Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction . Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality.
176-585: Farscape is an Australian-American science fiction television series conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment , originally for the Nine Network . It premiered in North America on the Sci-Fi Channel 's SciFi Friday segment on 19 March 1999, (at 8:00 pm EST), as the network's anchor series. The Jim Henson Company is credited with
352-620: A Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special . In 2004 and 2007, Farscape was ranked #4 on TV Guide' s Top Cult Shows Ever. In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed the show at #22 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years," calling it "one of the trippiest space sagas ever, with portions of some episodes taking place in Crichton's subconscious" and remarking, "Before Battlestar Galactica popularized frak as geek slang, there
528-577: A Fu-Manchu beard and mustache; his only line was the Hynerian curse "Yotz", similar in use and meaning as the earth curse "Hell". Chiana , played by Gigi Edgley , is a street-smart, savvy, and mercurial character who is willing to scam or steal for an adventure and risk her life for the people she loves. Chiana is a Nebari , a grey-skinned race whose society is heavily regimented by the government (known as The Establishment). The Establishment venerates control and order, pitting Chiana's independent ways in
704-451: A Leviathan's components (as in a transport pod). In bonding to Leviathans, Pilots sacrifice much of their life-span for the benefits of space travel, since Pilots can live well over a thousand years but Leviathans live only hundreds. The Pilot most commonly seen in the series is Moya's second pilot. The first, a female, was shot and forcibly removed by Peacekeepers when she refused to consent to experiments being done upon Moya. With her death,
880-531: A Peacekeeper fighter which results in the death of its pilot. Crichton's ship and another Peacekeeper fighter are brought into Moya's hold. Although the escape is successful, the Peacekeeper Captain, Bialar Crais , fixates on Crichton as the murderer of the pilot—his brother—and begins a campaign to chase Crichton down. The various crew have no common goal, each only wishing to go home . Unfortunately, to evade Crais' pursuit, they have to travel into
1056-512: A Qualta Rifle. His personality in Season 1 was paranoid and ill-tempered against his friends (in the fourth episode, D'Argo puts on a Tavlek gauntlet that injects a stimulant so "stimulating" his personality that D'Argo attempted to take command of Moya and kill all those who stand against him). He has a powerful, fast tongue that he can use to attack in a manner similar to that of a frog or chameleon. The tip can inject an "adaptive" venom which renders
1232-415: A Scorpius/Crichton mixed personality with extremely dark humor) and transmits a message to Scorpius. Shortly after that Harvey defeats Aeryn in an aerial dogfight and seemingly kills her. After Aeryn's death, Crichton regains control. The chip is removed, but stolen by Scorpius. With the beginning of Season three, Harvey still remains in Crichton's head and Aeryn has been revived by Zhaan, who consequently dies
1408-512: A baby. Crichton proposes to her and she accepts. At the last second they are attacked by random aliens, who appear to kill them both. Thinking that Crichton is dead and the wormhole tech gone with him, Scorpius deliberately starts a war with the Scarrans in the hope that the element of surprise will be on their side. The tactic is unsuccessful, and the Scarrans are on the verge of overwhelming
1584-538: A call of distress from his mother. In the penultimate episode of Season 3, Crais uses Talyn to perform a suicidal Starburst inside Scorpius' command carrier to finally have his vengeance against the horrid hybrid. This heroic act of self-sacrifice effectively destroys the Peacekeeper wormhole project, and Talyn and Crais along with it. Crais makes a few appearances after his death. An alternate version of Crais appears in "Unrealized Realities". In this reality, Crichton
1760-535: A character from another universe who is a composite of D'Argo and Rygel. The character appeared in other media. In Horizons , a story by creator Rockne S O'Bannon that takes place far in the future, and that was written before Peacekeeper War, D'Argo is still alive. However, he did lose his arm, which is now a clear prosthetic. D'Argo was also parodied by the character Teal'c in the Stargate SG-1 episode " 200 ". Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan , played by Virginia Hey ,
1936-486: A child born of love, and Xhalax sneaked into Aeryn's dormitory one night to tell her so, which is strictly against regulations. To redeem her crime, Xhalax was forced by the Peacekeepers to choose between the two, and she executed Talyn so that Aeryn could live. Aeryn evolves from a cold, detached soldier into a valuable friend and crewmate. Her relationship with John Crichton also evolves, and Aeryn ultimately becomes
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#17327918700162112-607: A compassionate wife and loving mother at the end of the series. They name their son D'Argo Sun-Crichton; after their dear friend who (apparently) lost his life in the Peacekeeper Wars. Ka D'Argo (called simply D'Argo), played by Anthony Simcoe , is a Luxan warrior who was imprisoned aboard the Leviathan Moya by the Peacekeepers after being convicted (falsely) of killing his Sebacean wife Lo'Laan in
2288-434: A death sentence. John Crichton and D'Argo soon escape the Peacekeepers again and, having nowhere else to go, Aeryn reluctantly becomes a fugitive alongside them. Aboard Moya, Aeryn learns to think beyond the strict, militaristic confines of her Peacekeeper upbringing. Born in service aboard a command Carrier, it is the only life she has known and thus she is very skilled in hand-to-hand combat and armed combat. She also becomes
2464-441: A diverse cast of criminal fugitives; the series began as relatively unconnected episodes, but in later seasons transitioned into a complex plot with a dense mythology. Some reviewers, such as The A.V. Club , praised the animatronic puppetry. Others, such as Entertainment Weekly , were initially put off by the puppets and by the show as a whole. Space.com called it "unlike anything that had come before it... bold, brilliant and
2640-591: A draft of a column for TV Guide by critic Matt Roush , who wrote that, in his opinion, the premature cancellation of Farscape will be looked upon by future generations in the same light as science fiction fans look upon NBC 's cancellation of the original Star Trek in 1969. Farscape' s cancellation received considerable notice by news media. Thanks to the attention generated by the fan campaign, various financial backers in Europe offered their support to Brian Henson , and in 2004, The Jim Henson Company produced
2816-528: A female superhero, wears traditional folkloric clothes and tries to save traditional elements of Dutch society against the factory owners. Italian TV shows include A come Andromeda (1972) which was a remake of 1962 BBC serial, A for Andromeda (from the novels of Hoyle and Elliott), Geminus (1968), Il segno del comando (1971), Gamma (1974) and La traccia verde (1975). French series are Highlander: The Series , French science-fiction/fantasy television series (both co-produced with Canada) and
2992-483: A few episodes later. Sometime thereafter Crichton is "twinned" by another alien; neither of the Crichtons can be called a copy, but are "equal and original" (and each has his own "Harvey") eventually, the crew of Moya is split across the two Leviathans, Moya and Talyn and they are subsequently separated from each other; each ship has one Crichton. The Crichton aboard Talyn begins a romantic relationship with Aeryn while
3168-411: A fit of Luxan Hyper-Rage. During his time as a prisoner, the Peacekeepers shackled D'Argo in his cell with heavy chains attached to a pair of metal hooks surgically implanted around his collarbones to keep him under control despite his strength. He later escaped (along with Rygel and Zhaan ). As a Luxan warrior, D'Argo carries a weapon known as a Qualta Blade, a heavy broadsword that can transform into
3344-413: A full-body cooling suit notable mostly for the interchangeable cooling rods inside his cranium that absorb his excess body heat. He can see temperature gradients, especially of the face, allowing him to tell when people are lying, as described in the episode " Incubator ". Scorpius prides himself on his patience and his intellect. Scorpius is willing to do absolutely anything to achieve his goals, which he
3520-453: A group of Dutch space explorers and their adventures, De duivelsgrot (The devil's cave), broadcast from 1963 to 1964, about a scientist who finds the map of a cave that leads to the center of the Earth and Treinreis naar de Toekomst (Train journey to the future) about two young children who are taken to the future by robots who try to recreate humanity, but are unable to give the cloned humans
3696-543: A grudge as he considered serving the others, whatever their needs, to simply be his role. He was most happy when helping other crew members, although as his independence grew, he could sometimes become irritated with them and would order them out of his chamber and even off the ship altogether. In the series finale, Pilot experienced a conflict with Moya where he wanted to help Crichton destroy the wormhole linking Earth to Tormented Space and Moya did not want him to. Despite this and initially stating he could do nothing, Pilot joined
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#17327918700163872-554: A life with aliens , guns, and space travel, without the comfort of Earth culture. Toward the end of season one, Crichton encounters a mysterious alien race known only as The Ancients , who hide a repository of wormhole knowledge into his brain to guide him home, beginning a series-long chase by a Sebacean-Scarran hybrid Peacekeeper called Scorpius who hunts John and the rest of the Farscape crew to obtain that information. Early in season two, Crichton learns that Scorpius has implanted
