Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[Falcon Horus]

So FH...do you do cons all over? Like some in the US?

So far, I haven't been outside of Europe.

The UK, France, The Netherlands and Belgium.
Oh wait -- edits -- and Germany.

[jelgate]

Bad news friends and SQ. My Netflix account is losing Farscape on 11/5. I did come up with a solution but it will require to be more further behind than FH. I can rent a disc from my library that contains 4 episodes at a time. So I am going to have to watch 4 episodes every other week. Or I can leave all together

[squirrely1]

Bad news friends and SQ. My Netflix account is losing Farscape on 11/5. I did come up with a solution but it will require to be more further behind than FH. I can rent a disc from my library that contains 4 episodes at a time. So I am going to have to watch 4 episodes every other week. Or I can leave all together

Do what works for you. We'll deal. That is still roughly two EPs a week right? You can watch all four and post reviews accordingly. Why don't you work up an adjusted schedule that works for you and we can follow. What do you think? With holidays coming up I'm sure it will work out.

[jelgate]

Different Destinations

After watching this episode, I came to a scary realization. SQ was right about something. I know, it freaked me out too. But I'll save that for the end to keep up suspense so you'll read this review.

Time travel always makes me head hurt. Pick your show as its a classic in science fiction, and its always confusing. One thing that bugged me is why weren't the people on Moya affected As John and others frell things up (because that is what we do), why weren't Chiana and Pilot affected? They were aware of the changes but the planet wasn't. The story itself is a rather simple on and a really a science fiction class. We travel through, screw something up, and have to fix it to preserve history. Because after all people the golden rule of time travel is to keep the timeline intact. That's really all their is to the episode. Except for the ending which we will talk about later. Like so many episodes a lot of this comes to the character moments. One of my favorites (sigh) is the different viewpoints between John and Aeryn. John wants to preserve the original timeline where the outcome while Aeryn wants to prevent Dakon from being killed since his death is the price of peace. I understand Aeryn's viewpoint as he was her idol but I have to agree with John's point as preserving the future is more important as we don't know how the implications would be. Its funny the more John tries to preserve the future by setting the proper course, the more things get frelled up. I wish I could say Aeryn's plan was any better but we know it doesn't. I kind of feel D'Argo bit with the little girl was kind of pointless. Yes I can see how a child would feel scared of their own mortality but I don't really see the point to develop the time of D'Argo with the girl. I also feel Stark is just there to make the time portal. I really get he is the one who is grieving Zhaan the most. I don't really get the others are quite as sad. Which I understand as the episode frame has their are more important things to grieve when they are in a crisis. Humor bits go to Jool whinning about drinking urine and being covered into mud. Yes she does that a lot but I think its what makes her character so funny. She is a spoiled rich kid thrown into these fugitive so its fun to watch her grow to be less selfish. Now for the part everyone has been waiting for. SQ has said of how Farscape doesn't always go for the happy endings. In the frame of this episode she is right In real life no matter how hard we try our fixing the problem makes it worse. That is the message I got from the episode. John and the others try their best to fix the timeline. We even think we have done this when Stark magically finds the tear again. The thing is that we did not fix it. It still lead to a massacre because of how the Moyans (Copyrighted)interfered. I kind of like that echo as its different for us in the end to make it worse. So many other shows have us fix the timeline. But not this show. We only make it worse. It doesn't even answer the question which I like as people debate and argue what is the point of atrocities all the time

[squirrely1]

*reads jel's review and faints*.

[jelgate]

Eat Me

This will be very short for the very reason I hate this episode. Its one of my least favorite of the whole show. It really has little to do with the actual content. I just hate the horror genre. And that is really what the episode is about. The alien whose name I forget (Did I mention I hate this episode) has created zombies by twining. I can appreciate however how the writers make a point that its more of a spiliting of two people. In previous shows, one person is the original and the other is the duplicate so I like the sentiment especially given the whole two Johns thing. The episode becomes your standard run around and explore the alien environment and explore. This is nothing new and is a science fiction staple. Sometimes its successful but to me my biases (We all have them) make me just to grossed out of watching people being eaten. We won't even mentioned the D'Argo rape scene. I just can't stomach it. I find myself sighing in boredom. I mean we have John being twined at the end which is a good plot twist but besides that the episode is pretty forgettable to me. Although I do like the look of a sick Levithian. What was the whole point of Jool? These early episodes of her are so annoying. I do like the red herring back on Moya for this episode. I always love a good mystery. I know it would be answered shortly but I was so curious on what have damanged Crais and Talyn and how. I don't know why Rygel thought anyone would listen to him on abandoning Aeryn and Talyn. Especially Stark.

[squirrely1]

Eat Me Not really folks...that was just the name of the episode...Really!

Ok so we embark on the whole twinning arc. Jel hates this.....and I have to say I wasn't a real fan of this from my original viewing because it seemed too convenient and sort of a plot device ...which in actuality was. It was a way to have Crichton be in each show since they knew they wanted to focus on a Talyn Crew one week and a Moya Crew the next and the only way to have John in all those eps they needed to literally clone him. However, unlike many other TV shows who have tried to do this cloning thing...they made it very clear that it was not a cloning ....it was a twinning and that each John was equal AND original. So you have something very different here in that they don't really allow you as the audience to keep track of who is really the original John because they want you to believe that it doesn't matter because each John is exactly the same. Now at the time I was watching this series for the first time I was on a Farscape board/forum and we had lots of very in depth discussions on this twinning thing ....but suffice it to say that....each John from here on out will become different...but up to this point they both share the same identical memories, DNA and everything exactly the same. It was as if they put John on a copy machine. What bugs me about the "science" of this is....when that wacky professor dude actually leads the one girl (if you could call it that) and wanted her to mate with D'argo....he explained that maybe he twinned her one too many times. So why did (if he was getting an exact duplicate that was just as good as the original then why was there any degradation in her DNA?) So I think since she suffered from the twinning then it stands to reason that something is lost albeit very small ...but still something was lost in the copying process.

