Still Squeeing Over Farscape DVDs.

[shadowkat]

Still being blown away by Farscape and the commentary. This has got to be the best DVD commentary I've ever listened to (and yes, that includes ALL the Whedon commentary on DVDs as well as quite a few art films.) I'm surprised. I gave up on DVD commentaries...finally. Because they are so self-congratulatory and chatty, and tell you little about the process. But this baby is incredibly informative. The only other one that was this informative was for the film The TV Set.

They discuss what it is like to do a different accent than your own, wear heavy prostectic makeup, the writing and directing process, how to act a scene with a puppet or no one else in the scene but a ship - which you are supposed to be talking to. They also discuss tv and film history, particularly science-fiction oriented.

So far learned:

1. Apparently tv shows shown to a EURO market and an American market - are different lengths.
Bowder kept pointing out the extra scenes in A Human Reaction that were on the Euro release and hadn't been seen in the US until the DVD's were released. And some of these scenes are really important, damn them. Which makes the Farscape DVDs a surprise. Episodes that I thought were okay when I watched them on Sci-Fi channel back in 2004, I consider good to brilliant on the DVDs. (Makes me wonder how many scenes were cut out of the BBC America and Syfy versions of Torchwood, Hex, Being Human, Merlin, and Doctor Who - because that would explain a lot. It also continues to bolster my view that the US is being run by evil marketing and advertising folks.)

2. Australia doesn't have the ability to create a tv show of the scale and scope of a Farscape.
Anthony Simco explains this in the Bone to BE Wild commentary - stating how small a country they are in both population and economy, and the idea of throwing millions of dollars into a tv series or film blew their minds. So when big US companies such as Hallmark, Fox and Henson Studios come to Australia to film and set up shop - cast and crew were thrilled!!

3. Already sort of knew this - but it was interesting to have people who have acted in a lot of tv series to mention it. Unlike the Buffy/Angel crew - Black and Bowder actually have lengthy
flim and tv bios. Both did Stargate, Black did Hercules, Bowder did several episodes of Party of Five, and numerous other things. And they bring that knowledge to the commentary. Discussing the pitfalls of working in tv - from a professional and story angle. That 80% of tv is really formulaic (god yes, unfortunately) - the characters don't change, you go solve a problem each week, and the leads don't sleep together or get together in any way until the end. And how as an actor - it gets stale after a while. But on a series such as Farscape - which started out one way, the sort of formula and immediately became something else - it is incredibly interesting when characters get to evolve. (They compare it to Star-Gate - a tv series that they both ended up on towards its final seasons... and Hercules.)

And so much more. I'm enthralled. And, hmmm, I may need to go hunt down the Farscape fandom.
Are there any serious fans of Farscape still on Flist? Because, am tempted to write meta on this series, but not sure it makes sense to do it if no one is interested. Then again, what the hell.

Also incredibly impressed with Ben Bowder - who is amongst the few leads of a tv series, specifically a sci-fi series that devoted himself to every bit of it. He wasn't an executive producer, but he wrote episodes, tweaked dialogue, discussed storyline, and worked hard on the series. His wife guest-starred in numerous episodes (wearing a lot of make-up) and did conventions with him. Was mature and not diva-ish. And has kept his personal life and children private and out of the public eye. Kudos.

Comments

[rozk.livejournal.com]

I'm still devoted to the show, but do not have space in my life for a rewatch until some of my current projects are done and dusted. It is certainly something I look forward to rewatching from the beginning...

[candleanfeather.livejournal.com]

I have to say that many of the BTVS DVD commentaries left me unsatisfied: too much jokes, babbling and not enough insights about writing, processes, intentions. They were some of a let down. It's a pity because they certainly could have enrich our readings of the episodes.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

I love the Farscape commentaries. My favorite one, oddly enough, is "Jeremiah Chichton". I've re-watched the DVDs twice now, and for that episode I watched it with the commentary the second time around because with the commentary it's sooooo much better.

As for Farscape fandom, it's not really big from what I can tell. It's so small, that they can guess each other's writing styles even in anony memes. I foudn this out that because I drew a Farscape ficcer for my Remix. She told me that she knew it wasn't someone in her fandom because when first read it she didn't recognize the writing style.

Then she landed on my LJ through some link or another during the anon week and realized that my writing style and her remixed story were similar.

Yeah, that's how small Farscape fandom is. I think a lot of it is because Farscape was aired before the big explosion in online fandom. So it's there, but you do have to look for it.

If you're looking for some good Farscape fics, go over to "Archive of Our Own", there's quite a lot of stuff over there, most of it good or above average.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Farscape_weekly is sort of the Farscape version of Sunnydale Herald.

I used to go to farscapeworld.com, but I don't know how much is going on there these days.

And, personally, I'm always interested in Farscape meta! (I wouldn't mind doing a re-watch myself. Goodness knows the pickings in TV at the moment are slim).

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether it's the same set of DVD commentaries, but the ones from some of the old set have Claudia Black discussing "The Choice" almost immediately after the series was cancelled and hearing her thoughts on the writing of "The Choice" as well as the cancellation were quite moving.

[deird1]

*is a Farscape fan*

*would LOVE to read meta*

[oursin.livejournal.com]

There's an farscaperewatch community on LJ but it's been more or less on hiatus for a while, though some indications that it's coming back to life.

[probablecylon.livejournal.com]

I was utterly furious when "Farscape" was cancelled -- it was into that void that Buffy rushed, actually -- and I haven't gone back for a re-watch, don't have the dvds.

I could always feel the lacunae in the eps, & I wasn't sure whether there were actual non-broadcast scenes or whether this was a deliberate sort of tweak in the show. Of course the US is entirely governed by evil marketing & advertising semi-life forms who think that, without them, what could POSSIBLY be made or broadcast? Thinking otherwise makes one a (gasp!) c*mm*n*st of some sort . . .

[(Anonymous)]

Well talk about weird... here I am watching Farscape for the very first time and wondering how soon I can get my hands on season 4 (kicking myself for not watching it sooner) and up pops your comment.
Don't know if there is still a fandom but if there is I'm right there with ya!
I'm ashamed that as an Aussie I ignored this one for so many years, but at the same time I'm kinda glad that I've got it to watch when so many of my favorite shows have been or are on the verge of cancellation.
Love the chemistry between Bowder and Black, it gives the series the depth that so many other sci-fi shows seem to lack.
If you do find anything please post it, I'm loving this almost as much as Buffy and I could do with reading something a little different for a change.