what do you think of premier?

[leeturnbull]

watched it again, i think that premier is a liitle lame?

dont get me wrong i love the show

just there is just so many more episodes to come that are brilliant and premier is just ok

maybe its because guy cross is not doing the music in premier, i think that helps a lot.

what is your opinion in premier?

i know it has to establish characters and it does that well, its just a tiny bit boring


lee

[BaseLine]

I thought it was a good pilot, but it did felt to me like they were rushing things in the beginning of the episode (fast talk with dad and best friend, launch, in orbit with spaceshuttle, test flight, wormhole, "Canaveral, do you copy?"). I wouldn't have minded to see a bit more of his life on Earth before he got shot through a wormhole. But for a pilot it was good.

[Nicola]

For a pilot it was excellent! The story isn't about his life on earth - it is about his life after the wormhole. Important to know he had a good life, but not important enough to dwell on.

I have to agree though. It might have been better a two hour show. Mind you, I would say that about any episode 'cause I love more Farscape!

[sny]

I thought it was a good pilot, but it did felt to me like they were rushing things in the beginning of the episode (fast talk with dad and best friend, launch, in orbit with spaceshuttle, test flight, wormhole, "Canaveral, do you copy?"). I wouldn't have minded to see a bit more of his life on Earth before he got shot through a wormhole. But for a pilot it was good.

Actually, I think that's one of the things that makes the pilot much, much better than average. For most shows, it takes 6 episodes or so for the characters and the plot and the action to take shape and for me to even figure out if I like it. I knew from that first episode with Farscape that I would be watching this show regularly. In Farscape, you are immediately thrown into the chaos and confusion that Crichton must feel after being shot through the wormhole and ending up on Moya in the premiere. The rush rush rush feel lends to the atmosphere, I think. And I can't see a NASA launch being laid back, either.

Whereas a lot of pilots would have done an hour of exposition via characters introducing themselves, "Hi, I'm John Crichton. I'm an astronaut. Let me tell you about myself in some boring dialogue... blah blah blah, etc." Farscape gets right to the action, throws Crichton through the wormhole, and lets you slowly discover his character as the show evolves. I like that we know almost nothing about John when he ends up on Moya. It lets you think about how you would react in that situation. The relationship with dad gets to come out in all his little tape recorded messages and so forth.

Now, it would have been interesting to see what (I think) Rockne said they would have done given the luxury of a 2 hour premiere. But given that they were limited to 1 hour instead of the preferred, I think they did a phenomenal job for a first episode. Pilots, in general, are terrible. Farscape wasn't quite what it was going to be in the premiere, but it was still head and shoulders above most everything else on television, even a lot of shows that had supposedly already "hit their stride".

[Selena]

Premiere was brilliant.
Ben so aptly captured John Crichton's wide eyed innocence that I have to watch Premiere often to remind myself of the ingenious acting on Ben Browder’s part in that ep that could so easily be dismissed - as leeturnbull puts it - as lame. But it is anything but lame.
Here’s a guy who is as smart as a tack, who does not believe in E.T. except in movies, who lives a nice orderly life where most things make sense and who is in control of most things around him. Then Farscape 1 and wormhole intersects, and John is thrust into chaos.
Most of Premiere is about the other characters and one very lost and alone human trying to convince himself that “this is a dream” from which he will awaken and everything will be ‘normal’ again.
But we all know that nothing will ever be ‘normal’ again for John Crichton.
I admire the simplicity of the episode, and the way it leaves a viewer wanting to know what is going to happen next. Premiere has a very special place in my heart.

[rinnicbob]

Rather than see it as weak in comparison to what's to come, I prefer to look at it as a less polished version of the same diamond.

The aura of innocence abroad in a really outrageous situation comes through very, very strongly. Not to mention, from the start you can see that this show is going to have extremely high production values. The acting is very sharp. Quite unusual qualities for a premier on a decidedly small network.

It would've been nice to have had a 2-hour premier, but the reality is, that would be highly unlikely given the fact that this was an original program on a very small network, just trying to find it's niche in a very competitive market.

