Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[squirrely1]

@Blue - thanks it's one of my shorter reviews. Lol. Take your time. We look forward to hearing from you.

@Mr. Sun - WOW! All I'm gonna say is there is no doubt that Ben/Claudia have a very comfortable and close working relationship and it comes across in their on screen chemistry. I haven't really noticed a "butt" obsession he just has no problem getting in her space and getting physical with her and that is a testament of the trust and close personal relationship they have. But I think they keep it professional.

[Falcon Horus]

I review first, then I'll go back to re-read.

Liars, Guns, and Money Part 1: A No So Simple Plan

YAY, we're going on a bank heist!
And what could possibly go wrong with that, right? STAAAAARK!!!!

The episode starts with Zhaan following a 'sign' from Stark that he's alive. The others think she's just projecting her wish for him to be alive. That is, until his head appears in his mask while John's holding it in front of him.

I bet you anything to played rock-paper-scissor to determine who was going to have to talk to Zhaan about her insane mission.

Anyhow, Stark's alive and he knows where Jothee is and how to get him back.

Cue: the Shadow Deposit slash bank heist

D'Argo wants to go ahead but the others are hesitant so he goes alone. John and Aeryn go after him, only to get in over their heads when D'Argo gets arrested for trying to break into the vault. Which, in turn, apparently was part of Stark's plan. What if they had all gone, then who was going to get them out? He could have mentioned something at the very least.

In comes pirate Zhaan -- the eye patch was a nice touch -- with her little help, Chiana, emphacising and repeating every last word Zhaan says.

Their plan was a pretty good plan -- few holes in it. Locking Rygel in with the loot and have him switch containers. That was a pretty good plan. Except, of course, Scorpy ruining everything.

I really enjoyed Zhaan and Chiana together.
D'Argo got his mivonks handed to him by a creepy bug-like spiderwoman. But damn, the make-up on that thing... fingerlickin' good.

John's loosing it completely and has both visual and auditory hallucinations. Aeryn tried to keep him grounded but it's harder and harder to do. And with Scorpius walking in on their little bank job, that certainly doesn't get any better.

John trying to fight that loosing battle with Scorpius is just one of the finest acting I've seen. Ben is awesome.

[Falcon Horus]

...Scorpy and his new Scarran squeeze...

I don't think this blue meany was Scarran. She doesn't have the features of a Scarran, unless she's a subspecies. But I think she was a race all on her own. A blue, creepy bug or perhaps scorpion-like race.

...you know I"m not going to say it cuz jel will accuse me of slashing them or only thinking of sex but honestly I think I heard John say...."You're not my type" upon Scorpy's urgent request for John to insert the rod.

John did say it.

I'm a strong contender for the role of Falcon Horus n this week everyone.

Another back-up for the lead role.

Its okay blue. We are all channeling FH this week.

A little FH a day, keeps something or other away.

Stark. I know FH has a crazy crush on Stark but his convenient return annoyed me like crazy. This is probably where someone mentions the cliché of no one ever dies in scifi. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate that saying. I know they planted the seeds for this in The Ugly Truth but no I don't buy it.

It does reek of convenience. Not a fan either.
And it also diminishes his sacrifice in The Ugly Truth -- but you know... that's just what I think.

Did think the singing and crawling away from Scorpy was a little weird.

A little...

John was clearly searching for his marbles there.

@Mr. Sun - WOW! All I'm gonna say is there is no doubt that Ben/Claudia have a very comfortable and close working relationship and it comes across in their on screen chemistry. I haven't really noticed a "butt" obsession he just has no problem getting in her space and getting physical with her and that is a testament of the trust and close personal relationship they have. But I think they keep it professional.

Reminds me of a Q&A with Claudia Black. I don't remember exactly what the question was but I think it was along the lines of what was so great about working with Ben. She gets up from her chair, drops her handkerchief. Ben picks it up from the floor, and while he does Claudia points at his firm buttocks.

"That's one reason."

[squirrely1]

I bet you people thought I needed my barf bucket for the next part. Well you are wrong. John saying he loves Aeryn and her helping John when he is battling Harvey does not bother me all, I actually love it. Through all these blunders, the one constant is John can depend on his friends. Did think the singing and crawling away from Scorpy was a little weird. I also found it hard to believe he was able to make it back to Moya. It was obvious that Natria's fake currency is used to find a reason to give us a to be continued. Speaking of Natira, I deliberately left her out of my review because he presence is more commanding in later episodes

WOW!! You loved a John/Aeryn love/kiss scene? *faints*
I also found the John singing a bit....weird...but I guess he was really doing the most foreign thing he could to mess with Harvey.....singing the National Anthem....probably helped......to bad there wasn't a Trump fightsong LOL

