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Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

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    See I knew you'd give a great review of the ep! It was pretty good ep. And I like other things besides shipping! I quite liked finding out about D'argo's past. To your question, they found out that the show was cancelled during the filming of Kansas. And it was something they had to now scurry around and try to sum up some of the loose threads. I think that is why we have the 180 degree turn with John telling Aeryn he was just holding out afraid that Scorpy would use the coms and find out they still had feelings for each other and possibly use Aeryn to get to John. That allows them to be together and sort of quickly resolve that angst they were having.

    But as we know they use the Aeryn/John relationship and the whole wormhole weapon as a giant cliffhanger at the "end" of the series so they can motivate the fans...which lead to the Save Farscape project. That was genius really and I'm glad they got the PK movie thing to tie everything up. I don't think they could've done everything justice if they had try to rush it all up and and resolve everything by the end with what few eps they had left.

    Anyway....the other comment I wanted to make is I think John did finally get the key as he was using that gel on his hands at the end trying to heal his hands...is my guess anyway.
    Originally posted by jelgate
    This brings much pain but SQ is right

    Comment


      Mental As Anything - From the Companion Book
      "I was presented with a problem," David Kemper recalls. "Throughout the season, we constantly look ahead at the schedule, and we realised that the actors had so much ADR [additional dialogue recording, in post-production] to do, we couldn't finish the episodes. We had a delivery timetable to the network, and we couldn't meet that unless the actors were freed up. So I decided we would do one episode with all the boys, and one with all the girls."

      Earlier in the season, there had been a discussion about when the time would be right to deal with D'Argo's backstory, and whether it might wait until season five or possibly even season six. But following the Farscape policy of 'play the card', they decided to go ahead and discover what had happened to Macton straight away.

      "Mark Saracent had this brilliant idea of finding out that D'Argo isn't perfect," Kemper says. "He smacked his wife once. It had such an emotional edge to it, and we had to be really careful that we pulled it off properly, and didn't make the episode too goofy. Justin Monjo was going for the touch line, and saying that D'Argo really did kill his wife, as Macton claims. I didn't know if we wanted to go that far. I felt we still had to like the characters, and I wanted to be sure that we didn't disservice D'Argo."

      Andrew Prowse recalls this as "the D'Argo episode of the year. It had to be all about D'Argo. It's about him wrestling with his demons. It wasn't about Crichton doing whatever he was doing in his little hellhole, it was about D'Argo!"

      Anthony Simcoe worked closely with director Geoff Bennett to achieve the emotional layering that the script demanded. "They were more like emotional colours than anything else," Simco says. "We wanted to make sure we got the intensity of the emotions in. It was areal moment for me of just digging down into a deep emotional space, which I found really enjoyable."
      Composer Guy Gross found it "challenging to express D'Argo's pain, so we could really understand his story. I allowed the doubt to stay in my mind and didn't want to resolve D'Argo's dilemma musically until right at the end, when we knew what the answer was."

      For the flashback sequences, "we wanted to go back to D'Argo's season one make-up," Simcoe recalls. "But the practicalities of shooting the show on the schedule that we had would have meant a complete make-up change for me in mid-flow, which would have taken nearly five hours! They were such small scenes that it just wasn't practical, unfortunately."

      Kemper is also pleased that the story also focuses attention on Rygel, who fights valiantly against the hated Charrid. "He really is a brave guy," he points out. "He doesn't know how good, and how strong he actually is until he's confronted. He's learned he's got this in him; it's kind of dawned on him over time. Because he's a little bit of a ******, frankly, people don't listen to him as much as they should, but ultimately he's the smartest guy on the ship!"

      The icasahedron in which the battles were fought caused a few practical problems on set. "When you were on the studio floor," Ben Browder recalls, "The set was just lights, and the opening of a CG area. When you worked in it, you got motion sickness, because whenever you turned your head, the lights moved -- but you weren't moving!"

