Farscape: Premiere

A little over a year ago, I set for myself the goal of rewatching the entire Farscape series from beginning to end. I failed to watch a single episode in the ensuing 12 months. I had an excuse--that Chicken Ranch book utterly consumed my life. But since the book is now essentially finished (revisions pending) and Farscape remains to this day my favorite show ever (sorry Firefly), I've taken up the challenge and begun my long-delayed rewatch. And I've decided to share my impressions here with you (blogging more often is another something I'll do now that the Chicken Ranch book is no longer consuming my life).

The first episode of Farscape, titled "Premiere", throws a lot of plot at the viewer in a very small amount of time. Watching this episode, I'm amazed at how dizzying a pace they set, not really pausing to breathe. Here's the skinny: Astronaut John Chriton suffers from Great Man's Son syndrome, as his father (played by Kent McCord of Galactical 1980 infamy) was one of the last astronauts to walk on the moon. John Crichton is about to launch on the space shuttle to test a theory of his own devising, in a craft of his own design (looking remarkably similar to NASA's X-38 lifting body design) called the "Farscape Module." The experimental theory itself isn't outlined clearly, but it is apparently some variation on a gravitational slingshot, albeit one that minimizes atmospheric drag allowing the craft to pass much closer to the planet's surface, thereby accelerating faster without burning up. Typical Hollywood rubber science, but at least there's a grain of fact buried deep within.

Anyway, Crichton launches and begins the experiment. All is going well until a wormhole opens up in front of him (as wormholes are wont to do) catapulting him across the galaxy into the middle of a firefight between fighter ships piloted by human-like aliens known as Peacekeepers and a giant bio-mechanoid prison ship populated by political prisoners trying to escape. The Farscape Module collides with a fighter, sending the latter crashing into an asteroid and exploding impressively. The prisoners tractor beam Farscape aboard, hoping they can use the wormhole technology to escape. Chrichton proves useless. The prisoners manage to effect an escape on their own (the living ship, Moya, is able to starburst--a sort of short-range hyperspace jump) so they imprison Crichton with a captured Peacekeeper, Officer Aeryn Sun. Sun promptly beats Crichton up as a traitor to his species before gradually accepting that the human is an actual alien. The gloriously dysfunctional crew is introduced in short order--Dominar Rygel XVI, a pint-sized, greyish Muppet character who happens to be the self-important deposed ruler of the Hynerian Empire; Ka D'Argo, a towering Luxan warrior with non-prehensile tentacles growing from his head and a temper that leads the viewer to categorize him as a Klingon stand-in; Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan, a bald, blue-skinned Delvian priestess and anarchist, the spiritual center of the group; Pilot, an elaborate, four-armed animatronic alien surgically grafted to the living ship; and Moya, the living Leviathan ship itself that never actually speaks but communicates through Pilot. It's never quite clear just how intelligent or sentient Moya is, but instinct plays a great role in her behavior.

By cooperating, Crichton and Aeryn escape and flee to a nearby commerce planet, with the idea of joining back up with Aeryn's military detachment. Unfortunately, the pilot of the fighter that Crichton collided with was the brother of Commander Bialar Crais, who is bent on bloody revenge. When Aeryn makes a half-hearted attempt to defend Crichton, Crais condemns her on the spot. Facing certain death, Crichton and Aeryn escape (along with the captured D'Argo) and flee back to Moya. With Crais' Peacekeeper Command Carrier closing fast, Crichton uses his gravity/atmosphere/slingshot theory to accelerate the Leviathan away from danger... for the time being.

Commentary: Now's probably a good time to mention Farscape was the brainchild of the Jim Henson Company (to show off the talent and capabilities of the Creature Shop) as well as Rockne S. O'Bannon, creator of Alien Nation among other credits. Production values for the episode are top-notch. The aliens do indeed look otherworldly, as opposed to human actors with funny bumps glued on their noses. If you're watching this on DVD or Blu-Ray, be sure to turn on the commentary track after the first viewing, because there are a lot of amusing Easter Eggs hidden throughout the production. The entire episode rushes by at breakneck pace, and really feels like a pilot, in that it's setting all the chess pieces on the board for future stories. Characters are broad types--the greedy one, the figher, the mystic, etc.--and not given much room to grow. This is to be expected, being the pilot episode. However, a lot of the wit and clever writing that made Farscape such a fan favorite isn't yet on display. Even Crichton has little personality beyond being the confused and lost Earthman. A nice touch was the "translator microbes" injected into him early on, shades of the Babel Fish from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Also, the utter dysfunctional nature of the crew is a big change from most traditional SF television, and something that will play a much bigger role later on in the series. It's hard to say the pilot episode would win anyone over outright, but it certainly offers enough promise to bring viewers back for another episode or two, to see if this series is going anywhere worthwhile.

