By Ross Ruediger
My first impression of Farscape is forever burned into the ol’ gray matter. I was at a friend’s abode and the Sci-Fi Channel was on in the background. Dominar Rygel the XVI -- a mainstay of the series, as well as a creation of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop -- filled the screen. Within seconds a judgment was made: “This looks fuckin’ stupid.”
Good thing I gave the show another chance a couple years later. And Rygel? Farscape without the Dominar would be like The Empire Strikes Back without Yoda. Actors may come and go, but Henson’s proven time and again you can’t keep a good Muppet down.
The ‘90s weren’t a hayride for a sci-fi fan of my breed. The various Star Treks felt sterile and stiff. The X-Files became a crowd-pleasing ratings whore. Babylon 5 was…well, I still don’t know what it was, but try as I might it just never grabbed me (although Londo and G’Kar always made it worth the effort). By the time Sci-Fi unveiled Farscape, hopes of enjoyable space opera had long since faded.My name is John Crichton - I'm lost. An astronaut shot through a wormhole in some distant part of the Universe. I'm trying to stay alive aboard this ship - this living ship - of escaped prisoners - my friends. If you can hear me - beware. If I make it back, will they follow? If I open the door, are you ready? Earth is unprepared – helpless - for the nightmares I've seen. Or should I stay, protect my home? Not show them you exist. But then you’ll never know…the wonders I've seen. – Crichton’s Opening Credits Voiceover from Season Three
It’s tempting to hail Farscape as a sci-fi TV breakthrough, but what really made the show work (aside from great scripts, direction, effects, puppetry and acting) was its uniquely derivative feel. Pulling from places other series didn’t acknowledge, Farscape’s beauty came from its originality being so damn unoriginal. It smacked of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century…had Buck spent his nights in Mos Eisley’s creature cantina. It had major Blake’s 7 mojo working overtime. It owed the curse word “frell” to Galactica’s “frak”, yet shamelessly kept the time unit “microt” intact. Farscape grokked Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land by turning it upside down and inside out. The show often felt like Dallas in space: A ship full of greedy, opportunistic folk who didn’t always do the right thing. They made bad decisions. Fucked and cheated on each other. Got drunk and did drugs. Quoted Monty Python.
But it was love, respect and mutual admiration that kept the day-to-day bullshit from tearing Farscape’s characters apart. Over four 22-episode seasons and a miniseries wrap-up, they learned from each other and formed a dysfunctional family willing to risk everything and die for one another. It was so cool that in the end even the bad guys weren’t all that bad. See, falling for Farscape was easy, because Farscape was me.
Season One was largely a collection of standalone tales introducing us -- through the eyes of displaced Earth astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) -- to this bizarre, unpredictable alien world. Central to his conflict were the Sebaceans, a race who appeared human – at least enough so that the astronaut reluctantly fell for one of them: Peacekeeper Officer Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black). Of course Aeryn really wasn’t having any of it. The key to Farscape’s eventual formula? The guy was the girl and the girl was the guy; he the hopeless romantic thinker and she the stainless steel soldier. The season’s close saw the introduction of John’s other “love”: Scorpius (Wayne Pygram), a militant Sebacean half-breed adept at playing every side of the fence, and ruthlessly intent on uncovering precious wormhole knowledge buried somewhere inside Crichton’s subconscious.
Matt Seitz quoted a friend in a recent Sopranos talkback: "…During its first season, a great show is about what it's about, and during subsequent seasons, it's about itself, and how great it is." This struck me as possibly applicable to Farscape, yet it’s hard to reconcile the notion with the feeling that regardless of how groundbreaking Season One often felt, the frequently self-indulgent material that came afterward cemented the concept as something gloriously epic. Sometimes a show is so damn out there it needs to be told how great it is so it can go even further -- to the places others fear to tread.
Season Two expanded on the themes set up in the first while at the same time taking even bigger risks. Two such offerings -- “Crackers Don’t Matter” (2.4) and “The Way We Weren’t” (2.5) -- couldn’t have been less alike. The former was a brilliant mixture of wit and slapstick set entirely onboard the living ship, Moya. The latter was an intense, personal drama exploring previously unknown histories of both Aeryn and Pilot (the peculiar, gentle creature who serves as Moya’s, um, pilot) and their unusual connection to each other. These two episodes demonstrated flexibility -- Farscape could wander in wildly different directions and still work. The season also introduced the Scarrans, the reptilian race with whom the Sebacean Peacekeepers are continually at odds. Earlier I referred to Scorpius as a Sebacean half-breed – his other half is Scarran.
The entirety of Season Three was arguably Farscape’s crowning achievement (and the point has been argued to death). It’s a rollercoaster of a book told in 22 chapters, with a distinct beginning (Eps. 3.1-3.6), absorbing middle (3.7-3.16) and epic end (3.17-3.22).
