Farscape 1x14 Jeremiah Crichton

[oyceter]

I'd been watching Farscape senior year of college and must have gotten distracted by a variety of things come graduation. Also, to be honest, the first half of the season didn't really impress me too much. The episodes were largely one-offs, from what I remember, and Zhaan seemed too much "peaceful plant priestess" and D'Argo seemed too much "war-like warrior." I did like Rygel a good deal, just because of his sheer crochetiness, and of course, me being me, I adored Aeryn.

Alas, this episode has not much convinced me of the series' watchableness, but since a good deal of trust-worthy people on the flist are quite obsessed with Farscape and since I have had reassurance that the good stuff starts coming after this episode, I shall keep watching. Plus, I have Netflix, so it's not like it's really a great deal of trouble. Have been wanting a new show anyway.

So Crichton is tetchy with the rest of the crew and flies out and gets abandoned. Poor Crichton. Although mostly I wanted to bop him, because isn't there a better place to get away from stuff, than, say, the middle of outer space nowhere near anything you know? Oh well.

Crichton lands on one of those backwards planets full of people who have never herad of technology. I am quite sick of these types of planets, but at least there was an explanation for it in the end. Also, why is everyone colorcoded? And who in the world thought magenta and orange was a good idea? And me being stubborn, I wonder where they got the dyes for said outfits and why in the world every single person is wearing the exact same color scheme, outside of a marker of "Alien Civilization Derived From Polynesia" and the costumer was lazy. And why are their clothes so bright and shiny when Crichton is all dusty and worn? Do they do nothing all day so as to keep their clothes clean?

Sorry, I nitpick. And, argh to the whole daughter of the chief falling for foreign person. Could the daughter of the chief one day not do that, please, and end up angering large warrior personage a la Pochahontas? Or, you know, how about son of the chief falling in love? And how about not having an evil priest/priestess of the religion who calls upon the tribe to kill the stranger too, while we're at it? Ditto with the entire one member of the crew is taken for a god plot, along with the aforementioned god disappointing everyone. At least the whole prophecy thing wasn't going to sacrifice said god, like I thought it was. But, ok, I saw that plot in Return of the Jedi! Am bored of primitive native peoples immediately proclaiming others as gods and then deposing said gods! Also, I don't particularly like contrite Rygel, because I like him grumpy and selfish and crochety.

Anyhow, wasn't too impressed, will still keep watching. Am waiting for arc to kick in, damnit.

Comments

[cofax7]

That episode is generally acknowledged (even by the show's staff) as one of the worst they ever did. OTOH, you should be getting some better episodes soon: the arc kicks off quite soon, and even the one-offs improve greatly.

[oyceter]

Phew, glad this was acknowledged at least!

And yay for forthcoming arc!

[graygirl.livejournal.com]

OMG--not the best episode ever. And that beard? Gak. Hang in there. Haaang in there! :)

[oyceter]

Hee! The beard was truly bad.

As was the island culture thing.

As was much of the ep ;).

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing that ep, looking at my husband, and saying, "Uh... he grows a beard but his hair's the same length? HUH?"

[oyceter]

Hee, maybe he was just going for the refugee look or something ;). Esp. given that everyone else on the island got to shave and probably could have lent him a razor if he had wanted.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha. Jeremiah Crichton, a.k.a. the episode in which John's beard ate the universe. It's largely considered one of the bottom 10 episodes in the entire run of the series. The portrayal of the native people in particular is cringe-worthy to the power of ten. I like some of the John/Rygel interaction in it though.

Like cofax says, the season gets a lot better right after this.

[oyceter]

Hahaha! Truly it is a bad beard. And... yeah to the portrayal of native people.

Dude, I love your icon. Right now, the promise of better things to come and the coolness of Aeryn are keeping me on the show.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

This episode is so bad, so notoriously bad, that Ben Browder and the director did an entire DVD commentary on how much it reeks.

[oyceter]

Hee! I may have to watch that later.

[minim_calibre]

Damn. Shoulda watched the commentaries...

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

The Browder/Black commentaries are always worth watching; they're both witty people and obviously fond of each other, so the mockery flows freely.

The Jeremiah Crichton commentary is *only* on the Starburst edition; the DVDs are following the usual trick of re-releasing with added goodies to force the fans to re-buy.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I would try Farscape, but I'm put off by the silly prices the DVDs go for in the UK - five episode sets for the price most shows charge for a whole season.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

You exaggerate a little--the five-episode sets are about UKP20-25, and a full season of (say) Angel is UKP60-80. But in any case, full-season sets for at least the first two seasons of Farscape have been out for a while.

Me, I started with S3 on BBC, watched through S4 and the miniseries, and have yet to go back and fill in the gap that is the first two seasons. I do own them both, though.

[oyceter]

Ooh, that does suck. They're pretty expensive here, too, at least last time I check, but that is why I have Netflix.

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

Hi! I was wondering if you'd mind if I linked to this review (and potentially any further ones) at farscape_weekly?

This episode truly is one of the lower-quality ones on the show, and you've got several really excellent episodes in front of you.

[oyceter]

Oh, sure, feel free!

And I'm looking forward to the ones to come ^_^.

[rydra_wong]

(Of course, you should be aware that this is probably really a nefarious plot on sdwolfpup's part to set you up for the infamous Scaper puppy pile. Expect hordes of random strangers turning up in your LJ and squeeing. Like, er, me.)

Congratulations! You have survived what is, in many people's opinions, the Worst Farscape Episode Ever! And you are nearing the point when Farscape starts to become Farscape.

[oyceter]

LOL! I have been a part of the infamous Dunnett/Lymond Chronicles puppy pile (and then helped subject other people to it), but the Scaper one sounds bigger! Yay new fandoms!

And hey, it's good to know I've hit the worst point... now I have much to anticipate.