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irrel to all my favorite shows, she and I have embarked on a massive and intense Farscape viewing project. For her it's the first time, for me it's a rewatch. I originally saw all of FS when it aired--I think I even recorded the miniseries on a VHS tape, as we didn't have DVR at that house. While I've seen a few odd episodes here and there (I've seen "Crackers Don't Matter" about four times), most of the show I've only seen once, and sometimes out of order. I remember season 4 very clearly, but seasons 1-3 are more muddled in my recollection. Nevertheless, it remains probably my favorite tv show after Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Fullmetal Alchemist. It has one of my dearest and truest OTPs of all television history, and it broke my heart a thousand times over only to patch it up again with clay hands, booming laughter, and tentative smiles.
When I've pitched Farscape to people before, I've warned them that the first season isn't the strongest. However, having finished season 1 tonight, for the first time in complete sequential order and in a relatively short viewing period of a month, I have to eat those words. Yeah, the first half of season 1 is weak. But the second half starts to kick major, major ass. And the season as a whole is better than its disparate parts. It's full of little gems like "The Flax" and "A Human Reaction", as well as the epic, emotional rollercoaster of the final four episodes that I watched today. Man are they great! I'm noticing tiny details of characterization that either skipped my mind entirely on tv, or faded in memory. And the acting--oh, the acting. John Crichton and Aeryn Sun are stunning, together and apart. D'Argo is unrecognizable as a human actor under all that make up, but his emotions seep through. Especially in the second half of the season, once he's made his peace with Crichton and Aeryn as companions. Zhaan has almost as difficult a role of being a mystic archetype while still being multilayered character: she's not quite as subtle as D'Argo, but she's getting close. Rygel and Pilot are wonderfully orchestrated with talented voice actors giving them expression.
With season 1 of Farscape, I rediscovered the little things...
John kissing Rygel's forehead in forgiveness. John crying while hearing Crais explain himself and all the misery he's put them through. The first time John deliberately killed someone (the posessed PKer) to four episodes later blasting the surface of an entire planet. "Hey you bastards, John Crichton was here," and if that isn't an utterly gut-wrenching bit of foreshadowing I don't know what is. John and Chiana's hot yet familial friendship, and I love them even if I don't OTP them. John and Gilina, who's going to linger on his conscience for a while, but her choices were her own and she retained her agency to the end. John being tortured, John being chased, John falling down the rabbit hole. John bullshitting his way out of things and then, in later months, shooting his way out. John in a PK uniform, which is downright perverse given what hell they've run him through, but oddly sexy because the man can sell the red and black spacepants thing. His simple delight and wonder at the universe, and his effortless capacity to forgive even while he can't quite forget. His total nerdiness underneath the tough shell he's haphazardly learnt to build.
And of course--John and Aeryn. Aeryn and John. They're a slow burn. They're so frelling hot, and they even had end-of-the-world sex that they never spoke of again, yet they aren't messed up for it, they're stronger. They've grown to respect each other and rely on each other. They're such partners. John has always included Aeryn, always offered her his hand in ways that were as much about friendship and universal human bonding as about romance or attraction. He's pulled her kicking and screaming (and sometimes running and shooting and laughing) into a fuller, more rounded perspective on life. In return, Aeryn has never let John down. She's his rescuer, his teacher, his knight in black leather: Aeryn Sun is John Crichton's big damn hero. She has his back and she will trust him fully, but at the same time she challenges him to rise up and better himself. To be more confident, to live bigger, to stick to one's ethics as if they are written into one's bones. Did I mention they are frelling hot? And so adorable too.