As FH pointed out in her comment to me, I thought Natira was Scarran but yeah on second thought she isn't. I don't quite know what species she is? Anyone have any ideas on this? .....*runs to check the companion book* Ahhh Ok there is a whole section on Natira and she is a special creature creation just for Scorpius' chick....needed to be special evil and look like a sexy "Spiderwoman" Of sorts. I'll transcribe some of what they said from my Companion Book:

A real highlight of the season was the appearance of Natira, Scorpius' lover, in the 'Liars, Guns and Money' trilogy. But the creation of her look was the most problematic in the show's history to that date. As director Andrew Prowse says, "Who would think that a blue-skinned alien could be sexy?" When producer David Kemper told Dave Elsey that he was going to "introduce Scorpius's chick, I said fantastic. She's got to be as good as Scorpius. She's got to be a real evil character, and I knew exactly what I was going to do . I wanted her to be a weird sort of Spider Woman." According to Elsey, David Kemper wasn't convinced at that stage, and was anxious that the character looked like Claudia Karvan, who was playing her, and would be sexy. "So I designed her as this blue, crustaceous character with spider legs on her head, and everyone looked at it, and went, 'Um....I really don't know'," Elsey recalls. "We argued from beginning to end on Natira's look, but I kept trying to push it through. The thing is, while we're arguing about it, you've got to be doing it, otherwise it won't be ready for the day. The designs that we build normally are my very first designs, because that's all there's time for. Claudia came in and we cast her whole body. I talked to her about the character, showed her the drawings, and she said she couldn't wait to look like this. She thought it was the greatest idea ever.
"Lou Elsey designed the suit, then made it out of an experimental new fabric that she'd created -- a Hot Flesh-fabric hybrid. Martin Izzard started sculpting the face to my designs. It was looking great and I really like it, but still everyone else was worried. They wanted to have the spider legs fold up and lie flat on her head. I knew that what we'd built wouldn't do that, so we started working on a second head with the legs already folded in. We had it ready with the costume for the make-up tests, got it together really quickly, put Claudia in it, put the lenses and the teeth in, put the head on with all the legs moving, and showed it to everyone. And they hated it!
"There was no way we could change it. I knew it was rough, because it was only the make-up test. So we got Claudia in the full costume on the day and she walked onto the set. And the whole place went quiet. Everyone looked at her --and suddenly reversed their opinions. We saw rushes the next day, and if it looked good on the set, it looked 200 times better onscreen. And everyone now uses that as a great example of what we can do on Farscape. It was a great make-up because it didn't completely disguise the actress -- the character still looked like Claudia, as David Kemper wanted -- and it was certainly sexy!"

I

[Falcon Horus]

FRELL -- that's one awesome costume.

And the character looks truly amazing -- just my opinion.

[Bluemeany]

The LGAM Trilogy

Like jel, this is my favourite Farscape trilogy. Mainly for a selfish editing reasons: these episodes are just beautiful visually.

Everything from the CGI (the outside of the depository and explosions in particular), to the camera shots (all the running/tracking down corridors), to the costumes (spider-lady and the pirate/bank robber vibe the Moya crew have going on), to the multiple action sequences…

All great stuff going on. It’s like the whole production step up a level in terms of badass. I used footage from LG&M a lot in my video: probably more than any other episodes.

To me, it looks like they have more money than usual. Probably the advantage of pooling the money for three episodes into sets, CGI models and costumes you keep coming back to for the whole trilogy… a smart way to do it if so. Or maybe they actually robbed a bank: who knows.

Special shout out to the colours/lighting department. There’s a lot of dual or triple colour contrast shots: i.e. one character will be strongly lit in the contrast colour to the other or the background (i.e. one in orange and the other in blue, rather than both in block blue).

That is the key trait of modern, high production values sci-fi: Firefly – a few years after this- we’re really the first ones to have widespread use of it. But here are Farscape making it work in 2000/2001. Kind of neat.

I agree Stark’s reappearance is a tad convenient. But I love his evasive response to whether helping the architect ‘cross over’ meant that he killed him. He totally did it.

And yes, Aeryn and Crichton are definitely in a supportive relationship at this point. I too love the kiss in the corridor when Crichton’s can’t cope/ starts to confess about Scorpius.

Kind of reminds me of how

Spoiler:

Black T-shirt Crichton kisses Aeryn in Icarus Abides when he realises he’s going to die. Actually the blocking in so similar with those two scenes, it might be deliberate. In both Aeryn is physically supporting/calming Crichton. In both, she asks him “what’s the matter” before and after the surprise kiss. I both scenes, after the kiss Crichton confesses the bad news.

That scene actually is a good example of the contrasting colour thing going on: Aeryn in yellow, Crichton in purple. Great visually. More shots like that please :-)

I don't think this blue meany was Scarran. She doesn't have the features of a Scarran, unless she's a subspecies. But I think she was a race all on her own. A blue, creepy bug or perhaps scorpion-like race.

Thanks. I get to be a creepy-bug race all on my own.