      "The ball inside cyberspace was a huge undertaking for visual effects," Deb Peart recalls. "A lot of time was spent making sure that all the moves were right. It seemed simple, but it wasn't. There's only so much time you can spend watching a growing ball moving from one direction to another."

      "Mark tackled an episode that had lots of layers to it," Kemper concludes, "and did a really good job. Anthony did brilliantly, giving us the emotion of the show. D'Argo finally gets his revenge, but we find out that he wasn't without guilt."
      Originally posted by jelgate
      This brings much pain but SQ is right

      Comment


        Bringing Home the Beacon

        I like this ep mainly because it has a reference to bacon!

        So now this must be the "girls ep". I thought it was a little too convenient that Grayza just shows up and Aeryn talks Sikozu to stay and follow her and find out what she's up to. I personally would've stayed out of sight and then ran like hell, but we know that's not what our characters do. They get into trouble! I also didnt' like that when Aeryn had a chance to snipe Grayza she didn't go for it. Granted the Scarran was in the way but come on.... I guess her thinking was if she didn't have a good clean shot that she couldn't risk giving away their position if it didn't result in a clean death for Grayza.
        So the things I liked were the several bait and switch actions going on. I almost expected the guys who were re-fitting the scanning tech on the probe was going to betray them (as that would've been typical) but alas they come through and it's the Scarran wench who takes us by surprise first....which again I find hard to believe that Aeryn and company would risk their lives to basically rescue Grayza....but oh wait...this is what I like about the story....actually it makes a bit of sense ......since if Grayza gets kills that silly alliance deal she made with the crazy Scarran wench would remain... or would it mean it would be null and void? This is where I really don't like politics...it gives me a headache Either way.....the real shocker for me was the bio-loid of Aeryn. WOW....when did that happen??!! I mean I didn't see that coming at all and was a super cool parlor trick!! So now where is the real Aeryn??? Dun Dun Dun......

        Back to some of the other really fun bits.....the Chiana/Noranti DNA change thingy.... I thought that was a really cool concept. I thought they could've made Noranti more different than they did and basically just put a different color make up and wig on Chi....but it was still pretty fun and I liked how they acted and spoke different too. Very nice job by those actresses.

        All in all this ep gets an A-. The minus is for the sort of convenient plot devices used and the absence of the boys, but they do pull it out at the end with the Aeryn switch .....otherwise it would be a B ep.
        Originally posted by jelgate
        This brings much pain but SQ is right

        Comment


          Bringing Home the Beacon

          I was promised bacon. Really this is kind of a slow episode. But I think that is to be expected. Its a setup episode as we change gears to end the season. It kind of reminds me of those BSG episodes where nothing really happens but we setting up exposition and plots for the coming big episodes. And I really have to echo what SQ has to say. Not a lot happens. Its mostly just Aeryn and Sikozu spying on Grayza and the Scarran since they know something is fishy. The politics is actually kind of creative. It just might be too complex for SQ. I like watching the banter of how Grayza is using one giant bluff and how the Scarran knows it is but plays it cool until she gets us into a false sense of security and then attacks Grayza.You may think its stupid but it makes sense as politics is a delicate dance. As SQ said, everything was so easy and convienent. But I think that was the writers intention. Here we are spying on our adversaries and we do the heroic move of saving Grayza and Bracca, we naturally assume Aeryn will survive the whole ordeal. I kind of like the fake out and how it was John who realized Aeryn is a bioloid.Since the Scarrans obviously use them for spying I kind of wonder how they missed such an oversight. The whole genetic modifying thing seemed kind of pointless for Chiana and Nooranti. It was like the episode was running short so lets have some female Moyans run around as someone else. I do have to say that I like the energy signature masking device. Reminds me of the defense shield from S1. All in all a running through the motions episode that as I said is setting up for better episodes. Sorry SQ, I give this one a C and I'm being generous
          Originally posted by aretood2
          Jelgate is right

