What does Farscape mean to me?

Farscape is my life line. Simply and cheesy as it sounds, it is true.

I'm in remission from cancer and Farscape with all the talent, acting and warm kindness has kept me going through my last chemo therapy. When the pain was too deep, too raw to even lift a finger, I could watch an ep of Farscape and for an hour I could forget all the pain, the loss of hair, teeth and whatnot. Farscape and the gutsy creativity kept me sane.

Before the illness I was your usual Scaper, had my fan page, wrote a bit of fanfiction and did all the stuff any Scaper did, when the illness came I couldn't just meet online friends anymore easily (on and offline), so I watched every ep like it was gospel just to feel connected and what did happen? I fell in love with the show all over again, the writing, the acting, the Special Effects ... all comes together in a sexy, mind-boggling melange that gets you hooked and craving for more.

Farscape just isn't your normal science fiction show, it isn't just comedy or soap opera set in space, Farscape shows you a journey of a handful of fugitives who become enemies and friends, find love and hate, and have to find a way home ... wherever that is.
Farscape has it all .... from Greek drama of the likes of Ulysses to Oedipus, the transcendental journey of a hero of all anti-heroes, it makes you weep, laugh and punches you in the stomach and most of all shows you what TV is all about when it is called entertainment.

What is Farscape?

Farscape is the story of a man, lost, far from home, and fallen among strange companions. Farscape is the story of a wildly diverse group of friends and enemies that must cooperate to survive. Farscape is a continuing, evolving tale of love, honour, friendship, hope, betrayal, death, and life. Farscape is comic, tragic, funny, sexy, dramatic, well-written science fiction.

(It's also cancelled. But we're working on that.)

In brief: John Crichton is an astronaut from Earth who was shot through a wormhole and found himself in another part of the galaxy. He has ended up on a living ship with a crew of escaped prisoners fleeing the Peacekeepers (they're the bad guys. You'll see). They have escaped into the Uncharted Territories. For more, you'll need to watch the show.

A quick look at some people you'll meet:

• John Crichton. Our hero. Scientist, astronaut, and very, very far from home.
• Aeryn Sun. Former Peacekeeper. Although "irretrievably contaminated" thanks to Crichton and hunted by her own kind, she can't help falling for the strange "Earp-man."
• Moya. The ship. Doesn't talk, but communicates very effectively through...
• Pilot. Symbiotically linked to Moya.
• Ka D'Argo. The big guy with the tentacles. A former prisoner.
• Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan. The blue chick. Likewise a former prisoner. Extremely calm.
• Rygel. The little green one. Deposed ruler of billions of subjects. Not as cuddly as he looks.
• Chiana. The grey girl. A fugitive from a society where everyone behaves themselves. Chiana... doesn't.
• Scorpius. The really creepy guy with the black leather mask. He's bad. No, no, just trust us on this one.

Farscape to me? Simple, fun.

For four years, I have been part of this fandom, I have known only fun and friendship. It has made me laugh, made me cry, and made me think. It is fun.

It has indirectly influences most of the good things that have ocurred in my life. It came to me and allowed me to escape to a world that is adventurous, that is fun, and that I fell in love with.

The dynamic story lines, the beautiful sets, and the unreal acting stunned me. I was in love at first sight.

Everything that came after in the fandom for me was fun. I loved meeting fellow fans and loved being involved with the community.

The cast and crew made it fun for us. They loved doing this show and it showed. They came to conventions and loved the fan attention. They were so accesible and so easy to approach. They made the fans happy and we in turn made them happy.

I had fun. I am having fun. And I do not want to give up my fun.

Farscape is a whole new set of:

Fascinating characters that are as complex as you can imagine. When you think you know them, BAM! something new comes up about their past, their future or their present. They have stories, they have dreams, wishes, they have problems. Even Moya (the ship) is a complex character. You'll never get bored getting to know this people, they are aliens, including Crichton, but they get to be so familiar...

Words in your vocabulary. You'll learn to use new words like "frell", "dren", "yotz" and so many more. It's so fun to find yourself saying "frell" for the first time and when you find someone else that understands what you mean by it...you know you've found a new friend...

Friends... Farscape is a great excuse to engage in conversation with someone else...if they don't know the show, tell them about it...let them know what's it about. If they know the show, be prepared for a loooong talk, cause Scapers can't shut up when Farscape is the subject

For me, Farscape has meant a new fascination with TV. I remember my sister (she has never watched Farscape) asking me if what i was watching was a series or a movie....i used to say, It's a series, that is so damn good that it looks like a movie...with the passing of time, my answer has changed: it is a series that is so damn good that it has no match...just look at it and you'll know what i mean...

