OK, I have received approval from on high (razib) to use my access to this blog to shamelessly shill for my favorite show of all time, Farscape, and it’s upcoming mini-series The PeaceKeeper Wars. To the uninitiated, Farscape is a science fiction show produced by the Henson company (yeah, those guys who made the “muppet show”) which is a dark alternative to the usual Sci-Fi fare of “Trek” “B5” “Flash Gordon” and “SG-1”. It features a physicist and astronaut from our time who is sucked down a wormhole to another part of the Universe where two species The Scarren and the Sebaceans are involved in a genocidal war. I like it since it is the most creative, visually-stunning (it’s very much like live action anime), dark, and…did I say creative? It is not afraid to tackle issues such as race, war, sex, genocide, slavery in a very up-front and bold way (and not in the P.C. way that Star Trek does.).
So check it out, the mini airs tonight.
Update One of the focuses of the mini is a race called the Interions who created the peacekeepers from human stock. Here is how they are described;
I suspect that the Interion people have been enviably sheltered. They have the luxury of considering themselves too civilized for violence, and so are not experienced with it. Consequently, their elite have gained status through knowledge rather than through force. One of Jool’s cousins, a member of this intellectual elite, held 16 advanced degrees. Jool herself is expert in biology, medicine, history, astrophysics and even gymnastics, though her skills in that discipline remain too stylized to be of any practical value.
They are also described as professional peace makers (their goal is universal peace) and they place themselves in cultures to work towards this goal. They left 12,000 years ago having created the peacekeepers to “keep the peace” an experiment that went awry.
Hmmm… Highly intelligent, cultural elites who are ideologically driven for peace and who gene engineered a race of super beings to enforce that peace, sound like anyone we know?
Here’s the fan produced commercial that is airing on FX and cartoon network that brings you a little up to date on the show.
Update II We’ll the mini is aired and I’d give it an A-, all around great with a few minor errors. But here is a list of note;
Rygel “I would like you to name the child Rygel”
Aeryn “Only if it’s a girl”
Jool dies 🙁
Sikozu dies 🙁
Ka’ Dargo dies 🙁
Harvey dies 😐
Aeryn in actively fighting the Scarrens as she gives birth to a baby, breach.
Aeryn and John desperate to be married before the baby arrives pulls Stark over to marry them. Stark: Alien Language, John: “Thats a Sheyang death rite”
Stark: Another alien saying, Aeryn: “Thats a purity ritual” decks Stark “Idiot”
Rygel, a male, undergoing post partum depression after having Aeryn’s baby removed from him (he accidently had the baby left in him when he was collecting the shattered lovers)
Finally I liked how John ended the war. Remember that John is a fugitive on the run with a bunch of escaped prisoners being chased by both the Scarrens and the Peacekeepers for the wormhole knowledge he has. To stop the war between the two that threatens to involve the entire galaxy, John opens a wormhole weapon that is growing exponentially that threatens to destroy the entire galaxy to force the two sides the the table. Pretty novel plot device.
Posted by scottm at 02:18 PM