3.1 was titled “Season of Death”; it was the shape of things to come and Farscape’s third season lived up to it from start to finish. The “Self-Inflicted Wounds” two-parter (3.3 & 3.4) delved deeper into the mysteries of wormholes as well as showcased the tearful sacrifice of a series regular. “Eat Me” (3.6), a sci-fi spin on Night of the Living Dead, featured a villain capable of “twinning” people for his own nasty purposes. It ended with two John Crichtons returning to Moya – problem being the “twin” element. This wasn’t a case of cloning – the two Johns were equal and the same and the situation wasn’t resolved within the hour. Indeed, each John grabbed a half of the cast and the two parties split up for the season’s middle section, with every other episode focusing on one of the two groups. Now it didn’t take a genius to figure out sooner or later that one of the Johns would meet his maker, and any fan who’d been paying attention to the way Farscape did things knew which one it would end up being: The one whose passing could be milked for the maximum dramatic effect. If one were judging from every angle, “Into the Lion’s Den Part II: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” (3.21) may well have been Farscape’s apex. I’m still able to put those 45 minutes on and wallow in every frame. If I could recommend one season of Farscape for someone to view, it’d be the third -- yet that’s a double-edged recommendation because, without the primer of the first two, much of Season Three’s drama is lessened considerably and there’s a good chance none of it would make much sense.
With Season Four, the show morphed into a near operatic (though uneven) blend of tried & true and risky & daring. Some of it sailed and some of it sunk – yet the 16x9 visuals peaked and were slicker than whale shit in an ice flow. Unfortunately, Farscape also lost some narrative focus at this point (The “Season 4 Curse” -- see also Six Feet Under & The Sopranos)…and then it was abruptly canceled. An insanely well-organized and thought-out fan campaign led to the eventual production of a wrap-up miniseries, “The Peacekeeper Wars”. Tautly directed by Brian Henson, it satisfactorily tied up most of the loose ends, delivered a hellaciously relentess story along the way, and sent the concept sailing off into the uncharted territories of near-obscurity. The sole mission of “The Peacekeeper Wars” was to make sure the series got the ending it deserved. It was a beautifully executed love letter to the fans, as well as to those who'd worked so hard on it for so long. Yet for all John Crichton and Co. meant to so many people just a few years ago, these days it often feels as if they never even existed. Well, maybe that’s not entirely the case.
Before even a frame was shot, a noteworthy initial guideline from the creative head honchos – David Kemper and Rockne S. O’Bannon – was simplistic and daring: “If Star Trek already does it, then it’s off limits”. The aim was to create the anti-Trek. (Interesting to note that Kemper penned two eps of Next Generation and one of Voyager; numerous other Farscape scribes can be traced back to Trek as well.)
Farscape’s influence was felt after the fact – far more so than when it was actually on the air. Probably its biggest contribution to TV sci-fi was its approach to sexuality – people on the show got it on, which at the time was nearly non-existent in the genre, yet today is rampant. When Enterprise was unveiled, it seemed to have taken a few notes from the Farscape book in regard to sexuality. Suddenly the franchise that had been frigid since the late 80s featured a hot and sometimes even horny Vulcan…and when Star Trek encourages viewers to lust over Vulcans, you know the times they are a changin’.
Second on the influential roster would be its wicked sense of humor – Farscape could be as funny as it was dramatic. Again, B.S. (Before ‘Scape) so much space opera was dictated by the dry Trek template – clearly somewhere between Kirk stepping down and Picard taking over, humanity lost the ability to have a good laugh. Babylon 5 even seemed to present its characters as mostly humorless. Then again, Farscape was set in the present rather than the future (well, the present on the other side of the universe) and there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with humorless sci-fi, but people on spaceships who’ll dance for me are far more entertaining. (Oh yeah -- Farscape had some bitchin’ dance scenes, too.) A lot of this probably stemmed from Farscape’s lack of emphasis on the military, which was yet another deviation from the sci-fi norm. Moya was a ship full of criminals on the run; the stodgy, militaristic Peacekeepers were basically around to chase them every five or six episodes. One of the great Farscape experiments was the episode "Revenging Angel" (3.16), which literally shifted into an animated Warner Bros. cartoon for about half the story. The bold, ballsy and weird material explored the relationship of Crichton and fellow crewmember D’Argo (Anthony Simcoe) through making the former the Roadrunner and the latter Wile E. Coyote. In the end, the entire thing ended up being a dramatic, poignant test of what exactly their friendship was about.
The series also helped pave the way, like Babylon 5 before it, for arc-driven sci-fi. These days it seems almost untenable for a sci-fi show to lack an arcing storyline of some kind. Farscape’s arc became so out there and convoluted by the end that you had to tip your hat at its audacity to be its own dog. Back when ‘Scape was doing this, it was immensely counter-productive to building an audience: You were either onboard Moya or you were adrift in space. The show was rarely designed for the uninitiated. In this day and age of TV on DVD, these issues don’t plague television as doggedly, but it’s easy to forget that the TV-on-DVD revolution is really something which viewers have become acclimated to over the past few years. Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Doctor Who and maybe even Lost and Heroes all owe some of their vision to the groundwork Farscape laid. (Hell, Stargate went so far as to hire not one, but both of its lead actors.)
