Farscape meta and movie babble...
My obsessions and interests go in cycles which, I am sure, surprises no one who’s had this livejournal friended for any length of time (when it started it was, after all, Star Wars central). Part of it is that there are just too many things to be obsessed with and I have a short attention span.
But sometimes what this means is I manage to be obsessed over more than one thing at a time. What brought this on? Farscape. Months back, I went into a renewed Farscape frenzy, doing write-ups for every ep I watched, and stopped in mid season 2, moving on to something else.
Well, guess what? The frenzy is back. Expect renewed Farscape blabbing as I continue with the rewatch.
I did finish the “Look at the Princess” trilogy. I wrote about the first two parts extensively, so this is just about the final episode of the three. I find it very very typically Farscapian: dark and heartbreaking, but with a glimmer of hope. Crichton has let Scorpius walk away (and knowing what I do now, about the chip, it is only the beginning of his madness arc), and he has had to leave behind a child he will never see (and of whose existence he didn’t know until it was too late, as the medics artificially impregnated Katralla and only then told him), which is something that he has enormous issues about. His ‘good guys win for once’ is tinged with bitterness but also unsurprise. He has learned by now that the universe isn’t kind, and that any victory is not really that. But then there is also the amazing scene at the end (I still remember the first time I saw it, I literally screamed out loud) with Aeryn and the compatibility vial. And that is hope.
It must take a huge huge deal of courage for Aeryn to be the one to make the first step, however tentative, and in a way, that step is enormous. She has learned in this three-parter that children is something that will always be something John will want, and with the compatibility vial test, what she is offering, however, tentatively, however hypothetically, is a chance to them together for that future, acknowledgment that this might be a possibility for them: a relationship, a real one, with possibly future children even. I have rewatched that scene literally dozens of times: her fishing the vial out, the way his breath catches when he sees, the utter silence with which they place the drops and the tentative, fragile way they kiss. And their eyes. Their eyes throughout. And then her walking away still in complete silence and he sits there, stock still, just staring after her, his eyes shining and full of so many inexpressible things being expressed, after all, and as she walks away, poised, you see her smile.
Tonight, it’s the “My Three Crichtons” episode, which is probably a lesser FS ep, objectively speaking, but one that to me, presents such fascinating foreshadowing and contrasts to what Crichton has been and what he will become. The summary is pretty simple and traditionally scifi. Due to an alien race’s attempt to capture Crichton for its collection (it had never seen a human before) and the Moyans (of course) meddling with this, Crichton is now confronted with both a ‘prehistoric’ proto-Crichton, and a so-called ‘Future Crichton’ (aka Crichton as he would have been if he would be a product of humanity’s future development).
But the themes that run through the episode (not to mention the seemingly inescapable fact that no matter what, any new ‘adventure,’ even a lesser one, is just further add-on to Crichton’s issues and pain, and mess) are something that just resonate in general.
There is the fact (which is starkly true from the Premiere episode to Peacekeeper Wars) that Crichton does not need to do anything different: his very alienness in the alien world, his very fact of being is enough to mark him, put him in peril, make him wanted. The alien race collecting specimens the way Victorians collected butterflies is merely another facet of the same obsession that drives Scorpius. They might not be about wormholes (are in fact ignorant and indifferent to them) but they go by the same principle: unique is always valuable. But by his ‘uniqueness,’ Crichton is not made ‘special’ and favored, like a Mary Sue in a badly written fanfic. Instead, it’s a Mark of Cain of sorts, and he is dehumanized and objectified because of his uniqueness. Scorpius wants wormholes and John is just a bug from whom he can extract it (though later this changes into a vary acknowledgment of Crichton’s almost equal status. Scorpius elevates Crichton to ‘opponent’ from ‘experiment.’) The alien race couldn’t care if they got John or an elderly London charlady. It’s being homo sapiens that matters to them. That is one of the things I love so about Farscape. Even the seemingly one-off episodes resonate within the larger themes and arcs. I can’t claim to have watched a huge number of shows, but of the ones I have, it’s by far the best, tightest written.
And then there is the existence of ‘pre’ and ‘post’ Crichtons, distorted John mirrors of a sort. In some ways, the symbolism is pretty obvious: pre-Crichton is kind if not super bright, and he wears John’s discarded space suit, while post-Crichton is intellectual but heartless and is dressed in PK uniform. But I think it’s a lot more complicated than that. I find it interesting that it is Chiana who ends up interacting with ‘pre’ and Aeryn with ‘post.’
