The Ballad of John Chricton
Feb. 15th, 2003 01:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlock"I don't care care about the things you care about. I care about one thing. ONE. Thing.
...
God have mercy on my soul.
...
I will give you wormholes. Wormholes, for Aeryn."
Is not Farscape the coolest thing this side of all science fiction?
(Considering thatSpike the Vampire Chronicles Buffy the Vampire Slayer is fantasy, not scifi.)
I swear, the writing for this show has only gotten better and better. Watching these episodes and knowing that its nearing the end; I can't help but feel that it's being cut off when it is at its strongest.
This episode was fantastic. The idea of framing the episode with clips of an Earth tv-show special post-visitation, and hearing/seeing the earthlings attempt to analyze the crew of Moya, to ascertain what parts of their attitude come from being aliens, and what parts come from the trauma that we the audience know is part of their lives. I especially liked the sequences on Chiana, D'Argo, and Sikozu.
The humans look at Chiana and are baffled-- but they don't know that Chiana is vastly different from her own race, that the things we'd think of as "human" are what ahve cause her to be cast out from her people.
I loved the D'Argo scenes, because they bring to focus what has always been my favorite aspect of his character-- for all he is loud and aggressive, when not in a situation of stress he is a stoic, reserved individual who prefers simplicity and strives for peace of mind. Also, seeing him in comparison with the boy--John's nephew-- D'Argo seems so mature, much wiser and more rational and patient than he was when the series began.
I like the image of Sikozu singing on the video tape. I thought it was pretty, and seeing her hold up the dish and the singing made her look both very beautiful and very alien. I also liked the shot of her with the books, and also her various comments to the boy about different topics of Earth and space.
I loved, of course, the scene between John and his sister about his relationship with Aeryn. Everything about this ship is so bittersweet; it was from the beginning andf it will be as the show ends. But as everyone knows, the last word in 'bittersweet' is not the bitter.
I love how Earth and Aeryn's pregnancy/kidnapping have clarified his motives and his direction in life. I love that he's gotten darker, come to be so altered by the time he's spent out in deep space that he's realizing what he's capabale of doing or becoming in order to save what he loves. Crichton's first desire when the series began was to find a way home, to Earth. Then, his desire became the mission to stop the Peacekeepers, to keep safe the prize that is wormhole technology and to not let it go to the Scarrans or PKs. Now, John has made it home. John has warned Earth. And now, what does John want? He wants Aeryn, and he'll fuck up the rest of the galaxy, instead of saving it, to get her back. He's got issues. I love it.
...
God have mercy on my soul.
...
I will give you wormholes. Wormholes, for Aeryn."
Is not Farscape the coolest thing this side of all science fiction?
(Considering that
I swear, the writing for this show has only gotten better and better. Watching these episodes and knowing that its nearing the end; I can't help but feel that it's being cut off when it is at its strongest.
This episode was fantastic. The idea of framing the episode with clips of an Earth tv-show special post-visitation, and hearing/seeing the earthlings attempt to analyze the crew of Moya, to ascertain what parts of their attitude come from being aliens, and what parts come from the trauma that we the audience know is part of their lives. I especially liked the sequences on Chiana, D'Argo, and Sikozu.
The humans look at Chiana and are baffled-- but they don't know that Chiana is vastly different from her own race, that the things we'd think of as "human" are what ahve cause her to be cast out from her people.
I loved the D'Argo scenes, because they bring to focus what has always been my favorite aspect of his character-- for all he is loud and aggressive, when not in a situation of stress he is a stoic, reserved individual who prefers simplicity and strives for peace of mind. Also, seeing him in comparison with the boy--John's nephew-- D'Argo seems so mature, much wiser and more rational and patient than he was when the series began.
I like the image of Sikozu singing on the video tape. I thought it was pretty, and seeing her hold up the dish and the singing made her look both very beautiful and very alien. I also liked the shot of her with the books, and also her various comments to the boy about different topics of Earth and space.
I loved, of course, the scene between John and his sister about his relationship with Aeryn. Everything about this ship is so bittersweet; it was from the beginning andf it will be as the show ends. But as everyone knows, the last word in 'bittersweet' is not the bitter.
I love how Earth and Aeryn's pregnancy/kidnapping have clarified his motives and his direction in life. I love that he's gotten darker, come to be so altered by the time he's spent out in deep space that he's realizing what he's capabale of doing or becoming in order to save what he loves. Crichton's first desire when the series began was to find a way home, to Earth. Then, his desire became the mission to stop the Peacekeepers, to keep safe the prize that is wormhole technology and to not let it go to the Scarrans or PKs. Now, John has made it home. John has warned Earth. And now, what does John want? He wants Aeryn, and he'll fuck up the rest of the galaxy, instead of saving it, to get her back. He's got issues. I love it.
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no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 03:56 am (UTC)Seriously though, sometimes the genres have so little between them its hard to tell! I never in bother to differentiate between them!
Any way I Love Farscape! Its great! I especially love Aeryn (and not just for all the obvious reasons), Oh and Rygel. He reminds me of my youngest Brother!
no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 07:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 10:18 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-15 11:25 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-15 11:31 am (UTC)Sometimes they overlap (like the Force in Star Wars, or the Nerd Trio on Buffy), but there's a very distinct difference: one is science, one is magic. Buffy is fantasy-based horror; Farscape is science fiction.
I love Aeryn's character too. I didn't like Rygel for at least two seasons, but he kind of grows on you. Like Fungus. I really like Harvey-- think he's a hoot.
Re:
Date: 2003-02-15 11:32 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-15 12:51 pm (UTC)You forgeting "Clark's Law":
"Any science which is sufficently advanced is equivelent to magic.."
So yeah sometimes there is a distinct diffrence, often there is not. For example lots of Philip K Dicks novels don't involve high end science at all, but quite a bit of magic. Yet he is still considered a science fiction author. What about Lovecraft? He's work is about evil gods, but these gods are also extra terristal. Technolgy levels are sci-fi but actually based on the arcane. Sci-fi or fanatasy? or Genre Wolfe whose works of fantasy are actually set on a aplanet colonised from space years ago...or Anne McCaffrey or...
You get the point...
I just don't think the caterogries are that useful. Most book shops in England (can't talk about the states...never been) lump sci-fi and fanatasy togther for exactly that reason. Apart from that definition used by publishers, I really think ther is one which helps.
Even the two example you gave are opne to interputation. I think if you examine the themes and story structure, Star Wars is in fact a fantasy, not sci-fi, it just happens to have lightsabres instead of magic sword (would Lord of the Rings be sci-fi if the Orks used laser guns?)! Equally, the mental powers displayed by some of the creatures and characters seen in Farscape, well, there is an argument for that being fantasy too.
Really they are the same thing, some are just more reliant upon science (both "soft" or "hard") and others on magic.
Re:
Date: 2003-02-15 01:45 pm (UTC)I think the common thread between the two of them that your'e talking about is the word "fiction." I've read books that wouldn't be qualified as either fantasy or scifi that have psychic elements.
But books are all open to debate. My point is that there are two genres that have enough I common that its easiest for bookstores/libraries and other people in the book business to combine them. Just like in tv busines it all qualifies as "genre television." Horror for instance can draw equally from sci fi or fantasy-- The X-Files is an example of a horror show that draws primarily from sci fi, whereas Buffy is a horror show that draws primarily from contemporary fantasy. But the difference is there. Fahrenheit 451 is science fiction; Lord of the Rings is fantasy.