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Just came across avclub doing Farscape reviews :D http://www.avclub.com/articles/premiere,93193/
This comment made me laugh "Crichton's pop culture references make him seem like the kind of dick who makes jokes that he doesn't expect anyone to get, then he becomes annoyed when those around him are bewildered. He is Earth's first hipster ambassador to the universe." Cause yeah it's kind of true. Like I get why he would try to center himself by making pop culture references to what he knows, but in the first season especially why is he always questioning how anyone could not have seen the same movies as he has, or saying stuff like how can you not have heard of John Wayne? Not a complaint exactly as I do love all of his pop culture references, just if you landed in space would you expect very alien creatures to have seen the same movies as you have!
And reading the comments reminded me that the supporting cast character-centric episodes never really worked for me. The writers got some criticism for later shifting the focus almost exclusively to John and Aeryn in seasons 3 and especially 4, but for me the show was at its best when it was John's experiences driving the narrative. It was nearly always less interesting to me when the entire focus of an episode was D'Argo, Zhann, Chianna, or Rygel. Yes the beginning of the series was better at spreading the focus, but did anyone ever really pine for episodes like "Taking The Stone", Vitas Mortis", "Rhapsody In Blue"?
One of the few episodes of that type I thought they carried off REALLY well was Incubator with Scorpuis. Maybe because it was more the case of focusing on the personal history of a character we already knew and were invested in, as opposed to some of the strange alien societies that we were supposed to care about in those one-off seasons 1 and 2 episodes, which generally had big roles for a guest cast that the audience didn't much care about? I always liked the Aeryn episodes though and I suppose she was as much alien as any of them, so I'm not sure what it was about episodes like "Mental As Anything" that send me to sleep, but gosh did they!
Reading the reviews really makes me want to rewatch Farscape from the beginning, but there's sooo many other shows I want to catch up on right now that there's just no way. It's a hard life :P
This comment made me laugh "Crichton's pop culture references make him seem like the kind of dick who makes jokes that he doesn't expect anyone to get, then he becomes annoyed when those around him are bewildered. He is Earth's first hipster ambassador to the universe." Cause yeah it's kind of true. Like I get why he would try to center himself by making pop culture references to what he knows, but in the first season especially why is he always questioning how anyone could not have seen the same movies as he has, or saying stuff like how can you not have heard of John Wayne? Not a complaint exactly as I do love all of his pop culture references, just if you landed in space would you expect very alien creatures to have seen the same movies as you have!
And reading the comments reminded me that the supporting cast character-centric episodes never really worked for me. The writers got some criticism for later shifting the focus almost exclusively to John and Aeryn in seasons 3 and especially 4, but for me the show was at its best when it was John's experiences driving the narrative. It was nearly always less interesting to me when the entire focus of an episode was D'Argo, Zhann, Chianna, or Rygel. Yes the beginning of the series was better at spreading the focus, but did anyone ever really pine for episodes like "Taking The Stone", Vitas Mortis", "Rhapsody In Blue"?
One of the few episodes of that type I thought they carried off REALLY well was Incubator with Scorpuis. Maybe because it was more the case of focusing on the personal history of a character we already knew and were invested in, as opposed to some of the strange alien societies that we were supposed to care about in those one-off seasons 1 and 2 episodes, which generally had big roles for a guest cast that the audience didn't much care about? I always liked the Aeryn episodes though and I suppose she was as much alien as any of them, so I'm not sure what it was about episodes like "Mental As Anything" that send me to sleep, but gosh did they!
Reading the reviews really makes me want to rewatch Farscape from the beginning, but there's sooo many other shows I want to catch up on right now that there's just no way. It's a hard life :P
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-10 03:58 pm (UTC)BTW - I forgot the other thing about that "apology" that still somewhat bothers me. Maybe bothers me a lot: *Warning - RANT* "But the challenge of reconciling the optimistic, empowering message of the final episode with the dystopian, Slayerless vision of Fray’s future gave Season 8 a genuine weight. There is never progress without hateful, reactionary blowback. That’s never been more apparent than in today’s political scene in America. The mission was to deal with the consequences of Buffy and Willow’s empowering spell (the good and the terrible), steer toward a possible Fray future without undoing all the good Buffy had done (the girls still have their power), and tee us up for a very different Season 9. "
Hateful reactionary blowback from human beings (or even demons in this context)? Sure - but from the Universe itself because Buffy "upset the balance"? Huh? First, that to me smacks of an outdated Newtonian/
Enlightenment view of the Universe as clockworks run precisely by God as the great Clockmaker (which is a horribly shortened explanation btw.) And what does the spacefrak and Spike's spaceship have to do with any of that?
I'm not sure WHY they had to steer towards the Frayverse (which they actually did on the show by adding the Scythe in S7, which I understand came from the Frayverse comics.) And doing it on Buffy's watch - later than a later time, say - actually undermines the message of Chosen (was he lying then or did he just change his mind after people pointed out the problematic elements?) And I'm with that it undoes or repeats her Hero's Journey arc - find a new story to tell. So Buffy is back to being isolated, unable to connect, and not only blaming herself for everything but everyone else blaming her too for outcomes she couldn't have predicted? (While Angel's actions are whitewashed?) Which leaves the impression that there weren't ANY good outcomes to the spell? No, no thank you.
Also, if you're going to put Spike in a space ship *grumblegrumble* why have bugs for a crew? Why not PENGUINS? Everyone in Spuffy fandom knows penguins are awesome, right?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-10 04:25 pm (UTC)He's a he ;)
And cool, thanks for all the info! I have to confess a lot of it is going over my head as I've never read the comics myself, but I do find it interesting reading other people's responses to them. It would bother me greatly if they tried to take away the ending of Chosen, I was always one of the fans who loved what Buffy did there for the other potential slayers
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-10 04:41 pm (UTC)REALLY? You're sure? I don't know if I should say thank you or try to forget it because we talk a lot & I have in my head that he's a she - I guess "she" is my default assumption unless I know otherwise. Which is not a bad thing - I thought the same of
Actually, all the men on my flist are feminists and write marvelously about female characters, and are less likely to victimize Buffy or other female characters than many female fans. I'm happy that there are men like them out there but what the hell does that say about my gender? (I was about to say "our" but then I realize I don't know yours, either!)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-10 04:48 pm (UTC)And I'm female lol, my name's Naomi :)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-10 05:23 pm (UTC)(And re: infinitewhale I have just now asked them directly - with the caveat that they didn't have to confirm either way.) but we are so of one mind on so many issues, especially feminism (or lack thereof in the Buffyverse) that it's amazing.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-12 01:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-12 01:34 pm (UTC)http://infinitewhale.livejournal.com/profile
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-12 02:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-12 02:35 pm (UTC)*lol* Never occurs to me either. Probably because I've written next to nothing on mine so mentally it only exists as "junk space" .
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-12 02:40 pm (UTC)