Yet there’s one area where Farscape excelled that hasn’t been duplicated: Its presentation of creatures and aliens. Doctor Who scratches the surface from time to time, but it’s still in junior high compared to the accomplishments of Henson’s Creature Shop. I remain stunned that the BBC hasn't hired them at least once for the new Doctor Who, and it’s somewhat baffling the Shop seems virtually unemployed these days. Yet in saying that, I’m forced to consider my initial negative reaction to seeing Rygel. Shit, George Lucas eventually took Yoda into the CGI realm despite the success of the puppet incarnation (indeed, even Rygel briefly went digital in the opening moments of “The Peacekeeper Wars”). Without getting into a rant about the pitfalls of CGI, it’s unfortunate the common consensus these days is that computer animation somehow looks more “real” than a three-dimensional puppet. CGI technology has evolved to the point where anything can be accomplished with the right amount of time and money. Puppetry is a fascinating wizardry that seems to be on the way out, if it's not already extinct (a CGI Kermit is probably right around the corner). I think it was Ben Browder who once said that he loved Rygel because he could physically grab, smack and beat the shit out of him when the character deserved it (which was often). Wait a minute – maybe there are still some areas where CGI isn’t the only solution.
Probably the most offensive thing you can say to a Farscape fan is “Isn’t that the show with all the Muppets?” Frellin' pisses me off!! I’ve come a long way through those uncharted territories, haven’t I? Star Wars was brought up a couple times here, and I'd like to specifically recommend Farscape to any Star Wars fans who were less than enthused by the new trilogy. If there's one thing that I specifically missed in Episodes I-III, it was the lack of swashbuckling that Episodes IV-VI displayed. Farscape will buckle your swash.
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Ross Ruediger is a San Antonio-based critic and columnist, a contributor to The House Next Door, and publisher of The Rued Morgue.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Farscape: A Frellin' Retrospective
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29 comments:
In my viewing area you can find episodes of Farscape in syndication on Saturday nights, and while the initial episodes were a lot of fun and whetted my appetite for more, beyond the first season it was just maddening to try to watch.. If I missed a week I would be totally lost, and the station would occassionally jump around in their airing order to make me even MORE confused. Characters I thought were gone would suddenly be back, and I couldn't tell if it was because they CAME back or because I was watching a prior episode - and at least a few characters seemed to come back from the dead? Bad guys were good guys and then bad guys again, or did I just miss a crucial step? I'm telling you, it's extremely hard to follow in syndication and I don't even try to watch anymore.
Your post has inspired me to think about a DVD-viewing though. I really like Aeryn, and the puppets are pretty great. Aliens that look like freakin aliens, and not humans with bumpy faces.
Lizvelrene -
I've taken a few peeks at syndicated FARSCAPE (usually on WGN) and it IS maddening. In the past (not sure about today) they've tended to run two eps back-to-back -- and they're usually two eps from totally different places in the storyline. As if they've got one set of viewers following one of the hours each week, and another set of viewers for the second hour. This might work for some shows, but not FARSCAPE.
I encourage you to seek out the DVDs if you liked what you saw -- and it sounds as if you did.
Keith lovingly peppered this piece with all sorts of YouTube links, including some FARSCAPE fan vids. One of the best ever created was titled "Sopranoscape" and it might very well amuse the hell out of House readers.
I was never head-over-heels for Farscape, but it was charming, clever enough with the sci-fi gimmicks without too often spilling over into Trekese technobabble, and (as you point out, Ross) rather consistently, surprisingly daring in its moral and narrative complications for a space opera. The puppets never bothered me at all. And it's influence is sure everywhere, for a cult hit. But for me it just never stepped up to that next level. I don't mean to dump everything on Browder, who was fine at the odd-man-out, everyguy humor that his character needed in the first season, but if he'd been capable of more finesse and pathos in his various bouts of insanity/possession/inadvertent duplication, I'd probably consider Farscape one of the greats, not a fun way to fill a few hours here and there.
But my favorite science-fiction show of the '90s was Now and Again, so what the hell do I know?
Ross-
I loved Farscape as well. Thanks for the article -- a good remembrance. Apart from your lack of enthusiasm for B5 [give the DVDs a try, at least till the end of season 2] I agreed with alll you wrote.
-- Paul
I had the exact same reaction to Farscape the first time a friend (and rabid fan) attempted to turn me onto it during the first season: Yeah, but they're muppets.
But something grabbed my attention, probably the clever dialogue and intriguing characters plus the gorgeous production design, and I got hooked.
Imagine my frustration when I tried to turn like-minded friends onto this show only to hear: Yeah, but they're muppets.
Sci-Fi killed this show by never releasing the entire first season to VHS. Back in the day before TV-on-DVD and TiVo and BitTorrent, it was near impossible to get into the labyrinthian Farscape storyline because Sci-Fi only released selected episodes to VHS, which is like trying to get people to interested in Shakespeare via Cliff Notes.
Love your article, but what's this about Farscape lifting "Frell" from Battlestar's "Frak". Unless they were using "Frak" in the 70's Battlestar, I think you've got the inspiration reversed.
Bruce -
Your assertion of Browder's abilities I take issue with, but I can't really argue it. I've come to accept that his style (much like the puppets that surrounded him) simply didn't work for some people. (If the Sheik were here, he'd not only agree with you, but he'd also be mean about it.)
