Farscape Shawarma

Sorry, haven't followed every bit of this thread so sorry if this has been brought out already. But speaking of the Henson puppetry, has anyone else watched the Jim Hensons Creature Shop show on tv? Its kinda interesting to see how some of that is created and get a bit of the backstory on the effects as it were. Anyway, it wasn't till the most recent episode (only caught the first 10min so far) that I realized the co-host is Chiana (Gigi Edgley)! Kinda interesting as they brought out Rygel and made mention of here character interaction. Anyway, wasn't sure if you were following it or not, but was kinda cool. The kids have really dug watching the show, I think the really like seeing how the creatures come to life!

CreatorsPixels wrote:  But speaking of the Henson puppetry, has anyone else watched the Jim Hensons Creature Shop show on tv?  

DUDE!! Thanks for the tip! We ditched cable a couple years ago and so I've been pretty out of touch with SyFy. But I'm on the site starting on the first ep now! THANK YOOOOOU!!!!

Paeter wrote:
DUDE!! Thanks for the tip! We ditched cable a couple years ago and so I've been pretty out of touch with SyFy. But I'm on the site starting on the first ep now! THANK YOOOOOU!!!!

Hey glad to help! I just caught a re-run of the 1st episode last night and realized they explained who Gigi Edgley was in the first few minutes of episode 1! Guess I should have started that the beginning instead of the middle! Oh well, hope you enjoy it! Right now its down to the final 3, not sure how soon they post the episodes online. I think it was #8 that had Rygel in it.

I also have the chronological order of the episodes that I snagged from a website.

Premiere
I, E.T.
Exodus From Genesis
Throne for a Loss
Back and Back and Back to the Future
Thank God It's Friday… Again
PK Tech Girl
That Old Black Magic
DNA Mad Scientist
They've Got a Secret
Till the Blood Runs Clear
Rhapsody in Blue
The Flax
Jeremiah Crichton
Durka Returns
A Human Reaction
Through the Looking Glass
A Bug's Life
Nerve
Hidden Memory
Bone to be Wild
Family Ties

Re:Union (Dream a Little Dream)
Mind the Baby
Vitas Mortis
Taking the Stone
Crackers Don't Matter
The Way We Weren't
Picture if you Will
Home on the Remains
Dream a Little Dream (Re: Union)
Out of Their Minds
My Three Crichtons
Look at the Princess Part I: A Kiss Is But a Kiss
Look at the Princess Part II: I Do, I Think
Look at the Princess Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Beware of Dog
Won't Get Fooled Again
The Locket
The Ugly Truth
A Clockwork Nebari
Liars, Guns and Money Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Liars, Guns and Money Part II: With Friends Like These…
Liars, Guns and Money Part III: Plan B
Die, Me Dichotomy

Season of Death
Suns and Lovers
Self Inflicted Wounds Part I: Could'a, Would'a, Should'a
Self Inflicted Wounds Part II: Wait for the Wheel
…Different Destinations
Eat Me
Thanks for Sharing
Green-eyed Monster
Losing Time
Relativity
Incubator
Meltdown
Scratch 'n' Sniff
Infinite Possibilities Part I: Daedalus Demands
Infinite Possibilities Part II: Icarus Abides
Revenging Angel
The Choice
Fractures

I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Into the Lion's Den Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Into the Lion's Den Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Dog With Two Bones


Crichton Kicks
What Was Lost Part I: Sacrifice
What Was Lost Part II: Resurrection
Lava's a Many Splendored Thing
Promises
Natural Election
John Quixote
I Shrink Therefore I Am
A Prefect Murder
Coup by Clam
Unrealized Reality
Kansas
Terra Firma
Twice Shy
Mental as Anything
Bringing Home the Beacon
A Constellation of Doubt
Prayer
We’re So Screwed Part I: Fetal Attraction
We’re So Screwed Part II: Hot to Katratzi
We’re So Screwed Part III: La Bomba
Bad Timing

The Peacekeeper Wars Part I
The Peacekeeper Wars Part II

I can see your points on why this ep may be what caught you and held your attention, and I won't argue with the points made by Paeter as to why it's a good episode.

But it's one of those that I struggled to get through. I had it on the tv in the living room this week, but found myself in the office more listening to the episode than watching it.

Perhaps some of the tropes that Winston pointed out (kidnapping, drugs are bad, etc) just really made this episode hard for me to watch. Just wasn't pulled into all that much, I guess.