          Comment


            A C? Come on.....now John Quixote is a C but this....come on the fake out at least should put it to a B and there was no John/Aeryn to speak of...that much....
            Originally posted by jelgate
            This brings much pain but SQ is right

            Comment


              Bringing Home the Beacon - From the Companion Book

              'Bringing HOme the Beacon' was an intense little piece, with our girls separated from the boy," Rowan Woods recalls. "We were getting a lot of information and story together, and at its dramatic heart was the introduction of Ahkna, which was very impressive. A lot of magnificent creatures were suddenly in our faces!" Ahkna was portrayed by Francesca Buller, returning to play her fourth character on the show. "I wanted it to look as if this was a one-off appearance." David Kemper says, "But we already knew Ahkna was coming back at the end of the year."

              Buller was delighted with the role: "She was described as being the Minister of War, extremely clever at playing political games, very stoic and desperate to succeed by her own mettle." She was inspired by her costume, created by fabrication designer Lou Elsey. "Lou took me to the House of Fetish," Buller recalls, "and I tried on these boots that went right to the top of my thighs, with two inch heels. There's no way you can be timid in those! I had a corset as well, and once I had the rest of the costume, I also looked at the Cate Blanchett film Elizabeth, and various science fiction roles, including Star Trek's Borg Queen."

              "Fran owned that role," Woods says. "She had played a couple of fantabulous characters on Farscape who had been frittery and jerky, but this time she was regal -- a slefish, screwed up version of the Queen. She was born to rule, and vicious to boot!"

              Ahkna and Grayza made a lethal combination. "We were two women in control!" Buller says, while Rebecca Riggs "adored working with Fran. We weren't aware there was so much exposition through: When you watch the scenes between Ahkna and Grayza, the focus is actually Aeryn and Sikozu hearing the information and making decisions based on it."

              Gigi Edgley enjoyed a chance to experiments with a different look. "We workshopped that quite extensively," she recalls. "After the first test, I went on set and nobody recognized me. I liked that, but it didn't meld with Chiana's look enough -- we put in green contacts, and my hair was halfway down my back."

              "Ben completely reinvented the scene at the end," Rowan Woods reveals. "He created a tense piece that had a Pinter-like quality to it. For a second you think Crichton has lost it." "We never quite solved the problem of how Crichton knew about 'Aeryn' being a Bioloid," Browder admits, "but I decided it was a gut reaction thing. Crichton knows her on a level that goes beyond the physical."

              "I find that confrontation really unsettling," Woods admits. "I think the prosthetic piece Dave Elsey came up with is exquisite. There are one or two shots I find quite hard to look at. I didn't expect to be able to hold on those shots as long as I did, but the prosthetic just holds up beautifully."

              "We were going to try to mix make-up, animatronics, puppets and real people, and CG them together in a beautiful blend," Dave Elsey recalls. "The plan was to stick a prosthetic on the actor, with a green screen area so post-production could add the CG 'mechanics'. THen it would look as if half her face was missing, Unfortunately, Claudia developed and allergy to the prosthetic, so we had to make a fake head, and filled it with valves, bladders and tripe -- which Rowan couldn't stop filming!"

              "I think this was Dave Elsey's finest year," David Kemper says. "He did some spectacular stuff along the way. It was above and beyond fantastic -- it was outrageously good!"
              Originally posted by jelgate
              This brings much pain but SQ is right

              Comment


                A Constellation of Doubt

                OK I'm gonna do these while I have the time since I'm knee deep in my yearbook and so busy right now .....I don't want to get too far behind...so here goes.