What is Farscape for me?

the show is a diamond in the rough - fine acting, writing, chemistry, production, and heart have all converged into one location to produce something that has shown the ability to touch people's hearts - there is just something real about the show that draws you in...and my god it's subtle

you start watching just out of curiosity, or maybe you were referred to it by another friend/acquaintence

you think it is pretty cool, but unless you started with the first episode you probably are a little lost as to what is going on...BUT something keeps you there to catch it again next time - after a few weeks you begin to understand where the plot is going and who the basic characters are

by the end of a season you've developed a vested interest in the characters on the show, their struggles, hurts, joys (and of course their really cool guns)

there are stand alone episodes, but more often or not they actually add significantly to the overall character development or plotlines

then comes a mindbender of an epsisode, a real emotional rollercoaster, and one of the most intruiging(at least for me) curveballs ever thrown at my face in serial television...John is twinned - I know some may say been there done that, BUT this one is different: its made into a longterm issue with deep and lasting results

before it is simply John, but after the twinning BOTH TJ and MJ understandably want to be the one in the relationship with Aeryn - and even though most of us saw it coming from a mile off, the story arc was scripted, acted, and filmed so phenomenally that when TJ died it still hit you like a hammer

And then what did they do? They had the "gall" to be consistent and deal with the effects of everything that had happened to both Johns and Aeryn - one friend descibed the first episode where they really deal with it this way: "Fractures was so REAL it hurt." anyway i'm beginning to ramble and i have to get back to my point before i loose you all (if i havn't already)

This little spiel is an attempt at an explanation for why Farscape is for me, and why i think it is absolutely the best thing to hit serial TV since B5 (and given a chance to finish on its terms, it will surpass B5 and become number one on the list)

the reason i also mentioned the TJ/MJ/Aeryn knot is that of all the episodes of Season Three the last 20-25 min of Icarus Abides stood out to me as something singularly special (sheer emotion/chemistry/spectacular direction/amazing CGI/simple but elegant, quiet, gentle music), and it moved this mediocre poet to slap down a few lines as a quick method of catharsis after watching it the first time:

A Warrior lay on death's dark door
A mortal wound his body bore
Companions watched him all around
But in this moment peace he found

This man had fought with many foes
and friends had suffered many woes
A voice that almost drove him mad
A homeland lost with all he had

He fought, and clawed, and kicked, and screamed
To wake up from this awful dream
He beat the foes and slew the voice
But in the end he had no choice

To save his friends, protect his love
He struck like lightning from above
He saved them all, and then came home
And die he did, but not alone.


This show is a rare jewel...its depictions of love, loss, honor, friendship, and hope are ones that are both real and inspiring

This epic deserves nothing less than to have its final verses penned in a way that will be remembered long after we have shuffled off this mortal coil

This is what Farscape is to me

Farscape is about coping with the impossible, doing what you have to do, sacrificing for others, loving and accepting friends and surviving an insane violent universe to do the right thing.

There are men who cry and women who fight and no stereotyping or predictable plots. This show pays hommage to the greatest sci fi movies and television as well as
our own human intelligence and courage.

Farscape has heroes, villains and a love story mixed in with
action, humor, cliffhangers, tears and inspiriation. It is good enough to keep me home on Friday, good enough to laugh out loud, good enough to watch each episode more than once, good enough to be the best in class.

Farscape gives us words to live by and a premise that one has to fight when there is no hope, love beyond hope and be our own kind of heroes.

Farscape to me is something very off the wall. They sometimes do things we've seen before in so few shows, and they do it unconventionally.

Farscape has been in my mind an innovative show, daring enough to go out and touch along the uncharted threads of human mind, emotion, culture and spirit. Sometimes, in the wierdest.

How many people do that?

Many times it has touched along the true essance of Jim Henson and his awesome creations such as Dark Crystal. Noranti has even been sometimes very muppet like and I enjoy that taste of Spirit held there, that Henson had. I feel like he would be very proud of Farscape just for the ideals in it, the creation behind it and then the wild, passionate movement to finish it.

It has become an unbelievable collection of the best, and the worst in fantasies and realities, of the bizarr, the bruital, the tender, the spiritualy mature and the feral. It is the feral I have enjoyed the most because I have felt like that is something so very missing in American television, books and movies today. Sometimes even in the very soul of the human being walking around right now.