Because the reaction to ‘post’ Crichton is as much about Aeryn and Aeryn’s change as it is about anything else. In part, because Crichton’s slow descent to that side of the scale is prompted so much by his love and need for Aeryn (he wouldn’t have gone to the Base etc etc in S1 if not for her. His love for her is both his destruction and his salvation), but also because it shows us her change, her thawing and humanization. If you think about it, post-Crichton is someone that PK Aeryn would have liked the most out of the versions, someone she could have related to the most: ruthless intelligence and efficiency, not a spark of heart. But this new Aeryn, while someone who would likely be impatient with pre-Crichton (because she will never lose her feeling for efficiency and razor sharpness. John wins her respect and eventually love not just because he is ‘a nice guy’ but because he is incredibly smart and functions under pressure) sees through post-Crichton as a pane of glass.
And of course, it makes sense that it is Chiana who ends up bonding with pre-Crichton, Chiana who is the most ‘childish’ of the bunch (Rygel is a lot of things in his greed, gluttony and boredom, but he is not truly childish, not ever), the most open to just expression of emotion, and who is, probably, someone who misses the slow disappearance of Crichton who helped her under the burdened, cracked shell of Crichton the way he is now. And of course, pre-Crichton’s situation reminds her of herself when she first was aboard Moya.
It’s interesting, because in a lot of ways, Chiana is harder than Aeryn, but in a lot of ways, she is just younger. She is never about justice, but she is about personal compassion. Even Aeryn’s compassion is tempered, controlled, different.
But yes, the pre and post as symbolism for what Crichton was and for where he is going. That is perhaps something that scares John the most: that he can end up as another type of Scorpius, someone unfeeling, uncaring, willing to be ruthlessly expedient. But that is the thing, he never will become such, however he teeters on the edge. He is someone who is, in this episode, willing to be the sacrifice, to walk into the sphere to death to save his shipmates (telling post-Crichton that if he is the future, he is glad he won’t live to see it), but even at the end, even as he blows up a nuke in ‘We are so screwed’ that ends season 4 or with his actions in PKW, he will never be post-Crichton, because no matter how mutilated, his caring and humanity remains. He is someone who will weep in Aeryn’s arms at the destruction he has wrought. His actions might change, but his basic compassion does not. Post-Crichton is yet another ‘fractured future,’ a possibility, but not something that will ultimately come to pass.
Oh, and this picture has nothing to do with the episode, but it does make me swoon:
In movie news. OMG! Ralph Fiennes, one of my all time favorites (btw, what happened to his younger brother Joseph? I loved him in Shakespeare in Love but he seems to have dropped off the radar) is co-starring with Kiera Knightley as the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire in The Duchess, which is supposed to come out next year. YESSS!
ETA: I found these awesome character posters (for Cecilia, Briony and Robbie) for Atonement. *swooooon*
http://comingsoon.net/nextraimages/atonementposter2.jpg
http://comingsoon.net/nextraimages/atonementposter3.jpg
http://comingsoon.net/nextraimages/atonementposter1.jpg
Huh, I went to some movie board or other and the posters seem to think this is a huge favorite for the Oscars. Great, if so, but then RELEASE THE FREAKING THING IN THE FALL AND NOT WINTER!!!! I want to see it nooooooow ;)
Also, since I know I have Jason Isaacs fans on my flist, found this on comingsoon.net
Ormond and Isaacs Topline Spanish Pic
Source: Variety
September 13, 2007
Julia Ormond and Jason Isaacs will topline La conjura de El Escorial ("The El Escorial Conspiracy"), a European co-production helmed by Spanish director/producer Antonio del Real.
The project is inspired by political turf wars in the 16th century Spanish court of King Philip II. Isaacs plays a traitor to the king, Ormond the princess of Eboli.
Filming is under way in Spain and Portugal.
And in more movie news, OMG!!!! Apparently some studio bought the rights to I, Claudius and plans to make a movie. I loved the book entirely too much so we shall see…(there are rumors that Leonardo Di Caprio will play Caludius and much as I really really love him, I just…my mind boggles and I can’t see it at all. But we’ll see).
