minxy: Teal'c raises a hand to say "hey". (Default)
[personal profile] minxy
FARSCAPE META

2.03 Taking the Stone. Um.

Chiana has something bad happen and randomly takes off for a scary planet full of people dressed in leather and mud.

Actually, I thought the opening scene in which Chi stumbles around Moya was emotionally moving, in a ‘why doesn’t anyone help her?’ kind of way, and when she touched down on the stone planet of graves and the mudkids on ‘shrooms surrounded her in a scary-looking ‘fade-to-black-for-the-gang-bang’ I was really worried, but that was about it for the emotional impact for me. Once she started messing around with creepy tripping ‘shroom boy it took away from the possibility that she’d been traumatized by the gang, and then all her motivations got fuzzy and the whole thing got simultaneously confusing and pedantic.

I do get that she has the option to go cultish, get hooked on ‘shrooms and the thrills that only the young who are hyper aware of their own mortality can seek, but the themes were academic; free will and working through it on her own vs. Daddy coming in there and taking her away for her own good was kind of flat, although it’s reinforcing what feels like a deliberate set-up for the idea that there is more wrong with John than just his hair (and great, now he’s doing ‘shrooms on a dare. John. Where is your head?)

Chi’s reasons for jumping seemed to have a lot to do initially with the rush, with wanting to feel less pain, then they got jumbled in with wanting to die, and the confusion about whether she would automatically die if she jumped or if it was a test of her own will, which still confuses me, and it all kind of took away from... whatever the hell the point was.

Plus, Bluey and D’Argo looked seriously bored all episode.

Anyway, Chi with mud in her hair was weird. I kept thinking that the mud was likely to be radioactive if the rocks were (rocks are amplifying the radioactivity? *rolls eyes*) and the mud caking off of everyone’s head was creepier than the dreads or the transparent pregnant tummy.

There seems to be a running hallucinogenic drug theme going on here. I'm just sayin'.

2.04 Crackers. (I’ve been led to believe this one’s going to be interesting, but fortunately, I haven’t been spoiled.)

Hook: So far I like it. Discussion of the practicalities of food and being fugitives and possibly recognized. The crackers make me laugh and once again we have really nice alien prosthetics and I like the fact that an engineer would have acute hearing. Appeals to the idea that they’re listening to the hum of an engine or something.

Oh, that’s patently ridiculous. They’re trying to avoid em scans but the machine the alien brought on board and set up in 5 minutes is going to make the module INVISIBLE to the naked eye? Do you have any idea how much that wouldn’t work according to the laws of physics? Nevermind, I got over it on Stargate I can get over it here.

Except, invisible according to an instrument I would have believed. If there was a monitor they were looking through and reading heat signatures as well as sonic or electromagnetic handwavey something or other, I would buy that. But I’ll just snicker now and get over it. Moving on... Nothing to see here... *snicker*

Act I:

When, my good people, did Zhaan and D’Argo kiss? It’s in the credits, and I totally don’t remember that bit.

Okay, so now people are getting paranoid and Zhaan is tripping out. Guess that explains her reaction to light in other eps, eh? Also guess this isn’t a ‘lower species’ thing so much as anyone with good eyesight gets paranoid and violent (that food-rape scene with D’Argo and Rygel was genuinely disturbing. And could be the first time I stopped thinking of Rygel as a puppet.)

Huh. I thought for a minute Aeryn and John were sort of immune but now I think they’re just as paranoid as everyone else maybe. John is certainly being a little big, but then, he’s been nearly off his rocker for this whole season, and the hair gel is getting to be a serious situation.

How much does it sadden me that Pilot says he doesn’t like his crew? *is sad* They’re all being snippy and tactless with each other now, aren’t they? I think the alien guy did this on purpose, the meany.

AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The alien guy is TOTALLY FREAKY! I so called that. Nice lead up. MMMmmmmm.

Rydra? This is a totally cool episode. Good call.

Act II: I can’t believe the alien guy lit up his eyeballs and nuked a DRD. That’s just harsh.

D’Argo and Chiana in cahoots is marvelous, especially since it really seems like D’Argo is just doing it to get into her pants. And that’s totally in character for both of them. Hope there’s some sex in this ep. Beyond D’Argo tonguing Bluey, I mean.

Although the exchange with John about faking the light orgasm was kind of hysterical, I love tripping!Zhaan, she’s so cute! And John and Pilot are having a great discussion too, with John biting his arm and not defending human behavior, and Pilot being very driven to explain how little he thinks of them. That was ramped up nicely, I was just losing patience myself when John jumped up and climbed over the console and laughed at Pilot being all aghast and prissy. The timing in this episode is really nice.

