I recently finished the entire science fiction show Farscape, including its concluding miniseries after the series was cancelled. It was, without a doubt, one of the best television shows I have ever seen, and I miss it already. The character development in the show was phenomenal, and I have never seen any cast of characters change so much. Unlike most shows, there was not a single character I didn’t like; every character brought something unique that no one else had. There were no straight men; every single character had a deep story and real motives, so even though the cast was mostly alien, every character seemed very, very real.
One of the best parts of the show was also its complete and utter disregard for science. There was a point in the fourth season when the crew is faced with impossible science, and Rygel says “”I don’t assume the universe obeys my preconceptions, but I know a frelling fact when it hits me in the face.” This irreverent attitude towards what is possible and what isn’t is part of what made the show so charming, and if you’re a hard science fiction fan, this show definitely isn’t for you. The show’s premise also says loads about its treatment of fate and science fiction: an astronaut is testing an experiment when a wormhole appears and sucks him up, depositing him into the middle of a space battle where his ship accidentally kills the brother of the commander of one of the sides, who then chases him for vengeance when he is picked up by the other side. It is rather contrived.
I only had one qualm with the show, and that was its “filler” episodes. They were fine at first, when there wasn’t an overarching plot, but in seasons three and especially four, there were occasional episodes that didn’t advance the plot at all thrown in there that were almost painful to watch. Other than that, show, Farscape has become my second favorite show of all time, only slightly behind Babylon 5, and I couldn’t recommend it more! Just be prepared for the absurd.
Z. M. Wilmot 