Farscape

[grumbler]

I have long wanted to get Farscape, since several people here thought so highly of it, but the series has been prohibitively expensive (like $600 for the whole series).  Amazon came out with the complete Farscape set for about $120, and I had a $25 rebate certificate for a previous Amazon fuckup, so I ordered it.

Now, you have to understand that I have avoided spoilers for this series quite religiously over the years.  I new it had Browder and Black and muppets, and that he was an astronaut on an escaped convict ship, but that's pretty much it.

Watched the first few eps with increasing dismay.  Clearly, these were not intended for an adult audience, with the fart and pee jokes and the scrupulous effort to make sure that no one got killed.  Production values weren't as bad as those of B5's first season, but they were bad.  Makeup in particular was dreadful - the old "slap funny ears on a human and call him "alien" schtick was repeated over and over.  There was no suspension of disbelief.

Then came the ep where they go aboard the long-lost Peacekeeper ship.  This was a good episode all around (yeah, the bad guys looked like clowns, but at least they looked more alien than anything seen to date).  Someone actually got killed!  Someone was sad at the end of the ep!  That gave me the fortitude to plow through another few eps.

Now, though, I am half-way through the first season, and at another stopping point.  It is hard to take the time to move on.  I guess I have the question:  does this show get better/different than what I have seen so far?  I know they will retain that bad "Rigel" puppet for at least the whole season (it is so obviously a puppet and they are so clumsy about working around it), but I thought this show was supposed to have an arc.  So far, the eps all seem to be episodic, resetting to status quo with the end of each episode.

If the show is just more of what i have seen in the first twelve eps, I will probably put his on the back burner and watch it intermittently.  If it is just starting slowly, then I just want to know that (no spoilers, please).  So, are these first twelve eps typical, or atypical?

[The Brain]

FAIL

[Crazy_Ivan80]

It's been ages since I've seen it but iirc it does get better after the 1st season.
Maybe someone with a more recent injection of Farscape can provide better info.

[crazy canuck]

I started watching after the first season so I didnt have to live through those first episodes and when I went back to see them I was viewing it with the experience of watching a show that I had grown to like a lot.

I can tell you that it gets a lot more dark and life becomes a lot more cheap as the series progresses.

At one point I even began to forget that Rigel was a muppet.

[grumbler]

Crap.  Can some kind mod move this to the main forum? 

[grumbler]

I started watching after the first season so I didnt have to live through those first episodes and when I went back to see them I was viewing it with the experience of watching a show that I had grown to like a lot.

I can tell you that it gets a lot more dark and life becomes a lot more cheap as the series progresses.

At one point I even began to forget that Rigel was a muppet.

Okay, that sounds like these eps are not typical.  Good to know.  I will forge ahead, then.

[Scipio]

First season partakes heavily of the weak sauce.

[frunk]

Generally the multipart episodes are excellent, and the one off's weaker.  In the first season, before the first multiparter, the one off's are very weak. 

If the puppetry bothers you it doesn't get much better.  Either you'll learn to ignore/live with it or it might be best to stop the aggravation now.

[Viking]

The mediocre Australian TV acting is much more annoying than Henson puppets.

[DontSayBanana]

It gets a lot darker and somehow more believable past the first season.  Best stuff is probably the last.  Finale is satisfying in a dark sort of way, although you'd probably want to take a break before watching The Peacekeeper Wars if Trek filming conventions bother you.

[Richard Hakluyt]

It is flawed, the question is whether one can gloss over the flaws and still enjoy the series.

I found the experience well worth it.

The puerile humour continues; now I regard that as a strong point (the benefits of a boarding school education  ). In the midst of crappy situations let stupid jokes abound.......it is probably just a personal preference, but silly jokes made during dire situations is not unrealistic IMO.

Don't worry about people not getting killed yet, there is plenty of death and torture later on.

Muppets and makeup.............yeah, not great.......

Later on in the story there are some interesting areas of grey morality for a lot of the characters, which I enjoyed; one feels considerable sympathy for a major "bad" guy's point of view for example.

The whole thing could have done with stronger editing.........there is a certain amount of wallowing, needless repetition and self-indulgence........I enjoyed Farscape but every now and then a "For God's sake!" was uttered.

I recommend you forge ahead, but have to also warn you that it is by no means certain that you will be able to overlook the flaws.............it is not a series that I would defend to the death in a conversation down the pub, even though I very much enjoyed it myself.

[crazy canuck]

Later on in the story there are some interesting areas of grey morality for a lot of the characters, which I enjoyed; one feels considerable sympathy for a major "bad" guy's point of view for example.

I agree with everything you said but I wanted to highlight this part.

I found myself liking this character the best by the end of the series.

[Grallon]

...

I found myself liking this character the best by the end of the series.

True, him and Claudia Black's character showed real growth whereas the others stayed pretty much as they were from the onset.



G.

[Josquius]

This is one Ive always wanted to watch but its always been shown horribly on TV....I suppose with t'inerwebs I should.
But I can never get over how silly their name for ftl is, it makes me yearn for opal fruits.

[DontSayBanana]

I liked two of the main baddies.  Not Commandant Cleavage, though.