Farscape TPB Vol. 1

Farscape rocked! That's all I can really say about the series from when it was on SciFi. It's a shame they cancelled it by moving it to a night where it had to compete with major shows on major networks instead of leaving it in its original steadily watched timeslot. They claim it was a ratings issue, but its ratings were fine until the network powers that be moved it to another timeslot. Here's a hint for TV moguls, if the initials of your network aren't ABC, CBS, or NBC, don't move a highly rated show to another time slot to compete with one of their highly rated shows; some of the people watching yours are probably watching theirs too.

Anyway, Farscape was one of those sci-fi shows that comes along every once in a while and is great at what it does and is sometimes a little ahead of its time. Other sci-fi series that are/were like this include Star Trek (the original was cancelled after only 3 seasons for poor ratings) and Firefly (never actually cancelled by the network, just gone...which I think may be worse - most people are probably more familiar with the movie, Serenity). Like both of these series Farscape took a group of people and brought them together to create a family cohesive unit of friends willing to sacrifice themselves for each other. Closer to Firefly in the fact that it was a bunch of misfits and outlaws whether than a military structured force, Farscape was based around an earthling, John Crichton, getting yanked through a wormhole while test piloting the experimental spacecraft, Farscape 1 (hence the name). Crichton ends up on the far side of the universe, popping out right in the middle of a space batttle between the dominant space empire, the Peacekeepers, and a group of prisoners who have just escaped their cells on a prison ship known as Moya. Crichton's ship accidentally causes one of the Peacekeeper fighters to be destroyed; the pilot of the ship happens to be the brother of a high ranking officer who now wants vengeance on Crichton whoever he is. So, while the prisoners with John Crichton and his ship now onboard escape in their own prison ship, there is no way Crais (the officer) is going to let them get away. The TV series lasted four seasons before being cancelled. The thing about this show is while there were a lot of action packed scenes of space fights and land based laser fights, the show hit the heart by making the characters realistic in nature and developing something about the characters in each episode along with the fights. If you've never seen the show, you should check it out in syndication or pick it up on iTunes.

Rockne S. O'Bannon created the series and it was produced by the Jim Henson Company (the Muppets guys). The series was left on a cliffhanger, and a year later thanks to funding by several people, a mini-series entitled, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars finally gave fans closure on the TV series.

Why did I tell you about all of the TV stuff? Because the comic book series picks up right after the Peacekeeper Wars, so you pretty much know what it's about now. The comic book series, at least its first four issues collected in the volume one trade paperback continue the same excellent story that the series made famous. The characters who have survived are still there. It's kind of a must to at least watch the Peacekeeper Wars to know who the characters are talking about to understand what's going on in at least the first issue and who D'Argo is. I wish the series would have continued, and there was still an awesome tv show to watch, but seeing the series continue in comics is just as satisfying if not more so, since they'll never have to worry about whether the budget can afford something with a comic book. As long as they can pay the artist and writer, they can afford whatever they want to do as long as the artist can draw it and the writer can think of it. Rockne S. O'Bannon continues to write the story though others script the actual comic book. The pencils by Tommy Patterson capture the same essence of the show that anyone who has seen it loved.

My only regret with this trade paperback is that I waited until the series was being collected in trades to pick it up. If you are a fan of Farscape and you miss it, pick up the trades for it at your local comic shop or ask them to order them now and then start picking up the series itself. There have even been a few limited series spun off from the main series. If you've never heard of Farscape or never watched it, go watch it and then pick up the trades and comics; I know you'll want to after seeing the first season alone.

Thanks for reading.