This reminds me when I worked for a very large company in the training department and we had to make copies of alot of our training documents we were really anal about keeping the originals in a special place (the originals drawer) so we could then make copies from that original. Because as you know when you make a copy from a copy and so on and so forth eventually 10 generations down the line your copies are going to start looking like major BULL DREN! Yes jel I used your word!

Anyway.... enough of the twinning ...YIKES!

Here is actually what I loved about this ep:

1. The music was amazingly horrifying! Loved it! It really added to the creep factor and kept me on the edge of my seat.
2. The gross factor of being on another Leviathan but it being positively alien in a eerily familiar this is just so wrong and creepy kind of way.
3. Seeing another pilot and instantly feeling for him and wishing that he could've been saved. It was so sad and heart wrenching to know how much he was suffering and tortured.
4. The death of D'argo was shocking and I was basically in denial the whole time CHiana was giving him his burial ritual I just didn't want to believe it and sure enough.....I'm glad I didn't fall for it. I think they seem to use death maybe just a little too much....but this is the "Season of Death" So we were warned!
5. Jool...she absolutely grew on me another few inches... You had to laugh at her talking to herself into believing she can do anything...and her just sitting by the door of the Transport pod with a weapon she probably had no clue how to use.

Dealing with John back on Moya at the end playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with himself That was just a little much...how is that possible both John's would pick the same thing every single time? I wanted to throw something at my TV since that makes no sense. They are both individual and unique from here on out and I think they would be making their own decisions independent of each other and so the Rock, Paper, Scissor game is a farce. I call foul on that one!

But all in all I enjoyed the creepiness factor of this ep and really tapped into a true horror vibe. I thought that was very well done and didn't seem too contrived. Upon the realization they were on a ship for the criminally insane made a chill go down my spine....I thought the concept was really very cool. I'm just not 100% thrilled with the twinning concept, but I've learned to accept it and just go along for the ride.

[Bluemeany]

Eat Me

Nice timing with the schedule Jel A spooky/horror episode in the run up to Halloween. I’m not much of a fan of gory horror either (also read as, total wuss). But I like this episode.

It is genuinely creepy: the cannibal/morlock creatures look great. Again, it’s a question of the hell did they get away with screening this one? D’Argo gets his brains sucked out and eaten in front of his best friend and ex fiancé. Then he’s sexually molested. Seriously… 6:45pm on BBC2… they must have edited this episode heavily.

My favourite bit is Crichton and Chiana being angry and freaking out after D’Argo’s death. They’re both equally shook up, scared and them fighting a bit it’s a very believable reaction I think.

Ah, and as SQ mentions it’s the start of the twinning arc!

Okay, so now is probably a good time to mention that I am an identical twin.

Consequently, my perspective on this episode and the whole twinning Crichton arc is coming from a slightly different starting point.

The idea of having someone running around who looks, acts and has a whole chunk of shared memories/knowledge is normality for me. It’s really not that weird. It’s actually super useful on a practical and psychological level. Crichton & Crichton take a little while to figure that out.

But I love the fact that it treats them as separate but equal entities in their own right. You wouldn't believe how hard it is for people to get that about twins in the real world never mind clone/twin Crichton & Crichton: so good on the show for really going with it.

I agree with SQ's point that the ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ would come out the same every time, but it’s such a great image visually that I don’t mind.

From an editing point of view: this is a lovely episode. The colours are great and there’s a lot of action shots/running about. As jel mentioned, the decaying Leviathan is done really well and has lots of blue/yellow lit shots which are useful.

[jelgate]

I don't hate the twining arc SQ. I hate the episode and the moody Aeryn in the second half of the season. We'll discuss the latter when we get to Infinite Possibilities

[squirrely1]

Blue...you mean there is another Blue Hue out there somewhere running around? Lol NICE

being a teacher I have had several sets of twins over the years. It is so hard at first to tell some twins apart, but then once you really get to know them, they begin to look so unique you wonder why you had that trouble in the beginning. It's weird. That just goes to show you that personality and behavior plays a big role in shaping your appearance too!

[squirrely1]

I don't hate the twining arc SQ. I hate the episode and the moody Aeryn in the second half of the season. We'll discuss the latter when we get to Infinite Possibilities

Well the moody Aeryn is a direct result of what happens from the twinning. But yeah we'll talk about that when it happens

[Bluemeany]

Blue...you mean there is another Blue Hue out there somewhere running around? Lol NICE

Yep. And I can guarantee that in a Farscape context, I’d be the Crichton who

Spoiler:

does the heroic but stupid thing and gets the dose of radiation poisoning

. She’d be the Crichton

Spoiler:

happily zooming about past season four and beyond.

I just know it.

[jelgate]

I'll be the Crais who loyalties are murky while SQ is the senile Nooranti

[squirrely1]

Yep. And I can guarantee that in a Farscape context, I’d be the Crichton who

Spoiler:

does the heroic but stupid thing and gets the dose of radiation poisoning

. She’d be the Crichton

Spoiler:

happily zooming about past season four and beyond.

I just know it.

Well let's hope you'll never have to test that hypothesis out.

Hey I just noticed I'm Lydia Deetz BEETLEJUICE!!


You know jel... my personality is more like Chiana.... I'm pretty ADHD.... LOL

[jelgate]

Senility could be misdiagnosed as ADHD