As FH pointed out in her comment to me, I thought Natira was Scarran but yeah on second thought she isn't. I don't quite know what species she is? Anyone have any ideas on this?

Looks like a Doctor Who style Racnoss to me…

[jelgate]

Liars, Guns, and Money Part II: With Friends Like These

This feels like one of those setup episodes. Those type of episodes is why I got annoyed with BSG but it doesn't annoy me in Farscape. For reasons we will discuss shortly. Does anyone feel like we have gone full circle? It was kind of obvious Scorpy was going to beat us to the slave auction. As I have said time and time again, Scorpy is smarter than us. He was planning his next move when we attacked the depository. I would never want to play chess with him. One thing I never understood is why he killed all those Baniks. A villian of course doesn't need a reason to commit mass murder, but Scorpy never does anything without a reason. I never saw a reason for the killing. Kidnapping Jothee makes sense. He knows John from studying him that John would do anything for his friends. But I'm getting ahead of myself again. I suspect SQ is to blame. Now we get to the part of where I say we have gone full circle. John's plan is never fully clear but I assume that was deliberate to be explained after we get our crew. I love seeing all these aliens again from S1. You're the editing expert blue. Did you notice in the flashbacks that Moya doesn't look as dark? I kind of like seeing how the different aliens have changed. I guess Zhaan had a bigger impact on the Talvlecks than we first believed. I found the return of Durka to be random, but at the same time I laughed watch Rygel's grin when he kills him. Sometimes I forget that some of these aliens are puppets which I think speaks to the volume of the actors and puppeteers. I can't remember how much of an impact Moya makes in Part III. Guess we will find out later. I say this because the metal bugs (Copyrighted. Use it and you have to pay royalty SQ) story seems like it exist so we get the other bits to setup Part III. While everyone else is dealing with finding our mercenaries we have this story to keep us occupied. I love the solution. The metal eating bugs are destroying Moya and the only way to help is cause serious harm of Moya. As D'Argo would say (I think it was D'Argo), no one has frelled up plans like us. As I have said before, I'm no art expert but I like the look of seeing our home burnt. It shows an act of desperation of us to burn Moya and the visual cue really drives it home. I think this issue is addressed in the season finale. I mentioned John self-sacrifice earlier. With us poor, I recognize how John feels defeated in that he has been bested by Scorpy. We have seen several times how John has risked his lives for his friends. I think exchanging his life for Jothee is the same thing. He couldn't live with himself if his friend's loved ones died because of him.

An after note mention is that the Natria/Scorpy sex scenes creep me out

[Bluemeany]

One thing I never understood is why he killed all those Baniks. A villian of course doesn't need a reason to commit mass murder, but Scorpy never does anything without a reason. I never saw a reason for the killing

To give Scorpius the benefit of the doubt: is flushing 9,999 Baniks into space to find the one Luxan who can breathe actually his idea? Does he even know about it?

All we see (I think) is him order Braca to find Jothee. He doesn’t care about the means, just the ends – a very Scorpy trait. Maybe Braca thinks searching the crowd will take too long or lead to the Baniks hiding Jothee. He wants to get results quick and impress his boss, and so…

My money is on Scorpius not knowing how Braca or the peacekeepers got him what he wanted. He simply not interested in the details, which in this instance includes mass murder.

Not only does he have no reason to kill or save the Baniks. He has no reason to even consider their existence or fate. They don't even register on his radar. I think that makes him more evil in a way.

You're the editing expert blue. Did you notice in the flashbacks that Moya doesn't look as dark? I kind of like seeing how the different aliens have changed.

Oh yeah, it definitely does. Not just Moya, the whole show. With each subsequent series they use less and less lights. And more subtle colour. Season 1 is like this technicolor block stick. By early Season 4, it's basically a black out.

I prefer Season 2 & 3: I think that's when they get it right. Season 4 is too far for me. They switch from 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:8 in Season 4 as well: which whilst it gives it a nice serious 'film-like' quality, is a pain for fan vidding. It's a cardinal editing sin to mix shots of different ratios, but you just cannot get S4 & PK wars in 4:3... nor can you get Season 1-3 in 16:8.

I'll moan about it more when we get there in the re-watch :-)

[squirrely1]

Wow you guys have been busy... Very nice reviews ya'll.... I need to get on the stick....
LGAM Part 1 - From the Companion Book

(In the margin there is a quote from Natira, "As a race, Luxans can be inartful at love, inadequate at war and intrinsically inep. But this one is inelligent." )

"At the beginning of the year I said we were going to rob a band and blow it up," David Kemper explains. "We knew the first and the third parts were going to be in the bank. The first one was based on Mission: Impossible, the second The Dirty Dozen or The Seven Samurai. The third was The Guns of Navarone. That was our template."
"The question came up of what we wanted to do," line producer Anthony Winley adds. "The scope was outside how we originally focused the season. We could have made the episodes very well for the budget, but we wanted to make them bigger and better. The Jim Henson Company advanced us the money --and hopefully it shows." [there's your answer Blue ] The former president of Henson Television, RodPerth, even made a small cameo appearance in the first episode.