105, Back And Back And Back To The Future

My expanded thoughts on this weekend's ep of the Spirit Blade Underground Podcast, but for now I'll offer the following reactions:

Rough episode. Wish I could deny it.

The D'Argo plot thickens a bit! D'Argo's "true crime"??? Also features some added vulnerability for him, which is nice and plays against expectations a little.

Interesting that the VILLAIN says "trust your heart"!

LAAAAAAAME fight practice scene. Just embarassing for me as a Farscape fan. (80's leotard???)

Energy/Destruction CG still looks pretty good today!

Paeter wrote:Interesting that the VILLAIN says "trust your heart"!

Yeah, I liked that too.

I'm really confused about what to make of this episode. It's another one of the one-off episodes by a writer who never returns. It feels like it was thrown together with a bunch of things that "feel like sci-fi". It's replete with some of the hoariest tropes of the genre, including blood oaths, mating chases, future echoes, and mini black holes. Rygel continues to annoy me. Every time he's on camera I can't help but feel I'm looking at a puppet stage. The blocking for Rygel's scenes always seems forced. D'Argo is back to stomping around being angry. The alien make up on the guest stars looks rubbery and artificial. It all feels very much like it was put together without meaningful reference to the source material. Not a high point in the show for me. I prefer the formula used in "I, E.T.".

106, Thank God It's Friday... Again

My expanded thoughts are on this week's Ep of the SBU Podcast. but some brief reactions here:

Aeryn's goof on a common human expression. CRAZY!!!! lol! Classic Farscape irreverence.
Crazy belly worm! Yikes!
Albino lady= Weeeeeird!
Explosive urine??? What!!?? Again, classic Farscape irreverence.
New D'Argo layer as he expresses dream of settling down into the simple life.

Overall, this ep is a decent example of what Farscape is known for.

Luxan hyper-rage? At least they didn't make very much of it. This episode blends two classic Star Trek episodes, but lacks the weight that Shatner and Nimoy brought to their productions. As a story, I don't think much of it. There is far too much lacking in substance and the resolution is far too easy. But as a Farscape episode, it begins to remind me why I watched this show way back when.

The conversation between Aeryn and Pilot over Rygel's treatment is a good moment. I also like the resolution between D'Argo and Zhaan at the end of their ordeal. It could have been really forced and awkward, but Anthony Simco somehow made it work, expressing the distress that D'Argo felt. It's the first time in this series that we really see any meaningful connections between these characters.

Love, love, love this series so far! One of my favorite things is Pilot. I'm not sure if this is a spoiler so I'll try to make it very general, but in one episode a character remarks how incredible he is. Umm...yeah, Mrs. Obvious.

I also love the tension built into the premise, it doesn't matter if its a common sci-fi theme or not..actually all the better! I love science fiction, and a ship escaping or lost in space, etc. seems like fertile ground for drama. Right now I'm really loving the games "Out There" which is very non military, lost in space, space exploration rpg and "FTL" an awesome, awesome game where you manage crew and ship systems while trying to outrun an advancing enemy fleet by "jumping" (like star-burst) through nebulae and to different destinations all while encountering aliens, etc. etc. I just love this stuff!

I'm also glad that only one of the characters is truly a Soldier (I don't think a warrior culture like D'Argo's immediately qualifies him as a professional Soldier). I get a little tired of the sci fi military stuff, don't get me wrong, I love military sci-fi but lets have some different characters.

Ok, I'll save my comments for when we get to certain episodes... can't wait! :-D

107- P.K. Tech Girl

My expanded thoughts on the Spirit Blade Underground Podcast this weekend, but some quick reactions here:

Don't like Galina or her forced insertion as an alternative to Aeryn. I appreciate how it reveals things about Aeryn, but the execution.. meh.

Oooh! Rygel's dark, tortured(literally) past! Nice element added to his character history!

Nice location shooting! Very atmospheric and moody!

Peacekeeper concept defined. Looks like they are glorified mercenaries for hire with delusions of utopian grandeur! Oh my gosh, it just occurred to me. They are like a dark, mercenary version of Starfleet!!

