling enough to watch. Great visuals - fun/intersting/attractive characters - sometimes cool twists on old sci-fi concepts. Personally I liked Creighton's dialogue, with or without the pop references.
I was usually able to figure out enough of the plot to satisfy me. It really isn't that hard if one isn't obsessed with having to understand every detail.

The roadrunner cartoon episode I thought was extremely cool. Incidently, the animation was supervised by Chuck Jones, the legendary animator actually who created many of the best of the original Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner cartoons for Warner Bros. I think this episode was his last project before he died.

RUSTYSLINKY

Friday, February 7, 2003 9:52 AM

For the Feb 7th episode *Bringing Home the Bacon*.

Unlike the previous two weeks, I'm hearing tonight's episode does NOT suck.
This one might be more in-line, spirit-wise, at least, to classic Firefly.

So if you're bored tonight with nuttin' better to do . . .

A Sample of what's in store for tonight:
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Spoiler Warning!:
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Overheard: Lines from tonight's show:

Sikozu: "Now that you know that I know what I'm talking about, I suggest you start taking us seriously."
Man: "I'd love to *take* you.-- Seriously."

Sikozu: "Do you have any plan of escape?"
Aeryn: "Run."
Sikozu: "Anything more detailed, Aeryn?"
Aeryn: "Run quickly."

John: "D'Argo, tell her who the daddy is."
D'Argo: "We don't know who the daddy is."

RUSTYSLINKY

Wednesday, February 12, 2003 9:54 PM

Reposted, Link:
: http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=b1991df79b1b24ab2
5b4c652e12bee7a&threadid=7317

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What makes Farscape different from most other shows? Part of the appeal of Farscape is the ever increasing storyarch and character development that most other shows on television shy away from. In comparison, a program such as 'Friends', 'Law & Order' and 'Star Trek: TNG' rely on the concept that the cast of characters remain static. Their relationships may grow and change, but each character's basic behavior and pretext have remained almost completely unchanged from season one. Yet we come back to these characters for that simple reason. They have become comfortable to us. We know that we can watch an episode and be fully aware that each character can deliver exactly what we expect from them.

It isn't so much that we approve of this. It is more like we have been conditioned to simply accept it. The concept that a television series is centered around a premise, a story concept, and then allow the plot to progress the series. Characters within the series are developed as archetypes and the relationships are treated as a lesson in step-by-step dance. Meaning that it is the writing team instead of actor chemistry that choreographs the friendships and love interests.

And it is by defying this simple standard that makes Farscape unique in a universe of complacent predictability. And unique is always valuable. Watching the series progress for the last four seasons, no one has been able to predict the direction that the characters have taken. The motley crew of escaped prisoners wandering the Uncharted Territories from the first season has progressed into something far different in the fourth. A loyal crew of people who care for each other as much as they care for their ship. And seeing as how many times they have put everything on the line for the sake of their ship, that's saying a lot. D'Argo started out as the archetypal alien warrior; deep, movie announcers voice, a funny forehead, a lot of hair and a lot of rage. In season four he has matured into a fine captain of not one, but two ships. Serious moments that can shake up the lives of ordinary people occur in the same fashion to the Crew of Moya. Characters mature, grow and can even make 180-degree turns as seen in the example of Captain Bialar Crais. From feared renegade Peacekeeper captain to honorable ally. We have even seen the horrific side of fate rear its ugly head and have watched beloved characters die.

Each season can be labeled as it’s own entity. Like a series of books under the same epic title with each episode acting as a chapter. The main focus during season one is exploration, both within the world that these characters exist and also within their group. We learn each character’s motivations, their fears, their dreams and basically what makes them tick. We are shown that within this fantastical world anything can happen, and usually will. As the viewer we are made to feel like the alien in a normal world by showing us this world through Crichton’s eyes. Every character understands the workings of this world, except for Crichton. He learns rather quickly, and is constantly reminded that his “human ethics and morels” simply don’t work within the context of this world. And yet it is this almost naive outlook that helps to bind the crew together. And by the end of season one these strangers have learned to set aside their differences and work together as a crew.

Season two is about self-realization. Through out season two, we are presented with a stronger sense of how situations are approached. The ever popular “lets see just how bad a bad situation can get” concept. And it works great. Character growth also takes center stage through many of the episodes, but with mixed results. One major complaint that has been expressed by viewers has been that the episodes that focus on a character’s backstory or racial history is overshadowed by Crichton’s reaction to said situation. Some fe

RUSTYSLINKY

Tuesday, February 25, 2003 6:29 PM

Danny, over at toughpigs.com, weighs in on the documentary episode of Farscape:

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"PHONE HOME"

Episode 17 -- Feb 14, 2003

"A CONSTELLATION OF DOUBT"

Now, there are some issues with this episode, so let's get those out of the way, so we can move on.

This episode is almost entirely about Crichton watching a TV show made about his visit to Earth, showing how ambivalent and fearful the people of Earth are about the concept of alien visitation. Which is a fairly clever concept, except that it's a whole hour of watching the main characters watch television, so whatever. That's number one.

Then there's the issue of getting tapes of Earth television programs through the wormhole so Crichton can watch them, which seems amazingly casual to me. Wasn't it, like, three minutes ago that Crichton was a million miles away from Earth and was never going to get back, and now he's getting care packages from home? That's number two, but I admit that's nitpicky, so I'm over it already.

Issue number three -- and this one is a little more substantial, for me -- is that Crichton spends the whole episode shaking his head and clucking his tongue about the fact that everybody on Earth is a little put off by the idea of fantastically powerful aliens coming over and slaughtering / enslaving everyone.

He keeps saying things like "You're not ready," and making like humans are being such babies about everything, but every time a human asks if there's any reason to be scared, all the aliens say, oh, yeah, we're a zillion times more advanced than you, and we could probably kill every person on the planet if we felt like it.

Then everybody gets quite reasonably concerned about that, and the aliens say, oh, don't worry, though. We don't feel like it.

So what, precisely, is the response Crichton was hoping for? Did he want the entire population of Earth to just paint a big bullseye on the White House and wait for our new Scarran conquerors to arrive? (Note to myself: That's actually not a bad idea. Bring that up at the next Earth staff meeting.)

I mean, even the other aliens don't like the aliens on this show. I can't think of a single planet we've seen so far that wasn't full of people trying to kill the main characters. All the humans did was make a pretentious TV show about them, which seems like the most civilized response possible. Hey, who says those aliens are more advanced than us, anyway? Jeez.

But that's not the thing I really want to talk about. The thing I want to talk about -- all that other stuff aside -- is that this was actually one of my favorite episodes that I've seen all season, and the other one was the other present-day Earth episode. In those two episodes, they managed to do something that they haven't been able to do in any other episode this season -- which is to make me care about a planet and the people who live there.

For all that everybody talks about the Scarrans on this show, we've only seen about two of them this whole season, and they were both tiresome and bitchy. I couldn't care less about the big-haired barbarian people, or the guy who runs the mental arts training camp, or the space weed, or the neural-energy eating spider, or any of that.

There hasn't been a single alien character in any of the episodes this season that I would even walk across the street to visit. They're all just selfish and violent and unpleasant, all the way down the line. Besides the regulars, I can't think of a single alien character this whole season who's been nice, or funny, or endearing in any way.

But I care about Crichton, who in my opinion is one of the Great TV Show Characters Of Our Time. He's funny and sexy, he's unpredictable, and he's always watchable in every scene he's in. I care about Aeryn, and I care about D'argo, and Chiana, and Rygel, and Noranti. And that's about it. Those are the characters I like watching, and those are the people I'll miss when the season's over.

And

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