                This one was BORING!! I didn't like it at all. It was obvious they were scrapping around for filler material to throw this ep together. Maybe it was to try to give their A team a chance to get ready for the big season finale. I mean honestly I didn't see anything really redeeming or useful in the whole episode aside from the fact in the end ...we get the deal pitched between Crichton and Scorpy. I have issues with many things in this ep. One is how did everyone all of sudden speak fluent English? I mean that was really odd. And it wasn't even broken...like after I took 4 years of Spanish in High School...when I finally got a chance to go to Mexico ....I ordered like this.... "CERVEZA ....CARNE.... AGUA" ... basically Beer....meat and Water...yeah ....I was a real charmer let me tell ya!

                The other issue I had was the very idiotic way they portrayed Earth people. Now granted..that is probably how we'd act. But still come on.... I think they were a bit stereotypical with the people they got to speak on their mock interviews. That seemed trite...now again this is probably what they were after...sort of a let's roast the human population a little...but still it was a tad over kill. The other issue is how did Crichton get a hold of this whole TV transmission? They said something about Pilot finding the transmission.... But really some TV Broadcast is going to make it all the way through into Tormented Space? I find that hilariously next to impossible...but hey I'm a sci fi nerd girl so I'll roll with it...but the last thing sort of hits hard as a shipper that bugged me.

                Don't get me wrong I love generally how they wrote the Aeryn/John ship, but I will say....tsk tsk...John cares about nothing but Aeryn? Color me crazy...but I just think that is a little nuts. But then again we've known that John is and has always been slightly off balance..and again this sort of proves it. I don't think any relationship is worth you forsaking everything ..especially turning over such a tremendous weapon to the enemy all for the sake of finding your lover? Again maybe I'm just being bitter here...but seriously? Who honestly loves like that?
                It is rather romantic albeit over the top.

                So here we are.....John makes the pitch and Scorpy sits up and is perched for his response.....will he or won't he help Crichton?? Hmmmm we'll have to wait and see.....
                Originally posted by jelgate
                This brings much pain but SQ is right

                Comment


                  A Constellation of Doubt

                  I think your problem is that if it doesn't have explosions or John and Aeryn that it doesn't interest you. Its a filler that is obvious. This episode was created to save money. But filler episodes do not have to be bad. I actually quite like this one. Even moody John doesn't bother me. I really like this episode because of the documentary. Sure the host is a jerk but I like how we have these different experts who interpret the Moyans in different ways. Some are spot and good while others are just weird and way off. We will not be discussing Rygel and his love of phone sex. Once again weird. Some are interesting like how Chiana is devastated over the lose of a bird. People in the fake documentary see Chiana as a fragile gentle spirit while I never one saw Chiana like that. On the inverse we have Nooranti having this pragmatic view of religions in how they treat as lofty ideals in where she presents that sometimes killing is necessary. I chuckle with the Buddihist and priest get outraged on this as I can see where Nooranti is coming from because she has been out in the dangers of space. The fact of the matter is their are times where it becomes necessary to kill. I never quite understood really what John's hallucinations was. Its frelling obvious that Kratazi was going to be a heavily guarded base. I could go on about the wealth of unique insights but their is so many to talk about, but unlike SQ I have to work tomorrow. Maybe that is why blue disappeared. I will say it was funny that the cop from Kansas turned into a conspiracy theorist. Its was just funny how much us frelling up wrecked a man. As for the stuff on Moya, yes I will agree with SQ on that. It is kind of dull watching everyone giving up on finding Aeryn and them being depressed Earth met them with mistrust. Also kind of random that Sikozu's scene made John realize where he had heard Kratzi from
                  Originally posted by aretood2
                  Jelgate is right

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by jelgate View Post
                    A Constellation of Doubt

