This is one of those great, well-executed ideas for a photo essay: people (mostly sci-fi fans) wearing their costimes and photographed in their homes. The Star Trek and Star Wars photos are by far the most evocative. My favorite is the Storm Trooper in the dark room (2nd row from bottom). (Link from kottke)
Farscape has made me remember my inner nerd. I love science fiction, and considering so it’s odd that I’ve written so little about topics related to it in the two-plus years I have been blog writing. Isn’t that the point of having a blog, to share the minuate of your selective interests with a bunch of people, most of whom could care less?
What is Farscape? Why should I watch it? Oh, my friend, your questions will be answered.
The short:
Farscape, a sci-fi show that ran for 4 years, is the best sci-fi show in terms of character development ever made. No exaggeration. It has some flaws, but if you ever wanted to see a show where the characters and their relationships evolve in almost every episode, this is the show to watch. Some of the episodes also display a wicked sense of humor.
To get a sense if you will like the series or not, I suggest renting “Farscape: Season 1: Episodes 19 & 20: Nerve / The Hidden Memory” from an online DVD service such as NetFlix. And let me know if you do. Heck, if there’s interest, I’ll make it into a contest.
The long:
There are two types of TV shows: plot-driven and character-driven. In plot-driven shows, the characters and their relationships with each other are static, for the most part. The character in season 1 is essentially the same character in season 2 as he is in season 3, and so on. A plot-driven show can have extremely well-drawn out characters, but that alone doesn’t make it a character-driven show. For example, the character’s in Seinfeld were excellent, but no one tuned in to see if George would finally have an epiphany about his selfishness.
Character-driven shows are the opposite. In a good character-driven show, the characters gradually evolve from episode to episode. And because the character’s development carries on from episode to episode, many of the plotlines carry over too.
Most television shows, especially sitcoms, are plot-driven. Season 1 Picard is essentially the same as Season 7 Picard, which is amazing considering that in real life, seven years of kicking ass and making Junior High kids titter every time you call for your second in command would change most people.
Deep Space Nine started off a plot-driven show and shifted towards being character driven in later seasons. When people argue whether ST:TNG or DS9 is the better show, they are essentially expressing their preference for plot-driven shows or character-driven shows. No format is inherently better. It’s just a matter of preference.
That’s why I suspect people who enjoy DS9, or character-driven dramas in general, would like Farscape because it has a relentless focus on character development. If I gave you an episode from the beginning, middle, and end of the first season without telling you when they took place, you could place them in order solely based on how the cast acts towards each other.
I think that’s pretty cool. While this type of character development is a staple of any good drama, it is the first time I’ve seen it play a central role in a science fiction series. Central may even be too weak of a word–its really the defining characteristic of Farscape.
Well, that’s my pitch. If you have a chance, watch two or three episodes and see if it catches your interest. It’s been off the air for a few years; so your best bets are an online DVD service or downloading them from a file sharing service like EDonkey.
It appears that I have greatly overestimated the nerdiness of my friends and other readers of this blog. The Pancake City “Name the Somewhat Obscure Sci-Fi Show” contest has ended without a single entry.
And let me indulge in the use of italics some more. “Name the Somewhat Obscure Sci-Fi Show”. This wasn’t “Space: Above & Beyond” or anything. You think someone would have at least tossed me a “Babylon 5″ or a “Stargate: SG-1″, for crying out loud, like Captain Picard* did in Episode 137 (”There are four lights!”).
Sheesh. I had more people apply to my fake contest, “Post If You’re a Child Molester,” that I ran as a sting with the police.
And you know when I said the winner would get, “A yet-to-be-determined** but likely crappy prize”? I lied. The prize was completely determined and it was fucking awesome.
You know what else is fucking awesome? The show in question, whose aforementioned awesomeness is so high that it requires a separate post for the singing of its praises. An encomium will come soon.
* Hey, spell check. You red squiggle my main man again and I’ll cut you.
** Actually, I wrote “detrimed”. I would have spell checked it, but my previous spell checker put a red squiggle under Sisko, there was a knife nearby and…well, we all do things we’re not proud of.
This will probably only interest 1 out of 20 of you, which, considering the number of people that visit my site, comes out to a right arm and part of a torso.
