f13.net

I am really surprised there isn't a thread for this. I just recently finished watching the entire series and the peacekeeper wars movie (again). To me, this is possibly one of the most epic, and best si-fi show out there. Its a shame that it ended, but i suppose all good things must come to an end, and the show really had run its course.


Wikipedia link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape)

Only sci-fi tv series I've ever liked.
Rygel was   :heart:
Scorpio was  :awesome_for_real:

I imagine a few people had trouble getting into this one.  I liked the show a managed to watch the entire run a few times.  I'm glad I did as it has one of the better payoffs and enjoyed it greatly once it got going.  Claudia Black is simply amazing in this show from beginning to end.  She is awesome.

-It starts off very slowly and isn't very good for the first season / season and a half.  It really only became a must watch for me at the end of season 2.  Luckily I had someone to tell me to stick with it, otherwise I would have dropped it several times during season 1.
-Crichton is an annoying actor and poorly acted for a lot of it.  Maybe poorly acted isn't the best way to describe it, but the way the character is approached for much of the series run is nails-on-a-chalkboard annoying.
-There are so many stock SCI-FI episodes that are just poorly done.  Why does every SCI-FI episode have to keep drawing from the same fucking well so many times? All of the space filler felt like reskinned TNG episodes.
-The mini-series was great but.. they did a couple things that really made no sense and were just done for shock value / rapid plot advancement.  See Sizoku.
-Leather festishists.

Still, it's one of my favorite shows I've seen. The main plot / romance was executed masterfully.  It was worth watching once I got past the initial suck.

Pure space opera.  Pure  :heart:

Ah.  I never got past the initial suck.  My brother in law started watching it when we were staying there and it was just awful.  It's nice to know it got better.  If I see it hanging around the tv, I'll give it another shot.

I have to disagree with a bit of this. Mainly, Crichton. From his perspective, he was thrust into a completely different world, the things i think (i think) may have annoyed you about him was the parts he was trying to hold onto to remind himself he was human, namely, the catch phrases and pop culture references he throws out to keep the aliens guessing.... Through the course of the entire show (and mainly the first two sessions) he is trying to hold on and not get lost in the wonderful, scary and confusing galaxy.  Honestly, i think any of us that didn't go into a state of shock, would also be annoying, especially to other cultures.

I tend to think the actor did a great job, especially during the last few seasons where Ka D'Argo becomes more of his "drinking buddy" in terms of dialog.

The first seasons are really trying to bring this confusion of his home, considering how he arrived... i think it works well.

But yes, make it past to the end of season 2.

I was initially turned off by the Henson-ness of it and thought it was Labyrinth in Space. Once I got into it though I really dug it. Lots of hot chicks, space battles, and one of the better villians of all time. Once "head Scorpio" was brought onto the scene (which Moore shamelessly ripped off for BSG) I was a true believer.

American falls through a wormhole and ends up on an Australian Muppet show. I watched a couple of episodes but it made me cringe. I think the lead character was worse than the acting. He was annoying to other cultures, in this case mine.

I can't express how much I love this series.  One of my favs and I plan on getting the DVDs if they ever price drop like B5 finally did.  My take on Crichton was the same as Bloodworth's.  He's trying to cope and remain some sanity in a universe that's so utterly foreign and just damn bizarre that the only way he can cope is by constantly reminding himself where he came from. 

Righ, you hate America anyway, so we understand. Commie.

I got this series pushed on me by a friend, and didn't really like the first few episodes. It felt... I don't know. Cheap? Not in a Flash Gordon kind of way, but... *shrug*

However, I watched it some more, and then some more, and then some. Before I knew it there was no more Farscape to watch, and there was much sadness in me.

I thought Ben Browder was pretty cool in the role. My impression of Crichton was that he was a bad-ass motherfucker. Most memorable scene from the first season is the way he psyched himself up and eventually went through with having to jump out of an air lock across space without protection to get back to safety.

God bless Farscape. It got me through a lot of tedious texturing assignments in school. I really like how they were willing to play with the camera and light. It didn't always work, but it was always interesting.

I never give things much of a chance.  It was the same with True Blood and it turned out better than I thought it would.  I watch an episode or two of something and give up on it.  Actually, sometimes if I can't make it through the first episode, I don't ever bother again.  Sometimes I really like a show and then forget all about it before the second episode.  I suck at tv. (http://www.tkfu.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)

Farscape is pure awesome.