4048-537: A little bonkers". According to a Vice reviewer, the show was ahead of its time in terms of feminist sci-fi. James Gunn has credited Farscape as an inspiration for his Guardians of the Galaxy films. Science fiction on television The need to portray imaginary settings or characters with properties and abilities beyond the reach of current reality obliges producers to make extensive use of specialized techniques of television production. Through most of
4224-577: A man who becomes trapped in a telephone booth, while passersby seem unable to help him, won the 1973 International Emmy Award for Fiction. The series Plutón B.R.B. Nero (2008) was a brutal SF comedy by Álex de la Iglesia , in the line of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , Red Dwarf , or Doctor Who , with 26 episodes of 35 minutes. Other series of the 2010s were Los protegidos (2010-2012), El barco (2011-2013), and El internado (2007-2010), all three inspired by North American productions, with minor SF elements. The latest success
4400-518: A member of Moya's crew. A recurring gag in Farscape involves him flatulating helium when he gets nervous, causing everyone's voices to have a higher pitch by the offensive gas. At the end of the series, Bishan pleads with him to return to help reunite their people and Rygel departs to do so with a devastated Chiana. A parody of him was in the Stargate SG-1 episode " 200 " as an Asgard with
4576-434: A neural chip into his head, which causes hallucinations of a "neural clone" of Scorpius, whom he dubs " Harvey ". These hallucinations influence Crichton in an effort to get at the hidden wormhole knowledge. As a result, Crichton's behavior grows more erratic and unpredictable, even as he continues to have romantic feelings for Aeryn Sun . In the end of Season 2, the neural chip takes complete control over Crichton (resulting in
4752-418: A neural chip that contains a clone of his personality, designed to track down the wormhole knowledge and protect Crichton and Scorpius both until that knowledge is found. Crichton nicknames the clone Harvey and it begins to manifest as hallucinations to him. The half-crazed mystic Stark – whom Crichton had met while jailed at the base – returns with information about D'Argo's son, Jothee . The boy
4928-411: A new source of income for actors, who began to charge money for autographs that they had previously been doing for free. This became significant enough that lesser-known actors would come to conventions without requesting any appearance fee, simply to be allowed to sell their own autographs (commonly on publicity photos). Today most events with actor appearances are organized by commercial promoters, though
5104-469: A number of fan-run conventions still exist, such as Toronto Trek and Shore Leave . The 1985 series Robotech is most often credited as the catalyst for the Western interest in anime. The series inspired a few fanzines such as Protoculture Addicts and Animag both of which in turn promoted interest in the wide world of anime in general. Anime's first notable appearance at SF or comic book conventions
5280-428: A number of smaller fiction/fantasy television series, including Tang in 1971, about a secret organization that attempts to control the world with a new super weapon, "Les atomistes" and 1970 miniseries "La brigade des maléfices". Another French-produced science fiction series was the new age animated series Il était une fois... l'espace (English: Once upon a time...space ). Anime-influenced animation includes
5456-475: A planet they encountered in the Uncharted Territories. She has also been an anarchist , and like other trained Delvians, Zhaan has several empathic and telepathic abilities which she cultivated to Pa'u level during her time in prison on Moya, although she was forced to channel these abilities to cause harm during the crew's first confrontation with the powerful Maldis in order to stop him and save
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5632-400: A reason to live, Crichton created a cartoon reality to oppose an illusory D'Argo. To combat him, Pilot proposed to run from him, Jool proposed to try to talk to him, Chiana proposed to fight him. All failed. Crichton went with Harvey's idea after being clinically dead for a time and it worked. But Crichton's idea, love, worked best. After that, Harvey unlocked Noranti's subliminal message: "Aeryn
5808-530: A recording on the Moon near the site of the first Moon landing, containing technological data necessary for humanity to reach the stars in the future and protect themselves against alien threat. That done, Scorpius returns to the Peacekeepers and the Moya crew go to the ocean planet Qujaga to recover. While there, Aeryn reveals that the pregnancy – formerly kept in stasis – has now been released and they are going to have
5984-493: A research base, a command carrier, a fleet of command carriers, and an even larger fleet in Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars . However, the exact Peacekeeper ranks at this level have never been established in the show. Despite being an antagonist for the first three seasons, Scorpius joins the crew of Moya for the final season to protect Crichton after his Command Carrier is destroyed and he is hunted by
6160-740: A science fiction television series based upon Zoran Živković's story, winner of a World Fantasy Award . Návštěvníci (The Visitors) was a Czechoslovak (and Federal German, Swiss and French) TV series produced in 1981 to 1983. The family show aired in a larger number of European countries. For a list of notable science fiction series and programs on television, see: List of science fiction television programs . People who have influenced science fiction on television include: [REDACTED] Media related to Science fiction television programmes at Wikimedia Commons Bialar Crais The television series Farscape features an extensive cast of characters created by Rockne S. O'Bannon . The series
6336-574: A self-contained story while contributing to a larger storyline . Nearly the entire cast originates from Australia and New Zealand, except for Ben Browder, who is an American actor. Farscape' s characters frequently make use of slang such as "frell", "dren" and "hezmana" as a substitute for English expletives. Farscape first ran on the Australian TV Channel Nine Network and the Canadian YTV channel , then in
6512-407: A sense, virtually all animated series allow characters and objects to perform in unrealistic ways, so they are almost all considered to fit within the broadest category of speculative fiction (in the context of awards, criticism, marketing, etc.) The artistic affinity of animation to comic books has led to a large amount of superhero -themed animation, much of this adapted from comics series, while
6688-400: A series of French-Japanese cartoons / anime , including such titles as Ulysses 31 (1981), The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982), and Ōban Star-Racers (2006). The first Spanish SF series was Diego Valor , a 22 episode TV adaption of a radio show hero of the same name based on Dan Dare , aired weekly between 1958 and 1959. Nothing was survived of this series, not a single still; it
6864-500: A situation not helped when an agent of Grayza attacks and kills several of Crichton's friends. He decides the only thing he can do is leave again but he succeeds in convincing his father to make alien tech and knowledge to be shared equally globally much to the dismay of the US government. The crew comes across a secret meeting between Grayza and a Scarran minister , at which Grayza sells out D'Argo's people in return for peace. In disrupting
7040-460: A society all about conformity against the Nebari's ideal about " the greater good " and making her a target for government reprogramming (called "cleansing"). In her premiere episode during the middle of season 1, "Durka Returns", she successfully escapes from Nebari custody, and ends up a passenger on Moya with the rest of the crew. Many episodes have demonstrated that she is a skilled fighter and
7216-462: A soul. All three of these television series were aimed mostly at children. Later television series were Professor Vreemdeling (1977) about a strange professor who wants to make plants speak and Zeeuws Meisje [ nl ] (1997) a nationalistic post-apocalyptic series where the Netherlands has been built full of housing and the highways are filled with traffic jams. The protagonist,
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7392-506: A spaceship dogfight, during which he accidentally causes the death of Tauvo Crais, the brother of Peacekeeper captain Bialar Crais . Crichton's craft is pulled aboard a large spaceship named Moya , a Leviathan (a biomechanoid, i.e., a "living ship") where John meets his first aliens ( Zhaan , D'Argo , Aeryn Sun and Rygel ). Shortly after, John meets Bialar Crais, who wants revenge for his brother's death. John has to adapt quickly to
7568-468: A three-hour mini-series to wrap up the series storyline entitled Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars . Farscape aired at a time when Star Trek was in decline. Farscape , like the later Firefly and Battlestar Galactica (2004), was a spaceship-centered show that sought to distance itself from the Star Trek formula. Farscape featured a main character who constantly riffed on pop culture and
7744-407: A valuable and important member of Moya's crew, and a companion and romantic interest of Crichton during the series. It is only after leaving the Peacekeepers that she can begin to find out about her parentage. She has discovered that her mother, Xhalax Sun was also a Peacekeeper pilot who — against Peacekeeper regulations — fell in love with an older officer, Talyn Lyczac. They deliberately had Aeryn,
