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Farscape <span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>
Farscape (1999–2003) is a science fiction TV series produced by the Jim Henson Company. The spacecraft of a modern-day astronaut, Commander John Crichton, gets pulled into a wormhole during a test of his new theory for high-speed interstellar travel. Crichton emerges from the wormhole to find himself lost in a distant part of the galaxy, a place inhabited by all kinds of strange and exotic life. Thus, the great adventure begins . . . To the immense sadness of cast, crew, and fans, the show was abruptly canceled with only a couple of days of shooting remaining at the end of Season 4. This left the story, frustratingly, unfinished. A massive campaign by fans to keep Farscape alive resulted in Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004). The miniseries continues straight on from Farscape Season 4, and finishes up some of the major story arcs of the Farscape saga. The two lead actors, Ben Browder and Claudia Black, have repeatedly said they would be more than happy to assume their respective roles as John Crichton and Aeryn Sun once again, should the opportunity present itself. Rumors of a Farscape motion picture have circulated since the series was cancelled. However, as of May 2006, a fifth season of the Farscape series seems more of a possibility than ever before due to the Jim Henson Company's recently acquiring certain important rights. In 2007, Scifi.com ordered 10 episodes of a webisode series. The webisodes are expected to be very short. Whether they'll satisfy fans thirst for more Farscape remains to be seen.
Why Is Farscape Special?A one-word answer to this question would be "chemistry." Farscape oozes chemistry from every pore of its down-and-dirty, frelled-up body. Compelling performances from all the actors are a key factor in enabling Farscape to transcend its label of sci-fi genre show. Even those who are not fans of sci-fi can be fans of Farscape. Passion, darkness, romance, emotion, comedy, sadness, action, adventure, quirkiness—Farscape has it all. This is story-telling taken to a level no other sci-fi show has reached.
Plot SummaryAt heart, Farscape is a love story. Astronaut John Crichton was participating in an experiment using Earth's atmosphere to slingshot his module at high speeds across the solar system when he was hit by an electromagnetic wave. A wormhole appears and draws him in. John tumbles through the wormhole and emerges on the other side in the midst of an alien space battle. He accidentally collides with one of the small attacking ships causing its destruction and he is drawn inside a large space ship. The ship is a prison transport and inside the ship he finds three alien fugitives D'Argo a Luxan warrior, Zhaan, a Delvian priestess and Rygel the former Dominar of the Hynerian Empire. Their ship is under attack by Peacekeepers, mercenaries who offer their military services to other planets. One of the Peacekeeper pilots, officer Aeryn Sun, boards the prison transport known as Moya, one of a living race of ships called Leviathans with the intent of bringing them in. Aeryn is a Sebacean a race of aliens that appear identical to humans. The prisoners escape the Peacekeepers but Aeryn Sun is, to her dismay considered contaminated by her commanding officers and now a fugitive. In his brief time in this new area of space, John discovered wormholes, alien life and interstellar travel. He also made an enemy of Peacekeeper Captain Bialar Crais when he collided with a ship that belonged to Crais' brother. The fugitives were forced to depend on each other for survival and eventually became friends. Crais hunted the fugitives throughout the dangerous uncharted territories and life grew increasingly complicated for the fugitives. During this time, John and Aeryn developed as a working team and eventually into close friends. John depended on Aeryn for his emotional stability and she in turn learned how to feel after her upbringing as the ultimate soldier. Moya became pregnant and they took on another fugitive a runaway Nebari girl known as Chiana. Crichton sought the means to return home but his attempts proved fruitless. He repeatedly came close to figuring out wormholes but something always got in the way. For example, on a planet called Da-Ba-Da, he had to sell his solar flare information to a mechanic named Furlow to pay for ship repairs. The most important event of this time was when he flew down a wormhole and landed on what he thought was Earth. The Ancients who created the false environment felt badly and "gifted" Crichton with the key equations he needed to work out wormhole travel and navigation but Crichton was unaware of this knowledge. It was on this false Earth that John and Aeryn first made love. Wormhole technology proved a curse for Crichton as he was hunted, captured, and tortured by Peacekeeper Scorpius in hopes of finding that information. Scorpius even implanted a