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Oct. 13th, 2004
I Heart David Kemper
Oct. 13th, 2004 11:07 pmPreparing for the Farscape Mini-series by rewatching the series. Some friends and I finished Season 3 last night. Yet again I'm astounded and awed by how many RIGHT moves the show made. Yes, it's an incredibly, incredibly painful season that devolves into destruction, loss and isolation. . .and every step of the way makes perfect sense both in plotting and in character. How frelling awesome is that? See, Joss, it CAN be done right.
After finishing Season 3 I saw on the DVD extras that head writer David Kemper did a season 3 overview. He goes over every episode bringing on some of the staff writers, explaining where they got ideas, what was planned, what wasn't planned, and what he lost sleep over.
First off, Kemper is ADORABLE. I mean, sure he's reasonably cute physically, but his enthusiasm is infectious. It's so clear that he loves these characters. He's quite a contrast to Joss who always seems so. . .Joss when he discusses the show. Kemper was joking around.
When he started joking around about their flying by the seats of their pants and having things just happen, I had major Mutant Enemy flashbacks. One thing that became clear with Succubus Club interviews from DrewGod, Jane, Fury, etc, is that Mutant Enemy didn't plan squat in the last few years of BtVS (and some of AtS). They were flying blind. They just did stuff. So when Kemper was going on about it, I cringed... except the more Kemper talked the more clear it became that Kemper's idea of flying blind is NOTHING like Mutant Enemy's blind leading the blind. Kemper said they began the season knowing (cut for spoilers)( Read more... ) Hmm... sounds like (gasp) they had an outline! Not just one of Joss's "and it will end here" but with the things Kemper mentioned, they pretty much knew the beginning, middle and end of the arc. Sure they gave themselves wiggle room about what would happen in each ep and they cut some things short and extended others when they saw it was working. ( Read more... )
Kemper spoke about how they had the series planned as a 5 year arc (which made me sad because we know that Sci-Fi pulled the plug at 4). So they decided before going into Season 3 that it would have to be a very dark place. They planned to spend the last two years healing the hurts of Season 3 (Hey, at least they planned to actually heal the hurts. I think this is why Farscape Season 3 is better that BtVS Season 6. ME seemed interested in playing with the dark, making things hurt, shocking the audience... but they had no plan of HOW to bring any of the characters out of this deep dark place. So much of Season 6 seems like ME pushing an agenda, not following the characters. They wanted to shock, to hurt, to destroy... for shock value. So what if characters take wild swings in characterization only to have an instant reset to make them "okay" while never really having them LEARN anything. It's why I still resent the shit that ME pulled in Season 6, whereas I view the season of de-evolution of Farscape as fantastic storytelling. ME focused on its metaphors --hey, Buffy digs herself out of a hole/grave at the end of the season, and she's back from the dead! That's her coming back symbollically!-- but they don't see the characters as PEOPLE. Kemper and Company didn't have things happen that didn't fit the characters. HOW things de-evolve fits and is heartbreaking because we see Crichton, Aeryn, Zaahn, etc. trying to do the right thing and it leads them inexorably downward. We didn't grow to hate the characters over the season. We hurt for and with them as things went from bad to worse to worst.
It was also nice to see that Farscape loved all of its characters. When discussing the characters it was clear that Kemper saw Crais as a hero. And I laughed when Kemper spoke with the staff writer who did the Scorpy-centric ep "Incubator." The guy said "Yeah, I thought we needed an episode about the real hero of the series -- Scorpious." I've always maintained that in Scorpy's head HE is the hero of this story. Now, no, I don't believe that Scorpy is the hero. But I believe absolutely that SCORPY believes it. . .which is why he's such a fantastic, fascinating, wonderful, gray-ish-ish villan. The writer clearly saw that too. He understood Scorpy and had affection for him. He "got" that in Scorpy's head, Scorpy is the hero and Crichton is just this naive sevant yokel who doesn't understand the true danger of the situation they face.
