11 Episodes to Appreciate the Farting Muppets and Wild Wonder of Farscape: ’99 Rewind

Liz Shannon Miller
·7 min read

The post 11 Episodes to Appreciate the Farting Muppets and Wild Wonder of Farscape: ’99 Rewind appeared first on Consequence.

Time for another installment of ’99 Rewind, our celebration of 25th anniversaries of the films, TV, and music from 1999. This time, we celebrate Farscape, a show that proved sci-fi TV featuring farting Muppets could also break your heart.

In 1999, television’s potential beyond soap operas and stand-alone procedurals was becoming more clear, as the debut of The Sopranos ushered in an exciting new era for storytelling. However, when it came to telling serialized stories across seasons at a time, genre TV was a bit more ahead of the mainstream: Shows like Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine spent the ’90s executing meaty multi-episode arcs that built up novel-like amounts of narrative, proving early on just how powerful the medium could be. And building on that tradition came Farscape, the Sci-Fi Channel series (predating the SYFY rebrand) which premiered on March 19th, 1999.

When we talk about great sci-fi television, we don’t talk often enough about Farscape; its cultural impact has never registered on the same level as Battlestar Galactica or Black Mirror or any number of critically acclaimed sci-fi series. But few shows before or since can match Farscape when it comes to bonkers alien design, horny as hell characters, epic romance, and twists that range from devastating heartbreak to outright hilarity. Even at the ripe old age of 25, streaming on Peacock, the show still holds up beautifully.

Farscape begins with a classic setup: An astronaut (Ben Browder) goes on a test flight that leads to him and his experimental craft… Actually, the narration from the Season 1 opening credits does a nice job of explaining it, let’s go to the tape:

My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. A radiation wave hit and I got shot through a wormhole. Now I’m lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange alien life forms. Help me. Listen, please. Is anybody out there who can hear me? I’m being hunted … by an insane military commander. I’m doing everything I can. I’m just looking for a way home.

Just the way this is written, performed, and recorded highlights this show’s askew approach: Rather than have our hero boldly explain their mission, Crichton’s little speech here comes directly from the SOS messages he’s sending out to an unknown galaxy, following his unexpected arrival in a place far away from Earth.

He’s scared. But he’s not alone: Almost immediately upon arriving in this corner of the universe, John encounters the human-looking Peacekeepers, the resident military superpower, making an enemy of one of their commanders while also accidentally recruiting a Peacekeeper officer named Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) to his side.

Aeryn ends up coming aboard the ship which also becomes Crichton’s new home: Moya isn’t a sterile space vessel — richly designed with earth tones and sensuous curves, the “living ship” has an organic feel. When John stumbles across it, its occupants are a few escaped prisoners of wildly unique appearance: Zhaan (played by Virginia Hey, a lovely blue priestess who also happens to be a plant), D’Argo (played by Anthony Simcoe, a kinda Klingon-ish warrior desperate to be reunited with his son), and Rygel (voiced by Jonathan Hardy, a former emperor who farts helium).

Rygel is a series regular who is also a full-fledged puppet designed by The Jim Henson Company — he floats around on a little chair sometimes (when the show has the budget for it). The show’s other puppet characters include Pilot (voiced by Lani Tupu), whose symbiotic relationship with the ship is a blessing and a curse, and any number of the aliens who might pop by to terrorize Moya on a regular basis: Sometimes, this means that an enemy of the week will bear a passing resemblance to a creature from Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal. This is a feature, not a bug.

This is all a lot of set-up and explanation that really isn’t that necessary, at least when I recall my own first encounter with this series: I was housesitting for a friend for a week, and said friend urged me to check out her VHS tapes (it was the early 2000s) with the sales pitch “It’s like Star Trek, but with a lot of black leather and anarchy and making out.”

Connie didn’t mention the tears that would ensue, as the Moya crew’s journey to becoming a found family isn’t the easiest one. Shockingly, a group of fundamentally decent people with conflicting morales don’t always get along so well, and even when John and Aeryn catch feelings for each other (as one might have predicted), their story is a complicated one. Though it’s also quite hot at points, and they’re not the only characters who are hella horny for each other. This horniness extends to characters of all hues and makeups. Even the puppets. Again, a feature, not a bug.

Farscape was a show of innovation, not invention, taking decades worth of established tropes and spinning them on their head. That dedication to making the unexpected choice, to exploring the angle other sci-fi writers might not, elevates so many of these episodes into something special. Some episode titles, to give you a sense of the show’s commitment to intense chaos: “Season of Death” (the Season 3 premiere, setting the tone), “Self-Inflicted Wounds,” and “We’re So Screwed (Parts 1-3).”

When Farscape does a time travel episode, everything goes wrong in the most brutal way. When Farscape does a body swap episode, it’s not content to do just two people swapping characters — we’re talking two groups of three-way switcharoos. And when Farscape characters inhale a sex mist… boy do they breathe it in.

Things perhaps get a little too off the deep end by Season 4, but the ride to that point is unlike any other in the realm of sci-fi TV. The above has been written as spoiler-free as possible, with the full awareness that even though the show’s been around for 25 years, it remains an undiscovered gem for so many. In fact, with that in mind, below is a curated list of some of the best Farscape episodes — that are as close to stand-alone as the show will allow.

Again, the cumulative brilliance of this show comes from the way its arcs develop, with bad choices and desperate decisions from multiple installments accumulating to create this mess they’re in. But if you want to sample some of the aforementioned madness/brilliance without fully committing to four seasons of 22 episodes (and a final miniseries), here’s a good place to start…

“Premiere” (Season 1, Episode 1)

A solid setup for the series as a whole, establishing all the horny weird and soulful qualities which would define the show.

“DNA Mad Scientist” (Season 1, Episode 9)

An early example of how dark and weird the series can get, as the crew turns against one of their own in an unexpected way.

“The Flax” (Season 1, Episode 12)

A space pirate adventure with great character beats.

“A Human Reaction” (Season 1, Episode 16)

John thinks he’s made it back to Earth, with all his new friends. The truth is a lot trippier than that.

“Crackers Don’t Matter” (Season 2, Episode 4)

Everyone goes a bit nuts. It’s a good time.

“The Way We Weren’t” (Season 2, Episode 5)

Flashbacks to both Aeryn and Pilot’s pasts include shocking revelations and a few touching moments.

“Out of Their Minds” (Season 2, Episode 9)

The aforementioned body-swap episode, and one of the best to ever do it.

“Different Destinations” (Season 3, Episode 5)

The aforementioned time travel episode, which serves up a harsh conclusion.

“Meltdown” (Season 3, Episode 12)

The aforementioned sex mist episode, which is very silly, and I almost didn’t include it here, except it still makes me laugh so much.

“Scratch ‘n’ Sniff” (Season 3, Episode 13)

Eight years before The Hangover, Farscape did it better.

“Revenging Angel” (Season 3, Episode 16)

John slips into a coma and Farscape goes full Looney Tunes. Easily one of the strangest, funniest, and revelatory episodes of the series. But, also only the tip of the iceberg.

Farscape is currently streaming ad-free on Peacock, and is also available for free with ads on Tubi, The Roku Channel, Crackle, Pluto TV, Shout TV, and Freevee.

11 Episodes to Appreciate the Farting Muppets and Wild Wonder of Farscape: ’99 Rewind
Liz Shannon Miller

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