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Eleven years later, what are your thoughts on Farscape?

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J

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
farscapemain.jpg


In October 2004, Farscape wrapped up modestly well from its fourth-season cancellation with "Peacekeeper Wars", a miniseries dear to my heart because I did my tiny little part to help it happen. Everyone who participated in the ol' Save Farscape campaign has a positive bond, a real, everlasting bond, and I wouldn't trade those months for the world. My first real internet experience, that. <3

But that's not why I made this thread, of course. I made it to ask fellow Scapers what their thoughts are on this crazy, wild, uneven, utterly-Aussie, Henson-approved, frelling crazy train a decade-and-change past its finale? How have the adventures of John Crichton, an astronaut, held up through the looking glass?

I think the first season (up until around two-thirds in) gets worse and worse every time I try to get through it again and while I adored every second of it when I was 15 once I hit my 20s I realized there was a bit too much of the romance in the last year. I think it's a very up-and-down production and some of the humor goes too far. The acting takes some time to get its... er, act together, too.

But hot diggity damn, when Farscape was good it was on fire. It had such great cast chemistry, such fantastic character growth, some real menacing foes, and an atmosphere all its own. It was Firefly on drugs with aliens and an even wilder showrunner. It was Farscape. And it kept me all night on oh so many occasions back in the early 2000s, manically typing up my thoughts on the latest episodes, and I'll never forget the chat I had with Ben and Claudia all those years ago at a convention. The conversation changed my life.

So I'm of a slightly mixed opinion on the show these days, and I think it hasn't aged as well as stuff like Stargate SG-1. But it is so funny and dramatic and riveting and pretty when it's on all cylinders, and Moya is the coolest frelling starship.
 
P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
It is still great and fun. It is a show that is very rough to get into, but once you accept the wild and crazy world it is a fun ride. It is one you have to take as one ridiculous whole than just small chunks.

The show is still an acquired taste, but one my wife and I still love dearly. Actually just got the Blu Ray set for Christmas for her to replace some lost DVDs.
 
T

Team Filler

Member
Much better than it ever had any right to be. The actors ranged from good enough to quite good and the writing was usually great. And, like was said above, Scorpius is a god-tier character, especially for sci-fi shows in the last 20 years (comparable to CGB Spender in X-Files, in my opinion).
 
B

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Wildly ambitious. Worked more than it had any right to. GOAT main character chemistry.

Probably My second favorite tv scifi franchise.

Haha damnit just beaten!
 
A

Alric

Member
It's awesome and I love it.

Some years back I introduced my wife to it. We watched several episodes and then while I was at work or sleeping she kept watching.
 
T

The Shadow

Member
Like you said OP, first season is mostly weak, but it really hits it's stride after season 2 and never lets up.

I think it holds up a lot better than shows that aired at the same/similar time. I recently tried to re-watch Lexx and any enjoyment I had the first time around was completely gone.

It was odd because usually it's the opposite: Sometimes you have to re-watch a show before you really "get" it and enjoy it. Lexx was the opposite. I felt like I all of a sudden didn't get it and couldn't remember why I did way back in the day.

Farscape for me seemed about the same.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Great timing. I never watched the show when it was airing, but I decided to watch the pilot episode on a whim a few nights ago. Yeah...not really digging what I saw. I think the only reason I ended up watching it is because I've been jumping around Stargate SG-1 episodes and sorta wanted to see Ben Browder and Claudia Black in something else.
 
I

irfaanator

Banned
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
What a terrible show. I can't believe I ever thought it was cool.
Click to expand...

this should be bannable.

Farscape was probably one of my most favorite shows. Scorpius is one of the better/best tv show villians. Jim henson company puppets and a lot of the prop/sets were goat, and the episodes were great. I gotta rewatch this
 
T

tearsintherain

Member
Season 1 hasn't aged well, the first few episodes are very clunky with bits of brilliance. If you stick with it its very rewarding.

One of my favorite shows to rewatch once a year, and that reminds me...

indeed, Scorpius is god tier amongst fictional villains.
 
J

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Grizzlyjin said:
Great timing. I never watched the show when it was airing, but I decided to watch the pilot episode on a whim a few nights ago. Yeah...not really digging what I saw. I think the only reason I ended up watching it is because I've been jumping around Stargate SG-1 episodes and sorta wanted to see Ben Browder and Claudia Black in something else.
Click to expand...

