Farscape
| Farscape | |
|---|---|
| File:Farscape Intro.jpg The intro for Farscape | |
| Created by | Rockne S. O'Bannon |
| Starring | Ben Browder Claudia Black Anthony Simcoe Gigi Edgley Lani Tupu Jonathan Hardy Virginia Hey Wayne Pygram |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of episodes | 89 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 44 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Sci Fi Channel |
| Release | March 19, 1999 – March 21, 2003 |
Farscape (1999 – 2004) was a science fiction television series, featuring a present-day astronaut who accidentally travels through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. The series is one of a new generation of popular science fiction television shows in which the main concerns are surviving in a hostile, chaotic universe and dealing with interpersonal conflicts - instead of exploration, warfare or law enforcement. It was produced by the Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, and filmed in Australia. Drawing on Henson's traditional expertise in puppetry, two of the main characters are animatronic puppets.
The show was abruptly cancelled after it had completed production of its fourth season, with a fifth season contracted, effectively ending the series on a cliffhanger. A mini-series in 2004 wrapped up some of the show's hanging plot threads, but a feature film remains a possibility as does an animated/anime series.
Background
Originally conceived in the early 1990s by Rockne S. O'Bannon, Brian Henson and writer/executive producer David Kemper under the title Space Chase, the show's main character is present-day astronaut John Crichton (played by Ben Browder). Crichton accidentally travels through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy, where he is caught in the middle of conflicts between planets, empires, and the incompatible personalities of the escaped prisoners with whom he has taken refuge. The series avoids rough language problems by introducing Farscape terminology, with words like 'frell' and 'dren', the meaning of which, however, is quite clear.
Henson has traditionally specialized in puppetry (see Muppets), and Farscape is no exception. Two of the main characters are animatronic puppets: the miniature deposed Dominar Rygel XVI of Hyneria (voiced by Jonathan Hardy) and the ship's Pilot (voiced by Lani Tupu), a multi-armed elephant-size creature physically and mentally bonded to the living Leviathan ship, Moya.
In 2000, 2001 and 2002, Farscape won two Saturn Awards for Best Syndicated/Cable TV Series and Best TV Actor (Browder). Additionally, in 2002, it received nominations for Best TV Actress (Claudia Black as former-soldier Aeryn Sun) and Best Supporting TV Actor (Anthony Simcoe as the Luxan warrior Ka D'Argo and Best Supporting TV Actress (Gigi Edgley as the pixieish rogue Chiana). The other main actors are Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan (played by Virginia Hey) and Scorpius (Wayne Pygram). Except for Ben Browder, who is from the USA, all these actors are from Australia and New Zealand.
Plot summary
- main article: List of Farscape episodes
Season One
Episodes 1 - 22
John Crichton voiceover during opening credits (Season 1 and 2):
- "My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. A radiation wave hit and I got shot through a wormhole. Lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange alien life forms. Help me. Listen, please. Is there anybody out there who can hear me? Being hunted … by an insane military commander. Doing everything I can. I'm just looking for a way home."
John Crichton is an IASA astronaut working on the experimental Farscape project. During the Farscape-1 test flight, a wormhole appeared, shooting John into the far side of the universe. Finding himself in the middle of a space battle, he is captured and brought aboard the Leviathan Moya, a living ship.
Onboard are Luxan warrior Ka D'Argo, exiled Hynerian Dominar Rygel XVI, and Delvian priestess Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan, three prisoners who have taken control of Moya and are escaping from the regime of the militaristic Peacekeepers. Eventually, the prisoners manage to remove Moya's Control collar and Starburst away from the battle. Pursuing Peacekeeper Officer Aeryn Sun's Prowler is caught up in the Starburst and taken aboard soon after Crichton's arrival.
As a result of her contact with the prisoners, Aeryn's commanding officer, Captain Bialar Crais, declares her "irreversibly contaminated". Having nowhere else to go, both she and John join the unlikely band of allies.
