Farscape #2

I mentioned the Angel IDW series recently and referred to tie-in comics that have the whiff of fanfic. Farscape (Rockne O'Bannon and Keith R.A. DeCandido) is very much what I was talking about. It's an uneven blend of really great moments - those times where they just nail the characterization and it feels like you're watching the show - and the moments that feel like you're reading fanfic, complete with popular bits of dialogue quoted in an in-jokey sort of way.

Sometimes it's even disappointing because of the good parts. There's a scene where John and Aeryn are arguing over who is going to stay behind and watch their son and who will go on the rescue mission. Neither wants to stay behind, and at this point in the Farscape story John is as much a warrior as Aeryn. Ultimately they decide to take the kid with them, realizing that their life is dangerous no matter where they go, and something could just as well happen to the baby if he stays on the ship.

As encouraging as it is to see the characters being smart and acknowledging their history, the baby on board turns out to be an excuse to put the kid in jeopardy at the hands of a completely predictable "surprise" villain. Scorpius just has to jump into the plot and try to use the baby against Crichton. Scorpy written well is usually more calculating than evil, so I'm assuming he has plots within plots, but at the end of issue #2, he's just another babynapper.

While I hope there's something more going on, it's frustrating to see J&A's intelligent decision used to put them into a situation they should have seen coming. It feels like they're smart up until the writer gets lazy and can't think of a good way for the bad guys to be smarter.

It's also quite possible that my memories of the TV incarnation are somewhat idealized. This is one of the shows and fandoms that has been extremely important in my life for many reasons - the person typing this post being one of them. [He said it, not me. But ask him how we met sometime. Pure geek love. - RD] I said in my first post that I don't claim to be objective, which applies even more so to Farscape.

I'm still enjoying the series overall, but it's not something I could recommend to someone who doesn't already love these characters. For the moments it gives me the same pure joy that the show once did, it's worth it.

- JC