Even though the creative minds behind it only gave us a bare glimpse of the
possibilites, isn't that all a premier is supposed to do?

$ .02, for what it's worth.

[so-much-4-sanity]

I love going back to the premiere and seeing how much the characters have changed; all of the characters are introduced wonderfully, you get a good general understanding of who they are and what their motivations may be, then they move on quickly and setup not just the whole Season but essentially the series. The innocense is amazing and then overlay what we know will happen, there is a dynamic empathy that I feel for the characters. Another thing too is they begin to setup preconceptions about the other characters, other than Chrichton, only to shatter them further into the season - its a great lesson about judgement, prejudice and all those other heavy issues.

[MaveZ]

I love going back to the premiere and seeing how much the characters have changed;

Exactly. Premiere is a very good pilot, and great episode to start watching Farscape...
I have noticed, that in some part while you are watching the show over again, it is good to go back and remember, how things got started.
Like now, im in the beginning of season three, and I think that next episode what I am going to watch is actually Premiere.

[soyarma]

I just watched the premiere last night and I noticed a few things that threw me off that I hadn't noticed before (I have only really watched the series once and from beginning to end so I am now seeing things in the premiere I didnt notice before).

Before I go into this all I would like to agree that it is possibly one of the best pilots I have ever seen. The only reason why it seems pale and wan is because of how truely breathtaking the series became as it progressed. The characterization in later episodes is so good that anything else seems like cardboard.

The first is a question about the shuttle he goes up in. When the shuttle is taking off you can see the name Collaroy on it. Is that where the name normally is, or does that mean something else entirely? (Reason I ask is am writing a story and I want to call the shuttle by name).

When he and his dad are talking pre-takoff and he gives his son the good luck charm he uses later to distract the PK Soldier he says "naw you cant give me that, you're gregarrry gave you that." I'm sure I misheard that, who does he say gave the charm to his dad?

Next thing I am curious about is what is up with Crais's bro hitting Crichton. All through the series it is referred to Crichton hitting him, and him being unstable, but he stabalized his module and was in control when Crais's brothers Prowler hit him. Is that just one of those things that was kinda ignored later as being slightly misrepresented in the premiere?

When Zhaan is trying to crack the codes to the control collar in command and her hands are moving REALLY fast, is that something that happened later in the series and I just missed it, or is it one of those things that they decided didnt really happen, lol.

In addition to that she seems to be sexually comming on to D'Argo and talking about 'the fourth sensation' as some sexual thing. I have not yet seen episodes 102 and 103, so maybe this is addressed then, but is it just me or do these two aspect's of Zhaans character totally dissappear? It seems to me that they changed Zhaan from being this sexy blue preist chic to this enlightened blue priest woman and that Chi was brought on to fill the sexy chic role. Thoughts on this?

When talking to Zhaan, D'Argo says that she was locked up for killing a fellow soldier, his commanding officer. Does he later admit that that was a lie and that he was accused of killing his wife or is that kinda just ignored?

Thats all I really noticed about the premiere that was out of phase with the rest of the series. Aside from the patchy images of the PK Command Carrier and images that made it look significantly smaller than it appeared to be later in the series.

This isn't specific to the premiere, but when does that scar above D'Argo's right eye go away?

Thats all I can think of that seems off in the premiere. I must agree tho that the music on this ep is definately not of the same calibre as that of the rest of the series.

[Nicola]

The first is a question about the shuttle he goes up in. When the shuttle is taking off you can see the name Collaroy on it. Is that where the name normally is, or does that mean something else entirely? (Reason I ask is am writing a story and I want to call the shuttle by name).

I don't know the answer to this one ... maybe someone else has a better response?

When he and his dad are talking pre-takoff and he gives his son the good luck charm he uses later to distract the PK Soldier he says "naw you cant give me that, you're gregarrry gave you that." I'm sure I misheard that, who does he say gave the charm to his dad?

"Oh, no. That's your good luck charm, Yuri Gagarin gave you that."

Yuri Gagarin - the first human being in space.