Crais' brother was killed in an accidental collision with Crichton's Farscape module immediately after it arrived through the wormhole. Seeking to avenge his brother's death, Crais pursues Moya through the Uncharted Territories. As Moya attempts to evade the Peacekeepers, the renegades start to overcome their initial dislike and distrust of each other and come together as a working crew. During this time, the backgrounds of the three "criminals" on Moya are explored: D'Argo was falsely accused of murdering his Sebacean wife in a bout of Luxan hyper-rage; Rygel, the former ruler of the 600 billion subjects of the Hynerian empire, was deposed by his treacherous cousin; and Zhaan killed her lover and mentor after he sold out their home planet to the Peacekeepers. Crichton, meanwhile, seeks a way to return to Earth; Aeryn, now exiled from her own people, must start her life again from scratch. Their lives are further complicated by the discovery that Moya is pregnant as a result of D'Argo breaking a contraceptive shield installed by the Peacekeepers, and by the later addition of Chiana, a Nebari female and fugitive from her own people, to their ranks.
Crichton comes into contact with a mysterious race known as the Ancients; they implant the equations and a sort of "sixth-sense" for wormhole travel in his subconscious mind. Oblivious to the existence of this knowledge, Crichton attempts to embrace his new life aboard Moya, but is captured by the Sebacean-Scarran hybrid Scorpius. Scorpius discovers Crichton's receipt of the wormhole knowledge using interrogation (the memory-scanning Aurora Chair), and implants a neurochip inside Crichton's brain to attempt to unlock it for use in his own wormhole weapons project.
With the assistance of Chiana, Moya gives birth to a prototype Leviathan Hybrid Gunship, which Aeryn names Talyn. The crew help Crichton and fellow prisoner Stark escape from Scorpius' clutches. After Rygel attempts to sell the others out to Crais, both the Hynerian and the Peacekeeper captain must return to Moya when Crais' command is usurped by Scorpius. Crais attempts to make amends with Crichton, only to kidnap the newborn ship Talyn soon after.
Season Two
Episodes 23 - 44
Introduction note: Crichton's voiceover for Season One's opening credits stated he was "being hunted by an insane military commander", referring to Captain Bialar Crais, but at that season's end we see Crais virtually acknowledging Crichton's innocence in the death of his brother, and not attempting to kill Crichton at every opportunity, especially after having Scorpius assume his command and later choosing to flee in Talyn instead. Crichton's voiceover is unchanged in Season Two's opening credits: we can only assume the military commander hunting Crichton is now Scorpius.
Not only trying to survive in the Uncharted Territories, the crew of Moya must now concern themselves with eluding Scorpius, discovering the truth about the Ancients, and tracking down the renegade Crais and Talyn. This is further complicated when the neurochip implanted into Crichton's brain to extract the wormhole knowledge he possesses begins to manifest itself as hallucinations of Scorpius (whom he later names 'Harvey' in reference to the film of the same name starring James Stewart).
As their journeys continue, Zhaan returns to the Delvian Seek and finds comfort in continuing her spiritual training, D'Argo and Chiana grow closer and soon fall in love, while at the same time, Crichton and Aeryn battle their own complicated attraction towards each other. The crew comes into contact for the first time with the ruthless Scarrans, a cruel and power-hungry race, who soon learn of Scorpius' interest in Crichton.
Stark, the alien Crichton was imprisoned with while in Scorpius' custody, returns to Moya, becoming close to Zhaan and bringing D'Argo news that his son Jothee is alive and is a slave. The crew is divided. Do they go in search of Talyn? Do they try to rescue Jothee? Do they turn tail and try to get as far away from Scorpius as they can?
Stark suggests a plan to rescue Jothee, as well as a substantial number of his own people from slavery. The crew will raid a shadow depository, a bank for various thieves, criminals and other infamous hoardings. The plan goes awry when the crew's stolen riches turn into metal-eating 'spiders'. As a final resort, the crew must start a fire inside Moya to destroy them, leaving the ship severely crippled. Scorpius purchases the lot of slaves containing Jothee in an attempt to divide the crew by offering him in exchange for Crichton. Without currency to pay various hired mercenaries to rescue Jothee, Crichton secretly exchanges himself in the desperate hope that Scorpius can remove the neurochip and the accompanying hallucinations, which have since driven him to the peak of mental instability. During the intrigue at the shadow depository, Moya encounters her son Talyn once more, who surprises the crew by having accepted Crais as his traveling companion.