                    I think your problem is that if it doesn't have explosions or John and Aeryn that it doesn't interest you. Its a filler that is obvious. This episode was created to save money. But filler episodes do not have to be bad. I actually quite like this one. Even moody John doesn't bother me. I really like this episode because of the documentary. Sure the host is a jerk but I like how we have these different experts who interpret the Moyans in different ways. Some are spot and good while others are just weird and way off. We will not be discussing Rygel and his love of phone sex. Once again weird. Some are interesting like how Chiana is devastated over the lose of a bird. People in the fake documentary see Chiana as a fragile gentle spirit while I never one saw Chiana like that. On the inverse we have Nooranti having this pragmatic view of religions in how they treat as lofty ideals in where she presents that sometimes killing is necessary. I chuckle with the Buddihist and priest get outraged on this as I can see where Nooranti is coming from because she has been out in the dangers of space. The fact of the matter is their are times where it becomes necessary to kill. I never quite understood really what John's hallucinations was. Its frelling obvious that Kratazi was going to be a heavily guarded base. I could go on about the wealth of unique insights but their is so many to talk about, but unlike SQ I have to work tomorrow. Maybe that is why blue disappeared. I will say it was funny that the cop from Kansas turned into a conspiracy theorist. Its was just funny how much us frelling up wrecked a man. As for the stuff on Moya, yes I will agree with SQ on that. It is kind of dull watching everyone giving up on finding Aeryn and them being depressed Earth met them with mistrust. Also kind of random that Sikozu's scene made John realize where he had heard Kratzi from

                    eh, it was just an ok episode, I wish though they did more on earth, showed how they did in the shopping mall, I bet chiana helped herself to more than a few things, I mean where is the fun in shopping when it gets paid for, no risk of getting caught no thrill of the sneak, no chance of going to jail BOOOOORING!.

                    Comment


                      Finally, jel got off his keister and reviewed this one! And YAY epg ....yes come join us here...we need more people to come play and we only have a few eps left!!

                      Here is A Constellation of Doubt - From Companion Book

                      "I knew that episode seventeen was going to be different." David Kemper says. "I invited everyone to give me their thoughts. I realized our crew had been on modern day Earth for all of "Terra Firma", and I wondered what else happened. They didn't just sit around! When I saw the documentary footage shot for 'Unrealized Reality', I knew that was the way to show it. The real purpose of 'A Constellation of Doubt' was to service Crichton finding the clue to saving Aeryn," he continues, "But as a writer I was able to slide some things in about someone looking at Earth for the first time."

                      :Kemper turned into a writing machine and wrote some really cool stuff," Ben Browder notes. "A lot of it was discarded, but it was all entertaining and interesting." "the script for this episode is legendary." Andrew Prowse adds. "It was collatd two days after we finished shooting it!"

                      Cast and crew are full of admiration for guest star Nick Tate's role as documentary host R. Wilson Monroe, who Kemper likened to veteran American newscaster Walter Cronkite. "You could give that man his own show," Andrew Prowse says. "You could believe he was that slightly pompous, terribly serious interviewer."

                      There are two moments in the episode that give Kemper chills to watch. "The first is when Crichton figures out where he heard the name 'Katrotzi', and realises that he can find Aeryn," he explains, "That was probably the finest scene of the year. Ben and Raelee were on fire. The other moment is when R. Wilson Monroe asks Aeryn if the two species can procreate, and Aeryn freezes. Claudia did such a great job there!"

                      The scene where Crichton throws Rygel out of his cell caused some problems on the set. "Rygel is sitting eatinga big bowl of popcorn," Fiona Gentle recalls, "and Ben upturned it all over Rygel. Rygel's mouth had been open, and got stuffed full of popcorn. Suddenly he couldn't open or shut his mouth! We had to try to deliver the line, but none of us knew how to fix it. Mat McCoy very sheepishly waddled Rygel off!"

                      The episode was shot in chunks. Part of the documentary footage was filmed on location during the shooting of 'Terra Firma', and the sequences on Moya were filmed after 'Prayer'. However, the rest of the documentary footage was filmed at the end of the year. "This was the episode we were filming when we learned the show had been cancelled," Andrew Prowse notes.
                      In fact, the very last scene to be filmed on the series was Crichton and Olivia's discussion of Crichton's "tell" in the Maintenance Bay. "We started that take on Take 33," Browder recalls. "Anthony Simcoe is fond of saying, 'Second takes are for ********s -- but Take 33: Brando!' So we started this slate on Take 33. I was hoping to get it in one, but we went to Take 36." "At the very end, there was a bit about how the Farscape project had been betrayed," Andrew Prowse recalls. "So the very last words we shot were: 'Farscape has died'."

