You're great, David Kemper. But please don't talk.
I got a chance to hear the CB/BB/DK commentaries for "Kansas" and "Bad Timing," and I have to say, boo on DK for ruining the love that is a Ben and Claudia commentary. He did this with DMD, too--actually really pissed me off with that one for by spoiling me for the end of season 3 (though now I know that I shouldn't have been listening to the new commentary without having seen it all, but I didn't know at the time what was new). I think my problem is that I read certain aspects of the show rather differently from how he reads them, yet he puts on this definitive-sounding "I'm the writer" voice, and spouts off this stuff that sort of annoys me. Sometimes it's just little stuff, interrupting, or talking about his grand vision for the show, or name-dropping all these other TV folks that work on different shows. But there were two big moments, one in the DMD commentary and on in the BT commentary that just annoyed me.
In the DMD commentary (which I haven't listened to again in a while, so I may be misremembering), he gives this theory of Crais's sacrifice in ITLD being about his love for Aeryn--sort of a Sidney Carton thing. It's a nice idea, but it's not at all how I read ITLD. Really, this one pissed me off more because I hadn't seen ITLD yet, so I didn't appreciate the spoilerage. But in itself it isn't so annoying.
But then in the BT commentary, he comes up with this whole thing about how Crichton's such a great, patient guy for waiting for Aeryn to grow into the kind of woman who--he doesn't quite say "deserves" him--is ready to be his partner. And to Ben and Claudia's great credit, they tried to deflect and complicate this idea considerably, point out that both John and Aeryn have had to do a lot of adjusting, etc. It annoys me when people don't give Aeryn enough credit. It also annoys me that DK keeps calling her "Officer Sun."
It's not so much the difference in interpretation that bothers me in either case, though. I mean, people read things differently. What annoys me is what I interpret as DK's superior, insider attitude about it. And maybe partly this is my English major distrust of authorial intent coming out. A writer is going to have a certain vision for her/his story: all of us who write things understand that. And sometimes people won't get what we wanted them to get, and that's frustrating. But sometimes--and isn't this really what we all want, if we can let go of the ego a little--the story grows beyond the writer's vision, becomes more and better. And Farscape has become more than whatever David Kemper envisioned. Crais sacrificed himself for more than just love for Aeryn. And Aeryn did become more--not only more than she was, but more than DK ever expected her to be, I think.
Anyway, I do think DK is great. He writes very well, and I'm so glad he had the vision for the show that he did. But I'd rather not hear him talk about it!
In the DMD commentary (which I haven't listened to again in a while, so I may be misremembering), he gives this theory of Crais's sacrifice in ITLD being about his love for Aeryn--sort of a Sidney Carton thing. It's a nice idea, but it's not at all how I read ITLD. Really, this one pissed me off more because I hadn't seen ITLD yet, so I didn't appreciate the spoilerage. But in itself it isn't so annoying.
But then in the BT commentary, he comes up with this whole thing about how Crichton's such a great, patient guy for waiting for Aeryn to grow into the kind of woman who--he doesn't quite say "deserves" him--is ready to be his partner. And to Ben and Claudia's great credit, they tried to deflect and complicate this idea considerably, point out that both John and Aeryn have had to do a lot of adjusting, etc. It annoys me when people don't give Aeryn enough credit. It also annoys me that DK keeps calling her "Officer Sun."
It's not so much the difference in interpretation that bothers me in either case, though. I mean, people read things differently. What annoys me is what I interpret as DK's superior, insider attitude about it. And maybe partly this is my English major distrust of authorial intent coming out. A writer is going to have a certain vision for her/his story: all of us who write things understand that. And sometimes people won't get what we wanted them to get, and that's frustrating. But sometimes--and isn't this really what we all want, if we can let go of the ego a little--the story grows beyond the writer's vision, becomes more and better. And Farscape has become more than whatever David Kemper envisioned. Crais sacrificed himself for more than just love for Aeryn. And Aeryn did become more--not only more than she was, but more than DK ever expected her to be, I think.
Anyway, I do think DK is great. He writes very well, and I'm so glad he had the vision for the show that he did. But I'd rather not hear him talk about it!