The crew of Moya intervenes before Scorpius can remove the chip and shut down his neural clone, but they successfully escape to find someone else who can perform the removal without damaging Crichton in the process. Seeking out a Diagnosan to remove it and to heal the burnt-out Moya, the crew land on an ice planet where living subjects, frozen near death, are held in stasis to be used as organ donors. The neural clone possesses Crichton, and through him sends out a distress signal to Scorpius, killing Aeryn in the process. After Aeryn's funeral, the real Scorpius arrives on the planet, reclaims the chip and then leaves Crichton alive, the speech centres of his brain destroyed, condemned to suffer mutely as payback for all the trouble he has caused.
Season Three
Episodes 45 - 66
There are two Crichton during the voiceover denoted by Crichton #1 and (Chrichton #2) here, and BOTH simultaniously.
John Crichton voiceover during opening credits:
- "My name is John Crichton (I'm lost), an astronaut, (shot through a wormhole) in some distant part of the universe (I'm trying to stay alive) aboard this ship (this living ship) of escaped prisoners (my friends). If you can hear me, (beware). If I make it back, (will they follow)? If I open a door, (are you ready)? Earth is unprepared (helpless) for the nightmares I've seen. Or should I stay, (protect my home), not show them you exist. But then you'll never know … THE WONDERS I'VE SEEN."
The appropriately titled season opener told fans everything they needed to know about what was to come in Farscape's successful third season: Season Of Death.
The Diagnosan heals Crichton with a tissue graft taken from a compatible donor, but all is not well. The neural clone of Scorpius, Harvey, remains fused in Crichton's brain, but without the neurochip to strengthen it Crichton is able to assert himself as the dominant personality. Zhaan uses her spiritual energies to bring Aeryn back from the edge of death - the former Peacekeeper having been frozen in stasis before her time. This revival leaves Zhaan incredibly weak and dying. Chiana's relationship with D'Argo also turns sour because she feels she cannot be happy with the sedentary plans D'Argo has for their future, and begins an affair with Jothee behind D'Argo's back. Moya and crew leave the ice planet with two frozen 'donors' in tow, the brother and sister of Crichton's brain tissue donor, out of his guilt for having benefited from the loss of another's life.
Chiana and Jothee's actions sever all relationships between themselves and D'Argo upon their discovery, and Jothee leaves Moya. The crew tries desperately to find a planet with the kind of soil Zhaan needs so she can heal and replenish her energies but they may be too late: an accident involving a wormhole leaves Moya injuriously fused with another ship. Zhaan sacrifices her own life to save Moya and her crew from the wormhole that would have torn them apart by piloting the doomed alien vessel and rematerialising it separated from Moya.
During the wormhole crisis, one of the sleeping aliens awakes but soon dies. However, the female Joolushko Tunai Fenta Hovalis, known to her friends by her full name, and nicknamed 'Jool' by the crew, awakes from her frozen stasis and makes her presence felt on Moya. An academic ingenue, kidnapped and frozen whilst taking a multi-civilisation tour holiday, Jool is disgusted by her new surroundings but having nowhere else to go joins the crew. Then, during an encounter with a dying Leviathan, Crichton is 'twinned' — split into two completely identical Crichtons, both equal and original to each other. Crais and Talyn reappear, being pursued by Peacekeepers which results in the crew having to split up. Crais, Aeryn, Rygel, Stark and one of the Crichtons escape aboard Talyn, leaving D'Argo, Chiana, Jool and the remaining Crichton aboard Moya.
Missing Aeryn, Moya's Crichton plunges into the wormhole studies that could get him home. D'Argo, still devastated by Chiana and Jothee's betrayal, finds solace in repairing a strange vessel of Luxan origin that he names Lo'La after his late wife. After an encounter with a strange energy rider creature, Chiana is left with extrasensory powers that leave her increasingly disoriented and blinded every time she uses them.