7920-469: A wide array of software. Models have been an essential tool in science fiction television since the beginning, when Buck Rogers took flight in spark-scattering spaceships wheeling across a matte backdrop sky. The original Star Trek required a staggering array of models; the USS Enterprise had to be built in several different scales for different needs. Models fell out of use in filming in
8096-406: A wormhole into the midst of a Peacekeeper battle at the beginning of the series, the younger Crais was killed. For the course of the show's first season, Crais scoured the Uncharted Territories for Crichton and Moya, obsessed with finding the man he blamed for his brother's death. In the eighth episode, an evil entity named Maldis transports Crais and Crichton into a labyrinth forcing them to duel to
8272-469: A wormhole weapon – a black hole that will grow and grow until it destroys everything in the universe. Both Grayza and Staleek finally realise that this weapon is too dangerous for anyone to possess, and they agree to a ceasefire. Crichton is able to stop the black hole, but falls into a coma as a result. With the war finally over, the Eidolons help broker a peace treaty between the two sides, but Crichton
8448-505: Is El ministerio del tiempo ( The ministry of time ), premiered on February 24, 2015 on TVE 's main channel La 1 . The series follows the exploits of a patrol of the fictional Ministry of Time, which deals with incidents caused by time travel. It has garnered several national prizes in 2015, like the Ondas Prize , and has a thick following on-line, called los ministéricos . Serbia produced The Collector ( Sakupljač ),
8624-470: Is a Delvian , a blue, spiritual, humanoid plant species, and a Pa'u (priestess) in their religious order. Zhaan was imprisoned aboard Moya for the assassination of the leader of the Delvian government and her lover, Bitaal. Bitaal refused to step down as leader of the Delvian people when his tenure was over. He, along with other conservative Pa'us, hired the Peacekeepers for "external security." There
8800-438: Is a former Peacekeeper pilot and officer. Although she appears to be human, she is in fact Sebacean, a species indistinguishable from humans in external appearance. At the time John Crichton appears through a wormhole in the beginning of the series, Aeryn is in her Prowler battling to retake the Leviathan Moya which has been seized by escaping prisoners Ka D'Argo , Rygel and Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan . However, Aeryn's Prowler
8976-512: Is agile and acrobatic. She has a number of distinctive mannerisms such as cocking her head at times and crouching on objects rather than sitting or standing. Other Nebari do not exhibit the same style of physical movement, though her fluid movements and frequent situational appraisals suggest a lifetime of avoiding danger. One of Chiana's other characteristic traits is her strong sense of individuality. She respects no authority and values her freedom more than anything or anyone else. This gives her
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#17327918700169152-399: Is an International Aeronautics and Space Administration (most commonly referred to on the show as IASA) astronaut who, in the opening few minutes of the pilot episode, is accidentally catapulted through a wormhole across the universe, thus; setting the scene for the show as a whole. As the only regularly appearing human on the show, he is the main focus and is the main character as he narrates
9328-511: Is caught up in the stream of Moya's starburst and is towed along with the escaping Leviathan. Aeryn is brought on board Moya as a prisoner, but when she and Crichton encounter her commanding officer, Bialar Crais , she defends John from Crais' allegation that John deliberately attacked and killed Crais' brother, saying he is not brave enough or smart enough to have done so. In return, Crais declares her to be "irreversibly contaminated" from spending too much time with an unknown life form, which means
9504-461: Is dead to cover his escape with the neural chip, and Zhaan revives Aeryn, but at the cost of her own life. Feeling guilty over the death of the Interon donor, Crichton has the donor's still living relative brought aboard – an arrogant scientist called Jool . Investigating another wormhole, Moya crashes into a ship belonging to a race called Pathfinders, experts in wormholes. Zhaan sacrifices
9680-408: Is discovered. He is basically a menacing hallucination of Scorpius that influences Crichton to become more erratic, unpredictable and similar to Scorpius. He is capable of killing Crichton and does his best to make sure that Crichton would not go against Scorpius's ideas. In the end of Season 2, Harvey dominates Crichton (resulting in a mixed personality with dark humor), murders his love Aeryn Sun (whom
9856-448: Is forced to bring up the dark side she had worked to suppress. D'Argo admits he was framed for his wife's murder and has no idea where his child is. Rygel confronts his former jail keeper and torturer. A new character joins the crew, Chiana , a teenage thief on the run from her own repressive culture. And Moya herself becomes pregnant after a Peacekeeper experiment is accidentally activated. Meanwhile, Crichton continues to research
10032-438: Is not known if the show was even recorded or just a live broadcast. The 60s were dominated by Chicho Ibáñez Serrador and Narciso Ibáñez Menta , who adapted SF works from Golden Age authors and others to a series titled Mañana puede ser verdad . Only 11 episodes were filmed. The 70s saw three important television films, Los pajaritos (1974), La Gioconda está triste (1977), and La cabina (1972), this last one, about
10208-412: Is one of a lot of slaves, and they can rescue him by buying the entire lot. To afford to do that they will need to rob a bank . The crew put a plan into action, which is complicated when Scorpius arrives. Scorpius has captured the slaves, but promises to give them Jothee if Crichton will turn himself in. Under intense pressure from the neural clone, Crichton does so. D'Argo is reunited with his son , and
10384-503: Is only a cover to steal Talyn and escape on his own. Having grown much closer over the course of the season, the crew work together to escape Scorpius—a plan that ends with Crichton and D'Argo floating in space, running out of air. The crew of Moya are now on the run from Scorpius, who wants the wormhole knowledge locked in Crichton's brain for his own purposes. To avoid him the crew are forced into some unwise decisions and alliances, which often result in wacky, mind-altering hijinks for
10560-441: Is particularly eager to access. The other Moya crew launch a rescue attempt. Meanwhile, Moya gives birth to her baby, discovering that the child, named Talyn , is a volatile hybrid warship designed by the Peacekeepers instead of the usual peaceful Leviathan . Upon Crais' arrival, Scorpius takes over his command. Crais defects to Moya to save himself, accepting along the way that Crichton had not meant to kill his brother. But this
10736-454: Is picked up by Moya: a Peacekeeper named Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ). Despite his best intentions, Crichton makes enemies, the primary one being Scorpius . There are a few standalone plots, and the show gradually unfolds progressive story arcs , beginning with their recapture by the Peacekeepers, followed by Crichton's search to find another wormhole back to Earth, and an eventual arms race for wormhole technology weapons. Secondary arcs explore
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#173279187001610912-417: Is planning something. Despite Aeryn's desire to reconcile, he pushes her away, even going so far as to suppress his feelings with drugs. A Scarran agent invades Moya , since the Scarrans and Peacekeepers are in an arms race to acquire Crichton's wormhole knowledge. Crichton is instead kidnapped by an Ancient whom he nicknames Einstein , who explains to him the catastrophic danger if wormhole tech falls into
11088-462: Is played by Claudia Black ). Pilot is a member of a race known to viewers simply as Pilots or "Servicers". He is introduced in the " Premiere " and plays a significant role in the resolution of The Peacekeeper Wars . Pilot was one of two regular animatronic puppet characters in Farscape . He is operated by Sean Masterson, Tim Mieville, Matt McCoy, Mario Halouvas and Fiona Gentle. His voice
11264-426: Is pregnant". Crichton got the message after Aeryn left and at once decided to retrieve her. Unfortunately, after that, Moya was sucked down by a wormhole, leaving Crichton stranded. After Crichton returned to the ship, Scorpius asked for asylum. Harvey suggested killing him. Scorpius proposed to erase Harvey. Since this Harvey had been in Crichton far longer than his twin, Crichton hesitated, but eventually agreed. Harvey
11440-405: Is pregnant, and Moya is sucked into a wormhole, leaving Crichton once again alone in space. Alone for months, Crichton has had nothing to do but obsess over Aeryn and wormholes. He finally makes a breakthrough on the latter when he meets a supposed Leviathan specialist, Sikozu , on the run from her employers. When Chiana and Rygel also return, they go together to Arnessk , where Jool, D'Argo and
11616-469: Is proof of that. He is highly educated and extremely intelligent, and exercises remarkable ingenuity. Only he knows how deep his schemes run and, while he claims his main desire is to eliminate the Scarran threat, protagonist John Crichton is loath to ever trust him. His rank is never mentioned, and it is assumed that he does not officially hold one. Wayne Pygram seemed to confirm this during an interview on
11792-491: Is provided by Lani Tupu (who also plays the character Captain Bialar Crais ). Moya's pilot is only known by his species's name, which also describes his role on the ship. His real name, if he has one, is unknown. Pilots bond with biomechanical Leviathan spacecraft and become their helmsman, navigator, companion, and liaison to passengers. Once bonded, Pilots can survive only a brief period of time of separation from their Leviathans, and only when travelling in something made of
