Oh, don't get me wrong, I loved The Peacekeeper Wars, but I can see how season 5 would have played out if we had gotten it.
Babylon 5 Farscape-Style
- Thread starter Joe Washington
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I actually think PKW provided a better finale than they would have had if they'd run for the full five seasons. It seemed like they were wrapping things up at the end of season four, and having $20 million to blow on a whopping movie-like series finale worked quite well. Season five might have been a cool slow burn to the eventual war and such, but I don't mourn its loss much. Only thing which might have been cool to see, as another poster noted, would have been something along the Nebari lines.
There are a lot of hinted-at and speculated plotlines they had to drop, though (one of the crazier ones is Granny being reincarnated Zhaan... or something).
The thing is, while season four had a couple of missteps; the final arc was still classic Farscape extravagance; expanding and complicating their space opera melodramatics with the internal workings of the Scarran empire; which, who knows, might have had more payoffs later.
I'd agree the whole wormhole macguffin had been beaten to death at this point; but I have confidence that maybe the Farscape writers had some pretty neat stuff lined up for the final two years.
I don't know if that included the Nebari, though I'd agree that'd be nice to see. The thing about the Nebari is, despite their implied importance with Chiana being a regular; they really only featured in two episodes of the show's entire run. Which is, for eample, less often then Durka appeared. Trying to stop their nefarious schemes probably could have been a pretty neat season ender, though.
But admittedly I'm not that sad as Farscape does seem pretty whole in its current form... though I still wanted to see Rygel reclaim his throne, damn it!
For what it's worth, you do get to see that in the first comic mini-series.
I too wished that Farscape had a Season 5 but I also believe that Peacekeeper Wars was a perfect finale to the show. After watching it, I felt completely satisfied. No, we didn't get to see the return of the Nebari or their plans to take over the galaxy. No, we didn't get to see Rygel's return to his homeworld and him reclaiming his throne. But we basically know that Rygel is on his way to doing that after the miniseries and honestly, after watching the finale, the Nebari threat didn't really seem that important. They could easily be put in the box of future adventures John and Aeryn will go on in the show's off-screen future that are better left up to the imagination.
Both KRAD & David Mack are working on The Farscape Comics with Rockne S. O'Bannon & For BOOM Studios.
Based on what I've read so far, it's a great continuation for any fan of The TV series.
Check them out.
Based on what I've read so far, it's a great continuation for any fan of The TV series.
Check them out.
The comics I've read (the first three hardcovers that are set post-series) captured the voices of the characters and the feel of the series spot on. The likenesses weren't bad, either, though they weren't as close as the character voices.
I'm kind of curious about the two D'Argo hardcovers that I've seen. Since they aren't set post-series, and since I'm short on cash, I haven't picked them up. But if they're any good, I might give them a shot at some point. Anyone read them?
I'm kind of curious about the two D'Argo hardcovers that I've seen. Since they aren't set post-series, and since I'm short on cash, I haven't picked them up. But if they're any good, I might give them a shot at some point. Anyone read them?
My main regret from the PKW replacing Season 5 is the story of Noranti and Sikozu. Even if they still kept Sikozu a traitor in the end, it would have been nice to see the build-up to that. When it was revealed in the PKW, it just felt really off, because the last we saw Sikozu she was very much playing for the good guys.
They did skip a little bit of character development to move the plot along. At the end of season 4, no one really gave a crap about the conflict between the Peacekeepers and the Scarans. They were concerned with theri own well-being instead. Then in PKW you have everyone harping on about how they must have peace between the Peacekeepers and the Scarans and actually risk their necks in an insane attempt to achieve that goal, for absolutely no justifiable reason.
PKW's quick wrapup also produces an incredibly broken aesop. While they were going for "WMDs are terrible things and no one should have them" they got "WMDs are awesome and everyone should have them".
You can't have an an anti-universe-destroying-superweapon message when you clearly used a universe-destroying-superweapon to solve your problem. It just doesn't work.
Why not? Crichton using the wormhole weapon showed everyone involved just how terrible they were. Even Staleek realized that they could never ever be used in a war.
But that's the point of MAD. And MAD was exactly the tactic that Chriton used.
If Chriton can use MAD to protect himself, why can't the Peacekeepers use MAD to protect themselves, or the Scarans?
No one should have that kind of power? Really, Commander Chriton, what gives you the right to make that decision? Is it your Biggest Hypocrite in the Universe Award given to you by the Hypocrite of the Month club, of which you are a founding
Aesop was that weapons don't make peace, people do. But Chriton couldn't have forced a peace without the threat of his doomsday weapon. Thus, doomsday weapons are good things that make peace. And it is wrong of Chriton to keep them to himself because sharing them could only make the universe more peaceful.
After all, it's likely that the treaty between Peacekeepers and Scarans will break down as soon as one side or the other stops fearing that Chriton might destroy the universe just to spite them (his deterrent value will be drastically reduced when he's raising a kid aboard Moya or on an out-of-the way planet that both sides can reasonably avoid attacking) and even if it doesn't the Nabari could pose problems in the near future. The deterrence factor provided by wormhole weapon proliferation would actually b ea good thing.
Except that:
a) Crichton did what he did as a last resort. He certainly didn't want to do it. He spent a good deal of time trying to find other options.
b) Giving wormhole weapons to everybody is just as big a risk without actually demonstrating what they could do. Nobody knew that a wormhole weapon would create a black hole that would swallow the galaxy, and nobody COULD know until Crichton demonstrated it. We don't use WMDs today because we have witnessed what they can actually do and we know that a nuclear war will likely mean the end of us all. You really think Emperor Staleek would have just taken Crichton's word that he shouldn't use the wormhole weapon? Hell no! He would have used it on the Peacekeepers the first chance he got, and he certainly wouldn't have the power to stop it.
I really think you're twisting the situation to fit your own views. Crichton certainly wasn't the one who decided that nobody should wield wormhole weapons. He was just trying to enforce what the Ancients told him.
a) Crichton did what he did as a last resort. He certainly didn't want to do it. He spent a good deal of time trying to find other options.
b) Giving wormhole weapons to everybody is just as big a risk without actually demonstrating what they could do. Nobody knew that a wormhole weapon would create a black hole that would swallow the galaxy, and nobody COULD know until Crichton demonstrated it. We don't use WMDs today because we have witnessed what they can actually do and we know that a nuclear war will likely mean the end of us all. You really think Emperor Staleek would have just taken Crichton's word that he shouldn't use the wormhole weapon? Hell no! He would have used it on the Peacekeepers the first chance he got, and he certainly wouldn't have the power to stop it.
I really think you're twisting the situation to fit your own views. Crichton certainly wasn't the one who decided that nobody should wield wormhole weapons. He was just trying to enforce what the Ancients told him.
I've read the first D'Argo hardcover (I'm waiting for Amazon to send the next two) and loved it. Best part: it explores his relationship with Jool.
For what it's worth, she returns in the comics with some explanatory for her actions (but there's a hitch in the explanation which I have trouble swallowing). In a review thread I posted awhile ago, Keith indicated that further explanation for her actions (in particular the aforementioned hitch) might be explained in a future story if and when he feels it's necessary for the story.
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