"My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. A radiation wave hit and I got shot through a wormhole. Now I'm lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship - a living ship! - full of strange, alien life forms. Help me! Listen, please! Is there anybody out there who can hear me? I'm being hunted by an insane military commander... doing everything I can... I'm just looking for a way home."

During a test flight in Earth's orbit, Commander John Crichton's experimental module - Farscape 1 - hits an unexpected electromagnetic wave. Sucked through a wormhole, Crichton is thrown head first into a pitch battle where friends and enemies are immediately forced upon him...

Discuss!

One of the problems I had with Farscape the first time around was that for some reason or another fate conspired against me, preventing me from seeing the first episode.

As Pilot episodes go Premiere is actually quite good. The regular characters are introduced whilst simultaneously working a dramatic story in it's own right with the escape from the Peacekeepers.

The Positives

Crichton

Although an ensemble cast there always has to be a lead character, much in the same way that TNG had Picard, TOS Kirk etc. Crichton is likable, thus making it a lot easier to be empathetic to his situation. Much like the viewers Crichton's very much a fish out of water at this point. Further to that Ben Browder actually looks to be a decent actor to boot, which always comes in handy. Strong leading actors help shape strong leading characters, just see Voyager for an example of when this can go horribly wrong if the lead character/actor(ess) isn't good enough.

FX

The majority of the FX work was impressive. Viewing Farscape after B5 it would be easy to take the snobbish high ground, however most of the non-creature FX are spot-on. I'll get onto the creature stuff a little later.

Humour

This one's a double-edged blade. Whilst not slapstick there is a fair amount of humour throughout the episode. The show's a serious affair but doesn't have the stuffiness that sometimes hinders the Star Trek franchise. It works for the most part and works well, I'll move onto the bits that don't work so well later ;)

The Story

Call me spoiled but these days for me to like a show it has to have a spot-on story behind it. After JMS' magnus opus these days we don't have to suffer pap lightly. Thankfully, Farscape gets off to a good start and actually kickstarts what looks like it could prove to be an interesting arc in it's own right. Part of the story looks like a familiar one, 'the lost looking for a way home', we can only pray that it explores this arc to a fuller potential than the aforementioned Voyager did. There's also the antagonistic thread introduced between Crichton and Crais which not only looks interesting but hints that it may take some time to play out. We've also had hints/flashes behind the individual characters, all of whom have their own stories, or so it seems after this episode at any rate, the interest in the particular characters is piqued at this point within this viewer.


The Negatives

Now these may sound odd as many of them have also been mentioned as positives;

FX

I told you I'd be back with this one. Whilst the majority of the FX work well, in particular the ship effects, the ones that have yet to convince me are the creature effects. If anything Doctor Who has taught us that if the creature FX look dodgy then the episode's going to suffer. One of the original problems I had with Farscape, and this would appear to be a common criticism against the show is the "muppets in space" gag. It's harsh, probably too harsh, but at this point I remain to be won over by the creature FX. The particular ones of note so far being Rygel, as funny as he is (most of the time), part of me still think's he wouldn't look out of place inbetween Kermit and Fozzie. Besides that, Pilot hasn't enthused me either, not so far at any rate.

D'argo

There were far too many times throughout the episode I was expecting him to break out a bat'leth, the fact that he actually did have a blade then only heightened this trepidation :) At this point, the moody, frustrated warrior routine reminds me too much of Worf from TNG. I'm sure he'll grow, but that's my first impression.

Humour

The other side of the blade. Most of the humour, particularly that of Crichton, just the contemporary references works for me, what doesn't however are the bodily function gags. :rolleyes: Let's just hope they get those out of the way quickly for all our sakes :)


And that's about it so far. As Pilot episodes go, Premiere was definitely one of the better ones, and although I managed to find fault, it would be somewhat miraculous if I couldn't. Importantly, the faults I do have with the show are nothing major and I could be won over on all of them I think.

Looking forward to I.ET next, all being well I should get around to this one sometime throughout Sunday :)

Grade : 8/10

Nice review, Val :) Hope you're not expecting as much from me ;)

Haven't watched it again as yet but, from my own experience, I agree with a lot of what you say. Especially about D'Argo - he really does come across as Worf-Lite at the beginning of the series. It doesn't help that they hadn't sorted his make-up out at this stage, either - if you saw him later on in the series it looks much more natural and, as a character, he completely outgrows Worf on every level.

Again, the special effects improve in leaps and bounds as the show progresses, to the stage where they blow away pretty much everything else that has gone on tv before.

Whether Rygel and Pilot will grow on you is something I can't answer. I come back to comparisons with Yoda, i.e. if he didn't ruin Empire or Jedi for you then there's a good chance you'll grow to like Sparky and Pilot. Suffice to say that they both become fully developed characters in their own right.

Oh, and the bodily function humour - sorry, it's here to stay! When one of your main characters farts helium there's no getting away from it!! :lol:

Anyway, I'll come back with more thoughts after watching it.