"The radiant Aeryn Sun" rocks my world. This is one of the OTPs where I find it really, really hard to say who I love more. I don't think I know. But Aeryn is great--her pride and wonder at discovering she can excell in non-military skills like science and negotiation. Her quiet growth as she's learned what compassion is, and all the other things she was denied as a PK. Watching her speech to Crais as she gave him his life and left him screaming in the Aurora Chair--I don't know if I ever saw that scene when it aired, but it was beautiful. These characters are all so layered in their love and their torture over the course of the show. Crais had chased them all, had ruined her career and exiled her from her people forever, and finally had tortured John over and over again in the chair. It was the least Aeryn could do to return the favor. I was also glad to see Crais's murder of his Lieutenant come back up and bite him in the ass, because that scene had always bothered me. Aeryn, I'm glad you got a new prowler ship, because you deserve your own hotrod.
Chiana, with her alien moves and her adolescent antics, but also her charm and her accurate observations. The way she wants to grab onto these folks one minute for the safety they offer, then run out on them the next. Faye Valentine of Cowboy Bebop always reminded me of Chiana. Chiana and Rygel, buddies in petty crime and professional annoyance.
Moya and Pilot's fear at being abandonned, and the crew's genuine affection for them, the desire to protect Moya's child as one of their own. The lovely way the background plot of Moya's pregnancy allowed for interesting twists in the season's crescendo ending. Talyn, the poor confused brat who brings such a smile to Aeryn's face.
Stark: my side, your side! How he seems more crazy yet less spastic in these early episodes.
D'Argo, whom I love love love. D'Argo with his musical instrument, with his jokes with Crichton, and the way he punched Crais four times in the finale. D'Argo and Aeryn, their wonderful friendship and warrior's comraderie. D'Argo kissing the good luck charm that John gave him before the end. D'Argo and John in the hallway, "I love hanging with you man." D'Argo bonding with Zhaan, and almost caring for her but never quite. D'Argo calling Chiana the pain in the ass that he kinda liked. Ka D'Argo, floating in space.
I can't babble about my show anymore because I have to go to bed, but I'm planning a massive season 2 marathon withirrel this weekend, so I wanted to write down all these squishy, squealy fangirl feelings before the new season started. My love is back on, baby. I never did fandom for this show, never felt the need to because every crazy thing I could possibly imagine the show eventually did. But after I finish this rewatching journey, I might just dive into some rec lists. Because this is good eatin' my friends.
When new Doctor Who first aired, I thought it reminded me a bit of Farscape, if FS lost all its sex and its violence, if it cut out the intense moral issues and the gray-area decisions the characters make (the entire galaxy for a single person, the Doctor would never do that), if the black leather and the excessive use of explosions were traded for cleaner, clearer moral choices with deus ex machina devises that made the culpability dwindle to negligable. I love new Who like a beloved thing, but it was only ever the romance that made me actually cry. Farscape is so ambitious...it has its flaws like any show, but it just reached higher and that paid off. I will always compare DW to Farscape, not the other way around. And it wouldn't be a stretch to compare Battlestar Galactica to it too, because BSG was not the first misery-laden, wonderfully acted, heartbreaking I-can't-believe-how-angsty-and-how-great-this-show-is epic subtle insane adventure space opera I ever saw. It was #2.
irrel to all my favorite shows, she and I have embarked on a massive and intense Farscape viewing project. For her it's the first time, for me it's a rewatch. I originally saw all of FS when it aired--I think I even recorded the miniseries on a VHS tape, as we didn't have DVR at that house. While I've seen a few odd episodes here and there (I've seen "Crackers Don't Matter" about four times), most of the show I've only seen once, and sometimes out of order. I remember season 4 very clearly, but seasons 1-3 are more muddled in my recollection. Nevertheless, it remains probably my favorite tv show after Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Fullmetal Alchemist. It has one of my dearest and truest OTPs of all television history, and it broke my heart a thousand times over only to patch it up again with clay hands, booming laughter, and tentative smiles. When I've pitched Farscape to people before, I've warned them that the first season isn't the strongest. However, having finished season 1 tonight, for the first time in complete sequential order and in a relatively short viewing period of a month, I have to eat those words. Yeah, the first half of season 1 is weak. But the second half starts to kick major, major ass. And the season as a whole is better than its disparate parts. It's full of little gems like "The Flax" and "A Human Reaction", as well as the epic, emotional rollercoaster of the final four episodes that I watched today. Man are they great! I'm noticing tiny details of characterization that either skipped my mind entirely on tv, or faded in memory. And the acting--oh, the acting. John Crichton and Aeryn Sun are stunning, together and apart. D'Argo is unrecognizable as a human actor under all that make up, but his emotions seep through. Especially in the second half of the season, once he's made his peace with Crichton and Aeryn as companions. Zhaan has almost as difficult a role of being a mystic archetype while still being multilayered character: she's not quite as subtle as D'Argo, but she's getting close. Rygel and Pilot are wonderfully orchestrated with talented voice actors giving them expression.
