Farscape

And now for something completely different...





Show Summary (courtesy IMDb):
Astronaut John Crichton, on an experimental space mission, is  accidentally hurled across the universe into the midst of an intergalactic conflict. Trapped among alien creatures wielding deadly technology and hunted by a merciless military race, Crichton is on an epic odyssey more spectacular than anything he has ever imagined.

Costuming/Visuals:
This may be one of the hardest shows to describe I have ever seen.

The costuming in this show was, like everything else, eclectic. You have a normal, American guy from the early 2000s, wearing what looks very much like a NASA space suit, jeans, t-shirts, and boots.

Then come the Peacekeepers in black and red leather, who look like the space Nazis they are.

Then come the alien races, wearing red jumpsuits, robes, metal plates over their eyes, greasy rags, tropical island style grass skirts, a suit from the 50s, and even medieval jester and viscount costumes of gaudy plumage. And then the time travel starts...

Because Jim Henson's special effects house was involved with the show, you'll see a great array of make-up and puppet effects for the various races of alien that Crichton encounters, with a minimum of CGI effects for them. This is both limiting and adds a great deal more realism; you can't do so many over-the-top effects, but the ones you have are real things and thus easier to buy in to.

The sets are unique in aesthetic, right down to the geometry of Moya's rooms and corridors. Even the planets are all given different architecture, environments, and cultures. No race dresses or acts the same and the differences are immediately apparent.

Acting:
The entire main cast is great throughout the show, with a level of cast chemistry that is very difficult to find. What's more, the show has that chemistry within one or two episodes compared to a season and a half for Star Trek: TNG.

Performances of note:

Ben Browder as John Crichton: This is what I consider Browder's crowning performance. He runs the gamut of human emotion and remains relatable to the viewers. He also mimics the speech patterns and mannerisms of other cast members on occasion.

Wayne Pygram as Scorpius: Playing the Thinking Man villainous foil to Browder's Crichton, Pygram is precise, controlled, and disdainful; the very essence of the refined villain. A definite power role that ends up requiring more range and subtlety than you would initially suspect.

Jonathan Hardy and John Eccleston as Dominar Rygel XVI: The team of voice actor Hardy and primary puppeteer Eccleston manages to place a lot of life into this puppet. It's hard to get emotion across when audiences can never see your face, but the character of Rygel is a bombastic, self-important, greedy exiled ruler. He's also clever, courageous, and at times genuinely thoughtful and experiences a lot of character growth into those better qualities over the seasons of Farscape.

Writing:
I'm just gonna state this out of the gate: this series is weird. (In fact, it's so weird there was an episode of Stargate SG-1 that made fun of how weird it is.) If you didn't grow up on a steady diet of science fiction, fantasy, and video games, the look and feel can be off putting. The show is full of its own slang. It has episodes that run in a non-linear fashion. And the first episode begins a running gag involving an alien that farts helium when nervous.

"Cross my heart, smack me dead, stick a lobster on my head."

That said, the writing is very good. Characters have strong, sometimes conflicting, motivations and loyalties. The dialogue, alien slang aside, is natural sounding. Characters are allowed to develop, overcoming fears, failures, and fractured relationships to do so.

The themes are also worth noting. The writers of the show prize determination, honor, love, and sacrifice. Whole episodes are devoted to the idea of love as the driver of hope and to the power of forgiveness to heal. Though things can look very grim and though sacrifice will be required, evil can be overcome. The good guys can win.

On top of all this, this series is FUN. While some episodes are slower or darker than others, the pace is generally quick and the writers never fail to entertain.

Action:
The first episode opens with the test of a prototype spaceship, moves immediately into a space battle, and ends with a daring, last second escape.

Things only get more interesting from there.

Over the course of the show, we see planets explode, ships crash, a bank robbery, a nuclear detonation, and countless firefights. Characters travel through time, parallel dimensions, and the digestive tract of space faring dinosaurs. We encounter alien beings of all types and sizes. Characters die, are disintegrated, immolated, cloned, devolved, and reconstituted.

There's also a wedding, hallucinations, deceptions, political scheming, and a vampire.

Summary:
Farscape is one of those shows people either love or hate. It is a singular phenomenon. I doubt it could be made anymore.

If you're a fan of pulpy space opera, you will love this show. If your weird-o-meter maxes at Klingon, you may want to look elsewhere. But I encourage every reader here to give it a shot. It's well worth your time.