Farscape too far away
Sep. 4th, 2008 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgOnce upon a time there was an Australian science fiction television show called Farscape. (Wikipedia goodness here.)
Sure the human hero was an American, but that was--and probably still is--the law of co-production at the time. I still find it amazing that the liberal use of Australian accents made the aliens seem more alien. They were good aliens too, and I liked most of the episodes and storylines that I saw.
As was typical of the day, the episodes were aired periodically, spontaneously, randomly and at times suitable only for the dedicated VCR operator. The on-air life of the series trickled away, and eventually the show was cancelled and briefly revived as a two-parter special called The Peacekeeper War to wrap a few things up.
I have no idea how long ago I bought the four seasons and finale on DVD. Certainly well over a year, possibly two. Tonight at the end of a couple of marathon sessions I finally finished the last one. Yay.
I found the finale curiously stilted, with several of the actors falling out of character. A lot of the sets, costumes and makeup were also subtly off, too clean and neat in many cases. It's obvious some were freshly made, but there was a distinct loss of detail in some of the FX and makeup. Hello accounting fairies. Goodbye continuity fairies.
I was also unreasonably distracted by the inappropriate recycling of an actress. Sure, there are only so many actors in Australia, and everybody had at least one go, but I'm surprised the production people made this particular casting decision. Evil Scaren collaborator nurse one minute; mystical peace-making priestess the next. Both reasonably important minor characters, and with a distinctive voice and eyes. Hard to miss.
I have no doubt that these issues have been thrashed over by many others before me.
All in all it was a great series. Hardly flawless, but a noble effort nonetheless. Spaceships, guns, biotech, anthro/xeno-pology, great leatherwork and airbrush use. I liked it.
Tick.
Sure the human hero was an American, but that was--and probably still is--the law of co-production at the time. I still find it amazing that the liberal use of Australian accents made the aliens seem more alien. They were good aliens too, and I liked most of the episodes and storylines that I saw.
As was typical of the day, the episodes were aired periodically, spontaneously, randomly and at times suitable only for the dedicated VCR operator. The on-air life of the series trickled away, and eventually the show was cancelled and briefly revived as a two-parter special called The Peacekeeper War to wrap a few things up.
I have no idea how long ago I bought the four seasons and finale on DVD. Certainly well over a year, possibly two. Tonight at the end of a couple of marathon sessions I finally finished the last one. Yay.
I found the finale curiously stilted, with several of the actors falling out of character. A lot of the sets, costumes and makeup were also subtly off, too clean and neat in many cases. It's obvious some were freshly made, but there was a distinct loss of detail in some of the FX and makeup. Hello accounting fairies. Goodbye continuity fairies.
I was also unreasonably distracted by the inappropriate recycling of an actress. Sure, there are only so many actors in Australia, and everybody had at least one go, but I'm surprised the production people made this particular casting decision. Evil Scaren collaborator nurse one minute; mystical peace-making priestess the next. Both reasonably important minor characters, and with a distinctive voice and eyes. Hard to miss.
I have no doubt that these issues have been thrashed over by many others before me.
All in all it was a great series. Hardly flawless, but a noble effort nonetheless. Spaceships, guns, biotech, anthro/xeno-pology, great leatherwork and airbrush use. I liked it.
Tick.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-04 01:47 pm (UTC)I agree with you about the actress recycling - that was a little annoying. But yes, the aussie accents were great.
Was pleased to see Claudia Black making a one episode appearance in The Dresden Files -
I was OK with the Peacekeeper War aside from the betrayal by fish-related-wall-climbing-girl - that seemed extremely unlikely. But that two parter was generally very very pretty and a lot of fun, so I was probably cutting them a fair bit of slack.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-05 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-05 12:19 am (UTC)lat season was boring to me mostly and so were the movies. only sat through it as i HATE unfinished storis