A Case For: Farscape

Greetings gentle reader. A recent article brought up discussion of Sci-Fi shows, and reasons for watching them. Often on the net, these devolve into arguments and name-calling. So I thought, let’s give them a chance to make their case, in a reasonable fashion, as to why their favorite shows are worthy. Also, with so many shows on the air, and so many cancelled early, people tend to miss, or gloss over shows, or miss the first few seasons, then not bother to go back and catch up.

Here is the first of these cases, for “Farscape”.
I myself have seen only bits and pieces of Farscape, mostly turned off by the puppets and look and feel of the thing. But I’m ready to be convinced. After many years of trying to convince others that Babylon 5 is way better than most of the Sci-Fi they’re watching, I can get behind this idea.

So, today we have regular reader “Tomass” presenting a case for Farscape. Do us a favour and visit his site androgynouskelly.com, as a way of saying thanks.

Take it away, sir:
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I’ll keep this as brief as possible. The best, initial, synopsis I can give is the opening voice over monolog from season 1 & 2 (the introduction is modified in both seasons 3 & 4 to reflect the evolving plot).

I know you, you’re thinking:

“Woopy!”

“Wormholes, I’ve seen that shit! It was called Deep Space 9.”

“Radiation… pfst! I have a Mirowave.”

“Aliens… BAH! I’ve seen me some aliens”

“See Aliens!”

Well First off my poopy panted reader, Deep Space 9, was an incredible hunk of the afore noted material that is in your pants. Second the muppet aliens that are in this series are way cooler than the ones from Star wars! Which brings me to my first reason to watch Farscape.

1. Farscape has Muppets

Well kind of. No Kermit, no Gonzo, no muppets you know. And definitely not muppets in the traditional use of the word. But it is important  to know that The Jim Henson Company (the muppet people) produced Farscape.

“I hate muppets! This sounds like a kids show, I’m out”

Hold on my fecaled pantalooned friend. Think deep on this one. Jim Henson was a wacked out hippy who made a fortune off having his hand up a frogs ass while making funny sounds. He made you think that a pig and a frog having sex was normal. Trust me this show is not intended for kids. It has all of the twisted Henson imagination and only as much PG as was needed to stay on network TV (see Exhibit A).

Exhibit A;

2. The colours children the colors!

Being produce by hippies incorporated would you expect anything less? The costuming, sets and effects are all so pretty. I will admit the show is very stylized, and has a kind of Cirque du Soleil feel to it at times. But for me it works. It isn’t distracting in a bad way, but more in a pleasant way (see Exhibit A).

“But I hate the french! I’m out!”

But hold on my little chum with the defecated in dungaree’s, the show has other saving graces. The crappy CG of the era is used sparingly, and when it is used it is well placed and believable. and um, ah, um, er… ah just look at “Exibit B” and shut up!

Exhibit B:

3. Moya doesn’t like you.

“Huh? That dosen’t even make sense! I’m out!”

Wait one second my compadre with das Lederhosen full of Scheiße. Let me ask you this, when did you cry harder geek tears, when Spock was killed, or when the Enterprise was first destroyed?

“…sniff *snork* I can’t decide it’s all too painful”

Ya well what if The Enterprise was alive, sentient and Scotty was symbiotic and permanently attached to her?

“GASP! Your’re not killing Montgomery too!”

All of the characters on Farscape are interesting, including the ship “Moya” & Her symbiotic pilot “Pilot“. They add a nice depth that you don’t find in other Sci-Fi. Don’t get me wrong, I loves me the Falcon, Galactica, Serenity & every NCC-1701 to grace the screen. But they’re different than Moya & Pilot, those ships never really drove the plot, or stole scene’s.

Exhibit C;

4. I never have to watch Crichton open a jar of pickles for Zhaan

“TYPE ENGLISH! Or I’m out!”

Oh sweet little mierda shorts, I am. Like I said before the characters on Farscape are interesting, but more then that they are useful and fun. All of them, not just the guys. I don’t have to sit through episodes where the girls all sit around talking about how dreamy Will Riker is. (mostly due to the fact that he’s not there I’m sure, but that’s beside the point).

Exhibit D;

5. Have you seen Exhibit A?

“You are just a pig of a man! I’m out!”

Hey (insert poop joke here), have you been to thecorrectness.com before? And besides I’m here to elaborate on the show with-out giving away plot. Sexuality is a big part of the show, and saying that doesn’t give away the plot. As the author of this little rant I am predisposed to elaborate on that part of the show by referencing my own sexual preferences. But saying that I’m told that the show is appealing on other levels…

Exhibit E;

Well there you have it my shaken’ bake elementary science fair like expo of Farscape. You either want to watch it now, or you want a lobotomy, either way I win!

So there it is. Convinced? Not sure? Think it’s terrible? Sound off below. If you have a case to make for your favorite show, past or present, write it up. Give us 5 reasons why we should love your show. We’ll pretty it up, post it here, and continue the discussion.

