The BEST sci-fi program ever made: Farscape

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

For those of you who enjoy great writing, compelling characters, and special effects (that earned a place in the World Records book!), I urge you to check out this show. Just trust me on this. Farscape. It will blow your mind.

 

[Last Watcher]

Think it lost its way a bit towards the end, but it was definitely worth watching.

I watched it when it first aired on British TV. Loved the fact that almost all the characters were not human.....pretty much a first for SciFi then.....

 

[Athena]

Never seen it. I have however seen and loved Battlestar Galactica, which is excellent. It too lags a little towards the end, but it really is fantastic.

Is it as good as BSG? I might be tempted to give it a go if so....

 

[Last Watcher]

It's very different to BSG, lets say that..... You would have to watch it from the very beginning otherwise you wouldn't understand anything that's going on.

I think they recently started showing it on one of the UK channels (as a replacement for the reshow of 'Town called Eureka')........

 

[thetopher]

Farscape is one of the few sci-fi shows that really succeeded in having an 'alien' feel to it. There's only one human guy- the male lead - and the rest are strange creatures and such (apart from Peacekeepers, who look human but rarely act like it).
It's not like Star Trek where the 'alien' is just some guy with a little bit of make-up on; there are prosthetics, puppetry, some really ambitious stuff. Two of the cast members are puppets; this is actually a lot better than it sounds.

In a way its a bit like Firefly; the main cast are all a bit shady (except John the nice, fairly hapless human scientist) and do a few morally dubious things over the course of the seasons. The ship they travel on is a former prison transport, a living ship and the crew are escaped convicts.
It also has shades of ST: Voyager- the main guy is trying to get back home- but its executed so much better.

Other things;
It's funny- John Crichton gets most of the funny lines, but other characters get to shine to.
It's not afraid to get crazy; some of the more comedic episodes are just genius.
Its not afraid to get weird, its a show about aliens so some of it should be a bit alien, but still relatable.
All the main cast get great arcs that reveal stuff about their character; they all tend to evolve organically in a way that makes sense.
The seasons have 'Big Bads'- kinda- and has a nice mixture of character-centric eps and plot-advancement eps.

One of the villains is just brilliant; iconic even. Whilst he is 'evil' he's also got understandable motivations that get revealed over the course of the show.

There is only one character I detest, I pretty much like/love all the others. This is rare for me.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Best sci-fi program ever? Without a doubt.


It did something, as far as I know, that no other show had ever done before, and none have done since.

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

Tried a few episodes. Couldn't get into it. BSG is of course excellent! 🙂

 

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

Farscape is one of the few sci-fi shows that really succeeded in having an 'alien' feel to it. There's only one human guy- the male lead - and the rest are strange creatures and such (apart from Peacekeepers, who look human but rarely act like it).
It's not like Star Trek where the 'alien' is just some guy with a little bit of make-up on; there are prosthetics, puppetry, some really ambitious stuff. Two of the cast members are puppets; this is actually a lot better than it sounds.

In a way its a bit like Firefly; the main cast are all a bit shady (except John the nice, fairly hapless human scientist) and do a few morally dubious things over the course of the seasons. The ship they travel on is a former prison transport, a living ship and the crew are escaped convicts.
It also has shades of ST: Voyager- the main guy is trying to get back home- but its executed so much better.

Other things;
It's funny- John Crichton gets most of the funny lines, but other characters get to shine to.
It's not afraid to get crazy; some of the more comedic episodes are just genius.
Its not afraid to get weird, its a show about aliens so some of it should be a bit alien, but still relatable.
All the main cast get great arcs that reveal stuff about their character; they all tend to evolve organically in a way that makes sense.
The seasons have 'Big Bads'- kinda- and has a nice mixture of character-centric eps and plot-advancement eps.

One of the villains is just brilliant; iconic even. Whilst he is 'evil' he's also got understandable motivations that get revealed over the course of the show.

There is only one character I detest, I pretty much like/love all the others. This is rare for me.

You described it perfectly. This show is smart, funny...and quite deep at times. Ben Browder, the only American cast member, is simply hilarious at times (And also ad-libbed quite a lot). But my peesonal favourite is Claudia Black, who portrays Aeryn Sun; a former Peacekeeper (a military organisation) who finds herself an outcast from her former life. All because she tried to help John.

(I'm sure the villian you're referring to is Scorpious....right? It simply has to be)

Anyway, its quite obvious you're familiar with the show. And I certainly hope that others here will give it a try. Because it is BRILLIANT. Also, people need to know that when we say there are puppets on the show, its not what they might think. Pilot is a huge, life-like, partially animatronic "being" which takes 4-5 people to operate...and I guarantee everyone that you will see a creature that is alive.

 

[thetopher]

This show is smart, funny...and quite deep at times. Ben Browder, the only American cast member, is simply hilarious at times (And also ad-libbed quite a lot).

Yeah, Ben doesn't really get his due; he's got some great ad-libbed stuff but also John's solid character progression is fantastic; from hapless, idealistic scientist to slowly going nuts in Season 2, to an impressive performance in Season 3 (you know what I'm talking about) and by Season 4 he's hardened and battle-scarred and a bit scared of what's he's capable of...

But my peesonal favourite is Claudia Black, who portrays Aeryn Sun; a former Peacekeeper (a military organisation) who finds herself an outcast from her former life. All because she tried to help John.