What - a big review from me? I rarely do them :)

The first thing to note is that I know this is the first episode, so I'm sure at least some of the negative comments can be put down to them working out finer points.

Several thoughts about the series as a whole: one that that I thought when I saw this 5 years ago still holds true - the concept of 'group of escaped prisoners running from the corrupt power in a super-ship' still sounds just like a copy of Blake's 7. However, one could also put the same argument against B5 / DS9 comparisons, so this doesn't bother me. Second thought - the theme tune is horrible! I remember using the analogy of a 'cat through a mangle' to describe it in the past, and it still feels the same. It might grow on me, but sadly I doubt it. And the less said about the 'fart' jokes the better :)

However, these comments aside I really did enjoy it - although I have to agree wish Val's comments about D'Argo - both he and what I heard of his race screams out Klingon wannabe. But, I'm willing to give them a chance to flesh him out :)

But please disregard the negativity of this - I did enjoy it a lot - and I'm looking forward to the next episode! (whenever I get to see it! :))

Sounds like a similar experience to mine Phillip. When I read my review back it seemed slightly negative, but as I said before, as pilot episodes go, Premiere is actually rather good.

Re the theme tune, I have to admit it has grown on me. I remember disliking it many years ago, but I've grown to like it, well more than I did originally anyway :) And it's still better than the theme for Enterprise ;)

The Blake's Seven analogy is a good one and one that completely escaped me I'm embarassed to say.

I tried to watch I E.T. earlier but found myself drifting off, through no fault of the episode I might add, I made the mistake of using the portable DVD player in the loft lying on the futon :lol: Never a good idea, I think I just about made it halfway through and then decided enough was enough, I don't want my slumber affecting my enjoyment of the episode so I'll have a new bash at it in the morning I think :) The omens are good though, B5's Born to the Purple and Soul Hunter also put me to sleep when I originally saw them ;)

So those were the two episodes that put you to sleep! :lol:

Agree with you both about Blake's Seven and the theme tune. For some reason that caterwauling reminds me of the Xena theme music :blink: The revised theme music for the third and fourth seasons is brilliant, though, and comes in with a really wonderful dramatic thump, especially if you've got a Dolby Digital system ;)

I share the blame for those slumbers with the episodes themselves.

Born to the Purple is just a very very dull episode :(
Soul Hunter I blame entirely on the fact that I was just very tired at the time I watched said episode :lol:

Re the theme tune, I'll have to check out that S3/4 revamp later on one of the DVDs, I have a few from the later seasons that I cherry-picked ;)

Finally sat down and watched Premiere last night, having just watched Bad Timing, the last episode of season 4.

Watching Premiere in the wake of that was a very interesting experience: seeing those characters who have grown so much over the course of the series back in their infancy was amusing and enlightening. It is a good opening episode, and yet the characters here are represented as broad stereotypes - there is no hint of the quirky nature of the series, or the way it plays with and subverts those stereotypes, on show here. Crichton is the all American guy like a fish out of water, D'Argo is the growling, impetuous warrior with little self-control, Crais is the egotistical military man. Perhaps the one who is most out of character is Pilot, who is more demonstrative and vocal than at later stages of the series. And Rygel is grey - it's just wrong! :lol:

If there is one comment I have to make about this episode it is that it tries to cover a little too much ground. And there is maybe a little too much of each character giving a statement of their intent.

I remember when I first saw this episode I came away from it with an odd feeling, kind of having enjoyed it and yet not really feeling involved. Coming back to it all this time later was great fun. It's a chance to watch these people develop all over again. It's a chance to fall in love with them again.

I can't wait!

I kinda agree with WR about this first episode.

D'Argo looks really strange, some of his makeup and costume just isn't right!! And Pilots voice is slightly different to what I am used to. And I'd say more but they would be spoilers. So I won't. But I will say that I am really going to enjoy going through all this again, and I hope those of you who have not seen the wonder that is Farscape before will enjoy it every bit as much as I have.

Only "kinda" agree? :P

Well, I don't want you to get too big headed!!! Somebody has to keep you grounded!!

I love the bit where Crichton just looks up at his surroundings and says "I'm on another planet". There was a great sense of wonder about that moment.

Or how about when he first sees D'Argo, Zhaan and Rygel. You know he just wanted to say "My names John Crichton, I mean you no harm" or something equally cheesy!!

I think he realised "Hi" was pretty inadequate! I can't post what I want to post here cos it relates to a season 4 episode. Damn! :lol:

Poor John. And if he thought that was a bad day, well, lets just say it is a good job he couldn't see the future!!

At least he gets to wear leather and look cool in the future ;)

Whoever gave him that flightsuit to wear should have been shot!!! Not that the sight of Ben Browder in leather does anything for me ;)

Or the lovely Claudia... :wub:

Nope. I can truthfully say that seeing Claudia Black in leather does nothing for me. Except make me wish I looked like her!!

