Speaking of Farscape . . .

[NotSoWize]

I had heard enough glowing reviews of Farscape here and in other areas that I gave it a try via Netflix. I think I was about ten episodes into season one when Netflix discontinued the season one disks. According to Netflix support, new sets are not being produced at this time and Netflix did not have enough copies to ensure timely delivery.

Anyhow, I was pretty unimpressed. I generally liked the characters and the special effects were pretty nice. The muppets didn't bother me at all. Unfortunately, the stories were generally uninspired and tended to be of the "everything is back to normal at the end of the episode" nature. However, I would not have been overly impressed after just ten episodes of B5 either, so I thought I would see what the rest of you thought of Farscape. Does it change significantly as the series progresses, or if I didn't like the first half of season one am I unlikely to get hooked if I buy the season one disks and keep on watching?

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I had heard enough glowing reviews of Farscape here and in other areas that I gave it a try via Netflix. I think I was about ten episodes into season one when Netflix discontinued the season one disks. According to Netflix support, new sets are not being produced at this time and Netflix did not have enough copies to ensure timely delivery.

Anyhow, I was pretty unimpressed. I generally liked the characters and the special effects were pretty nice. The muppets didn't bother me at all. Unfortunately, the stories were generally uninspired and tended to be of the "everything is back to normal at the end of the episode" nature. However, I would not have been overly impressed after just ten episodes of B5 either, so I thought I would see what the rest of you thought of Farscape. Does it change significantly as the series progresses, or if I didn't like the first half of season one am I unlikely to get hooked if I buy the season one disks and keep on watching?

Season 1 is really not that great. I was having a hard time getting into it, but being a tv space show fanboy, I plugged along with it. During season 2/3 it picks up dramatically, and the stories get really really good. Of course, season 1 sets up the background for the characters so it's pretty nice to have.

Granted, the story's not as deep as a B5 story, but it became very interesting over time, and you grow really attached to the characters. Those first 10 eps are probably the weakest of the entire show. Don't give up on it If you don't like it by mid season 2...well, then you won't lol.

[babylonlurker]

Season 1 is really not that great. I was having a hard time getting into it, but being a tv space show fanboy, I plugged along with it. During season 2/3 it picks up dramatically, and the stories get really really good. Of course, season 1 sets up the background for the characters so it's pretty nice to have.

Granted, the story's not as deep as a B5 story, but it became very interesting over time, and you grow really attached to the characters. Those first 10 eps are probably the weakest of the entire show. Don't give up on it If you don't like it by mid season 2...well, then you won't lol.

Could not get into it either , but saw only an ep here and there. Did not really like the "muppet" look, but I could be wrong. After all I *was* wrong about B5 upon seeing "The Gathering" - thought it would go nowhere - how wrong I was

[Radhil]

Granted, the story's not as deep as a B5 story, but it became very interesting over time, and you grow really attached to the characters.

The characters are the key here. Farscape was all about them.

I've always thought there where B5 had a massive staggering arc for their universe, their plot. Where B5 has that, Farscape arcs on the characters. Completely random crap can happen at any given time, and solutions can be as completely off the wall (something I'm starting to realize is a lot like Doctor Who), but the characters - from the muppets to the masks to the massively pathetic human - all change, all learn, all end up being the greatest thing about the show.

The "arc", characters plot and otherwise, such as it is, starts to pick up in the second half of S1. Right about episode 10, They've Got A Secret, actually, is when you'll start to see stuff that pays off later down the line.

EDIT - Recommended episodes, if you can find them somewhere before you buy - A Human Reaction, Nerve and The Hidden Memory (intro to Scorpius, which to a lot of people, is where it gets damn good), Crackers Don't Matter, ... I'd give you more (The Locket, Green Eyed Monster) but that'd toss you way farther into stuff than you might enjoy. And of course, there's stinkers (Scratch 'n Sniff), the bizarre (Revenging Angel).... anything catching yet?

[SmileOfTheShadow]

The characters are the key here. Farscape was all about them.