But there was always something about Browder's golly-gee-shucks farmboy attitude that I adored, especially given that Crichton was a scientist. He was not only out of place in the Uncharted Territories, but he seemed out of place in a sci-fi show to begin with. I suspect when O'Bannon first wrote the character, Browder isn't the kind of actor he envisioned playing the role, but obviously it worked well enough to keep the series going. Lastly, I do think he grew immensely (albeit subtly) in the role as the series moved forward, and the Crichton in the first episode is a much different man than is seen in miniseries -- or even Season Two for that matter.
Never saw NOW & AGAIN. Looking at IMDB, the premise looks intriguing however.
Paul -
Someday I intend to give B5 another shot, because I certainly didn't hate it -- it just didn't grab me. I saw most of the first season the first time around, but that was over ten years ago. It's always an undertaking when one wants to see a series from start to finish, and I'd consider it a major triumph if just one person who read this piece did just that with FARSCAPE.
Joel -
I'm tickled fuschia you appreciated the Muppet angle. I don't know how many people have said that kind of stuff to me (some of them Muppet fans of the Kermit/Piggy variety, no less) over the years. It seemed a sound jumping off point for the piece.
Also, as far as I know, Henson always controlled the video rights to FARSCAPE - SciFi had nothing to do with the vid releases and made no money off the sales. So if anyone's to be blamed in that area...
Anon: Actually, they did use "frak" in the original 1979s "BSG," as well as "felgercarb."
What did/does "felgercarb" mean?
Sounds nasty.
The whole retrospective was great Ross and a good read. It's nice to talk "Farscape" once again.
As you know, my take on the highly derivitive "Farscape" is not about what was, but what could have been. Kemper et.al., borrowed heavily from almost every other scifi show even including "Quark" which also had a humanoid plant character. They also reached into written scifi for other critters/characters - there was a lot of potential in "Farscape" that went totally unrealised.
Even with swiping the Buck Rogers construct, "Farscape" did some innovative characters/casting (with the notable exception of Browder who couldn't act his way out of a parking ticket) and built a very interesting universe in which to tell a story.
Ultimately, they failed to pull it off indulging in an orgy of writer's ego run amok. When they finally did get thing back under control, it was too late - series canceled.
During Season One, it was quite intriguing to watch Zhaan become the face of the show with the whole John/Aeryn plot sublimated to the background which was not the writer/producer's intent - the story was space opera with Johna and Aeryn. The demise of Zhaan. (self congratulations to me for calling that one) which removed the "face" by which "Farscape" had become best known, started the path to destruction.
Perhaps most emblematic of the egos run wild was Season Three which was self indulgent crap of the highest order. Even highly defensive fans (think cult) were often left scratching their collective heads over the liberties "Farscape's" Powers That Were were taking with the show perhaps best represented by Kemper's best known quote "We are doing the show for us, not the fans" (paraphrased, but you get the point).
The true blue 'Scaper (often refered to as "True Believer") would have accepted horse stall muck out. While a small segment of "Farscape's" fanbase, they were loud and gave support to the sloppy offerings by "Farscape's" writers and producers.
It is interesting that of all the "Farscape" ensemble to return to American TV, it was Claudia Black followed by Ben Browder. Ms. Black is simply a brilliant actress and after Zhaan, did her best to really make the show go. She took the wooden (think Michael O'Hare School of Single Reaction - Constipation occasionally flavored with nuance of Constipated Puppies in Love) Been Browder and actually made him look good. It simply amazes me that she hasn't gone beyond scifi shows with her abilities - unless it's her enourmous teeth which puts people off.
In any case, it's good to see "Farscape" appear again somewhere. "Farscape" should be worthy of discussion because it was, at the minimum, fun to watch if only to try and see where the train wreck was going to go next.
Ross wrote: (If the Sheik were here, he'd not only agree with you, but he'd also be mean about it.)
Truth hurts. :>)
Joel wrote: Back in the day (snip) it was near impossible to get into the labyrinthian Farscape storyline because Sci-Fi only released selected episodes to VHS, which is like trying to get people to interested in Shakespeare via Cliff Notes.
I would posit that it was impossible because the writer's had no clue how to construct an arc that made sense. When you look back at the "whole" of "Farscape" there are at least eleven promising story lines that just appeared one week and disappeared the next never to be heard from again.
The genius of Strazcynski's Bablyon 5 was that there were little story arcs within the main story arc and he presentd them logically, orderly fashion. "Farscape" attempted the same, but kept dropping the ball or totally taking the mini-story within the story off on strange tangents. You have to have some kind of central cohesion to any story and "Farscape's" writers totally lacked that kind of discipline. It was SciFi's version of "oh shiny" distraction.
Sheik -
In keeping with the spirit of things, I should use "frelling"…but since I live on Earp, I gotta tell it like it is: "It's about fucking time you showed up here".
The Sheik wrote:
As you know, my take on the highly derivitive "Farscape" is not about what was, but what could have been.
Why not focus on what ~was~ instead? Hey, I'm more than willing to acknowledge FS's weaker aspects, but its strengths outweigh them by the boatload. The show took so many chances, and (as the piece somewhat illustrated) was so influential, that you gotta give it credit for its triumphs over it failures.
I'd argue that FS's weakest spots were when it played it safe by either A) Relying on some standard sci-fi formula or B) When it relied on trying to duplicate its own successes (i.e. the "We're So Screwed" trilogy from the end of S4).