With season 1 of Farscape, I rediscovered the little things...
John kissing Rygel's forehead in forgiveness. John crying while hearing Crais explain himself and all the misery he's put them through. The first time John deliberately killed someone (the posessed PKer) to four episodes later blasting the surface of an entire planet. "Hey you bastards, John Crichton was here," and if that isn't an utterly gut-wrenching bit of foreshadowing I don't know what is. John and Chiana's hot yet familial friendship, and I love them even if I don't OTP them. John and Gilina, who's going to linger on his conscience for a while, but her choices were her own and she retained her agency to the end. John being tortured, John being chased, John falling down the rabbit hole. John bullshitting his way out of things and then, in later months, shooting his way out. John in a PK uniform, which is downright perverse given what hell they've run him through, but oddly sexy because the man can sell the red and black spacepants thing. His simple delight and wonder at the universe, and his effortless capacity to forgive even while he can't quite forget. His total nerdiness underneath the tough shell he's haphazardly learnt to build.
And of course--John and Aeryn. Aeryn and John. They're a slow burn. They're so frelling hot, and they even had end-of-the-world sex that they never spoke of again, yet they aren't messed up for it, they're stronger. They've grown to respect each other and rely on each other. They're such partners. John has always included Aeryn, always offered her his hand in ways that were as much about friendship and universal human bonding as about romance or attraction. He's pulled her kicking and screaming (and sometimes running and shooting and laughing) into a fuller, more rounded perspective on life. In return, Aeryn has never let John down. She's his rescuer, his teacher, his knight in black leather: Aeryn Sun is John Crichton's big damn hero. She has his back and she will trust him fully, but at the same time she challenges him to rise up and better himself. To be more confident, to live bigger, to stick to one's ethics as if they are written into one's bones. Did I mention they are frelling hot? And so adorable too.
"The radiant Aeryn Sun" rocks my world. This is one of the OTPs where I find it really, really hard to say who I love more. I don't think I know. But Aeryn is great--her pride and wonder at discovering she can excell in non-military skills like science and negotiation. Her quiet growth as she's learned what compassion is, and all the other things she was denied as a PK. Watching her speech to Crais as she gave him his life and left him screaming in the Aurora Chair--I don't know if I ever saw that scene when it aired, but it was beautiful. These characters are all so layered in their love and their torture over the course of the show. Crais had chased them all, had ruined her career and exiled her from her people forever, and finally had tortured John over and over again in the chair. It was the least Aeryn could do to return the favor. I was also glad to see Crais's murder of his Lieutenant come back up and bite him in the ass, because that scene had always bothered me. Aeryn, I'm glad you got a new prowler ship, because you deserve your own hotrod.
Chiana, with her alien moves and her adolescent antics, but also her charm and her accurate observations. The way she wants to grab onto these folks one minute for the safety they offer, then run out on them the next. Faye Valentine of Cowboy Bebop always reminded me of Chiana. Chiana and Rygel, buddies in petty crime and professional annoyance.
Moya and Pilot's fear at being abandonned, and the crew's genuine affection for them, the desire to protect Moya's child as one of their own. The lovely way the background plot of Moya's pregnancy allowed for interesting twists in the season's crescendo ending. Talyn, the poor confused brat who brings such a smile to Aeryn's face.
Stark: my side, your side! How he seems more crazy yet less spastic in these early episodes.
