Faracape: Premiere

[clearspira]

This really is the stand out example of 2000s science fiction. And the models are absolutely beautiful. I've seen cgi work on recent Disney Plus shows that look considerably worse than this.

I actually liked season 1, but it is also fair to say that the show didn't really start until Chiana joined the cast.

I do not think that you could make this show today. It is a bit too peppery for modern censors. Especially the rape-y woman who looks like Servalan in season 4. A lot of implied bondage too.

Fun fact: this show gets gutted in syndication on UK tv. Most of Servalan's rape scenes are straight up missing. There is one episode that has been cancelled although fortunately it is a crappy one. It is the one where Crichton returns to a fake Earth and there is a version of Rygel in bondage gear in-between Crichton's legs.

[Madner Kami]

LEXX walked, so Farscape could run. I miss both shows. Interesting premises and wild shit played straight.

[hammerofglass]

This really is the stand out example of 2000s science fiction. And the models are absolutely beautiful. I've seen cgi work on recent Disney Plus shows that look considerably worse than this.

I actually liked season 1, but it is also fair to say that the show didn't really start until Chiana joined the cast.

I do not think that you could make this show today. It is a bit too peppery for modern censors. Especially the rape-y woman who looks like Servalan in season 4. A lot of implied bondage too.

Fun fact: this show gets gutted in syndication on UK tv. Most of Servalan's rape scenes are straight up missing. There is one episode that has been cancelled although fortunately it is a crappy one. It is the one where Crichton returns to a fake Earth and there is a version of Rygel in bondage gear in-between Crichton's legs.

I remember being shocked at the time that the show actually acknowledged that what Grayza was doing was rape and that her victims were traumatized by it. Even had John directly call her out. Until very recently that kind of thing usually got played for laughs and/or presented the guys as enjoying it.

[clearspira]

LEXX walked, so Farscape could run. I miss both shows. Interesting premises and wild shit played straight.

I enjoyed Lexx too although it does not get syndicated at all. You are right in saying that it did codify quite a lot of what Farscape actually pulled off.

Lexx however is also a good example as to why Farscape worked: its chemistry. These characters were frequently at each other's throats but when push came to shove, 99% of the time they would go the mile for each other, kill or be killed. Red Dwarf and Blake's Seven were the same.

With Lexx though... I hated that stupid robot head. It annoyed the crap out of me. It had exactly one trait and absolutely should have been a one-shot joke, not one of the main characters for the entire series run. And Stan (the middle aged guy who never changed out of his uniform for four seasons despite it not actually being his uniform any more) was just sleazy and cowardly in an unpleasant way. The negative qualities of Arnold Rimmer from RD and Villa from B7 without the charm.

[clearspira]

This really is the stand out example of 2000s science fiction. And the models are absolutely beautiful. I've seen cgi work on recent Disney Plus shows that look considerably worse than this.

I actually liked season 1, but it is also fair to say that the show didn't really start until Chiana joined the cast.

I do not think that you could make this show today. It is a bit too peppery for modern censors. Especially the rape-y woman who looks like Servalan in season 4. A lot of implied bondage too.

Fun fact: this show gets gutted in syndication on UK tv. Most of Servalan's rape scenes are straight up missing. There is one episode that has been cancelled although fortunately it is a crappy one. It is the one where Crichton returns to a fake Earth and there is a version of Rygel in bondage gear in-between Crichton's legs.

I remember being shocked at the time that the show actually acknowledged that what Grayza was doing was rape and that her victims were traumatized by it. Even had John directly call her out. Until very recently that kind of thing usually got played for laughs and/or presented the guys as enjoying it.

Consider for a moment that at the exact same time this was happening Star trek Enterprise was doing its ''Trip gets pregnant via date rape'' episode and you really do see just how progressive Farscape was right up until the 2020s. I think we can ''thank'' Kevin Spacey for this in part. He was responsible for highlighting that the MeToo era was for everyone and that to my mind was when a lot of these double standards slowly started to change.

Funny really. You wouldn't think on paper that Farscape would be more progressive than Star Trek and yet contemporary Trek paled in comparison to it. None of the women were damsels, Chiana's bisexuality was freely expressed, there was an intersex Nebari, and the combination of the excellent make-up and expensive puppets helped give this show a very diverse feel in a way that Star Trek's collection of ''nobbly noses'' and ''bumpy foreheads'' just never did.

[Madner Kami]

I enjoyed Lexx too although it does not get syndicated at all. You are right in saying that it did codify quite a lot of what Farscape actually pulled off.

Lexx however is also a good example as to why Farscape worked: its chemistry. These characters were frequently at each other's throats but when push came to shove, 99% of the time they would go the mile for each other, kill or be killed. Red Dwarf and Blake's Seven were the same.

With Lexx though... I hated that stupid robot head. It annoyed the crap out of me. It had exactly one trait and absolutely should have been a one-shot joke, not one of the main characters for the entire series run. And Stan (the middle aged guy who never changed out of his uniform for four seasons despite it not actually being his uniform any more) was just sleazy and cowardly in an unpleasant way. The negative qualities of Arnold Rimmer from RD and Villa from B7 without the charm.

Can't argue with that observation. I agree that the main cast is an interesting bunch during the first season (the 4 original TV-movies), though becoming progressively more grating, as they never seem to develop, but largely tread water over the course of the three "proper" seasons.
It's still a shame, that only the first two seasons made it to regular TV here in Germany, some of which badly cut to reach an FSK-16-rating. But, alas, the show was a bit out there and it's cancelation hereabout not solely due to it's rather erratic and (even initially) bad time-slot (wednesday only, 22.15 only, but becoming progressively further pushed back). I still vividly remember trying to circumvent my mother's TV-curfew (as I was still going to school at that time) and often just falling asleep properly, while trying to pretend I was only sleeping while my mother checked on whether I was sleeping.

Consider for a moment that at the exact same time this was happening Star trek Enterprise was doing its ''Trip gets pregnant via date rape'' episode and you really do see just how progressive Farscape was right up until the 2020s. I think we can ''thank'' Kevin Spacey for this in part. He was responsible for highlighting that the MeToo era was for everyone and that to my mind was when a lot of these double standards slowly started to change.

Funny really. You wouldn't think on paper that Farscape would be more progressive than Star Trek and yet contemporary Trek paled in comparison to it. None of the women were damsels, Chiana's bisexuality was freely expressed, there was an intersex Nebari, and the combination of the excellent make-up and expensive puppets helped give this show a very diverse feel in a way that Star Trek's collection of ''nobbly noses'' and ''bumpy foreheads'' just never did.

Trek is overall rather overrated, when it comes to the progressive attitudes. True, you got some "Firsts" out there, but even then, this was largely limited to TOS, while at the same time being made in one of the most "forward" time-periods there were. By that standard, even Trek was rather tame, always limited by the conservative attitudes of the deciders and makers. Trek is very much like Roddenberry in this regard: A wild mix of progressive and regressive. Always teetering on the edge of being truely moving things forward, but constantly getting violently yanked back two steps when it's about to take the proper step forward. Not much has changed in this regard till today, I'd argue.