Even with swiping the Buck Rogers construct, "Farscape" did some innovative characters/casting
Alrighty then – a nice positive (I’m not even going to argue the Browder angle with you as we’ll get nowhere). FS’s casting was always spot on and the show displayed some amazing talent. I still think Gigi Edgley’s Chiana was probably the cream of the crop though. Damn that girl was good and she never gets her due (indeed, ~every~ female ever to have appeared on FS has played second fiddle to the amount of prause heaped upon Claudia Black). Now without talking too much smack about a show I’ve admittedly only seen 1/5th of, can the same be said about B5? Good lord. Could any series have been populated with more wooden B-talent? It was like watching ‘50s sci-fi movies – as if the genre hadn’t moved forward in 40 years. FS had loads of energy spread out amongst the cast and was joyous because of it.
When they finally did get thing back under control, it was too late - series canceled.
I think you’ve mentioned this before, but I still don’t know when that was because it certainly wasn’t in Season 4.
During Season One, it was quite intriguing to watch Zhaan become the face of the show with the whole John/Aeryn plot sublimated to the background which was not the writer/producer's intent - the story was space opera with Johna and Aeryn.
I’ll certainly agree that S1 had far more of an ensemble feel -- as it should have. And yes, FS did in many ways become the John and Aeryn show. But I’d argue that the series needed to find a dramatic center and their relationship was the most engaging for viewers. I say that feeling like yourself that there were plenty of other stories that maybe didn’t get told, and frankly, the ongoing John/Aeryn push-me/pull-you was one of FS’s less interesting aspects – yet it was the one to which more viewers responded than any other. It probably even kept the show on the air for four years and change. Certainly the D’Argo/Chiana show would not have kept the show going.
Kemper's best known quote "We are doing the show for us, not the fans"
Is there a better path for a creative mind to follow? Sure, Kemper had a massive ego, but given FS’s scope, it needed someone like him in charge. I still love the guy as a creative force, although I wish O’Bannon had had more of a say in the overall scope as the show seemed to work best when both guys were heavily involved (again, see S4 – for which O’Bannon was totally absent).
RE: Claudia on non sci-fi TV
This isn’t yet well known, but there’s a series coming on NBC this fall called LIFE. Claudia’ s in the pilot for all of 15 seconds – and yet her role seems as though it’s designed to be much bigger further down the road; hopefully I’m not wrong. Keep an eye out.
When you look back at the "whole" of "Farscape" there are at least eleven promising story lines that just appeared one week and disappeared the next never to be heard from again.
Name three of ‘em.
(It is, as always Sheik, great to argue FARSCAPE with you…)
Thanks for your analysis of Farscape. I love your comments and pretty much agree with everything. I was very disappointed to see the Sheik posting on your blog. He's an old fixture from alt.farscape and I remember when he used to praise Browder as being a great actor. Yes, it's true. Then he took on the role as a curmudgeon who liked to hate the star of the show. It's his thing.
But unlike the sheik, I love Browder and think he's a fantastic actor. And I actually bridle at the criticism that Browder was uncomfortable in a scifi arena. I've seen that comment before and I don't understand it. To me, it's quite clear that John is the one who is uncomfortable, as well he should be! And I love that Crichton isn't the typical action hero who is comptent and heroic and ultra-brave right from the start. Crichton was like anyone from Earth who actually found himself on a ship full of aliens. He was uncomfortable, scared, out of his depth, and often incompetent. It was great!
Anyway, thanks for the great analysis of what I think is one of the best scifi shows of all times.
Hey Ross, sorry it took me so long to get over here -- I've been on the road and enjoying a brief vacation with my husband, away from the kiddos.
Great job here, and nothing really that I'd argue with. The only thing I'd expand on is that Farscape was purposely derivative, but would take those clichés and turn them upside down -- the best example being that Crichton was the romantic one, and Aeryn the emotionally clueless robot. I explored this theme incompletely and somewhat clumsily in the Is Farscape Clichéd? series, but it really deserves a more thorough, better treatment.
You left out entirely what for me became the most compelling hook of the show: in nearly every single episode/story arc, Moya's crew manages to upset the status quo at the very least, often causing complete upheaval. It's as if Farscape writers were compelled to adhere to an anti-Prime Directive, in which they were required to shake things up a bit. Crichton may have said he just wanted to get home, but it became obvious that his mission was to bring truth, justice, and the American way to the outer reaches of the galaxy, whether he wanted to or not.
I'll mention that I'm still besotted by the Kemper/O'Bannon (not sure where to give credit) vision of the interconnecting network of wormholes, a unique re-imagining of sci-fi staple. Usually MacGuffins can't stand up to too much scrutiny: why exactly does everyone want this thing, and how is it really supposed to work? But the more that we knew about wormholes, the more sense it made that literally everyone wanted that technology. That was genius.