Tim Ferrier's sets for the Depository filled two entire sound stages at Homebush Bay. "No one, including Tony Winley who produced [the blockbuster sci-fi movie] Pitch Black, has ever been on sets that were bigger," David Kemper says in awe. "Timmy built the depositing room, the hallways, the rooms and the windows from nothing, just the genius in his brain."
"That one goes along like a rocket," director Andrew Prowse says. "It was at the end of the season and we'd got the whole CG process under control. We were doing some really good work. I loved the TV monitors. I think it's got a good rhythm -- it's a little rollercoaster."

Virginia Hey relished the opportunity to dress up in a slinky black leather outfit as a piratical villainess. "It was really nice to get into something skin-tight, if only just to feel svelte," she says. "Anything that's dark makes you look thinner. Anything that's pale makes you look bigger. Living for years in pale blue always made me look bigger than I was!"

Mat McCoy, who operates the Rygel Puppet, had a scary moment during the scene in which Rygel is inside the money container. "I overbalanced with the puppet," He recalls. "I had Rygel on my right arm, and my left hand was in the Rygel hand glove, so I didn't have any hands, and I overbalanced. The only thing that stopped me from falling a story and a half was my head. I had to smash it into the wall to try to brace my back and use the force of my head pushing back on the megadeck to stay in place."

One of the most powerful scenes involved Crichton refusing to change Scorpius's cooling rod. "I must have been very tired that day, and I had an idea," Ben Browder recalls. "instead of saying, 'Get out of my head, Scorpy', I'll sing to him, I thought I'll bellow the national anthem at the top of my lungs. What director in his right mind is going to let an actor bellow the national anthem of the United States of America at the top of his lungs at the pinnacle of the drama? That's insane. You don't do that! It defies all reason, logic and rules of television and film. Yet at the same time it's really quite interesting. Crichton has to have something to fight Scorpy with. I went right back to the potent memories that most Americans who play sports have growing up. There's something about 'The Star-Spangled Banner' that resonates with the kind of guy that John is. Here's your all-American boy, two years later, after being clean-faced and innocent and wide-eyed, screaming 'You're not my type', crawling across the floor, screeching the national anthem!"

[squirrely1]

Liars, Guns and Money Part II - With Friends Like These

I love Blue's notice and explanations of the colors and lighting in this trilogy from the vidding pov. And if you read the companion book information above, we now understand how this production was able to ramp up in terms of scale, and it most definitely shows. Again another reason I loved this show, because it was like tuning into a mini movie each week the production bar was set so high and was far ahead of most things we'd seen on TV to date at that point. I have always loved the colors, lighting and blocking used on this show and it has really stood the test of time and has aged so beautifully over the years. It truly is a work of art.

Ok so what I loved most about this ep was (I guess I have to agree with jel on this) revisiting the earlier aliens from season one. Gee that seems so long ago now But yes it was nice to see they have been carrying on and some of them changed. So we have the Vocarian Blood Trackers (and is that chick still pregnant??) Seriously that is one longass pregnancy, unless it's another new baby....or maybe I missed something? ....I've been known to do that. I love how the crew divides up to go out and gather up these aliens. I also love how it's not just 1, 2, 3 easy...well we know that nothing is easy on Farscape anyway, but again I love how they really have to scrap around to get these aliens to come back to help all with the promise of payment.....speaking of which.....(jel you can keep your copyright word...I'll go with Rip Off Replicators...now if anyone wants to use that term you'll have to pay me royalties ) I think these bug like money creatures remind me so much of the Stargate replicators. But these evil little bugs are actually chewing through metal....which how does that work on Moya since I thought she was living...didn't think Moya was metal persay but I guess she is made of some metal alloys or something? *scratches head* You know ... I'm not gonna over think it. It was terrifying and the outcome even more so. It was heart wrenching to watch as they had to burn Moya in order to eliminate the bugs. If their production expenses weren't already high enough now they had to change alot of the Moya sets to make her look burnt. And they did a great job with that as well. Plus it's going to be a while for her to heal so that makes for an interesting dilemma for them shooting inside Moya on the next set of episodes as well.
So back to the rest of the aliens we then had to get a Sheyang (the fire breather) of course he had to be next to death, but he's better than nothing? I guess. LOL I loved how Aeryn prodded the thing into doing better. Then we had a Tavlek and a Zenetan pirate. Like jel....geeze this makes two .....I thought the return of Durka was a bit forced and seemed like Really? Does this guy ever really die? But then it's cool when Rygel gets to kill him. Let's hope it's actually for real this time.

