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Passing Through...
Where have I been? (Outside of working during the days). Watching and taping Farscape. Where will I be this weekend and next? That's right. Watching and taping Farscape. Oh I've watched other things, Gilmore Girls and Lost for example - while watching my tapes of Farscape. Everytime there's a commercial - I flip to Farscape. (Did not do this during Nip/Tuck which was the only show all week that was literally 60 minutes long and had no commercial interruptions. A rarity. So I did not flip and sat on the edge of my couch throughout.) I've only watched 15 episodes of Farscape, skipped four due to taping problems and I'm hooked. When did it happen, somewhere around episode 8, I think. Yep, like many I'd foolishly dismissed this gem as cheesy low budget sci-fi. Now I know better. What an idiot I was.
Also somewhat annoyed at myself for skipping over four episodes and not taping them - they were: Exodus Gensis, Throne for A Loss, PK Tek Girl, and Jeremiah Crichton. (I saw the first ten minutes of Exodus Gensis and Jeremiah Crichton). (Yes, I went to the Farscape web site and Sci-Fi web site to get the titles of the episodes, so I can lable the tapes, which I've only done for BTVS and ATS, which ahem means, I'm hooked.)
If you haven't tried this cult secret, you have no clue what you've missed.
It takes Sci-Fi to a completely new level and place and may be the most innovative and visually creative Sci/Fantasy series I've seen. And I've seen pretty much all of them. I may actually write something in livejournal about this show. It's that good! The characters are all distinctly different. Each character is visually and auditorially different. As opposed to most sci-fi in which everyone looks and acts the same. The space-ship is alive. And...well, that would be giving too much away. I can see why it didn't survive, it's too good for tv, too thought-provoking, too innovative, too out-there. It requires the viewer use, wait, a brain, as opposed to vegetate. Now, I've only seen 10 episodes of this thing, it's possible I'll change my mind. But right now...ahhh, looking forward to a lazy Saturday watching and pondering Farscape.
Other shows I enjoyed this week:
Nip/Tuck - whoa. Great ending to a great season. Everything worked metaphorically and plotwise. Will miss it.
Desperate Housewives - shows potential. Witty. But falls back on over-used cliches. That said? Have hopes it will get better with time.
(I'm ignoring the Presidential Debates. Bad enough week emotionally speaking without mixing in politics.)
Also somewhat annoyed at myself for skipping over four episodes and not taping them - they were: Exodus Gensis, Throne for A Loss, PK Tek Girl, and Jeremiah Crichton. (I saw the first ten minutes of Exodus Gensis and Jeremiah Crichton). (Yes, I went to the Farscape web site and Sci-Fi web site to get the titles of the episodes, so I can lable the tapes, which I've only done for BTVS and ATS, which ahem means, I'm hooked.)
If you haven't tried this cult secret, you have no clue what you've missed.
It takes Sci-Fi to a completely new level and place and may be the most innovative and visually creative Sci/Fantasy series I've seen. And I've seen pretty much all of them. I may actually write something in livejournal about this show. It's that good! The characters are all distinctly different. Each character is visually and auditorially different. As opposed to most sci-fi in which everyone looks and acts the same. The space-ship is alive. And...well, that would be giving too much away. I can see why it didn't survive, it's too good for tv, too thought-provoking, too innovative, too out-there. It requires the viewer use, wait, a brain, as opposed to vegetate. Now, I've only seen 10 episodes of this thing, it's possible I'll change my mind. But right now...ahhh, looking forward to a lazy Saturday watching and pondering Farscape.
Other shows I enjoyed this week:
Nip/Tuck - whoa. Great ending to a great season. Everything worked metaphorically and plotwise. Will miss it.
Desperate Housewives - shows potential. Witty. But falls back on over-used cliches. That said? Have hopes it will get better with time.
(I'm ignoring the Presidential Debates. Bad enough week emotionally speaking without mixing in politics.)
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Squeeeee!! It starts airing one week from tomorrow!! I can barely contain myself!!!
Were you able to find your tape of the final ep? 'Cause I can add that on to the beginning of your tape if you need me to.
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At first i was rather distracted by the heavy Alien costumes/make up... but then you get used to it and you're hooked because it's all about the characters ^^
And some episodes are just plain crazy. They were very creative especially in the last season.
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At first i was rather distracted by the heavy Alien costumes/make up... but then you get used to it and you're hooked because it's all about the characters
I'd agree. I've fallen a little in love with John Crichton - who is acted with such enthusiasm by Ben Browder. (Part of my difficulty with so many series - is the lead actor looks bored. So I'm bored.)
Also this lead is so complex - he has an edge to him, he's not completely one way or the other - very multifaceted. Possibly the best male lead I've seen on a sci-fi show.
And the alien makeup is actually rather well-done and convincing. Took me a little while to get used to it - but unlike other sci-fi series, the makeup actually adds to the character. It is referenced in dialogue and plot.
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I guess it is well done, I meant it was distracting from the story at first (and still sometimes is) Like some characters were made just to show off costume and FX effects rather than for their own worth. It made getting into the show and liking it when I started more difficult. I like Firefly's decision on that point better ^^
and I totally agree with you point below about the lack of exposition. That's one of the thing I love, how we're always thrown right in the middle of action, and sometimes they play a lot with narrative techniques, achronological stuff etc.
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Completely understand. I'm half in love with her myself - finally a female character on television that I can identify with. Tall. Strong. Tough.