D'Argo, whom I love love love. D'Argo with his musical instrument, with his jokes with Crichton, and the way he punched Crais four times in the finale. D'Argo and Aeryn, their wonderful friendship and warrior's comraderie. D'Argo kissing the good luck charm that John gave him before the end. D'Argo and John in the hallway, "I love hanging with you man." D'Argo bonding with Zhaan, and almost caring for her but never quite. D'Argo calling Chiana the pain in the ass that he kinda liked. Ka D'Argo, floating in space.
I can't babble about my show anymore because I have to go to bed, but I'm planning a massive season 2 marathon with
irrel this weekend, so I wanted to write down all these squishy, squealy fangirl feelings before the new season started. My love is back on, baby. I never did fandom for this show, never felt the need to because every crazy thing I could possibly imagine the show eventually did. But after I finish this rewatching journey, I might just dive into some rec lists. Because this is good eatin' my friends.When new Doctor Who first aired, I thought it reminded me a bit of Farscape, if FS lost all its sex and its violence, if it cut out the intense moral issues and the gray-area decisions the characters make (the entire galaxy for a single person, the Doctor would never do that), if the black leather and the excessive use of explosions were traded for cleaner, clearer moral choices with deus ex machina devises that made the culpability dwindle to negligable. I love new Who like a beloved thing, but it was only ever the romance that made me actually cry. Farscape is so ambitious...it has its flaws like any show, but it just reached higher and that paid off. I will always compare DW to Farscape, not the other way around. And it wouldn't be a stretch to compare Battlestar Galactica to it too, because BSG was not the first misery-laden, wonderfully acted, heartbreaking I-can't-believe-how-angsty-and-how-great-this-show-is epic subtle insane adventure space opera I ever saw. It was #2.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-27 03:14 pm (UTC)I cannot talk about Farscape without the aid of capslock, seriously. It's like... I think Farscape is one of the most perfect things ever committed to film. The characters are so rich, the plot is so compelling, and somehow even when the show is at its most miserable, soul-crushing points it still manages to be funny and heart-warming and hopeful.
It's sad because I think in a lot of ways, Farscape ruined the sci-fi television genre for me; I've never been able to get into BSG because it's just too dark and hopeless for my heart, and I can't help but watch it and think "Well, Farscape managed to do angst without making me want to slit my wrists." I need a healthy dose of joy (or at least Crichton's devil-may-care reckless jokester-ing) along with my misery.
And you are so right about the New Who comparison; they occasionally hit those lovely, dizzying emotional heights that Farscape does, but on a much more limited scale. I really wish New Who would get riskier now and then; I thought they really pushed themselves with 'Midnight' and it ended up being fucking superb.
IN CONCLUSION: AERYN SUN, YOU ROCK MY WORLD. Crichton, you can come too.
Oh, and if you do find any great fic, pass it along! I sort of looked around a little in the fandom back in the day, but was generally too satisfied with the canon to really want to read beyond what they gave us. So few things lived up to the show for me.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-28 06:09 am (UTC)Most of the time I simply can't find the right words to explain how much and why I loved this show. But. There was such a beautiful humanity (ironic term, I know, for a show with only one human in it) to the characters, a sense that O'Bannon, Henson, et al, loved each one, that they put a lot of care into making them who they were. That they managed to so very quickly make you forget that two of the main characters were puppets--I swear, I've seen more emotion on Pilot's face than I've seen on many human actors'. You mention, BSG, and that show...made me feel broken with something like despair, so I had to stop watching it. Farscape broke my heart with love, if that makes any sense. They also managed to do something no other show has ever done: they got their main romantic pair together--John and Aeryn--and it didn't suck: they still managed to throw sparks off each other, there was always another level for them to bring their relationship to. It is one of the most fully developed relationships I've ever seen on screen.
I wish it didn't get so unjustly overlooked in the "annals of science fiction," as it were. Because it was a show that deserved far more attention than it got.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-28 07:32 am (UTC)Yes. I agree with your whole comment, actually...the characters were given such love and development in the writing.