Yeah, try to keep going with it. The show will improve around nine or ten episodes in, and then it'll be improve again a few episodes after that. And then it'll basically keep improving (overall) for a long time.

I'll post more when I'm back at my laptop~! Happy to see some love for the show, though.
 
P

Paertan

Member
Best main character ever!
I still watch an episode now and then. It has aged but still holds up ok. Really liked how they went all out with aliens. Not just some weird ears when they are from across the universe. Ok Peacekeepers look human but that is explained.
 
G

gabbo

Member
I kind of got lost
when Aeryn was killed
but not really, so a lot of that part sort of seems jumbled to me, but it was otherwise fun and worth going through
It made the last two seasons of SG1 this weird 'wtf' when Ben and Claudia showed up and weren't really anything to each other ('200th' played it nicely)
 
G

GKSilKamina

Member
I remember randomly channel surfing one night and stopping on what I THOUGHT was Looney Tunes, but quickly realized it wasn't. And then the cartoon ended and then there was this crazy alien dude with four arms talking to a lady waist-deep in shit. Literal shit.

I had never been so captivated with a show in my life. Episode was Revenging Angel, by the way.

Still love Farscape to this day, though I'm certainly more critical of its flaws. Some of the episodes are downright terrible, there's a noticeable slip in quality in Season 4, and a lot of the later-introduced characters are pretty whatever.

dat Scorpius tho
 
P

PaulloDEC

Member
I like it a lot. Where other science fiction shows were hiding behind military posturing and aliens that were just regular people with funny ears, Farscape held nothing back. Crazy planets, bizarre aliens and more ambitious, off-the-wall science-fiction ideas than any other show I can think of.

It's goofy, campy, silly and melodramatic, and it apologises for none of it. I have a huge amount of respect for that.

Also, it's just tons of fun.
 
S

Sober

Member
Season 1 is a bit iffy and is a bit of a rough patch if you don't have the stomach for it. Even I'm generous and I'd have to say season 1 isn't that great, but I also don't loathe the episodes everyone hates (e.g. Jeremiah Crichton). Some are just a little undercooked and hence boring, and the extra run time for the first season's episodes usually aren't justified. At least by today's standards.

Season 3 though I have to rank as some of the best television ever. Like right under Band of Brothers and The Wire season 4 level of good, that season was almost goddamn flawless.

And yes it goes crazy with the sci-fi exotic-ness and a lot of it hinges on their characters too. Arguably why the show was so intriguing to me.
 
J

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Sober said:
Season 1 is a bit iffy and is a bit of a rough patch if you don't have the stomach for it. Even I'm generous and I'd have to say season 1 isn't that great, but I also don't loathe the episodes everyone hates (e.g. Jeremiah Crichton). Some are just a little undercooked and hence boring, and the extra run time for the first season's episodes usually aren't justified. At least by today's standards.

Season 3 though I have to rank as some of the best television ever. Like right under Band of Brothers and The Wire season 4 level of good, that season was almost goddamn flawless.

And yes it goes crazy with the sci-fi exotic-ness and a lot of it hinges on their characters too. Arguably why the show was so intriguing to me.
Click to expand...

Damn right. Season 3 was just ridiculously good. If the whole show was on that level it'd be my favorite series of all time. As it stands, it was certainly my favorite series of 2001-02.

PaulloDEC said:
I like it a lot. Where other science fiction shows were hiding behind military posturing and aliens that were just regular people with funny ears, Farscape held nothing back. Crazy planets, bizarre aliens and more ambitious, off-the-wall science-fiction ideas than any other show I can think of.

It's goofy, campy, silly and melodramatic, and it apologises for none of it. I have a huge amount of respect for that.

Also, it's just tons of fun.
Click to expand...

This is a great description. Everything about Farscape dared to be more than rubber foreheads. I have a high tolerance for rubber foreheads, but it's refreshing to know there's at least on TV-budget space opera out there that tried to be something more on the regular.

GKSilKamina said:
I remember randomly channel surfing one night and stopping on what I THOUGHT was Looney Tunes, but quickly realized it wasn't. And then the cartoon ended and then there was this crazy alien dude with four arms talking to a lady waist-deep in shit. Literal shit.

I had never been so captivated with a show in my life. Episode was Revenging Angel, by the way.
Click to expand...