That's the other reason I love this show - it has female characters that I can identify with and respect. And I've been craving that.
Moya, Zhan, Chiana, and Aeryn. All fantastic, strong, women.
I guess it is well done, I meant it was distracting from the story at first (and still sometimes is) Like some characters were made just to show off costume and FX effects rather than for their own worth. It made getting into the show and liking it when I started more difficult. I like Firefly's decision on that point better ^^
It bugged me at first. In fact it was one of the reasons I didn't watch the show when it first aired. Got burned out on alien makeup via the Star Trek and all the other sci-fi series. But now? I actually like it - because they do more with it than the Star Trek's did. Zhan's color for instance is important, it has to do with what she is - the blue and photosensthsis, and the idea of calm - they use it metaphorically. Same with D'argo - who comes across in raging reds, yet within that is the family man, his general stripes are frauds. One episode has vultures - and uses that metaphorically as well.
The blend of visual and dialogue metaphors is rather well-done, and more deliberate here actually - while I often felt, in BTVS/ATS and Firefly - it was more accidental and often haphazard at times.
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You lucked out on missing Jeremiah Crichton. It's considered by most fans (shockingly, myself included!) as the worst episode the show ever did. Like Buffy, though, worst is relative, since it's still completely watchable and some of it is very enjoyable. PK Tech Girl features a short romantic relationship John has with a Peacekeeper, named Gilina, which will come up again later. Exodus from Genesis is a good episode, but nothing of note I can think of that you'd need to know later on, except for character development type stuff. Throne for a Loss is an excellent episode, the first Rygel-centric one. As it stands, though, the only long-term continuity thing you need to know from the ep is the warrior mercenary race introduced in it, the Tavleks, and their weapon, the Gauntlet, which they each wear and pumps a drug into their system that makes them super-powered. The head of the group, Bekhesh, will reappear later.
I'm so glad you're enjoying the show! You have such amazing twists and turns coming up, including some incredibly dark, fascinating, psychologically driven plots that completely redefine the entire sci-fi genre IMO. The show also has some wonderful, completely insane experimental episodes that rank up there with the best of Whedon. There is a slight dip in quality in early S2, but don't let that keep you from plowing forward. Mid-to-late S2 is wonderful, and it leads into the third season, which is absolutely brilliant from start to finish and has my favorite story arc of the series thus far, as is the fourth season, which basically breaks every rule you could possibly think of for a genre show. I only wish there were as good an analysis site for Farscape as we have for B/A with ATPo. Because I have looked for years, and I haven't found one. There are very good fact-compiling sites and review sites, farscapeworld.com being my favorite, but in-depth philosophical analyses? No. Every now and then I think of starting one, and then I realize that is completely crazy since I have two sites for TV shows already that I haven't been able to finish yet!
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Really wish I'd caught this episode and Throne for a Loss. Unfortunately only had the 6 hour tape at that point. Oh well. When I get a DVD player, maybe I can rent them at some point from netflix.
Have to say - I'm incredibly impressed by this series.
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Farscape
(Anonymous) 2004-10-10 11:00 am (UTC)(link)I've been watching some of the eps in the Scifi marathon and remembering how much certain eps really got to me....it's one of the few series besides Joss' that can make me cry like a baby. Ahh, good times! Enjoy!
punkinpuss
Re: Farscape
It is actually better than Whedon's shows in some respects, possibly because it flew under the radar and was allowed free-reign and didn't have the huge SFX budget. The makeup is amazing. The use of puppetry over CGJ is innovative and allows for better character development. And it is actually scarey in places. I did some nail-biting.
Goes in much darker places. The characters are allowed to fall in love with one another, develop complex caring relationships, without falling into conventional romance or cliche.
I honestly think this may be one of the best science fiction fantasy series I've seen in my life. It's so character driven, so as a result I never feel as if the writer is pounding me over the head with the message.
One of the best things about it? In many episodes, we don't get much exposition. They fly past it.
That was Whedon's problem at times - all this exposition, we'd spend twenty minutes with the characters explaining the situation, instead of just jumping in there and letting us figure it out. Farscape jumps right in there - I have to figure out what is happening, the exposition is either given in a brief teaser at the front, or a few lines of dialogue. No long speeches. Yet, I know exactly what is happening. Now that is kick-ass writing.
Re: Farscape
One of the best things about it? In many episodes, we don't get much exposition. They fly past it...he exposition is either given in a brief teaser at the front, or a few lines of dialogue. No long speeches. Yet, I know exactly what is happening. Now that is kick-ass writing.
Agreed, and this is also why the show really lends itself to repeated viewings. Complex emotions or important plot elements are many times conveyed with only the most subtle of dialogue on the parts of the writers or facial expressions on the parts of the actors, and so you really do notice new layers and details on every re-viewing. For example, in my post today on the fourth season, which I don't recommend you read until you've seen it, something dawned on me out of the blue that was implied but not spelled out word for word on the show which basically made the entire fourth season and all of its episodes come together for me in a new light, in a way it hadn't before. Just one little revelation, which I actually thought of the second I woke up this morning for some reason, and I now have a new interpretation for the entire season. And when I look back on it now, I see that this element was there all along, but I just hadn't noticed it before.
But, anyway, yeah, the show's writing is absolutely brilliant. The audience has to do some work, though, sometimes by mulling over or piecing together clues we get over a large number of episodes, one of the reasons it never was as successful as a more easily digestible sci-fi show like Stargate.