And apparently there's a writer debate about whether Scorpious or Rygel is the "smartest character on the show." Heh. In fact that seems to have been what generated the episode "I, Yensch..." They wanted Scorpy and Rygel to battle wits. They got a little stuck on the plot and a writer ran in and said "Why not in the middle of the episode everything changes and we have Dog Day Afternoon!" I liked that because long before I saw the commentaries, I thought that episode resembled Dog Day Afternoon. Heh. I figured out their reference!
Most endearing was Kemper discussing the Season 3 finale "Dog with Two Bones" how he was sleepless and desperate over the episode because if he didn't get it right, it would destroy the whole arc. He KNEW that pyrotechnics and action weren't the answer. But he just didn't know what was. He said he wrote and re-wrote the episode many times. He had this terrible feeling he was screwing it up. Then he said in the middle of the night it hit him. ( Read more... )
Anyway, it was really nice to have writer commentary that didn't make me want to smack someone. It was nice to see Kemper's love for the characters and the Farscape-verse.
After finishing Season 3 I saw on the DVD extras that head writer David Kemper did a season 3 overview. He goes over every episode bringing on some of the staff writers, explaining where they got ideas, what was planned, what wasn't planned, and what he lost sleep over.
First off, Kemper is ADORABLE. I mean, sure he's reasonably cute physically, but his enthusiasm is infectious. It's so clear that he loves these characters. He's quite a contrast to Joss who always seems so. . .Joss when he discusses the show. Kemper was joking around.
When he started joking around about their flying by the seats of their pants and having things just happen, I had major Mutant Enemy flashbacks. One thing that became clear with Succubus Club interviews from DrewGod, Jane, Fury, etc, is that Mutant Enemy didn't plan squat in the last few years of BtVS (and some of AtS). They were flying blind. They just did stuff. So when Kemper was going on about it, I cringed... except the more Kemper talked the more clear it became that Kemper's idea of flying blind is NOTHING like Mutant Enemy's blind leading the blind. Kemper said they began the season knowing (cut for spoilers)( Read more... ) Hmm... sounds like (gasp) they had an outline! Not just one of Joss's "and it will end here" but with the things Kemper mentioned, they pretty much knew the beginning, middle and end of the arc. Sure they gave themselves wiggle room about what would happen in each ep and they cut some things short and extended others when they saw it was working. ( Read more... )
Kemper spoke about how they had the series planned as a 5 year arc (which made me sad because we know that Sci-Fi pulled the plug at 4). So they decided before going into Season 3 that it would have to be a very dark place. They planned to spend the last two years healing the hurts of Season 3 (Hey, at least they planned to actually heal the hurts. I think this is why Farscape Season 3 is better that BtVS Season 6. ME seemed interested in playing with the dark, making things hurt, shocking the audience... but they had no plan of HOW to bring any of the characters out of this deep dark place. So much of Season 6 seems like ME pushing an agenda, not following the characters. They wanted to shock, to hurt, to destroy... for shock value. So what if characters take wild swings in characterization only to have an instant reset to make them "okay" while never really having them LEARN anything. It's why I still resent the shit that ME pulled in Season 6, whereas I view the season of de-evolution of Farscape as fantastic storytelling. ME focused on its metaphors --hey, Buffy digs herself out of a hole/grave at the end of the season, and she's back from the dead! That's her coming back symbollically!-- but they don't see the characters as PEOPLE. Kemper and Company didn't have things happen that didn't fit the characters. HOW things de-evolve fits and is heartbreaking because we see Crichton, Aeryn, Zaahn, etc. trying to do the right thing and it leads them inexorably downward. We didn't grow to hate the characters over the season. We hurt for and with them as things went from bad to worse to worst.