As for the Sheik and his anti-Browder-ism, it's just the way the Sheik is. He wants his heroes to be heroic, damnit -- which explains why he doesn't like Spider-Man: Peter Parker is too conflicted and unsure of himself. Remind you of any characters under discussion? That's right, fish-out-of-water John Crichton. Personally, I loved both the character of Crichton (such a delicious developmental arc!) and Browder's portrayal. The only time Browder really annoyed me was his OTT raving in the "Look at the Princess" episode where he had been kidnapped by Braca and went crazy on the transport's controls. But I'm willing to forgive him that for his subsequent scenes with Aeryn, where he's trying to get her to admit that she needs and loves him, and she just won't (can't?) do it. (sigh)
Obviously I can talk about this stuff all day, and so can the Sheik if he's not busy with other stuff. Me, I learned long ago to agree to disagree with him on this issue. I can honestly say I can never recall the Sheik ever saying anything positive about Browder, and saying that he did so approaches calumny. The Sheik may be wrong about Browder but at least he's always been consistent about it. It's true he's a curmudgeon, also, and has been known to play devil's advocate, but so what? The implication that he's misrepresenting himself is uncalled for. For a guy with some amazingly huge blind spots, he has tremendous perception.
Maybe I'm misremembering, but I distinctly remember the sheik praising Browder after Liars, Guns, and Money for the way he showed John hearing and seeing Scorpius and for the way it slowly made John more and more unstable in that episode. I remember him saying that it was very true to life the way Ben Browder portrayed someone going through that. Sometime after that, maybe in the beginning of Season 3, was when the hate started. But that's my memory of things, and maybe my memory is faulty.
The thing this post about Farscape didn't touch on was Farscape's brilliant use of cinematic techniques. It's true that The Powers That Be wrote exciting, fast paced stories, brimming with humor, pathos, and moral ambiguity. But every inch of the screen was also filled with eye-popping colors, aliens and alien worlds, and there were plenty of explosions and slam bang action, too. I've never seen a television show make such use of the camera, and the editing room (just count how many editing cuts are in every episode and compare that to what you see in the mundane world of other televisions shows.) Even more importantly, all of it was there to serve the stories, and does not call attention to itself -- which is as it should be, and probably why no one remarks on it. (I find nothing more annoying than to watch a movie or a tv show where a jiggling camera or some MTV-style editing is constantly present and calling attention only to itself.)
One reason that SciFi put forward to justify their cancellation of Farscape was that it was an expensive show to produce. It's undoubtedly true -- but every penny of that expense can be seen on the screen. Unlike on some shows where you really wonder where all that money goes, because it sure isn't there on the screen.
Otherwise, I agree with almost everything else the author wrote. Like him, I also recommend this show to Star Wars fans who need their fix. Rockne O'Bannon, the series creator, once said that he used that famous bar scene on Mos Eisley as his jumping off point for this show. But I think Farscape is also a show that can work for Buffy fans as well, since it shares a similar sensibility in its humor.
Anonymous -
Many, many thanks for your kind words...but as far as The Sheik goes, I'm with Joan. Don't be too hard on him. He's mostly misunderstood...well, not by ~me~ of course, but the rest of cyberspace will simply have to figure out the Rubik's Cube that is Yerbootie in due time. Or not. (FYI, The Sheik, Joan and I are all alt.tv.farscape refugees.)
Joan!
Glad you could make it and hopefully your vacation rocked.
the best example being that Crichton was the romantic one, and Aeryn the emotionally clueless robot.
Ahem...from the piece: “The key to Farscape’s eventual formula? The guy was the girl and the girl was the guy; he the hopeless romantic thinker and she the stainless steel soldier.”
I explored this theme incompletely and somewhat clumsily in the Is Farscape Clichéd? series, but it really deserves a more thorough, better treatment.
You are of course aware the definitive text on FS has yet to be written. A collaboration could very well be in order.
You left out entirely what for me became the most compelling hook of the show: in nearly every single episode/story arc, Moya's crew manages to upset the status quo at the very least, often causing complete upheaval.
The above – and everything you wrote after it – is comprised of ideas I’d never quite registered, or at least not as you phrased them. Gonna have to think some more.
his mission was to bring truth, justice, and the American way to the outer reaches of the galaxy, whether he wanted to or not.
Ok, ~that~ I’m down with. Not sure if it was by design or default, but it seemed that over time, Crichton had a profound influence on the UTs and its inhabitants. Case in point: D’Argo. Aside from maybe Aeryn, there was no other character more transformed by Crichton’s mere presence than Big D.
But the more that we knew about wormholes, the more sense it made that literally everyone wanted that technology. That was genius.
Yeah, you gotta give credit to FS for reinventing wormholes. Frankly, they kinda ruined the concept for all other sci-fi. I can’t even hear the word at this point without associating it with FS.
The only time Browder really annoyed me was his OTT raving in the "Look at the Princess" episode where he had been kidnapped by Braca and went crazy on the transport's controls.
Odd -- for me, that’s one of the classic FS sequences...well, his leap right afterwards is anyway.
Lastly, I too cannot recall a time when The Sheik had anything kind to say about Mr. Ben.
For a guy with some amazingly huge blind spots, he has tremendous perception.
I am *so* going to use that someday.
Anonymous -
I didn't start my ATF gig 'til Season 3, so you may recall correctly. Hopefully The Sheik will come along and confirm, deny or ignore as he sees fit.