On April 12, 1961 the first earthling escaped the gravity well of planet earth. In the spaceship Vostok 1, Senior Lieutenant Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin orbited earth one time at an altitude of 187 3/4 miles (302 kilometers) for 108 minutes at 18,000 miles an hour. He was the first man to see that the earth was indeed round, indeed mostly water, and indeed magnificent.

Next thing I am curious about is what is up with Crais's bro hitting Crichton. All through the series it is referred to Crichton hitting him, and him being unstable, but he stabalized his module and was in control when Crais's brothers Prowler hit him. Is that just one of those things that was kinda ignored later as being slightly misrepresented in the premiere?

Crais didn't accept the truth (not being terribly stable and all) and eveyone else just took his lead - he was the commanding officer you understand. His version of the events was bound to be the one everyone accepted. Crichton did try to defend himself to Crais and others, making a futile effort to set the record straight but it just didn't make any impression.

When Zhaan is trying to crack the codes to the control collar in command and her hands are moving REALLY fast, is that something that happened later in the series and I just missed it, or is it one of those things that they decided didnt really happen, lol.

We see it at least once more - in Throne for a Loss - but the writers never did really explore this ability of hers.

In addition to that she seems to be sexually comming on to D'Argo and talking about 'the fourth sensation' as some sexual thing. I have not yet seen episodes 102 and 103, so maybe this is addressed then, but is it just me or do these two aspect's of Zhaans character totally dissappear? It seems to me that they changed Zhaan from being this sexy blue preist chic to this enlightened blue priest woman and that Chi was brought on to fill the sexy chic role. Thoughts on this?

In Thank God Its Friday, Again, Zhaan has a charged moment (or two!) with both Crichton and D'Argo. Plus there is the whole Rygel earbrow thing in DNA Mad Scientist. So Zhaan's sexuality is not ignored.

When talking to Zhaan, D'Argo says that he was locked up for killing a fellow soldier, his commanding officer. Does he later admit that that was a lie and that he was accused of killing his wife or is that kinda just ignored?

In "Back and Back and Back to the Future" the writers start leaving us hints of D'Argo's true crime. But in "Vitas Mortis" the writers do explore the situation with D'Argo's commanding officer - nothing is what is seems (of course), but it is all eventually explained.

This isn't specific to the premiere, but when does that scar above D'Argo's right eye go away?

I am not sure, but a best guess would be in "Mind the Baby" when D'Argo's appearance undergoes a significant change.

Does that help at all?

[soyarma]

It does indeed. I also watched ep 105 last night, I realized I had missed it and in a premonition of the future Crichton hears D'Argo say that he didn't commit the crime he said he did and that no one on Moya knows the true reason.

I figured the name Jack mentioned in the premiere had to be some famous astronaut, but often when a person can't place a word or a name it sounds like garble to them, which is what it did to me, lol.

I figured that Crais was a little off his rocker, He certainly behaved like it in Black Magic (108), but I didnt see anywhere where Crichton said; "Hey, I didn't hit him, he hit me!" Which to be honest is almost what I would expect Crichton to say... but truthfully, maybe not the Crichton of season one.

You are correct, Zhaan does get a little frisky from time to time, in fact her character is both amazingly and delightfully unpredictable, however I don't recall any further mention of the 'Fourth Sensation'. Am I wrong on that account?

Thanks for the response, you have been most helpfull :)

[Nicola]

I figured that Crais was a little off his rocker, He certainly behaved like it in Black Magic (108), but I didnt see anywhere where Crichton said; "Hey, I didn't hit him, he hit me!" Which to be honest is almost what I would expect Crichton to say... but truthfully, maybe not the Crichton of season one.

In "That Old Black Magic" Crichton repeatedly does try to convince Crais that he didn't deliberately kill Tauvo. "Listen to me. I didn't murder your brother. It was an accident."

and later;

CRICHTON: You think I attacked your brother? Oh, yeah. I popped into the middle of a giant space battle and decided to go one-on-on with a total stranger in a far superior ship. Does that make any sense?
CRAIS: You rammed his Prowler.
CRICHTON: He ran into me!
CRAIS: You killed him!
CRICHTON: It was an accident. Why do you keep blaming me? I did everything I could to avoid him.

