Farscape

We established a long time ago that I'm a nerd and love sci-fi and fantasy shows. Several years ago, my pal Tim shared my interest in this tv genre and we used to discuss all the drama and excitement of our shows together. As you all know, I refuse to spend the money on cable, so either the shows I watched were on network television or in syndication.

Back in my SG1 days, which I watched in syndication, I told Tim how impressive I found two new cast members, Ben Browder and Claudia Black. Tim told me they used to star on a show together called Farscape and that they played one of the most romantic couples in the genre. These were big words coming from a sci-fi/ fantasy fan like Tim. But my response at the time after having seen the show in syndication was I'm not impressed. I mean really, two of the main characters are puppets. Tim loaned me his DVD collection and his insistence that I would enjoy the show. And he was right, I was hooked. The reason Farscape is in my thoughts recently is due to Michelle, another Tim convert, pointing out that Amazon had a special offer for the entire series box set, which we both bought.

So for those of you who have never seen the series, I highly recommend it. Without watching the show in order, it can be rather confusing as I discovered watching it in syndication. One of the first episodes, I saw was Green Eyed Monster and I thought it was terrible, yet I now list it as one of my faves. Watching the show in order, you catch the nuances that are missed otherwise. As for those puppets, there are several instances that they made me cry.

So what is the show about...A human astronaut is sucked into a wormhole and finds himself on the other side of the universe, where he ends up on a ship with escaped prisoners. Even among those he calls friends, he's unsure who his true allies are and that doesn't include the man who blames him for a loved one's death or the creature who hunts him for his wormhole knowledge. The show was abruptly canceled after the fourth season finale had been filmed, which left fans frustrated. Some die-hard fans created a campaign to save the show resulting in a four hour mini-series which wrapped up the series.

So did I agree with Tim's assessment that it has one of the most romantic stories on a sci-fi/fantasy show? Absolutely! I highly recommend this series for sci-fi and romance fans.