Ross, thanks so much for your lovely analysis. It's gratifying to see a whole article about Farscape in its own right rather than as a little footnote in pieces about epic cancellation screw-ups.
The muppet objectors drive me mad. It's called using your imagination, folks. Not that it's very hard to suspend disbelief with Pilot and Rygel, they're brilliantly realized, fully 3-dimensional characters. A lot of shows with completely "human" casts should be so lucky. I can totally understand newbies being a little wary at first, but honestly, anyone who watches a few episodes and still can't get past the idea of alien life looking alien is maybe watching the wrong genre.
Ross: Of all the things I've been called in my life, including some amazing and highly improbable appellations by GSgt. McMaster in boot camp, Rubik's Cube is not one of them.
Joan: Always riding to my rescue. Hard to believe that DS2 wasn't around when we were first discussing "Farscape" isn't it? And DS1 and DD were still little ones - it's amazing how time flies.
Anonymous: As Joan can attest I wrote a two part article for her "Farscape" site on the nature of "Farscape" as good TV, but lousy scifi which caused an international fan base incident based solely on my commentary about the nature of Mr. Browder's inability to act. (One incident of many directly attributed to me - it's my lot in life). I did like "LGM", but only to a point and I don't believe I ever said anything good about Mr. Browder's acting.
Now as to Mr. Browder himself, I did say at one point, that I found him to be an interesting real life personality based on an episode of "American Sportsman" hosted by Curt Gowdy - Browder and Gowdy were hunting and fishing in Wyoming and he seemed a pretty interesting and normal guy - not pretentious at all.
As interesting and normal as he may be, he still can't...oh hell, let's just agree to disagree with this one. :>)
Ross: Ask and ye shall receive. Plot line #1 - Nebari/Peacekeeper war, #2 Aeryn's year as an assassin, mercenary, bank robber - what ever she did, #3 The whole back story on the Leviathans. I could go on - I just tossed those out off the top of my head.
My issues with "Farscape" have more to do with where it could have gone if only they had taken some of the lessons (not only the concepts) from other successful shows. The ensemble approach would have worked very well with "Farscape". It would have meant that the writers and producers needed to develop a bible and make sure it was followed as closely as possible.
The real difference between "Farscape" and "Bablyon 5" was that while "Farscape" had the better actors, "Bablyon 5" had average actors (with a few good actors sprinkled in), a solid series bible and sensible plot lines that were byzantine, but understandable. "Farscape" plot lines were just byzantine.
Perfect example: "Eat Me". Crichton is twinned, both survive a cataclysmic situation, neither can work with the other, they split up, Aeryn falls in love with one who eventually dies, Aeryn returns to the first supposedly the same one but gives him the cold shoulder, eventually refalls in love with the same guy she was in love with to begin with only it's a different (but still the same) guy and they live happily ever after - eventually.
Seriously, does any of that make sense?
Stracyinski knew where he was going and how to get there, Kemper, et.al., had no idea where they were going or how to get there other than "telling an epic love story".
In effect "Farscape" writers and producers were caught up in their success bolstered by an uncritical fan base enamoured of it's own intellectual pretention of being able to understand the unexplainable.
The Sheik (I love talking about me in the third person) wrote: Kemper's best known quote "We are doing the show for us, not the fans"
Ross replied: Is there a better path for a creative mind to follow?
We all have a creative process, call it a muse, that we have to follow. For me, it's building a perfectly balanced, fancy wrapped fishing pole or painting a life life fishing lure. I do it for the love of the sport and to assuage my creative side with the types of unique decorating wraps and making handles out of different exotic woods that I turn by hand lathe.
However, what would be the point of doing it if I were only doing it for myself? Who would enjoy the handwork that went into these practical pieces of art (yes, I'm bragging, but I am damn good at it and I don't care) if I only did it for myself? In one sense, I am doing it for me because I enjoy the creativity that goes into making something totally unigue. If I didn't at least allow others to enjoy it also, wouldn't it just be an empty gesture?
Yes I do it for me, but I also do it for others to use and enjoy. To put yourself above those you are trying to entertain by, in effect, stating that your users don't matter only you matter, then why bother to do it in the first place?
I do it to share my skills and art with others. I can't speak for Kemper, et. al., but it would seem to me that based on the singular comment, they didn't care if people watched or not. In short, they knew that the "True Believer" fan boyz/grrlz would buy whatever they were shoveling.
Joan wrote: For a guy with some amazingly huge blind spots, he has tremendous perception.
Ross replied: I am *so* going to use that someday.
I'm *so* sure you will. :>)
By the way, blind spot?
Grapeshot wrote: But every inch of the screen was also filled with eye-popping colors, aliens and alien worlds, and there were plenty of explosions and slam bang action, too.
I've often wondered if the real attraction to "Farscape" was the, as you said, eye-popping" CGI work, backgrounds and wonderful aliens - even if most of then were bi-pedal Foreheads Of The Week - rather than the story lines.
The only characters that didn't do anything for me at all were the Scarrans. In my opinion, they were just stupid looking and that whole mind/heat ray thing was totally bogus. Kind of off-putting to me.
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention your comments about 'splosions. All the lovely, lovely 'splosions. :>)
I have to agree with Sheik about the arc. I might love Farscape to death, but the arc was messy, at times stupid and not particularly consistent. B5 was much better on that.