Same. Aeryn is such a great character in her own right; she does the right thing and gets completely screwed because of it and then she evolves from there. She's much much than a love interest, she gets some of the best backstory; 'The Way We Weren't' in particular.

(I'm sure the villian you're referring to is Scorpious....right? It simply has to be)

Oh yes! Scorpius is brilliant. Cunning, determined, morally ambiguous and scary.
Crais is okay for a season 1 villain and evolves in an interesting way but Scorpy takes the show to a new level.
Plus Harvey! Harvey is the sh*t.

Pilot is a huge, life-like, partially animatronic "being" which takes 4-5 people to operate...and I guarantee everyone that you will see a creature that is alive.

Both Pilot and Rygel are well-realized characters. Rygel's a back-stabbing little toad who I still manage to find oddly cute (its the mustache).

 

[Foxy]

Been wanting to give this a watch, but Battlestar Galactica is by far the best sci-fi or maybe even in general TV ever made. I think in many ways it even surpassed Buffy, but then again they are very different shows.

 

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

Aeryn is such a great character in her own right; she does the right thing and gets completely screwed because of it and then she evolves from there. She's much much than a love interest, she gets some of the best backstory; 'The Way We Weren't' in particular.



Oh yes! Scorpius is brilliant. Cunning, determined, morally ambiguous and scary.
Crais is okay for a season 1 villain and evolves in an interesting way but Scorpy takes the show to a new level.
Plus Harvey! Harvey is the sh*t.

Both Pilot and Rygel are well-realized characters. Rygel's a back-stabbing little toad who I still manage to find oddly cute (its the mustache).

"The Way We Weren't" was definitely a tear-jerker. (Basically, when Claudia cries, I cry...she has the most beautiful, expressive face) When Aeryn betrayed her lover just so she could be promoted...and he actually congratulated her as he was dragged away...that moment ripped my heart out. And the other story, of Pilot and his desire to see the stars. I saw the episode when it was first broadcast on Sci-Fi. (It was a new episode! Seems like yesterday...)

Scorpy blew Crais out of the water. Whoa. Crais no longer looked very scary after we were introduced to Scorpy! That voice...he was definitely a scene-stealer. The Aurora Chair. Heavy stuff.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

@ILLYRIAN It had a five season blueprint before the show was even greenlit. It opened with a five year plan with many episodes already given a treatment; as such it had one writer for all 110 episodes. It was very much one story with a 5-year arc.

 

[Bluebird]

I didn't watch Farscape but people talked about it and I just put it in the pile with all the other Sci fi shows I didn't watch. But my mind was changed after watching Babylon 5, so maybe I'd like Farscape.

I can't stand BSG. Apparently meant to be the best show ever? I thought it was awful tripe, and I can't imagine thinking otherwise. I put BSG in the other pile with shows like Lost - overrated, self indulgent shite.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I watched Farscape until I couldn't stand how tedious it was, so I never watched it again. As for alien characters I'm fairly sure the main person was human though the rest weren't unlike Dr. Who he was an alien. Did you ever watch the TV Sci-Fi series LEXX, I think there was a human in that.

 

[sk]

I agree with Mr. Pool. Babylon 5 is the best sci-fi show ever.

But Farscape is okay. I would want to re-watch it again. Only seen it once.
When I started to watch it I was a bit worried about the use of puppets. But it worked great for me. Didn't mind that at all.

My favorite is Chiana though. The show got better when she was around.

I'm also a big fan of Claudia Black. I liked her in Stargate SG-1 too.
Ben Browder can be a bit too, not sure what to say, loud perhaps? I'm not a big fan. But he's good enough.

Don't agree that it's the best ever but I do recommend to give it a try.

/SK

 

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

I'm also a big fan of Claudia Black. I liked her in Stargate SG-1 too.
Ben Browder can be a bit too, not sure what to say, loud perhaps? I'm not a big fan. But he's good enough.
/SK

If you haven't seen this bit already, prepare for giggles.

 

[sk]

lol, yeah loved that. At the least the second time I watched Stargate SG-1. The first time I hadn't watched Farscape so I didn't really get the reference.

The main reason I watched Farscape was to see that show that both Claudia and Ben had done before they got cast in SG-1.
Stargate SG-1 is another sci-fi show that I think is better than Farscape btw. 😉

/SK

 

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

The main reason I watched Farscape was to see that show that both Claudia and Ben had done before they got cast in SG-1.
Stargate SG-1 is another sci-fi show that I think is better than Farscape btw. 😉

/SK

I began watching SG-1 after Ben and Claudia joined the show. It was enjoyable and funny...plus, the two films the cast did were amazing.

However...my heart belongs to Farscape. 😛 I think its also because that time of my life was AMAZING. Everything was brilliant, and the show was part of that. The Sydney Olympics was that summer. I had the perfect body and the PERFECT lover...and the first Farscape convention was held. 2000 was the greatest year of my life.

I want to go back. 🙁

 

[Foxy]

I didn't watch Farscape but people talked about it and I just put it in the pile with all the other Sci fi shows I didn't watch. But my mind was changed after watching Babylon 5, so maybe I'd like Farscape.

I can't stand BSG. Apparently meant to be the best show ever? I thought it was awful tripe, and I can't imagine thinking otherwise. I put BSG in the other pile with shows like Lost - overrated, self indulgent shite.

I agree with you on Lost, but BSG is amazing. I love that show enough for the two of us 😉