11968-461: Is rescued and the only thing Harvey can do is give advice. Everything goes "fine" until John is twinned by a madman, twinning Harvey as well. Black Harvey, who goes to Talyn with his Crichton, advises to John to not trust the Ancient Jack. He also points out that Scorpius did not copy his module, but that it was Furlow who also had the sketchy wormhole data Crichton had in early Season 1. Talyn
12144-463: Is set aboard a living spacecraft named Moya of the Leviathan race. The physical, racial and species-specific cultural characteristics, as well as underlying mythological/sociological similarities and differences of the alien races portrayed in Farscape were conceptualised and created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop . John Robert Crichton, Jr. / ˈ k r aɪ t ən / , played by Ben Browder ,
12320-852: Is still in a coma. He is finally brought out of it when Aeryn places his new baby in his arms. The new family looks out onto the now peaceful galaxy, naming the baby D'Argo in honour of their friend, and promising the universe belongs to him. As the series progressed, a revolving cast of characters joined the crew of Moya. Between 2000 and 2002, Farscape won three Saturn Awards for Best Syndicated/Cable TV Series and one Best TV Actor (Browder). Additionally, in 1999, it received nominations for Best TV Actress ( Claudia Black ) and Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television ( Virginia Hey ). In 2002, it received nominations for Best TV Actress (Black), Best Supporting TV Actor ( Anthony Simcoe ), and Best Supporting TV Actress ( Gigi Edgley ). On 14 July 2005, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars received
12496-546: Is the only member of his crew aware of the order to return to High Command. When Scorpius gets hold of Crichton months later in the end of the first season, Crais joins Scorpius in interrogating Crichton in the Aurora Chair. Eventually, following a false memory, Crais is put in the chair and becomes bitter in the process, especially after he discovers that Scorpius will come with him on the Command Carrier (Scorpius
12672-462: Is threefold: he is to unlock the wormhole knowledge stored somewhere in Crichton's brain, protect Crichton's life until Scorpius manages to retrieve the chip, and prevent Crichton from hurting or killing Scorpius. Harvey also has the ability to stop Crichton's brain functions for a short time, making him appear dead. He can control Crichton's memory and nervous system when the chip is in place, which he uses to hide his presence from Crichton. Eventually,
12848-542: Is very honest about when it suits him. He will (and does over the course of the series) lie, kill in cold blood, order the deaths of multitudes, torture innocents, and sacrifice those close to him to get what he wants. He is also willing to aid his enemies or humiliate himself if it will further his goals. He has returned from supposedly fatal situations more than once, which he credits to his "foresight and preparation". He manipulates others to do his work but does much on his own; his obsession with Crichton and his wormhole secrets
13024-512: The Asgard characters are puppets in scenes where they are sitting, standing, or lying down. In Mystery Science Theater 3000 , the characters of Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo , two of the show's main (and most iconic) characters, are puppets constructed from random household items. As animation is completely free of the constraints of gravity, momentum, and physical reality, it is an ideal technique for science fiction and fantasy on television. In
13200-527: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Later series made in the 1960s included The Interpretaris (1966) Vega 4 (1967), and Phoenix Five (1970). The country's best known Science Fiction series was Farscape ; an American co-production, it ran from 1999 to 2003. A significant proportion of Australian produced Science Fiction programmes are made for the teens/young Adults market, including The Girl from Tomorrow ,
13376-459: The Farscape DVD set ; while Dominar Rygel XVI once claimed that Scorpius was "higher even than a captain" ("I-Yensch, You-Yensch"), the claim was made more as a boast in an attempt to inflate Scorpius' value to kidnappers. His authority is not absolute, however, as Commandant Mele-On Grayza informed him when she superseded it. During the series, he is shown to have the authority to command
13552-729: The Super Robots such as Mitsuteru Yokoyama 's Tetsujin 28-go ( Gigantor ) and Go Nagai 's Mazinger Z , and the Real Robots such as Yoshiyuki Tomino 's Gundam series and Shōji Kawamori 's Macross series. Other primary aspects of Japanese science fiction television are the superhero tokusatsu (a term literally meaning special effects ) series, pioneered by programs such as Moonlight Mask and Planet Prince . The suitmation technique has been used in long running franchises include Eiji Tsuburaya 's Ultra Series , Shotaro Ishinomori 's Kamen Rider Series , and
13728-619: The Super Sentai Series. In addition, several dramas utilize science fiction elements as framing devices, but are not labeled as "tokusatsu" as they do not utilize actors in full body suits and other special effects. Among the notable German language productions are: Danish television broadcast the children's TV-series Crash in 1984 about a boy who finds out that his room is a space ship. Early Dutch television series were Morgen gebeurt het [ nl ] (Tomorrow it will happen), broadcast from 1957 to 1959, about
13904-594: The 1950s". Doctor Who , which launched in 1963 and ran until 1989, then was revived in 2005, was listed in the Guinness World Records in 2006 as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world and as the "most successful" science fiction series of all time. Other cult British series in the science fiction genre include The Tomorrow People , Space: 1999 , Blake's 7 , Star Cops and Red Dwarf . Science fiction in Canada
14080-453: The 1970s. No other show attracted a large organized following until the 1990s, when Babylon 5 attracted both Star Trek fans and a large number of literary SF fans who previously had not been involved in media fandom. Other series began to attract a growing number of followers. The British series, Doctor Who , has similarly attracted a devoted following. In the late 1990s, a market for celebrity autographs emerged on eBay , which created
14256-472: The 1990s as CGI became more affordable and practical, but even today, designers sometimes construct scale models which are then digitized for use in animation software. Models of characters are puppets . Gerry Anderson created a series of shows using puppets living in a universe of models and miniature sets, notably Thunderbirds . ALF depicted an alien living in a family, while Farscape included two puppets as regular characters. In Stargate SG-1 ,
14432-418: The 20th century, many of these techniques were expensive and involved a small number of dedicated craft practitioners, while the reusability of props, models, effects, or animation techniques made it easier to keep using them. The combination of high initial cost and lower maintenance cost pushed producers into building these techniques into the basic concept of a series, influencing all the artistic choices. By
14608-554: The Aeryn-focused episode "The Choice", the seventeenth episode of the third season. Dominar Rygel XVI (called simply Rygel ) was once the royal ruler of the Hynerian Empire. He is known for being selfish and collects anything valuable, and was one of two regular puppet characters on the show. Rygel was operated by John Eccleston , Sean Masterson, Tim Mieville, Matt McCoy, Mario Halouvas and Fiona Gentle. His voice
14784-612: The Aurora Chair failed to reveal the wormhole information he was after. His name, given to him by Crichton, is taken from either the Mary Chase play Harvey , in which Harvey is an invisible six-foot, one-and-a-half-inch tall rabbit that only Elwood P. Dowd can see, or the popular film versions, both starring Jimmy Stewart (1950; 1972). Harvey first appeared in " Crackers Don't Matter " and had his last appearance in The Peacekeeper Wars Part 2 . Harvey's purpose
14960-542: The Crichton on Moya continues studying wormholes, helped by the repository in his brain. Jack the Ancient finds the Talyn Crichton, forcibly extracts Harvey and unlocks the wormhole knowledge, but this Crichton later dies of radiation poisoning from a wormhole weapon. When the survivors of the two crews are reunited, Aeryn (in her grief) is very cold to the remaining Crichton, due to him having different memories about
15136-511: The Empress insists he marry the Princess , or else she will hand him over to Scorpius. Terrified of Scorpius after his experiences on the base, Crichton is forced to agree . Aeryn, who has been growing attached to Crichton, finds herself jealous. Despite various plots by Peacekeepers and an agent of their enemies the Scarrans, the Moya crew manage to wheedle their way out once again, although
15312-407: The Farscape incident and was Mission Commander on one of those missions. In the first episode of season one, during a test flight designed to prove a scientific theory concerning the use of planetary gravity as a means for spaceship acceleration, a wormhole appears, and John and his "Farscape One" module are pulled into and through it. On his exit from the wormhole, he finds himself in the middle of
15488-533: The Peacekeepers. He becomes a more or less trustworthy crewmember though he looks for any chance to get Crichton's knowledge and forms a relationship with Sikozu. At the end of the series, he returns to the Peacekeepers and in The Peacekeeper Wars , instigates a war between them and the Scarrens. At the end of The Peacekeeper Wars he finally gets what he wants when Crichton uses a wormhole weapon on
15664-494: The Peacekeepers. When the Peacekeeper Grand Chancellor considers surrender, Grayza kills him and takes over to make sure the war continues. On Qujaga the aliens, called Eidolons , realise that killing Crichton and Aeryn was a mistake and reanimate them. Scorpius instantly realizes this and abandons the war to track him down, hoping to acquire the wormhole tech once and for all as the only way of stopping
15840-492: The Princess is indeed left pregnant. Meanwhile, D'Argo and Chiana begin a relationship based mostly on sex, and Zhaan is tasked with protecting Moya by the Leviathian's creator-gods. Crichton has a chance to kill Scorpius, but finds himself unable to do it, blocked by some unknown cause. That cause is revealed when Crichton is kidnapped by Scarrans – during his torture on the base, Scorpius had implanted Crichton with
16016-438: The Scarrans and did everything to convince him, but the Crichton clone claimed he had already lost everything. After Crichton refused to give him the data he needed, his anger's Scarran heat destroyed the chip and killed him. His last words were: "You think that neural clones go to heaven? Well, wherever I wind up, when I see your mama, I'll be sure to give her your regards!" According to the show's executive producer David Kemper ,
16192-440: The Scarrans that they can be found on Earth. The peacekeepers promise to protect Earth in exchange for allegiance but Crichton disagrees since it means dragging humanity into perpetual war between two galactic powers. Crichton's only option to save his home world is to destroy the wormhole that leads there, leaving him stranded in space forever. Before destroying the wormhole, he says goodbye to his father and reveals that he has put
16368-448: The Scarrans' most important base, Katratzi, claiming to want to sell the tech to the highest bidder. Instead they start a riot between the Scarrans' various servant races, blow up the base using a nuclear bomb and escape again. The Scarrans launch an attack against Earth – partly in retaliation but also to secure a source of Strelitzia plants. The plants are vital to a Scarran augmentation process and Crichton had inadvertently revealed to
16544-467: The Scarrans. Crichton again refuses. Meanwhile, the crew discover that the Eidolons are in fact a lost colony of the people of Arnessk, and have an innate ability to bring peace to others. If they can find more of their people, they will be able to stop the war. Moya, with Scorpius and Sikozu in tow, heads back to Arnessk, where the ancient people have been revived and are working with Jool. They agree to help, but Scarran Emperor Staleek attacks, destroying
16720-430: The Scarrens and Peacekeepers and is horrified, calling it "madness", finally understanding the danger of what he sought. He is last seen on Moya smiling as the Scarrens and Peacekeepers sign a peace treaty. Harvey is a neural clone of Scorpius and exists solely in the head of John Crichton . He was also played by Wayne Pygram . Harvey is the result of a neural chip that was placed into Crichton's brain by Scorpius after
16896-528: The US on the Sci-Fi Channel and on BBC Two in the United Kingdom. The series' original broadcast on Sci-Fi was noted for its erratic scheduling, with hiatuses lasting months often occurring mid-season. For example, the final four episodes of Season 1 aired beginning in January 2000, nearly four months after the broadcast of the preceding episode; the final four episodes of Season 3 were separated from
17072-400: The Uncharted Territories, and thus have no idea how to get home. The other crew also have little respect for Crichton, seeing him only as a "primitive hoo-man" who does not understand even the basic tenets of life in space. Various episodes explore the characters' backstories. Aeryn, the fighter pilot, begins to learn that the Peacekeepers are not always as correct as she had believed. Zhaan
17248-407: The ancient Pilot of Elack, who housed Crichton when he was separated from Moya and sacrificed her quiet death in the Leviathan's Burial Ground to help Crichton escape from the Peacekeepers. Moya's child Talyn did not need a Pilot by Peacekeeper design, but nevertheless could support one. Scorpius , played by Wayne Pygram , is the half-Sebacean, half-Scarran Peacekeeper, and the primary antagonist of
17424-439: The appearance of being promiscuous; she attempted to seduce Jothee, D'Argo's son, the present and past versions of John Crichton as well as others. In Season 2, the writers created a backstory for Chiana, along with a family member. She has one named relative, her brother Nerri, three years her senior. Along with Nerri, she escaped Nebari Prime at a young age, and then the two traveled around for some years. Nerri decided to join
17600-483: The base and killing Jool. Staleek doesn't want peace – he wants victory. Only one Eidolon remains, who is able to transmit the ability to Stark, and the crew escape the Scarrans with the help of D'Argo's son Jothee. They return to Qujaga to find that the Peacekeeper-Scarran war has reached the planet. Crichton and the others must get through the battle to reach the remaining Eidolons on the planet and pass
17776-461: The beginning of Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars mini-series, and Crichton uses his wormhole knowledge to successfully force a peace treaty between the warring Peacekeepers and Scarrans. The wormhole knowledge in his brain is finally removed by Einstein the Ancient. During the mini-series, Aeryn gives birth to their son, named D'Argo Sun-Crichton in honor of their late comrade. Aeryn Sun / ˈ ɛər ɪ n ˈ s ʊ n / , played by Claudia Black ,
17952-444: The character after his friend, contemporary mystery novelist Robert Crais . Bialar Crais was born in a Sebacean farming community, but while still a boy, he and his younger brother Tauvo were taken from their family and conscripted into the Peacekeeper military. As they were hauled away, Crais' father charged him to look after his younger brother, which was a major burden for Crais. When the human John Crichton accidentally followed
18128-490: The chip becomes strong enough to completely dominate Crichton's mind and body. Even after the chip is removed, Harvey is able to exert limited control over Crichton. After Scorpius reprograms him, Harvey has some type of mental link to Scorpius that allows Scorpius to track Crichton down after John is revived from his crystallization by the Eidelons. Harvey contains much of Scorpius' knowledge and intellect. In Season 2, Harvey
18304-436: The crew members of Moya, and Aeryn and Scorpius, who has fallen out of favor with Peacekeeper high command. Shortly, after arrival, Scorpius offers to remove Harvey. Due to the neural clone's longer presence within and increased familiarity with Crichton, Harvey's reaction includes persuasion and appeal to sympathy rather than threats. Crichton still agrees to allow Scorpius to remove the lingering neural spillover. Halfway through
18480-422: The crew move into action to save Crichton. Even Crais and Talyn return to assist . The rescue is successful, although Moya is severely damaged and Crichton is nearly insane from the effects of the neural clone. At the medical colony to fix them both, the clone takes control of Crichton, seemingly killing Aeryn just as she admits her love for him. With Aeryn dead, Crichton wants the chip removed once and for all. At
18656-404: The crew. Moya encounters an independent Sebacean colony (Sebaceans being the race from which Peacekeepers are drawn), where the heir to the throne has been genetically poisoned by her younger brother so that she cannot procreate with any Sebacean male, which would allow him to take the throne instead. Recognising Crichton as a possible substitute to ensure the continued independence of her world,
18832-450: The currently-imprisoned Crichton. She is also skilled in medicine and other related sciences. During her time aboard Moya, she is often seen making drugs and explosives in her workshop to assist her shipmates. As a Pa'u, Zhaan's spiritual abilities significantly improve upon achieving a new level. When first introduced, Zhaan is a level nine Pa'u, with the ability to lessen the pain of others by taking some portion of it into herself. Later in
19008-420: The death. Crichton eventually wins, but Maldis quickly gets rid of Crais and tells Crichton his plan was to get Crais into a frenzy so he'd bring his Command Carrier further in the Uncharted Territories for a "carnage on a truly massive scale". While Maldis is defeated by Zhaan, his plan worked nonetheless. Crais disobeys direct orders from High Command, continues the hunt and brutally murders his own lieutenant who
19184-480: The development of the Massive software application permits producers to include hordes of non-human characters to storm a city or space station. The robotic Cylons in the new version of Battlestar Galactica are usually animated characters, while the Asgard in Stargate SG-1 are animated when they are shown walking around or more than one is on screen at once. In general, science fiction series are subject to
19360-533: The domestic television market, most Canadian productions involve partnerships with production studios based in the United States and Europe. However, in recent years, new partnership arrangements are allowing Canadian investors a growing share of control of projects produced in Canada and elsewhere. Australia's first locally produced Science Fiction series was The Stranger (1964–65) produced and screened by
19536-559: The earliest forms of media fandom was Star Trek fandom . Fans of the series became known to each other through the science fiction fandom . In 1968, NBC decided to cancel Star Trek . Bjo Trimble wrote letters to contacts in the National Fantasy Fan Foundation, asking people to organize their local friends to write to the network to demand the show remain on the air. Network executives were overwhelmed by an unprecedented wave of correspondence, and they kept
