Random Episode for 11/8/02

[sunshiner]

Tonights Randomly Generated Episode is:

Family Ties

I will post the first question for this ep sometime tomorrow morning.

Scape On

[DenAstrogeek]

Here's the transcript:
http://www.shriftweb.org/exodus/archive/1/episode122.html

(Ahhh, one of my favorites! That makes up for DMD last week.)

Hopefully I'll see you guys tomorrow!

[katyaz]

Yes!!! I was just rewatching Family Ties on Wednesday as a way of celebrating the fact that I finally received the Season 1 DVD boxset, and I was just thinking about how great it would be to use this episode for CMT.

I guess I'm still stuck in the Farscape Zone ;)

(DMD is not one of your favorites, Den? It's a painful episode to watch, but it's still one of the best, I think...)

[DenAstrogeek]

Hey, kz!

I actually actively dislike the LGM trilogy (there were parts I liked: some of the John/Scorpy stuff and some of the Moya stuff) and I was not very hot on SoD or DMD (I really don't find it painful to watch). I got really hooked on Farscape because of Nerve, Hidden Memory, and Family Ties. I just found the end of season 2 an incredible disappointment compared to my built up expectations from season 1. Obviously, that's all JMO and other scapers are likely to disagree.

[katyaz]

Hmmm... Interesting.

So what did you hope would happen after Nerve/THM and FM, Den? I was actually very impressed by the way they showed John being affected and changed by the torture in Nerve/THM throughout Season 2, and the way they showed (and are *still* showing, damnit ;) ) the John/Scorpy and the John/Harvey relationship evolve over time (That's the part that I really liked about LGM and DMD, and I loved that part so much that I pretty much ignored any other faults I might have otherwise found in those episodes.)

It's funny, I can't really imagine anything *else* happening as a result of Nerve/THM. But that's probably because I saw the end of Season 2 *long* before I saw Nerve/THM, so I had LGM and DMD in mind all through my first viewing of the Final Four of Season 1.

I guess this just goes to show you how different people's views of the same series can be. :)

[DenAstrogeek]

I was actually very impressed by the way they showed John being affected and changed by the torture in Nerve/THM throughout Season 2, and the way they showed (and are *still* showing, damnit ) the John/Scorpy and the John/Harvey relationship evolve over time.

I don't disagree with you on any of that. Some of my favorite eps of season 2 are CDM, BoD, and WGFA. Like I said, I liked some of the John/Scorpy stuff in the end of season 2 as well. [My very favorite episode overall is The Way We Weren't which was all about interaction and character. I do like action just for action, but not in Farscape -- I expect more from them.]

Things I didn't like about LGM:
-minimal explanation of where Stark came from
-no (satisfying) explanation about the motives for his plan, how he came up with one, or why
-lack (IMO) of explanation about characters' behavior (D'Argo and John, Stark and John, Stark and Scorpius?, Crais and Talyn, etc.) It felt like they were hinting at deeper things all the time, but it would just get dropped.
-the way no one really seemed to be taking John's recent insanity seriously.
-implausible action (IMO) Like when D'argo, [can't remember who], and Aeryn are up against a couple hundred PKs in a corridor. Even in the dark, I think that many soldiers should be able to easily shoot our three heroes standing straight in front of them with no cover.
-continually trying to make us think Scorpy's dead only to have him be inxplicably fine in the next episode (They're STILL doing this one -- piss me off!)

All the fake deaths (especially at the end of season 2) really hurt my faith in the creative vision of the show. Besides Scorpius (many times) there was Stark and Aeryn. It got to the point that I didn't believe them when they killed Zhaan (cried wolf too many times), and I just got mad when I realized they meant it that time.

There was a lot more for LGM, but as you might guess, I haven't really rewatched them so I'm pulling this from what's still in my head.

That turned into kind of a mini rant: sorry about that. I guess no one's really asked before and I needed to vent a little. I hope no one gets me wrong: I'm a scaper! I'm working to keep the show from ending and I sincerely want to see the story wrapped up. I just feel like I have seen the show be absolutely devestatingly good in many instances and so I always have very high expectations for it. Sometimes it falls short of the quality I expect.

[katyaz]

Oh, please don't apologize, Den :) I *love* discussing Farscape episodes! especially these particular episodes :)

It's just that we should probably take this discussion to the Farscape Discussion forum, since this is getting a little bit off topic for this particular forum...

Do you mind if we move this discussion over there? I bet other people who might not normally come to the CMT forum who would want to weigh in with their opinions, as well :)

Although I don't think Sunshiner will mind too much if I just write that I agree with pretty much everything you said in your little rant. It's just that I loved the John/Scorpy interaction and the depiction of John's madness so much that I was willing to overlook everything else.

Except... While I agree with you about Stark and Scorpy's multiple deaths, I actually did like how they showed *Aeryn's* death. I guess for me, the difference is that unlike the fakeouts with Scorpy and Stark (and Maldis), Aeryn's death was actually shown to have consequences in the later episodes of the show. I liked TJohn's, and Crais and Talyn's deaths later on, for much the same reason. (I am still somewhat ambiguous about Zhaan because like you, I am still not completely convinced that she *is* dead, and I know I'll be very mad if it turns out to be another fakeout).

(Oops, I promised myself that I wasn't going to writre a long reply, and here I am breaking my promise... Sorry about that -- I guess I just couldn't resist.)

[DenAstrogeek]

I'm gonig to go start a thread in "Farscape Discussion".

[PilotAeryn157]

hey, this is about the trivia. Count me in for tomorrow's game, but I haven't done this before, so I will probably be slow and mess things up. Sorry in advance!!
What time does this start (I am in US central)?

Thanks all

[katyaz]

It starts at around 10-11 AM EST (So I guess that would be 9-10 AM Central...) Don't worry if you come a little later, though -- the game lasts all day, and people don't come immediately.

And don't worry if you are a little slow at first -- I am sure you will pick it up in no time! (round one on this board was the first CMT game for me, and I was surprised at how quickly I picked it up :) )

Just remember, the transcript really helps, so don't be afraid to use it when you aren't sure of some answer :)