chip in Crichton's brain that would seek out the information on wormholes. The chip, who's artificial intelligence John named Harvey, drove john to the edge of madness and placed John and his friends in danger. He even ended up temporarily killing Aeryn when she tried to stop him from joining Scorpius as compelled by the chip. There were other visitors to Moya over the seasons, such as Stark, a half-insane Banik Slave with the power to ease people through death; Jool, a highly educated Interon with a nasty scream; and Sikozou, a Kalish book-educated but real-life naive fellow-traveler. Over time, John was cloned, died, blew up banks and ships, and developed a deep and abiding love for Aeryn Sun and she for him. For four seasons Moya's crew bonded and became a family. They found and lost love and were in constant threat from numerous sources. They lost and gained friends and were constantly hunted by the Peacekeepers. The story of Farscape was concluded in the miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. Cast
Other BeingsSheyangs: Ugly, swine-like beings who spit fire. Hanjee - multi-eyed creatures who can remove their eyes (Scratch N' Sniff) Dentics - Worms used to brush one's teeth Palmolian Meat Hounds Sykarans (Thank Goodness It's Friday Again) Illanics: "Cousins" of the Luxans with odd tentacles Tavleks: Plokavian Arms Dealers Zenetian Pirates Diagnosticians (Tocot) Eidolons Traskans (Noranti) Tarkan Freedom Fighters Wolaskan Arachnids Farspeak
Episode GuideSeason 1Crichton encounters Moya and her crew in a new and distant part of the galaxy. He is slow to adjust to everything new and his crew mates don't give him much leeway. Toward the end of the season he becomes frustrated and goes off on his own and encounters a wormhole that transports him to what seems to be Earth but turns out its not. He encounters an advanced alien race in search of home and unknown to him they leave knowledge in his mind to guide his wormhole theories and one day find his way home. While trying to save Aeryn's life he falls into Peacekeeper hands and his bout with the Aurora Chair reveals that he has the potential to unlock the secrets of wormhole travel. Unfortunately, a Peacekeeper officer, Scorpius is very interested in the information and Crichton and the crew of Moya gain yet another Peacekeeper enemy. Moya is discovered to be pregnant and gives birth to an armed Leviathan, Aeryn names Talyn. Season 2In the second season, Moya gives birth to a gunship, Talyn who defies her attempts to reassure and control him. Crais loses his Peacekeeper command to Scorpius, and finally acknowledges the futility of his pursuit of Crichton. He takes command of Talyn who accepts him and the two leave together, to Moya's dismay. Crichton is relentlessly pursued by Scorpius and discovers that while he was in the Aurora chair Scorpius implanted a chip in his brain that carried Scorpius' personality. The chip drives him to the edge of insanity and prevents him from killing Scorpius when he has the opportunity. Crichton marries a princess, produces a daughter but must leave them behind. Stark returns to help D'Argo find his son Jothee. Their attempt to break into a secure depository to rescue him leads to Moya being severely injured when the currency they acquire begins to devour her and Zhaan must resort to burning her to rid her of the creatures. Crichton turns himself over to Scorpius in exchange for Jothee. Aeryn determines to rescue him and manages to do so only to discover Crichton might be losing and Scorpius has begun to take over his mind. They seek out a diagnosan to heal Moya and ease her pain. Scorpius takes control of Crichton and he damages Aeryn's prowler forcing her to eject and crash to her death. The diagnostician attempts to free him of Scorpius' control but the real Scorpius arrives and kills him before the surgery can be completed, leaving John unable to speak coherently. Season 3In the series' third season, things took a darker turn. Scorpius escaped with John's neural chip and John was saved by the skills of the diagnosan. Zhaan managed to revive Aeryn but at the cost of her own well being. John's pursuit of wormholes was ultimately blamed for Zhaan's death when John requested pilot to stop after discovering a wormhole. They collided with aliens preventing Zhaan from reaching a planet in time to stop the degradation caused by giving her life force to Aeryn. Zhaan gave up her life for the others. The first of several sacrifices. The loss of Zhaan is followed by the addition of Jool, a brilliant Interion with a scream that melts metal. But while Jool's presence was at worst an occasional nuisance, the addition of another Crichton, identical to the first proved life altering for all, particularly Aeryn. Twinned by Kaarvok, the two proved indistinguishable. But there was little time to worry about two many Crichtons. With Talyn suffering severe wounds from a Peackeepr retrieval squad attack, the crew visited a planet that may help him hide from