It was also nice to see that Farscape loved all of its characters. When discussing the characters it was clear that Kemper saw Crais as a hero. And I laughed when Kemper spoke with the staff writer who did the Scorpy-centric ep "Incubator." The guy said "Yeah, I thought we needed an episode about the real hero of the series -- Scorpious." I've always maintained that in Scorpy's head HE is the hero of this story. Now, no, I don't believe that Scorpy is the hero. But I believe absolutely that SCORPY believes it. . .which is why he's such a fantastic, fascinating, wonderful, gray-ish-ish villan. The writer clearly saw that too. He understood Scorpy and had affection for him. He "got" that in Scorpy's head, Scorpy is the hero and Crichton is just this naive sevant yokel who doesn't understand the true danger of the situation they face.
And apparently there's a writer debate about whether Scorpious or Rygel is the "smartest character on the show." Heh. In fact that seems to have been what generated the episode "I, Yensch..." They wanted Scorpy and Rygel to battle wits. They got a little stuck on the plot and a writer ran in and said "Why not in the middle of the episode everything changes and we have Dog Day Afternoon!" I liked that because long before I saw the commentaries, I thought that episode resembled Dog Day Afternoon. Heh. I figured out their reference!
Most endearing was Kemper discussing the Season 3 finale "Dog with Two Bones" how he was sleepless and desperate over the episode because if he didn't get it right, it would destroy the whole arc. He KNEW that pyrotechnics and action weren't the answer. But he just didn't know what was. He said he wrote and re-wrote the episode many times. He had this terrible feeling he was screwing it up. Then he said in the middle of the night it hit him. ( Read more... )
Anyway, it was really nice to have writer commentary that didn't make me want to smack someone. It was nice to see Kemper's love for the characters and the Farscape-verse.
I Heart David Kemper
Oct. 13th, 2004 11:07 pmPreparing for the Farscape Mini-series by rewatching the series. Some friends and I finished Season 3 last night. Yet again I'm astounded and awed by how many RIGHT moves the show made. Yes, it's an incredibly, incredibly painful season that devolves into destruction, loss and isolation. . .and every step of the way makes perfect sense both in plotting and in character. How frelling awesome is that? See, Joss, it CAN be done right.
After finishing Season 3 I saw on the DVD extras that head writer David Kemper did a season 3 overview. He goes over every episode bringing on some of the staff writers, explaining where they got ideas, what was planned, what wasn't planned, and what he lost sleep over.
First off, Kemper is ADORABLE. I mean, sure he's reasonably cute physically, but his enthusiasm is infectious. It's so clear that he loves these characters. He's quite a contrast to Joss who always seems so. . .Joss when he discusses the show. Kemper was joking around.
When he started joking around about their flying by the seats of their pants and having things just happen, I had major Mutant Enemy flashbacks. One thing that became clear with Succubus Club interviews from DrewGod, Jane, Fury, etc, is that Mutant Enemy didn't plan squat in the last few years of BtVS (and some of AtS). They were flying blind. They just did stuff. So when Kemper was going on about it, I cringed... except the more Kemper talked the more clear it became that Kemper's idea of flying blind is NOTHING like Mutant Enemy's blind leading the blind. Kemper said they began the season knowing (cut for spoilers)( Read more... ) Hmm... sounds like (gasp) they had an outline! Not just one of Joss's "and it will end here" but with the things Kemper mentioned, they pretty much knew the beginning, middle and end of the arc. Sure they gave themselves wiggle room about what would happen in each ep and they cut some things short and extended others when they saw it was working. ( Read more... )
Kemper spoke about how they had the series planned as a 5 year arc (which made me sad because we know that Sci-Fi pulled the plug at 4). So they decided before going into Season 3 that it would have to be a very dark place. They planned to spend the last two years healing the hurts of Season 3 (Hey, at least they planned to actually heal the hurts. I think this is why Farscape Season 3 is better that BtVS Season 6. ME seemed interested in playing with the dark, making things hurt, shocking the audience... but they had no plan of HOW to bring any of the characters out of this deep dark place. So much of Season 6 seems like ME pushing an agenda, not following the characters. They wanted to shock, to hurt, to destroy... for shock value. So what if characters take wild swings in characterization only to have an instant reset to make them "okay" while never really having them LEARN anything. It's why I still resent the shit that ME pulled in Season 6, whereas I view the season of de-evolution of Farscape as fantastic storytelling. ME focused on its metaphors --hey, Buffy digs herself out of a hole/grave at the end of the season, and she's back from the dead! That's her coming back symbollically!-- but they don't see the characters as PEOPLE. Kemper and Company didn't have things happen that didn't fit the characters. HOW things de-evolve fits and is heartbreaking because we see Crichton, Aeryn, Zaahn, etc. trying to do the right thing and it leads them inexorably downward. We didn't grow to hate the characters over the season. We hurt for and with them as things went from bad to worse to worst.
