Why you should watch: FARSCAPE
Jan. 31st, 2012 10:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jacqueleeA little advertising of my favourite show for TVRealm's 'Why you should watch' challenge.
Okay, someone told me once that they didn’t watch sci-fi because of all the weird masks and stuff. If you think like this, just turn around, there’s nothing for you here.
If you can look past the tentacles and the different colored people to see what the show really is about, stay, and let me take you on a journey down the wormhole.
Also, there’s absolutely no way I can do this without spoilers, so if you are adamant about remaining totally spoiler free, I’m sorry. But I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, and I myself watched the show with knowing the ending and for me it was even better for it. I love me some happy ending. ;)
And I want to note that these are the things ‘I’ think are most important about Farscape, the next guy will probably have a whole different catalogue of reasons. That’s the diversity that makes Farscape watchable for just about anyone, because there are so many different things in it you can fall in love with.
Okay, let's start with some essentials.
The Plot
To sum up Farscape in one sentence: It’s about an all American boy, thrust down a wormhole into this crazy galaxy full of crazy aliens, where he finds friends, the love of his life and in the end becomes the most important figure in a galaxy wide war.
John Crichton lands on a living ship full of prisoners in the middle of an ill-fated escape, accidentally kills the brother of the Peacekeeper (the bad guys – or are they?) in charge and helps the prisoners escape, mostly because the alternative is death. The next four years he spends with trying to get home while battling aliens, learning about wormholes and trying to convince Aeryn that they are meant for each other.
That’s about it, but it’s fantastic in its simplicity. Just a guy trying to get home, getting caught up in politics and wars. That’s something I think everyone can relate to. Also, as I will get into in more detail later, there is the fantastic love story.
The main characters
(and again, these are the main characters for ‘me’, others might count differently, it IS pretty much an ensemble show – so maybe I should rather say, my favourite characters who have enough screentime to be considered main characters)
John Crichton
Your typical southern American boy, John Crichton grew up in the shadow of his father, an astronaut. He chooses the same road in life, but when his experiment goes awole he finds himself in a completely alien and strange environment. Being optimistic by nature, he tries to make the best out of this, but rarely succeeds. Sometimes he seems to be the punching bag of the universe. There is a reason the ‘Society Against Cruelty To Crichton’ was founded by fans a short way into the series. But don't worry, Crichton also kicks his share of ass on this side of the galaxy.
Aeryn Sun
A Peacekeeper, born and bred to serve as a pilot and soldier, John Crichton sums up her story arc in just four words in the Pilot: ‘You can be more’. And she’ll become more: a friend, a lover, someone who tries her best to redeem her past.
She is fierce, fiery, shooting makes her feel better and when she is deemed 'irreversably contaminated' by her superior, she has to make a life for herself aboard Moya and understand what it means to be ‘more’ than a soldier. To expect more from life than just ‘Service, promotion, retirement, death’ and to work together with others to achieve that.
Also, Claudia Black is PHENOMENAL! Seriously.
The other Moyans
There are a lot of other characters who lived aboard Moya a long enough time to be considered vital parts of the show. Seeing how they go from reluctant allies to becoming a family is another thing that makes Farscape great.
I’ll give you a short introduction of each of them because this really is an ensemble show and every one of these characters is well thought out, three-dimensional, and even though some of them don’t get as much screentime as they deserve, all of them are a pleasure to watch.
Introductions - I chose the order they are introduced in in the show.
Moya: The living ship. Born to serve those aboard her, she had been captured by the Peacekeepers and tortured into obedience. Her freedom is the most important thing to her and she won’t give it up easily. She has her own storyarc when it is discovered that she is pregnant.
Pilot: He is the one who pilots Moya and controls most of her systems. A cross between a wise old man and an adolescent teenager he is the one constant on Moya, but also has very bad mood swings where it is not wise to stand in his way. He learns about friendship and love from John, Aeryn and the others and has a special relationship to Aeryn and Zhaan.