As for Scorpy killing off all the Banniks in order to retrieve Jothee I think again like Blue mentions it's the means to the end and he doesn't really care. It shows us the lengths that Scorpy is willing to go in order to get John and keep control of him in order to get at the worm hole knowledge. It also raises the stakes of terror for everyone showing that Scorpy is that evil. I think he needed to be elevated a bit as the bad guy since he is just one dude..they needed to play up his abilities to deliver wide scale terror in order to ramp up the fear and terror he can produce.

Also loved John's sacrifice and the look on Aeryn's face when she realizes that he's turned himself over to Scorpius. She totally blanched pale in that scene it was amazing...just that look. A true testament of Claudia's acting there.

And Yes the Scorpy/Natira sex scene was quite.... twistedly creepily erotic and I had a good laugh when just after they finished Scorpy hops off her and he doesn't even have to zip his fly. WOW that was some magic there. LOL

I should probably stop there.

[Falcon Horus]

Thanks. I get to be a creepy-bug race all on my own.

- oops...

Looks like a Doctor Who style Racnoss to me…

She does indeed.

An after note mention is that the Natria/Scorpy sex scenes creep me out

Kinky!

And Yes the Scorpy/Natira sex scene was quite.... twistedly creepily erotic and I had a good laugh when just after they finished Scorpy hops off her and he doesn't even have to zip his fly. WOW that was some magic there. LOL

It didn't look like that it was that kind of copulating act... more like a choke-hold and then a suction of one of her tentacles.

Okay... sorry for that image...

+++++

Like has been said by the rest of us, I really enjoyed seeing our old frenemies again. However, it was my understanding that with every starburst Moya slingshots lightyears into space, hopping from one corner of the galaxy to another corner (if the galaxy had corners in a manner of speaking). So, how is it that all the planets we've been or places that we are but one solar day separated from all of these places? That shouldn't be possible. Unless the smaller crafts were fitted with starburst capabilities to skip-hop around the galaxy themselves.

*shrug*

And oh... ...poor Stark when he feels the death of his people.

And when Jothee arrives, you just know John went and did something stupid.

[jelgate]

Liars, Guns and Money Part I - A Not So Simple Plan

So what is not to love about this ep? You have Zhaan the pirate, Stark trying to lead a bank heist, Bonnie and Clyde (No scratch that ...it didn't end well), Scorpy and his new Scarran squeeze ....a Trojan Horse Rygel and those gorgeous sweeping CG scenes of that Shadow Depository! It was obvious they saved a good portion of their budget all season to produce this trilogy, it's one of my favorites!

I've got nothing. I love all of this. Except Natria and Scorpy creep me out

Where to even start? It's all just awesome. I thought it was a bit rash of D to just bust through the defenses and expect to get somewhere. But it seemingly worked out and may have been just the diversion they needed to allow Zhaan (loved her costuming BTW) to infiltrate the vault legally in order to gain entry. Chi cracked me up there playing the little parrot on Zhaan's shoulder. Poor Ryg lost his clothes and I think we got a split second glimpse of his long johns. LOL Loved the CG of the bank vault scenes and the tension that was buiding when they ran into Scorpy.

D'Argo was ruled by emotions. His love to rescue his son made him blind to reason. Of course it was stupid as everyone else told him but all he see is his son being sold as a slave. I think Stark said it was always his plan to let D'Argo get captured so Zhaan could enter the vault.

Loved how Scorpy's presence was affecting John and that kiss he pulled Aeryn into the corner because he was losing it and just had to let her know how he felt. From a shipper perspective my heart was leaping there, but from any other perspective, it seemed as if they just threw that in to include some John/Aeryn love. I'm not complaining but it seemed a tad awkward there timing wise.

I understood it. John didn't know how long he would still see Aeryn as he is hallucinating. John was unsure how long until he completely lost touch with reality

I very much enjoyed the close up's of Scorpy and his and John's wrestling around...you know I"m not going to say it cuz jel will accuse me of slashing them or only thinking of sex but honestly I think I heard John say...."You're not my type" upon Scorpy's urgent request for John to insert the rod. LOL Ok so I said it...Just shut up jel!

I wouldn't have said it actually. Because only a crazy person would think such a thing. You saying it only proves my point

I think I should probably stop there......

No rambling? That's a first for you

Nice review SQ. I haven't even watched this episode yet never mind written it up. I'm a strong contender for the role of Falcon Horus n this week everyone.

Expect to hear from me sometime on Thursday.

FH still beat you. I guess she wants to keep her title

I review first, then I'll go back to re-read.

Liars, Guns, and Money Part 1: A No So Simple Plan

YAY, we're going on a bank heist!
And what could possibly go wrong with that, right? STAAAAARK!!!!

Stark being insane doesn't help. Bank heists are such a classic. I love seeing the Farscape spin

The episode starts with Zhaan following a 'sign' from Stark that he's alive. The others think she's just projecting her wish for him to be alive. That is, until his head appears in his mask while John's holding it in front of him.

