(Harvey! And Talyn! And Gilina!)

[deird_lj]

I saw someone on the internet this morning saying that Farscape's aliens were basically:
"...Proud Warrior Race Guy, Greedy Nobleman, Space Buddhist, Spock, Action Girl..."
...and concluding that the characters weren't all that original.


No. Wrong.

This show has D'Argo - the Proud Warrior Race Guy... who wants to stop fighting, settle down, and have a farm.

And Zhaan - the Space Buddhist... who is completely psychotic on her bad days.

And Aeryn, who was raised to be a soldier and nothing else, and Pilot, who is mostly calm and logical but also stubborn and snarky, and Jool, who is intelligent and resourceful and also a spoiled brat, Crichton, who is the American Hero and is not the action guy, he's the scientist! - and he's completely out of his depth...

And everyone else, too.


There are a lot of complaints you could make about Farscape. Lack of original characters is not one of them.

Comments

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Agreed - though I'd say Talyn is the one who IS a stock character, since he's basically Psycho Emo Teen à la Angel!Connor/Weeds!Silas/NipTuck!Matt/etc. Of course, he subverts it somewhat by being a huge friggin' spaceship with FTL drive. Even Connor can't top that one.

And yes, D'Argo may be Proud Warrior Race Guy when he's on the clock, but... The guy builds guitars in his spare time, ffs. Not to mention that Chiana, the Grey Skinned Space Nympho, is pretty much the only one of the bunch (and that would be including the PRIEST) who isn't a complete selfish cynic now and then...

...and that's all vast oversimplifications too. *loves show*

[deird1]

Of course, he subverts it somewhat by being a huge friggin' spaceship with FTL drive.

Indeed. *grins*


D'Argo playing music for Pilot is one of the things that first made me like him...

*needs more Farscape icons*

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

This makes me want to finish the show. A lot.

Too bad I got distracted by The X-Files....

[deird1]

Oh, you must finish it! It's very worthwhile.


How far did you get?

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure it is! It's strange: I enjoy it while I'm watching it, but when I'm not, I don't feel a consuming desire to do so. I don't know why.

I've been stuck at the Princess trilogy in the middle of S2 for a while now. I fully intend to keep going...I just haven't. Very strange.

[deird1]

Ack! You need to keep watching! It's about to start getting really interesting!


*looks stern*
You must find out about Harvey. And Sikozu. And the second Crichton. These things are important. Now, go watch.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yes, ma'am!

That really does make me anxious to do it....

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I never found the Princess Triology to be that great. (I like the "Liars, Guns, and Money" trilogy better... and NOTHING beats the Season 3 Trilogy(ish) of Infinite Possibilities I & II along with The Choice

Hang in there until at least the Season 2 Finale "Die Me, Dichotomy." If it hasn't grabbed you by then, let it go by the wayside. But I would say at least go to "Die Me, Dichotomy" to see whether it grabs you.

(Personally, I don't think I fell for Crichton until he went insane. Not sure what that says about me, though. :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Well, I like it already. It just hasn't grabbed me by the gut and demanded that I keep watching it already, not the way Buffy or...Veronica Mars did. It's more like BSG: I liked it, then I got distracted, then I went back and watched it some more, then I got distracted, then I fell in love with it, then it got bad. Only hopefully Farscape won't get bad.

I will definitely keep watching till then. Thank you! I like to have a goal in mind. Like with Buffy, you tell people to hang on until at least "Surprise"/"Innocence" (or is that reversed? Whatever).

I already love Crichton. A whole lot. But I'm willing to fall for him more! And I didn't love Buffy till she was clinically depressed, so I don't know what that says about me. ;)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Lack of originality is not a problem for Farscape. It samples a lot of things and ties them up in an emotional, epic story that is also funny as hell sometimes.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I can already agree about the funny as hell thing. The body-swap episode had me FLAILY WITH JOY. So much! I thought I was going to die of fangirly glee!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Teaching Rygel to pee! And, of course, they had to check out each other's parts! LOL!

[rahirah]

Obviously this person on the internet is WRONG.

[deird1]

*nods emphatically*

[green-maia.livejournal.com]

I'm planning to watch Farscape next...

[deird1]

It's very worthwhile.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Given some of your reactions to Doctor Who, I would warn that the episode DNA Mad Scientist may be hard to take (it's puppet violence, but in Farscape, puppets are people too). And quite possibly The Hidden Memory (though the latter one is pretty essential to the series as a whole).

[mabus101.livejournal.com]

I've never watched the entirety of the show--it had already been on almost a season by the time I started watching, and I only saw bits here and there.

I think in context, the argument was more that the characters failed to be truly alien aliens, but I'm not sure I've ever seen that sort of alien work as anything except "incomprehensible Negative Space Wedgie that happens to be biological".

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

This just in: you can use basic character archetypes in interesting, unique ways!

IN OTHER WORDS, very much agreed.