D’Argo: He was originally supposed to be the stoic warrior type but the producers learned quickly that that was a bad idea. So he turned out to be very much a young man, trying to find his path in life. He is very loyal and tries to do the right thing, but can also be quite self centred and egoistic.
Rygel: He is the dominar of doodoo. Having once been the ruler of six HUNDRED billion people before being betrayed and imprisoned, he’s still a pompous little twerp, but he has a heart of gold. He never thinks twice about betraying everyone when the price is right, but he also doesn’t think twice about helping them if the situation demands it.
Along with Moya, Pilot and D’Argo (and of course John and Aeryn) Rygel completes the number of characters who are in the show from the first to the last episode, so I list him here, even though he is introduced a few seconds after Zhaan.
Zhaan: She is a Priestess who was imprisoned for being an anarchist (short, non-spoilery version). She is the ‘mother’ the sound of reason, but also has her dark impulses she strives to control.
Chiana: In lot of ways still a little girl who came aboard Moya because her own people imprisoned her for not following the system and playing her role in their scheme. She will kick, kiss or cry her way out of every situation and many have accused her of being a tralk (whore), because she doesn’t have a problem with using sex as a means to get what she wants. But still, in a way, she is the most innocent of all the Moyans.
Talyn: Moya’s son. A Peacekeeper Hybrid, he is a young boy with very dangerous toys.
Stark: Most of the times he’s as crazy as a doornail. But in his lucid stages he is actually quite helpful. He’s very compassionate, but can be quite cruel if he wants to. He was Scorpius’s favourite torture toy before Crichton came. He also has a shiny face. But he hides that under a mask.
Jool: A bit of a stuck up princess who thinks that all the Moyans are uncivilized and barbaric, she warms up on them eventually and even helps some occasionally.
Sikozu: She’s a leviathan expert who’s never been on one before. Met with distrust and outright objection from the others, she still tries to help the best way she can, even though she can appear quite arrogant when doing so. Also, there’s a lot more to her than the others think at first.
Noranti: An old woman who has a third eye, never bathes and occasionally dances naked. In other words, she's FUN! Or not, your decision. ;)
The main bad guys
Farscape has some great bad guys. Especially Scorpius really is a bad guy you don’t know if you should hate or love him. But he definitely has charisma.
Crais: He is a Peacekeeper Captain who blames Crichton for his brother’s death and hunts him through the first season until Scorpius shows up. He makes an interesting turn after that, which I won’t go into as to not give all the goods away. Suffice it to say that he is in no way your garden variety bad guy.
Scorpius: He is a Scarran/Sebacean (the Peacekeeper race) hybrid with a hunger for power and a fierce hatred for the Scarrans. He will do just about anything to achieve his goal, to defeat the Scarrans once and for all. To that end, he studies wormhole technology and John Crichton, who has knowledge of wormholes he doesn’t even know about, soon becomes his favourite study object and sort of an arch enemy / reluctant ally depending on the episode.
Braca: A consummate Peacekeeper, he is the first officer, so to speak, to whatever Commander is in charge at that day. He has the common Peacekeeper flaws such as bigotry and lack of compassion, but in the end he manages to cling to those two concepts even the PKs value: honor and loyalty.
Grayza: EVIL. Honestly that’s about it. She’s just EVIL. She’ll do anything to achieve her goals, whatever those are on any given day. Also her boobs are malevolent.
And as a special guest:
Harvey
ETA: I just read the rules again and this picspam is not eligible for points, because the pictures are icon sized. I don't need it for full points anyway, but I'll still leave it in, because everyone should have a little Harvey. ;)
He is the personification of a chip Scorpius put into Crichton’s brain to find out what he knows about wormholes. His name is a given (‘Invisible sidekicks that only I talk to get called Harvey.’) and he mostly shows up at the worst of times, wearing ridiculous outfits and taunting Crichton.
The Love Story
Don’t put your leads together or the show goes under. Yeah, Farscape decided to frell* that concept (thankfully) so we get the best lovestory ever shown on television. They’re first encounter is epic - she beats him up - the first kiss (in the 13th episode) is over the scale HOT and it just continues on that path. It’s a bumpy road they have to travel but in the end we get that happily ever after – until the next Ferengi attack that is.