108, That Old Black Magic

Expanded thoughts on the SBU podcast this weekend, but some quick reactions here:

Great morphing effects!
Maldus has a terrible costume.
Like the Crichton V. Crais stuff!
If not before, the supernatural is introduced to the otherwise very sci-fi Farscape universe. Before this, sci-fi was typically the domain of the atheist or naturalist.
The red guy seems to be struggling and failing in his fight with an American(?) accent.
Zaan's dark side resurfacing! I approve! (Maybe she can be at least half way interesting to me after all.)
Appreciate introducing Crais' background/motives.
Maldus is not a poor man's Q. He's a weird man's Q and no better for it, IMO. The actor takes him over the top but not in a way that interests me OR makes me laugh. I look and just see an actor making over the top actor choices. I love Farscape far more than Star Trek, but I think Trek did this kind of character way better with a more interesting actor and performance.

109, DNA Mad Scientist

Expanded thoughts on the SBU podcast this weekend, but here are some quick reactions:

Namtar's eyes look sppoky real to me! (His hands, not so much...But maybe he's still working on those in the lab.)

Eyeball injections!!
Cornata is yucky.
Aeryn has creepy chicken wing!!
Gore splatter when Pilot's arm is cut off.
THEY CUT OFF HIS ARM!!!???? What the crap!!!

LOVE this episode.

Finally got caught up on Farscape after all the craziness of the past few weeks. Impressions? The show continues to be written by dabblers who focus on the character drama and not on the sci-fi. As a result it continues to feel like a Saturday-morning special. Shows like That Old Black Magic and DNA Mad Scientist takes pains to demonstrate how utterly fudged-up these people are, while PK Tech Girl gives us a welcome glimpse of the crew actually acting like adults, even if it's spoiled by some ludicrous aliens. Too bad that doesn't last.

The guiding hand of Rockne O'Bannon is seen a bit more clearly when several episodes are watched together. Rygel's back story in PK Tech Girl taps into some strong thematic material, and explains quite a lot about the character's actions. In an earlier episode, Pilot told Aeryn she was the only one he trusted, and in DNA Mad Scientist we find out why.

Henson's sets are universally awesome, but the puppetry is all over the place. Impressive makeup and subtle design work in That Old Black Magic makes the clunky, ludicrous prosthetics of PK Tech Girl and DNA Mad Scientist stand out very clearly. On the other hand, the CGI is unsurpassed for the time, and compares easily to modern efforts.

Ok Paeter, I'm still catching up here but just listened to your commentary on episode 2 from podcast 311.  And well its a good thing I didn't have your phone number on me!!  Whats the deal crackin on Stargate man!!  Dude like you know that is MACGYVER right!!!! Um hello! MACGYVER!!!!  So um yeah, lets have a little respect here before I have to drive out there and.........



Ok, just kidding...well mostly.  Honestly, I'm the type that can look past most annoying things and just enjoy a show for the cool visuals or ideas and have fun and not really force it to play nice with reality, so I had a blast watching every single Stargate episode / movie!   Yeah yeah, they always know the language its odd....but dude the show would be super boring if it was babble the whole time with subtitles, its just not feasible!  I'll set aside logic on that one for the sake of ease.  

That said, didn't like half your cast end up coming to Stargate anyway?  Its been a while, but was there supposed to be any correlation there or was it just coincidence?

CreatorsPixels wrote:

That said, didn't like half your cast end up coming to Stargate anyway?  Its been a while, but was there supposed to be any correlation there or was it just coincidence?

They were playing totally different characters on SG1. I think SyFy just wanted the potential audience boost that Farscape fans might bring. (I didn't bite...)

I love the Kurt Russell movie! Does that count?

I am a super fan of Stargate. I was so-so about the movie. It was good at the time but it is kinda hard to rewatch. I have watched every series since, SG1, Atlantis, and Universe and I'm pretty sure I own the movies too. I never minded the english bc they did have foriegn language portions in it all the time. Once you get into it there actually is a lot of character stuff and archs for various characters. It just takes a time investment that most ppl don't have.

Actually Stargate Universe had a lot of character stuff and I feel it was canceled waaay before its time.

Tim wrote:Actually Stargate Universe had a lot of character stuff and I feel it was canceled waaay before its time.

 

You know I did notice it had way more of that.  But sadly I kept wishing they'd get past the soap opera drama and focus on cool sci fi space tech!!   But yes, I really was hoping they would continue it too!

Oh well to each their own I guess.  I do wish I had time to go through all of farscape though!

We still seem to be on DNA Mad Scientist. That's good; I had one more comment I wanted to make.

Paeter commented on the podcast that this episode is his favorite, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it's completely unlike the Star Trek he remembers. I found this curious, due to its material similarity to the Star Trek TOS episode "Return of the Archons". This is a familiar pattern in general sci-fi and Star Trek in particular: meet benevolent alien, alien is secretly evil, cast embraces specific alien concept, regrets their actions.