19712-404: The effects of various rayguns , squibs of blood and gruesome prosthetics to simulate the monsters and victims in horror series, and the wire-flying entrances and exits of George Reeves as Superman . The broad term "special effects" includes all the techniques here, but more commonly there are two categories of effects. Visual effects ("VFX") involve photographic or digital manipulation of
19888-506: The end of the season, Aeryn is injured and the crew is forced to go to a Peacekeeper base to seek medical help. Crichton disguises himself as a Peacekeeper to gain access, but the base's commander, Scorpius , instantly sees through the ruse and imprisons Crichton, calling Crais to come and get him. Under torture, Crichton discovers that the Ancients placed specialized knowledge of wormholes in his subconscious mind—knowledge that Scorpius
20064-456: The first decade of the 21st century, changes in provincial tax legislation prompted many production companies to move from Toronto to Vancouver . Recent popular series produced in Vancouver include The Dead Zone , Smallville , Andromeda , Stargate Atlantis , Stargate Universe , The 4400 , Sanctuary and the reimagined Battlestar Galactica . Because of the small size of
20240-456: The first season, and intends to sell it to the Scarrans. With the help of the Ancients, Crichton unlocks the wormhole knowledge just enough to destroy the Scarran ship, but suffers radiation exposure and dies in Aeryn's arms . When the two crews finally reunite , Aeryn cannot face the remaining Crichton, and Talyn is becoming increasingly violent and uncontrollable. Crichton resolves to destroy
20416-408: The form of a militaristic organization called the Peacekeepers. The protagonists live inside a large bio-mechanical ship called Moya which is a living entity. In the first episode, they are joined by the main character, John Crichton ( Ben Browder ), a modern-day American astronaut who accidentally flies into a wormhole near Earth during an experimental space flight. On the same day, another stranger
20592-498: The fourth season. Furthermore, The Jim Henson Company had been acquired by EM.TV & Merchandising AG in 2000 and by 2002 they were experiencing significant financial difficulties. According to the DVD featurette "Save Farscape", Henson, Kemper, and Ben Browder announced the cancellation during an online chat with fans, and within hours fans had mounted a campaign to restore the show or transfer it to another network. Early plans to scrap
20768-414: The idea for Harvey came from a necessity to have the character of Scorpius more visible during the show. As the show's main villain, he needed to be a constant and viable threat. After seeing a hallucinated Scorpius interact with Crichton in the second season's fourth episode, " Crackers Don't Matter ", they came up with the idea of putting Scorpius inside of John's head. The clone's presence was hinted at in
20944-516: The impossible characters and settings allowed in animation made this a preferred medium for both fantasy and for series aimed at young audiences. Originally, animation was all hand-drawn by artists, though in the 1980s, beginning with Captain Power , computers began to automate the task of creating repeated images; by the 1990s, hand-drawn animation became defunct. In recent years as technology has improved, this has become more common, notably since
21120-480: The last few months; the crew members of Moya start going their separate ways at the end of season three. Just after Aeryn Sun leaves Crichton, seemingly for good, he learns that she is pregnant with his child (whether the child belongs to the Moya Crichton or the Talyn Crichton is left unknown). Early season four leaves Crichton with nothing but time to work on his wormhole theories. He eventually reunites with
21296-405: The last of her life to separate the ships, adding more guilt to Crichton's conscience. He also discovers that despite the chip's removal, the personality clone Harvey remains in his mind. Due to a harrowing encounter with another escaped prisoner with a cloning device, Crichton ends up twinned – a duplicate created so that there are two Crichtons, both equal and original. Talyn is attacked by
21472-449: The late 1990s, improved technology and more training and cross-training within the industry made all of these techniques easier to use, so that directors of individual episodes could make decisions to use one or more methods, so such artistic choices no longer needed to be baked into the series concept. Special effects (or "SPFX") have been an essential tool throughout the history of science fiction on television: small explosives to simulate
21648-505: The long-running Mr. Squiggle , Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left , Ocean Girl , Crash Zone , Watch This Space and Spellbinder . Other series like Time Trax , Roar , and Space: Above and Beyond were filmed in Australia, but used mostly US crew and actors. Japan has a long history of producing science fiction series for television. Some of the most famous are anime such as Osamu Tezuka 's Astro Boy ,
21824-413: The majority of science fiction media fandom has been represented by males of all ages and for most of its modern existence, a fairly diverse racial demographic. The most highly publicized demographic for science fiction fans is the male adolescent; roughly the same demographic for American comic books . Female fans, while always present, were far fewer in number and less conspicuously present in fandom. With
22000-422: The many alien looks, make-up and prosthetics ; two regular characters on the show, the animatronic puppets Rygel and Pilot, were entirely Henson Creature Shop creations. Although the series was planned for five seasons, it was abruptly cancelled after production had ended on its fourth season, thus finishing the series on a cliffhanger. Co-producer Brian Henson later secured the rights to Farscape , paving
22176-535: The meaning from its context. Information about John Crichton's life before the first episode is only revealed slowly over the course of the series. He was the middle child born to Jack (an astronaut) and Leslie Crichton. He has two sisters, Olivia (his younger sister) and an older sister, Susan. He has a childhood friend named Douglas "D.K." Knox. John's mother died of cancer four years before his Farscape One accident. John Crichton followed in his father's footsteps by becoming an astronaut, flew on two missions prior to
22352-525: The meeting Aeryn is captured. Desperate to rescue her, Crichton promises to give Scorpius the wormhole tech in return for his help. They infiltrate a Scarran base and rescue Aeryn but Scorpius is captured in the attempt. Crichton is happy to leave him there but the neural clone Harvey informs them that Scorpius already has the wormhole tech and may reveal it to the Scarrans under torture. The crew of Moya are forced to launch yet another attempt to either rescue or kill Scorpius. They walk into another meeting at
22528-445: The miniseries. D'Argo and Chiana's relationship is subsequently tense, but they can at least maintain an amicable association as crewmates. After being mortally wounded in The Peacekeeper Wars , D'Argo covers the escape of his comrades off Qujaga, which was then destroyed by Crichton's wormhole weapon. John Crichton and Aeryn Sun then name their son, born during the battle, D'Argo, in his memory. The episode "Unrealized Reality" features
22704-495: The mission, leaving Moya for the first time in a long time to aid Crichton's plan. Though Pilot was left weakened by his separation from Moya, he succeeded in destroying the wormhole and saving Earth, inadvertently killing the crew of a Scarren Stryker in the process. He was later rebonded with Moya. Other Pilot characters seen briefly in the series include that of the damaged and mutilated Leviathan named Rovhu, whose limbs were repeatedly eaten and regrown by carnivorous prisoners, and
22880-412: The mixed personality also is attracted to) and transmits a message to Scorpius. After that, Crichton regains control, the chip is removed and stolen by Scorpius. In Season 3, Harvey discovers that even though the chip was removed, he has blended with Crichton's subconscious and is trapped there forever without any of his previous powers. He attempts to manipulate John to commit suicide, but fails. Crichton
23056-509: The more familiar Pilot took her place, seduced by his desire to travel the stars, something that had been denied him by the elders of his race because he was still young and immature. Unwilling to allow the slow gradual bonding of Pilot and Leviathan that is normal, the Peacekeepers forcibly grafted the new Pilot into Moya's systems, an action that allowed him control over the ship but at the cost of continuous pain, until Pilot pulled free from his connections with Moya and re-bonded himself to Moya at
23232-485: The natural speed. The second Pilot carried the guilt of his role in the death of the first for several years. Pilot is effectively immobile in the heart of the ship, but plays a key role in numerous adventures, and the other characters come to rely upon him as a figure of wisdom and comfort. Early in the series he is attacked and mutilated by members of the crew, as a local scientist wanted Pilot flesh in return for giving them maps to their homes. Despite this, he did not hold
23408-599: The near-legendary ship, the Zelbinion , and was eventually transferred to Moya . Due to his size and cunning, he is able not only to leave his cell at will, but also to organize and carry out a revolt among the other prisoners placed on Moya, allowing them to escape Peacekeeper control. After the escape (i.e., during the series), Rygel is shown to be cunning and resourceful but also focused almost entirely on his own personal goals and wealth. As time goes on, his egocentric attitude becomes less prevalent and he warms to his role as