Picspams for these two have been done to death -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
malicat just put some very nice ones up for the tropes challenge, so check those out. Also, here you'll find gorgeous picspams for some of they're most important scenes.
So instead of making another picspam, I thought I’d treat you to some great videos I think show they’re story – and they’re hotness - very well. ;)
*The Farscape equivalent of BSG’s frak, which is the equivalent of, well, I’m sure you can guess. ;)
My shining star by Bassair
(babe you’re not lost) Lost J/A by Mfirefly
Between words and silence by Diar
Don’t talk, just kiss by jacquelee
And to sum up this EPIC love story in a 90 second scene:
Farscape - The Most Romantic 90 Microts of TV by edshrinker (read the provided backstory to understand what’s going on)
The Crichtonisms
John Crichton pulls out pop culture references in just about every episode, made all the more funny by the fact that nobody understands them. Here are some of the funniest ones:
John: ‘It’s kinda like Louisiana. Or Dagobah’
(confused look from Aeryn)
John: ‘Dagobah. Where Yoda lives.’
Aeryn: ‘Who’s Yoda?’
John: ‘Just a little green guy - trains warriors.’
Aeryn: ‘Oh’ (she has no problem with that being real)
(On a giant spaceship that apparently was shot up good by someone)
D’Argo: ‘This ship is legendary. Even in my culture, it was thought invincible.’
John: ‘Yeah, well, just ask Leonardo DiCaprio. Even the big ones go down.’
(Crichton is asked to put a lobster creature on his head to determine that he tells the truth)
‘Cross my heart, smack me dead. Stick a lobster on my head!’
‘Welcome to the Federation Starship - SS Buttcrack!’
‘I hate it when villains quote Shakespeare.’
‘The next Ferengi we see, we’ll run, no questions later.’
‘Bill Gates can’t guarantee Windows, how can you guarantee my safety?’
‘I’m not dressing up as Maid Marian.’
The wackiness
If you like crazy and wacky stuff, this show’s got it in spades! Especially look out for the episodes ‘Crackers don’t matter’, ‘Won’t get fooled again’ and ‘John Quixote’. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed!
The Aliens
I let Bob and Carl do the introduction for this one – sufficed to say: THERE’S ALIENS IN SPACE!!
Made by Macfran. There are lots of other aliens in Farscape, and, since this is a Henson production, some of them are not even remotely human, but I just made 6 picspams in 6 hours and I’m losing the will to live, so you just have to live with this one rec.
The Visuals
Also, Farscape is a PRETTY show. As we learned from Babylon 5, space is colourful.
And finally the fandom
With many shows (for me the only other exception is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and maybe Babylon 5) you watch them and then that’s it, everything’s explained, there are no further questions but also not much further interest. Farscape is not like this, and for me, that’s the one reason I joined in the fandom and it’s probably the main reason the fan community is still very active even after ten years.
On Terra Firma, the main Farscape fan community, fans still discuss various things about the show, post fanfiction and fanart, and talk with each other on a daily basis just about everything. Also,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
farscape_land is my absolute favourite landcomm (and that’s not just because it’s my first one and introduced me to the wonderful world of landcomms) – seriously, check it out!
So that’s what I love most about the show: the fandom. It might be little, but it’s definitely still alive and kicking. The sense of family, of being exactly where you’re supposed to be that I had at the Farscape convention last year I never had at any other convention or pretty much anywhere else for that matter – and that includes the cast, the cast is amazing, first of all Ben Browder (John Crichton), Rebecca Riggs (Grayza) and David Franklin (Braca).
So come and join us in the insanity that is FARSCAPE!!
That’s it from me! Now go and WATCH FARSCAPE! :D
Okay, someone told me once that they didn’t watch sci-fi because of all the weird masks and stuff. If you think like this, just turn around, there’s nothing for you here.
If you can look past the tentacles and the different colored people to see what the show really is about, stay, and let me take you on a journey down the wormhole.
