Battlestar Galactica commentary on Farscape

[Storm Raven]

John was always "the brains" - he was the only scientist-like person they had, and they establish that pretty quickly. Sure, there's Pilot, but since he can't really leave the ship and is more concerned with Moya than abstracts, he counts a lot less.

He's only the brains because he can think outside the roles assigned to the other character's by their respective cultures, a point made numerous times (mostly with Aeryn). In point of fact, although John is "the brains", he is clearly shown to be in over his head with a lot of technical issues.

 

[Viking Bastard]

John is clever, but he's not that smart.

 

[WizarDru]

IMHO, Farscape was very non-casual viewer friendly, in a way that BSG and some other shows were not. I watched the first season and liked it. I missed a few episodes in the second season and was occasionally confused at some character changes. However, due to schedule restrictions (this was pre-Tivo), I ended up missing plenty of episodes. Every time I tried to come back, I felt more and more lost. Who's THAT guy? Why is she kissing him? When did HE join the crew? When did HE leave the crew? Why are they attacking? HUH? BSG is usually self-contained, has a good meta-plot intro every episode and reminds you periodically of the critical information. That's neither good nor bad...but it makes it much easier to get into the show.

As for originality? Farscape had some very original takes on the classic plots (the bodyswitch episode, the time-loop episode, "I'm not trying to fool you...I'm trying to drive you crazy!"), made all the more interesting as shows like Voyager stuck to the old canards.

BSG, by the same token, has original takes on much of the matieral and how it approaches it. The religious aspects of the show are very much unexplored territory for TV SF, as are many of the deeper philosophical topics. It's been done before in different places and different ways, but not so successfully and with such a deft hand. B5 is one of the few other shows to tackle relgion so competently in an SF context, IMHO.

 

[frandelgearslip]

Farscape was orriginal? I mean, it was nice and all but "Virile earth man from aproximately now is throw into futuristic space setting with hot alien babes and becomes hero..." All the classic space opera elements were nicely put together, but I find it hard to believe that you consider it more orriginal than the others on your list.

The look of farscape was original. There are many times when I watched that show and wondered how much LSD the writers had smoked (one episode where crichton is stuck in a VR game comes to mind). Overall it was the look of the show that was unique.

Star Wars owes a lot to old pulp science fiction, not to mention the fact that a lot of the original movie was borrowed from Hidden Fortress . DS9 should have just started calling themselves DS5. Firefly's individual episodes where very cliched. I groaned aloud when I saw the end of what would have been its season finale on DVD.

In the end originality is not as important as some people seem to think. Battlestar Gallactica is one of my favorite shows and star wars one of my favorite movies. Original crap is still crap

 

[Storm Raven]

I think that one of the main issues many people had with Farscape is that Crichton isn't a classic science fiction hero. He's a scientist, but his technical knowledge is severely limited by the fact that he comes from a backward planet. He's not the best fighter in the bunch (probably Aeryn), or the toughest (probably D'Argo). He's not the most compassionate (Zhaan). He's not even the craziest (Chiana) or the most crafty (Rigel). He's not really the best at anything. Even his technical capabilities are shown to be lacking compared to other characters on several occassions.

Compare Crichton to, for example, the characters on SG-1. O'Neill is the hero, but he's clueless about a lot of technical issues. Tielk is the fish out of water, Carter is the scientist, and Jackson is the guy with the unconventional ideas about how to deal with problems. Crichton is, in many ways, an inversion of the O'Neil archetype - Farscape essentially takes someone like Carter and makes them the main character in the show. On almost any previous science fiction show (or really, any action oriented show), Crichton would have been a supporting character.

 

[edemaitre]

"Farscape" and the new "Battlestar Galactica"

I agree that John Crighton on "Farscape" was an interesting amalgam of the brave, displaced Earthman dating back to John Carter of Mars and Flash Gordon with the mad scientist or plucky underdog. The SciFi Channel's revisionist "Battlestar Galactica" mines different archetypes, including postapocalyptic dystopias and a navy ruled by "rum, sodomy, and the lash"... Both harken back to Homer's Odyssey and Iliad.