(On the other hand B5 had such horrible dialogue that it made me unable to rewatch it last year, and it was as subtle as a Monty Python 16 ton weight.)
Ross,
I was like you in that I did not give Farscape much credit on my first attempt to watch it. I use to walk out of the room when I saw my husband watching this weird, freaky, scifi thing. He finally talked me into sitting down and watching an episode and I never regretted it. I have been hooked since. I do not like the scifi genre, but the high quality of acting, writing,CGI, SFX, and just about everything else that makes a tv show a tv show kept me coming back for more. One of the times I walked out of the room while my husband was watching it I commented on the scene that was showing at that moment. It was a scene that had Pilot. I was so struck by the facial expressions and the emotions shown by a puppet, more emotions than most live, human actors, that I told my husband that the show just had to be a Henson show, because only the Henson Company could do a puppet that well.
Farscape was, and is, a show that is so simple at times it is hard to get. Your post tells me that you got Farscape, you understand what it was all about.
For those having problems with the show in syndication, I recommend the dvds. You can watch the show in order, which is almost mandatory, but you also get the deleted scenes and other extras.
Ross, thank you for such an indepth and very accurate review of Farscape. It is hard to find sometimes and sometimes it is hard to keep up with it, but the ride is well worth it. And it is such an emotional rollercoaster ride.
The Sheik wrote:
Ross: Ask and ye shall receive. Plot line #1 - Nebari/Peacekeeper war,
I’ll give that one, but I think it was a conscious decision to not return to the Nebari at all. For starters, aside from Chiana herself, they looked fairly ridiculous, especially the males of the species, who looked like Robert Smith of the Cure. Adding to that, their chief weapon of mind control is something that might not have been terribly effective over the long haul. While the Scarrans had their drawbacks, ultimately they were stronger adversaries for the PKs than the Nebari.
#2 Aeryn's year as an assassin, mercenary, bank robber - what ever she did,
I never got the impression that was something to be heavily returned to. It served the character for us to know that she hadn’t gone totally soft through her dealings with Crichton.
#3 The whole back story on the Leviathans.
It comes down to personal taste I suppose, but I can’t imagine that being particularly interesting TV.
It would have meant that the writers and producers needed to develop a bible and make sure it was followed as closely as possible.
That could’ve killed the show in a different way than how you perceive that it killed itself. One of the keys to FS’s success was its flexibility and the fact that it didn’t always adhere to a set of rules. Admittedly, this did sometimes backfire and a good example of that is the killer Birds of Paradise from the end of S4.
Perfect example: "Eat Me". Crichton is twinned, both survive a cataclysmic situation, neither can work with the other, they split up, Aeryn falls in love with one who eventually dies, Aeryn returns to the first supposedly the same one but gives him the cold shoulder, eventually refalls in love with the same guy she was in love with to begin with only it's a different (but still the same) guy and they live happily ever after - eventually.
Seriously, does any of that make sense?
It sounds silly the way you’ve phrased it above, but as presented on the series it worked beautifully – and I’m not saying that just to be contradictory. That entire development was some of my very favorite FS.
However, what would be the point of doing it if I were only doing it for myself?
I really think you’ve made a great deal of hay over that simple statement from Kemper. Of course they weren’t just doing it for themselves. Anybody in the business of creating art on that scale is out to impress/satiate a fanbase and FS was no different. I suspect the fact FS became the John and Aeryn show was even a direct result of the way fans responded to their relationship.
Sylvrewolfe -
Loved your response here, but I gotta add that it really showed me up and made me realize a massive factor I completely failed to address in the piece: FARSCAPE's handling and exploration of emotions. (Maybe that's what Joan was hinting at in her post.) It was a hallmark of the series and hugely important and influential on current sci-fi TV. FS may even have been the first space opera that directly appealed to women and went after a female audience. My significant other loved it and she was never much of a sci-fi person before FS.
I feel like such a fraud.
During the last few years after Farscape I have sat here grumbling about how many good shows have been on the Sci-Fi channel in the last eight years and how many have met an early demise. Just when I was thinking what a great show, bam it was off the air. I agree with most of the authors thought on the fascinating show with its incredible scripts and believable puppets, the complicated relationships. I can remember all of my Sci-Fi friends talking about this show for years and how we felt when it was removed without an ending. I was still mad at the Sci-Fi channel for killing off one of their other shows without an ending. I remember when they got Stargate I figured they would run it for a year until it quit making a million a day and kill it too. I was sort of happy with Stargate, but I really do not have any idea why it was killed either. I like Stargate for the same reason, it was believable, had great scripts and wonderful actors and it could really happen. It just seems to be the way the Sci-Fi channel does things. With as passionate as sci-fi fan are I am shocked how the sci-fi channel continues to kill off show without tying up ending for us fans. Without us they would not have a fan base, but they still do a piss poor job of ending their programs. Stargate ended so poorly, goodness what a joke Why do they do this? At some point we will get smart and go some where else for our Sci-Fi fix. Maybe the BBC I hear they are doing a pretty good job. Hmmmm Dr Who seems OK and so does Torchwood. What happened to Eureka? Grumble Grumble!
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