Also, there’s absolutely no way I can do this without spoilers, so if you are adamant about remaining totally spoiler free, I’m sorry. But I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, and I myself watched the show with knowing the ending and for me it was even better for it. I love me some happy ending. ;)
And I want to note that these are the things ‘I’ think are most important about Farscape, the next guy will probably have a whole different catalogue of reasons. That’s the diversity that makes Farscape watchable for just about anyone, because there are so many different things in it you can fall in love with.
Okay, let's start with some essentials.
The Plot
To sum up Farscape in one sentence: It’s about an all American boy, thrust down a wormhole into this crazy galaxy full of crazy aliens, where he finds friends, the love of his life and in the end becomes the most important figure in a galaxy wide war.
John Crichton lands on a living ship full of prisoners in the middle of an ill-fated escape, accidentally kills the brother of the Peacekeeper (the bad guys – or are they?) in charge and helps the prisoners escape, mostly because the alternative is death. The next four years he spends with trying to get home while battling aliens, learning about wormholes and trying to convince Aeryn that they are meant for each other.
That’s about it, but it’s fantastic in its simplicity. Just a guy trying to get home, getting caught up in politics and wars. That’s something I think everyone can relate to. Also, as I will get into in more detail later, there is the fantastic love story.
The main characters
(and again, these are the main characters for ‘me’, others might count differently, it IS pretty much an ensemble show – so maybe I should rather say, my favourite characters who have enough screentime to be considered main characters)
John Crichton
Your typical southern American boy, John Crichton grew up in the shadow of his father, an astronaut. He chooses the same road in life, but when his experiment goes awole he finds himself in a completely alien and strange environment. Being optimistic by nature, he tries to make the best out of this, but rarely succeeds. Sometimes he seems to be the punching bag of the universe. There is a reason the ‘Society Against Cruelty To Crichton’ was founded by fans a short way into the series. But don't worry, Crichton also kicks his share of ass on this side of the galaxy.
Aeryn Sun
A Peacekeeper, born and bred to serve as a pilot and soldier, John Crichton sums up her story arc in just four words in the Pilot: ‘You can be more’. And she’ll become more: a friend, a lover, someone who tries her best to redeem her past.
She is fierce, fiery, shooting makes her feel better and when she is deemed 'irreversably contaminated' by her superior, she has to make a life for herself aboard Moya and understand what it means to be ‘more’ than a soldier. To expect more from life than just ‘Service, promotion, retirement, death’ and to work together with others to achieve that.
Also, Claudia Black is PHENOMENAL! Seriously.
The other Moyans
There are a lot of other characters who lived aboard Moya a long enough time to be considered vital parts of the show. Seeing how they go from reluctant allies to becoming a family is another thing that makes Farscape great.
I’ll give you a short introduction of each of them because this really is an ensemble show and every one of these characters is well thought out, three-dimensional, and even though some of them don’t get as much screentime as they deserve, all of them are a pleasure to watch.
Introductions - I chose the order they are introduced in in the show.
Moya: The living ship. Born to serve those aboard her, she had been captured by the Peacekeepers and tortured into obedience. Her freedom is the most important thing to her and she won’t give it up easily. She has her own storyarc when it is discovered that she is pregnant.
Pilot: He is the one who pilots Moya and controls most of her systems. A cross between a wise old man and an adolescent teenager he is the one constant on Moya, but also has very bad mood swings where it is not wise to stand in his way. He learns about friendship and love from John, Aeryn and the others and has a special relationship to Aeryn and Zhaan.
D’Argo: He was originally supposed to be the stoic warrior type but the producers learned quickly that that was a bad idea. So he turned out to be very much a young man, trying to find his path in life. He is very loyal and tries to do the right thing, but can also be quite self centred and egoistic.
Rygel: He is the dominar of doodoo. Having once been the ruler of six HUNDRED billion people before being betrayed and imprisoned, he’s still a pompous little twerp, but he has a heart of gold. He never thinks twice about betraying everyone when the price is right, but he also doesn’t think twice about helping them if the situation demands it.