                      'A Constellation of Doubt' was one of Deb Peart's favourite episodes of the season. "It was huge," she recalls. "When Nick Holmes cut it together, the first assembly was two hours long, if we put every expert opinion in there. We had to create the Alien Visitation programme as well," she adds. "We had to make the transitions and captions work, and make sure the names we'd given to the experts didn't actually belong to any real people!"
                      "We got a lot of resistance to this episode," David Kemper recalls. "Certain people couldn't understand how we could make a 'documentary episode', But I'm glad we held to our lines. Like it or hate it, this episode saw us taking risks, setting up the rest of the year, and giving us a breath of fresh air before the roller-coaster of intensity in the final episodes."
                      Whoops I was wrong.... Apparently this ep was the one where they found out they were cancelled. I thought I heard that it was the Kansas one.
                      Originally posted by jelgate
                      This brings much pain but SQ is right

                      Comment


                        I have a very different perspective on the pilot episode, and I know the writers said it never happened that way but I always felt somehow that the accident John had wasn't that much of an accident, and he was meant to go to Moya.
                        Go home aliens, go home!!!!

                        Comment


                          Originally posted by Coco Pops View Post
                          I have a very different perspective on the pilot episode, and I know the writers said it never happened that way but I always felt somehow that the accident John had wasn't that much of an accident, and he was meant to go to Moya.
                          Well according to the episode when he talks with the "Einstein" being I think they are trying to spin it that way too.
                          Originally posted by jelgate
                          This brings much pain but SQ is right

                          Comment


                            Originally posted by squirrely1 View Post
                            Well according to the episode when he talks with the "Einstein" being I think they are trying to spin it that way too.

                            Yeah but I've had discussions on this board and others and done some reading and the writers themselves said that the wormhole in the first episode was an accident, but I always thought otherwise. We are all allowed to have fan theories and this has always been mine that those bug people did this to get John where he had to be.
                            Go home aliens, go home!!!!

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by Coco Pops View Post
                              Yeah but I've had discussions on this board and others and done some reading and the writers themselves said that the wormhole in the first episode was an accident, but I always thought otherwise. We are all allowed to have fan theories and this has always been mine that those bug people did this to get John where he had to be.
                              Well if you are a fan of Walking Dead and watch Talking Dead....they had writer Scott M. Gimple on the show last week. He says that for their writing staff, or at least for him, he says their job is to put it out there and then let the fans just sort of run with it, that as a writer you can mean it to come off one way but actually the way it's produced and played by the actors and then received by the audience that can go through a whole personalization process and at the end of the day...what was the original intent, to what we see on screen and how fans react and interpret it can always be very different.
                              I use this example to illustrate that I think it is a personal thing on how you watch and process your shows.
                              Originally posted by jelgate
                              This brings much pain but SQ is right

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by squirrely1 View Post
                                Well if you are a fan of Walking Dead and watch Talking Dead....they had writer Scott M. Gimple on the show last week. He says that for their writing staff, or at least for him, he says their job is to put it out there and then let the fans just sort of run with it, that as a writer you can mean it to come off one way but actually the way it's produced and played by the actors and then received by the audience that can go through a whole personalization process and at the end of the day...what was the original intent, to what we see on screen and how fans react and interpret it can always be very different.
                                I use this example to illustrate that I think it is a personal thing on how you watch and process your shows.


                                I like that. I can agree with that.

                                I think I'll not dismiss my theory.... The bugs did it.
                                Go home aliens, go home!!!!

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