Farscape

Today we reach further back into the recent sci fi history, to the distant year of 1999 when the crazy rambled about the end of the world, the century was about to turn, and America collaborated with Australia to create Fascape.

Like Star Trek for many people, Farscape holds a special place in my heart as it entered my life somewhere around the beginning of my sci fi obsession. I’d go as far as to say it jump started it had I not seen Star Wars prior.

Farscape follows the adventures of John Crichton, played by Ben Browder, an astronaut testing a new gravity boosted way of space travel, only to collide with a wormhole and be sent lord knows where across the universe.

Fortunately for him, the universe seems to be quite populated because he hits one of the territories controlled by a number of alien species instead of showing up in the middle of nowhere and dying a cold, oxygen deprived death. In fact, he pops up right in the middle of a battle where his small shuttle is quickly swept into the fray.

Through the series, we follow him and the crew of an escaped prison ship Moya, as they struggle for survival and freedom while Crichton seeks a way back home. The characters are unique and interesting, and the story engaging. I have to admit there’s something missing, maybe in production, or because it was made for cable, or low budget, or I’m not really sure and it bugs me, but it’s still enjoyable to watch.

The CGI is somewhat dated, but pretty good for its time, smooth and blending well with the built sets though the sound design could use some work. The makeup is amazing too, though most of the aliens are too humanoid, given a crazy haircut and painted a different colour.

The actors are pretty good too, especially Browder who really sells his performance as Crichton and is a joy to watch.

So I give it a must watch, especially for sci fi fans. Farscape ran for four seasons, culminating in a TV movie, and got much less appreciation than I feel it deserved.

With full speed ahead, we plunge into episode one, otherwise called Premiere.

    We begin with Crichton staring at the sunrise, in his Hawaiian shirt and the space shuttle launch pad on the horizon. The first bits of dialogue are some sciency mumbo-jumbo that let us know all conditions are good to go while in the background they are fitting Johny into his space suit. Some more mumbo-jumbo follows as the annoying friend reads through magazines, talking about the experiment they are about to perform. In layman terms, he’s going to ride the upper circles of the atmosphere, using momentum and gravity to catapult his little ship off into space.

The launch goes as planned, and soon Johnny is on the fringes of the planet ready to begin the experiment that will prove his theory right. Even sooner, trouble comes on the horizon as some electro magnetic anomaly messes with their system and communications. Homebase orders him to abort, but before he has the chance, Crichton crashes into the anomaly, ripping a wormhole through space.

John emerges on the other side uscathed and quickly realises he can’t contact base, in fact, he can’t tell where he is at all. Not a moment later, a few space fighters whooz past him, one of them hitting the tip of his shuttle wing and crashing into an asteroid. It’s momentary and seemingly insignificant, but comes to play a huge part in the plot.

As he exits from the asteroid field, a huge ship emerges before him. The fighters are attacking it, and free floating through space, John is caught in the battle and pulled into the ship.

A cat sized, bug of a robot crawls up his shuttle when he finally lands in the loading bay of the ship. It short circuits his electronics, which starts a fire, in attempt to get him out.

Crichton catapults the shuttle lid along with the robot, breaking one of its little antenna eyes in the process. He later duct tapes it, something that will mark the little critter as his pet through the series.

More of the robots swarm him when he attempts to go back into his ship, tazing him along to the control deck. Crichton blinks, unable to believe his eyes, as a blue woman and a crazy looking man with tentacle-like hair struggle to control the ship. The man easily picks him up, asking questions in a language John can’t comprehend. That is quickly mended when one of the small bots injects him with translator microbes that magically decipher any language.

They are asking about his ship, having brought him along because they’ve never seen one of its kind and wonder if it can help them escape.

We then see the pilot, a huge creature with pincer-like hands that controls the ship from its core. Said ship, Moya, is in fact alive, a creature that dwells in the emptiness of space, and the pilot is another alien that is inserted to control the leviathan after it has been adjusted to serve as a ship.

Another of the crew joins us on his levitating throne, Dominar Rygel XVI, voiced by Jonathan Hardy, a king in exile. Meanwhile, Crichton lays where they threw him, still trying to comprehend what is happening.

 

 

Hull integrity is critical and the blue alien, Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan, played by Virginia Hay, starts praying until Ka D’Argo, played by Anthony Simcoe, rips out the right cables and the controls are unlocked. The collar is off, and the ship can finally flee. But it’s not over yet, the main enemy force arrives and Moya needs to starburst the hell out of there.

We shift to the enemy main ship where a woman reports that Moya has escaped and there were two casualties. The commander, Bialar Crais, played by Lani Tupu, replies he cares not about casualties, but then the messenger mentions one of them is his brother. The fighter that hit Crichton’s ship. Things get personal.

We are fifteen minutes in and none of them are squandered. Swift, action packed, and easy to follow introduction to the premise, characters and conflict.

While the ship is trying to figure out where the hell it is, our crew exchanges names and stories. Zhaan is the leader of anarchist priests, Ka D’Argo killed a fellow soldier, and the toad man was too shitty a ruler.