Along with Moya, Pilot and D’Argo (and of course John and Aeryn) Rygel completes the number of characters who are in the show from the first to the last episode, so I list him here, even though he is introduced a few seconds after Zhaan.
Zhaan: She is a Priestess who was imprisoned for being an anarchist (short, non-spoilery version). She is the ‘mother’ the sound of reason, but also has her dark impulses she strives to control.
Chiana: In lot of ways still a little girl who came aboard Moya because her own people imprisoned her for not following the system and playing her role in their scheme. She will kick, kiss or cry her way out of every situation and many have accused her of being a tralk (whore), because she doesn’t have a problem with using sex as a means to get what she wants. But still, in a way, she is the most innocent of all the Moyans.
Talyn: Moya’s son. A Peacekeeper Hybrid, he is a young boy with very dangerous toys.
Stark: Most of the times he’s as crazy as a doornail. But in his lucid stages he is actually quite helpful. He’s very compassionate, but can be quite cruel if he wants to. He was Scorpius’s favourite torture toy before Crichton came. He also has a shiny face. But he hides that under a mask.
Jool: A bit of a stuck up princess who thinks that all the Moyans are uncivilized and barbaric, she warms up on them eventually and even helps some occasionally.
Sikozu: She’s a leviathan expert who’s never been on one before. Met with distrust and outright objection from the others, she still tries to help the best way she can, even though she can appear quite arrogant when doing so. Also, there’s a lot more to her than the others think at first.
Noranti: An old woman who has a third eye, never bathes and occasionally dances naked. In other words, she's FUN! Or not, your decision. ;)
The main bad guys
Farscape has some great bad guys. Especially Scorpius really is a bad guy you don’t know if you should hate or love him. But he definitely has charisma.
Crais: He is a Peacekeeper Captain who blames Crichton for his brother’s death and hunts him through the first season until Scorpius shows up. He makes an interesting turn after that, which I won’t go into as to not give all the goods away. Suffice it to say that he is in no way your garden variety bad guy.
Scorpius: He is a Scarran/Sebacean (the Peacekeeper race) hybrid with a hunger for power and a fierce hatred for the Scarrans. He will do just about anything to achieve his goal, to defeat the Scarrans once and for all. To that end, he studies wormhole technology and John Crichton, who has knowledge of wormholes he doesn’t even know about, soon becomes his favourite study object and sort of an arch enemy / reluctant ally depending on the episode.
Braca: A consummate Peacekeeper, he is the first officer, so to speak, to whatever Commander is in charge at that day. He has the common Peacekeeper flaws such as bigotry and lack of compassion, but in the end he manages to cling to those two concepts even the PKs value: honor and loyalty.
Grayza: EVIL. Honestly that’s about it. She’s just EVIL. She’ll do anything to achieve her goals, whatever those are on any given day. Also her boobs are malevolent.
And as a special guest:
Harvey
ETA: I just read the rules again and this picspam is not eligible for points, because the pictures are icon sized. I don't need it for full points anyway, but I'll still leave it in, because everyone should have a little Harvey. ;)
He is the personification of a chip Scorpius put into Crichton’s brain to find out what he knows about wormholes. His name is a given (‘Invisible sidekicks that only I talk to get called Harvey.’) and he mostly shows up at the worst of times, wearing ridiculous outfits and taunting Crichton.
The Love Story
Don’t put your leads together or the show goes under. Yeah, Farscape decided to frell* that concept (thankfully) so we get the best lovestory ever shown on television. They’re first encounter is epic - she beats him up - the first kiss (in the 13th episode) is over the scale HOT and it just continues on that path. It’s a bumpy road they have to travel but in the end we get that happily ever after – until the next Ferengi attack that is.
