Farscape
Farscape is a science fiction television series conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and co-produced by The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, originally for the Nine Network. It premiered in North America on the Sci-Fi Channel's SciFi Friday segment on 19 March 1999, as the network's anchor series. The Jim Henson Company is credited with the many alien looks, make-up and prosthetics; two regular characters on the show, the animatronic puppets Rygel and Pilot, were entirely Henson Creature Shop creations.
Although the series was planned for five seasons, it was abruptly cancelled after production had ended on its fourth season, thus finishing the series on a cliffhanger. Co-producer Brian Henson later secured the rights to Farscape, paving the way for a three-hour miniseries, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, which Henson himself directed. In 2007, it was announced that the creator was returning for a web series, though production has been repeatedly delayed. In December 2008, a comic book miniseries was released, in-continuity with both the television show and the potential online series.
Overview
Farscape features a diverse ensemble cast of characters who are initially escaping from corrupt authorities in the form of a militaristic organization called the Peacekeepers. The protagonists live inside a large bio-mechanical ship called Moya which is a living entity. In the first episode, they are joined by the main character, John Crichton, a modern-day American astronaut who accidentally flies into a wormhole near Earth during an experimental space flight. On the same day, another stranger is picked up by Moya: a Peacekeeper named Aeryn Sun. Despite his best intentions, Crichton makes enemies, including the show's most prominent antagonist: Scorpius. There are a few standalone plots, and the show gradually unfolds progressive story arcs, beginning with the crew's recapture by the Peacekeepers, followed by Crichton's search to find another wormhole back to Earth, and an eventual arms race for wormhole technology weapons. Secondary arcs explore the ways the characters change due to their influences and adventures together, most notably Crichton and his obsession with wormhole technology, his relationship with Aeryn, and the neural clone of Scorpius in his brain that haunts him.Production and broadcast
The series was originally conceived in the early 1990s by Rockne S. O'Bannon and Brian Henson under the title Space Chase. The series is told in a serialized format, with each episode involving a self-contained story while contributing to a larger storyline. Nearly the entire cast originates from Australia and New Zealand, except for American actor Ben Browder.Farscape's characters frequently make use of slang such as "frell", "dren" and "hezmana" as a substitute for English expletives.
Farscape first ran on the Australian TV Channel Nine Network and in the US on the Sci-Fi Channel, and then on the YTV channel and on BBC Two in the United Kingdom. The series' original broadcast on Sci-Fi was noted for its erratic scheduling, with hiatuses lasting months often occurring mid-season. For example, the final four episodes of Season 1 aired beginning in January 2000, nearly four months after the broadcast of the preceding episode; the final four episodes of Season 3 were separated from the rest of the season by a gap of more than six months.
Each episode cost more than $1 million to make.
Plot
Season One
Earth astronaut John Crichton is unexpectedly hurled to an unknown part of the Milky Way galaxy via a wormhole. He finds himself in the middle of an escape attempt by Moya, a living spaceship, from the militaristic Peacekeepers, who had been using her as a prison transport. In the chaos, Crichton's space capsule accidentally collides with a Peacekeeper fighter, which results in the death of its pilot. Crichton's ship and another Peacekeeper fighter are brought into Moya's hold. Although the escape is successful, the Peacekeeper Captain, Bialar Crais, fixates on Crichton as the murderer of the pilot—his brother—and begins a campaign to chase Crichton down.The various crew have no common goal, each only wishing to go home. Unfortunately, to evade Crais' pursuit, they have to travel into the Uncharted Territories, and thus have no idea how to get home. The crew also has little respect for Crichton, seeing him only as a "primitive hoo-man" who does not understand even the basic tenets of life in space.
Various episodes explore the characters' backstories. Aeryn, the fighter pilot, begins to learn that the Peacekeepers are not always as correct as she had believed. Zhaan is forced to bring up the dark side she had worked to suppress. D'Argo admits he was framed for his wife's murder and has no idea where his child is. Rygel confronts his former jail keeper and torturer. A new character joins the crew, Chiana, a teenage thief on the run from her own repressive culture. And Moya herself becomes pregnant after a Peacekeeper experiment is accidentally activated.
Meanwhile, Crichton continues to research the wormhole that brought him here. He is forced to sell what little progress he has made to an alien mechanic as payment for repairs on the Farscape module. He is also lured into a wormhole that seems to lead directly back to Earth, only to find the entire situation is a construct created by mysterious aliens called the Ancients, who are testing to see if Earth is suitable for colonization.
Towards the end of the season, Aeryn is injured and the crew is forced to go to a Peacekeeper base to seek medical help. Crichton disguises himself as a Peacekeeper to gain access, but the base's commander, Scorpius, instantly sees through the ruse and imprisons Crichton, calling Crais to come collect him. Under torture, Crichton discovers that the Ancients placed specialized knowledge of wormholes in his subconscious mind—knowledge that Scorpius is particularly eager to access. The other Moya crew members launch a rescue attempt.
Meanwhile, Moya gives birth to her baby, discovering that the child, named Talyn, is a volatile hybrid warship designed by the Peacekeepers instead of the usual peaceful Leviathan. Upon Crais' arrival, Scorpius takes over his command. Crais defects to Moya to save himself, accepting along the way that Crichton had not meant to kill his brother. But this is only a cover to steal Talyn and escape on his own. Having grown much closer over the course of the season, the crew work together to escape Scorpius—a plan that ends with Crichton and D'Argo floating in space, running out of air.