Peacekeepers only to have him further damaged by poisoned chromextin. Moya managed to filter the substance and Talyn recovered only to be swallowed by a Budong. Fortunately, they managed to escape. The crew was split in two each with a Crichton of their own. On board Talyn, Aeryn and Crichton grew much closer. They were never more in love... and then "Jack", Crichton's wormhole alien friend, appeared. To protect his people he must stop Furlow who has recently acquired wormhole technology and plans to sell the information to the Scarrans. Jack unlocked the wormhole knowledge in John's mind and successfully ousted the remnants of Scorpius. He was killed before he could complete his plan to stop the Scarrans and Crichton finished the job, and stopped Furlow at the cost of his own life a victim of severe radiation exposure. With only one Crichton left in the universe, on board Moya, the two crews reunited, though Stark left them to seek out Zhaan on a mystical planet. Unfortunately for John Aeryn now him as the copy and would not risk getting close to him. A message delivered via Stark's mask enabled Crichton to retrieve a message from his other self encouraging him to Stop Scorpius from gaining wormhole technology to prevent the misuse of the technology's devastating power. Though most of the crew disagreed, Crichton and Aeryn agreed to make a deal with Scorpius in order to get on board the command carrier. Crichton agreed to give Scorpius his wormhole knowledge in exchange for freedom from pursuit for himself and his fellow crewmates. The arrival of Peacekeeper commander, Mele-On Grayza put wrench in Scorpius' plans however as she planned to scrap his wormhole project. In order to put an end to the project, Crichton decided the carrier had to be destroyed but only Crais could devise a workable plan, one that saw him give up his life and that of an unstable Talyn in seeing the end of Scorpius's command, and the destruction of his carrier and the wormhole knowledge. Following the dramatic life altering destruction of the carrier, the crew faced splitting up and leaving their home on Moya for their own pursuits as well as the addition of a strange old woman. John was forced to face his fears of losing everyone he cared about, particularly Aeryn. His fears were realized when Aeryn chose to leave Moya without him, unwilling to face her own fears of watching him die again. John also lost Moya and the rest of the crew when Moya was swallowed by a wormhole stranding him in his module alone and running low on fuel. Season 4Season 4 opens with John on board a dying Leviathan still in Leviathan Burial Space. He continues to work on his wormhole equations but is soon interrupted by a female alien, Sikozu, who is on the run from scavenger's seeking the Leviathan's neural tissue. He is also rejoined by Chiana and Rygel who discover a new price has been placed on their heads by Commandant Grayza. The group escaped the scavengers with Chiana's new visual ability to see events in slow motion. Her gift came at the price of temporary blindness. The group made their way to the planet Arnessk where they reunited with Jool and her fellow Interions, Noranti, and D'Argo. On the planet they discovered an ancient temple that was once home to the Eidolons who kept peace throughout the galaxy. John discovered evidence connecting Arnessk to Earth and was captured by Grayza who used her wiles to learn what John knew about wormholes, Scorpius and Scarrans. The group managed to escape, Arnessk was returned to its former glory, and its priests believed long dead, rejoined the current era. They eventually reunited with Moya, Aeryn and Scorpius. Aeryn revealed she was pregnant but her decision not to tell John right away, and her claims that the child may not be his, caused a rift between them. John's knowledge of wormholes grew and they continued to be hunted by the Peacekeepers forcing them to take refuge in tormented space. While trying to find a wormhole opening, John was drawn in and came across an alien he called Einstein. He discovered wormholes could lead to different places in time and other universes. John's ability to navigate a wormhole presented the possibility of his entering other times and universes. Einstein informed him that the "Ancients" he previously met in the form of his father were modified versions of his species, designed to exist in our realm and charged with keeping the realms apart. With more knowledge in hand, John guided Moya through a wormhole to Earth, but discovered he had arrived before he left, in the 80s when he was still a teenager. He must right the wrong caused by his intrusion and prevent his father from going on the deadly Challenger mission. With the help of his alien friends, he succeeded and found his way to current era Earth. His reunion with friends and family wasn't everything he expected however. Though his friends were treated well, he felt out of place and disappointed with the fragmented nature of Earth politics at a time