I got turned onto it because it featured Claudia Black, who I got 'turned onto' (yeah, she's hot.  I'm not afraid to say it) in Pitch Black.  And I guess then went onto Stargate:SG 1 with almost the entirety of the rest of the Farscape cast.  Browder as well, at least.  But I dunno because I never watched SG1, although I watch Atlantis.  Weird, that.  Also, I might pick up Project Sylpheed because she narrates it.

The smartest thing Lucas did in the prequals was cast the actor who played Scorpius as a young Grand Moff Tarkin.  As much as I don't particularly like Star Wars cash grabbing,  I'd give a live action show with him playing the main villain against an early rebellion a shot.

Really enjoyed Farscape; once I got past the low budget Muppet stuff.

Nevermind the fact that Claudia Black is extremely easy on the eyes.  She and Browder have a great chemistry that translated well to SG-1 also.

I think I was one of the few people that thought SG-1 got better once Browder/Black came on board.  Never liked RDA all that much, and the show was still pretty damn good in spite of him.  I would love to see an SG-1 with Browder all the way through it.

Farscape ranks as one of my favorite shows.  There are cheesy moments, but I love Browder's humor/sarcasm.  And yes, Black's hot.  I can't wait to put it up next to my Firefly boxed set, but I haven't found prices that don't suck yet.

Loved this show. I'm glad they listened to the fans and did the movie at the end instead of just letting it drop.

I was going to post in the old thread but since it is over a year old I figured I'd make a new one.

I avoided the show for the longest time because the muppets kind of turned me off. However, my wife asked for, and recieved the whole series plus the miniseries on DVD so I've started watching it. We're about 10 episodes into Season 2 and just finished Out of their Minds when they all switch bodies.

To my great surprise I find I really enjoy the show mostly because of the characters. The writing is a bit uneven (some awesome episodes and some very "meh" episodes) but the characters are well done. I figure I'll give my thoughts on the characters as it stands at this point in my viewing (apologies for likely mispelling their names):

Chrichton: I like him though he takes occasional turns to the asshole. Like in the episode where he pitched a fit and went out in his ship and accidentally got left behind. He acted like a total child. Sometimes I think he is going slowly insane, especially when he laughs...

Erin: First, I played Dragon Age before I watched the show so I sometimes get Morrigan flashes. Whereas when my wife watched me play DA she was always saying "that is something Erin would say!" Anyway, I really like Erin. It helps that Claudia Black is hot but I like that, despite coming from the bad guy race, she is often one of the more loyal crew members even if she is deeply flawed in some ways.

Rigel: I'd have spaced his ass by the end of season one. I don't get why this set of characters even puts up with him. Seriously. I'd have a standing "don't talk to me. Ever" policy with him.

D'agor: I quite like his character but out of all the characters he seems a bit uneven in  how he is written. Sometimes he is like "we won't leave them, no matter what!" and other times he's like "fire up the engines! Screw the ones still on the planet!" Though that is mostly season 1 and I've seen less of this mercenary side in season two.

Zan: She is good but also a somewhat boring character for me. She has lots of internal conflict but doesn't really push my "I can't wait until she's onscreen" buttons for some reason. I can take or leave her.

Chiana:  I love Chiana and not just because she is oddly hot for a grey skinned woman. Her speech patterns, her borderline predatory movements, and her interactions with others always make me enjoy her time onscreen.

Getting through Season 1, and the first batch of episodes of season 2, is the toughest part about Farscape.  They are really still finding out what the show is about in the early episodes, developing the themes and the characters, and it fell back on episodic one-offs a bit too much.

There are still some great episodes in the early seasons (the season 1 finale multi-parter that introduces Scorpy, Crackers Don't Matter) but it isn't quite firing on all cylinders yet.

Pretty much after the three parter "Kiss the Princess" the show gets turned up to 11 through to the season 3 finale.  The last four or five episodes of season 2 are great television.  Season 4 is a tad uneven, too many one-offs again, but still there are some great moments.


Rygel is the weakest part of the early seasons, since he falls back on back-stabbing asshole far too much.  D'argo has impulse control/aggression issues.  Chianna is just fucked up...  she is constantly sabotaguing herself.  Not going to spoiler John's character development.



I think the show worked much better on TV.  The narrative style is off-kilter, usually ending on cliffhangers to build dramatic tension.  This was really fucking effective when they showed it as half or third seasons, since it built up tension while you were waiting for the resolution.  It doesn't work nearly as well when you can just pop in the next episode on DVD.

Overall, if you can adjust to the muppets, the emphasis on physical effects really gives the show a much different feel when so much TV and film have started to use CG as a crutch.  The models and puppets give everything a gritty and real feeling that the antiseptic modern CG is awful at.  It's like the difference between the original trilogy Star Wars and the prequels....  in the OT, things felt lived in.  In the prequels, though the effects were top notch, everything felt plastic and fake.