Um, that can’t be good. *blink*

In fact, that’s possibly the creepiest thing to happen yet in this episode.

I mean, I know they’re all shooting at each other and escalating the violence aspect and Aeryn laughing and pointing guns at herself and at John an’ all, but Scorpius just walked out of the hologram and told John everyone was stealing crackers.

Seriously. That’s a bad sign. Really bad sign. Whole new level of crazy, right there.

*blink blink* *pets John*

Act III: What the hell is the freaky lying alien guy DOING, anyway, and is he killing all the DRDs or just the ones that might report back that he’s crawling up walls where he oughtn’t? Creepy alien guy.

Wow, creepy Scorpy in John’s head! And John’s all drooling and saying things like ‘I hate it when villains quote Shakespeare’ in a really loopy way and aaaiiii! This is soooo surreal. (I love it. This is possibly my favoritest episode ever.)

“Go on John, shoot him and then we can go to the beach! We can go the place with the naked Sebacean girls and the margarita shooters.”

Ooooooh, dirty Scorpy! Do it again! (This is so nuts.)

“Is that it? Oh, don’t stop! Why don’t you make another speech you self-important inefficient little man, all you ever do is TALK!”

Wow, the insults are grand. Biting. And Scorpius is obsessed with margarita shooters. And John is quite right that they wouldn’t work with pizza at all.

Act IV.

Hold the phone. John beat Aeryn? WTF?

Aaaaaand, we’re still all crazy! And Aeryn just got tons of crackers down her shirt. Poor girl.

Reason #4521 why I love Aeryn (and Claudia Black): she just ate a cracker out of her shirt.

Loved John’s lines about having blue eyes.

CRAP! DVD is scratched just as John is getting slathered with a mud mask. *tries to clean DVD*

‘Kay, I think I may have missed a few lines, but I caught John striking a ‘Humans Are Superior!’ superhero pose and that is going to be endlessly amusing. Hee! And, hey, I totally forgive the ridiculous science at the beginning because they paid it off, so that’s cool. And he got to use D’Argo’s sword! Awwwww, that probably means something very Freudian.

This is a great episode.

D’Argo and Rygel. Huh, almost forgot about the food-rape scene. I’m really glad they get a moment at the end. And I’m sorry I made the crack about John and D’Argo having a Freudian moment, because this episode was clearly all about D’Argo and Rygel. Rygel hiding and then hiding behind Aeryn, D’Argo having all kinds of frustrated ‘needs’…

Great. Episode. They even had the apologies, which t.v. NEVER DOES. Like, in Alias, there was a ‘Syd goes crazy’ episode, but it was all in her head, so she was hearing her greatest fears from the mouths of those she loved most, but she had nothing to actually reproach them with.

Farscape isn’t taking the easy way out, though, are they?

Yeah. This clinched it. I’m in love with this show now. *LOVES* *A LOT*

Must… watch… commentary. Laters.

Date: 2006-03-05 04:05 am (UTC)
cofax7: climbing on an abbey wall  (Aeryn off the Rails -- Saava)
From: [personal profile] cofax7
Heeee!

*rubs hands together evilly*

Hey, cool, you can read fic now! Awesome! Like, um, Maayan's Asystole (if you can find it), and a couple of my first-season stories, and stuff. Some of Max's stuff too.

Some day I really need to do a recs page by season, but that... would be work. Ergh.

And now you get my Crackers Don't Matter icon.

Date: 2006-03-05 05:53 am (UTC)
ext_1758: (crichtonThisDoesn'tSuck)
From: [identity profile] raqs.livejournal.com
there just is no love like the love i have for farscape.

Date: 2006-03-05 07:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fourteenlines.livejournal.com
*big, big grin*

Pretty much...yep.

Oh, just you wait. There's some fantastic stuff coming up. Season Two was such a great run of eps for them.

Date: 2006-03-05 10:53 am (UTC)
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
From: [personal profile] rydra_wong
There seems to be a running hallucinogenic drug theme going on here.

As in "the writers get a superior brand of crack in Australia", yes.

Do you have any idea how much that wouldn’t work according to the laws of physics?

This is Farscapeworld, in which the laws of physics are special.

Seriously, what I love is that they don't even try to technobabble and make it sound like it makes any sort of sense. They just go, "it's a widget, it makes things invisible, go with it". Froonium-powered.

Date: 2006-03-05 04:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jenlev.livejournal.com
yup, farscape does not take the easy way out.

and the aliens are *very* alien.