The SciFi Channel recently ran a 4-hour miniseries based on Ursula K. LeGuin’s EarthSea books, a well-liked fantasy series that I suspect holds particular appeal to teens because of its realistic portrayal of adolescence.
Based on other adaptations of books to the screen, what do you think is her reaction to the TV series?
1) Pleased with the result and appreciates all the time and effort the writers and producers made to stay true to the spirits of the books.
2) Mad that they fucked everything up.
With the exceptions of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, two books with vastly greater fan bases, has it ever been #1? Ever? In fact, isn’t fucking things up the job of writers and producers who translate novels to the screen?
It’s why that while I respect LeGuin’s opinion, my heart remains a snug three sizes too small. No one held a magic staff to her head and threatened to turn her into a balderbeast if she didn’t sell the TV rights to her books and relinquish all creative control in the contract. And based on the sample size of every single novel adapation in history, how could she expect anything different to have happened?
On another note, if you are looking for a good read, check out her novel, The Left Hand of Darkness. Excellent sci-fi book, even if you’re not a huge fan of the genre.
Scott Kirwin, a computer consultant in Wilmington, Del., was a contract worker for J.P. Morgan Chase for about three years when he was told he was being let go. He says the contract was ended so that Indian workers could replace him. He was asked to train the replacements, he says, in order to keep getting a paycheck.
“You feel like you’re the guy wearing the red shirt on Star Trek,” Scott Kirwin, a computer consultant in Wilmington, Del., was a contract worker for J.P. Morgan Chase for about three years when he was told he was being let go. He says the contract was ended so that Indian workers could replace him. He was asked to train the replacements, he says, in order to keep getting a paycheck.
“You feel like you’re the guy wearing the red shirt on Star Trek,” says Kirwin, referring to characters who often died on the TV show. (from USA Today)
Conan O’Brien said it was “probably the funniest ten minutes on television that’s been on the air in the past five, eight years.” Triumph The Insult Comic Dog visits that Star Wars geeks. (18 megs)
I watched an awesome episode of “Star Trek: TNG” where Riker jumps back and forth from the Enterprise and an alien mental hospital. He can’t tell which world is real and slowly goes insane.
Afterwards, I flipped to the Yankees/Red Sox game to check the store. At this point, I was half-drunk on wine. As the announcers were talking, a graphic of the U.S. from the Weather Channel appeared. The announcers kept talking, not mentioning the graphic, and it disappeared after a few seconds.
I got very scared for a few moments.
A bit later, the graphic came back up and one of the commentators said “Anyone watching this in a bar with the sound off is going to be confused.” I inferred that beforehand they were talking about the possibility of the game being rained out.
I don’t have any strong opinions about pot, but this is one time I was very grateful that I don’t smoke it.
Sammy requested that I change the blog title to “Glass Squash for Pumpkin Bob.” I turned to my Number 1 and said in my best Captain Piccard voice: “Make it so.” Although my Number 1 is a balloon with a grumpy face and “JONATHAN FRAKES” scribbled on the forehead, “Make it so” is still fun to say. In fact, it’s so enjoyable to say that I have integrated the phrase in my life.
WAITER: “Would you like another coke?”
ME: “Make it so.”
CASHIER: “With a regular fries and coke, it’s $4.13.”
SISTER: “Get it supersized so I can have some of your fries.”
ME: “You know the magic word.”
SISTER: [sigh] “Captain, I recommend that you supersize the meal.”
ME: [to cashier] “Make it so, Number 1.”
CASHIER: “I used to be more than a number.”
SEWING MACHINE REPAIR PERSON: “What do you want me to do?”
ME: “Make it so.”
Sammy says there is an interesting story behind the blog name. I’m guessing a Cinderella tie-in. Sammy, what’s the story?
According to my stereotypical view of the 50s, one of the anticipated devices the wondrous future would bring would be pills that contain whole meals. Was food really that bad back then? There must have been a lot of chefs with hurt feelings when the scientists announced that one. And along the same lines, although teachers today are underpaid and even more under-appreciated, at least no one is suggesting we replace them with robots. In fact, if I were a superintendent of a school system, I would carry around a poster of the robot in Forbidden Planet and tap it with my ruler every time a teacher complains about her pay or the students. Those fleshpods will get the message.