Farscape is a science-fiction TV series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon, David Kemper, and Brian Henson. It ran for four seasons from 1999 to 2003, when it was canceled, much to the shock and outrage of its fans. The uprising of the fandom brought about the production of a miniseries, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, to wrap up what should have been the events of season five.
Plot
John Crichton, an astronaut, is on a mission to test his theory of using Earth's gravity field to accelerate a spacecraft—in this case, the one-man Farscape 1, which Crichton himself designed. Ideally, the theory would result in more efficient interplanetary, perhaps even interstellar space travel.
This is all well and good, but Crichton hadn't planned for the wormhole.
Crichton's craft gets sucked into the wormhole and, after a harrowing journey through its silvery-blue, liquid twists and turns, gets spat out at the other end. He has lost contact with Cape Canaveral and, indeed, the entire planet Earth is missing from view.
He is abruptly sucked into a conflict between the Peacekeepers, the militaristic faction of the human-like Sebatian race, and the escaped living ship Moya and her crew of similarly escaped prisoners of various species. One of the small Peacekeeper assault craft, a Prowler, accidentally collides with the Farscape 1 and goes careening into an asteroid, where it explodes. The crew of Moya haul Crichton on board to question him about the wormhole in case it's something they can use to escape the Peacekeepers. It isn't, but Crichton is pretty well stuck with them when Moya is freed from the control collar preventing her from Starbursting away, which she then promptly does.
Thus begins the epic romp through the galaxy that defines the backdrop of the show. Captain Bialar Crais blames Crichton for the death of his brother, the pilot of the Prowler that blew up. Crais abandons all propriety in favor of hunting Crichton (and the rest of the crew) down.
Crais isn't the only entity to take an interest in poor Crichton, though. Later on, his knack with wormholes (a "gift" from a race called the Ancients, who are using him as a guinea pig) attracts the attention of Scorpius, a high-ranking scientist with the Peacekeepers despite his half-Scarran nature. Where Crais leaves off, Scorpius takes over, bringing considerably more resources to bear in his pursuit of Moya due to the interest of the Peacekeepers in finding a weapon to use in their conflict with the Scarrans. Naturally, the Scarrans get wind of this and they, too, join in the literal head-hunt for Crichton.
Crichton and his new friends, meanwhile, really just want to go home . . . .
Characters
Moya's Crew
- John Crichton (Ben Browder) - Human astronaut. A little eccentric, but just crazy enough to save the day half the time.
- Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) - Sebatian, ex-Peacekeeper, consummate badass. Has a lot to learn about life outside the military, but a good ally. Eventually Crichton's love interest.
- Ka D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) - Luxan warrior. Big, gruff, be-tentacled, and the best friend anyone could wish for once he gets over that macho Luxan stuff. Misses his dead wife and missing son.
- Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan (Virgina Hey) - Delvian priestess. Beautiful, beatific, and very, very blue. Advances from 9th to 10th level Pa'u despite her battles with her darker side.
- Dominar Rygel XVI (voiced by Jonathan Hardy) - Hynerian royal (Dominar) in exile. Small and froglike, he floats around on his hoverthrone and acts out a Napoleon complex. Also known as Buckwheat, Fluffy, Greedo, and a host of other nicknames courtesy of Crichton. He is devious and out for his own ends, but his abilities as a negotiator are usually worth his bad attitude.
- Chiana (Gigi Edgley) - Nebari rogue. All grey, like her morality. Chiana would like nothing better than to never see her strictly regimented homeworld again, though she misses her brother, the leader of a rebel faction. Eventually D'Argo's love interest.
- Pilot (voiced by Lani Tupu) - the, er, pilot of Moya. His true name, and that of his species, are impossible to pronounce. Four-armed, golden-eyed, carapaced, and easily the largest creature on the ship, he is physically bonded with Moya in a symbiotic partnership.
Allies
Sometime members of the crew, these beings come and go over the course of the series.
- Stark (Paul Goddard) - Banik former slave. Crazy man in a half-mask; sees dead people. Well, dying people, really. He has the power to help them cross over peacefully, an ability tied to a glowy patch contained under the mask.
- Jool (Tammy MacIntosh) - Interon. Ridiculous amount of orange hair that turns red when she's upset. Also has a scream on her with the ability to melt metal. Her full name is ridiculously long. A bit whiny, but very smart.
- Sikozu (Raelee Hill) - another redhead. Has the ability to stick to walls and manipulate fire. Serious attitude problem.
- Noranti (Melissa Jaffer) - crazy old woman with three eyes. Uses an array of mysterious powders and potions to "help" the crew.
Bad Guys
This is just a small selection of the most persistent adversaries faced by the crew over the cycles.
- Bialar Crais (Lani Tupu) - Peacekeeper captain (until his bad behavior gets him discharged). Holds a grudge against Crichton. Has to re-think his position when the Peacekeepers kick him out.
- Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) - Sebatian/Scarran half-breed. Highly intelligent and very dangerous. His devotion to his own anti-Scarran, pro-wormhole agenda makes him a tricky enemy. Crichton's arch-nemesis.
- Meeklo Braca (David Franklin) - Peacekeeper. Subordinate to Crais, then Scorpius, and very, very good at his job, given that he keeps on rising through the ranks.
- The Peacekeepers - Sebatian space military. They all have a vested interest in Crichton for his wormhole knowledge.
- The Scarrans - Big ugly reptilian race. They love heat and use it as an interrogation tool. Works particularly well on the heat-intolerant Sebatians. They, too, want Crichton in the hope of gaining a wormhole weapon.
Fanfiction
Farscape, a relatively small, obscure, and tight-knit fandom, has a higher than usual proportion of adult and/or very intelligent fans. As such, the fanfic that exists tends to be goodfic, or at least not outright badfic.
However, Scorpius attracts more than the average really, really weird fic. He is a very charismatic character, and also very dark and twisted, which draws all sorts. Both Farscape fics known to be investigated by the PPC were centered around Scorpius Sues. However, the first of these was lost and the mission was never completed.
Farscape and the PPC
Being little-known to badficcers, Farscape is also little-known to most PPCers. However, Agent Supernumerary is known to keep his CAD's volume switch glued in the "mute" position with the superglue-like purple adhesive used by the DRDs in season one episode "They've Got a Secret," and he also used a stasis pod on the Diagnosan's planet to dispose of the "effectively dead" Doctor Jenkins.[1] He is also a fan of the swearword "frell," which means the same thing as a popular English curse that rhymes with "duck."
Farscape minis are mini-Budongs. One of these, Chrichton, is attached to Agent Neshomeh, who created him. She will never live this down. A miniature copy of Aeryn Sun, created along with a miniature Vala Mal Doran as the result of the spelling error "Austrailiens,"[2] also resides with them now. She uses Chrichton as a mount.
The PPC Cafeteria has been known to serve food cubes on occasion. Supposedly, they contain all the nutrients essential to sustain most adult beings, but (unlike lembas, for instance) they are extremely unappetizing to all but the most desperately hungry.
Missions in this Continuum
- "Sweet Abomination," Part One, Part Two, Agents Rez Montrose and Flip Finley (DF)