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(More customer reviews)Farscape is arguably the best SF ever produced for television. It takes a fairly common storyline of a group of travelers thrown together and being pursued by individual of near obsessive (and evil) qualities. This formula has gone bad before in several genres, western, SF, road movies etc. Here, an contemporary American astronaut is sucked through a wormhole into another side of the galaxy where he is immediately caught up in a "prison break" in space. What makes Farscape so successful is a mixture of qualities.
First the casting is excellent. Filmed in Australia, most of the characters (except the lead, John Crighton's) are from there giving it an "off" feel to American ears which contributes to it's alieness. Each of the character's is part colorful stereotype, has weaknesses and is extremely individual. The chemistry is fantastic, especially after the first two or three shows in the series. Especially notworthy is the chemistry between the love interests played by Claudia Black and Ben Browder (John Crighton).
Another plus is the writing. Non-stop action and story telling is the hallmark of this series. Little time is spent creating mood or atmosphere (that is done by the characters and background), everything advances the plot line. Additionally, most episodes are connected in that previous storylines are built upon and create a chronology of events for the later stories.
Farscape space is inhabited by aliens who pass gas, burp, have intimate relations, love, hate, get hungry and can be fairly dirty in their habits. Add to this the great cultural references made by Crighton, the viewer gets the feeling that this is a bit like what space would really be like. A far cry from the antiseptic cleanliness and "wonder" of the Star Trek franchise.
Lastly Farscape has a timeline in the sense that it's not an endless variety of adventures for no particular reason there is an actual endstate the writers and producers have in mind at the end of the series.
Let's hope that Sci Fi Channel has the good sense to let Farscape complete its last season and reverse its cancellation. Shows of this quality and with such a loyal fanbase are rare.
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