It's Review Time!
So, I've decided to review things here. First up is Farscape.
So, if you've hung around me at all lately, chances are that you've heard about Farscape. Probably at great length. I may not have been terribly coherent, what with my being in love with the show, but I was probably insistent. I want to tell everybody about it, although I don't want to give too much away, because I think that other people should go through what I did and so love it just as much as I do.
What is Farscape? It is (was) a brilliant sci-fi show that was cancelled before it could properly end. It is four seasons and a TV movie. It's love and hate and base desire and lofty goals. It is success and failure and persistance and futility. According to Ben Browder, it is the story of one man's descent into the Australian BDSM scene. It is the story of John Crichton, astronaut, who sums up the premise of the series in the intro so: "My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. A radiation wave hit me and I got off in a wormhole. Lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange, alien life forms. Help me, help, listen please, is there anybody out there who can hear me? I'm being hunted by an insane military commander. I'm doing everything I can. I'm just looking for a way home."
Farscape has fantastic acting; beautiful costuming, makeup, and props; subtle, layered characterization; and epic storylines. The characters, despite being aliens, have an unmistakeable, familiar humanity. They love and fear and squablle and make so many mistakes. They are innocent, jaded, rational, insane. They are friends and family, and it is these relationships that really make the show. Because they are so recognizeable, so identifiable, it hurts when they hurt. They screw up a lot, and it comes back to bite them more often than not. It hurts when they are ridiculed, when they are cornered, when they lose someone they love, and when they themselves are lost.
And when they fall in love, it changes things. The characters reprioritize. It's beautiful. You can't have people who are in love, who were in love, who are falling in love, and not have them changed in some way. There is all sorts of love in Farscape: familial love, ovsessive love, forbidden love, chaste love, physical love, platonic love, angry love, desperate love, spiritual love, confused love, and idealistic love. All that and more. Plus, this is one show where when the official couple gets together, the show stays awesome, rather than having all their sexual tension disappear. They go through so much that, although they are much different than they were at the beginning of the show, they are stronger, better, more.
Of course, now that I hace waxed poetic about the sheer awesome of the show, I should also mention that it isn't perfect. Nothing is, really. There are some dud episodes (what show doesn't have dud episodes?) and parts where it seems as though the characters have been replaced with pod people (sometimes because they have been replaced with pod people). For the most part, however, it's pretty good. The Jim Henson Co was in charge of muppets and prosthetics, and the muppets? Are bad ass. There is a part where a muppet bites off someone's nose. It is great. There are also some really cracky episodes. Like the one where they all become extremely paranoid, the one where they all switch bodies (switching bodies being a must in any sci-fi series) and the one where Crichton may or may not be back on Earth. Not everything is serious all the time, which is great.
It also helps that pretty much everyone is attractive in some way or another. Crichton, Aeryn, and Chiana are all obviously as fine as a summer's day, but D'Argo and even Scorpius have a certain something about them. My point is, essentially, that if you are looking for a brilliant show about hot people being bad ass and such things, and don't mind being sent on a serious emotional roller coaster, then you should watch this series. Yesterday. Remember what Television Without Pity says about this show:
Sure, I feel like an idiot 'Scaper loving this show; it's got Muppets, who wouldn't? But the difference between forcing yourself to read Ulysses and watching this show is the difference between hitting yourself in the head with something heavy, and watching people who are entirely too hot blowing shit up and making out. No fucking contest, Joyce. Sorry.
Here are some pictures from the series, so you can fully appreciate the awesome:
So, if you've hung around me at all lately, chances are that you've heard about Farscape. Probably at great length. I may not have been terribly coherent, what with my being in love with the show, but I was probably insistent. I want to tell everybody about it, although I don't want to give too much away, because I think that other people should go through what I did and so love it just as much as I do.
What is Farscape? It is (was) a brilliant sci-fi show that was cancelled before it could properly end. It is four seasons and a TV movie. It's love and hate and base desire and lofty goals. It is success and failure and persistance and futility. According to Ben Browder, it is the story of one man's descent into the Australian BDSM scene. It is the story of John Crichton, astronaut, who sums up the premise of the series in the intro so: "My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. A radiation wave hit me and I got off in a wormhole. Lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange, alien life forms. Help me, help, listen please, is there anybody out there who can hear me? I'm being hunted by an insane military commander. I'm doing everything I can. I'm just looking for a way home."
Farscape has fantastic acting; beautiful costuming, makeup, and props; subtle, layered characterization; and epic storylines. The characters, despite being aliens, have an unmistakeable, familiar humanity. They love and fear and squablle and make so many mistakes. They are innocent, jaded, rational, insane. They are friends and family, and it is these relationships that really make the show. Because they are so recognizeable, so identifiable, it hurts when they hurt. They screw up a lot, and it comes back to bite them more often than not. It hurts when they are ridiculed, when they are cornered, when they lose someone they love, and when they themselves are lost.
And when they fall in love, it changes things. The characters reprioritize. It's beautiful. You can't have people who are in love, who were in love, who are falling in love, and not have them changed in some way. There is all sorts of love in Farscape: familial love, ovsessive love, forbidden love, chaste love, physical love, platonic love, angry love, desperate love, spiritual love, confused love, and idealistic love. All that and more. Plus, this is one show where when the official couple gets together, the show stays awesome, rather than having all their sexual tension disappear. They go through so much that, although they are much different than they were at the beginning of the show, they are stronger, better, more.
Of course, now that I hace waxed poetic about the sheer awesome of the show, I should also mention that it isn't perfect. Nothing is, really. There are some dud episodes (what show doesn't have dud episodes?) and parts where it seems as though the characters have been replaced with pod people (sometimes because they have been replaced with pod people). For the most part, however, it's pretty good. The Jim Henson Co was in charge of muppets and prosthetics, and the muppets? Are bad ass. There is a part where a muppet bites off someone's nose. It is great. There are also some really cracky episodes. Like the one where they all become extremely paranoid, the one where they all switch bodies (switching bodies being a must in any sci-fi series) and the one where Crichton may or may not be back on Earth. Not everything is serious all the time, which is great.
It also helps that pretty much everyone is attractive in some way or another. Crichton, Aeryn, and Chiana are all obviously as fine as a summer's day, but D'Argo and even Scorpius have a certain something about them. My point is, essentially, that if you are looking for a brilliant show about hot people being bad ass and such things, and don't mind being sent on a serious emotional roller coaster, then you should watch this series. Yesterday. Remember what Television Without Pity says about this show:
Sure, I feel like an idiot 'Scaper loving this show; it's got Muppets, who wouldn't? But the difference between forcing yourself to read Ulysses and watching this show is the difference between hitting yourself in the head with something heavy, and watching people who are entirely too hot blowing shit up and making out. No fucking contest, Joyce. Sorry.
Here are some pictures from the series, so you can fully appreciate the awesome: