Let’s Rewatch ‘Farscape’
Every so often (often) I go on a television binge with one show. Sometimes it’s a series I’ve never seen before and sometimes it’s an old love. When this happens I need to be prepared before I start, because it will inevitably be an all-show-all-the-time until I’m finished. And the advent of Netflix has only seemed to exacerbate this problem.
One of my more recent television binges was Farscape. Yep, that insane Australian space adventure epic with puppets from the late 90s. Farscape was produced by Jim Henson’s Muppet-loving offspring Brian Henson, and created by Rockne S. O’Bannon, who has had his fingers in all sorts of sci-fi over the years. It stars Ben Browder and Claudia Black, alongside a colourful supporting cast.
There are a great many things I love about this show but that would be a very, very long essay. I’ll stick to what I think are the main selling points.
Farscape is absolutely outstandingly creative. There is very much a “let’s throw it against the wall and see if it sticks” sensibility about the show. It makes for some absolutely amazing television, and some rather cringe worthy moments but the risk is well worth the reward. Let’s just start with the fact that half the cast are puppets–and not the cute kind either. These are serious, grown up, farting, having sex, real damaged characters who happen to be played by puppets. If you can’t get your head around it think “Meet the Feebles”.
The creativity and risk extends to the zany plots that can take our beloved characters in new and strange directions week to week. Besides the inevitable body-swap episode and doppelganger moments, there is an entire episode that take place in an alternate reality inside a characters head, one in which the characters are sucked into a video game, and a ton of other completely wacky stuff.
Now don’t think all this insanity makes Farscape a completely cheesy, campy show. Farscape is ridiculous but doesn’t apologize for it. It’s a funny, smart, adult show about space travel, relationships (romantic, friendships, family, crew mates), and saving the universe. This all works because the characters are all so strong.
It’s all for naught if you don’t care about the people on the screen. The characters in Farscape are (mostly) so well drawn that you become invested in the fates of John Crichton, Aeryn Sun, D’Argo, Pilot, Moya, and Chiana. You even find yourself strangely attached to Rygel, Crais, and Scorpius by the end. I left out a few so as not to spoil for newbies but I omitted Zhaan purposefully from that list because my only investment in that character was for her to be off the screen and away from the show as quickly as possible. (Any Farscape fans want to chime in there?).
The relationship building and world building is incredibly strong in Farscape, and once you have that, the show can really take you anywhere. Farscape tackles so many heavy themes about what it means to be human–or to avoid being human-centric in this very diverse universe—what it means to be a sentient being. The show also constantly examines gender, class, and race issues between the different species as the crew on Moya travel through the universe.
The stories can get dark but it can also be so bright. Crichton is known for his never ending pop culture references from Earth (Buffy gets her fair number of mentions) and his Southern twangs and idioms–so much so that his crew hardly ever know what he’s talking about–though they eventually trust him completely. Crichton provides plenty of fish-out-of water comedy, but on the flip side, his character so often embodies the loneliness and isolation that comes with being an outsider. He is our first connection to this world, but soon the rest of the characters become just as familiar.
If you haven’t already I encourage you to check out this amazing series. Or if you have already, go for another round. I think it’s held up quite well from its 1999-2004 run. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the series and how it holds up 12 years later.
TO BE CONTINUED…
*Just a note for the comments, I realize this show is long gone past the spoilers expiry date but if you want to discuss a major spoiler in the comments please give us a heads up so we don’t ruin it for new viewers*
I’m in the middle of season 3, watching it for the first time. I was bored with it after only a few episodes,a nd sort of passively watched season 1 play out and season 2 come and go. Season 3 hooked me a bit. It’s far from my favorite, but it’s a show worth watching. A couple concepts I love–Moya as a living ship (and giving birth), and Zhaan as evolved from plants, essentially (cool concept, but the character was a bit boring). Also love Pilot as a member of a race who cannot fly without a Leviathon ship, and I really wish I knew more of his backstory–it was covered in what seemed like a brief couple of episodes, and has been ignored since. His relationship to the others is interesting as well… Anyway, thanks for covering Farscape–good stuff!
This was a beloved show of my girlfriend and of mine when it was first on the air. That girlfriend became my wife. We bought the whole series on DVD. And, now that we have moved on to almost all digital streaming (iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix), our library has whittled down to only two shows: Farscape and Firefly. There were so very many good stories that came from that series. I liked the main plot the most, of course. The stories that Ben Browder wrote were among my least favorites. However, I loved his acting. I was about to give up on SG-1 until he and Claudia Black joined the group.