January Meme: Why the first season of Farscape is worth watching
That's what 
zahrawithaz wants to know. Now, I did remember that Farscape, like Babylon 5 and DS9, not to mention TNG, has a first season containing some less than stellar episodes, but only when I refreshed my memory by having a look at the exact list did I realise I usually go straight from the pilot to P.K. Techgirl (episode 1.7), or did when I last rewatched, which was some years ago. Now I do remember watching I, E.T., Throne for a Loss and Exodus from Genesis back in the day, but I barely remember them, just enough to know I never had the urge to rewatch. Does anyone want to make the case for them, or the other intervening episodes before P.K. Techgirl? I mean, I know we learn some backstory for D'Argo and the Luxans, and of course the regulars do some adjusting-to-each-other, but if you know other reasons, why those early episodes are a must for a Farscape newbie, pray mention them in the comments.
From P.K. Tech Girl onwards, however, season 1 of Farscape very much is worth watching, and rewatching, and rewatching to me. That particular episode contains a (gruesome) key bit of Rygel backstory, making it clear he's not just the comic relief on the ship (and that you underestimate him at your peril), it has John and Aeryn at a point where they're not yet in inevitable leading pair territory, and fleshes Peacekeeper society a bit via the (sympathetic) guest character, so I think it's a good reentry point after the pilot.
Now, more about s1 in general: among other things, it offers the "people thrown together by circumstance who at first don't like each other very much (and in more than one case with good reason) become a family of choice" (not for nothing is the last episode of the season called "Family Ties" which a great many shows do for their first season, but not always as well. There is some considerable subversion of clichés going on; Zhaan may tend to come across as a serene embodiment of wisdom much of the time, but s1 makes it clear how dangerous she can be, and that beneath that serenity there's considerable darkness; Zhaan is good (when she is) by choice, not by nature, and when she's not, well. S1 is - imo - her best season, and there isn't another character quite like s1 Zhaan for the remainder of the show.
S1 introduces all of the s1 regulars, of course, and their relationships to each other, and if you tune in s2, you're missing a lot of character development and layers. Season 2 has an episode called The Way We Weren't which is among the best of the show anad centred on Pilot and Aeryn, but I think it truly loses if you haven't watched the s1 episode DNA Mad Scientist first, which is the foundation of the Pilot-Aeryn relationship. (It's also a lot of other things, which would be too spoilery to name.) Aeryn Sun's entire development from the (mostly) obedient soldier of a fascist regime we meet in the pilot to who she's become by the time The Peacekeeper Wars wrap up the show takes several seasons, of course, but without s1, you miss the important and hard first steps of that development (as well as the way the show reassures its audience Aeryn doesn't become a lesser warrior because she starts to develop different goals). I've once joked that in Farscape, Aeryn Sun is the Byronic hero with a murky and guilt-ridden past, a hardened, sarcastic shell but also enormous capacity for emotion buried beneath while John Crichton is the wide-eyed somewhat naive damsel with the heart of gold, full of joie de vivre, falling for said Byronic hero.
Which brings me to s1 John Crichton. Given he's the white male lead and the pov character through whose eyes we encounter the rest of the ensemble and its setting, I bet a great many people first think "conventional action hero, perhaps even white savior trope" when starting the pilot. But he's not. S1 John is a scientist who is worse at martial arts/self defense than practically everyone else on board. Also, he's the alien who doesn't know the roles at whose expense fish-out-of-water jokes are made. (As opposed to the more usual "aliens don't get human habits, ha ha" sci fi cliché.) There's a playfulness and innocence about s1 John that he later loses bit by bit, which is inevitable given the kind of universe he's landed in and the need to survive, but it's not a little heartbreaking to watch. (And note: it's NOT coded as "becoming a man" in any way. I have my problems with s4, but it contains some terrific character scenes, and one of them (which kills me because it's understated, quiet and sad at the same time) is when John Crichton, looking back, says "the things I've done, the things that've been done to me". And you need to have encountered s1 John (as well as all the other seasons's John(s)) to know what makes this moment.)