23584-571: The new Peacekeeper Commando chasing the crew – Xhalax Sun , Aeryn's mother. To escape her, Moya and Talyn starburst in opposite directions , splitting the crew, with one Crichton on each ship. On Moya, tensions rise over D'Argo's breakup with Chiana, Jool's grating personality, and Crichton's increasing obsession with wormholes. An encounter with an alien Energy Rider also instils precognitive abilities in Chiana (or possibly only activates already present abilities). Meanwhile, Scorpius tries to access
23760-500: The old woman – Noranti – have joined an Interon archaeological dig. They find artefacts that suggest a connection between humans, Sebaceans and Interons. Commandant Grayza interrupts, having taken Scorpius prisoner and "kills" him to show good faith to Crichton. Crichton wants nothing to do with her and escapes . Crichton finds that Aeryn has made a deal with Scorpius to let him on Moya after he saved her life. Crichton keeps Scorpius imprisoned but remains paranoid that his former enemy
23936-406: The only way to end Scorpius' project is to destroy the ship . Crais orders Talyn to starburst inside the ship, killing them both and destroying the entire Command Carrier. Believing they are finally free from pursuit, the crew buries Talyn's remains and splits up to go their own ways. But at the last second, a strange old woman formerly imprisoned on the Command Carrier informs Crichton that Aeryn
24112-536: The onscreen image, usually done in post-production . Mechanical or physical effects involve props, pyrotechnics, and other physical methods used during principal photography itself. Some effects involved a combination of techniques; a ray gun might require a pyrotechnic during filming, and then an optical glowing line added to the film image in post-production. Stunts are another important category of physical effects. In general, all kinds of special effects must be carefully planned during pre-production . Babylon 5
24288-414: The present and future in slow motion, and each time she used this ability, the following blindness would last longer than before until she ended up completely blind at the end of season 4. Shortly before the start of Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars , she received new eyes from a Diagnosan that allowed her to 'see' energy sources and, to an extent, see through walls. In the episode "Durka Returns", Chiana
24464-545: The resistance fighting against the Nebari leaders, and split up with Chiana so she would not be endangered by his activities. In the third season of the show, Chiana harbours hopes of meeting up with her brother and joining the resistance to reunite with him. In Season 3, the writers created a scenario in which Chiana developed a new ability. After her encounter with an Energy Rider, Chiana began to experience precognitive visions that left her with blindness and splitting headaches. These visions later evolved into being able to see
24640-499: The rest of the season by a gap of more than six months. Each episode cost more than $ 1 million to make. Earth astronaut John Crichton is unexpectedly hurled to an unknown part of the Milky Way galaxy via a wormhole . He finds himself in the middle of an escape attempt by Moya , a living spaceship, from the militaristic Peacekeepers , who had been using it as a prison transport. In the chaos, he has an accidental collision with
24816-404: The rising popularity of fanfiction , a large majority of which is categorized as slash fanfiction . Female fans comprise the majority of fanfiction writers. U.S. television science fiction has produced Lost In Space , Star Trek , The Twilight Zone , and The X-Files , among others. British television science fiction began in 1938 when the broadcast medium was in its infancy with
24992-424: The rising popularity of fanzines, female fans became increasingly vocal. Starting in the 2000s (decade), genre series began to offer more prominent female characters. Many series featured women as the main characters with males as supporting characters. True Blood is an example. Also, such shows premises moved away from heroic action-adventure and focused more on characters and their relationships. This has caused
25168-403: The same financial constraints as other television shows. However, high production costs increase the financial risk, while limited audiences further complicate the business case for continuing production. Star Trek was the first television series to cost more than $ 100,000 per episode, while Star Trek: The Next Generation was the first to cost more than $ 1 million per episode. One of
25344-455: The same time, Scorpius catches up with them again, killing the doctor and announcing that the chip has completed its work and found the wormhole knowledge. He removes the chip and leaves Crichton incapacitated at the hospital. Having survived Scorpius' attack, the doctor saves Crichton by using biological material from a suitable donor – an alien called an Interon which may be a cousin species to humans. Scorpius fools Crais into thinking he
25520-417: The season, Crichton finds his way back to Earth, but he voluntarily gives up the dream of Earth and returns to Moya. After a series of dangerous events (including Harvey's resurrection) Crichton and Aeryn find time alone together. Aeryn tells him he is the father of her child and Crichton proposes to her. The moment she accepts, an alien craft melts the two and ends the season. Crichton and Aeryn are revived at
25696-488: The second and third episodes of the " Look at the Princess " trilogy as well as in " Beware of Dog " before his presence was revealed outright to Crichton in the season's 15th episode, " Won't Get Fooled Again ". However, this then became an example of dramatic irony , as Crichton's memory of Harvey was erased, until he was revealed again. Bialar Crais , played by Lani Tupu , was the series' original antagonist throughout season 1. The series' creator, Rockne O'Bannon , named
25872-498: The seemingly dead Aeryn Sun , and in the process became critically ill herself. While the crew are searching for a planet with the right conditions for Zhaan to heal, John Crichton diverts Moya to investigate a wormhole instead, where the Leviathan collides with another spacecraft. In order to save Moya and her crew, Zhaan sacrifices herself by piloting the other craft away before it is destroyed. In real life, Virginia Hey left
26048-412: The series with Crichton's help, she gains a level, becoming a level ten Pa'u and gaining the ability to protect others from psychic attack with her own mind. In the episode "Bone to Be Wild" she shows that for short periods of time she can make herself invisible, although it is not stated whether or not this is only possible when surrounded by foliage. Towards the beginning of the third season, Zhaan saved
26224-864: The series, relentlessly pursuing John Crichton for the secrets of wormhole technology locked in John Crichton 's unconscious mind to create a wormhole weapon. He is the product of an experiment by the Scarrans – his Sebacean mother was raped by a Scarran to see if there would be any benefit in a hybrid. Raised by Scarrans, he has come to hate them, to reject his Scarran side, and to live for revenge against them. His physical attributes and his character traits are influenced by his race. Scorpius first appeared in " Nerve " and made his last appearance in " The Peacekeeper Wars Part 2 ". Being half Scarran, Scorpius's body produces an extreme amount of body heat, particularly when angry. However, being also half-Sebacean means that too much heat will kill him. To prevent this he wears
26400-565: The series. The show derives much of its humor from Crichton's habitual (and extensive) use of Earth-related pop culture references, often used as witty mockery in the face of danger or opponents who, being unfamiliar with the references, are unaware that they are being insulted. Although an occasional reference will provoke curiosity or confusion to his friends, Crichton's fellow shipmates are largely unaffected by these comments because they simply assume them to be native Earth terms that cannot be interpreted by translator microbes and merely extrapolate
26576-488: The sets after production were postponed after news of the cancellation broke, partly as a result of the fan campaign. The sets were put in storage pending a possible future revival of the show. Cartoonist Bill Amend , creator of the syndicated comic strip FoxTrot , addressed the series' cancellation in an 8 October 2002 strip wherein the character Jason Fox petitioned to have the Sci-Fi channel renew Farscape . Soon after
26752-408: The show because of health problems related to the extensive makeup and demanding work schedule. She still reappeared as Zhaan in two fourth-season episodes, "John Quixote" and "Unrealized Reality"; series director Rowan Woods also made an on-screen appearance as a male virtual reality incarnation in "John Quixote", and Zhaan appears in archive footage in The Peacekeeper Wars . Hey's voice was used in
26928-487: The show on the air. Although the series continued to receive low ratings and was canceled a year later, the enduring popularity of the series resulted in Paramount creating a set of movies, and then a new series Star Trek: The Next Generation , which by the early 1990s had become one of the most popular dramas on American television. Star Trek fans continued to grow in number, and first began organizing conventions in
27104-491: The strip ran, Amend remarked that it "generated more e-mails from readers than anything else I've done in the past. I had no idea that so many people owned computers, even I shudder to think what the mail boxes at the Sci-Fi Channel must be like these days." The 2010 DVD release of the series on A&E Home Video includes footage of producer David Kemper addressing the cast on the final day of shooting, in which he read
