Watching Farscape Season 1.

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, that's pretty much the definition of a graphic novel.

[Trubinator]

Glad to see another fan introduced to the show. I've been forcing a friend to watch it and he just doesn't seem to "get" it. Almost made me forget how much fun it is to talk about the show with people who also love it.

[RoJoHen]

Trubinator wrote:

---

Glad to see another fan introduced to the show. I've been forcing a friend to watch it and he just doesn't seem to "get" it. Almost made me forget how much fun it is to talk about the show with people who also love it.

How far has your friend gotten? I've introduced many friends to Farscape, but it took most of them a while before they started to really enjoy it. As much as I opposed to the idea, I think Farscape is easier to get into if you start watching it during the big season finale arcs. I started watching it during the "Liars, Guns, and Money" trilogy. I had no idea what was going on, but it was so good that I wanted to watch more!

[RandyS]

ConRefit79 wrote:

---

My order for all 4 seasons + Peace Keepers wars arrived yesterday. I've been watching season 1.

What is it with Sci Fi channel? These idiots have good shows going and always kill them in their prime. First Farscape then BSG.

Have fun. I bough that A&E release (I assume yours is that) back in November when it first came out, and watched the series one episode per night from January 1 through the end of March. I hadn't seen the show in years and had forgotten how good it was. I watched it alongside New Battlestar Galactica, and man, am I glad I did. Farscape's endless fun provided a great counterpoint to Galactica's never-ending over the top melodrama. In the interviews in the special features, the actors talked about how Farscape turned "dark", but I couldn't see that. Sure, there was drama, but the show was still fun.

[23skidoo]

I was actually going to start a thread on this until I saw this one. About a month ago I bought the full-series box set. I'd been meaning to for ages. I'd seen bits and pieces of Farscape over the years but its rather erratic scheduling (not to mention the fact that later on it did become hard to figure out what the frell was going on as there were few if any jumping-on points) led me to file it under "watch on DVD". But the initial DVD releases were so damn expensive I ended up ignoring them, too, until the box finally came out at a half-decent price.

If a show really grabs me, I can chug-a-lug episodes pretty rapidly and that's the case with Farscape. Initially I planned to watch just Season 1, then put it aside for awhile. Well, I've just finished Season 3 and have no plans to stop now! I even ordered the Peacekeeper Wars miniseries (which, due to being owned by a different company, is not included in the box). I'm even lining up to order some of the graphic novels O'Bannon wrote.

By now you've probably guessed I love the show to bits! It's got a great combination of light and dark, serious and silly, and fantastic performances. Indeed, it ticks off most of the same boxes that makes Doctor Who so appealing to me. There are episodes that literally had me falling out of my chair laughing, and there are episodes that had me depressed for days afterwards. THAT is a mark of a good series.

And I share the following view with a number of other people I've spoken to about the series, including a university English professor I know - anyone who dismisses the show because of the Muppets simply hasn't watched the show. And those who refuse to watch it because of the puppets really are doing themselves a disservice. Frankly, once you get into the show, you forget Rygel and Pilot are puppets.

Regarding the "graphic novels are not real novels" argument, in my opinion that was invalidated when Alan Moore put out Watchmen and when Maus won the Pulitzer. And Cerebus the Aardvark - controversies about content aside - is more literary than most novels published in the last 40 years. And in the case of the Farscape ones, they are considered official continuations of the series, most if not all written by O'Bannon himself, so if you are a fan of the series and want the whole story, you have to read them, full stop. I plan on ordering them through Amazon as soon as I finish watching Series 4 and the Mini-series. Which at this rate will probably be sometime next week!

Alex

[jojolimited]

I actually met Virginia Hey at a couple of conventions. A true Misandrist. Really sad.
The other actors were totally cool.

[RandyS]

jojolimited wrote:

---

I actually met Virginia Hey at a couple of conventions. A true Misandrist. Really sad.
The other actors were totally cool.

Huh? She hates men?

[IcecreamLtDan]

I find that weird, I'm a friend of hers on Facebook and she posts quite often speaking of her boyfriend.

[ConRefit79]

I became a fan of the series during the 3rd season. I saw most of that season and all of the 4th. I had seen several episodes of the earlier seasons but not in order. I've finished season 1. Very good beginning.

I read they are working on new episodes for online. How can they afford that and SciFi can't.

[RandyS]

ConRefit79 wrote:

---

I became a fan of the series during the 3rd season. I saw most of that season and all of the 4th. I had seen several episodes of the earlier seasons but not in order. I've finished season 1. Very good beginning.

I read they are working on new episodes for online. How can they afford that and SciFi can't.

You mean the webisodes announced last year? I think those were cancelled.

[tomalak301]

RandyS wrote:

---

You mean the webisodes announced last year? I think those were cancelled.

I think they were announced 3 years ago. I figured they were cancelled because the last I heard they couldn't get the funding. Kinda sucks, but since I bought the DVDs last year, I really ended up not caring all that much.

[IcecreamLtDan]

As far as I know, they have not been canceled. Rockne keeps stating they are looking for financing for them and more recently he has been teasing those of us who follow him on twitter about meetings he's been having with himself, Brian Henson and people unnamed about an exciting event. That may not necessarily be regarding Farscape, but it sounds promising.

"Big mtg this Weds w/ B Henson, me, and ******* - oops, can't say. Just earliest beginning-but cautiously very excited. Things are a'brewin'."

[PsychoPere]

I've recently started watching the series as well, after purchasing the box set and Peacekeeper Wars. In this case, "recently" is being used very subjectively -- I started at least two months ago and have only gotten about half way through season one so far. On this board particularly, I've always read such positive things about the show, but it's not grabbing me yet at all.

[mimic]

^The first episode I really liked was 2x05.

I think I'd like the show better on rewatch - probably safe to say it's a bit of an acquired taste.

[23skidoo]

ConRefit79 wrote:

---

I read they are working on new episodes for online. How can they afford that and SciFi can't.

Last I heard that project was on indefinite hold (I'd also imagine it would be hard to get certain cast members back for them, anyway).

As for the "how could they afford to do them", well Sci-Fi as I understand it didn't pay for the Mini-series either. And anyway, don't equate the Syfy of today with the Sci-Fi of 7-8 years ago that had the European funding for Farscape cancelled (which I believe was what happened).

And anyway, YouTube is full of "Webisode"-style productions that cost a fraction of what "standard" TV or film costs to produce, yet are just as professionally done. I have absolutely no doubts that a Farscape webisode could be made using virtual sets. But if they don't get the original cast to come back I wouldn't be that interested in them anyway.

PS. Just finished Season 3 over the weekend and have started Season 4. For those still on Season 1 and wondering whether to muddle through, I have two words regarding Season 4: Raelee Hill.

Alex