Always thought it was a tad convient

I bet you anything to played rock-paper-scissor to determine who was going to have to talk to Zhaan about her insane mission.

I hope D'Argo understands the rules this time

Anyhow, Stark's alive and he knows where Jothee is and how to get him back.

Cue: the Shadow Deposit slash bank heist

And Rygel confirming Stark's insanity

D'Argo wants to go ahead but the others are hesitant so he goes alone. John and Aeryn go after him, only to get in over their heads when D'Argo gets arrested for trying to break into the vault. Which, in turn, apparently was part of Stark's plan. What if they had all gone, then who was going to get them out? He could have mentioned something at the very least.

Stark probably knew they wouldn't because it was a terrible idea. D'Argo only did it because he was blinded by the love for his son. If it was anyone else, he too would realized its crazy

In comes pirate Zhaan -- the eye patch was a nice touch -- with her little help, Chiana, emphacising and repeating every last word Zhaan says.

I think that is hilarious since its a complete 180 of who Zhaan is.

Their plan was a pretty good plan -- few holes in it. Locking Rygel in with the loot and have him switch containers. That was a pretty good plan. Except, of course, Scorpy ruining everything.

Of course he does. Scorpy is smarter than us. I like where Rygel recites his job and is complaining about percentage

I really enjoyed Zhaan and Chiana together.
D'Argo got his mivonks handed to him by a creepy bug-like spiderwoman. But damn, the make-up on that thing... fingerlickin' good.

I always thought ZHaan and Chiana had a mother/daughter type relationship. Natria always creeped me out with that sliver armor. How do you sleep in that?

John's loosing it completely and has both visual and auditory hallucinations. Aeryn tried to keep him grounded but it's harder and harder to do. And with Scorpius walking in on their little bank job, that certainly doesn't get any better.

John losing control has been the theme since found out about Harvey in the Princess trilogy.

John trying to fight that loosing battle with Scorpius is just one of the finest acting I've seen. Ben is awesome.

I think the interaction is what sells. No doubt Ben does a good job but I think we often overlook how great Wayne is at playing Scorpious and Harvey

I don't think this blue meany was Scarran. She doesn't have the features of a Scarran, unless she's a subspecies. But I think she was a race all on her own. A blue, creepy bug or perhaps scorpion-like race.

You are right. Natria lacks the reptellian look of a Scarran. Plus Scorpy would never have a relationship with a Scarran. He hates them

Another back-up for the lead role.

I'm not playing the love interest anymore

A little FH a day, keeps something or other away.

The sanity?

It does reek of convenience. Not a fan either.
And it also diminishes his sacrifice in The Ugly Truth -- but you know... that's just what I think.

I agree with your thinking which is a 180 from the old days

A little...

John was clearly searching for his marbles there.

They are probably back in the Aurora chair.

Reminds me of a Q&A with Claudia Black. I don't remember exactly what the question was but I think it was along the lines of what was so great about working with Ben. She gets up from her chair, drops her handkerchief. Ben picks it up from the floor, and while he does Claudia points at his firm buttocks.

"That's one reason."

And people say the man are the shallow ones. *points to SQ*

WOW!! You loved a John/Aeryn love/kiss scene? *faints*
I also found the John singing a bit....weird...but I guess he was really doing the most foreign thing he could to mess with Harvey.....singing the National Anthem....probably helped......to bad there wasn't a Trump fightsong LOL

*takes SQ's wallet* FH, blue, we're having margaritas tonight.

I recognize good scenes when they occur. Its a dramatic moment because John doesn't think he will be grasping reality much longer

As FH pointed out in her comment to me, I thought Natira was Scarran but yeah on second thought she isn't. I don't quite know what species she is? Anyone have any ideas on this? .....*runs to check the companion book* Ahhh Ok there is a whole section on Natira and she is a special creature creation just for Scorpius' chick....needed to be special evil and look like a sexy "Spiderwoman" Of sorts. I'll transcribe some of what they said from my Companion Book:

I never thought she was Scarran for the reasons I mentioned to FH above.

FRELL -- that's one awesome costume.

And the character looks truly amazing -- just my opinion.

Agreed
To Be Continued

[jelgate]

Part 2

The LGAM Trilogy

Like jel, this is my favourite Farscape trilogy. Mainly for a selfish editing reasons: these episodes are just beautiful visually.

So you are reviewing the whole trilogy right now?

Everything from the CGI (the outside of the depository and explosions in particular), to the camera shots (all the running/tracking down corridors), to the costumes (spider-lady and the pirate/bank robber vibe the Moya crew have going on), to the multiple action sequences…

I think the outside is just a reuse of the Gammack base.

All great stuff going on. It’s like the whole production step up a level in terms of badass. I used footage from LG&M a lot in my video: probably more than any other episodes.