Picspams for these two have been done to death -
malicat just put some very nice ones up for the tropes challenge, so check those out. Also, here you'll find gorgeous picspams for some of they're most important scenes. So instead of making another picspam, I thought I’d treat you to some great videos I think show they’re story – and they’re hotness - very well. ;)
*The Farscape equivalent of BSG’s frak, which is the equivalent of, well, I’m sure you can guess. ;)
My shining star by Bassair
(babe you’re not lost) Lost J/A by Mfirefly
Between words and silence by Diar
Don’t talk, just kiss by jacquelee
And to sum up this EPIC love story in a 90 second scene:
Farscape - The Most Romantic 90 Microts of TV by edshrinker (read the provided backstory to understand what’s going on)
The Crichtonisms
John Crichton pulls out pop culture references in just about every episode, made all the more funny by the fact that nobody understands them. Here are some of the funniest ones:
John: ‘It’s kinda like Louisiana. Or Dagobah’
(confused look from Aeryn)
John: ‘Dagobah. Where Yoda lives.’
Aeryn: ‘Who’s Yoda?’
John: ‘Just a little green guy - trains warriors.’
Aeryn: ‘Oh’ (she has no problem with that being real)
(On a giant spaceship that apparently was shot up good by someone)
D’Argo: ‘This ship is legendary. Even in my culture, it was thought invincible.’
John: ‘Yeah, well, just ask Leonardo DiCaprio. Even the big ones go down.’
(Crichton is asked to put a lobster creature on his head to determine that he tells the truth)
‘Cross my heart, smack me dead. Stick a lobster on my head!’
‘Welcome to the Federation Starship - SS Buttcrack!’
‘I hate it when villains quote Shakespeare.’
‘The next Ferengi we see, we’ll run, no questions later.’
‘Bill Gates can’t guarantee Windows, how can you guarantee my safety?’
‘I’m not dressing up as Maid Marian.’
The wackiness
If you like crazy and wacky stuff, this show’s got it in spades! Especially look out for the episodes ‘Crackers don’t matter’, ‘Won’t get fooled again’ and ‘John Quixote’. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed!
The Aliens
I let Bob and Carl do the introduction for this one – sufficed to say: THERE’S ALIENS IN SPACE!!
Made by Macfran. There are lots of other aliens in Farscape, and, since this is a Henson production, some of them are not even remotely human, but I just made 6 picspams in 6 hours and I’m losing the will to live, so you just have to live with this one rec.
The Visuals
Also, Farscape is a PRETTY show. As we learned from Babylon 5, space is colourful.
And finally the fandom
With many shows (for me the only other exception is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and maybe Babylon 5) you watch them and then that’s it, everything’s explained, there are no further questions but also not much further interest. Farscape is not like this, and for me, that’s the one reason I joined in the fandom and it’s probably the main reason the fan community is still very active even after ten years.
On Terra Firma, the main Farscape fan community, fans still discuss various things about the show, post fanfiction and fanart, and talk with each other on a daily basis just about everything. Also,
farscape_land is my absolute favourite landcomm (and that’s not just because it’s my first one and introduced me to the wonderful world of landcomms) – seriously, check it out! So that’s what I love most about the show: the fandom. It might be little, but it’s definitely still alive and kicking. The sense of family, of being exactly where you’re supposed to be that I had at the Farscape convention last year I never had at any other convention or pretty much anywhere else for that matter – and that includes the cast, the cast is amazing, first of all Ben Browder (John Crichton), Rebecca Riggs (Grayza) and David Franklin (Braca).
So come and join us in the insanity that is FARSCAPE!!
That’s it from me! Now go and WATCH FARSCAPE! :D
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-01-31 10:05 am (UTC)...and by the way our Dominar would be absolutely disgusted with you! He was dominar of six HUNDRED billion people not six billion - really Jac! He doesnt' have to and he definitely would not talk to you after this! LOL ;)
Great write up and girl, where do you find the time for all of this?????
no subject
Date: 2012-01-31 10:40 am (UTC)Thanks for pointing it out, it's fixed now. ;)
Also thanks! And as far as finding time, well you know I NEVER sleep *Muahahhahaha* LOL. :D
no subject
Date: 2012-01-31 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-31 04:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-31 07:53 pm (UTC)