But Crais isn't trying to kill Crichton because he thinks Crichton killed his brother deliberately - he is doing it for vengence.

CRICHTON: ... but honest to god, I tried to get clear. I didn't mean for him to crash, and I'm sorry he's dead. Do you understand that?
CRAIS: It doesn't matter.
CRICHTON: "Doesn't matter"?
CRAIS: It changes nothing. Tauvo is dead. Struck down by a weak, pathetic, inferior being. It must be avenged! I swear on Tauvo's name, Crichton. You will die in my hands.

So it doesn't matter that Tauvo's death was the result of an accident. Crais wants revenge - Crichton gets the blame and is the target. :shrug:

You are correct, Zhaan does get a little frisky from time to time, in fact her character is both amazingly and delightfully unpredictable, however I don't recall any further mention of the 'Fourth Sensation'. Am I wrong on that account?

I don't recall the "fourth sensation" being brought up again either, but Zhaan does participate in a rather frisky converstation with Liko in "That Old Black Magic".

ZHAAN: Toxic?
LIKO: Quite the contrary. It's a sensual stimulant. Enriches the conjugal experience.
ZHAAN: You can vouch for this personally?
LIKO: Yes...though it was some time ago.

I think if Maldis hadn't interferred, poor Rygel would have had to suffer from the Klendian Flu a bit longer than strictly necessary :roflmao:

I just watched this episode on Space this morning and it is all quite fresh in my mind! :rollin:

[soyarma]

My thought on the whole Crais revenge bit is that what I would have said to Crais (at some point): "Your moron pilot of a brother hit ME!"

but that prolly wouldn't have helped.

[Doc Holiday]

I love the Premiere. Cannot say much more than that. It is amongst my favorite episodes.

[Dangermousie]

As a premiere, it can't be beat. As an ordinary episode, it's still great. I love watching it and realizing how far the relationships have come and the characters have changed.

And yet, they develop and change in consistent ways. I never get a sense of bizarre wrongness when I watch a S1 ep and a S4 ep back to back (for a real trippy experience, watch Premier and BT back to back...yay for development!)

Plus, "Little yellow bolts of light" is one of my favorite FS lines. And the whole "everyone underestimating John because of his manner" thing is a theme throughout the series.

[Reefrunner]

They made up the name for the shuttle. I think on the commentary for that ep they talk about that.

[Doc Holiday]

Farscape-1?

[Reefrunner]

Not the module, the shuttle. I'm not remembering clearly, but I think it was named after someone, which was to differentiate it from the real shuttles.

[Selena]

The brilliance of Premiere highlights for me the following facts:-

John's wide eyed innocence and feelings of utter helplessness
Ka D'Argo's take charge and "rush in where angels fear to tread" attitude and his intolerance of stupidity.
Zhaan's calmness and balance in crisis situations.
Rygel's greedy, backstabbing nature and selfishness.
Pilot's youth and confusion when Moya is no longer under the control collar's restrictions.
Aeryn's sense of loss, disgust and disbelief that she is an outcast.
Crais's sinister threat and relentless vendetta to avenge his brother.
What an alien universe John has entered.
That I needed to see another episode to find out what happens to this motley group.

[stlscape]

They made up the name for the shuttle. I think on the commentary for that ep they talk about that.
It's named for a town Andrew Prowse lived in - Collaroy, I think.

[Selena]

Collaroy is the name of a suburb just north of Sydney.
It has a wonderful beach... Collaroy Beach and a famopus surf life savings club. There is also a ferry that travels between Circular Quay in Sydney and Manly called Collaroy.
Seeing how Farscape was filmed in Sydney, they probably threw that in there as a local tie in :lol

[Reefrunner]

Ah, a someplace and not a someone. Thanks!

[Doc Holiday]

Interesting. I also like when they think that Crais will never follow them into the Uncharted Territories.