I've always thought there where B5 had a massive staggering arc for their universe, their plot. Where B5 has that, Farscape arcs on the characters. Completely random crap can happen at any given time, and solutions can be as completely off the wall (something I'm starting to realize is a lot like Doctor Who), but the characters - from the muppets to the masks to the massively pathetic human - all change, all learn, all end up being the greatest thing about the show.

The "arc", characters plot and otherwise, such as it is, starts to pick up in the second half of S1. Right about episode 10, They've Got A Secret, actually, is when you'll start to see stuff that pays off later down the line.

EDIT - Recommended episodes, if you can find them somewhere before you buy - A Human Reaction, Nerve and The Hidden Memory (intro to Scorpius, which to a lot of people, is where it gets damn good), Crackers Don't Matter, ... I'd give you more (The Locket, Green Eyed Monster) but that'd toss you way farther into stuff than you might enjoy. And of course, there's stinkers (Scratch 'n Sniff), the bizarre (Revenging Angel).... anything catching yet?

Yes, the development of the characters in Farscape is Phenomenal. They really push them far.

[Lunan]

10 eps. oh my, you really haven't gotten it at all. i will grant alot of season 1 was not great, but it builds to the end of season one, and it was 100% worth it, then you get season 2, and they push the envelop HARD right to the time it was cancelled, and the ep "that old black magic" and "DNA mad scientist" are trully interesting eps in season 1. also i enjoyed the flipside look at alien invasion stereotypes in the second ep(name escapes me at the moment)

the mutliparters are alot of fun, wait till you get to "Liars, Guns and Money"
then there is the body switvhing episode, hysterical. it is worth it if you find em somewhere, after all season one of b5 ain't that great either

edit, oh i'm rather fond of revenging angel, its every MALE persons dream(ok young male) to be able to be a cartoon hero, it made perfect sense to me, infact i slip that one in when i need a good laugh

[Joe Nazzaro]

I have to agree, season one was pretty underwhelming. IMO, things really started to pick up at the end of season two leading into season three. There are episodes in seasons three and four that are some of the best SF television I've seen- audacious storylines, fun characters and some extremely cool aliens that finally broke the Star Trek mold (mind you, I actually wrote a book about the latter, so I will admit I'm biased).

The down side to coming to the party late is that by season three, the continuity gets so complex that it's virtually impossible for a newbie to jump on. That being said, the Farscape DVDs were eventually packaged in cheaper 'Stardust editions,' which I think had as many as eight episodes apiece as well as tons of commentaries and extra features.

I would say that the series really rewards continued viewing, but requires a bit of patience to get to that point. And with the exception of the annoying Rygel, most of the really dopey-looking muppets fall by the wayside in season one.

[Lunan]

I would say that the series really rewards continued viewing, but requires a bit of patience to get to that point. And with the exception of the annoying Rygel, most of the really dopey-looking muppets fall by the wayside in season one.

oh come on joe, rygel is hysterical, and i have to admit i LOVE the muppets, with the muppets you can do SO much that just looks chesey in cgi, and you can ACT with them and not have that whole eye line greenscreen thing. i keep hoping someone will hire the creature shop to do more SF work.

The Greatest advantage of the muppets though really is that you can BREAK the human mold when doing aliens, you can really creat lifeforms that arn't bipedal, arn't dependent on a man in a rubber suit. i LOVE the muppets, and the drds are great too

[Joe Nazzaro]

Don't get me wrong, I love most of the Farscape creatures; if not, I wouldn't have spent the better part of a year putting together an art book about them. And I've been a Muppet lover since the days they were on SNL if not before. But there are a few Muppety-looking creatures that just don't work, any more than some of the petting zoo aliens in the B5 pilot.

And I agree 100% about breaking away from the human shape, which is something that Dave Elsey and the Australian Creature Shop team did incredibly well. Just look a character like Paroos from 'A Prefect Murder' or Kabaah from 'Scratch and Sniff,' both of which were puppet/animatronic creations.