when joining together might be more important than ever. Grayza's minion eventually found him on Earth and John and Aeryn managed to kill the creature. John did not stay on Earth but returned to Moya. On a shopping trip Aeryn and Sikozu discovered that Grayza was attempting to make a treaty with the Scarrans that would exchange the Luxan worlds for the uncharted territories. Aeryn wanted to assassinate Grayza and the Scarran leaders but was captured by the Peacekeepers and replaced on Moya by a bioloid. John was quick to discover the truth. Sikozu overheard the Scarran plan to take Grayza to Katratzi when they captured her and presumed they took Aeryn there as well. Determined to find her, John and Scorpius traveled to an unrealized reality he previously visited to find Stark who could reveal what Katratzi was and where. They succeeded but while they searched, Aeryn was being tortured by the Scarrans who learned she was pregnant and determined to find out if the child was Crichton's so they could gain his knowledge from the fetal DNA, Aeryn delayed and resisted long enough to be rescued. Though Scorpius was left behind. Scorpius' neural clone returned in John's mind, a consequence of his having betrayed Scorpius, and informed John that Scorpius now had all his wormhole knowledge and the Scarrans would force it out of him. They had to rescue him. With a bomb strapped to his chest, John and friends visited Katratzi where the Scarrans were negotiating with the Peacekeepers. While there they managed to stir up conflict between the Kalish and the Charrids hoping to escape. When their escape plan failed, thanks to Scorpius, they were imprisoned. Scorpius discovered flowers common on Earth, bird of paradise, was the source of the Scarran ruling classes power. The blooms were only cultivated on Katratzi. They formed a plot to destroy the plants. Sikozu revealed herself to be a bioloid designed by the Kalish resistance to kill Scarrans. After destroying the Scarran garden, the group escaped but now the Scarrans knew where they could find more flowers, Earth. Crichton was forced to cut Earth of from wormhole travel permanently to protect them and Pilot risked his life to help him do so. To help compensate for Pilot's absence from Moya while he aided Crichton, Chiana memorized his actions, to help Moya, sacrificing her eyesight in the process. After Crichton and Pilot returned to Moya, she settled on a water planet to heal from Pilot's separation. Crichton and Aeryn took some time away in a boat to be alone. Aeryn revealed that the fetus had been released and they were going to have a baby. Crichton was overjoyed and proposed to Aeryn but their romantic moment was ruined as Crichton's perpetual poor timing went into effect and a blast from alien vessel reduced them both to a pile of crystals. Trivia
Popular Culture
QuotesJohn Crichton: "Boy, was Spielberg ever wrong. Close Encounters my ass!" John Crichton: "Hi... Honey. Huh. Guess what I did at work today? I wore a bomb. A nuclear bomb in a field of flowers. I could get lucky. Tomorrow I could have a bigger bomb. I could kill... more people. Maybe they'll be innocent people. Children... maybe." John Crichton: "No, no, I'm okay, I just need a gun." John Crichton: "I try to save a life a day . . . usually it's mine." John Crichton: "Ah, screw it. But I am not Kirk, Spock, Luke, Buck, Flash, or Arthur frelling Dent. I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas." Scarran Emperor Staleek: "... however an agreement requires trust which, thus far, has been one-sided. Now, you tell me what else you really want." John Crichton: "When you wake up... in the morning on your big Emperor bed and you listen... what do you hear? Do you hear the little Emperor birdies singing outside your window? Do you hear the Emperor wind whistling through the trees? Or do you hear people dying? Do you hear your friends begging for mercy? Do you hear doors being kicked in because people are hunting you? Do you hear the sound of your heart pounding in your ears? What I want... Santa Claus? For the rest of my life I wanna wake up like an Emperor." Aeryn Sun: "I returned from the dead. Why can't he?" Dominar Rygel XVI: "I never run away! I strategically maneuver!" Dominar Rygel XVI: "May your afterlife be almost as pleasant as mine." External LinksCategories: TV series | SCI FI Channel series | Farscape | 1990s TV | 2000s TV | Cult TV | Jim Henson Company | Rockne S. O'Bannon TV series | David Kemper TV series | Robert Halmi. Jr. TV series | Brian Henson TV series | Kris Noble TV series | Richard Manning TV series | Ben Browder TV series | Claudia Black TV series | Anthony Simcoe TV series | Virginia Hey TV series | Gigi Edgley TV series | Jonathan Hardy TV series | Tammy McIntosh TV series | Paul Goddard TV series | Raelee Hill TV series | Wayne Pygram TV series | Lani Tupu TV series | Melissa Jaffer TV series | David Franklin TV series | Rebecca Riggs TV series
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