Underappreciated Gems: Farscape (1999 - 2003)

Underappreciated Gems: Farscape by freshfromthe.com

Cast photo before Zhaan left the show. Sob.

I had some internal debate about whether this show should actually qualify as an underappreciated show or not. It did last four seasons and got a miniseries wrap up at the end. But, if you didn't see it when it was on, you probably have this notion that it's too weird and you wouldn't like it.

Guess what! It IS weird. And you probably WILL like it, precisely because of its weirdness. It's a wacky space opera with puppets and lots of prosthetic makeup that has the complex and hilarious human John Crichton at its center. You know, to give us an outsider's view of the weird, and the goal of him finding his way back home.

John and Aeryn are made of epic love stories.

I will fully admit this, however... the first season is really hit and miss. Like, don't watch half of those episodes unless you've become a die hard fan of the show, and even then there are some you should skip.

I found this rather awesome list that someone put together that lists which episodes are amazing, which ones you need to watch to keep up with the overall story, and which ones you should just skip altogether.

Check out the Complete Skip It Watch It Guide to see the list! I've also included a list of my personal favorite episodes at the bottom of this post too, in case you're curious.

I think what really sold me on this show, which I too thought was weird at first, is that it does such a great job of mixing the comedy with the drama. Apparently this is my TV show catnip, because I love me some fantasy/scifi dramedies like nobody's business. So if you're a fan of, say, Supernatural (which you prooooobably are if you read this blog much), then you know what? You'll probably like Farscape too. It was on SyFy back when it was SciFi, paired up with another of my favorite, sadly undervalued shows, The Invisible Man.

Season 4 cast, lots o' ladies!

Looks like the show is now streaming on Amazon Prime. But, I do have to warn you, if you watch it until the end, and you genuinely like the show and care about the characters, you're gonna be straight pissed at the cliffhanger. BUT GUESS WHAT! Do not despair! They made a miniseries to wrap up the series properly. Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars.

If you're really hardcore, the entire series box set is also available on DVD and BluRay. The one quibble I have with the series set is that it didn't come with a booklet with all of the episode titles. You know what I did? I ended up making my own booklet with episode synopses and little symbols that indicate deleted scenes and commentaries. That's how much of a geek I am sometimes! If anyone wants it for their own personal use, let me know and I'll be happy to provide it for you!

Now, without further ado...