Farscape: Premiere

Aired Date: March 19, 1999

Time Mike wanted to see it: A good friend started bugging me to see it somewhere around 2005, and I've been vaguely interested in seeing it since then. When I started using Netflix on my Xbox over a year ago, it instantly went into my instant queue....and stayed there, unwatched, for nearly a year.

Reason Mike procrastinated: It just looks...well, cheap. And cheesy. And there are so many other under-rated little known cable sci-fi shows that I've been meaning to watch (Sliders, Stargate), or have watched (Firefly, Babylon 5), that Farscape just kinda of got overlooked.

Category: Syndicated/Cable Low-budget Sci-fi

Mike says I really should have been more excited when, after years of putting it off, I finally sat down and watched Farscape. But really, I felt like I was doing some chore I had been avoiding until the last possible moment. And, sadly, I continued to feel that way through most of it.

I can say I was impressed with the pace of the first episode. It gets moving FAST, with John off the planet and far off into space within ten minutes. The inclusion of a veteran astronaut as John's dad was a little over the top, but admittedly a nice touch that should have received a little press.

The premise is run-of-the-mill sci-fi: traveler thrown into a far off place and searching for home is really a standard at this point, not to mention that any territory already explored by a Star Trek series is a risk, especially for a little known concept without any sort of brand recognition tied to it.

As such, I really couldn't help but draw the obvious comparison between Star Trek: Voyager and Farscape, which is a discussion that I would guess (without Googling to check) has raged across the Internet for years.

What Farscape has going for it is a strong male lead, a sexy and assertive female lead, and some funny one liners. And, in the end, that's about it. It's easy to guess that the political intrigue with the human-like species will progress through the remainder of the show, and at some point John will become leader of a rebellion rather than getting home (again, speculation).

Voyager, however, while being far than perfect, explores the idea of being lost in a far more interesting way. First off, humanoid characters are more interesting as main characters. Secondly, instead of focusing on one lone man experiencing new things, we get to see how an entire community reacts and adapts. We also get to see how the decisions of that community impact the cultures they meet on their way home.

As a fan of Firefly and Joss Whedon, I really do appreciate humor in my sci-fi, which Voyager was always a little light on. It seems that humor is a common element in cable sci-fi and usually it works pretty well. Star Trek, however, has always been a bit more serious, with its humor being a little more dry and subtle. Farscape's humor is perhaps the only real thing that might bring me back, though it's questionable.

While funny, the universe the show creates is just a tad too weird, as well as cheap looking, to really hook me. I am a little tempted to see what might be in store down the road, but, then again, I do have a long list of shows to see (one day, Stargate, I promise!)


Kate says this was the first time I saw anything Farscape-related! Bizarre, huh? It's bizarre to me. I've at least caught glimpses of Xena and Andromeda over the years, but somehow Farscape didn't make it on my radar.

Based on the opening minutes of the Farscape pilot, it would probably have stayed off my radar--if, that is, I wasn't reviewing the pilot for this list. The first few minutes of the pilot were supremely off-putting. I still have no idea why the astronaut's best friend, D.K., was in the pilot--and I have even less of a no-idea why a scientist working for NASA would dress and act like a punk rocker.

Luckily, I kept watching, and I will say that once John gets thrown through the wormhole, the episode really picks up. It delivers a great deal of information in an hour but not in an overly confusing or distancing way. In fact, "Premiere" is what Lucas should have done for Star Wars I, II, and III. The politics are simple but intelligent (if a bit wooden in delivery). The events unfold through John's eyes, so the viewer gains understanding at the same time he does. (The actor does a good job capturing John's confused resilience in the face of his new circumstances.)

Just as importantly, the hero, John Crichton, looks and acts the part (one reason I couldn't get into the recent Robin Hood series was because I never could believe in Jonas Armstrong as a leader). Ben Browder as John Crichton convinced me of his intelligence, resourcefulness, leadership and fundamental kindness ("Go. Go play") right away.

And I liked his sense of humor: "I'll fill you full of . . . little yellow bolts of light." (The pilot could have used more humor, though pilots are almost always overly serious.)

Plus John has a good relationship with the female lead, Aeryn--more than adequate sexual tension and strong character development issues.

Unfortunately, John and Aeryn bring me to my closing confession: although I enjoyed the pilot, I can't see myself watching much more Farscape. The problem: I had zero interest in anyone but the humans. The priest, Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan, was somewhat interesting, but D'Argo bored me, and the other main characters . . . Muppets. I've mentioned before that I like Muppets as Muppets; otherwise, I need human faces.

This lack of relatable characters is quite different from Star Trek: TNG and Stargate. With either of those shows, if I get tired of one character, I just start focusing on another. I enjoy Data episodes, Picard episodes, Riker episodes, Geordi episodes. Even Troi delivers some engaging plots. And though I'm not a huge fan of Klingon episodes in general, Worf does have some kickin' storylines (plus I can see his expressions).

Likewise, I enjoy Daniel episodes and Jack episodes and Samantha episodes and Teal'c episodes.

But, based on only the Farscape pilot (which is not, I grant, a very fair assessment), I would be invested in precisely two characters and since the show obviously focuses on their relationship, I would pretty much be held hostage to that one relationship.

I do watch shows where I am held hostage to one relationship, X-Files being the most notable example (Bones, Lois & Clark are two others). And there's no reason for me to suppose that Aeryn and John's relationship wouldn't engage me as much as Mulder and Scully's, especially since I like the characters. But I'm not sure there is enough there there to keep me watching.