Meanwhile, Crichton awakes naked on the floor of a cell, praying it was all a dream. The small robot with the broken eye chippers something nearby proving him wrong. He questions why he has been imprisoned, and Rygel answers because they can’t trust him and his new cellmate, Officer Aeryn Sun, played by Claudia Black, whose Prowler, one of the space fighters, was swept into the starburst.

Turns out, Crichton, and humans in general, look exactly like Peacekeepers, the aliens that are pursuing Moya. John approaches Aeryn to introduce himself and she promptly beats the crap out of him demanding his rank and identification.

On the control deck, Moya and its crew try to slip into the nether regions of obscurity, but because Johnny took down Crais’ brother, the leader sets out to take down the leviathan ship.

Sometime later, the escaped prisoners feed the new prisoners in hopes to get information of of them, but the crew’s relations quickly break down as they bicker and whine with Zhaan trying to restore piece. Something she will do throughout her presence in the series.

Moya stops by a planet to trade, replenish whatever mechanical components and fluids were lost, and are needed to restore normal flight speed. While in his cell, Crichton muses on how he got where he is, determining it must have been a wormhole so the only way to go back is wormhole as well. Problem is, where to find or how to create one?

Earlier Aeryn tried to sneak out a fork and failed, now when she snaps at Johnny, he shows her he stole one as well. The two flee the cell as she plans to sabotage the ship and contact her people. He talks her out of sabotaging and the two fly off on her ship and down to the planet.

The meeting with the Peacekeepers doesn’t go as planned, Crichton and Ka D’Argo are captured and Crais intends to fully dissect the human. Aeryn stands up for him and Crais orders her imprisonment as well.

They get away, of course, thanks to Crichton’s smart mouthness, and along with Officer Sun, return to Moya.

The enemy ships follow, and unable to star jump yet, Moya is limited to running. But Johnny gets a genious idea to use his theory, the one he was testing, and bounce the ship from the planet’s atmosphere. He proves his theory right, and they escape, plunging into uncharted territories and towards new adventures.

Overall, the episode was well paced and did a good job establishing the series with the variety of interesting characters. A good show to watch on a lazy evening.

How does heat affect us?

You leisurely lounge at home on a summer afternoon, maybe the cooling is on, or a light breeze dances in the air but the heat still lingers, weighing you down. No matter what you do, where you turn, how many clothes you take off or cool drinks you chug, it always finds its way, wrapping you in a tight, warm blanket.

 

And when the heat becomes extreme, it can provoke quite radical physical reactions in the body, varying from flushing, sweating, dehydration, fatigue, nausea, headaches, cramps to even more serious illness and death.

Areas with high humidity make matters even worse because sweating and breathing are not as effective at cooling the body. In other words, as awesome as summer is, it should not be underestimated and precautions should be taken against the sneaky heat.

But what about some of the more subtle ways the sizzling summer days affect us? Heat makes our bodies unhappy and as a result, our mind isn’t at its perkiest either. First, our concentration suffers as it becomes increasingly difficult to focus on any brain related work beyond chanting ‘oh god its freaking hot’ in a loop. But not only do we feel extra lazy, but also more anxious and irritable, ready to snap at anything and anyone unless they come bearing gifts in the form of cool drinks or ice cream.

And the worst part is, there’s no escape this hellish nightmare other than sticking to air conditioned spaces, wearing as little clothing as possible, soaking in a pool, and making sure the soda on ice keeps coming.

References and additional reads:

National Weather Service: Health and Safety PDF

CBCNews: Too hot for your health, How heat affects the body

Scientific American: How Does a Heat Wave Affect the Human Body?

UoC, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources: How heat affects the body

Dominion

I’m always up for angelic/demonic fiction so naturally Dominion caught my eye.

Even if it claims to be a descendant of Legion, a movie that didn’t leave me all too happy, I was ready to give Dominion a chance.

    So, without further ado, SyFy’s Dominion. Snorts a laugh. Can you believe this poster?

Let me tell you, season two’s cover isn’t much better:

    Which brings me to the first issue. The tone. The posters aren’t necessarily bad but establish up a much more ridiculous, over the top feel, while the actual series has a much more sombre, serious mood even if overly dramatic at times.

    Dominion, in a nutshell, is a story about political games, romantic triangles, forbidden intra class love, personal struggles, angels dealing with internal issues, and a post apocalyptic society struggling to survive under the threat of Gabriel’s, the human exterminator, return.

It doesn’t look bad either. We get nice, if questionable, CGI, and artsy scene setup. Though at times it can seem a bit fake, more like a tacky art project, or out of place fashion magazine in an otherwise gritty environment.

My verdict is: hilarious in how seriously it takes itself. That doesn’t necessarily mean bad, the series can be fun at times, but I definitely wouldn’t call Dominion a masterpiece as it is often bogged down by unnecessary drama. It’s more about political games rather than action.

Oh yeah, and Anthony S. Head is in it. Playing the human villain. Kind of.

So let’s see what the pilot episode has to offer.