[xkamelx]

watched it again, i think that premier is a liitle lame?

dont get me wrong i love the show

just there is just so many more episodes to come that are brilliant and premier is just ok

maybe its because guy cross is not doing the music in premier, i think that helps a lot.

what is your opinion in premier?

i know it has to establish characters and it does that well, its just a tiny bit boring


lee

I enjoyed the premiere. Yes, there were so many brilliant episodes that followed, but the premiere told a good story of Crichton, and set up the story of a human being lost in the universe, and just how alien everything would be to Crichton. It also did alot to establish the relationship between Moya's crew, and the Peacekeepers. In my opinion, it was the perfect premiere as far as setting up the story goes.

It may have been a little bit boring, but not in my mind. Unfortunalty, the premier wasnt the first episode I saw of Farscape, but if it would have been, it would have definatly got me to tune in next week.

So yeah, I think it was pretty well done! :)

[TalynLives]

I've just watched it again. Sniff, nearly started crying when his Dad gave him the lucky charm bracelet and then remembering the season ending. And that little speech at the end - "There's life here Dad, weird amazing psychotic life. In Technicolour". *Sigh* :) It really showed Crichton for the lost little human that he was and made your heart side with him. Set Farscape up to be the sci-fi show with heart.

And the sexual tension between Aeryn & John. Wow. The way one look from Claudia could signal disgust yet secret desire and affection all in one :) The way she was prepared to take him under her wing despite not knowing him and despite trying to maintain a hardened soldier image - "what's compassion?". It's that thing you're showing John while claiming to hate that emotion Aeryn :)

"He claims to be a human from Erp". Ah that classic line :)

Crais is so cool. The peacekeepers look so cool and nasty (pity they got emasculated a bit later on in the show).

[MALCOLM XERXES]

For a pilot it was excellent! The story isn't about his life on earth - it is about his life after the wormhole. Important to know he had a good life, but not important enough to dwell on.

I have to agree though. It might have been better a two hour show. Mind you, I would say that about any episode 'cause I love more Farscape!MON. OCT. 11/2004/12:15 E.S.T.

NICOLA,

I grok the fullness of the totality!

The pilot telefilm would have been seductive, but I think the frantic pace of FARSCAPE™ was established well, & enabled the viewing audience to have more empathy for JOHN CRICHTON than they might for someone like BUCK ROGERS™.

[amaya]

Well, I just watched the first episode for the first time last night and I loved it. The first episode was not the first show I ever watched, but after watching and falling madly in lurve with this show, I am determined to watch all of the episodes in order. Now since I do not own the DVD's (oh, but I yearn for them) :drool:, I must stay up every Friday morning until 6 am to see three episodes at a time, but I will gladly do this because I want to see all of the episodes so much. The only problem being that for some insane reason, SCI-FI doesn't really care to air the episodes in order. They play 3 episodes, but they aren't in order, which is really screwing this up for me. :irate: :censored: frell, frell, double frell!!!!!!!

I really thought the premiere was very good for a pilot. I like how the characters have changed also. John is perfect in this. I think everyone said it best when talking about his "wide-eyed innocence" (I think this is what they were saying). This just set the perfect tone for the episodes to follow. And, amazingly enough, I got the John/Aeryn feel from the beginning. I thought that it would be something that would take a long time to develop (and it is, but...) but clearly there is some attraction there also.

[Nicola]

Boy meets Girl. Girl kicks boys *ss. What's not to love? :roflmao:

[Lost Like Me]

I'm going thru my re-watch of S1, again. First time thru since PK Wars. John was sooo innocent and lost. It's amazing to see the characters from the beginning, how they've changed and grown, and just knowing how they'll end up. It's heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.

Damn this show is awesome! :)

[eta_carinae]

While putzing around on this site yesterday at work, I got the urge to watch Premier again. And I love it! I love how they don't really know each other yet, how D'Argo has green eyes, the "newness" of the whole thing. And seeing what a pacifist John is, at least at first. Everyone changed so much. After watching it, I felt compelled to watch some of the other eps from that DVD case, with the commentary on. Very cool :aok:

[Moya's Starburst]

My i'd forgootten how much of a bitch Aeryn was! I saw the premier again last night and one thing struck me, dispite Aeryn dobbing the crew in, the minute Crais declared her "irreverversibly contaminated", she was willing to save their lives, from the moment when crais ordered John's death.
And how much of a swat she was! She just couldn't comprehend kindness etc.

