I scoffed @ Enterprise. What's up with Farscape?

POSTED BY: truk
UPDATED: Tuesday, July 6, 2004 18:05
VIEWED: 10671
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MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Saturday, January 24, 2004 11:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by truk:
Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century? With bad guys you don't understand? The Death Star is near, lol. No new ground here, imo.

True, the Buck Rogers reference was there, but in part this was a show about an SF savvy person being thrown into the future.

Quote:
Alone in a trap?...watch The Prisoner. Patrick McGoohan had balls, Farscape does not. A blue chick and some painted-on cleavage?

I never saw puppet sex on The Prisoner. How much of the later Farscape did you see? Your post implies you stopped watching after that. I have to say the first season did very little for me, but as they went on, they really took risks and did some great stuff.

"I threw up on your bed"

TALONPEST

Saturday, January 24, 2004 11:53 PM

I've just started watching the first season of Farscape. So far it's not bad, but not outstanding like Firefly was- I've seen almost as many episodes of Farscape as there are of Firefly, and I'm not nearly as hooked.

I do like that they don't take themselves seriously. That's one thing that it has in common with Firefly- the self-mockery of the genre. And I like that they use puppets for the aliens instead of exclusively using bumpy foreheads.

But (and this is based on the first half season, remember) I find the characters to be inconsistant. One minute they're all buddy buddy and the next they hate each other. Firefly was much more consistant- Jayne and Simon are hardly ever civil (for that matter, no one but Book really pretends to enjoy Jayne's company). Mal doesn't particularly like Simon either, and they're consistant about it.

And for some reason, while Farscape goes to great lengths on some aliens to make them look non-human, on others they don't even make an effort. The Peacekeepers are just humans who don't like heat. Oh, and I also thought it was a little silly that Jon Crichton was able to hold his own in one on one hand to hand combat against a guy who'd trained as a warrior all his life.

And finally, almost all of the plots they've been using on Farscape may as well be Star Trek plots. Most of them have been done by Star Trek already, or at least a variation of them, which makes it seem a little tired. Firefly on the other hand used plot variations from old westerns (with some X-Files thrown in), which haven't been done quite so recently. While it's obviously not that fundamentally original, no one's done a western in so long it may as well be original.

But I'll keep watching Farscape. It's not great (yet) but it's entertaining. What else am I going to watch, Enterprise? Bleh.

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Sunday, January 25, 2004 12:08 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Talonpest:
But (and this is based on the first half season, remember) I find the characters to be inconsistant. One minute they're all buddy buddy and the next they hate each other.

That's a fair criticism, but has a lot to do with the ethos of the show. It actually retains the culture clash angle for most of its lifespan, and so the characters butt heads constantly. Also, they are all, to a lesser or greater extent, a little bit mad.

John Crichton's character is one of the few examples where the lead is genuinely most interesting than the support.

Quote:
And for some reason, while Farscape goes to great lengths on some aliens to make them look non-human, on others they don't even make an effort. The Peacekeepers are just humans who don't like heat.

That's actually the point - means the Crichton gets mistaken for a Nazi everywhere he goes.

Quote:
And finally, almost all of the plots they've been using on Farscape may as well be Star Trek plots. Most of them have been done by Star Trek already, or at least a variation of them, which makes it seem a little tired.

Again, a fair point, although Farscape's take in later seasons has some very original stuff, and generally does not go down the expected route. Tired is one word I never thought I hear when Farscape was mentioned!

Quote:
Firefly on the other hand used plot variations from old westerns (with some X-Files thrown in), which haven't been done quite so recently. While it's obviously not that fundamentally original, no one's done a western in so long it may as well be original.

Actually, I thought apart from Objects in Space, Firefly's stories were pretty pedestrian (gets ready for the flames). It was the execution of tired stories which made them work.

Keep on with Farscape - it does find its feet in the second season.

"I threw up on your bed"

SAINT JAYNE

Sunday, January 25, 2004 12:24 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Misguided By Voices:
Actually, I thought apart from Objects in Space, Firefly's stories were pretty pedestrian (gets ready for the flames).

As you wish.

But that's hard to argue. Really, there are no new stories, just reshaped versions of traditional ones. It's all in how you tell the story.

DESANGRO

Sunday, January 25, 2004 12:50 AM

Quote:
Actually, I thought apart from Objects in Space, Firefly's stories were pretty pedestrian (gets ready for the flames). It was the execution of tired stories which made them work.

Keep on with Farscape - it does find its feet in the second season.

"I threw up on your bed"

I can see what you're saying there. All those big deserts can get rather tiresome to look at--I really liked it that in "The Message" they were on a wintery-lookin' planet!