I think the point also has to be made about Moya's lack of weapons. One of the aspects of Farscape that I've always really enjoyed is the creative way they have to get out of a lot of sticky situations. And it's not just a case of starbursting away. More often than not it's down to the ingenuity of the characters. Every other series seems to force these situations on it's people - "Oh look the warp drive's failed" or somesuch technobabble. Farscape lets you know up front that it's the characters that are going to save the day. It also means that pretty much all the firefights in the series are carried out on a person to person level, rather than ship to ship, fleet to fleet. It's kind of refreshing.

Better late than never ;)

Okay, I'm not too sure on the names, so bear with me.

Premiere, all in all, not a bad introduction, I can see where the other comments come from, regarding character agendas. Its weird coming in so late to a programme that's come and gone, and I did find myself pointing at the TV, a lot saying "I'm sure she was in Casualty" (It's an annoying habit I've got :lol: )

Also the comments regarding Aygel, now make sense, what's up with the nose, you can almost see the glue. Small thing about Zhaan, I'm getting a real dominatrix vibe from that one. I'm sure she'll grow on me though.

Back to the story, I like the humour, it's not a straight away grabber, more subtle, I'm sure after watching a few more eps, I'll be used to it. Crichton coming through a wormhole into the middle of a space battle, perhaps not the greatest day for him, and then realising that he's on his own, nicely done there. Crichton and Aeryn, I like straight away, there's a lot of chemistry there, so I guess becoming a couple wouldn't really be a surprise. I'm so glad they sorted out the "how can they all speak English" straight away, I really hate that, when its never shown how. I think the 'creatures' wil possibly grow on me too, at the moment, I'm finding them annoying.

The ship is an interesting design, a living ship, I keep expecting tentacles to appear ;) The special effects are excellent too, they obviously spent a lot of money there.

I'm not too sure at this point what exactly the Peacekeepers are, but I'm assuming this will be ongoing since Cricton has managed to join up with the escapees.

I'm not totally grabbed yet, but I can see it has promise.

Just as long as you don't give me a guilt trip for persuading you to part with your cash! :lol: ;)

As you've probably noticed from my posts, the early episodes are not my favourites and, seeing as they were the ones I saw originally, had a lot to do with putting me off. Then I caught a third season episode (Suns And Lovers) by accident and couldn't believe it was the same show. Then I found the dvds in the sales and the rest, as they say, is me parting with my money!! :rolleyes:

Bear with it - things improve dramatically in the latter stages of the season. :thumbsup:

I think I'm watching it out of order, i'm following the actual DVD order, so I've gone straight from premiere to Throne for a Loss. I shall watch the E,T and Back to the future today though, and hopefully review later. ;)

Yeah, we've caused some confusion here by going in production order rather than airdate order. The order we're watching in is:

Premiere
I, E.T.
Exodus From Genesis
Throne For A Loss
Back And Back And Back To The Future
Thank God It's Friday... Again

I think we'll be on track with the order they actually appear on the dvds soon after this batch :rolleyes:

Okay, thanks for the reminder, I've been staying off here, so not to be spoiled. Okay I'll follow that order then, that's not confusing in any way :lol:

It wouldn't be the same if I wasn't causing confusion! :lol: ;)

So is there a particular reason why we're following this order Steve?

It's the producers' preferred order, the order they were written in, in terms of character relationships and development.

Okay, I just thought I'd ask :unsure:

It's okay. For some reason the US Sci Fi Channel rearranged the order because they thought certain episodes were stronger in terms of pulling in a bigger audience from the beginning. A bit like Firefly. Both series start with an "F", both were cancelled due to executive short-sightedness, and now both are coming back in one form or another. Hey, a pattern!! :rolleyes:

Ok, so Ive seen some of this episode, and I generally agree with what has been said above.

Ben Browder? hellllloooooooooo, I see what Karen and Lisa have been going on about.... :D

My favourite character so far has to be Rygel I think.... its kinda hard to decide when you can only hear them for half the episode and missed the introductions :blink:

woohoo Kate, joining in with the BB bandwagon. Steve will be so pleased ;) :lol: :lol:

:lol:

Ben Browder - he gets better and better :drool:


Rygels a fabulous character :thumbsup:

Yep, just wait for the leather attire :drool:

I feel like I'm adrift in the wilderness. Sometimes I think the only reason you lot watch Farscape is cos of Browder's big fat arse :p :lol:

Yay, welcome aboard Kate :thumbsup:

:lol: :lol:

Its just an extra benefit of the show, doesn't hurt your eyes :p

Ben Browder in leather mmmm :drool:

You're after Rygel now??? :o :p :p :lol:

:lmao: :lmao:

Welcome to the BB leather appreciation society kate :D

A subsidiary of JohnnyDepp World :lol: :lol: