Farscape... I am liking this series...

[JD]

l've never seen it, but l blind-bought the first season on blu-ray a while back. l'm hoping its gonna be good, but from what l hear it has a lot of Muppet action. Hmmm...

It does not have Muppet action. It has action by animatronic characters that were created and designed by the Jim Henson Muppet Company. That's a very different thing.

And if you give it even a little bit of a chance, you will see that those animatronic characters are better performed and more interesting than half the flesh-and-blood characters on some other shows I could name. In fact, by at least the end of the first season and probably a lot sooner, you won't even notice they are animatronic characters anymore.

.

Sweet. l didn't mean to seem so disconcerted about the "muppet action". l'm actually a big fan of animatronics and old-school effects, and would prefer these over any sort of CGI type assiness. Gonna have to check this out soon.

The two animatronic main characters, Rygel and Pilot, are IMO two of the show's best characters.

 

[Australis]

Mmmm, I watched the first series or two, but it failed to gel with me. I may have to try again.

The thing about Farscape is, the like of us get it, because we're into SF. But the people who originally made it (Channel Nine in Australia) wanted a big mainstream success, because Nine is always, always chasing the big bucks, and this show was so far out there the audience soon fell away. If it had been closer to a ST type show, it may have been on longer.

Ah, but then it wouldn't have been special.

That is very true, I concur. I just don't know if it will linger like TOS, if you see what I mean.

Don't get me wrong, I do recognise a good show, even if I think it's not for me, and that's why I will persevere with it. Right now, I'm catching up on another neglected show, Fringe. Maybe after that.

 

[Joerib]

The Peacekeeper wars should be viewed after season 4 am I correct???

 

[Skywalker]

Correct.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yes, but you need to wait two years after viewing Season 4 before you are allowed to watch The Peacekeeper Wars. It's only fair.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

There's another thread right now postulating about a remake of Babylon 5, but of all the possibilities out there, I think Farscape has the most going for it. The TV market has fundamentally changed so much in the past ten years that the "narrowness" of the show's appeal is now an advantage, on cable.

If any cable channel wants a sci fi version of Game of Thrones (in terms of color, intrigue, weirdness and adult themes), Farscape is the property that would best lend itself to being shaped in that direction. I'm thinking HBO, Showtime, Starz, AMC or FX a lot more than SyFy. FX in particular, with their male-skewing audience, should being doing more sci fi.

Henson could continue the storyline with Crichton, Aeryn and lil D, with everyone aged about ten years (just right for the kid to be a full fledged character now), still interacting with the same menagerie of species and empires. The other major characters (who are still alive) could have recurring roles as needed, with new ones added into the mix.

 

[RoJoHen]

I have often thought about a Farscape 2.0-type series. I actually used to get really funny Farscape vibes while watching Chuck - Chuck as the human out of his element, Sarah as the Peacekeeper, and Casey as the Luxan antagonist-turned-best friend.

I definitely don't want Farscape being remade, but I think a sequel series would be a fantastic idea.

 

[Kegg]

The weirdest thing for me regarding objections to Farscape's puppets is simply how universally Yoda is beloved. There really aren't many more mainstream space opera aliens than Franz Oz's space zen master, and here's puppets made by the same company and, in the case of Rygel, giving every bit as good (if not better) animatronic performances... so what's the deal?

FX in particular, with their male-skewing audience, should being doing more sci fi.

Timothy Olyphant is John Crichton...

*cough*

Henson could continue the storyline with Crichton, Aeryn and lil D, with everyone aged about ten years (just right for the kid to be a full fledged character now), still interacting with the same menagerie of species and empires.

That could work for us, that is, fans of the original Farscape, but surely by this point if they were reviving Farscape they'd want to also appeal to people who've never seen the show.

Really, either a remake, or at least a series that adds another human character with more up-to-date pop culture quips might be needed.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The weirdest thing for me regarding objections to Farscape's puppets is simply how universally Yoda is beloved.

Not universally, but the complaints I've heard generally focus on the CGI version of the prequels. Everyone loves the muppet.

That could work for us, that is, fans of the original Farscape, but surely by this point if they were reviving Farscape they'd want to also appeal to people who've never seen the show.

A family living in space, with Dad being an astronaut and Mom being an alien warrior woman, has just as much chance of being appealing as any premise I could think of. You wouldn't need to know how the heck Dad got out there, other than, "he got lost." The family is just the group around which adventures occur, just like the escaped prisoners were the group in the original premise. It's an excuse to throw people together.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Maureen Robinson had a well used laser Rifle.

Although...

I wish there had been an episode where she balled her fist and decked Dr Smith.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, you wouldn't really need knowledge of the original show for a Farscape sequel to work, especially if you put 10+ years between it and "The Peacekeeper Wars." After that much time, you really don't need any backstory.

 

[JD]

If they built the series off of what I read about Areyn's status in the last one or two arcs of comics, I could see it being very interesting.

Spoiler: Aeryn's status in the comics

I don't know if she still was at the end of the series, but by the last arc Aeryn was now The Peacekeeper Commandant.

 

[Sindatur]

Yes, but you need to wait two years after viewing Season 4 before you are allowed to watch The Peacekeeper Wars. It's only fair.

Talk about cruel and unusual punishment inflicted by Cancelation Cliffhanger. One of the absolute cruelest in the history of cancelled TV. Thank God, they only made us wait two years, instead of never resolving it.

 

[Joerib]

Yes, but you need to wait two years after viewing Season 4 before you are allowed to watch The Peacekeeper Wars. It's only fair.

LOL

 

[Mach5]

Thank God, they only made us wait two years, instead of never resolving it.

I think I would have turned gray, had I actually had to wait two years.



It took me about three weeks to go through all of Farscape (on DVD), and I must say i miss the ride. It was awesome.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I've just finished watching farscape, I had to say at first I had trouble getting into it, I really did not like the characters but I'm glad I kept with it.

 

[Kegg]

The weirdest thing for me regarding objections to Farscape's puppets is simply how universally Yoda is beloved.

Not universally, but the complaints I've heard generally focus on the CGI version of the prequels. Everyone loves the muppet.

Well, I've also heard of people having issues with the puppet used in The Phantom Menace, but that was a reaction to that specific puppet, not to the idea that a puppet Zen master is inherently too silly to watch.

If you can buy Yoda, I can't process why you can't buy Rygel is the gist of my argument there. (Dislike Rygel, sure, but what's wrong with his puppetry?)

A family living in space, with Dad being an astronaut and Mom being an alien warrior woman, has just as much chance of being appealing as any premise I could think of. You wouldn't need to know how the heck Dad got out there, other than, "he got lost." The family is just the group around which adventures occur,.

So... Lost In Space. Yeah, I guess I could see that. They'd want new characters and all, though.

 

[Gary7]

I just finished Season One of Farscape (on Hulu). I had a few sporadic episode viewings back in the days when I had access to SciFi (SyFy) and enjoyed it, but somehow just didn't get around to watching it regularly.

Having started from the beginning and getting to know the characters... I have to say that I'm much more impressed this time around. And deeply saddened to know it had a brief 4 Seasons. This was GREAT SCI-FI!! It had so many terrific elements going for it.

Anyway, seems like the main actors haven't had too much traction on work these days. If only a Farscape movie could be made... I'm fairly confident they'd be able to get at least Browder, Black, Simcoe, and Hey. Too bad about Hardy... although if they could get someone with a similar voice, the puppet would do the rest.

 

[Marc]

Anyway, seems like the main actors haven't had too much traction on work these days. If only a Farscape movie could be made... I'm fairly confident they'd be able to get at least Browder, Black, Simcoe, and Hey. Too bad about Hardy... although if they could get someone with a similar voice, the puppet would do the rest.

Think Browder keeps reasonably busy (most recently seen in Doctor Who and Arrow) and Virginia Hey has had a good career but has had health problems in recent years (some of them due to the make up she wore on Farscape) and Claudia Black has done tv and video game voicing.

Anthony Simcoe doesn't seem to have much tv work in recent years.

 

[Gary7]

Knowing Browder's schedule and his apparent positive attitude towards revisiting Farscape, I think that's the biggest plus and would go a long way to rallying interest from other Farscape acting veterans. Wow, hadn't heard that Hey suffered health problems from her make-up. That's quite surprising, given how advanced makeup has become these days (a very long way from the Tinman syndrome--aluminum dust!).