Season Two
The crew of Moya are now on the run from Scorpius, who wants the wormhole knowledge locked in Crichton's brain for his own purposes. To avoid him the crew are forced into some unwise decisions and alliances, which often result in wacky, mind-altering hijinks for the crew.Moya encounters an independent Sebacean colony, where the heir to the throne has been genetically poisoned by her younger brother so that she cannot procreate with any Sebacean male, which would allow him to take the throne instead. Recognising Crichton as a possible substitute to ensure the continued independence of her world, the Empress insists he marry the Princess, or else she will hand him over to Scorpius. Terrified of Scorpius after his experiences on the base, Crichton is forced to agree. Aeryn, who has been growing attached to Crichton, finds herself jealous.
Despite various plots by Peacekeepers and an agent of their enemies the Scarrans, the Moya crew manage to wheedle their way out once again, although the Princess is indeed left pregnant. Meanwhile, D'Argo and Chiana begin a relationship based mostly on sex, and Zhaan is tasked with protecting Moya by the Leviathian's creator-gods. Crichton has a chance to kill Scorpius, but finds himself unable to do it, blocked by some unknown cause.
That cause is revealed when Crichton is kidnapped by Scarrans – during his torture on the base, Scorpius had implanted Crichton with a neural chip that contains a clone of his personality, designed to track down the wormhole knowledge and protect Crichton and Scorpius both until that knowledge is found. Crichton nicknames the clone Harvey and it begins to manifest as hallucinations to him.
The half-crazed mystic Stark – whom Crichton had met while jailed at the base – returns with information about D'Argo's son, Jothee. The boy is one of a lot of slaves, and they can rescue him by buying the entire lot. To afford to do that they will need to rob a bank. The crew put a plan into action, which is complicated when Scorpius arrives. Scorpius has captured the slaves, but promises to give them Jothee if Crichton will turn himself in. Under intense pressure from the neural clone, Crichton does so.
D'Argo is reunited with his son, and the crew move into action to save Crichton. Even Crais and Talyn return to assist. The rescue is successful, although Moya is severely damaged and Crichton is nearly insane from the effects of the neural clone. At the medical colony to fix them both, the clone takes control of Crichton, seemingly killing Aeryn just as she admits her love for him. With Aeryn dead, Crichton wants the chip removed once and for all. At the same time, Scorpius catches up with them again, killing the doctor and announcing that the chip has completed its work and found the wormhole knowledge. He removes the chip and leaves Crichton incapacitated at the hospital.
Season Three
Having survived Scorpius' attack, the doctor saves Crichton by using biological material from a suitable donor – an alien called an Interon which may be a cousin species to humans. Scorpius fools Crais into thinking he is dead to cover his escape with the neural chip, and Zhaan revives Aeryn, but at the cost of her own life. Feeling guilty over the death of the Interon donor, Crichton has the donor's still living relative brought aboard – an arrogant scientist called Jool.Investigating another wormhole, Moya crashes into a ship belonging to a race called Pathfinders, experts in wormholes. Zhaan sacrifices the last of her life to separate the ships, adding more guilt to Crichton's conscience. He also discovers that despite the chip's removal, the personality clone Harvey remains in his mind.
Due to a harrowing encounter with another escaped prisoner with a cloning device, Crichton ends up twinned – a duplicate created so that there are two Crichtons, both equal and original. Talyn is attacked by the new Peacekeeper Commando chasing the crew – Xhalax Sun, Aeryn's mother. To escape her, Moya and Talyn starburst in opposite directions, splitting the crew, with one Crichton on each ship.
On Moya, tensions rise over D'Argo's breakup with Chiana, Jool's grating personality, and Crichton's increasing obsession with wormholes. An encounter with an alien Energy Rider also instils precognitive abilities in Chiana. Meanwhile, Scorpius tries to access the wormhole data, but finds that the chip now contains a neural clone of Crichton, who refuses to allow Scorpius access.
On Talyn, Crais explains that Xhalax wants to recapture him as a renegade Peacekeeper, and to recapture Talyn as a powerful warship. After a vicious battle, Aeryn allows Crais to kill her mother. Crichton discovers that the mechanic, Furlow, has been working on the wormhole data he gave her in the first season, and intends to sell it to the Scarrans. With the help of the Ancients, Crichton unlocks the wormhole knowledge just enough to destroy the Scarran ship, but suffers radiation exposure and dies in Aeryn's arms.
When the two crews finally reunite, Aeryn cannot face the remaining Crichton, and Talyn is becoming increasingly violent and uncontrollable. Crichton resolves to destroy the wormhole information that Scorpius has by pretending to help him and then crippling the project from within. In return for his help, Scorpius grants the Moya crew leniency for their crimes. But high-ranking Peacekeeper Commandant Grayza interferes, claiming that the Moya crew's continued freedom is an embarrassment and Scorpius' own obsession with wormhole tech does not outweigh their criminal record.
Crichton finally decides that the only way to end Scorpius' project is to destroy the ship. Crais orders Talyn to starburst inside the ship, killing them both and destroying the entire Command Carrier. Believing they are finally free from pursuit, the crew buries Talyn's remains and splits up to go their own ways. But at the last second, a strange old woman formerly imprisoned on the Command Carrier informs Crichton that Aeryn is pregnant, and Moya is sucked into a wormhole, leaving Crichton once again alone in space.