Why exactly is FARSCAPE so "good"?
POSTED BY: FURYFIRE
UPDATED: Sunday, March 16, 2003 21:40
VIEWED: 16430
PAGE 2 of 5
Quote:
Originally posted by FURYFIRE:
I'm trapped watching from Season 3 thus far, but why do you all like it so much? This is important in my decision to keep watching, since it'll be on at the same time as John Doe and Smallville.
Watch it because... Smallville is just another Dawson's Creek with superpowers, and John Doe looks sorta mediocre...
But seriously, Farscape is pretty much the best show on TV (aside from Buffy). It has very real characters, and you like some and hate others (much like Buffy). The action is great, the writing is very smart, the plots are always amazing. I see a lot of similarites between it and Buffy in quality of writing... though the thing it lacks is a Whedon-esque figure overseeing continuity (sure, David Kemper sorta fills this slot... but he's not quite as good as Joss, IMO).
Also watch it as a
to "the man." The more people who watch, the more leverage we have in bringing it back, and saying "Screw you, Scifi."--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--
Mal has a charming sense of humor, but I am a Companion, and right now alecture on the antiquated notions of moral turpitudos. - Inara
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Farscape is real science fiction and not rehashed star trek stories !!! 
To call this original is an understatement it has nothing to do with nothing exept trying to stay alive for another day, and in that show thats real hard because the main cariter "John Criton" does not know whats,what,and if they could servive. 
Hell in one episode john was violated by a plaint,and I mean it wanted the sausage!!!
It was funny and of the wall, and I had never even Imagin a storie like that one(with out the aid of ACID 
)and was very pleased to have seen it. 
In short there is know show like it and thats what make's it THE BEST DAMN SHOW ON TELEVISION!!!
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Quote:
Originally posted by WebWarrior:
Hell in one episode john was violated by a plaint,and I mean it wanted the sausage!!!
Is this supposed to make me want to watch - cos it ain't
I've watched exactly one episode of Farscape - season 2 I think. I didn't follow most of it - I assume because I didn't watch from the beginning.
I hope it gets picked up for you guys though.
Shug
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:
And some of the running jokes -- like Creighton's constant pop culture references -- are begining to get old.
Hey! Chriton's pop-culture quips are one of my favorite parts of the show! Re: "Yoda. Litte green dude. Teaches warriors."
"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass."
—Maya Angelou
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I'm not quite so over the moon about FARSCAPE as most seem to be. They always nail the pivotal eps, but the stand-alones get pretty repetitive. There are 3 kinds of one-offs: Something attacks the ship while in space; something attacks the crew while in space; crew gets attacked while on a planet. Some are very exciting, others are paint-by-numbers. There's the occasional ep where they do something totally off the wall -- like implant John and D'Argo in a "Road Runner" cartoon. In most, characters don't advance much, or if they do, I haven't noticed.
However, the season you're watching, three, is hands down the best. Even the stand-alones are magnificent because even in the standard SCAPE story, the characters are advancing, reaching and sinking to new levels. You will be lost a little for not having seen the first 2 seasons, but most fans are lost anyway. It's a total mind-fuck -- why many love it.
EDIT: I would add that as repetitive as SCAPE can get, SMALLVILLE is even moreso. Every ep: Krypto-charged townees do nefarious things. Very redudant. Very redudant. Very redundant.
Don't know about JOHN DOE. But I would argue that though it's premise sounds original, a closer look reveals it's just another show in the mold of THE FUGITIVE, THE PRETENDER, etc.
--- Joe
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Quote:
Originally posted by mojoeca:
I'm not quite so over the moon about FARSCAPE as most seem to be. They always nail the pivotal eps, but the stand-alones get pretty repetitive. There are 3 kinds of one-offs: Something attacks the ship while in space; something attacks the crew while in space; crew gets attacked while on a planet. Some are very exciting, others are paint-by-numbers.
Actually, for the past few seasons, there is only one type of episode: "Someone or something frills with Chritons mind."
Don't believe me?
Scarons (sp?) kidnap Chriton and torture him by making him crazy. Wormhole aliens kidnapp Chriton and interrogate him by making him think he's on Earth. Nerochip, Nerochip, Nerochip. Chriton gets sucked into a weird-ass computer game a-la-XestanZ. The Arora chair. The roadrunner ep. The latest ep, which features even more wormhole aliens frilling with John. Those crazy drugs Chriton's always on now, and that freaky aphrodesiac Peacekeeper Chic uses. (Both of which, by the way, need to come with drug interaction warnings...) Harvey, Harvey, Harvey. That ep. where everyone on Moya goes psycotic and John keeps seeing a Scorpie that's not there.
I'd keep going, but my hand's starting to hurt.
Let's face it, John is boarderline schitzo, with a substance abuse problem. But, with all the crap he's been putting up with lately, can you blame him?
"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass."
—Maya Angelou
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Quote:I didn't mean they were never funny. ("By the time I get back Buffy the Vampire Slayer will be dead!") But there's such a thing as beating a joke to death. I saw that happening when Creighton started doing a really bad James Doohan imitation.
Hey! Chriton's pop-culture quips are one of my favorite parts of the show! Re: "Yoda. Litte green dude. Teaches warriors."
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Furyfire, to answer your question, I submit that rather than picking up at the beginning of Season 3, that you start from the beginning.
The reason I like Farscape so much is that I identify with Crighton. He is a human who is infatuated with space travel and is flung to the farside of the Universe.
The writing is great with just the right balance of science, drama, and comedic impact of the characters.
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Too late, already gave up on it, no good. I wathed the first 4or5or6or whatever eps of Season 3. I dont see any quality whatsoever. I am and have no way of starting from the beginning.
My TV roster now consists of:
Buffy
Angel
Firefly
Scrubs
Futurama
John Doe
Bernie Mac
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.
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Best Episodes of Season #3
3.14: Infinite Possibilities 1
3.15: Infinite Possibilities 2
3.20: Into the Lion's Den 1
3.21: Into the Lion's Den 2
3.22: Dog With Two Bones
Best Bet For First-Timers:
Farscape DVD: Best of Season #1, 3 CD set: Available at Blockbuster Video. Particularly "The Premiere", "PK Tech Girl", and "A Human Reaction". The last two deal with the John & Aeryn thing (sort of like Mulder and Sculley in XFiles).
Article/Critique on Farscape:
Who Killed Farscape, By Clare Sainsbury
From Strange Horizons web-based magazine
Copyright 10/14/02 by Clare Sainsbury
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20021014/farscape.shtml
Excerpt:
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“. . . There are also rumors that certain of the new executives objected to the show's edginess and determination to push the envelope. Whereas many series aim to find a winning formula and then stick to it, providing another dose of the same each week, Farscape loved to subvert and disconcert, deconstructing and parodying itself, re-playing tragedy as farce and farce as tragedy, riffing on science fiction clichés and mixing genres at lightning speed. One episode, for example, was largely composed of an animated cartoon homage to Chuck Jones, while others drew on sources as diverse as Night of the Living Dead and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Yet the show didn't have the archness that often accompanies postmodernism -- at heart, it was character-driven, and explored the flaws and traumas of its central characters with unusual integrity. Things weren't neatly wrapped up at the end of each episode, and they probably wouldn't be back to normal at the start of the next. . .”
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