Farscape

_***½

American astronaut John Crichton finds himself stranded across the universe when a shuttle experiment goes awry. Trapped aboard a ship of escaped prisoners, Crichton must navigate a hostel universe in order to find his way back home.

The first time I saw Farscape was completely by accident, but what drew me in was both the elaborate make up and the use of puppetry. The only episode of this series that I managed to catch live during it's original run was the last one, but ever since I have considered myself a fan of the series, and look forward to watching it in a more intensive way.

The characterization in this series is spot-on; everyone is an individual, their motivations completely understandable, and each of them is fallible and understandable. Crichton (Ben Browder) is the all-American hero, driven to achieve his goals, compassionate when it comes to those in need, and very much in touch with popular culture. D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) is a fierce warrior, heeding the call of battle, and Zhaan (Virginia Hey) is a priestess, as compassionate as Crichton, but just as fierce as D'Argo. It is an interesting mix of characters, and they play off of one another incredibly well.

So often on televised science-fiction there is a tendency to just paint the extras blue and leave it at that, but this is a series that relies very heavily on prosthetics to make every character unique in their own way. Certainly there are some aliens that look very human, but there are just as many characters that don't, and Jim Henson's puppets are used in such a way that they don't look or feel like puppets, but interact with the live characters and the sets in a very natural way.

The ironically-titled Peace Keepers are a little too quick to violence for my liking; it's understandable that, in a roundabout way, Crais (Lani Tupu) might blame his brother's death on Crichton's unfortunate arrival, but to disavow any allegiance to Aeryn (Claudia Black) as quickly as he did is an overreaction and seems like a stretch only because he is of a race that has trained to control their emotions. Aeryn, on the other hand, wastes no time in attacking Crichton and demanding both his name and rank; in a situation where you may have only one ally, it would make the least amount of sense to beat them into unconsciousness.

The incidental music in this episode seems misplaced, unsuited to the series at large. The extended notes and dreary tones make the episode seem to drag on longer than it should.

With the extremely minor exception of Murray Bartlett's (D.K.) struggle to mask his natural accent, the entire cast does a phenomenal job. Everyone understands their role in the series and encapsulates them very well in this first hour, creating a solid concept of where each of these people come from and where they are likely to go. Simcoe is particularly strong, emoting very clearly through the heavy prosthetic makeup and cementing his character's personality and dark sense of humor.

Director Andrew Prowse does a good job of introducing this new universe to the audience, especially during the scenes on the alien planet, but the pacing of the episode seems to have been a bit of a struggle. The soldier asking about Crichton's puzzle is completely unnecessary and out of place, and the scene involving Zhaan's introduction to D'Argo, while well-shot, perhaps goes on too long.

Written by creator Rockne O'Bannon, this episode is definitely the story he set out to tell. The entire cast of characters being strangers to one another is inspired, as it allows the characters to introduce themselves to each other in a natural way without seeming like exposition, and provides a slew of dialogue that would otherwise seem awkward; likewise the translator microbes as a means of communication is an excellent way to hand-wave the sci-fi trope of every species speaking the same language. This episode provides a strong start to the series and a fun introduction to a number of interesting concepts.

O'Bannon paints a fairly vivid picture in this episode of what this series can become, involving character study, political intrigue, and the concept of family. What might be the most interesting aspect of the series is watching as this group of strangers, and enemies, grows to become friends and allies.

Farscape is in the running to become the feature for Saturdays. The series ran from 1999 to 2003 on Nine Network with a total of 88 episodes.