ETA: I am watching more of Bednaya Nastya and it's official. My ability to meta is severely hampered by the fact that the male lead is so hot he is making my brain dribble out of my ears, causing brain damage...
But sometimes what this means is I manage to be obsessed over more than one thing at a time. What brought this on? Farscape. Months back, I went into a renewed Farscape frenzy, doing write-ups for every ep I watched, and stopped in mid season 2, moving on to something else.
Well, guess what? The frenzy is back. Expect renewed Farscape blabbing as I continue with the rewatch.
I did finish the “Look at the Princess” trilogy. I wrote about the first two parts extensively, so this is just about the final episode of the three. I find it very very typically Farscapian: dark and heartbreaking, but with a glimmer of hope. Crichton has let Scorpius walk away (and knowing what I do now, about the chip, it is only the beginning of his madness arc), and he has had to leave behind a child he will never see (and of whose existence he didn’t know until it was too late, as the medics artificially impregnated Katralla and only then told him), which is something that he has enormous issues about. His ‘good guys win for once’ is tinged with bitterness but also unsurprise. He has learned by now that the universe isn’t kind, and that any victory is not really that. But then there is also the amazing scene at the end (I still remember the first time I saw it, I literally screamed out loud) with Aeryn and the compatibility vial. And that is hope.
It must take a huge huge deal of courage for Aeryn to be the one to make the first step, however tentative, and in a way, that step is enormous. She has learned in this three-parter that children is something that will always be something John will want, and with the compatibility vial test, what she is offering, however, tentatively, however hypothetically, is a chance to them together for that future, acknowledgment that this might be a possibility for them: a relationship, a real one, with possibly future children even. I have rewatched that scene literally dozens of times: her fishing the vial out, the way his breath catches when he sees, the utter silence with which they place the drops and the tentative, fragile way they kiss. And their eyes. Their eyes throughout. And then her walking away still in complete silence and he sits there, stock still, just staring after her, his eyes shining and full of so many inexpressible things being expressed, after all, and as she walks away, poised, you see her smile.
Tonight, it’s the “My Three Crichtons” episode, which is probably a lesser FS ep, objectively speaking, but one that to me, presents such fascinating foreshadowing and contrasts to what Crichton has been and what he will become. The summary is pretty simple and traditionally scifi. Due to an alien race’s attempt to capture Crichton for its collection (it had never seen a human before) and the Moyans (of course) meddling with this, Crichton is now confronted with both a ‘prehistoric’ proto-Crichton, and a so-called ‘Future Crichton’ (aka Crichton as he would have been if he would be a product of humanity’s future development).
But the themes that run through the episode (not to mention the seemingly inescapable fact that no matter what, any new ‘adventure,’ even a lesser one, is just further add-on to Crichton’s issues and pain, and mess) are something that just resonate in general.
There is the fact (which is starkly true from the Premiere episode to Peacekeeper Wars) that Crichton does not need to do anything different: his very alienness in the alien world, his very fact of being is enough to mark him, put him in peril, make him wanted. The alien race collecting specimens the way Victorians collected butterflies is merely another facet of the same obsession that drives Scorpius. They might not be about wormholes (are in fact ignorant and indifferent to them) but they go by the same principle: unique is always valuable. But by his ‘uniqueness,’ Crichton is not made ‘special’ and favored, like a Mary Sue in a badly written fanfic. Instead, it’s a Mark of Cain of sorts, and he is dehumanized and objectified because of his uniqueness. Scorpius wants wormholes and John is just a bug from whom he can extract it (though later this changes into a vary acknowledgment of Crichton’s almost equal status. Scorpius elevates Crichton to ‘opponent’ from ‘experiment.’) The alien race couldn’t care if they got John or an elderly London charlady. It’s being homo sapiens that matters to them. That is one of the things I love so about Farscape. Even the seemingly one-off episodes resonate within the larger themes and arcs. I can’t claim to have watched a huge number of shows, but of the ones I have, it’s by far the best, tightest written.
And then there is the existence of ‘pre’ and ‘post’ Crichtons, distorted John mirrors of a sort. In some ways, the symbolism is pretty obvious: pre-Crichton is kind if not super bright, and he wears John’s discarded space suit, while post-Crichton is intellectual but heartless and is dressed in PK uniform. But I think it’s a lot more complicated than that. I find it interesting that it is Chiana who ends up interacting with ‘pre’ and Aeryn with ‘post.’