Crichton Quote of the Episode: "Boy, was Spielberg ever wrong. Close Encounters my ass."

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365 / 4

Today's photo: A Great Egret.

And as a 365 bonus photo, it appears I caught him on his lunch break:

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon FD 500mm 8.0

Lisa On Location Photography

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365 / 3

Every year when we attend Wurstfest I make a point to visit the Spass Haus, which is a wonderful, cozy, pub-like German beer hall decked out in wall-to-wall hardwood. My favorite part? It is decorated floor-to-ceiling with more than 17,000 beer bottles from all over the world. It is Jerome Nowotny’s “World’s Largest Beer Bottle Collection,” acquired by Wurstfest nearly three decades ago. It is mighty impressive. During my bachelor days, I amassed quite a large beer bottle collection myself, the product of Double Dave's Pizzaworks "Global Beer Expert" promotion. Alas, when we got married, Lisa made me get rid of it. I always remind her of this when we visit the Spass Haus, and she always rolls her eyes.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8

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365 / 2

Do you folks have any idea how difficult it is to engage in a 365 photo project challenge with your wife when she's a phenomenal photographer? Yes, I help her out as a second shooter and know the difference between aperture and shutter speed, but really, I'm merely a glorified hobbyist at best. Take yesterday for example. She turns around from her desk, takes a shot of the kitten sitting behind her, and is finished with her first 365 entry before anyone knows what's happened. And with her eye and skill, it becomes art instantaneously. For me, on the other hand, the first installment turned into an ordeal, with Plan A, Plan B and Plan C failing miserably before I came up with my puffer fish photo. It's frustrating how Lisa makes it look so easy. It makes me feel like my reach is exceeding my grasp, as far as this 365 photo challenge is concerned. Which is what gave me the idea for my entry today. I call it "Metaphor." And yeah, that's how I usually feel trying to keep up with her!

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8

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365 / 1

Guess what? I'm doing one of those 365 photo challenges, wherein I shoot and post a photo every day for a full year. It's a challenge between myself and The Wife, and will be fully chronicled at the Lisa On Location photography blog. The idea is that the competition between the two of us will keep us going well past the point where we'd normally give up such an effort. It certainly helped tonight, because my plan A, plan B and plan C for my first photo of the project all collapsed into a steaming heap of wreckage.

Here is my official entry for the 365 challenge. It's my Figure-8 puffer fish, which I'd never photographed before. He didn't particularly like the attention, but curiosity eventually got the better of him. It's no cute kitten, but they're interesting critters none the less.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon EF 100mm 2.8 macro

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Friday Night Videos

I remember when Jerry Harrison released his solo album Casual Gods in the interim between the Talking Heads' True Stories in 1986 and Naked in 1988. Actually, it came out only three months before that final Talking Heads album, and was pretty much overshadowed by it. Which is a pity, because the disc overall is very strong and deserves wider recognition. "Man With A Gun" was the second release, and while not an energetic rocker like "Rev It Up," it sets down a moody, badass groove and takes no prisoners. Enjoy!

Previously on Friday Night Videos... John Cougar Mellencamp.

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Scuba II

Second scuba lesson went well. And by that I mean I didn't drown or humiliate myself in some unspeakable way. After a run-through of all the equipment I'd be using and instruction in its proper use, I strapped on a BC, tank and regulator and hit the pool.

The first half of class was taken up with safety/recovery drills. Basically, I had to learn how to recover my regulator if it somehow came out of my mouth, remove my BC and tank in case it became entangled, and clear my mask if it came off my face. None of this came naturally. The first thing I had to do was learn how to breathe. Turns out, I was instinctively taking very deep breaths before going under, then breathing very shallowly, which left a lot of residual air in my lungs. Extra air = float to the surface. Every time. Once I learned to exhale deeply and inhale shallowly, that problem resolved itself. Recovering lost regulators went well, too. Removing the BC and air tank, not so well. I lost balance half way through and toppled over, needing rescue by my instructor. Clearing my mask went well... and by that I mean it only took one nose full of water to remind me to only breathe through my mouth.

After that, I got to swim around 12 feet under in the pool for a good long while, learning how to control myself and move underwater. It was pretty fun, although it still doesn't quite come naturally for me. By the end, when I learned proper exiting techniques, my stress levels had almost subsided to normal. Unfortunately, I was pretty darn cold by the end, which really messed with my concentration. Next time I'll opt for the wet suit.

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