Farscapeis—and I don’t want to undersell it—one of the best sci-fi TV shows to ever grace our screens. When most sci-fi TV shows just gave use dudes with thick makeup,Farscape(with the help of Jim Henson’s puppets) gave us actuallyalienaliens. The only other show that came close wasBabylon 5, but that’s a story for another day.
The good news is thatFarscapeis readily available to stream (and I really need to get around to buying the25th Anniversary Box Set), so there’s no reason to miss out on this amazing and singular space adventure. If you’ve never seen Farscape (or if you haven’t seen it recently) now’s a great time to highlight some of the, well,highlightsof its 88-episode run.
The episodes below are not in a ranked order, but an attempt at showing the variety and uniqueness ofFarscape’splot. There are 88 episodes, 90 if you countThe Peacekeeper Wars, which you should. So this is just a sampling of what I think are some of the best moments from the show.
8The Way We Weren’t (Season 2, Episode 5)
Not every character inFarscapeis what they seem, and just about all of them have closets full of skeletons, andThe Way We Weren’tis a fantastic example of how easy it is to forget what someone has done in their past.
In this case, both former stormtrooper (er,peacekeeper)Aeryn and the alien Pilot of the living ship Moya have done some pretty nasty things in their pasts, but on opposite sides. An old surveillance tape brings both their sins to the forefront and makes the entire crew aware of what happened in Moya’s past. They both have to make peace with the horrible things they’ve done in the past, and with each other.
Apart from being an excellent second-season expansion on the characters, both for the backstory and their development, I like how this episode underscores that there really are no “good” or “bad” guys in this show. The best that most of them can do is feel sorry for what they’ve done, and keep on living.
7Out of Their Minds (Season 2, Episode 9)
The old “body switcheroo” plot has been done plenty of times, but in thisveryfunFarscapeepisode it’s done for more than laughs. It’s actually a great way for this rag-tag crew to learn more about each other—they are all different species after all—and it’s also a clever way for the writers to help us learn things about these characters that they wouldn’t normally divulge about their natures. Basically, it’s a whole barrel of fish out of water, and at the same time a warship keeps shooting at them while they try to switch back and (hopefully) not die.
This one has some excellent moments, not least of which is where actress Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun) has to pretend to be Crichton ogling her body from the inside. “I’m a guy” is his only excuse. Yeah right, Crichton. You have a PhD in theoretical physics man, act like it! Also watching D’Argo act like a cute and girly Chiana is worth the price of entry alone.
6Liars, Guns and Money Trilogy (Season 2, Episodes 19–21)
This is a three-episode arc that’s a space heist, and it’s one of the best sequences in the show. Basically, in order to save D’Argo’s son, the crew have to rob a space bank. Except this is like the bank of evil for space villains. So not only is getting arrested not the worst thing that can happen to you, getting killed isalsonot the worst thing that could happen to you.
In typicalFarscapefashion, despite their efforts, the robbery goes sideways. However, they then get some of their old allies to help, except “help” is a very strong word here. Everyone has to work together in a desperate bid to rescue Crichton, and in the end they get the money. They also rescue D’Argo’s son, but the cost is just too high. Moya has permanent damage, several of their friends are dead, and, hey, Crichton is even less sane than usual.
5Die Me, Dichotomy (Season 2, Episode 22)
This season two finale is part of my absolute favorite arc inFarscapewhere a copy of Scorpius, possibly the best TV villain ever, haunts Crichton through a neural chip that he desperately needs to remove. Unfortunately, doing so will kill him, and the only doctor who can help has a solution with very tough ethical dimensions to it. Basically, someone else has to die for Crichton to live.
It all comes to a head with an incredible cliffhanger, and double the usual amount of Scorpius. I don’t want to spoil the details of this episode and the resolution at the start of season three, but this season ending had my jaw on the floor the first time I saw it.
FarScape: The Complete Series - 25th Anniversary Edition
John Crichton. Astronaut. Flung through a wormhole and lost in a galaxy far from home. He finds himself in the middle of a prison break, surrounded by hostile aliens, soaring through space inside a glorious living spaceship called Moya. Hunted by the relentless Peacekeepers, he allies himself with his unimaginably alien fellow refugees and searches for a way home.
4Revenging Angel (Season 3, Episode 16)
A lot ofFarscapehappens from inside John Crichton’s head, butRevenging Angelmight be the most unhinged example of this, and that’s saying something. During an argument, D’Argo literally knocks Crichton into a coma, and for some reason his mind goes into Looney Tune mode.
This episode is special for the use of 2D animation, but despite all the comedy, this is a deeply sad episode. Crichton is processing self-loathing, guilt, fear of death, and feelings of worthlessness. Harvey pushes him toward revenge, bitterness, and giving up. But in the end, Crichton finds a way to forgive D’Argo and reclaim his sense of self.
3The Locket (Season 3, Episode 16)
While traveling through a strange mist-filled region of space, Aeryn disappears during a recon mission—then suddenly returns… aged decades. She’s older, hardened, and carrying a mysterious locket with a picture of Crichton inside. And she has a heartbreaking story: she lived an entire life waiting for Moya to return.
But for the rest of the crew, only a few hours had passed. So what the heck is going on here? It’s timey-wimey, that’s what.
This episode reminds me quite a lot ofStar Trek: The Next Generations"The Inner Light" where Captain Picard lives an entire life, with children and hobbies, the whole shebang. Only to return to the point before it all started. A similar thing happens here, but with even more twists and turns, plus the nagging suspicion that by resetting the clock some people will now never exist. I don’t want to spoil this one, but it’s a heavy hitter and definitely one of the best self-contained episodes of the series.
2Won’t Get Fooled Again (Season 2, Episode 15)
This might be my personal favorite episode, because Ilovemind-bending “what is reality?” storylines. A running theme throughout the series is that Crichton has knowledge of how wormholes work locked away in his brain, and Scorpiusreallywants to dig it out.
That’s why Crichton has a neural clone of Scorpius implanted in his head by the villain. The idea is that this doppelgänger will eventually break the mental barriers protecting the information. In this episode, Crichton experiences a full-on mental assault. He wakes up on Earth, but everything is wrong. It becomes pretty clear that all of this is an illusion of some kind, and that the Scorpius clone is probably behind it all, but that doesn’t help John figure out how to escape this nightmare loop of distorted reality.
At first, it plays like a satirical “What if the whole show was a hallucination?” gag, but it becomes increasingly sinister and psychological as it goes on. It’s genuinely disturbing, and it captures that feeling of being in a dream, knowing none of it makes sense, and yet you just can’t wake up.
1The Peacekeeper Wars
AfterFarscapewas unceremoniously canceled, it looked like we would never get a satisfying resolution to this epic adventure. Then, after a long battle to get the rights by Brian Henson, thePeacekeep Warsminiseries was finally produced. Now, whatever your opinion is on this capstone to a long and brilliant TV series that was cut short too soon, I’m just grateful that some closure exists.
Also, I don’t hate the higher production values and glorious widescreen footage either. These last two parts of the show might not really be the best Farscape has to offer, but I think it should be on this list out of sheer gratitude and as a testament to what fans campaigns can do.
I hope that in this new golden age of TV sci-fi we can once again have something as imaginative, quirky, and sometimes just plaindarkas this show again.But, even if we never do, we will always haveFarscape.
Plex
Farscape is available for free on Plex so you can watch all the best episodes right now.
