I'm Climbing Up Those Walls Again

Arnold Schwarzenegger recently described his political enemies as "girlie men" during a press conference. I was never quite down with the concept of the "girlie man" until today when I squealed like one when I saw the trailed for the new FARSCAPE MINISERIES *Squeal* The 4 hour production, which airs in October, is titled Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. I've decided to take the time to inform everyone again about my favorite sci-fi series. Maybe I can convince someone to download some episodes, or catch the re-runs that air on the Sci-fi channel all the time.

Farscape is a sci-fi channel funded series which ran for 4 seasons. It has won numerous Saturn awards, and has always been a favorite of the critics. Farscape fans are not as plentiful as Trekkies, but are probably a more diverse group. My dad is a Farscape fan, despite not liking any other sci-fi shows. The series was suddenly cancelled despite having signed on for a 5th season, because ratings waned in the 4th season. The show was axed right in the middle of the story, and so the last episode of Farscape had the two main characters being apparently killed off, with no resolution to the story.

The fans were outraged, and quickly mounted an unprecedented campaign to get Farscape back on the air. Through the website savefarscape.com, they raised thousands of dollars. Why should an award-winning show be cancelled when crap like Stargate SG-1 and Tremors: The Series stayed on? Despite the efforts of the fans, the sets were destroyed, and so it looked like Farscape was gone forever.

Farscape follows the travels of astronaut John Crichton, who is played by Ben Browder (educated at Furman university!). Crichton is testing out a new theory in earth-orbit when a worm-hole inexplicably opens and sucks him in. He is deposited right in the middle of a small battle between two species of aliens locked into a semi-hostile cold war. He ends up landing on a living ship named Moya, which carries some escaped prisoners. He is also joined by a female Sebacian, a species identical in appearance to humans. She is a Peacekeeper, one of the factions that is fighting a big scaly race known as the Scarrans. Don't let their name fool you, Peacekeepers are a mean bunch.

During season 1 John spends time adjusting to his environment, and getting to know the various aliens that have commandeered Moya. There is Aeryn Sun, the beautiful peacekeeper, D'argo, a luxan warrior (initially the token Klingon, but he becomes much more), Chiana, the sex machine, Rygel, a deposed king of millions and cute muppet-like puppet. Others pop up, but these are the central characters.  Aeryn has to learn to forget her peacekeeper past, and begins warming up to John's casual advances. John learns that somehow, an alien race has deposited extensive wormhole knowledge in his brain, and at the end of season 1, a brilliantly crafted alien with a bad name, Scorpius, begins hunting him.

At this point, the series takes on a darker tone. John looses the wide-eyed junior looks and becomes an effective commander and fighter. He also begins loosing his nerve, as a year away from home always under pursuit is wearing away at him. To make matters worse, Scorpius implanted a neural clone in John's brain, and so the pseudo-Scorpius begins to taunt John, and eventually makes him commit murder.

Season 3 seems to have no direction, until suddenly John is 'twinned' (not cloned) by crazy brain-sucking evil doctor. Due to an accident, the two Johns are separated on two ships, and the series follows both of them for a while, until one is killed. How many other shows can actually kill of a main character like that? Season 4 sees many new arrivals to moya, including that of Scorpius. By the end, John has rescued Aeryn from peril at the hands of the Scarrans, kept his wormhole knowledge secure. In the last episode he proposed so Aeryn, briefly before the two are blown up by aliens. Are they really dead? 


Farscape is sci-fi your grandmother could probably watch. Don't get me wrong, it presents you with a believable and diverse universe. The special effects are handled by Jim Henson's creature workshop, so the costume and creature design is top-notch. While the first season had a few cheesy effects, due to budget problems, by the time the season season rolled around it was easy to believe you were watching movie-quality stuff.

It has a little something for everyone. We are presented by extremely deep and layered characters, who are constantly evolving, unlike the well-thought out but undynamic characters in, say, the X-Files. While the standard Farscape filler episode involves "Aliens attacking our ship!" each one is unique in its storytelling and technique. The various directors who take us through an episode are never afraid to experiment. In fact, an episode in the 3rd season was half-Warner Brothers style cartoon.

There are light-hearted episodes in which the crew of Moya switch bodies, or visit a cross-dressing paradise planet, but there are also deeply dramatic and emotional 3-parters which involved a heavy dose of action. The cinematography is fairly unique, as the camera seems to always be floating just a little bit. It's obvious the director loves his characters as much as the fans do.

If you ever see an episode on sci-fi, sit down and watch it. I began watching with my dad in the middle of season 2, and didn't stop until I had seen every one of them. If you feel like reading up on the interesting story, primers for seasons 1-3 can be found on the official website. It really is a series that I can see any of you watching, because it has something that attracts even those that aren't really big sci-fi fans. Maybe it's just the brilliant acting? Frell, I've rambled for just too many microts,  just check it out!