It's reliance on physical and camera effects are part of the reason I loved the show so damn much.  I've always been a fan of physical effects, puppetry, model building, etc.  I'd have loved to have done that for a living, but alas, technology has moved beyond that.  Funny thing is since they relied on physical effects it's held up better over time (IMO) than B-5, who I still enjoy but wince when I watch these days because some of the effects are so very dated and obvious.

I'll agree with JC's assessment of taking some time to get into it and find it's own groove, but the show had me hooked from the first episode I saw.  The ever-changing cast after S2 was also kind of fun and made it felt a little more real to me.  I couldn't envision reasons for some of them to stick around forever while remaining in-character so it was good to see that kind of flux.

One of the best series ever.

I also love the physical effects. They almost always hold up better over time. Especially when you start to get to the point where actors are just in an empty room with almost nothing to react off.

Also, Chiana  :Love_Letters: I still call my fiancee Pip once in a while.

Diplomacy. Acquisitiveness. They don't refer to it terribly often in the show, but he's the only one on the ship with these characteristics, so they need him.

He's mean and abrasive because he used to be the emperor of sixteen trillion other sea-slugs. On the prison ship, he's just a little dude in a floating chair, so he turns up the nastiness as a bluff, imo.

They do, but later.

My all time favorite Farscape moment....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBJaT3wOy4w (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBJaT3wOy4w)

You can't help but be impressed by the talent that Jim Henson's Creature Workshop has with shows like this. Rigel is so expressive and realistic (and the fact that other actors actually interact with the puppet physically) that you forget that he is a puppet and not actually some kind of alien slug.

Crackers Don't Matter is where John Crichton gave up and embraced the insanity that is the universe.

I'm very fond of the show, and Scorpious as a villian is just absolutely amazing. I think it's mostly the actor that manages to pull it off so that you can never be sure exactly what his plan is -- but you know that whatever happens, whatever the results, he will somehow manage to make it work for him.

He's implacable, adaptive, amoral, and absolutely unpredictable -- even when you know his goals and think you've figured out his plan, you're probably wrong. And even if you're right, he'll somehow manage to out-think you. Vetinari in a leather suit, basically. :)

I honestly think Critchton embraced insanity as the only possible line of defense against someone like that.

This thread reminds me that I need to watch more Farscape.  I'm maybe 1/2 through season one, and yeah, somewhat uneven but a lot of potential here.

I think I only saw the last season live and never got around to watching the DVDs. Libraries tend not to get series DVDs, many parts to get lost and they're $$$, especially since if you lose one disc you have to buy a whole new set.

I have to agree, there's usually just something which easily gives it away when it's CG. It's subtle, but it's there.

I was watching a-team a few months back, and I remember one particular scene where a chopper swooped down behind their car, and the chopper cut off a few small twigs off of the tree next to them. The first thing I thought was "That would never have happened in CG :awesome_for_real:". Granted, their real life effects were often pretty weak and easy to see through (at least now that I'm not a kid anymore and not as easily impressed), like the badguys chasing them always hitting something which caused their car to flip onto its roof, or drive off into a lake etc, but I usually had to giggle at it precisely because it was so cheesy, but I also kept thinking about what danger they put themselves in to get those shots.

I kind of miss that now, somehow it's still less jarring to me than something which is CG with a few tiny mistakes.

I really enjoyed this show,

Good news for you, then. It's all available on Netflix streaming.  :heart:

I always laughed when I was a kid, at how the General Lee would get demolished on a jump and in the next view would be pristine again. But I also loved watching stunts. Wanted to be a stuntman, actually.

Cool. I'm watching so much of it that I still haven't finished DA2. I'm hoping to watch some tonight as my wife and I have no new shows I know of. I cracked up when I read about the Out of their Minds episode and how the stuff with Chrichton in Erin's body checking out her boobs and playing with them was Claudia Black's idea. Lol.

John Quixote in S4 is also a really fun episode. Watching it now and forgot how bizarre it was.

The one thing that differs between me and most people is I really don't care for Aeryn at all. I can't put my finger on why though.

Oh and if you are watching on Netflix, be careful. They were on Netflix when I joined, then poof - no more streaming for like 4 months, then suddenly poof-streaming again.

about to wrap up the final season of Babylon 5, and looks like I found my next netflix/hotel fix.

cheers

All four seasons are free streaming from Amazon if you've got a Prime account.

