Farscape - The Peacekeeper Wars

Just turned on the (rather lacklustre these days) SyFy channel, which has taken a break from showing Asylum mockbusters or American shows that last one "season" to giving us a late festive season  repeat of "Farscape - The Peacekeeper Wars".

It's episode 2 tonight.

It was a wonderfully welcome sight when it happened; who can forget the ruthless cancellation of the show on the apparent cliff hanging disintegration of Crichton and Aeryn. Actually Farscape had long since past its best at the halfway point to series 2, and I thought series 3 was bobbins, with great characterisation abandoned in favour of utter confusion. But the final series was moving in the right direction, and folk were mighty unhappy when the Sci Fi channel decided to cut its throat.

So, three or so years later, after a Fan campaign etc etc, we got Peacekeeper Wars. I enjoyed watching it at the time, but now, well, it hasn't lasted well.

I think the problem is the story. Seemingly the writers compressed the 22 episode arc for the intented Season 5 into the 4 hour format, and did so in such a way as to leave the actual storyline incomprehensible. It's also very weakly written, and really rather soppy too.

Farscape was initially like a Blakes 7 with tentacles, nobody wanted to see weddings and kissy kissy and mawkish scenes with baby's being named after bravely deceased characters. Sikozu's treachery is completely inexplicable and unexplained in any satisfactory way, and no-one gives a monkeys about the peacegiving jigsaw faced aliens. Or Stark. Especially Stark.

And how does Aeryn manage to give birth without removing her leather one piece outfit? How? Probably in the same way they managed to shove every single character that had ever been on the show ever into the script, and never mind if they were dead! Oh look, and now there's more slush, between D'Argo and his son Jothee this time. Get off!

In truth Crichton's shtick and pop culture referencing had long since begun to irritate me. But luckily, we still had Wayne Pygram's Scorpius - one of Sci-Fi's great anti-heroes - or is it an anti-villain? - and Rygel, one of Sci Fi's great characters full stop. At least someone had remembered how to write for them.  And the Worm-Hole ending isn't bad, really. But then they have to go and ruin it with the baby stuff.

I will leave you with one thought. The interesting resemblance between Captain Bracca, and Richard Hammond from Top Gear.

Copyright Bloody Mulberry 05.01.14

Firefly versus Farscape

Someone I know is being indoctrinated into Firefly.

THis is a good thing. Firefly was a great show, gritty, low tech - which I love - well written and well acted by the usual Joss Whedon suspects. It is superior to the Serenity movie, which despite the addition of Chiwetel Ejiofor looks far too shiny. Far too shiny indeed.

Nonetheless it's a superior piece of Cult TV, and I really wish I hadn't given the DVDs back to the guy I borrowed them from.

However when I tried the same trick myself, on the same person, with Farscape, with the fun and jolly "Crackers Don't Matter" the response was all a bit "meh". I loved Farscape the moment I saw it, was gutted when it was cancelled despite the fact that after Series 2 it lost its way a little and turned too much into the Ben Browder show on occasion.

"A bit meh" - I was hurt and offended I can tell you. Wonderful characters, genuinely inhuman creatures - not just people with wrinkles stuck on their noses (Guilty as charged, Star Trek TNG) - Scorpius, the greatest camp villain since Servalan from Blakes 7, and settings just not found elsewhere.

I don't understand how any geek or nerd could not like Farscape!