This is ultimately the reason that ties it all together. The thing that separates a decent show from a great (or even just good) one is the willingness to take dramatic risks. A common pitfall of television is when they create a unique and creative premise, then proceed to milk it for all its worth without bringing a new idea to the table. Farscape avoids this particular trap by having a premise that could quite literally go anywhere. "Astronaut gets thrown into alien universe" is about as vague a pitch for a TV show as possible, and the path they choose to go on is one that is festooned with strange, twisted, and dangerous things, allowing the writers to take a huge slew of risks with their storytelling. From non-linear editing to unreliable narrators, this show is willing to push itself to the limits, trusting the audience to keep up. Among the many dramatic risks taken during this series' four-year run include turning the entire main cast into lunatics, cloning entire characters for a whole season, giving Crichton a spectral version of the antagonist in his head to be a devil on his shoulder, and making an entire episode animated in a Looney-Tunes vein. In addition to the storytelling risks, Farscape takes many risks in character development as well - double crosses, conflicting values, budding romance that is later crushed, creepy obsession, none of it is off limits to this writing staff, and it is always entertaining to watch. I hope these reasons have convinced you to either pick up this series (Farscape is on Netflix instant watch now, so you can jump right over) or rewatch it if you are a fan excited for the prospect of a new TV movie in this unique universe!
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