We mentioned how less actiony( yes I made that word up)the season finales are in Farscape. Shows that save money for finales was probably used here

To me, it looks like they have more money than usual. Probably the advantage of pooling the money for three episodes into sets, CGI models and costumes you keep coming back to for the whole trilogy… a smart way to do it if so. Or maybe they actually robbed a bank: who knows.

See above

Special shout out to the colours/lighting department. There’s a lot of dual or triple colour contrast shots: i.e. one character will be strongly lit in the contrast colour to the other or the background (i.e. one in orange and the other in blue, rather than both in block blue).

I'll take your word for it

That is the key trait of modern, high production values sci-fi: Firefly – a few years after this- we’re really the first ones to have widespread use of it. But here are Farscape making it work in 2000/2001. Kind of neat.

I often found Firefly to be overrated

I agree Stark’s reappearance is a tad convenient. But I love his evasive response to whether helping the architect ‘cross over’ meant that he killed him. He totally did it.

Of course he did. Stark doesn't have problem with bad people dying. I have a hard time believing the designer of a bank for criminals is a kind person

And yes, Aeryn and Crichton are definitely in a supportive relationship at this point. I too love the kiss in the corridor when Crichton’s can’t cope/ starts to confess about Scorpius.

Don't tell SQ we agree. She might faint again

Kind of reminds me of how

Spoiler:

Black T-shirt Crichton kisses Aeryn in Icarus Abides when he realises he’s going to die. Actually the blocking in so similar with those two scenes, it might be deliberate. In both Aeryn is physically supporting/calming Crichton. In both, she asks him “what’s the matter” before and after the surprise kiss. I both scenes, after the kiss Crichton confesses the bad news.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Besides the main story, I don't often remember details

That scene actually is a good example of the contrasting colour thing going on: Aeryn in yellow, Crichton in purple. Great visually. More shots like that please :-)

SUre right after you give them more money

Thanks. I get to be a creepy-bug race all on my own.

Use the venon.

Looks like a Doctor Who style Racnoss to me…

I told you. We don't talk about that "show" here

To give Scorpius the benefit of the doubt: is flushing 9,999 Baniks into space to find the one Luxan who can breathe actually his idea? Does he even know about it?

No. He just told Mr. Yes Man to find Jothee. I don't think Scorpy how to do it

All we see (I think) is him order Braca to find Jothee. He doesn’t care about the means, just the ends – a very Scorpy trait. Maybe Braca thinks searching the crowd will take too long or lead to the Baniks hiding Jothee. He wants to get results quick and impress his boss, and so…

Agreed. I can see your point. Scorpy doesn't kill for no reason but if killing those Baniks get what he wants (ie Jothee) I can see him doing it.

My money is on Scorpius not knowing how Braca or the peacekeepers got him what he wanted. He simply not interested in the details, which in this instance includes mass murder.

You're right too

Not only does he have no reason to kill or save the Baniks. He has no reason to even consider their existence or fate. They don't even register on his radar. I think that makes him more evil in a way.

It does. Scorpy's obsession is what defines him. Villians are more fun when they have a reason. His wormhole obsession is what drives him and his willingness to get it no matter what is what makes him so creepy

Oh yeah, it definitely does. Not just Moya, the whole show. With each subsequent series they use less and less lights. And more subtle colour. Season 1 is like this technicolor block stick. By early Season 4, it's basically a black out.

I kind of missed the brightness of S1.

I prefer Season 2 & 3: I think that's when they get it right. Season 4 is too far for me. They switch from 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:8 in Season 4 as well: which whilst it gives it a nice serious 'film-like' quality, is a pain for fan vidding. It's a cardinal editing sin to mix shots of different ratios, but you just cannot get S4 & PK wars in 4:3... nor can you get Season 1-3 in 16:8.

I'll moan about it more when we get there in the re-watch :-)

I don't notice color that much. I only noticed it here because of the flashbacks

Liars, Guns and Money Part II - With Friends Like These

I love Blue's notice and explanations of the colors and lighting in this trilogy from the vidding pov. And if you read the companion book information above, we now understand how this production was able to ramp up in terms of scale, and it most definitely shows. Again another reason I loved this show, because it was like tuning into a mini movie each week the production bar was set so high and was far ahead of most things we'd seen on TV to date at that point. I have always loved the colors, lighting and blocking used on this show and it has really stood the test of time and has aged so beautifully over the years. It truly is a work of art.

How can you even read that book? You're suppose to be illiterate. The high production values is probably also a factor in why they got cancelled after S4. The show went over budget a lot.