(Related sidenote: the first time I rewatched s1 after knowing the show in totem, I was struck by how early a general tendency started I'd have put only to began by the end of s1. But no, Raphsody in Blue gets there first. To wit: you know how one of the more irritating clichés is when the female characters on a sci fi show (and in other genres) get metaphorical and not to metaphorical rape scenarios, bodily invasion, mental invasion etc. and somehow this never happens to the men? Well, Farscape's John Crichton gets put through the trauma conga and both metaphorical and literal rape scenarios. A lot. And yet it never feels gratitious, nor does the show pretend this isn't exactly that it is.)
On the brighter side: like I said, s1 is where positive relationships form, for everyone, and this is often a lot of fun to watch. And because these relationships are tested in s2, you need to seem grow first, sometimes very much against the odds. Meeting Chiana in s2, when she's already part of the ensemble, is a very different thing to meeting her in her introduction s1 episode. Everyone's behavior vis a vis Crais in later seasons is far more understandable when you've seen That Old Black Magic. An episode like s1's A Human Reaction isn't just important for the overall show mythology (it includes something that the audience really needs to know because otherwise a main plot thread through the remainder of the show is incomprehensible - to make a Merlin comparison, imagine watching that show without being aware that magic is illegal in Camelot, and just why and how Uther started his feud with magic users), it's also extremely interesting in what it says about Crichton's opinion of the society he hails from and his fears at that point already, and it provides us with a turning point in what was his professed goal since the pilot. And then of course, come the last few episodes of s1, we get introduced to the key antagonist of the entire show; again, without having seen his very memorable debut episodes, both his later relationship with Crichton and, for that matter, Crais' attitude towards him are not nearly as comprehensible.
One last piece of s1 advice, though: whatever you do, skip Jeremiah Crichton. The cast, the fans, everyone agrees on this.
In conclusion: you may also enjoy s1 (and all subsequent seasons) as a pop culture of the late 90s quiz. John Crichton is an affirmed sci fi and fantasy fan, very genre wise, and not just with the obligatory Star Trek and Star Wars alllusions. Among other things, he's a Buffy fan. (And hopes his sister taped the episodes for him he's missing.)
The Other Days
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1267859.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
zahrawithaz wants to know. Now, I did remember that Farscape, like Babylon 5 and DS9, not to mention TNG, has a first season containing some less than stellar episodes, but only when I refreshed my memory by having a look at the exact list did I realise I usually go straight from the pilot to P.K. Techgirl (episode 1.7), or did when I last rewatched, which was some years ago. Now I do remember watching I, E.T., Throne for a Loss and Exodus from Genesis back in the day, but I barely remember them, just enough to know I never had the urge to rewatch. Does anyone want to make the case for them, or the other intervening episodes before P.K. Techgirl? I mean, I know we learn some backstory for D'Argo and the Luxans, and of course the regulars do some adjusting-to-each-other, but if you know other reasons, why those early episodes are a must for a Farscape newbie, pray mention them in the comments.
From P.K. Tech Girl onwards, however, season 1 of Farscape very much is worth watching, and rewatching, and rewatching to me. That particular episode contains a (gruesome) key bit of Rygel backstory, making it clear he's not just the comic relief on the ship (and that you underestimate him at your peril), it has John and Aeryn at a point where they're not yet in inevitable leading pair territory, and fleshes Peacekeeper society a bit via the (sympathetic) guest character, so I think it's a good reentry point after the pilot.
Now, more about s1 in general: among other things, it offers the "people thrown together by circumstance who at first don't like each other very much (and in more than one case with good reason) become a family of choice" (not for nothing is the last episode of the season called "Family Ties" which a great many shows do for their first season, but not always as well. There is some considerable subversion of clichés going on; Zhaan may tend to come across as a serene embodiment of wisdom much of the time, but s1 makes it clear how dangerous she can be, and that beneath that serenity there's considerable darkness; Zhaan is good (when she is) by choice, not by nature, and when she's not, well. S1 is - imo - her best season, and there isn't another character quite like s1 Zhaan for the remainder of the show.