BSG, and that show...made me feel broken with something like despair, so I had to stop watching it. Farscape broke my heart with love
That is exactly how I would put it. When Farscape season 3 and 4 aired, I remember thinking how ironic it was that this brightly colored adventure action/comedy show was one of the absolute angstiest series on television. How much do these characters have to endure? And yet, it was always back to the love. The family, the romance, the love of the ship and her crew. BSG... I never loved the characters of BSG to have my heart broken for them. I watched everyone's heart get broken on screen, I was interested in the mystery of origins, and I saw all of LJ fandom weep from week to week while I felt oddly disconnected from 80% of the cast, including the most popular characters. But the show always seemed steeped in its worship of misery, every ache and every loss. It was like SadnessPorn the way the Saw movies are TorturePorn.
Farscape has all of the pain but also so much enduring love. And the characters aren't half as shifty and unreliable, either.
I wish it didn't get so unjustly overlooked in the "annals of science fiction," as it were. Because it was a show that deserved far more attention than it got.
I agree. Especially since, as I rewatched season 1, I couldn't help but be reminded of the things I enjoyed about Firefly. Those elements are ALL in FS: the crew of misanthropes and criminals, the ship as a female unifying force of peace and family, the haphazard "jobs" and the near-miss chases. The snippy dialogue and the search for meaning, love, and freedom in a cruel and soul-destroying universe. But Firefly will never be as glorious and fully-realized as FS. It will never reach the epic levels of WTFery and mayhem and passion and ambition that FS strove for. It was cut off too soon, and we'll never know if it could have gotten there. But the show had the same spirit...seeing it now, and having my first-time viewing buddy mention to me how it reminded her far more of FF than newWho or BSG...I have to ask myself if Joss Whedon had seen FS himself, and if some of that show's spirit of adventure and love and family was an inspiration.
they still managed to throw sparks off each other, there was always another level for them to bring their relationship to.
I don't want to go into detail because of spoilers for beyond season 1, but I think what's significant for me is that romance is not the end goal for the characters. They aren't defined only by their love for each other, because they both love so much more than that: the ship, their friends, their makeshift family. It's not like Scully and Mulder, or Booth and Brennan, where the game is to stretch the anticipation as far as it will last to titillate and tease, because that's the only way to draw the audience into the relationship. With Aeryn and John, even from the moment they hook up on false!Earth to their visible tension and attraction near the end of the season...for these two, flirting isn't the game. Flirting only the first step in a long journey. They've already been there. They kissed, and avoided it. They had end-of-the-world desperation sex, and then they avoided that too. We're not waiting for the tension to break, we're watching the romance build.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-28 08:34 am (UTC)Very true. In a lot of cases, the romance overwhelms the partnership and one or the other aspect starts getting rocky. With John and Aeryn, these elements enhance and strengthen each other. I never felt that things were being teased out to hook the viewer, but that the relationship was given real complications for the characters to work through. I have tremendous admiration for the Farscape team for how they built up the layers of John and Aeryn.
I think FS had the advantage over FF in that it's 'verse was a lot bigger; there was more room for it to grow into. I think FF might have had some trouble in (potential) later seasons because of the literal limits of its 'verse. Obviously, there's no way to know! But, yes, that idea of crew/family and the thin edge they lived on are definitely common elements.
But the show always seemed steeped in its worship of misery, every ache and every loss. It was like SadnessPorn the way the Saw movies are TorturePorn.
I described it to someone once as the sci-fi equivalent of the journey through Mordor, only there's no Sam. [/LotR geek] That's kinda why I go with BleakPorn, myself, but it definitely had a sort of "to be taken seriously, we must be brutal!" vibe. Whereas, FS was perfectly happy to throw in a bodily fluids joke in the middle of a crisis, because, hey, even in life-threatening circumstances, you still have to pee. I would put S3's "...Different Destinations" up as an example of how FS combined humor and tragedy; that one stuck with me for several days.