Well, I just watched the 3 part Princess episodes and the episode with the little critter hunting the parasites.

The Princess episodes were pretty good. I can only imagine if I'd been watching live that the wait on a couple of those cliff hangers would have driven me crazy. I liked how it ended with Aeryn giving him the little vial to see if they were compatible. Overall it was quite fun and it was odd to see them working with Scorpius a time or two. I had mixed feelings about the side story with Zan and ship since it felt like a distraction from the main story in some ways.

I didn't really care for the parasite episode mostly because I found the little critter to be totally unbelievable. I did however like that John was hallucinating about Scorpius.

The Zan plot was to get the ship out of there, so they were on their own.

John Crichton going space walking with no suit after going babbling-ly insane with Bracca?  Awesome.  Statue Crichton?  Awesome.  Cutting off statue Crichton's head and tossing it in acid?  Awesome.

The "Guns and Liars and Money" three parter plus the Season Two finale are amazing.


This episode was about where they about dialed in the right amount of continuing story arc (relationships, character development, Crichton stuff) and episodic time filler.

Might want to spoiler tag some stuff, gents.

Seems like quite a few people have not seen the show at all.

I haven't watched the show before, but reading all this makes me want to now.  I'd caught the odd episode here and there back when it was on TV but never followed.

Getting a Netflix sub is looking more and more attractive.

Jesus died.
The Titanic sinks.

It's not lupus.

Snape Kills Dumbledore.

Soylent Green is PEOPLE!

Verbal Kint IS Keyser Soze.

Vader was Luke's Father
Vincent Dies, killed by Butch.
Jason's mother is the killer.
Norman's mother died years ago and he dresses like her to commit the murders.
Dil is a man.
Bob wakes up and it was all a dream -- Vermont, the two Darrells, everything!
Gandalf isn't really dead and gone forever.
Charlotte dies but Wilbur lives.

Bruce Willis was dead all along. 
Rosebud was his sled. 

Vince Faraday is actually The Cape!  :ye_gods:

Glad to know my comments lead to all you jackasses being able to entertain yourselves for a minute or two  :-P

If you travel for work at all the 7.99 streaming only is a must IMO.  I used to blow $$ on renting movies while on the road, and Netflix has saved me heaps of cash.

Huh.  I watched one episode (the very first) of this almost a year ago.  I didn't hate it, but I don't recall why I didn't keep watching.  I'll have to give it another go, it seems.

Like anime you have to give it 4-5 episodes to get into it.  I just rewatched the first last week and it was slooow and cumbersome compared to others.

Like Johny Cee and others commonly mention, the show doesn't really start to shine until you're a little into season 2. This was the case for me, as I had a little trouble getting into the show at first (felt too much like ghetto Star Trek with puppets).  I know it's a rather large time investment, but overall watching Farscape was one of the more worthwhile entertainment experiences I've ever had. 

The wrap-up mini-series, IMO, is a little sloppy in parts, but it caps everything off very well.

I finished the show including the Peacekeeper Wars. Overall I was quite happy with the show. It had some stinker episodes but the good far outweighed the bad. I was a little disappointed in the Peacekeeper Wars but it was mostly because I think the show needed more than 3 hours or so to wrap everything up in the way that it deserved.

Rewatching this over the past few weeks, likely my favorite episodic space show ever. 

"Welcome to the Federation Starship USS Buttcrack!" had me rolling again.

Scorpius: "I condemn you, John Crichton, to live so that your thirst for unfulfilled revenge will consume you."
Crichton: WRRRGARBBLE

Amazon is selling Farscape: The complete series for $49.99.Link. (http://www.amazon.com/Farscape-Complete-Ben-Browder/dp/B002GP7ZWI/ref=sr_1_4?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1304105492&sr=1-4)

Who would win in a four way space battle;  Moya, Battlestar Galactica (Tigh at helm, not Adama), U.S.S. Enterprise (version with lens flare) or a Star Destroyer (original TIE fighters, not the later Interceptors)

Show your work.

Does Moya have access to Talyn and are they allowed to board other vessels?

Talyn yes, boarding no.  Boarding wouldn't be fair for the SD, stormtroopers can't hit shit.

Is there lupus?