27280-477: The target unconscious without killing them. Throughout the first half of the series, D'Argo's consuming desire was to find Jothee, his son by Lo'Laan. After Jothee was found, his plans to settle down with his son and Chiana scared the Nebari girl, resulting in her betraying him by having sex with Jothee. D'Argo and Jothee part on bad terms in " Suns and Lovers ", but they are later reunited and somewhat reconciled in
27456-407: The techniques of peace to them, all while both sides are still after him for wormhole technology. Once there, Crichton and Aeryn are finally able to marry and Aeryn gives birth, but D'Argo is fatally wounded in the escape and dies offscreen. Realising that neither side will take no for an answer, Crichton returns to Einstein and convinces him to unlock the knowledge, which Crichton then uses to launch
27632-503: The transmission of a partial adaptation of Karel Čapek 's play R.U.R. . Despite an occasionally chequered history, programmes in the genre have been produced by both the BBC and the largest commercial channel, ITV . Nigel Kneale 's The Quatermass Experiment (1953) and its sequels have been called "one of BBC Television's earliest audience successes" and Kneale became "one of the most influential television and film writers to emerge in
27808-470: The way for a three-hour miniseries, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars , which Henson himself directed. In 2007, it was announced that the creator was returning for a web series, though production has been repeatedly delayed. In December 2008, a comic book miniseries was released, in-continuity with both the television show and the potential online series. Farscape features a diverse ensemble of characters who are initially escaping from corrupt authorities in
27984-447: The way in which the characters change due to their influences and adventures together, most notably Crichton and his obsession with wormhole technology, his relationship with Aeryn, and the neural clone of Scorpius in his brain that haunts him. The series was originally conceived in the early 1990s by Rockne S. O'Bannon and Brian Henson under the title Space Chase . The series is told in a serialized format, with each episode involving
28160-404: The weekly credits and is the only character to appear in every episode. Along with Michael Shanks ' character of Daniel Jackson in Stargate SG-1 , Browder's Crichton has been called one of the sexiest male characters in science fiction. Although Crichton is a heroic and unwaveringly loyal character, he is also a mischievously comical one, so much so that he is the primary source of humor for
28336-422: The wormhole data, but finds that the chip now contains a neural clone of Crichton, who refuses to allow Scorpius access. On Talyn, Crais explains that Xhalax wants to recapture him as a renegade Peacekeeper, and to recapture Talyn as a powerful warship. After a vicious battle , Aeryn allows Crais to kill her mother. Crichton discovers that the mechanic, Furlow, has been working on the wormhole data he gave her in
28512-444: The wormhole information that Scorpius has by pretending to help him and then crippling the project from within. In return for his help, Scorpius grants the Moya crew leniency for their crimes. But high-ranking Peacekeeper Commandant Grayza interferes, claiming that the Moya crew's continued freedom is an embarrassment and Scorpius' own obsession with wormhole tech does not outweigh their criminal record. Crichton finally decides that
28688-465: The wormhole that brought him here. He is forced to sell what little progress he has made to an alien mechanic as payment for repairs on the Farscape module. He is also lured into a wormhole that seems to lead directly back to Earth, only to find the entire situation is a construct created by mysterious aliens called the Ancients , who are testing to see if Earth is suitable for colonization. Towards
28864-506: The wrong hands. Returning from that meeting, the entire Moya crew accidentally ends up on Earth , providing humans with their first confirmed contact with extraterrestrials and alien technology. Crichton is finally home but finds that the world is too paranoid and distrustful to accept his alien friends due to 9/11 and the fact that the US government only wants to monopolize alien tech and knowledge for global domination. He has also been so affected by his experiences that he cannot relax there –
29040-511: Was Farscape' s very liberal use of frell ." EmpireOnline ranked it #45 of "the 50 greatest TV shows of all time" in February 2013. In September 2002, the Sci-Fi Channel (then-owned by Vivendi Universal ) opted to withdraw its funding of the fifth season, canceling the show, just before the first half of the fourth season finished airing. The Sci-Fi Channel concluded that the series was too expensive to renew, as ratings had declined during
29216-557: Was "mortally wounded" nonetheless. In his last minutes, he took control over the unconscious Crichton and attempted to manipulate Aeryn to shoot him, claiming Crichton was dead. He failed and his last words were: "A soldier must not be weak. Weakness means defeat." Green Harvey faced death when John Crichton was attacked by Ka D'Argo in Luxan hyper-rage. John's reasons to live (Earth, dad, pizza, sex, cold beer, fast cars, sex, Aeryn, love) were not adequate so Harvey proposed revenge. To discover
29392-493: Was a political crackdown and it is implied that some atrocities occurred under Bitaal's rule. Zhaan, while in Unity (an erotic, if not entirely sexual, activity unique to Delvians) with Bitaal, killed him and drove herself insane in the process. It is unclear whether Zhaan was a member of a terrorist group or whether she acted alone . It is clear, however, that Zhaan was courted by a violent revolutionary organization of Pa'us on
29568-467: Was a thief so slippery that she evades Moya's internal sensors. She proves to be resourceful in "Nerve", distracting the Peacekeepers from John, disguising herself as a tech, manipulating Gilina and delivering Talyn. An alternate reality version of Chiana appeared in "Unrealized Reality" and "Prayer"; in the latter episode she is killed by Scorpius, an act that disturbs Crichton because, in the alternate reality of those two episodes, she resembles Aeryn (and
29744-557: Was aware of Crais's crimes). Eventually, Scorpius slowly usurped Crais's position and after a physical fight with the menacing hybrid, Crais realizes that he will soon have to face the consequences of his decisions for the past cycle. He helps the crew of Moya escape and is granted asylum. During the second season, Bialar quickly forms a bond with Moya's offspring, Talyn. Crais finds Talyn difficult to control, but he becomes neurally linked to Talyn and they leave Moya. Crais and Talyn later again cross paths with Moya and her crew after Talyn hears
29920-464: Was deleted after his success, since his purpose was finally fulfilled. His last words were: "Goodbye John. Thanks... for your memories" After the chip was removed, it was discovered by Scorpius that although his neural clone had blended into Crichton, the opposite happened in the chip. A neural clone of John Crichton existed within it. And since there were encryptions to the wormhole data, only he could unlock them. Scorpius showed him his violent past with
30096-588: Was in the form of video showings of popular anime, untranslated and often low quality VHS bootlegs. Starting in the 1990s, anime fans began organizing conventions. These quickly grew to sizes much larger than other science fiction and media conventions in the same communities; many cities now have anime conventions attracting five to ten thousand attendees. Many anime conventions are a hybrid between non-profit and commercial events, with volunteer organizers handling large revenue streams and dealing with commercial suppliers and professional marketing campaigns. For decades,
30272-611: Was produced by the CBC as early as the 1950s. In the 1970s, CTV produced The Starlost . In the 1980s, Canadian animation studios including Nelvana , began producing a growing proportion of the world market in animation. In the 1990s, Canada became an important player in live action speculative fiction on television, with dozens of series like Forever Knight , Robocop , and most notably The X-Files and Stargate SG-1 . Many series have been produced for youth and children's markets, including Deepwater Black and MythQuest . In
30448-533: Was provided by Jonathan Hardy . Rygel has a long history. After ruling for an unknown number of years as Dominar of the Hynerians, he was overthrown by his cousin Bishan. After the overthrow, which occurred over 130 cycles (years) before the events of Farscape , he became a prisoner of the Peacekeepers . During this time, he was imprisoned in several places and tortured, most notably by Selto Durka , captain of
30624-464: Was quickly taken to Furlow's desert planet, but it was no longer inhabited. Charrids, the collaborators of Scarrans, had overrun Furlow's mechanic lab though. Furlow indeed had made progress and the Scarrans soon got the data. To destroy the Dreadnought, Jack began building a wormhole weapon. To make sure Harvey would not get the unlocked data, Jack decided to destroy him. Harvey angrily opposed, but
30800-416: Was removed. After Crichton and Scorpius had allied and Crichton broke the agreement and left the hybrid to die, Harvey was "resurrected" and improved to Harvey 2.0. He was loyal to Scorpius and had a connection with him so Scorpius would know he was alive. After Scorpius was rescued thanks to Harvey's lies, a war between Scarrans and Peacekeepers broke out and Crichton finally created the wormhole weapon. Harvey
30976-401: Was the first series to use computer-generated imagery , or "CGI", for all exterior space scenes, even those with characters in space suits. The technology has made this more practical, so that today models are rarely used. In the 1990s, CGI required expensive processors and customized applications, but by the 2000s (decade), computing power has pushed capabilities down to personal laptops running
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