The Worlds of Farscape (3 page)

Scorpius is the result of the Scarran rape of a Sebacean woman (Peacekeeper is their job, their species is Sebacean—genetically similar to human). Scorpius wants the wormhole technology implanted in Crichton's brain by the Ancients so that he can exact revenge on the Scarrans for their rape of his mother, and hence his own birth, as well as their torture of him after birth. Crichton and crew realize that if Scorpius obtains the wormhole technology then he (and the Peacekeepers) will have a weapon of mass destruction and be able to rule the universe, eventually finding their way to Earth. Each member of Moya's crew, including Crichton, has one major goal and that is to return home, right old wrongs, and find peace. Crichton wants to return to Earth, and he wants to take Aeryn with him. Along the way, he will be forced to ally himself with Scorpius as he learns of Scorpius' desire to destroy the Scarrans.

As mentioned previously, John Crichton is meant to serve as “us”—the audience; he serves as the window through which we observe the wonders and dangers of the universe beyond Earth and even upon Earth as well. Yes, Crichton is truly an Alien in the part of the universe where he finds himself after his journey through the wormhole, and as Telotte notes, “that circumstance repeatedly motivates a fundamental examination of just what it means to be human” (26). No one in “known” space or in the Uncharted Territories has ever encountered
Homo sapiens
before. Crichton looks like a member of a species called Sebacean; however, it is quickly established that he cannot be Sebacean because his body contains bacteria unknown in this part of the universe. Moya's fellow prisoners are surprised when they discover that he does not have internal translator microbes, which are injected into all beings at birth in this part of space (“Premiere” 1.1). Imagine Crichton's problem: He looks like a member of a militaristic police force that frightens most beings to which it comes into contact. Hence Crichton is scary by virtue of his looks; to humans, he is a very attractive man. As he tries to survive in a hostile environment, he becomes increasingly hard and bitter, gradually descending into madness as the Scorpius clone worms its way into his psyche. He becomes increasingly dangerous to the alien species to which he comes in contact, and he earns—deservedly or not—a reputation for death and destruction, until finally he is willing to destroy everything in order to protect his friends, his lover and their child, and the knowledge of the location of Earth.

The
Farscape
Universe—Peacekeeper-controlled space, the Uncharted Territories, Tormented Space—we journeyed to and through them all, with Crichton and crew. Along the way we were thrilled and chilled, gladdened and saddened, furious and frantic, often at the same time, in the same episode. Executive Producer David Kemper's statement “On this show, I want to be afraid. I need to be unsettled”
⁶
was as true of the viewer as it was of those in charge of production. As one of the few people who has written about Farscape, Jes Battis notes that the series is considered “cult” because the fans “truly admit to loving [the] program” (“Transgressive” 78). And, if the 2012 Dragon*Con can serve as an illustration then Scapers do love the program still and are, at the very least, an enthusiastic and loyal group of people who miss it.

I for one do miss
Farscape
very much and am greatly surprised at the lack of critical attention and scholarship on the series. Hence, this collection, the purpose of which is to celebrate the series and examine concepts, characters, and themes that have not been studied previously. The collection, although not specifically divided this way, first presents essays that examine themes running throughout the series. Secondly, several characters from the series are discussed in detail. Several of the authors also contributed brief notes designed to discuss an aspect of the series that was particularly worthy of notice albeit in more concise form than usually found in a traditional academic essay. These essays, what I term inter-chapters, also address characters or themes of the series.

