When I first saw a trailer announcing that a new science fiction series created by Jim Henson and featuring some of his puppets I thought it would be some sort of light hearted 'Muppets in Space' aimed at younger viewers... how wrong I was! There may be plenty of light hearted moments, especially early on, but there are some very dark ones too.
The premise of the story is simple; astronaut John Crichton is test piloting the experimental Farscape Module when it is sucked into a worm hole. When it emerges he is somewhere on the other side of the galaxy in the middle of a space battle. He lands on board a huge vessel called Moya; its passengers are a handful of escaped convicts all of whom look quite alien and none of whom seem friendly... they will however become his friends. He makes enemies too; most notably the Peacekeepers... a military force made up of people that look human.
Over the course of four seasons John, along with Moya and her crew will have many adventures; some will last just an episode; others will span a season or more. Not everybody will survive but new people will join Moya as she travels through space and as John tries to figure out a way to get home without exposing Earth to danger.
This really is one of the great sci-fi shows; it has a cast of characters one can really care about and lets the viewer know that the dangers they are in are real... there are no expendable red shirts here to show the dangers; instead people we care about must suffer or occasionally die. It isn't just the 'human' characters that elicit sympathy; the puppets are so well done that they feel just as real as characters played by a person. The cast do a superb job making distinctly alien characters likable... or unlikeable in the case of the villains... although even the worst of the villains isn't totally evil.
It is sad that it was just four seasons long but at least when viewers finish the final episode they can watch the 'Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars' miniseries.
The premise of the story is simple; astronaut John Crichton is test piloting the experimental Farscape Module when it is sucked into a worm hole. When it emerges he is somewhere on the other side of the galaxy in the middle of a space battle. He lands on board a huge vessel called Moya; its passengers are a handful of escaped convicts all of whom look quite alien and none of whom seem friendly... they will however become his friends. He makes enemies too; most notably the Peacekeepers... a military force made up of people that look human.
Over the course of four seasons John, along with Moya and her crew will have many adventures; some will last just an episode; others will span a season or more. Not everybody will survive but new people will join Moya as she travels through space and as John tries to figure out a way to get home without exposing Earth to danger.
This really is one of the great sci-fi shows; it has a cast of characters one can really care about and lets the viewer know that the dangers they are in are real... there are no expendable red shirts here to show the dangers; instead people we care about must suffer or occasionally die. It isn't just the 'human' characters that elicit sympathy; the puppets are so well done that they feel just as real as characters played by a person. The cast do a superb job making distinctly alien characters likable... or unlikeable in the case of the villains... although even the worst of the villains isn't totally evil.
It is sad that it was just four seasons long but at least when viewers finish the final episode they can watch the 'Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars' miniseries.