Also, the comparison of Maldis (from the previous episode) to Q is a bit unbalanced. He is a far better fit for the Redjac villain from TOS "A Wolf in the Fold".

Farscape may well have preceded Firefly and "new" (aka, fake) Battlestar Galactica, but it owes a great deal to it's own predecessors: Buck Rogers, "old" (aka, real) Battlestar Galactica, Lost in Space, and Star Trek. The influence crops up time and again, especially in the early episodes. It's not really until nearly the third season that Farscape really begins to break new ground and carve it's own identity.

I suspect my familiarity with these other programs is coloring my perception of Farscape and a good bit of the reason Paeter and I have such a different approach to the show.

If I said "DNA" was my favorite ep without qualification, I should qualify that to "first season ep, if that". Still ONE of my favorites for sure, though!

mindspike wrote:
I suspect my familiarity with these other programs is coloring my perception of Farscape and a good bit of the reason Paeter and I have such a different approach to the show.

I actually suspect our differing views are more related to the things we each look for in fiction. I've long been under the impression that for you story is king. For me, character is king. I'm also drawn toward good storyTELLING over good STORIES. The way a story is told is much more important to my engagement level than the story itself.

So from a story/concept level, I totally get where you're coming from. Farscape recycled along with the best and worst of them. But from the pacing and composition of shots, to the editing, to the performances, the dialogue, and especially the combination of all these elements, Farscape seemed to be aiming for its audience to have an emotional reaction far more than any sci-fi show I'd seen previously.

And I think most all those efforts at mood-setting were exemplified in DNA Mad Scientist.

mindspike wrote:We still seem to be on DNA Mad Scientist.

Oops! Forgot to kick off 110. (Although I did talk about it on last weekend's ep.) Guess we can just bundle these together to catch up

110- They've Got A Secret

Horses=Slaves? Hmmm...

More (and very interesting!) D'Argo background! This plotline allowed for some wonderful, tender moments for D'Argo that flesh out his character and make him far more than the grumpy tough guy.

I still don't like Zhaan, but for some reason have always loved the way she calls our favorite Luxan, "Sweet D'Argo". Virginia Hey describes her relationship with D'Argo as that of very close siblings. I love the affection she has for him and the sweetness she sees in him before most anyone else is aware of it.

Man, I knew how this ep was going to end and it STILL felt intense! Great storytelling at the "nerve-cutting" climax!




111- 'Till The Blood Runs Clear

photogasm...eww.

Furlogh had to grow on me, but now she's another I love to be annoyed with.

Love the "Worf" reference!

The Rock/Bass guitar soundtrack for the hunters is another example of great stylistic shift in storytelling in Farscape.

Love John's "macho guy" routine in this ep.

Also love Aeryn's sweet childish grin when she succeeds at activating the altered holo-message. One of those small reminders that there is a sensitive woman underneath that hard exterior.

112, Rapsody In Blue

Well, if you hate Delvians or Zhaan this won't be a favorite. Not mine either.

The "Alex" background was interesting, but felt conjured, and not an originally intended part of John's backstory. Felt made up just for this ep.

Does a soul have "parts" or "peices"? Hmmm...

The unity concept is weird. I think it yields interesting story and character options, but exactly what it is is pretty vague, kind of life the vulcan mind-meld has always felt to me as well. Does unity bring about momentary loss of identity?

I like it when the crew goes crazy...

LOVED the chicken noise gag!

What is "peace"

Interesting ideas brought up, despite not being an awesome ep.

Paeter wrote:112, Rapsody In Blue

Interesting ideas brought up, despite not being an awesome ep.

I have to agree, I found this ep one of those that I could kind of check out of and just get through in the background without putting a lot of attention into it if needed.

As to the question of whether a soul has parts or pieces, I know I've seen that used in plot lines before (I think I used it in a character concept of my own once). However, I just don't think that's a possibility. Unlike our physical bodies, I don't think there's a way to separate a part of our soul. To me, I see it as an all or nothing concept. But that's me.

Is there going to be one on the listener created episode?

Rickster wrote:Is there going to be one on the listener created episode?

Hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it. Do you have a preference? I can easily tack one on, as my viewing/recording schedule for Farscape Shawarma is currently way ahead of the podcast schedule. (Last ep I watched was 122)