Aboard Talyn, Aeryn and the other Crichton begin a trusting, passionate relationship. Her heart is broken when he gives his life to keep wormhole technology out of the claws of the Scarrans. Aeryn's distress is exacerbated by a painful reunion with her mother, Xhalax Sun, who commands the Peacekeeper retrieval squad assigned to capture Talyn. Whilst Aeryn lives a reclusive life on a strange planet to mourn over Crichton, Stark believes that he hears Zhaan's spirit calling to him and leaves Talyn to find her. Talyn meanwhile becomes increasingly wild and uncontrollable, unable to reconcile the peaceful Leviathan and the aggressive gunship sides of his nature, turning somewhat schizophrenic.
Eventually the crew reunites aboard Moya. The crew's relationships are stressed, but they find a semblance of unity in a new goal: aiding Crichton to end Scorpius' wormhole research, which would give the Peacekeepers access to the known universe, including Earth. Rygel meets with Scorpius on a neutral planet, and negotiates a deal to allow Crichton into Peacekeeper territory so that he can assist in the furthering of wormhole technology, whilst secretly sabotaging the project. Scorpius grants them safe passage aboard his Command Carrier while Crichton continues his research, however Scorpius himself runs into problems when his careful plans are halted by Commandant Grayza, seeking to establish a peace with the Scarrans. Realising that they can only destroy the wormhole project by destroying Scorpius' Command Carrier, Crais and the terminally sick Talyn decide to sacrifice themselves. Talyn performs a final suicidal starburst inside the Command Carrier to blow up the ship, destroying both the wormhole technology research and Scorpius' career.
After Moya carries Talyn's remains to a Sacred Leviathan Burial Space, the crew splinters, pulled apart by the currents of their differing goals. Aeryn decides to leave Moya, too stressed by the complicated prospect of living alongside this surviving Crichton while having experienced a fully realised relationship with the other twinned Crichton, now deceased. Crichton, alone without Aeryn and drifting in his Farscape Module, witnesses the others' departures from Moya. Thanks to the efforts of a mysterious old woman Noranti, a former prisoner rescued from the Command Carrier who has stayed on Moya to repay her "debt" to Crichton for saving her, Crichton learns that not only are his dreams of a quiet existence back on Earth with Aeryn as his wife untenable, but also that Aeryn is pregnant. He has lost his home, he has lost his friends, and now he has lost Aeryn. An unexpected, random wormhole opens up and swallows Moya whole, leaving Crichton stranded and alone in open space.
Season Four
Episodes 67 - 88
John Crichton voiceover during opening credits:
- "My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. Three years ago I got shot through a wormhole. I’m in a different part of the universe aboard this living ship of escaped prisoners … my friends. I’ve made enemies … powerful, dangerous. Now all I want is to find a way home to warn Earth. Look upward and share the wonders I’ve seen."
Alone on a dying Leviathan he encountered in the Sacred Leviathan Burial Space, Crichton's work on unlocking the wormhole knowledge and its mysteries in his head is interrupted by Sikozu, a highly intelligent but officious Kalish female who has travelled to the area as part of her study of Leviathans; she is also hunted by the Grudek race in their bid to acquire valuable Leviathan nerve tissue. Chiana and Rygel also return to the region as the Moya crew are hunted by the Peacekeepers once again after the destruction of Scorpius' Command Carrier. After defeating the Grudeks, the four arrive at an archaelogical dig on the planet Arnessk ran by Jool's people, the Interions, where they are greeted by D'Argo, Jool and Noranti. Crichton is baffled by the mysterious wormhole that had swallowed Moya to leave him stranded, but none of the crew aboard Moya at the time seem able to explain or remember what happened after they were pulled through.
