Passing Through...

[shadowkat]

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.)

Comments

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Exodus Gensis, Throne for A Loss, PK Tek Girl, and Jeremiah Crichton.

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!

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just remembered that in PK Tech Girl, you also learn about Durka, the PK captain who tortured Rygel for years. It was his ship, the Zelbinion, that the crew discovered. He figures in later episodes. And on that ship, they also find a defense screen, which they install on Moya. Also, the first real stirrings of John and Aeryn's relationship occurs in this episode, as she finds herself shocked to feel jealousy for Gilina. But I'm sure you already got this stuff from the Farscape site anyway. If I could, I would offer to make copies of the eps you missed for you, but I only have them on DVD.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanations of PK Tek Girl, I read your first one before I saw "Nerve" and it explained a lot.

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.