Hope you all are still going to hop on and finish the re-watch. I am going to continue to plug along in hopes that you all join me.
Prayer - From the Companion Book
Prayer - From the Companion Book
"Justin wanted to do a harsh, hard episode, that was tough to deal with," David Kemper says. "It was a very contained show, and one that gave Claudia a lot to do.
Justin likes writing for her, and together they brought it home." "Claudia really went for it!"
Peter Andrikidis remembers, "It was a pretty full-on episode. It was very focused, without too many visual effects. I prefer that kind of character-based, intense episode."
Claudia Black would actually have liked the end result to have been even more extreme than what ended up on screen. "I didn't want it to be an absurd melodrama, where the audience would know that they were being taken on a roller-coaster ride," she explains. "It needed some legitimacy and some weight to it. But a lot of the more grotesque torture sequences were taken out."
'Prayer' is an unusual episode, as the person driving the story is totally inactive. "That's such a difficult conundrum to deal with," Black notes. "Aeryn was tied to a bed! She's using her mind and her words to manipulate the situation, but she's incapacitated. It's very hard to be the lead protagonist when you've got probes in you, and you're writhing around, frothing at the mouth. In the end, you just start to use different parts of your body. You go with what you're given. It was all so difficult, given the constraints of the episode. She's being tortured throughout. Nothing really happens -- she can't escape, and she's being drugged!"
Black also knew that the audience could be led to believe Aeryn's stories of other lovers, because she had deliberately kept an air of mystery about Aeryn's time away from the ship between seasons. "What she reveals in her hazed state could potentially still be possible," She points out. "It was strange after all these years of Crichton having loads of affairs and Aeryn being true to her man, that we suddenly saw these sequences of her with other men. If there was going to be a love scene, I wanted it to be as tender and real as we could."
Tim Ferrier had the budget to create a large set for the cell, as it was going to be redressed for use in later episodes. "After tightening our belts for some considerable time. we loosened them a lot," he recalls. "One of my greatest pleasures on Farscape was designing torture implements! I presented the drawing of the torture bed for Claudia at the production meeting, and there was an awful silence until David said, "This is really scary!" Claudia was a good sport and got into it. It wasn't that uncomfortable: the whole point is to make it look uncomfortable when it's not."
Peter Andrikidis was concerned that the scenes between Crichton and Scorpius in the alternate reality might jar with the dark nature of the Aeryn sequences. "So those became darker as well," he reveals. "Ben and Wayne took those scenes to the limit."
The moment when Scorpius shoots Chiana/Aeryn in the alternate reality reinforces Scorpius as a villain. "It was important it was done that way," Browder notes. "It shows Scorpius's direct brutality. He has a singular focus -- and that's why Crichton went to him."
Browder also finds the "Scarran breeding program, using whatever species they can get their hands on, hard and repulsive." David Kemper initially was against showing the abortion, "But Justin pointed out that it's not real. That I could buy -- as long as it's not real, and the audience realises we'er tricking them, that's okay. We're a tough show."
"This episode was torturous, but it wasn't random or meaningless," Browder says, "It plays heavily into the series arc. Hopefully we didn't scare too many people off. But it's odd to think it's possible for us to scare an audience off by being too harsh, when there are shows like Oz and The Sopranos out there."
"The episode had a lot of surprises," Andrikidis says of his final directing stint. "We always tried to push right to the edge, but this time everyone was pushing to break the boundaries!"
Justin likes writing for her, and together they brought it home." "Claudia really went for it!"
Peter Andrikidis remembers, "It was a pretty full-on episode. It was very focused, without too many visual effects. I prefer that kind of character-based, intense episode."
Claudia Black would actually have liked the end result to have been even more extreme than what ended up on screen. "I didn't want it to be an absurd melodrama, where the audience would know that they were being taken on a roller-coaster ride," she explains. "It needed some legitimacy and some weight to it. But a lot of the more grotesque torture sequences were taken out."
'Prayer' is an unusual episode, as the person driving the story is totally inactive. "That's such a difficult conundrum to deal with," Black notes. "Aeryn was tied to a bed! She's using her mind and her words to manipulate the situation, but she's incapacitated. It's very hard to be the lead protagonist when you've got probes in you, and you're writhing around, frothing at the mouth. In the end, you just start to use different parts of your body. You go with what you're given. It was all so difficult, given the constraints of the episode. She's being tortured throughout. Nothing really happens -- she can't escape, and she's being drugged!"
Black also knew that the audience could be led to believe Aeryn's stories of other lovers, because she had deliberately kept an air of mystery about Aeryn's time away from the ship between seasons. "What she reveals in her hazed state could potentially still be possible," She points out. "It was strange after all these years of Crichton having loads of affairs and Aeryn being true to her man, that we suddenly saw these sequences of her with other men. If there was going to be a love scene, I wanted it to be as tender and real as we could."
Tim Ferrier had the budget to create a large set for the cell, as it was going to be redressed for use in later episodes. "After tightening our belts for some considerable time. we loosened them a lot," he recalls. "One of my greatest pleasures on Farscape was designing torture implements! I presented the drawing of the torture bed for Claudia at the production meeting, and there was an awful silence until David said, "This is really scary!" Claudia was a good sport and got into it. It wasn't that uncomfortable: the whole point is to make it look uncomfortable when it's not."
Peter Andrikidis was concerned that the scenes between Crichton and Scorpius in the alternate reality might jar with the dark nature of the Aeryn sequences. "So those became darker as well," he reveals. "Ben and Wayne took those scenes to the limit."
The moment when Scorpius shoots Chiana/Aeryn in the alternate reality reinforces Scorpius as a villain. "It was important it was done that way," Browder notes. "It shows Scorpius's direct brutality. He has a singular focus -- and that's why Crichton went to him."
Browder also finds the "Scarran breeding program, using whatever species they can get their hands on, hard and repulsive." David Kemper initially was against showing the abortion, "But Justin pointed out that it's not real. That I could buy -- as long as it's not real, and the audience realises we'er tricking them, that's okay. We're a tough show."
"This episode was torturous, but it wasn't random or meaningless," Browder says, "It plays heavily into the series arc. Hopefully we didn't scare too many people off. But it's odd to think it's possible for us to scare an audience off by being too harsh, when there are shows like Oz and The Sopranos out there."
"The episode had a lot of surprises," Andrikidis says of his final directing stint. "We always tried to push right to the edge, but this time everyone was pushing to break the boundaries!"
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