Because the reaction to ‘post’ Crichton is as much about Aeryn and Aeryn’s change as it is about anything else. In part, because Crichton’s slow descent to that side of the scale is prompted so much by his love and need for Aeryn (he wouldn’t have gone to the Base etc etc in S1 if not for her. His love for her is both his destruction and his salvation), but also because it shows us her change, her thawing and humanization. If you think about it, post-Crichton is someone that PK Aeryn would have liked the most out of the versions, someone she could have related to the most: ruthless intelligence and efficiency, not a spark of heart. But this new Aeryn, while someone who would likely be impatient with pre-Crichton (because she will never lose her feeling for efficiency and razor sharpness. John wins her respect and eventually love not just because he is ‘a nice guy’ but because he is incredibly smart and functions under pressure) sees through post-Crichton as a pane of glass.
And of course, it makes sense that it is Chiana who ends up bonding with pre-Crichton, Chiana who is the most ‘childish’ of the bunch (Rygel is a lot of things in his greed, gluttony and boredom, but he is not truly childish, not ever), the most open to just expression of emotion, and who is, probably, someone who misses the slow disappearance of Crichton who helped her under the burdened, cracked shell of Crichton the way he is now. And of course, pre-Crichton’s situation reminds her of herself when she first was aboard Moya.
It’s interesting, because in a lot of ways, Chiana is harder than Aeryn, but in a lot of ways, she is just younger. She is never about justice, but she is about personal compassion. Even Aeryn’s compassion is tempered, controlled, different.
But yes, the pre and post as symbolism for what Crichton was and for where he is going. That is perhaps something that scares John the most: that he can end up as another type of Scorpius, someone unfeeling, uncaring, willing to be ruthlessly expedient. But that is the thing, he never will become such, however he teeters on the edge. He is someone who is, in this episode, willing to be the sacrifice, to walk into the sphere to death to save his shipmates (telling post-Crichton that if he is the future, he is glad he won’t live to see it), but even at the end, even as he blows up a nuke in ‘We are so screwed’ that ends season 4 or with his actions in PKW, he will never be post-Crichton, because no matter how mutilated, his caring and humanity remains. He is someone who will weep in Aeryn’s arms at the destruction he has wrought. His actions might change, but his basic compassion does not. Post-Crichton is yet another ‘fractured future,’ a possibility, but not something that will ultimately come to pass.
Oh, and this picture has nothing to do with the episode, but it does make me swoon:
In movie news. OMG! Ralph Fiennes, one of my all time favorites (btw, what happened to his younger brother Joseph? I loved him in Shakespeare in Love but he seems to have dropped off the radar) is co-starring with Kiera Knightley as the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire in The Duchess, which is supposed to come out next year. YESSS!
ETA: I found these awesome character posters (for Cecilia, Briony and Robbie) for Atonement. *swooooon*
http://comingsoon.net/nextraimages/atonementposter2.jpg
http://comingsoon.net/nextraimages/atonementposter3.jpg
http://comingsoon.net/nextraimages/atonementposter1.jpg
Huh, I went to some movie board or other and the posters seem to think this is a huge favorite for the Oscars. Great, if so, but then RELEASE THE FREAKING THING IN THE FALL AND NOT WINTER!!!! I want to see it nooooooow ;)
Also, since I know I have Jason Isaacs fans on my flist, found this on comingsoon.net
Ormond and Isaacs Topline Spanish Pic
Source: Variety
September 13, 2007
Julia Ormond and Jason Isaacs will topline La conjura de El Escorial ("The El Escorial Conspiracy"), a European co-production helmed by Spanish director/producer Antonio del Real.
The project is inspired by political turf wars in the 16th century Spanish court of King Philip II. Isaacs plays a traitor to the king, Ormond the princess of Eboli.
Filming is under way in Spain and Portugal.
And in more movie news, OMG!!!! Apparently some studio bought the rights to I, Claudius and plans to make a movie. I loved the book entirely too much so we shall see…(there are rumors that Leonardo Di Caprio will play Caludius and much as I really really love him, I just…my mind boggles and I can’t see it at all. But we’ll see).
ETA: I am watching more of Bednaya Nastya and it's official. My ability to meta is severely hampered by the fact that the male lead is so hot he is making my brain dribble out of my ears, causing brain damage...