S1 introduces all of the s1 regulars, of course, and their relationships to each other, and if you tune in s2, you're missing a lot of character development and layers. Season 2 has an episode called The Way We Weren't which is among the best of the show anad centred on Pilot and Aeryn, but I think it truly loses if you haven't watched the s1 episode DNA Mad Scientist first, which is the foundation of the Pilot-Aeryn relationship. (It's also a lot of other things, which would be too spoilery to name.) Aeryn Sun's entire development from the (mostly) obedient soldier of a fascist regime we meet in the pilot to who she's become by the time The Peacekeeper Wars wrap up the show takes several seasons, of course, but without s1, you miss the important and hard first steps of that development (as well as the way the show reassures its audience Aeryn doesn't become a lesser warrior because she starts to develop different goals). I've once joked that in Farscape, Aeryn Sun is the Byronic hero with a murky and guilt-ridden past, a hardened, sarcastic shell but also enormous capacity for emotion buried beneath while John Crichton is the wide-eyed somewhat naive damsel with the heart of gold, full of joie de vivre, falling for said Byronic hero.
Which brings me to s1 John Crichton. Given he's the white male lead and the pov character through whose eyes we encounter the rest of the ensemble and its setting, I bet a great many people first think "conventional action hero, perhaps even white savior trope" when starting the pilot. But he's not. S1 John is a scientist who is worse at martial arts/self defense than practically everyone else on board. Also, he's the alien who doesn't know the roles at whose expense fish-out-of-water jokes are made. (As opposed to the more usual "aliens don't get human habits, ha ha" sci fi cliché.) There's a playfulness and innocence about s1 John that he later loses bit by bit, which is inevitable given the kind of universe he's landed in and the need to survive, but it's not a little heartbreaking to watch. (And note: it's NOT coded as "becoming a man" in any way. I have my problems with s4, but it contains some terrific character scenes, and one of them (which kills me because it's understated, quiet and sad at the same time) is when John Crichton, looking back, says "the things I've done, the things that've been done to me". And you need to have encountered s1 John (as well as all the other seasons's John(s)) to know what makes this moment.)
(Related sidenote: the first time I rewatched s1 after knowing the show in totem, I was struck by how early a general tendency started I'd have put only to began by the end of s1. But no, Raphsody in Blue gets there first. To wit: you know how one of the more irritating clichés is when the female characters on a sci fi show (and in other genres) get metaphorical and not to metaphorical rape scenarios, bodily invasion, mental invasion etc. and somehow this never happens to the men? Well, Farscape's John Crichton gets put through the trauma conga and both metaphorical and literal rape scenarios. A lot. And yet it never feels gratitious, nor does the show pretend this isn't exactly that it is.)
On the brighter side: like I said, s1 is where positive relationships form, for everyone, and this is often a lot of fun to watch. And because these relationships are tested in s2, you need to seem grow first, sometimes very much against the odds. Meeting Chiana in s2, when she's already part of the ensemble, is a very different thing to meeting her in her introduction s1 episode. Everyone's behavior vis a vis Crais in later seasons is far more understandable when you've seen That Old Black Magic. An episode like s1's A Human Reaction isn't just important for the overall show mythology (it includes something that the audience really needs to know because otherwise a main plot thread through the remainder of the show is incomprehensible - to make a Merlin comparison, imagine watching that show without being aware that magic is illegal in Camelot, and just why and how Uther started his feud with magic users), it's also extremely interesting in what it says about Crichton's opinion of the society he hails from and his fears at that point already, and it provides us with a turning point in what was his professed goal since the pilot. And then of course, come the last few episodes of s1, we get introduced to the key antagonist of the entire show; again, without having seen his very memorable debut episodes, both his later relationship with Crichton and, for that matter, Crais' attitude towards him are not nearly as comprehensible.
One last piece of s1 advice, though: whatever you do, skip Jeremiah Crichton. The cast, the fans, everyone agrees on this.
In conclusion: you may also enjoy s1 (and all subsequent seasons) as a pop culture of the late 90s quiz. John Crichton is an affirmed sci fi and fantasy fan, very genre wise, and not just with the obligatory Star Trek and Star Wars alllusions. Among other things, he's a Buffy fan. (And hopes his sister taped the episodes for him he's missing.)
The Other Days
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1267859.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.