*veg*

Date: 2006-03-05 07:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] elliejane.livejournal.com
I remember in one ep, (I don't think you've seen it so I won't go into details) some technobabble spouted by someone and John is all like, "I didn't get that at all, did you?" and Aeryn is, "Me neither." Which is just an hysterical acknowlegdement of "Noo, these things don't make sense and we know they don't and we don't expect anyone to make sense of them. Just watch the damn show, already!" Heh.

I handwave most things...I fully expect aliens in the future (or indeeds aliens of any era) to be able to say "Science? Shmience!" And oddly, never yet have they let me down ;)

Date: 2006-03-06 06:30 pm (UTC)
kernezelda: (ootm trust me!)
From: [personal profile] kernezelda
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the wackiest show off Earth!

*g*

Puppy piiiiiile!

Date: 2006-03-06 06:51 pm (UTC)
ext_1843: (squeefs)
From: [identity profile] cereta.livejournal.com
Isn't it just the best? I envy you, being on your first trip through!

Date: 2006-03-06 08:43 pm (UTC)
ext_2193: (oxygen - john/aeryn - fs)
From: [identity profile] sugargroupie.livejournal.com
w00t, welcome to the fandom :) I love my show, and it's so fun reading about others enjoying it as well.

*joins in the puppy pile!*

Date: 2006-03-06 09:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] impactbomb.livejournal.com
Farscape is nucking futs, and I love it for that. It's a wonderfully lyrical, imaginative show that, even when (ESPECIALLY when, like in any episode Ben Browder directs, oh man) it makes no sense, it's just so absolutely, totally, perfectly in-its-element that all I can do is watch and grin like a big frelling idiot. Just go along for the ride. It's about to go to places the first season couldn't even conceive of.

Hallucinations and perception wrt points-of-view, human or otherwise, and the mental shock that results from them, is a major theme running through the entirety of Farscape. There are so many culture-shock moments and points where even the characters have to admit the situation is completely and totally over their heads, it's like the other person pointed out - it becomes practically a running gag.

I have . . . issues with some of the character choices made in later seasons, but season 2 is awesome and you will love it.

(Amusingly enough, regarding "Crackers," the SciFi preview for that episode was advertised with the tagline "The crew of Moya trips the light fantastic." Or something like that. Heh.)

Date: 2006-03-06 09:17 pm (UTC)
luminosity: (john and scorpy)
From: [personal profile] luminosity
PUPPY PILE!! Welcome to Farscape Fandom. :)

Date: 2006-03-07 12:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ixchup.livejournal.com
welcome to the joy ride. The science is funky but internally consistent (most of the time). And the emotions are very very true. Poor John almost raping Chiana and shooting D'Argo and then Chiana saying at the end of the ep "That was Drad, where did you come up with that stuff?" as sort of a cover for her upset with him.

I adore the fact that Farscape doesn't take the easy way out. Can you imagine Stargate SG-1 actually having a tag where the hero asks another character, "How do we take it all back?"

Go listen to the commentary for not only Family Ties but if you are watching the Starburst version, listen to Premiere and then listen to Jeremiah Crichton (when good eps go bad). These guys are on such good drugs.

I love a puppy pile.

Date: 2006-03-07 05:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sevathediva.livejournal.com
Whee! puppypile from Lurkerdom! This is the show that drove me into fandom.

I'm so excited for you that you have all those great eps ahead of you.

seva

Date: 2006-03-07 07:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lady-smith.livejournal.com
Designated Stark fan, joining in on the pile.

To answer your question about D'argo and Zhaan: in They've Got a Secret, when D'argo thinks Zhaan is Lo'Laan.

Date: 2006-03-08 02:48 pm (UTC)
kazbaby: (so close - sdwolfpup)
From: [personal profile] kazbaby
*finds assorted comfy pillows*

*joins the puppy pile*

Welcome aboard the crazy train!

Date: 2006-03-08 04:55 pm (UTC)
ext_1771: Joe Flanigan looking A-Dorable. (rainbow - fs)
From: [identity profile] monanotlisa.livejournal.com
*PUPPYPILE*

I caught John striking a ‘Humans Are Superior!’ superhero pose and that is going to be endlessly amusing.

I love John so much in this episode -- oh, wait, no, that's every episode. *g*

And man, the best thing about Aeryn? Are all these small moments, the things she does while not even in the spotlight, and their utterly practical approach. (I love Aeryn Sun, I really do.)

Look, you get my rainbow icon -- it's the equivalent of a cookie -- for loving Farscape. & ;-)
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