Sure, many of the female characters in speculative fiction have been sexualized, but there's a difference between Aeryn Sun/Vala's control (or Claudia Black's characters' lack thereof in "Farscape" and "Stargate SG1") versus the chronic seduction/rape of and by various Cylons in the newer "Galactica." Sure, the 'verse is often an ugly place, and balancing fantasies of victimization or empowerment can be tricky, but I've felt that the characterization of women in "BSG" often lacks the range given its male characters. The possible exception is "Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace," who constantly struggles to put her messy past (not unlike most of her crewmates) behind her.

Yeah, I've also noticed how the effects, cinematography, and soundtrack of "Galactica" are very similar to that of "Firefly/Serenity." At least space opera hasn't completely gone into hibernation, despite the demise of the "Star Trek" franchise and the networks' preference for reality shows and "X-Files/Lost" clones...

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Sure, many of the female characters in speculative fiction have been sexualized, but there's a difference between Aeryn Sun/Vala's control (or Claudia Black's characters' lack thereof in "Farscape" and "Stargate SG1") versus the chronic seduction/rape of and by various Cylons in the newer "Galactica."

You're completely forgetting about Scorpio's mother (a scene they actually show) who got raped by a Scarran and then died giving birth, and then there's Chiana. Chiana almost was raped by Chrichton when he went crazy, the various threats she got, and then there's her actually getting raped between season 3 and 4, by certain authorities because they found out she was a 'cheat' during the ill-fated 'road-trip' she and Rygel had. That's something major you forgot about when criticizing Galactica, because it already happened in Farscape. As well Jool and Sikozu also were quite sexualized as characters through out the entire series.

There's been nothing about Laura Roslyn that's been sexualized, or Admiral Cain.

Thus going back to my statement about whatever one series is being accused of, the other series is guilty of.

 

[WizarDru]

characters' lack thereof in "Farscape" and "Stargate SG1") versus the chronic seduction/rape of and by various Cylons in the newer "Galactica." Sure, the 'verse is often an ugly place, and balancing fantasies of victimization or empowerment can be tricky, but I've felt that the characterization of women in "BSG" often lacks the range given its male characters. The possible exception is "Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace," who constantly struggles to put her messy past (not unlike most of her crewmates) behind her.

I'm going to have to disagree with you, there. You feel that Roslin, Boomer and Duala lack range? Even Kaylee and Six have some degree of depth....and while Six's sexualization originally seemed to be a warning bell of the series lack of quality to me, I actually gave the series a chance and discovered her character(s) to much more complex than just a sex object, IMHO. I mean, Roslin and Adama are the linch-pins of the series...and the only person to upset that balance has been Admiral Cain. Now Cain's characterization has been pretty shallow...but that's more because she's a plot element to affect the regular cast, not a true regular character. She's no different than Lucy Lawless' character of a few episodes ago or the doctor on Caprica...her presence is only important in how the cast regulars react to her.

If you refering to events like the baby-factories on Caprica and the gross mistreatment of the anthroforms by the Pegasus crew...those are atrocities, and are meant to elicit a very negative response. Unfortunately, as conflicts across the world show us, things like rape and torture occur in wartime. What defines a character is his reaction to it; Helo and Tyrol put aside their differences to save Boomer from one of war's horrors. Cain seems to be very reminscent, to me, of the kind of mindset that was shown in such horrible conflicts and the bosnian-serbian conflict. Once you reduce the humaniod cylons to being inhuman, anything is allowable. But that's really another discussion entirely.

I view the female characters as very competent and well-developed on the show. All of the characters have their warts, male OR female. Is Colonel Tigh any more or less a complex character than Boomer, for example? For my money, they are equals. Obviously, YMMV and does.

 

[ecliptic]

The scifi shows that I like and dislike.

Like/Love
Battlestar Galactica
Firefly
Invasion
Threshold
Surface
Star Trek Next Generation
Star Trek Deep Space Nine
Earth 2

Dislike/Hate
Stargate SG1
Stargate Alantis
Farscape
Buffy
Angel
Babylon 5
Original Star Trek
Star Trek Voyager
SeaQuest

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

ARGH. PLEASE use SPOILERS tags. Now I feel like I can't read the thread I started anymore. (Still in season 1).