Like, the faeries, the joy and mistery had been forgotten, shuffled away as so much non-sense when in essance, indeed, there is, there was and it does.

That was the turn over for me, especially in Chiana, that there was this show on television that covers things I feel like, I believe, I think or I never could rightly express or say or sometimes even look at within myself.

It touched me most and more than anything else creative wise going on in recent time because I could express my own self with it and jam with the best of em duuuude!

So that sounds personal, a reflection of Spirit, but that's the way it is, like I've been told before in a world empty for me without great ideas/visions, Ancients, feral's and Starks and Moya's. That's just how it is, get used to it.

I - don't think so! That just will not do.

Am I dead?

And I know you guys left me somethin around here somewhere, surely you did .....

Anyway though, Farscape to me is rock and roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wooohooo!

What is Farscape? Well, it's a show, but more than that, it's a cultural phenomena. Relate it to Star Trek, if you will, but unlike Star Trek, it does not have a large network (NBC) to support or abandon it. Like Star Trek, it does have fans who love it to the end (it's not the end yet!) and who will fight for it. It was before my time, but back way back when Star Trek's original run was in danger of being destroyed, thousands of fans rallied together, putting together their resources, exchanging messages (remember, email wasn't a word back then) and coordinating their efforts.

It worked and Star Trek lived to become one of the biggest things to happen to not only Science Fiction, but to the world in general. Farscape has done the same, but it cannot do such a thing any further if it is allowed to be canceled. Farscape is a show, yes. But more importantly, it is a source of ideals and creativity. The ideas and moral juxtapositions it presents in it's so far 4 seasons have made me think, cry, believe in the unbelievable, become fond of each character for their own merit, kept me in suspense, and most of all, it's taught me to have an open mind. I consider science fiction fans to have the most open minds of all. The epitome of the genre that we love consists of the unbelievable, the supernatural, the physically impossible. But because of science fiction and of writers and producers like David Kemper, who dream of things impossible, we have a great show that expands our horizons and gives us, even for an hour each week, the opportunity to wonder at things that we would otherwise not wonder about in a world of convention.

Star Trek gave many people hope of a better future, during a time when the world we live in was not such a great place. The world conflict we were steeped in left our minds as people tuned in for Star Trek, a show about equality, friendship, peace, and good guys winning. Farscape continues this tradition, albeit with a much more different view. The characters speak to fans like none other because they themselves are human. They laugh, cry, bleed, and feel the same things we feel. Farscape gives their fans an hour to escape from the troubles and just enjoy themselves. Farscape is not just entertainment, it is a representation of what good tv is. It's not reality tv, it's not Survivor or American Idol. There is no competition, no prize to win. In Farscape, when the good guys win, it's only the right to live another day before they are faced with a new conflict. That is the basis of life also. We live day to day, facing problems and conflict. But we get through it, like Farscape does.
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that's mine!!

What is Farscape to me? Originally just another science fiction show, except I didn't watch many back then. Still don't. John Crichton, stuck on the other side of the universe, with all manner of aliens and a military commando he seemed to take a liking to in Aeryn Sun. All well and good. He'd be back home in ten episodes. After all, how much can you get up to on a living ship in distant deep space? Quite a lot actually. Since then, Farscape has turned into a game for me, a game of trying to predict what will happen. I always lose. The way the characters are defined is excellent, and just when you think you know them something will happen that will force each character to change and adapt. They don't change totally of course, but they have to change, as does their personality towards the other characters. Everything has repurcussions, and it's good that the writers have recognized that. As far as imagination goes, I don't recall any science fiction series quite as bizarre as Farscape (bar Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy, but what else do you expect from a show with mouse Gods?). The show takes you to all manner of strange places and strange scenarios, from helping a giant ship give birth to running over an alien (who farts fire no less) in a Volkswagen, and beyond. Special effects and locales? Farscape has them, and even seems to have pinched a good few from Star Wars, having a few episodes placed on a desert planet, a jungle planet, and also in the customary city of lawyers. The set designs are mostly perfect (there have been a few exceptions) but the special effects really make the show come alive! Farscape pulls everything out of the effects bag and hurls them at the viewer like an impatient child. It is one of the shows where two of the main characters are puppets, if you don't count Sooty. Other characters have hugely realistic prosthetics, and still others boast huge and elaborate costumes, animatonics and a very convincing actor inside. To be honest, I don't know what else to say. A constantly surprising storyline, characters who adapt to what happens, and a look that challenges most of the big-budget films out there. I recommend that everyone give gem of a television show a chance, and if they feel so inclined, help us save it.