I laughed really hard at this. (And instantly knew it was "Revenging Angel". A decade ago I could have told you the production number for that episode right off the top of my head, too. 3x16? 3x18? Something like that.)

gabbo said:
I kind of got lost
when Aeryn was killed
but not really, so a lot of that part sort of seems jumbled to me, but it was otherwise fun and worth going through
It made the last two seasons of SG1 this weird 'wtf' when Ben and Claudia showed up and weren't really anything to each other ('200th' played it nicely)
Click to expand...

Fargate SG-1 was right up my alley; I'm totally cool with those last two years. But man, was it weird or what seeing "Aeryn" paired up with Daniel instead of Cameron? I love when Vala steps down from the Stargate and tells Cameron she'd know if they'd met. Stargate never stopped winking at its audience.

Of course, Farscape was one big wink.

Paertan said:
Best main character ever!
Click to expand...

tumblr_ls4qtr6Wsx1r1hg2mo2_250.gif


Cross-Section said:
I burned out bad thanks to the angsty and tedious John/Aeryn subplot(s). Great show otherwise, though.
Click to expand...

There was too much John/Aeryn as the show went on and a couple of the earlier episodes that obsessed over it (such as Season 2's "The Locket") were equally dire offenders. But I think, as far as sci-fi power couples are concerned, they're fantastic together -- especially when the scripts aren't bending over backwards to ensure that they're dysfunctional together.
 
S

SuperBanana

Banned
The characters were fantastic. Scorpius was always a really cool character, he wasn't full evil but was shades of grey.

I've heard they're bringing it back like 3 times but then nothing. :(
 
J

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
SuperBanana said:
The characters were fantastic. Scorpius was always a really cool character, he wasn't full evil but was shades of grey.

I've heard they're bringing it back like 3 times but then nothing. :(
Click to expand...

It is, sadly, the perennial whipping boy of "we've got this now -- incoming Farscape! Get hype!" It's really disappointing. In 2007 SyFy (well, it was still The Sci-Fi Channel then) formally announced a webisode revival that "may turn into something more" and nothing more was ever said on the project. Then around 2010 there was talk of it finally being made... and then nothing. Most recently, in early 2014, O'Bannon harped about getting a movie made, saying it's in the early stages and that it'll pick up some time later, draw inspiration from the post-PKW comic book arcs, and so on.

Nothing on that front either. But it might not be dead in the water like the webisodes, I guess.
 
G

Greddleok

Member
It's sad going back to things and finding out they were never good. Buffy, Xenia and Farscape are that for me.

Fortunately X-Files still holds up.
 
H

HolyCheck

I want a tag give me a tag
Best show Australia has ever produced.

I really wish I knew that when it was being aired, and I would have watched it in its shitty 11pm Thursday time slot, rather than not watching.. to protest the shitty 11pm timeslot
 
S

Splatterpunk

Member
I'm only just going through it now (up to s4), but I can't say season one is really noticeably weaker than the rest. It has a couple of clunkers, but every season does. The thing I liked most is that for pretty much all of season one and a bit of season two the characters almost all completely disliked and distrusted each other. Any other show would've had them all buddy buddy in three eps. It actually felt somewhat realistic how their relationships developed. It also did a great job balancing the campy melodrama with some serious bleak shit.
 
J

jb1234

Member
It's a wildly uneven show but I still have great sentimental affection for it because one of my best friendships was basically built over watching it in the early 00s. I remember when we did a simul-viewing of the season 4 finale and went completely nuts over the cliffhanger. I still have a copy of that chat log somewhere.

Was very happy when it came back as a miniseries and was mostly satisfied by that.
 
R

RangerX

Banned
One of the most entertainng Sc-fi shows ever. Brilliant performances, Completely batshit storylines and a unique style. Still love it to this day.
 
I

iammeiam

Member
tearsintherain said:
Season 1 hasn't aged well, the first few episodes are very clunky with bits of brilliance. If you stick with it its very rewarding.
Click to expand...


Season 1 was pretty rough even when it was new; I think it's the only show I ever tried to sell people on by advocating they seek out the 'best of' DVD set instead of the first full season. The pilot, D.N.A. Mad Scientist, A Human Reaction, Nerve, The Hidden Memory, and Family Ties are a pretty solid run of episodes. I usually enjoy season 1 more now when I rewatch, because I'm familiar with the characters and know some of it is building to something, but it's never really been an easy sell.