While on Arnessk, Peacekeepers arrive commanded by Commandant Grayza and seconded by the newly-promoted "Captain" Braca; Moya's crew manage to escape after a failed attempt by Grayza to 'pleasurably' interrogate Crichton. Jool says goodbye, deciding to stay behind on Arnessk: the priests that have awakened on the planet after thousands of cycles of sleep need her talents more than her friends do. The group return to Moya to find Aeryn there, having been rescued by Scorpius - now a renegade after falling foul of Grayza - from an attack of Sebacean heat delirium, for which Aeryn agreed to grant Scorpius asylum.
Both the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans desire Crichton’s knowledge, and are growing impatient. The crew quickly realises that neither side should ever possess the knowledge in Crichton's brain: if it fell into the wrong hands it would mean death and destruction. Scorpius in turn remains on Moya, albeit under lock and key, with the intention to safeguard Crichton's knowledge, and forms an alliance with Sikozu. Crichton and Aeryn's relationship is more strained than ever before, due to Crichton's preoccupation with wormholes and Aeryn's refusal to discuss her pregnancy. A stressed Crichton begins to inhale a substance called "distillate of laka", prescribed for him by Noranti, to keep Aeryn out of his thoughts, but it later emerges that he has been taking it to prevent Scorpius discovering Aeryn's pregnancy and using it as leverage to acquire the wormhole technology.
Crichton's work opens up a wormhole and, traversing it in a spacesuit, he is greeted by a member of the Ancient race, whom Crichton dubs Einstein. Einstein reveals that it was the Ancients who pulled Moya through the wormhole and studied its inhabitants to locate Crichton, and tests Crichton's wormhole knowledge to satisfy himself that his intentions are peaceful. After his encounter with Einstein, Crichton finds himself back through the wormhole floating in Earth's orbit. He has been followed by the others and his new friends are introduced to an unsuspecting planet. On Earth the 'aliens' are met with skepticism and fear. Thanks to the machinations of Grayza, a Peacekeeper spy has followed them, and after a failed assassination attempt on Crichton, he and the crew are forced to leave Earth, Crichton making the difficult decision so as not to endanger his home planet if his pursuers had managed to follow him to Earth.
Once back on the other side of the universe, Aeryn is kidnapped by the Scarrans who hope to get the wormhole knowledge from Crichton as a ransom. Once the Scarrans learn that Aeryn is pregnant with Crichton's child, they proceed to take her to a secret Scarran base thinking they might extract the wormhole knowledge from the child's DNA. After a daring rescue, the crew of Moya decide to end this conflict once and for all by gatecrashing the Peacekeeper-Scarran peace talks. They arrive under the pretext of selling the wormhole technology to the highest bidder, but are really there to sabotage the wormhole efforts of both sides. Only with that goal accomplished can Crichton and the crew of Moya live out their lives peacefully.
Once the Scarran threat appears gone, Scorpius and Sikozu leave together to return to the Peacekeepers. Stark, having been discovered as a prisoner on the Scarran secret base, rejoins Moya and the crew retire for a much deserved rest, taking refuge on a water planet. Alone on a boat, Aeryn confirms to John that she is carrying his baby and accepts his marriage proposal, but their happiness is cut short when they are crystallised by unknown split-faced beings.
Cancellation and rebirth
Farscape first ran on the U.S. Sci-Fi Channel (which also financed the series); in Australia, the show was seen on free-to-air Channel Nine (which also co-produced the series). In September 2002, the Sci-Fi Channel, which was then owned by ailing conglomerate Vivendi Universal, unexpectedly opted to withdraw its funding of the fifth season, cancelling the popular, critically-acclaimed show.
Fans mounted a massive letter, phone, e-mail, and advertisement campaign hoping to either pressure Sci-Fi into restoring the show or convince another network to take over the series. Early plans to have the sets scrapped after production of the fourth season wrapped were quickly reversed after news of the cancellation broke, partly as a result of the fan campaign. The sets were instead put in storage pending a possible future revival of the show.
Thanks to the attention generated by the fan campaign, various financial backers in Europe offered their support to Brian Henson, and in 2003/2004, The Jim Henson Company produced a mini-series to wrap up the plot threads dangling at the cancellation of the regular TV series. The four-hour Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in October of 2004. Whilst a revival of the weekly series is unlikely, a feature film remains a possibility.
