It's good to see people getting what they want for a change. Not another reality show, a mindless teen drama, or cookie-cutter sitcom. A show people asked for by name, devoted counted hours and hard-earned buckage(in a downturn economy, mind you), and created countless communities all focused on one singular goal.
A proper ending.
Last night at 9pm EST, scapers around the US gathered around their TV sets for what would be the fruit of two years, one month, and 11 days of work. That's a lot of expectation to live up to, especially when you consider that this wasn't a project with a budget size like Lucas, Disney, or Dreamworks could bankroll. this is Hallmark and Jim Henson. Sam Neil's Merlin and Fraggle Rock. I don't know the final bill for the whole miniseries, but it certainly couldn't be any more than a feature length film, or even half of one. My concern was, people had waited for this show almost as long as people have waited for(or dreaded) a Star Wars sequel. How can a production company of that size deliver something to rival that?
Well, they can't. But they can certainly blow the doors off of anything they've done, which is what happened last night.
There is spoiler material below(highlight to read), and if you missed it last night, Sci-Fi is re-airing part 1 tonight at 7PM before part 2 at 9.
The show opens up to a battle between the Peacekeeper and Scarren forces. The explosions and ship disintegrations are slammin, particularly when the scarren dreadnaught sinks into the ring field of a palnet and gets chewed up like a car wreck at 200mph. The next scene is a CG Rygel(and a nice one at that) swimming around the bottom of the ocean picking up little dark pieces of rock and swallowing them, along with the occasional clownfish(*wink*). He returns to the surface and is greated by D`argo who hoists him on a boat, where they are collecting the crystallized remains of... surprise surprise.... Crichton and Aeryn.
For the sake of brevity, I'll speed up the synopsis. Crichton and Aeryn are reconsituted and are going to get married(Dargo and Chianna: "Congratulations!"). However before the weddingcan get started("Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today under this huge.... command carrier?), Scorpius crashes the party with the news that a war is going on between the Scarrens and Peacekeepers and both parties know of his return(Scorpius learned of it through Harvey-the wonder clone). They devise a plan to take one of the Aidelons(ancient peacemaking race who inhabit planet and blasted them to crystals in the first place) to the planet of their ancestors so that they can regain the ability to bring peace and stop this war. It is around this time that it's discovered that Rygel did not regurgitate all the crystals and is now carrying Aeryn's baby. Words fail me on that one.
En route to the planet, Crichton and Aeryn try yet again to have a wedding, with Rygel as the king or justice of the peace. However, just as vows were being exchanged, a huge anchor crashes through the ceiling as Moya is being attacked by mercenaries. They manage to fight off the invaders and escape relatively unharmed.
Chrichton and company make it to the planet and convince the ancient Aidelons to teach the new Aidelon delegate the peacemaking ways, while an elder Aidelon goes with Crichton to end the war. However, just as they're getting ready to break orbit, the Scarrens appear and nuke the Aidelon temple from orbit, killing all the Aidelons except for the elder and the acolyte onboard Moya. Moya attempts to starburst, but is neutralized by the Scarren warhammer.
Dargo and Chianna escape using Lola's stealth mode while the rest of the crew go to the Scarren ship to attempt to broker peace.
The Scarren Emperor wasn't having any of the "peace-pipe" fun and games and demanded Chricton make a wormhole weapon for him. Chricton explains that he can't and even takes him to "Einstein" to prove it. During this time, the Aidelon is learning about the Scarrens and is attempting to eminate the aura necessary for him to negotiate peace with the Peacekeepers. However, when the moment of truth arrives and a peace agreement was being talked out, the "Assistant Emperor" comes in and blasts the negotiator, eliminating the aura and any hope of peace. The two of them leave Chricton and company are trapped in the room as it's filling with a sleep gas used for preserving specimens.
The last words between Aeryn and Chricton.
Aeryn: "You ruined my life."
Chricton(laughing): "I know..."
That's the short of it from what I remember. Overall, the CG is incredible, all the shots are exquisitely detailed. The writing is solid, and while there are some moments where you can sense a little awkwardness between character and actor, everyone seemed at ease in their old shoes again. I'd be concerned about anyone having this as their first exposure to Farscape because of the sheer number of characters introduced and the storylines developed. There are plenty of online primers, Savefarscape.com being the best.
The series was left much like if Stephen King released his last gunslinger novel with the last half left out of the book, abruptly ending mid paragraph. Finally getting an ending to the story is like Christmas in October. I'm psyched to get home tonight after class and catch the last installment on the DVR.
Once again, Sci-Fi is replaying the first part tonight at 7 and the final episode is at 9!