HELP!!! Scapeing hits the proverbial brick wall!

[NebariNookiee]

HUGE SPOILERS!!!!!!!!
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I warned you!!!
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A new problem just reared its ugly head! As I mentioned before I have a few folks I’m showing Farscape to. Right now we’re square in the middle of Season 2 (The "Look at the Princess" trilogy to be precise.) We were Scapeing yesterday and one of the Newbies turns to me and out of nowhere she says “If Aeryn or Zhaan die I’ll never watch this show again.” Oh frell! What the hell am I supposed to do now? With Aeryn effectively dying at the end of this season and Zhaan dying for good by the forth episode of Season 3 I’m in a bit of a pickle! I know what’s coming and there’s nothing I can do to weather the storm. Aside from maybe explaining to her why Ginny Hey left the show in the hopes of softening the blow I don’t know what else to do. She’s serious too – but I know she’ll be blown away by what’s coming up. In a show where everyone dies and the villain wins anything can happen. Any suggestions on how I can keep her from jumping ship?

[ctheokas]

I think you should just let it happen. But explain what happened to Ginny may help after it happens (maybe you could start laying the groundwork, talking about the issues with the makeup and so on). If anyone disagrees with this and thinks NN should spill the beans now, I'm not married to this idea. It just feels right.

If she stops watching, it doesn't mean she won't come back. Let her know that amazing things are coming up. But sometimes people need to cool off, accept the loss, go through the grief, and so on.

Also, she may just be hyperbolic about the whole thing, and it won't matter in the end.

[NebariNookiee]

Another Scaper I converted almost jumped ship after Zhaan’s death, but I had her commit to finishing the series out well before it happened and she’s glad I did. But this one won’t commit to it. I had figured out early on that once the show got its claws firmly into a Newbie I gave them warning that show would exhilarate, enrage, scream, throw popcorn, knock your jaw to the floor and overall frell with your head. But all the while stressing that it’s that very thing that makes the show so good and had them commit to watching “no matter what happened.” Well, it didn’t work with this one.

[Nicola]

Just say that everything that happens is because Farscape is a mature, intelligent show for adults. Adults who understand that bad things happen and no character gets a free pass.

[NebariNookiee]

I've been thinking about it and her problem may be the way other shows have dealt with the topic of a main character's death. Almost all shows deal with death as a plot device. In Farscape, death hangs over the crew like a black cloud till Zhaan's death, then it becomes a noose around their necks. No show I've ever seen ever did anything remotely like that and it makes Zhaan's death that much more poignant and powerful.

I just don't know how to convey this to her while keeping the future a secret.

Jeez -- now I know how a prophet feels!

[stellar]

Well if they make it past Aeryn's death into Season 3 (her ressurection), then they may think the same will happen to Zhaan down the road. When they figure out she's gone for good, they'll be so deep in Season 3 - no way do they pull out.

[jerseygirl]

The fact that she said that means she's already emotionally invested. And since she's made it into Season 2, she obviously handled the cliffhanger at the end of Season 1. You can remind her about how they end every season with a cliffhanger. You can even hint that things look worse than they really are. Once she makes it past Aeryn's resurrection, she'll probably be expecting that Zhaan may reappear. (I know I was for a while.) By that point, it will be too late to jump ship. She'll be hooked, just like we were.

[slider]

Yeah, I'd agree with the consensus here. She's in whether she knows it or not.

The other thing you could tell her is that one of the things about farscape is that characters that die have a problem staying dead, who knows............

[NebariNookiee]

In 12 and 16 episodes from now I'll know how this turns out.

It always amazed me that someone could invest so much time in a story, but then jump ship at the first sign of trouble.

I guess some people just like to play it a little too safe.

[Nicola]

I've been thinking about it and her problem may be the way other shows have dealt with the topic of a main character's death. Almost all shows deal with death as a plot device. In Farscape, death hangs over the crew like a black cloud till Zhaan's death, then it becomes a noose around their necks. No show I've ever seen ever did anything remotely like that and it makes Zhaan's death that much more poignant and powerful.



I like the imagery in this description. Very true.

Good luck with your skittish newbie!

[blue]

I wouldn't answer her, except about the cliffhanger point after Aeryn dies, to tell her to just keep watching .... And Zhaan sort of does come back, maybe, here and there, almost...like in Don Quixote, or when Stark goes looking for her on the planet of spirits there is a suggestion that she might still be around (after all, look at what happened to Stark).

[NebariNookiee]

Well, we’ve crossed the threshold! The Season 2 cliffhanger really pulled her in and solidified her fandom. Understanding that every season ends with a cliffhanger, she continued to watch into third season. It was quite funny when Zhaan died. She sat there with tears in her eyes flipping through all of the levels of despair and mourning, all the while muttering “They killed my girl!” Before the full shock of the events subsided I explained to her not why Zhaan was killed, but why Virginia Hey had to leave. I must have softened the blow just enough cause she’s still watching! She really admired the balls it took to kill off Zhaan and was very impressed with how it was handled. Especially with the way the crew reacts and deals with it. We’re ready to watch “Relativity” now. I’ll keep y’all posted on any developments!