Farscape is one of my all time favorite series.  Even the not so stellar episodes are better than your average fare.  They took chances and I loved it.  A few friends still have favorite Rygel moments we can quote or emulate for circumstance.

http://conservationreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/spaceship-size-comparison-chart.gif

Moya has no weapons and her only defense is a half-functional screen and starburst.  She's right out of the running and fled as soon as they realized there was shooting happening.  Talyn hangs behind to fight but ultimately is destroyed by any of the other 3 ships.  2 of them have shields, 2 have fighters and 2 are larger by a significant factor so they'd be able to take a much more significant beating than Talyn.  The only thing I can't remember about Talyn is if they said his firepower was equal to a command carrier or not.  I doubt it was the carrier, because that'd be just crazy. Check out the size differential, no way a 250m ship could generate the same power as a 5km one.

The Enterprise vs Star Destroyer has a whole website dedicated to it that has the SD winning.  Even "the shiny one" can't be that much of a tech improvement vs the OS one, so it loses hands down.

Star Destroyer vs Galactica... Galactica has missiles and is about 1/2 the size of the SD and has no shielding.  I'd go with the SD here just for the ability to use ion cannons to fry her low-tech electrical systems with no resistance.

The Galactic Empire has had mature tech for longer than most of those other species had left their homeworlds.

 :ye_gods:

 :facepalm:

Lexx Wins all battles.

Yamoto?

This is why Sci-Fi never gets to keep nice things.  Thanks assholes.

Besides, The Culture would win anyway.  :awesome_for_real:

They said flat out that Talyn would not be able to fight a command carrier till he had grown up. The ship was still a baby and really only had one functioning but very powerful gun. That said there was no way to know what he would have been capable of when he was fully grown as he died long before that time. They did say he was bristling with weapons when he was being born.

That website is awesome but also shows clearly what happens when you get a guy who is or claims to be an engineer who obsesses with this stuff. He based most of his shit off of tech manuals and figuring out how powerful weapons had to be based on their affects on on-screen objects. If it is the same website he didn't just predict a Star Destroyer could take the Enterprise, he predicted Boba Fett's ship could wipe the floor with the Enterprise based on the asteriod explosions in AOTC and the Enterprise not being able to destroy a single asteroid with its entire complement of torpedos according to Riker in some episode of TNG.

What's worse is that they'd probably be annoyingly condescending about it.

Culture would actually build the ships in question and have them battle each other for the sport of it. 

Lexx is on Netflix, I just found it the other night.  I only watched it sparsely, but I've committed myself to watching it from the start.  I'm an hour into the series and it is really, really fucking weird.

Yea, weird is about the only adequate description for Lexx. Oddly engaging though.

I just started streaming Season 1 of Farscape though Netflix. Last night, I watched the episode where the crew turns into space-beet farmers on the hippy-dippy planet with all the tanned girls. I know Rygel is a jerk, but I think he's my favorite character so far. This is my new favorite show now that I'm on the last season of The Wire.

Its very hard to dislike Rygel, perhaps because despite the fact he is a totally selfish bastard, he is the one that somehow does all the really unselfish things that save the crew. he was the one that went in and cut out the tracker out of Moya despite him hating every minute of it. He want and negotiated with the alien queen of those shapeshifting things. He was tortured for a really long time but he somehow could laugh in his torturers face. I wouldn't like to live with him, but I would have him on my side in a tough situation in a heartbeat.

Fire, Water, Boomtown, Prince.

"I have killed thousands. I have killed proud young warriors and wise old rulers. I have killed
  mothers with babes in their arms. I have killed the just, the wicked, and the beautiful. I have done
  this for two thousand years in the service of His Divine Shadow and apparently the fun never stops!"

All I'm saying.

Fucking Brunin G.

I'm sorry, I had to merge the threads.  I was starting to develop a nervous tic.

When the Culture comes I am fucking joining them, because they would.

Different Destinations (http://www.farscapeworld.com/episodes/synopsis/10305.php) was a real downer.

Watching Season one and up to episode 19 - nerve.   

So I learned something about myself, apparently I really have a thing for ladies with blue skin.  All this time spent snickering at furries and cosplay, yet here am thinking hubba hubba every time I see Chiana or Zhaan  :drillf:.  Who knew

Good to hear it gets better as some of the bits have made me cringe.  The D'argo - Me Warrior Male schtick has gotten old.

Sure it has problems, but you can't tell me you don't forget Rigel is a puppet!

Also, Chiana is grey skinned, not blue!

blue grey to me? perhaps it is my monitor 

It is possible there is a slight bluish tinge to her skin tone, I will grant you that. But I don't think "blue!" when I see her.

She's the most lovely shade of blue-grey.

Kind of a PMS5445.

http://www.cal-print.com/InkColorChart.htm

I present the Chiana Makeup Test (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbiC8G81VxQ).

Ah, Pip.... :Love_Letters:

For a couple years I was calling my fiancee Pip  :grin: