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

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

Saturday, July 3, 2004 7:03 AM

Maybe its because I didn't give it much of a chance, but Farscape struck me as the worlds most obvious *bad* sci-fi show (bad as in grade C or below). It just felt like I was watching cliche'd 80's movies.

With Firefly, (nevermind the "cheese" aspect) it felt real. It didn't feel like your traditional show, it felt new and different, and, for a change, good.

Maybe I have just become jaded with the genre, but I think Firefly was my last, and most enjoyed science fiction favorite.

I don't care, I'm still free.

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Saturday, July 3, 2004 12:37 PM

Farscape is one of the weirdest phenomenons I've ever experienced in SF TV. It's a clear example of the whole exceeding the sum of its parts. By a lot.

Take any individual episode of Farscape and it's not bad. They've got some good humor, and Chrichton is a lot of fun (especially how, since he's so far from home, he tries to ground himself by using all sorts of references from home that you know none of the other crewmates know but they just sort of go along with it), but it's not great or anything.

Somehow, though, the more you watch, the more real it becomes, the more intense things happen, and the more you realize that though they drag up a lot of cliches, they also subvert them in beautiful ways. I'd list some examples, but that might spoil it for those who haven't seen it... I'll just say this... there's one thing that happens, a SF cliche if there ever was one, that if it was almost any other TV show, it'd be resolved at the end of the episode and everything back to normal. This becomes a major plot point for the rest of the season.

They also remember the past (I love that the second time they did the 'Chrichton thinks he's home' plot, the _first_ thing he does is do the things that tipped him off the last time that it wasn't real), which is a big plus in SF shows for me (Stargate also does this well).

The character interactions are a bit unsteady, and inconsistant, but that's because they're still new to each other. Whereas with Firefly, you're basically watching a family... with Farscape, you're watching a bunch of independant people with separate interests and goals, forced together, and winding up developing a (albeit dysfunctional) family. You also get to see some
spectacular development with the villains as well, as what you assume are one-note villains get well-rounded with time, so that you even feel for them.

It is goofy, sometimes, over the top, a lot, and a lot of episodes are a waste of time except to the hardcore fan, but I'm so glad I watched all of this series.

If I do have a complaint, it's that they sometimes jump around between episodes, so even if you're watching every one, sometimes you think you missed one because there's been a jump, or because some revelation that you'd expect be followed up on immediately is put on the back seat while they hang around for an episode, or a long lost character has appeared and been on the ship for several days.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6

BIKISDAD

Saturday, July 3, 2004 5:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Talonpest:
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.

Talonpest,

I think we must share the same mind. You've said exactly what I would have wanted to say. So my reply must simply be - "Ditto".

Apathy on the Rise. No One Cares.

ELVIS

Saturday, July 3, 2004 7:39 PM

At least Lexx was sexxy, and didn't take itself too seriously.

MER

Sunday, July 4, 2004 5:56 PM

I can't really say much for Farscape. I have seen a couple of episodes and I think it's a wonderful show, despite me not taking it seriously on the account of Muppets running around-but that's just me. I also liked Lexx because it was funny and at times it seemed to mock at certain Sci-Fi elements. Also, they joked that the woman on board wasn't very attractive which led into a slashy event *laughs*

I don't like Babylon 5, and Star Trek past Voyager, for reasons of something that grabs hold of me like Firefly does.

My post is pretty much useless, so don't mind me. ^_^;;

RICKKER

Sunday, July 4, 2004 8:28 PM

Okay here's what I thought. I've been a sci-fi fan for as long as I can remember. Anything remotely different I wanted to watch.
Star Trek:tos classic and as a kid it was the best.
Star Trek:tng we were so starved for sci-fi on television we ate it up. It really didn't hit its stride (really good) until 3rd season. Since I was older I noticed that there wasn't much continuaty to the series.
Star Trek:ds9 I was waiting for something like this since tng season 3 cliffhanger. I wanted to see more of the next gen trekverse. Also thios didn't hit its stride until @3rd season. The dominion war space battles rocked.
Star Trek:voy no real arc or anything really new. I stuck around because I watch sci-fi and am a trekki. I heard from someone that the character development suffered so the alien of the week could stand out more. Sad.
Star Trek:enterprize Bad idea from the start. goto the begining and rewrite the history of a show that has one of the most rabid fanbases around. Hell we've already seen the ferengi and borg wo didn't show up untill tng timeline. But I'm a fan so I watch and support what little sci-fi is on. the Andorians rock.
Farscape: Something new and done in a way that caught my attention. definatly improved with time.
Babylon5: First and fifth seasons kinda shaky but the rest of it rocked.
Babylon5:crusade Really looking forward to seing this grow but never got the chance
Stargate sg-1: Between the storylines and dialoge its been a great ride.
Lexx: A bit of a dissapointment for me. After seeing Tales Form A Parallell Universe (which spawned lexx) it was just blah. I'll watch almost anything but I couldn't with this. The one that doomed it for me was the Horror epp.
There is more to be said in detail about each series but I've already taken up enough time. that and I need to get started on yardwork

DEWSHINE

Tuesday, July 6, 2004 7:31 AM

You know, its funny that I like Enterprise, Farscape and Firefly.
I like them all.
Of course I watched farscape from the first to the last show when it was on Sci-Fi friday, that may have made a difference. I suggest that you check out the Farscape page on scifi.com and catch up on some of the background stuff. The puppets really do fade into the background as the puppetters hit their stride. And the character develoment grows with each episode.
also there is a 4 part farscape miniseries coming up in October.
I have missed most of the last seacon of Enterprise because my new cable company does not carry UPN. I hear that some of the things they have done with the show are odd.
I miss firefly and I am so glad that Joss got the movie up and going. Maybe Sci-fi can redeem itself and bring back the firefly series if the movie does well.

"To the Threshold." ~~ Riddick, Lord Marshal of the Necromongers. (The TCOR book)

Firefly lives on Morphed into Serenity

GRATTO

Tuesday, July 6, 2004 5:36 PM

What the frell are you talking abuot. Farscape ROCKED!! I have to admit I do like farscape better then Firefly but I like both.

The only downside of firefly is no aliens. I mean whats a sci-fi show in space without aliens.

BLUESUNWORSHIPPER

Tuesday, July 6, 2004 6:05 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.

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.

Okay, gotta jump in here...

First off, if you're going to judge a series, never do it entirely based on the first season. A science fiction series, more than any other, needs at least a season to find it's feet. Very few will argue that the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, stank beyond all-git-out, but that later seasons proved it had some merit. Farscape's first season was really a lot better than most, and if you think it was boring, well...you need to have your head examined, but that's just my humble opinion. There's some great stuff going on at the end of the season, I'll leave it at that.

Like some others on the board, I thought there were several 'Firefly' stories in the first part of the season that were very pedestrian, and the show didn't pick up a whole lot for me until "Out of Gas." Of course, since then I've really jumped onto the bandwagon, and gotten others hooked on the show, but never forget that 'Firefly' never gained widespread mass appeal and was cancelled, whereas 'Farscape' managed four seasons and a temporary renewal as a miniseries...all while on a MINOR CABLE NETWORK. It also made the cover of TV Guide no less than three times, a feat which Firefly never matched. Not saying one is better than the other, but if you're gonna tackle what is one of my favorite shows, don't do it while standing on the low ground.

Hey, I love 'Firefly', I own the DVD set, have every eppy on tape, make converts wherever I go...but I don't do it at the expense of other, equally worthy programs. Well, worthy other than 'Lexx', which was the worst show ever.

Worst. Show. Ever.

Okay, so my halo slipped a little there.

If you don't understand a show, don't knock it. Learn from it. The first season of 'Scape was meant to make you think it was a bit pedestrian, giving you stereotypes of the main characters, then turning them on their ear. This is in the best tradition of science fiction television, which includes...again in my humble opinion...Farscape, Firefly, Babylon 5, and Star Trek: DS9.

Put that in your pipe and roll it. Or something.

- T

Oh, and yes, Enterprise does stink. Again with the halo slippage.

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