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shadowkatStill hot outside, with a touch of balmy. Seriously, sometimes I wonder if I'm living in Florida. Rained today, possibly will all day, but still hot.
Looking forward to the family trip to Maine.
Yes, still obsessing over Farscape. It plays with your head for a bit after you watch it. The Wizard of OZ motif alone could provide enough fodder for a book full of essays. But there's more - the pop culture references actually have a purpose. John Crichton is in an alien world. Completely different from his own. Upside down and sideways.
Where just about anything can happen. To relate to this world - he compares things to what he knows, what he has watched, he uses pop culture to understand the world around him - and stay sane.It's a humane tendency - to find a way of relating to something by comparing it to what you know or what it is similar to it. He also deals with things by often making light of them, joking. At one point - when he is thrust into the body of Aeryn, Aeryn thrust into Rygel, and Rygel - an amphibious alien slug like creature (think kermit but a lot older and a lot nastier) - is thrust into his body. Crichton at one point knocks his own body out. And he states - in Aeryn's body - this is Three Stooges - I'm hitting myself. When the arch-villian Scorpius ends up in his brain - he calls Scorpius "Harvey" , debating briefly whether to go with Harvey or Darth Vader and chooses Harvey. Harvey is from the play and film of the same name, where Jimmy Stewart's character is talking to an imaginary friend that appears in the shape of a huge bunny rabbit, or Pooka named Harvey. Later in the film, Donnie Darko, the big rabbit is used again, except he's darker, more villainous. Crichton obviously having seen both - reduces the villian in his head - who keeps trying to control him - to a pooka, names him after a bunny rabbit in an old film. Making Scorpius' neural clone as a result far less scarey.
When he and D'Argo are about to jump out in space, after blowing up a gamma base that is attacking them - he says, "Abbot and Costello, Kirk and Spock, Home Base." Other points, he refers to Abbott and Costello again - "Abbot and Costello and the house of horrors" - he says in the episode Eat ME.
And his line to the ancient, the proverbial Wizard of this OZ universe that he's gotten sucked into, much as Dorothy got sucked into OZ, is basically:
"I'm not Luke, Buck, Flash, Kirk, or Arthur Frelling Dent, I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas." I'm not the hero here folks, I'm just a guy who got shot over the rainbow.
The metaphor resonates, because it is true for most of us. We aren't the heroic prince, with the great abs or the sword or the magical force - we
are ordinary people struggling with an weird world.
Farscape much like Northern Exposure is the quintessential fish out of water tale. The everday guy or gal who gets flung into a world that is unfamiliar and unrelateable. Outside their scope of experience. They attempt to relate to it - by bringing as much of it into that scope of past experiences, finding things to connect. But over time the only way, is to change themselves. Crichton, much like Rob Morrow's character in Northern Exposure, or even Dorothy Gale - is affected by the new world he is in. But more like Dorothy than Rob, Crichton's tale is that of the wet behind the ears innocent recruit who gets shipped off to Iraq, Afghanistan, or WWII - and is suddenly in a world that makes no sense. Violence changes Crichton.
In Peacekeeper Wars - he attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Scarren Emperor - and relates what they are doing to the Federation in Star Trek. This is how the Federation got started - we can aim for this. An acknowledgement - that was the world he dreamed space would be. The eternal optimist - Crichton saw Space as the Star Trek Universe - a Federation of Planets that were peaceful and most got along, the villians on the edges only.
He didn't envision the world he ended up in. And he keeps wanting somehow to make the universe he falls into - into the universe he fell in love with in Star Trek.
Yet even Star Trek was violent. There were wars. And as Crichton states - I'm no Kirk, or Luke. He doesn't have a kindly mentor or a Mr. Spock. I'm not a fictional character - he states - that can easily save the day, and make everything okay. 99% of his plans blow up in his face. "My plans never work."
"Are we cursed?" Chiana, one of his crewmates askes. "We must be cursed."
And even when they do work...the result leaves him and everyone he's with irrevocably scarred. It's not the safe world of Star Trek - where the problem is neatly wrapped up at the end of the day, or even that of Star Wars - where
Luke and his friends defeat the evil Emperor. The Emperor is not necessarily evil and is not defeatable, at least not without destroying the fabric of reality along with him.
The best Crichton can manage is to show them what the weapon does, much as Harry Truman and Oppenheimer did way back in the 1940s when they blew up Hiroshima with the first nuclear bomb. He's the scientist with the big discovery that unravels the fabric of the universe. Once he does show them - they agree to a settlement, they agree to piece and stop playing their chess board power games. But are they evil or simply misguided, simply consumed with dreams of power? Hard to tell.
Crichton's universe much like OZ or Wonderland is bizarro world, not navigatable, filled with the unknown and the impossible. Often defying logic.
The enemies are friends and friends enemies. It makes no sense. And yet, it does - more sense actually than the other ones do.
Looking forward to the family trip to Maine.
Yes, still obsessing over Farscape. It plays with your head for a bit after you watch it. The Wizard of OZ motif alone could provide enough fodder for a book full of essays. But there's more - the pop culture references actually have a purpose. John Crichton is in an alien world. Completely different from his own. Upside down and sideways.
