"Farscape" Premiere (1999)

Director:

Andrew Prowse

Writers:

Rockne S. O'Bannon (creator)
Rockne S. O'Bannon (written by)

TV Series:

"Farscape" (1999)

Original Air Date:

19 March 1999 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Astronaut John Crichton's "Farscape-1" space module is swallowed by a wormhole and spat out on the other...

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Space | Technology | TV Series Pilot | Made For Cable TV

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ben Browder	...	John Crichton
Claudia Black	...	Officer Aeryn Sun
Virginia Hey	...	Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan
Anthony Simcoe	...	Ka D'Argo
Kent McCord	...	Jack Crichton
Lani John Tupu	...	Pilot (as Lani Tupu)
Murray Bartlett	...	D.K.
Greg Blandy	...	Peacekeeper Guard #1
Colin Borgonon	...	Peacekeeper Weapons Officer
Christine Stephen-Daly	...	Lt. Teeg
Damen Stephenson	...	Bio Isolation Man #1
Lawrence Woodward	...	Bio Isolation Man #2
Jonathan Hardy	...	Dominar Rygel XVI (voice)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Hallmark Entertainment

Trivia:

Crichton was originally going to take off from NASA. NASA was approached, and they agreed, but NASA insisted on approving/reviewing the ENTIRE script for the episode, even though they were only going to be in the first few scenes. Producers declined, and they came up with IASA instead.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Anthony Simcoe's real nose can be seen beneath his prosthetic facial makeup several times.

Quotes:

Ka D'Argo: [about Aeryn] She is infantry. Peacekeeper Command tells her where to fight and die.

Movie Connections:

References Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Pearls In Your Pocket!!

It's not easy to explain the charm of something utterly original without resorting to worn-out labels and clichés. But since it's one of Farscape's greatest strengths to take a cliché and wring its neck til something totally fresh drops out, I'll apply the same technique, here.

Imagine a show which starts like Buck Rogers with brains... for 7 minutes - until it slams you head-on into Star Wars for grown-ups... dips you into shrill comic book SciFi images and jumbles 'em up til nothing - absolutely NOTHING - is left of the drab TV SciFi routine we're used to since Kirk wrestled his first rubber-suited monster in 68. Trekkies, Gaters, X-Filers... yes, even some Babylonians will absolutely detest this show. On the other hand, people who loved such diverse movies as Dark City, Clockwork Orange, Brazil, Blade Runner, Dark Crystal, Excalibur or even Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas will love this show. This is SciFi with a very small Sci and the biggest Fi for bloody decades. LEXX only tried and failed to be what Farscape accomplishes with ease and VERY unusual grace for TV standards.

General pace and atmosphere are almost the anti-thesis to shows like Star Trek and Stargate, which suddenly seem extremely sterile, well-mannered, insufferably prudish and politically correct.

Imagine Jim Henson & Frank Zappa, young George Lucas and Terry Gilliam doing a pilot for an SF show, and you're getting pretty close to what awaits you on this show.

Visually, this show is classes above the competition. Technology is only the brush in a painter's hand. What you DO with it is what counts! And there, Farscape far exceeds the limitations of its comparatively small budget.

Sticklers for scientific possibilities will hate this show..., but fans of visual storytelling and the sheer joy of 'play' will adore it. In some respects, it's outrageous Fantasy in SciFi clothing.

The acting is easily the most fresh piece on the US TV menue. No wonder, though, since only the lead is American, and in this case very much and rightly so, which gives Ben Browder's superb work a new and highly enjoyable angle. (Your proverbeal Regular US Guy lost in space amongst the weirdest collection of Aliens constitutes the basic concept of the overall plot) It was a stroke of genius to leave all others to their own accents and acting styles. (mostly Australian, British and Kiwi) To call the general style of acting, editing and 'pacing' on this show only refreshing, would constitute the understatement of the decade. All genre trademarks aside is the acting of an unusually high standard, but almost reckless towards the codes of 'proper' TV acting. MAJOR discovery of a formerly hidden gem: Claudia Black as Aeryn Sun.

Having said all this of course includes the foregone conclusion that it's purely a matter of taste, in the end. But anyone game for an extremely enjoyable rollercoaster ride on the stilted clichés of SciFi is in for a hell of a journey!

Which reminds me, the UK DVDs (PAL) are easily the best TV releases in picture and tone quality I've encountered. The Stargate DVDs, for instance, seem like a grainy insult compared to those.



Ulrich Fehlauer