Farscape Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Farscape (first broadcast 1999) is a science fiction television series produced in Australia by the Jim Henson Company with the backing of US cable broadcaster the Sci Fi Channel.
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2 Cancellation and rebirth 3 Lingering questions 4 Series plot summary 5 Episodes 6 Characters 7 Farscape terminology 8 See also 9 External links |
Originally conceived in the early 1990s by Rockne S. O'Bannon, Brian Henson and writer/executive producer David Kemper under the title Space Chase, the show centers on American astronaut John Crichton (played by American actor Ben Browder), who has found himself flung through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy, where he is constantly caught in the middle of conflicts between planets, empires, and the incompatible personalities of the escaped prisoners he has taken refuge with.
Farscape is one of the new generation of science fiction TV shows, in which the main concerns are surviving in a hostile, chaotic universe and dealing with interpersonal conflicts, instead of exploration, warfare or law enforcement. See also Lexx and Firefly.
Henson has traditionally specialized in puppetry, and Farscape is no exception; two regular characters are animatronic puppets: the miniature deposed Dominar Rygel XVI of Hyneria (voiced by Johnathan Hardy) and the ship's Pilot (voiced by Lani Tupu), a multi-armed elephant-size creature physically and mentally bonded to the living Leviathan ship, Moya.
In 2002, Farscape won two Saturn Awards for Best Syndicated/Cable TV Series and Best TV Actor (Browder), as well as receiving nominations for Best TV Actress (Claudia Black as former-soldier Aeryn Sun) and Best Supporting TV Actress (Gigi Edgley as the pixieish rogue Chiana). Farscape completed production of its fourth season in September, with a fifth season contracted but with an uncertain fate.
In September 2002 the Sci Fi Channel, which was then owned by ailing conglomerate Vivendi, unexpectedly opted to withdraw its funding of the fifth season, threatening cancellation of the popular, critically-acclaimed show. Fans mounted a massive letter, phone, e-mail, and advertisement campaign hoping to pressure Sci-Fi into restoring the show or another, more financially solvent, network to take over.
Although the network cancelled the series, early plans to have the sets scrapped when production of the fourth season wrapped were quickly reversed; the sets were instead put in storage pending future decisions. When it was certain the show would not be renewed, the sets were destroyed.
In May, 2004, the Sci Fi Channel announced that it will air a two-episode miniseries that began on Sunday October 17th 2004 at 9pm. Called , the miniseries aims to wrap-up the season four cliffhanger and tie up some elements of the series in general. Depending on its ratings, the miniseries could spur the Sci Fi Channel to renew the series for a full new season.
In December 2003, the Jim Henson Company started production of the 4-hour miniseries to wrap up many of the threads dangling at the end of Season 4, episode 4.22 "Bad Timing". Creator Rockne S. O'Bannon and Executive Producer David Kemper wrote the miniseries and Brian Henson directed it.
Interestingly, the 4-hours are being referred to, by Henson, as episodes 4.23-4.26, though the New South Wales Film Office refers to the production as a '2 x 2 h. Telemovie'. Production of the miniseries was expected to wrap in March 2004 and aside from the announced airing on the Sci Fi Channel in the U.S., it is likely to be broadcast in the UK on BBC2.
Plot summaries adapted from Sci-Fi.com's Farscape Primer
John Crichton was an IASA astronaut working on the experimental Farscape project. During a test run, a wormhole opened up and he emerged on the other side of the galaxy in close proximity to the Leviathan Moya, one of a species of sentient spacecraft. Moya was currently a Peacekeeper slave serving as a prison ship. Aeryn Sun was a Peacekeeper officer serving on Moya, Also onboard, as prisoners, were D'Argo, Rygel, and Zhaan. The three prisoners escape and took control of Moya, but not before Crichton ended up on-board, and upsetting the Peacekeepers by removing the Control collar and Starbursting. As a result of her contact with the prisoners Aeryn Sun is lumped in with them. (Premiere)
Aeryn Sun's former commanding officer, Captain Crais pursued the crew of Moya through the Uncharted Territories. During their travels, they acquired a political fugitive, Chiana, who joined to escape persecution on her home world. Also, as a result of actions taken during the initial jailbreak, Moya became pregnant.
At one point, Crichton sees what he believes to be Earth through a wormhole and follows it down only to find a race called the Ancients. They implanted the equations and "sixth-sense" for wormhole travel in Crichton's subconscious mind.
Not knowing of it's existance Crichton attempted to embrace his new life, but Crichton was captured by Scorpius during an attempt to rescue Aeryn. Scorpius managed to discover the wormhole knowledge, and implanted a neurochip to attempt to unlock the knowledge.
After escaping from Scorpius, Crichton returned to Moya, who gave birth, with the assistance of Chiana to Talyn. Crais returned after Scorpius overthrew his command to join the crew of Moya.
This is an Article on Farscape. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Farscape The show
Cancellation and rebirth
Lingering questions
Series plot summary
Season 1
"My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. A radiation wave hit and I got shot through a wormhole. Lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange alien life forms. Help me. Listen, please. Is there anybody out there who can hear me? Being hunted... by an insane military commander. Doing everything I can. I'm just looking for a way home." -Opening NarrationEpisodes
See List of Farscape episodes.Characters
Crew of Moya
Ambiguous allies
Enemies
See also: List of aliens in fictionFarscape terminology
See Farscape terminologySee also
External links