Ok so what I loved most about this ep was (I guess I have to agree with jel on this) revisiting the earlier aliens from season one. Gee that seems so long ago now But yes it was nice to see they have been carrying on and some of them changed. So we have the Vocarian Blood Trackers (and is that chick still pregnant??) Seriously that is one longass pregnancy, unless it's another new baby....or maybe I missed something? ....I've been known to do that. ee

I think you agree with me more than you realize. I don't recall the Vocarian being pregnant in S1,

I love how the crew divides up to go out and gather up these aliens. I also love how it's not just 1, 2, 3 easy...well we know that nothing is easy on Farscape anyway, but again I love how they really have to scrap around to get these aliens to come back to help all with the promise of payment.....speaking of which.....(jel you can keep your copyright word...I'll go with Rip Off Replicators...now if anyone wants to use that term you'll have to pay me royalties )

I can use your stolen wallet to pay for the royalties. Except for the legs I didn't see them as Replicators. The only one who really had to do any convincing was John. The others were more than to go when payment was promised.

I think these bug like money creatures remind me so much of the Stargate replicators. But these evil little bugs are actually chewing through metal....which how does that work on Moya since I thought she was living...didn't think Moya was metal persay but I guess she is made of some metal alloys or something? *scratches head* You know ... I'm not gonna over think it. It was terrifying and the outcome even more so. It was heart wrenching to watch as they had to burn Moya in order to eliminate the bugs. If their production expenses weren't already high enough now they had to change alot of the Moya sets to make her look burnt. And they did a great job with that as well. Plus it's going to be a while for her to heal so that makes for an interesting dilemma for them shooting inside Moya on the next set of episodes as well.

She is a biomechanoid. Mechanoid means metal SQ. This isn't rocket science. I love Pilot's reaction when Zhaan suggested they burn Moya. I don't care what blue says. I think the puppets are just as capable of emotional ranges as the human actors. IIRC Moya only stays burnt for a few episodes. I love it to show how frelled up with are. Its quite bad when our own ship is barely alive

So back to the rest of the aliens we then had to get a Sheyang (the fire breather) of course he had to be next to death, but he's better than nothing? I guess. LOL I loved how Aeryn prodded the thing into doing better. Then we had a Tavlek and a Zenetan pirate. Like jel....geeze this makes two .....I thought the return of Durka was a bit forced and seemed like Really? Does this guy ever really die? But then it's cool when Rygel gets to kill him. Let's hope it's actually for real this time.

It is random as Rygel already confronted him in S1. I guess I see more for what it as comedic effect and then Rygel to throw the head at the end to get the mercenaries to stop fighting

As for Scorpy killing off all the Banniks in order to retrieve Jothee I think again like Blue mentions it's the means to the end and he doesn't really care. It shows us the lengths that Scorpy is willing to go in order to get John and keep control of him in order to get at the worm hole knowledge. It also raises the stakes of terror for everyone showing that Scorpy is that evil. I think he needed to be elevated a bit as the bad guy since he is just one dude..they needed to play up his abilities to deliver wide scale terror in order to ramp up the fear and terror he can produce.

You're too late. Blue beat you to the punch to explain about the killing

Also loved John's sacrifice and the look on Aeryn's face when she realizes that he's turned himself over to Scorpius. She totally blanched pale in that scene it was amazing...just that look. A true testament of Claudia's acting there.

I think all the Moyans (shut up) are feeling that way about John giving himself up. Remember when they hated each other?

And Yes the Scorpy/Natira sex scene was quite.... twistedly creepily erotic and I had a good laugh when just after they finished Scorpy hops off her and he doesn't even have to zip his fly. WOW that was some magic there. LOL

Their is probably another spot that opens up. I'm going to go get my barf bucket now

I should probably stop there.

Agreed
To Be Continued

[jelgate]

Part 3

:
Kinky!

I thought we agreed you would never use that word again

It didn't look like that it was that kind of copulating act... more like a choke-hold and then a suction of one of her tentacles.

Okay... sorry for that image...

+++++

That is what the barf bucket is for

Like has been said by the rest of us, I really enjoyed seeing our old frenemies again. However, it was my understanding that with every starburst Moya slingshots lightyears into space, hopping from one corner of the galaxy to another corner (if the galaxy had corners in a manner of speaking). So, how is it that all the planets we've been or places that we are but one solar day separated from all of these places? That shouldn't be possible. Unless the smaller crafts were fitted with starburst capabilities to skip-hop around the galaxy themselves. *shrug*

The plot engine is faster than all. I don't remember how far starburst takes us but you are right that they should be farther away.

And oh... ...poor Stark when he feels the death of his people.

Its why he is insane

And when Jothee arrives, you just know John went and did something stupid.

Its John's biggest strength and weakness.

[Bluemeany]

So you are reviewing the whole trilogy right now?

Yeah. I did intend to do the three separately. But I was so late with it I just figured, what the hell I’ll bung them all together and come up smiling on Sunday with Die Me Dichotomy.

And let’s be honest: do you really want three separate post of me gushing about the pretty colours and how great these all look visually?

Because that’s basically all I have. Apart from the occasional dubious parallel blocking comparisons from random scenes twenty episodes from now.