Dang that Rick Berman! How much better would “Enterprise” be if Berman would get over his stubbornness and just use a muppet or two each week??
“Farscape,” the space show that does not fear the muppets, airs Fridays at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Sci-Fi.
TV Guide says:
TV Guide says:
Part 1 of two. Crichton begins his gambit to thwart Scorpius' efforts of mastering wormhole technology by meeting with his archenemy aboard a Peacekeeper command carrier, where renegade Peacekeepers Aeryn and Crais encounter old comrades. Grayza: Rebecca Riggs. Jool: Tammy MacIntosh. Crais: Lani Tupu. Chiana: Gigi Edgley. Aeryn: Claudia Black. Scorpius: Wayne Pygram. Crichton: Ben Browder.
“Gaspode” writes:
Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter Written by Richard Manning, Directed by Ian Watson
The premise: Crichton forms an uneasy alliance with Scorpius to share the wormhole technology locked in his brain, with the intention of destroying Scorpy's command carrier. When Crichton and Company pay a visit to the command carrier, their presence quickly causes friction with the Peacekeeper crew. Former PKs Aeryn and Crais renew old relationships, D'Argo gets into a scrap with a buzzsaw-armed trooper, Crichton and Aeryn get ambushed in the carrier's generator chamber, and Scorpy's boss shows up.
The big picture: The Skarrens are trying to perfect their own wormhole technology, which would allow them to lay waste to the universe. The Peacekeepers and Luxans sign a treaty, with other worlds getting ready to join the anti-Skarran alliance.
Comments: Tension is the operative word here. Nobody trusts anybody, and rightfully so. Crichton and his friends are basically on the command carrier to destroy it, Scorpius wants the wormhole equations locked in Crichton's brain at whatever cost, and the Peacekeepers are only too happy to arrange a few unfortunate 'accidents' for Moya's crew. And the stakes get ratcheted up a notch with the arrival of gorgeous Commandant Grayza (played by Rebecca Riggs), who promptly cancels Scorpy's arrangement, taking Moya captive and imprisoning everybody.
Writer Richard Manning does a superb job of weaving half a dozen different story threads together. One of the more intriguing themes of the last two seasons is the Crichton/Scorpius duality, which Manning makes very clear by linking the two characters with bracelets (introduced last episode) that literally tie them together on a physical level. There's also a wonderfully surreal internal monologue between Crichton and the Scorpius chip, which is told as a series of b/w, Saving Private Ryan-type scenes.
Production-wise, the Farscape team manages to outdo themselves. The blood-drenched design of the Peacekeeper command carrier is suitably fascist, reminiscent of the Third Reich architecture of Albert Speer (pretentious, moi?) and the PKs look, for the most part, convincingly Aryan. The visual FX, with the possible exception of the generator fight are quite good, especially the shots of Talyn inside one the command carrier's docking bays.
Favorite dialogue:
Crichton: 'Why are you bitching at me like we're married, Scorpy-Sue?'
The Blake's 7 connection?: Okay, I know this is going this one is going to piss off a lot of people, but having just watching the final three episodes again, I can't help but notice a few of the more obvious similarities to the 1978-81 British SF drama. In this episode, we've got the obsessed, physically deformed, black-garbed Scorpius (Travis?), and now his sexy boss, Grayza, complete with plunging neckline and short-cropped black hair (Servalan?). Let the debate begin!
Final verdict: Fast-paced, well-written, good cliffhanger. But part two is even better. 7/10.
“Shipscat” contributes:
Into The Lions Den, Part One: Lambs To the Slaughter
This is why we watch Farscape. This is why I sat through the irritating blue monkey guys and the Tarantino rip-off plot of I, Yensch, You Yensch. These two episodes, Lambs to the Slaughter and Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, would have made a great movie, something I would have paid to see.
John Crichton and his motley crew are attempting to beard Scorpius in his den- they have made a deal with Crichton’s archenemy to develop the wormhole technology, although we know that Crichton is intent on lying to Scorpius and sabotaging the project, a dangerous game. The plot is further complicated by the appearance of Mele-on Grayzer, a Peacekeeper officer who is obviously high in Command and with a faction that wants the wormhole research stopped and favors a truce with the Scarrens, the species that Scorpius wants revenge on.
Mele-on might very well make a great recurring new villain- she is sneaky and smart and wears a shirt open almost down to her navel. John immediately dubs her Commandant Cleavage. The outfit is obvously intended for the male section of the viewing audience, but it has a certain flair to it- it’s saying, I need no armor, go ahead and shoot, there is no heart to hit.