J. P. Telotte, who has written and presented on
Farscape
in other collections, here talks about the series in terms of its “accidental” origins and how the series resonates with its audience, many of whom discovered the series by accident. Ensley F. Guffey discusses how the Peacekeeper-Scarran conflict provides a mirror for examining the policies and rhetoric of the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. from the end of World War II until the fall of the Soviet Union. Robert L. Lively examines that same conflict, as well as various characters, through the lens of the Wisdom Tradition, which proposes that evil is the result of a lack of self-identity and self-knowledge. Michael G. Cornelius, in his inter-chapter, shows that Dominar Rygel's tendency to fart when anxious and afraid serves to humanize him—which is especially important given that Rygel is a puppet with a half dozen or so people providing mobility, animation, vocals and more—to the other sentients traveling on Moya, noting that this biological process actually removes some of the mystique of his royal status and makes him no better—or worse—than anyone else aboard Moya. Billie Jo Mason follows Crichton, Crais and Scorpius on their mythic journey, à la Joseph Campbell, noting that each character vacillates between being a hero, an anti-hero, and a villain (yes, even Crichton). I examine the various emotional and sexual relationships that occur on the series, doing so through the lenses of the Triangular Theory of Love and the principles of evolutionary psychology. Poet Jessie Carty studies Ben Browder's foray into the writer's room via the two episodes he wrote for the series. Another of my essays describes the female characters of the series and how the six women who reside upon Moya over the course of the four seasons (Aeryn, Zhaan, Chiana, Jool, Noranti, and Sikozu) create a community, learning that they can rely upon each other to do what is necessary to survive. Michael G. Cornelius explores the living ship Moya's status as both a sentient being and a home place/space where other sentient beings reside. Elizabeth Leigh Scherman's essay examines the nature of disability and its presentation on
Farscape
, especially ways in which the series subverts the very idea of the concept through its presentation of characters such as Noranti and Traltixx, as well as how even Crichton can be considered as disabled in this part of the galaxy. In my inter-chapter I propose a theory of why it took Aeryn Sun so long to admit her feelings for John Crichton and begin a true relationship with him. Ensley F. Guffey discusses the tendency of male characters in historical fact as well as various fictional works to give their weapons female names in his inter-chapter. In the final full-length essay Tanya R. Cochran investigates the myth of the Scapers and their attempts to save
Farscape
from cancellation. The collection ends with Jessie Carty's application of a poet's perspective to the opening credits' voice-overs occurring throughout the series.

As Battis noted in his full-length examination of
Farscape
, there are myriad other analyses that need to be made with respect to this award-winning and ground-breaking series. Perhaps this collection will ignite a spark. I do so hope that the next treatment of the series will not be so long in coming.

1.
 Commentary by Rockne S. O'Bannon for the first season episode “Thank God It's Friday ... Again.” In this commentary O'Bannon discusses the excitement of having Rowan Woods direct for
Farscape
as Woods is a very famous director in Australia. 

2.
 Comment by Ben Browder, “SyFy Twentieth Anniversary Special,” Broadcast on 10 December 2012. The section on
Farscape
occurs at about the twentieth minute into the two-hour special. 

3.
 “In the Beginning: A Look Back with Brian Henson,” Special Feature,
Farscape
Season One DVD. See Appendix C for a complete citation. 

4.
 Comment by Brain Henson, “SyFy Twentieth Anniversary Special,” Broadcast on 10 December 2012. 

5.
 I have included a List of Characters and an Episode List in Appendices A and B, respectively.
Farscape
's writers and producers created a lexicon of colorful phrases, character and place names, and so on for use in the series. I have not included those here. The companion guides (see Appendix C) as well as Jes Battis' book on
Farscape
(see below) can be consulted for those terms. 

6.
 Interview with David Kemper,
Farscape: The Official Magazine
, number 2 (Sept./Oct. 2001).

Battis, Jes. “
Farscape
.”
The Essential Cult TV Reader.
Ed. David Lavery. Louisville: University Press of Kentucky, 2010. 104–110. Print.

_____.
Investigating Farscape: Uncharted Territories of Sex and Science Fiction
. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007. Print.

_____. “Transgressive TV.”
The Cult TV Book: From Star Trek to Dexter, New Approaches to TV Outside the Box
. Ed. Stacey Abbot. New York: Soft Skull Press, 2010. 77–83. Print.

Booker, M. Keith.
Science Fiction Television
. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004. Print.

Campbell, Joseph.
The Hero with a Thousand Faces,
3d ed. Novato: New World Library, 2008. Print.

Ginn, Sherry. “Exploring the Alien Other on
Farscape
: Human, Puppet, Costume, Cosmetic.”
The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson:
Essays on His Work and Legacy Beyond The Muppet Show and Sesame Street
. Eds. Jennifer C. Garlen and Anissa M. Graham. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2013. 228–240. Print.

_____.
Our Space, Our Place: Women in the Worlds of Science Fiction Television
. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2005. Print.