Incidentally, a lot of the Farscape Starburst editions are still available on Amazon for around 20 bucks for seven or eight episodes plus extras, which is a pretty good deal. But from what I understand, some of the early Starburst releases were on double-sided disks which were plagued with technical problems, so make sure you get the later single-sided disks.

[Lunan]

ok good points, some of the early ones are a bit odd, though i love the creature next to rygel's cell when he was kidnapped, forget what season or ep off the top of my head

gotta say though Pilot was GREAT even though he was a puppet worked by loke 20 guys and voiced by lani tupu you FELT like he was a real person, and that was great because he is TOTALLY non-human, and most of the time critter like him are the "evil scary beast"

also one of the GREAT things about the show was that it was done in austriala where it didn't get the amount of new and fan raving that shows like sg-1 and sg-a do in canada, or doctor who does in cardiff, since mainly(with some exceptions) aussies arn't too big on SF

and the fan outcry when the show was caned is as far as i know the FIRST time ever the FAN got someone to finally finish the story (even if they had to squezze a WHOLE season into 1 4 hour movie, and screw with continuity to do it, since they just had to jump some char to where they would have gotten to at the end of season 5)

[Ranger1]

Best sci-fi show ever right after B5, you should totally watch the entire show.

[Karachi Vyce]

I had heard enough glowing reviews of Farscape here and in other areas that I gave it a try via Netflix. I think I was about ten episodes into season one when Netflix discontinued the season one disks. According to Netflix support, new sets are not being produced at this time and Netflix did not have enough copies to ensure timely delivery.

Anyhow, I was pretty unimpressed. I generally liked the characters and the special effects were pretty nice. The muppets didn't bother me at all. Unfortunately, the stories were generally uninspired and tended to be of the "everything is back to normal at the end of the episode" nature. However, I would not have been overly impressed after just ten episodes of B5 either, so I thought I would see what the rest of you thought of Farscape. Does it change significantly as the series progresses, or if I didn't like the first half of season one am I unlikely to get hooked if I buy the season one disks and keep on watching?

And there's the key.

If you think Bab 5 was a great show, and someone told you "eh, I watched the first few episodes and thought it was kind of boring, didn't bother with anything else", you'd probably try and explain to them that the show really picked up later on.

Same with Farscape. The storylines got a lot more deep and complex, and the characters very much developed. It's probably the sci-fi show I enjoy most out of the last 10 years or so.

[vacantlook]

...rygel is hysterical....

"I never run away! I strategically maneuver!"

[Joe Nazzaro]

And for those who haven't seen it yet, Farscape has one of the most mind-numbing final scenes ever, made even more dramatic by the fact that the fans didn't know if the show was ever coming back. They did eventually wrap things up with the 'Peacekeeper War' mini-series, but at the time that final episode aired, it was a real gut-punch for the fans. I'm not going to blow it for people who haven't seen it yet, but those who have know what I'm talking about.

[Lunan]

And for those who haven't seen it yet, Farscape has one of the most mind-numbing final scenes ever, made even more dramatic by the fact that the fans didn't know if the show was ever coming back. They did eventually wrap things up with the 'Peacekeeper War' mini-series, but at the time that final episode aired, it was a real gut-punch for the fans. I'm not going to blow it for people who haven't seen it yet, but those who have know what I'm talking about.

i have to admit, i did not watch farscape when it aired, didn't even catch an ep here or there cause it was eithe up agenst somethign else i was watching or i didn't have the time.

when scifi aired the peacekeeper wars i watched THAT first (not the way i recomend by the way) but i was SO curious about these chars, they we so deep, involved, interesting, irritating, funny. etc

and then i did a little look around the net, all these fan sites, all these pushing for it to be finished, etc

then i saw from season 1 to 4(bought season 1 on dvd used, got hooked)
and i can TOTALLY understand the MASSIVE fan reaction to the cancellation, and why, to put more money into stargate(another show i love) which is about 10 times WORSE then farscape

ok i shouold stop ranting now...