I think I've always had a real soft spot for the show because it never hesitated to kick its characters/audience when they were down. In early season 3, you have "Wait for the Wheel" where
Zhaan sacrifices herself to save everyone
which is pretty standard SciFi stuff. Crew is devastated, everyone is sad. Next episode is "...Different Destinations", where they go to a peace memorial to sort of chill out and recover from past episode events. So naturally over the course of the episode our characters manage to
change history so that instead of the army signing a peace treaty with the nurses, the army faction slaughters the nurses trying to locate our main characters who are safely back in the 'present'.
It was just not the approach I expected the episode to take, and I kind of loved that.
 
F

foxtrot3d

Banned
Terrible show that GAF roped me into watching after they said it was one of the greatest sci-fi shows ever comparable to BSG, Babylon 5, and ST: DS9. It's nowhere near any of the shows in terms of quality and unless you care about the Crichton-Aeryn romance.

Sober said:
Season 3 though I have to rank as some of the best television ever. Like right under Band of Brothers and The Wire season 4 level of good, that season was almost goddamn flawless.
Click to expand...

You see it's comments like these that made me watch the show, now I can only look at them and laugh. Like, are you serious?
 
J

jb1234

Member
iammeiam said:
Next episode is "...Different Destinations", where they go to a peace memorial to sort of chill out and recover from past episode events. So naturally over the course of the episode our characters manage to
change history so that instead of the army signing a peace treaty with the nurses, the army faction slaughters the nurses trying to locate our main characters who are safely back in the 'present'.
It was just not the approach I expected the episode to take, and I kind of loved that.
Click to expand...

Holy shit, I totally forgot about that downer of an episode.
 
Melon Husk

Melon Husk

Member
I can't believe it worked out. A sci-fi show where two of the main cast are... puppets?

When Zan died it lost a lot of its charm. They introduced new characters but they didn't feel as fleshed out, especially the red-haired one.

Then Harvey happened and it got worse.

Some of the episodes are bonkers and those peaks make the show worth watching.

Season 4 Episode intro was absolutely insane (1812)
 
C

Cipherr

Member
Trash tier Sci Fi. I curse the gaffers that told me I should watch it after bathing in the excellence of Babylon 5 and Stargate SG-1.

The hell were they thinking. Best thing Farscape produced was a few lame references to it in the late seasons of SG-1 and the episode about the 'Food Squares' (crackers).
 
P

PaulloDEC

Member
Cipherr said:
Trash tier Sci Fi. I curse the gaffers that told me I should watch it after bathing in the excellence of Babylon 5 and Stargate SG-1.

The hell were they thinking. Best thing Farscape produced was a few lame references to it in the late seasons of SG-1 and the episode about the 'Food Squares' (crackers).
Click to expand...

Probably something along the lines of "Boy are there a lot of po-faced, self-important "adult" science fiction shows these days. Why don't we make something that that's more concerned with being creative and fun than trying to look cool and sophisticated to the general public?"
 
E

espher

Member
Just bought the Bluray set last week. Hadn't seen it since the initial run. Watched a few episodes so far. Still as good (and janky) as I remembered it. :)

We'll see how it holds up as I go along, lol.
 
S

Speely

Banned
Been rewatching lately too, actually. When it aired I was stoned most of the time. Loved it.

I don't smoke weed anymore. My view of the show now is that it's an overly-ambitious, often-overwrought, fairly tacky show THAT IS AWESOME. I consider plenty of elements in Farscape to be iffy on their own, but as a whole the show is still great for all the reasons it ever was. Generally great characters and character development up front, and a really charming presentation that kept its own limitations in mind quite well.

Wonderful sci-fi that will always be a favorite of mine.

That said, D'Argo has always been a campy, bad character to me.
 
B

bndadm

Member
I really have to rewatch this show, especially season 4. Season 2 and the build up to the finale were and still are exceptional.

Show deserves a comeback, though the cast later on beyond the regulars wasn't the strongest.

Very fond memories staying in on Friday night's to catch it. Man they had a great Friday line up. The Invisible Man and Good vs Evil was it?
 
D

danm999

Member
One of my favourite sci fi series.

Ton of ambition (that doesn't always pay off), ton of great characters, amazing weird tone, brutal, would experiment with form in ways that you didn't expect (
killing off characters at a GoT rate in the third season
), but a slightly weak ending with the Peacekeeper wars.
 
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