Johnson-Smith, Jan.
American Science Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate and Beyond
. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. Print.

Jowett, Lorna. “Representation: Exploring Issues of Sex, Gender, and Race in Cult Television.”
The Cult TV Book: From Star Trek to Dexter, New Approaches to TV Outside the Box
. Ed. Stacey Abbot. New York: Soft Skull Press, 2010. 107–113. Print.

Kemper, David. “Ladies Rule!!!”
Farscape: The Official Magazine
4 (Jan./Feb. 2002): 63–66. Print.

Lavigne, Carlen. “Space Opera: Melodrama, Feminism, and The Women of
Farscape
.”
Femspec
6.2 (2005): 54–64. Print.

Telotte, J. P.
The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader
. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2008. Print.

“
TV Guide
Names the Top Cult Shows Ever.”
TV Guide
29 June 2007. Web. 23 May 2008.

J. P. Telotte

In an effort to explain the cult appeal of the science fiction series
Farscape
, Jes Battis opts for pointing to what he sees as its very “impossible” nature, as a show “too strange and vast to conceive of, too weird and idiosyncratic to make, and too outrageously wonderful to be canceled” (“
Farscape
” 104). Of course, we have to acknowledge that the series
was conceived
by Rockne O'Bannon and Brian Henson,
made
, at least for four years, and then, lamentably,
canceled
. But noting such obstinate facts avoids actually confronting the show's rather slippery status, its “too”-ness at which Battis points, and that, I would suggest, is paradoxically responsible for both its demise as a broadcast series and its continuing existence as a cult text. I would like to qualify that “impossible” description of
Farscape
from the vantage of what might seem like an equally difficult or dodgy descriptive turn of phrase, the
accident
, for I believe that vantage will allow us to better understand the series' appeal, while also framing
Farscape
as a particularly revealing example of how all effective cult texts function.

Rather than an “impossible” event, then, we might think of
Farscape
as a series that, in its conception, found its core narrative trajectory, and, in the course of its production and then its cancellation, gained much of its cult status from what might simply be described as an accident. The show recounts how astronaut John Crichton encounters and is sucked through a wormhole in space, and then finds himself, as he announces at the start of each episode (with slight variations over the course of the series' four full seasons), “lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange alien life forms.” It is a compelling situation, one that not only offers almost infinite possibilities for the sort of adventures, discoveries, and dramatic encounters that drive much science fiction programming, but also establishes an urgent desire for communication and interaction, as he adds, “is there anybody out there who can hear me” and “help?” At the same time, this circumstance opens new models for self-discovery, for encounters with a suddenly estranged self. For Crichton, unlike the heroes of most science fiction narratives, here finds himself to be the alien creature, a homeless being who must constantly try to make a place for himself in what are described as the “Uncharted Territories” of the universe, even as he holds out a slim hope for reversing his course; for as he also episodically laments, he continues to be “just looking for a way home.”

Of course, accidents are often integral to cult works, on television or in any other medium. As history shows, cult texts are not simply created by design, by following some tried generic formula. Rather, an element of chance, of the seemingly impossible, of the accidental—a working against the formulaic grain or against our expectations—often seems to underlie the connection of audience to text. For a television series and its audience, it may simply be a case of pushing the wrong buttons, thus accidentally landing the viewer—much like John Crichton—on an unexpected channel where he or she encounters equally unexpected yet intriguing “life forms.” Perhaps the accident is one of surprise, at becoming comfortable and immersing oneself in what seems a very simple entertainment, a distraction from the everyday, only to find a voice there that speaks with an amazing eloquence or in a tone the viewer recognizes, suggesting that there are others “out there” who also speak the language of alien-ation—or of truth. Or it might be a case of a chance scene, line of dialogue, or a single image that evokes a better time or place, that accidentally signals, even if only momentarily, what we might think of as “a way home.” What I want to suggest—and as I think those opening lines especially hint—is
Farscape
had from its very inception a fortuitous congruence between such cultish possibilities and parts of its narrative. Certainly, and rather paradoxically, its
formulaic
opening always forecast for viewers a
non-formulaic
potential: the sort of accidental situations, encounters, or paths that the best cult works consistently offer.