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (miniseries)
Production of a four-hour miniseries began in December 2003, written by creator Rockne S. O'Bannon and Executive Producer David Kemper and directed by Brian Henson.
In May 2004, the Sci-Fi Channel, now owned by NBC Universal, announced that it would run a two-episode conclusion titled Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars that was intended to wrap up the Season Four cliffhanger and additionally tie up some general elements of the series. The miniseries first aired on Sunday October 17, 2004.
Interestingly, Henson refers to the four hours as episodes 4.23-4.26, though the New South Wales Film Office refers to the production as a '2 x 2 hour telemovie'. Production of the miniseries ended in March 2004 and, in addition to the announced airing on the Sci-Fi Channel in the U.S., was also scheduled to be broadcast in the UK on Sky One on January 16 and 23, 2005 and by Five on March 8. The miniseries was not shown on BBC Two, as the BBC decided the acquisition cost would be too high. On July 14, 2005, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars received an Emmy Nomination for "Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special."
Early fan speculation hoped that high Nielsen Ratings for The Peacekeeper Wars miniseries would prove the viability of renewing the series. Any continuation as a new weekly series seems unlikely, though miniseries are possible, as are feature films. Brian Henson has stated on many occasions that he would like to bring the Farscape saga to the big screen. Fan efforts are now pointed in that direction. In October 2005, Farscape entered syndication in the U.S., airing on Superstation WGN and on a variety of local, cable, satellite and broadcast affiliates.
DVD release
The miniseries has been released on DVD in the U.S. by Lions Gate Films and in the UK by Contender, as well as in Australia, and is available in many retail outlets and online. The U.S. version features both parts on one disc, edited together to make it a three-hour movie while the UK version is a two-disc set with one episode per disc. Both versions contain a making-of documentary, and only the UK version has deleted scenes. The Australian version has one disc, and no extras at all.
Cast
Main cast
- Commander John Robert Crichton, Jr., played by Ben Browder
- Officer Aeryn Sun, played by Claudia Black
- Ka D'Argo, played by Anthony Simcoe
- Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan (seasons 1-3), played by Virginia Hey
- Dominar Rygel XVI, voiced by Jonathan Hardy
- Chiana, played by Gigi Edgley
- Pilot, voiced by Lani Tupu
- Captain Bialar Crais (seasons 1-3), played by Lani Tupu
- Scorpius/"Harvey", played by Wayne Pygram
- Stark, played by Paul Goddard
- Joolushko 'Jool' Tunai Fenta Hovalis (seasons 3-4), played by Tammy MacIntosh
- Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu (season 4), played by Raelee Hill
- Utu-Noranti Pralatong (seasons 3-4), played by Melissa Jaffer
Supporting cast
- Meeklo Braca, played by David Franklin
- Jonathan Robert 'Jack' Crichton, Sr., played by Kent McCord
- Mele-On Grayza, played by Rebecca Riggs
Recurring guest stars
- Douglas "D.K." Knox, played by Murray Bartlett
- Lieutenant Teeg, played by Christine Stephen-Daly
- Maldis, played by Chris Haywood
- Furlow, played by Magda Szubanski
- Gilina Renaez, played by Alyssa-Jane Cook
- Selto Durka, played by David Wheeler
- Jothee, played by Matthew Newton/Nathaniel Dean
- Co-Kura Strappa, played by Danny Adcock
- Xhalax Sun, played by Linda Cropper
- War Minister Akhna, played by Francesca Buller
- Emperor Staleek, played by Duncan Young
Bibliography
Scott Andrews' Uncharted Territory: An Unauthorised and Unofficial Guide To Farscape (Virgin Publishing 2002, ISBN 0753507048) covered Farscape's first three seasons exhaustively.
PC game
A PC game based on the television series was produced by Red Lemon Studios, released mid-2002. The plot of the game is set during the first season.
See also
- Farscape Related:
- Science Fiction Related:
External links