I think she was a bit nieve when it came to peacekeepers, natuarally, as she had been indoctrinated by them all her life.

How i laughed when John distracts the guards with his dads "good luck" charm!

[jerseygirl]

Well, I just watched the first episode for the first time last night and I loved it. The first episode was not the first show I ever watched, but after watching and falling madly in lurve with this show, I am determined to watch all of the episodes in order. Now since I do not own the DVD's (oh, but I yearn for them) :drool:, I must stay up every Friday morning until 6 am to see three episodes at a time, but I will gladly do this because I want to see all of the episodes so much. The only problem being that for some insane reason, SCI-FI doesn't really care to air the episodes in order. They play 3 episodes, but they aren't in order, which is really screwing this up for me. :irate: :censored: frell, frell, double frell!!!!!!!

I really thought the premiere was very good for a pilot. I like how the characters have changed also. John is perfect in this. I think everyone said it best when talking about his "wide-eyed innocence" (I think this is what they were saying). This just set the perfect tone for the episodes to follow. And, amazingly enough, I got the John/Aeryn feel from the beginning. I thought that it would be something that would take a long time to develop (and it is, but...) but clearly there is some attraction there also.

Amaya, welcome to the board and welcome to the insanity that is Farscape!

I think they did a great job with the premiere in establishing the tone and the pace and the sensibility of the show. They basically told us, "this is the world we're going to be living in for this show, so get used to it."

Pilots are hard because there's just so much information to introduce and it's very easy for them go get bogged down in exposition. But the creative forces on Farscape have always made a point of keeping the stories moving. I remember in his commentary for "Green Eyed Monster", Ben mentioned that David and Rockne kept telling him that he had to keep the action moving forward, keep driving it forward. And they certainly did that right from the get-go. As little set-up as possible and then BAM! John's down the wormhole and into the middle of a battle. Can't get more action than that.

I also agree with Selena and everyone else who mentioned Ben's -- and everyone's spectacular acting in making all these characters who were brand new to us very accessible. Great pilot episode, followed by four seasons of (for the most part) great episodes.

[Sirona]

d'oh on me!
Being a Cannuk, for a split second I thought this was referring to the Provincial leaders.

I shouldn't look at the board until I've had my second cup of coffee :D

Aside from that, the Premier is fast paced and needs to be watched a few times.
There is a lot happening in that space of time. scifi should have made it longer and concentrated a bit more on introducing the characters.

[Remoor]

FARSCAPE's premiere was an excellent episode upon which an excellent series was built. To deny the simplicity of its brilliance is (arguably) denying the foundation upon which the show was based.

[rylett]

i was very impressed with "premier". it did, for me, what the producers intended. that was to get me to continue watching. it worked!

[jerseygirl]

And we're glad it did! Welcome to the board, rylett.

[ctheokas]

I have mixed feelings about Premiere, simply because it wasn't what drew me into Farscape. Nevertheless, I think taken on its own merits, it is a great way to kick off a show. The pace was fast, true, but they got what they needed into the show, and it got things moving. Besides, you don't want to give too much away right off, simply because it allows us as viewers to get to know the characters over time. If we knew everything about them, then there would be no surprises.

[TheEeshew]

The Premeire was a great opening. The job of an opening is to introduce the viewers to the characters and the situation, which is what "Premeire" did. And did well. Though it was more the concept of the show that "Premeire" introduced that kept me watching.

Though, I wished they gave it an actual name.

[Selena]

Premiere is simply brilliant. I love the way Ben made John out to be such a pencil pushing nerd at the beginning. It is also a very subtle introduction to anyone who has never watched a sci-fi show ... it starts out on Earth and that is a definite drawcard for anyone who is not too sure if they are going to like a scifi show or not.

It also shows us just how far our Farscape characters need to grow. It is a tribute to how special their relationships eventually became.

IMHO it is one of the better premier episodes of any TV series.