It opens with a “what happened before” narration. I cringe already, but at least the powerpoint looks pretty. Yada, yada, god fucked off, led by Gabriel, angels decided to destroy humanity, some refused to join, lesser spirits had no problem possessing humans left and right to serve as a cannon fodder. And, of course, one archangel, Michael, chooses to fight for humanity, because otherwise we wouldn’t have much of a story, poor Earth would be singed in minutes. Then prophecies, chosen ones, you know the drill. Not the most original story, well maybe not by now, and the worst part is the nice apocalyptic war happened in the shitty movie, and we’re stuck observing the aftermath. So forget anything you just heard about angel against human wars, and turn your eyes to the small flea infested refuge of Vega, former Las Vegas.

I do have to give them points for location though. The series was shot in South Africa, and we get some real nice scenery.

About minute and a half in, we meet the protagonist Alex, played by Christopher Egan, as he scavenges for supplies on his own. But fear not, he was not sent on a fool’s errand by an equally foolish authority, no he decided to sneak out on his own.

It was well shot though, and the reveal of the possessed humans  was startling enough. If we can ignore all the cheese because a lot of the shots and developments drip with it.

The possessed do serve as a nice monster, a challenging enemy with creepy visuals and supernatural powers that is only outmatched by the angels themselves. Though a lot of that threat fades as angels are killed or drop dead left and right. Even our main stars, the archangels often struggle in their fights. Having it hard is nice and all, but there’s nothing quite like an enemy who can roll through hordes of humans without a scratch. And we don’t get much of that, we get gritty, physical fights, where even the angels often find themselves threatened or on the brink of extinction.

They are too earthy, too human, you just lack the mystery and threat of the supernatural. A monster is scary until you drag it into the light and showcase its weaknesses.

But moving on.

Naturally, Alex’s superiors are not too happy with his actions, sending him away for the Archangel to take care of.

The archangel himself, Michael, played by Tom Wisdom, poutingly stares through his windows from the highest tower of the city, after what appears to have been an orgy. I got to give it to them, the establishing scene with all the ladies was quite artsy though someone poured too much cooking oil on them.

Michael is upset, because all the ladies want him, and he’s too afraid to have a child, yet he indulges anyway. I find this whole theme/storyline laughable if not unnecessary. I guess they were trying to give him a conflict or a personality or something, but it just sticks out like a fragment that couldn’t quite blend but someone forgot to cut it out in the final version.

And of course, this scene could not end in any other way than Michal plunging out of the window and flying away.

The city itself, its layers and classes was an interesting idea that they tried and somewhat pulled off, introducing class problem, religious cults and the challenge to rule a post apocalyptic society and keep it from sliding into anarchy. As in any society, the poor are pretty fucked over, though what baffles me is why the army is held with such a low regard considering how necessary it is. If anything, the army should be above the petty aristocracy, considering it’s all that keeps the angels, and the possessed at bay. Granted, the first “ruler” is a general, but the rest of the council-thing are all civilians.

And we’re introduced to yet more intrigue. Alex, our lowly soldier, is having an affair with the ‘president’s’ daughter. Gasp! Which is problematic because the power families intend to join by marrying son of one to daughter of the other. One of the episode sub-plots is the lovebirds’ plan to fly away unless the big man lets them marry. That, will naturally be hindered by other events.

I’m kind of itching for fight scenes. Not that it drags, but I imagined more bloody battles between angels and the like and less human drama.

Actually, the series often has the feel of a family drama, which I’m not really a fan of, but I guess it does introduce tension and intrigue. The resolutions can be quite satisfying too when in the end you dump the whiny, useless character whose face you had to bear throughout, in the middle of the desert. Thought that means that he’s still alive and we’ll probably see more of him later. Ugh.

But it’s time to meet the damsel of the series, Claire, played by Roxanne McKee, who could not be more of a metaphor of the virgin mother. For heaven’s sake, in her first introduction she is in a white dress, with flowers in her hair, preaching to children under candle light about the chosen one.

We also see the orphan of the series, Bixby, played by Betsy Wilke. A pasty, thin blond girl with bags under her eyes who is dressed in rags and the protagonist feels personally responsible for looking after her. Yeah, she’s so dead.

A delegation from Helena, a neighbouring/rival city, arrives and the political games begin, each city trying to haggle something out of the other. The catch is Vega will soon have a nuclear reactor, and Helena, supposedly, has an air force. Again it was an interesting idea with the city relations and organisations, while Vega has a more cast like system, Helena seems to be a total tyrannical matriarchy.

A lot of things are introduced in the first episode themes, characters, plots, and at some point it begins feeling crowded. I just prefer more subtle or straightforward story lines. So I will speed-tell the rest so we don’t have to be here all day.

Alex’s father returns, drama ensues because he left without a word. Problems arise among the politicians because the delegation brought in angel infiltrators. All hell breaks loose. Oh and Alex is the chosen one. But the upper cast will cover up everything to keep the masses docile. The end.

The series are not bad, they bring a lot of ideas to the table, but I feel we can’t really focus on them all. A for effort, and if you do like overly complicated, intrigue clad dramas, give it a watch.