Where just about anything can happen. To relate to this world - he compares things to what he knows, what he has watched, he uses pop culture to understand the world around him - and stay sane.It's a humane tendency - to find a way of relating to something by comparing it to what you know or what it is similar to it. He also deals with things by often making light of them, joking. At one point - when he is thrust into the body of Aeryn, Aeryn thrust into Rygel, and Rygel - an amphibious alien slug like creature (think kermit but a lot older and a lot nastier) - is thrust into his body. Crichton at one point knocks his own body out. And he states - in Aeryn's body - this is Three Stooges - I'm hitting myself. When the arch-villian Scorpius ends up in his brain - he calls Scorpius "Harvey" , debating briefly whether to go with Harvey or Darth Vader and chooses Harvey. Harvey is from the play and film of the same name, where Jimmy Stewart's character is talking to an imaginary friend that appears in the shape of a huge bunny rabbit, or Pooka named Harvey. Later in the film, Donnie Darko, the big rabbit is used again, except he's darker, more villainous. Crichton obviously having seen both - reduces the villian in his head - who keeps trying to control him - to a pooka, names him after a bunny rabbit in an old film. Making Scorpius' neural clone as a result far less scarey.
When he and D'Argo are about to jump out in space, after blowing up a gamma base that is attacking them - he says, "Abbot and Costello, Kirk and Spock, Home Base." Other points, he refers to Abbott and Costello again - "Abbot and Costello and the house of horrors" - he says in the episode Eat ME.
And his line to the ancient, the proverbial Wizard of this OZ universe that he's gotten sucked into, much as Dorothy got sucked into OZ, is basically:
"I'm not Luke, Buck, Flash, Kirk, or Arthur Frelling Dent, I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas." I'm not the hero here folks, I'm just a guy who got shot over the rainbow.
The metaphor resonates, because it is true for most of us. We aren't the heroic prince, with the great abs or the sword or the magical force - we
are ordinary people struggling with an weird world.
Farscape much like Northern Exposure is the quintessential fish out of water tale. The everday guy or gal who gets flung into a world that is unfamiliar and unrelateable. Outside their scope of experience. They attempt to relate to it - by bringing as much of it into that scope of past experiences, finding things to connect. But over time the only way, is to change themselves. Crichton, much like Rob Morrow's character in Northern Exposure, or even Dorothy Gale - is affected by the new world he is in. But more like Dorothy than Rob, Crichton's tale is that of the wet behind the ears innocent recruit who gets shipped off to Iraq, Afghanistan, or WWII - and is suddenly in a world that makes no sense. Violence changes Crichton.
In Peacekeeper Wars - he attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Scarren Emperor - and relates what they are doing to the Federation in Star Trek. This is how the Federation got started - we can aim for this. An acknowledgement - that was the world he dreamed space would be. The eternal optimist - Crichton saw Space as the Star Trek Universe - a Federation of Planets that were peaceful and most got along, the villians on the edges only.
He didn't envision the world he ended up in. And he keeps wanting somehow to make the universe he falls into - into the universe he fell in love with in Star Trek.
Yet even Star Trek was violent. There were wars. And as Crichton states - I'm no Kirk, or Luke. He doesn't have a kindly mentor or a Mr. Spock. I'm not a fictional character - he states - that can easily save the day, and make everything okay. 99% of his plans blow up in his face. "My plans never work."
"Are we cursed?" Chiana, one of his crewmates askes. "We must be cursed."
And even when they do work...the result leaves him and everyone he's with irrevocably scarred. It's not the safe world of Star Trek - where the problem is neatly wrapped up at the end of the day, or even that of Star Wars - where
Luke and his friends defeat the evil Emperor. The Emperor is not necessarily evil and is not defeatable, at least not without destroying the fabric of reality along with him.
The best Crichton can manage is to show them what the weapon does, much as Harry Truman and Oppenheimer did way back in the 1940s when they blew up Hiroshima with the first nuclear bomb. He's the scientist with the big discovery that unravels the fabric of the universe. Once he does show them - they agree to a settlement, they agree to piece and stop playing their chess board power games. But are they evil or simply misguided, simply consumed with dreams of power? Hard to tell.
Crichton's universe much like OZ or Wonderland is bizarro world, not navigatable, filled with the unknown and the impossible. Often defying logic.
The enemies are friends and friends enemies. It makes no sense. And yet, it does - more sense actually than the other ones do.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-14 06:56 pm (UTC)The thing that struck me the most, right from the beginning, was how completely helpless Crichton seemed in this new world, almost like an infant (which, to me, was reinforced by their casting a leading man who had soft featured boyish looks).... He knew nothing about his environment, but he was surrounded by people who knew it very well, but who would not work together (they would barely talk to each other).
The first season (IMO) seemed like family building, where Crichton was always the one getting these distrustful people to work together, and got them to learn to care about one another. Crichton became the glue that held them together.
These dynamics changed in later seasons, but I always felt that there was something unique about the story telling where it was less about Crichton figuring out how to solve problems as much as it was Crichton persuading others to help him (and help the group).
no subject
Date: 2010-07-14 11:32 pm (UTC)Your response ended up inspiring another post - about Crichton's interactions with the other characters and how diverse each of them are.
I agree the first season is about the characters learning to trust and work together, at least enough to save each other's lives. Along the way they become a family of sorts and love one another, with deep feelings of friendship. By the time Crichton hits A Human Reaction and almost goes home, he is actually closer to the characters on Moya than the one's on earth, and violently protective of them. As they become of him. They will literally die to protect each other at this point. Because they need each other to survive.
These dynamics changed in later seasons, but I always felt that there was something unique about the story telling where it was less about Crichton figuring out how to solve problems as much as it was Crichton persuading others to help him (and help the group).
Yes. I think so too. Most tv series are about a logical problem or puzzle that is external. Farscape is about resolving internal conflict to resolve external issues. The problem is usually - how do we work together to fix this, particularly when their plan falls apart on them.
It's story telling in a disaster or pressure cooker situation. Where you depend on one another to survive.