The bare bones of Firefly (e.i. heroic and sometimes antiheroic people being oppressed and chased by a Big Mean Dictactorship; a fugitive with a dark secret or hidden powers) have been done before. They're not new. And Farscape is essentially a fish-out-of-water show. What makes these shows great is the way they play with conventions, and boast great characters and clever dialogue. The X-Files used ripped from the tabloid headlines plots, but it was the interaction of the heroes and villains that made us care about the show. (For a while, anyway.)

Firefly is my favorite of the two--Farscape is hard to warm up to, given the few amount of eps I've seen--but I thought that the last few episodes of it were very engrossing. So there's my two cents.

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Sunday, January 25, 2004 9:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Saint Jayne:
Quote:
Originally posted by Misguided By Voices:
Actually, I thought apart from Objects in Space, Firefly's stories were pretty pedestrian (gets ready for the flames).

As you wish.
But that's hard to argue. Really, there are no new stories, just reshaped versions of traditional ones. It's all in how you tell the story.

Totally agree - whether you agree there are 7, 31 or however many basic stories, everything boils down to the same ingredients.

Take The Message, for example - pretty much every show has the friend from the past who has gone off the rails (and may take advantage of the friendship). Can't think of an example where the friend was dead.

"I threw up on your bed"

VENA

Monday, January 26, 2004 1:27 AM

First may I begin with my opinion that the first season of Farscape nearly completely sucked! Boring, Tired, Predictable.

The characters had nearly no consistency and John was the all American super boy who could fix any problem with a little persistence and US ingenuity.

That said, Farscape is tied with Firefly for the position of all time best show in my mind.

The only reason I forced myself to watch season one is because I began watching the show in mid-season three. It seems once season three is underway Farscape came into its own and became good TV.

If any complaints about the characters remain all I have to say to that is watch “crackers don’t matter”. It takes watching everyone descending into madness to finally see there characters cement into a consistent group with fairly predictable (or understandable) dynamics. Frell, who am I kidding? It takes all of season two for that to happen!

Farscape is a show that takes time to really become great. Like River for most people-at first you want to rip her face off, but after you know her you love her so much that you could never see Serenity with out her.

PS-Enterprise makes me want to stab my eyes out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mal:"someone ever ties to kill you, you try to kill'em right back!"

JASONZZZ

Monday, January 26, 2004 3:53 AM

Yesh, but can you beat this?
http://reely.com/darren/Photos/Vulcan/

and if someone is going to put my eyes out, it might as well be T'Pol

Quote:
Originally posted by Vena:

PS-Enterprise makes me want to stab my eyes out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mal:"someone ever ties to kill you, you try to kill'em right back!"

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WHOVIAN222

Saturday, July 3, 2004 4:46 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by truk:
Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century? With bad guys you don't understand? The Death Star is near, lol. No new ground here, imo.

Alone in a trap?...watch The Prisoner. Patrick McGoohan had balls, Farscape does not. A blue chick and some painted-on cleavage?

I actually prefer Lexx over this crap.

I watched the 1st season and it seems pretty ho-hum to me. Firefly has far superior dialogue, character development and plot. The universe is interesting.

Farscape, in one boring season, equals recycled & unsuccessful Heinlein to me.

You're right, I watched That "The gathering " thing in 1993 and I knew that that babylon 5 show was for losers. You seem unwilling to give the show a chance, It's much better in that latter seasons. I've watched two episodes of firefly and came to the conclsion that it's one of the worst shows I've ever seen. But I could be wrong. Do you think I should give it a chance or watch lexx instead?

RADHIL

Saturday, July 3, 2004 5:40 AM

Farscape hits it stride when it starts getting personal.

The early stuff went for oh-lets-hit-this-cliche-next, and while I found it entertaining enough since it was rather wacky and different and very very irreverent, it didn't have a whole lot of punch. There was genius there, but it only showed in spurts (They've Got A Secret comes to mind, Nerve and the intro of Scorpius to the series was a big boost too - Crais was always too simple a villain).

The series got a lot better in the second season, because it started going for the throat in personal stories. The cliches were still there, but the characters became the focus, and they are some DAMN good characters. The first ep I saw was the Locket, and it still manages to get me when I rewatch it. Season 3 killed me. It is probably the largest emotional roller coaster ever thunk up - you think Mal and Inara have a tortured relationship, you haven't seen crap.

Even Babylon 5 had a rocky first season. That turned into arguably one of the best space epics made. Firefly started with The Train Job for cryin' out loud - an episode that had me amused but not bothering to watch 20 minutes out of 40. Just because something doesn't rip you out of your seat first chance doesn't mean it automatically sucks.

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