To those of us who have been with them from the beginning, it is very exciting to see many of our crew come full circle in returnng to the Command carrier. Aeryn is coming back to the place she was thrown out of,declared Contaminated, and treated scornfully as a traitor. She handles this with a bit of a swagger, i am proud to say. We also see a bit of what her life must have been like before, good and bad. We see some interaction between Crais and a former flame, or at least a former recreating partner, and he has a few words with his former flunkie Braca, who is now a yes man for Scorpius. D’argo is walking freely among the people who kept him prisoner for many cycles, as is Rygel., and has his collarbone rings, the symbol of his former captivity, surgically removed.
I was thrilled with the first real look at the inside of a fully functioning Command Carrier- the ship is huge, having enough room for parks and a hangar that can accomodate Talyn, the leviathan hybrid gunship, quite easily.
There are a couple of great action sequences, including a Butch and Sundance moment when John and Aeryn use identical moves to take out a couple of guards.
Often I find the sequences with John and the Scorpius neural clone in his mind irritating- but these I loved, with the Theatre of the Mind taking place, in black and white, as a World War II epic, and Harvey clearly on board as an ally. The choice of music was very appropriate.
The plotting is great- intrigue abounds and we get to see the resolution, or partial resolution, of many threads that we have been following for the last two seasons. The interaction between John and Scorpius is priceless, as the two enemies have significant power to hurt each other and good reasons to help each other, linked together in their lives by the wormhole technology as surely as they are by the I, Yensch bracelets. John struggles with whether destroying Scorpius’ project is the right thing to do.
This episode was written by Ricky Manning, a brilliant and devious writer. The second half of this story was written by Rockne S. O’Bannon, the creator of Farscape ( AKA the Supreme Giver of Farscape) , and directed by Rowan Woods, who directed such wonderful eps as Nerve, Die Me Dichotomy, and The Choice.
The second half of these two episodes rocks...just wait till next week....
“Metr0man" says:
This episode is definetly one of Farscape's finest. It may remind fans somewhat of the S1 two-parter Nerve/Hidden Memory, as that's where the current storyline regarding Scorpius/John's battle for the wormhole technology originated. The whole thing kicked off there and culminates two years later with this two-parter, but now I'm getting ahead of myself. It's obviously only one half of the full story, but hey, if you're a Farscape fan, you'll love it. The episode hits all the right notes right from the very beginning. Instead of detailed synopsis I'll hit some high and low (what few there are) points. There are spoilers... but the whole of the ep isn't completely spoiled:
What's good:
-Overall look and atmosphere. As soon as it gets going, you just know this is a truly important hour. right from the teaser when Team Moya boards, and you see the Peacekeepers (PKs) lined up in a very ROTJ-esque fashion... it becomes delightfully clear that this episode is a (as JMS once put it) WHAM episode.
-The reaction that Team Moya gets from the PKs. There's a great scene of TM coming into the officer’s food lounge, and everybody is giving them the evil eye. Particularly well done is the reaction to Crais and Aeryn (both former Peacekeepers themselves)
-Shades of gray! Loyal Scapers know that the reason Scorpius wants wormholes so bad is to defend against the Scarrens, who he feels are the big threat. That's a pretty legit concern that even John has to think about, as the whole point of this mission was to sabotage the PK project. It adds a nice little twist of gray to the situation.
-Scorpius' sympathy. As the episode goes on, you can't help but grow to like Scorpy (though most Scapers already do :-D ) He doesn't put up a fight to their demands, he gives in easily and seems very determined to stick to his word as he goes to impressive lengths to stick to his word.
-Two great John/Harvey scenes!
-A new villian?? A new character is introduced here who could go on to be a biggie villian. An Elvira-esque chick named Commandat Graza (or as Crichton puts it: Commandat Cleavage). She's no Scorpius, but she plays the part very well.
-Jool. Damn she looks gorgeous in this episode; she's in full bright-red hair mode.
-Remember what I said about the rising sympathy the viewer gets for Scorpius? Its obvious the writers set this up deliberatly... because after all, you gotta set em up, before you knock em down... and by god does the end of this episode knock em down. I won't spoil this though...
What's not so good:
-A subplot involving Crais and a former flame of his. Doesn't really get the time needed to develop, but there is a point to it, for P2, but still, something about it doesn't work. The actress playing her seems like a less-wrinkly version of that woman from "The Weakest Link"
-Fight scene at the end involving jetpacks ends up looking sort of fake. It's still pretty decently done, but it just ends up being a little goofy at times.
