Like I said, I can see how it can be hard to get into the groove with the first few episodes. All I can say is give it a chance. I know it's a lot asking you to watch more than five episodes to give something a chance, but... just trust me. I didn't "love" Farscape when it first started airing-- I insisted on watching more out of the inkling sense that I *could* love it if the writing found juuuuuust the right note... and then I did.
And then I really really did. And then there was worship.
I sympathize with your lack of BSG wuv. I keep trying to get into it late, and I am unable to, it seems. I usually like sci fic drama stuff... but deep in my soul I have to admit that, while I *like* drama... I love it when my drama is laced with comedy. It's why I loved Buffy, why I loved The X Files, and why I loved Farscape-- although Farscape was both MORE dramatic and MORE comedic than either of those other two series, at certain points. Farscape was... very appropriately named, for reasons other than the general assumption that it refers to adventures far away. Rather... it's far out in the literal meaning of the phrase. Once the show finds its feet (about halfway through season 1), its identity is established. And what Farscape is and does is extremity. Wacky unbelievable things happen, and are solved in wonderfully wacky and unbelievable ways. When there's comedy it can be subtle or it can be absurd to the extreme. When there's drama, there's Drama with a capital D... they want to do nothing short of rip your guts out and pull no punches in doing so.
Compare that to the Stargate shows, which I also like... Stargate is whimsically amusing, full of adventure and space battles and fun explosions, and mild drama, but... it's safe. I know the good guys will win in the end and that no one really important will die, or that if they do they'll be brought back by alien technology somehow, and that no matter what everything will be wrapped up by the end of this episode or next if it's a two parter, so no need to worry.
Farscape is not safe. In the same way that FMA is not safe.
There's no sex on Stargate, and few characters die, and never the important ones. There's battles and drama but if there's a betrayal there's always a REASON by which you can excuse that character's actions, and the good guys are never REALLY turning bad of their own poor judgement because it's always outside influence forcing or tricking them into it. If anyone went insane, it was always resolved in an episode or two.
Have you ever watched Babylon 5? Many of the plotty and character development reasons I loved Babylon 5 also apply to Farscape, though Farscape was funny and weird and delightfully willing to take you wacky places, whereas Babylon 5 was more a traditional literature-like space drama.
The episode you watched, about the false return to Earth... that's a good episode, but a bad one to come into. A lot of the stuff in that episode depends heavily on John's character development and how he has changed in the year or two (I don't remember which season that episode was in-- my Farscape episode memory sucks despite my love), as compared to how he was when he left, and if you haven't seen the shite he's already been through before getting to that point, it'd be hard to appreciate the full context of his behavior in the episode.
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Date: 2005-08-20 06:32 am (UTC)And then I really really did. And then there was worship.
I sympathize with your lack of BSG wuv. I keep trying to get into it late, and I am unable to, it seems. I usually like sci fic drama stuff... but deep in my soul I have to admit that, while I *like* drama... I love it when my drama is laced with comedy. It's why I loved Buffy, why I loved The X Files, and why I loved Farscape-- although Farscape was both MORE dramatic and MORE comedic than either of those other two series, at certain points. Farscape was... very appropriately named, for reasons other than the general assumption that it refers to adventures far away. Rather... it's far out in the literal meaning of the phrase. Once the show finds its feet (about halfway through season 1), its identity is established. And what Farscape is and does is extremity. Wacky unbelievable things happen, and are solved in wonderfully wacky and unbelievable ways. When there's comedy it can be subtle or it can be absurd to the extreme. When there's drama, there's Drama with a capital D... they want to do nothing short of rip your guts out and pull no punches in doing so.
Compare that to the Stargate shows, which I also like... Stargate is whimsically amusing, full of adventure and space battles and fun explosions, and mild drama, but... it's safe. I know the good guys will win in the end and that no one really important will die, or that if they do they'll be brought back by alien technology somehow, and that no matter what everything will be wrapped up by the end of this episode or next if it's a two parter, so no need to worry.
Farscape is not safe. In the same way that FMA is not safe.
There's no sex on Stargate, and few characters die, and never the important ones. There's battles and drama but if there's a betrayal there's always a REASON by which you can excuse that character's actions, and the good guys are never REALLY turning bad of their own poor judgement because it's always outside influence forcing or tricking them into it. If anyone went insane, it was always resolved in an episode or two.
Have you ever watched Babylon 5? Many of the plotty and character development reasons I loved Babylon 5 also apply to Farscape, though Farscape was funny and weird and delightfully willing to take you wacky places, whereas Babylon 5 was more a traditional literature-like space drama.
The episode you watched, about the false return to Earth... that's a good episode, but a bad one to come into. A lot of the stuff in that episode depends heavily on John's character development and how he has changed in the year or two (I don't remember which season that episode was in-- my Farscape episode memory sucks despite my love), as compared to how he was when he left, and if you haven't seen the shite he's already been through before getting to that point, it'd be hard to appreciate the full context of his behavior in the episode.