12 Responses to “A Case For: Farscape”

1. Tbinns says:

   March 2, 2011 at 11:22 am

   That …ummm…that…looks just awful.

     Tbinns(Quote)  (Reply)

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   • spcMIKE says:

     March 2, 2011 at 11:32 am

     @Tbinns, It’s actually a pretty fun show, some of the computer stuff doesn’t hold up well, but if you can stand the CGI of Bab5, you can stand the show once you get into it.

     It’s got some really good character arcs. The love story between Aeryn and Crichton is superb. That’s why it was a big deal when Ben Bowder and Claudia Black joined the cast of Stargate. They’re like a real life Hawkman and Hawkgirl, they might get killed off, but they still manage to find each other and reunite.

     (If I wasn’t married, there would be no way I could ever have written that last sentence and expect a girl to sleep with me ever again. Please don’t mention that to her.)

       spcMIKE(Quote)  (Reply)

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   • Tomass says:

     March 2, 2011 at 11:38 am

     @Tbinns,

     Ya but it’s gooood. Get the free month of Netflix (or just download it). watch the first season (or all of it). If you think it sucks after the first season I’ll by you an ice-cream to make it up to you.

       Tomass(Quote)  (Reply)

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     • Tomass says:

       March 2, 2011 at 11:56 am

       I mean “Buy you an ice-cream”
       [face palm]

         Tomass(Quote)  (Reply)

       Reply
       • RobbieRobTown says:

         March 2, 2011 at 1:02 pm

         @Tomass,

         Smaller…

           RobbieRobTown(Quote)  (Reply)

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         • RobbieRobTown says:

           March 2, 2011 at 1:02 pm

           @RobbieRobTown,

           Smallerer…

             RobbieRobTown(Quote)  (Reply)

           Reply
           • RobbieRobTown says:

             March 2, 2011 at 1:03 pm

             Ensmallerized!

               RobbieRobTown(Quote)  (Reply)

             Reply
             • Tomass says:

               March 2, 2011 at 1:06 pm

               @RobbieRobTown,

               Awe now I feel loved

                 Tomass(Quote)  (Reply)

               Reply
2. Jo Jerome says:

   March 3, 2011 at 2:51 pm

   MAJOR Farscape fan here, but I’m not at all confident this particular sales pitch would sell it. It wouldn’t sell it to me if I weren’t familiar with the show. Tomass lost me by the second poop-in-pants joke, which seem to serve no purpose other than try and make the author sound cool.

   If I were to sell someone on Farscape, some of what I’d address without so many puns that most readers won’t get:

   - It seriously is *not* “Muppets in space.” Yes, some of the characters are animatronic, same as how many characters in movies lately are CGI. These however are some of the most believable animatronics I’ve ever seen and it’s quite easy to forget that they are and just get into the storyline. Largely thanks to the…

   - Acting. The acting FAR exceeds that of the wooden performances of too many in SciFi. Perhaps thanks to the…

   - Writing/directing/art direction/drama. The characters are allowed to be and get dirty. The soldier cusses like a soldier. The ship is messy. Characters don’t all get along and they don’t all make wonderful and moral decisions. The drama that happens in episode one alters the character’s persona in episode 2 (versus 44 minutes of “My best friend got killed by the alien!” and next week the character is all chipper and same as ever like nothing happened). Add to this…

   - Comedy. People are funny. Life is funny. Stupid crap happens to us every day that frustrates us at first, then ends up being really funny. The humor here is not corny or cheesy but the kind of real-life-is-funny humor that makes the show that much more believable. Add to this…

   - Character screw ups. No one on this show is perfect. Characters make bad decisions and, rather than “Surprise! Time travel back to the beginning!” they have to live with the dire consequences of those bad decisions. All this adds up to…

   - Character drama, which is what Farscape is first and foremost. The wild hippie technicolor aliens (and I do like Thomass implication of one huge hippie trip), makes for a most fabulous backdrop. But in the end, it’s a character drama that even some non-sci-fi-fans should be able to appreciate.

     Jo Jerome(Quote)  (Reply)

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   • Tomass says:

     March 4, 2011 at 6:39 am

     @Jo Jerome,
     Oh don’t you worry, I’m not cool! And I am pretty sure that poop has never made anyone cool. Rich yes, but cool, not so much.

     I agree with your 6 points.

     See that was my problem I only had 5 points. If I could have had 6 points things would have been different I tells ya! Or 35 points like the “35 Reasons to Watch Babylon 5″ article. Then WOW look out, there would have been some kinda Nobel prize coming my way for that sucker.

       Tomass(Quote)  (Reply)

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3. deepfriedcheese says:

   March 8, 2011 at 6:07 pm

   So have any of the correctness watched so much as episode 1 yet?

   Come on… how many sci-fi shows start with a space shuttle launch and get better from there?

     deepfriedcheese(Quote)  (Reply)

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   • admin_rock says:

     March 16, 2011 at 11:17 am

     @deepfriedcheese, I watched the pilot episode last night. It was pretty good. i will watch more and report back.

       admin_rock(Quote)  (Reply)

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