-An old PK friend of Aeryn who throws water in her face at one point... but ends up becoming friendly with her again pretty abruptly. Would have liked to see that develop more, but I understand why, there's more than enough jam packed in this episode as there is.
Quotes (nothing too spoiler-ific):
"I'm on a big stinkin command carrier, Dick Tracy's freakin neural-bracelet linkin’ me to Bram Stoker's nightmare! What more do you want!?"
"Half of the planets we visit fear peacekeepers... and the other half laugh at us, for our simple inability to capture a handful of escaped prisoners... whose exploits are becoming legendary!"
"Braca, you want to go another round with me!?" (we all remember the last time John and Braca had a little scuffle ;-D )
"You shouldn't have made me into an enemy... and YOU shouldn't have pointed a weapon at me." “Damn, I gotta stop pointing guns at people.”
All in all, great episode: **** (4/5)
But the Best is Yet To Come (and I capitalized ever word, so you know I mean business J )
BONUS!! “Mac’s” Farscape Season 1 DVDs Review:
When I learned that Farscape Season 1 was available on DVD, I more or less told my wife "This is what you will get me for Christmas". I tried to say "Don't get me a DVD player yet - I can watch them on my computer...." but she went nuts, and I have a great DVD player now, and some awsome speakers to boot.
I also now have the final disk of the Season One collection in my possession (as well as the rest of season 1), and, given the response to the "Farscape Returns" thread, I thought maybe you would find this material useful - I imagine that other writers have also submitted reviews of the series 1 DVDs - please feel free to use any or all of my comments if you should decide to post a story about it.
Here's how it plays out at the consumer level. All of season 1 is available on DVD at amazon.com. I doubt they are the exclusive distributers. The disks are less than $20 bucks. Each has 2 eps and "stuff". The first 3 disks, and the final one have commentary tracks from the actors and important non-actor types. Generally, this commentary is "about what you'd expect", but for a true fan, its really good and interesting stuff. The "stuff" consists of "actor profiles" - You see a lot of Anthony Simcoe (D'Argo) out of make-up and realise "This guy? Plays THAT character? Wow." And you appreciate his acting that much more.
There have been Feedback questions about if there is really "unseen footage" and I own them all - there is 3-5 minutes per ep of stuff we never saw in the States on these disks. A casual viewer might consider the deleted-from-NA-broadcast scenes "fluff". but these scenes have become as important to me as those that aired...this "extra stuff" is pure Farscape. They aren't waste-of-time scenes, editted out cuz they were boring - they were dropped because the advertizers need more time during the commercial breaks.
The "extra" stuff has a lot of recycled material - when they cut from the actor back to the show, thier vocabulary of clips starts to fail in the "new and rewarding" department. Nevertheless, for the "my God, I'm such a Farscape fan" group - well - I suppose they already own season 1 as well.
But I'm not selling a single one of these disks as used on eBay.. I'm watching and rewatching them. I'm proud to posess them and reluctant to lend them out. The other exctra "stuff" on these disks is usally in the form of conceptual drawings - not my cup of tea, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to looking at everything on every disk. I'm anal that way.
I'm hoping that if you use this review of the first season DVD's, you will use it before the final season 3 ep airs - I'm terrified about 2 things. The first is that this upcoming ep is gonna tear me apart, make me unable to operate at my job, so obsesed will I with how it resolves itself. I wish SciFi would give FS a permanent slot. Farscape Reruns ought to be an audience draw.
Total fan-addicts like me: Go buy the DVDs of season 1. Season 1 was brilliant, and this DVD set is canon.
Talkovers for the first 3 and the last one (Disk 11) "Video Profiles" on each disk - mostly the actors, but sometimes the creature shop or producers, etc. Conceptual drawings.
When you boil it down, it all comes to this: I *love* Farscape. I feel strongly that it is a remarkable show. Keep something "Farscape" on the AICN main menu for as long as you can, cuz the folks who love it ... we're no small group. If you'd like a more consice reporting on how great these DVD's are, let me know - but to the real fans of the show (and you know who you are) just start buying the DVDs. As I have viewed each one, I know the cost is irrelevent. I'd prolly pay a ridiculous price for the next instalment. Right now, my biggest fear is that season 2 will not also become availabnleon DVD.
Anything you can say about that, Herc?
This show has muppets!
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