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

Farscape

[(Anonymous)]

I'm so glad you're enjoying Farscape! It's quite thrilling to discover new gems in the otherwise desolate and craptastic world of scifi tv. Yes, it was too good for tv, even for cable. As soon as SciFi Channel bought Stargate, they found it pretty easy to cut Farscape off at the knees. It's challenging, arc-heavy, character-centric storytelling you have to pay attention to. And even moreso than Joss' shows, Farscape operated under the radar because it was produced in Australia, where it didn't even air for the first few seasons! Of course that allowed them to get away with some wildly creative stuff, but they've never gotten the industry recognition they deserve.

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

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Been watching raptly all weekend. Up to episode 2.6 now and am blown away by the creativity of this show.
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

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Agree with everything you wrote here. I definitely think it's superior to Whedon's shows in terms of creativity. It seems like there are absolutely no restrictions or reigns on what they were allowed to do with it. And although they were low-budget, they managed to make the show look amazing on many occasions, particularly in the last two seasons where many of the effects are almost big-budget movie-quality or seem to be. Like AtS, the show looks like it costs more money than it really did.

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.