It was also nice to see that Farscape loved all of its characters. When discussing the characters it was clear that Kemper saw Crais as a hero. And I laughed when Kemper spoke with the staff writer who did the Scorpy-centric ep "Incubator." The guy said "Yeah, I thought we needed an episode about the real hero of the series -- Scorpious." I've always maintained that in Scorpy's head HE is the hero of this story. Now, no, I don't believe that Scorpy is the hero. But I believe absolutely that SCORPY believes it. . .which is why he's such a fantastic, fascinating, wonderful, gray-ish-ish villan. The writer clearly saw that too. He understood Scorpy and had affection for him. He "got" that in Scorpy's head, Scorpy is the hero and Crichton is just this naive sevant yokel who doesn't understand the true danger of the situation they face.
And apparently there's a writer debate about whether Scorpious or Rygel is the "smartest character on the show." Heh. In fact that seems to have been what generated the episode "I, Yensch..." They wanted Scorpy and Rygel to battle wits. They got a little stuck on the plot and a writer ran in and said "Why not in the middle of the episode everything changes and we have Dog Day Afternoon!" I liked that because long before I saw the commentaries, I thought that episode resembled Dog Day Afternoon. Heh. I figured out their reference!
Most endearing was Kemper discussing the Season 3 finale "Dog with Two Bones" how he was sleepless and desperate over the episode because if he didn't get it right, it would destroy the whole arc. He KNEW that pyrotechnics and action weren't the answer. But he just didn't know what was. He said he wrote and re-wrote the episode many times. He had this terrible feeling he was screwing it up. Then he said in the middle of the night it hit him. ( Read more... )
Anyway, it was really nice to have writer commentary that didn't make me want to smack someone. It was nice to see Kemper's love for the characters and the Farscape-verse.
After finishing Season 3 I saw on the DVD extras that head writer David Kemper did a season 3 overview. He goes over every episode bringing on some of the staff writers, explaining where they got ideas, what was planned, what wasn't planned, and what he lost sleep over.
First off, Kemper is ADORABLE. I mean, sure he's reasonably cute physically, but his enthusiasm is infectious. It's so clear that he loves these characters. He's quite a contrast to Joss who always seems so. . .Joss when he discusses the show. Kemper was joking around.
When he started joking around about their flying by the seats of their pants and having things just happen, I had major Mutant Enemy flashbacks. One thing that became clear with Succubus Club interviews from DrewGod, Jane, Fury, etc, is that Mutant Enemy didn't plan squat in the last few years of BtVS (and some of AtS). They were flying blind. They just did stuff. So when Kemper was going on about it, I cringed... except the more Kemper talked the more clear it became that Kemper's idea of flying blind is NOTHING like Mutant Enemy's blind leading the blind. Kemper said they began the season knowing (cut for spoilers)( Read more... ) Hmm... sounds like (gasp) they had an outline! Not just one of Joss's "and it will end here" but with the things Kemper mentioned, they pretty much knew the beginning, middle and end of the arc. Sure they gave themselves wiggle room about what would happen in each ep and they cut some things short and extended others when they saw it was working. ( Read more... )
Kemper spoke about how they had the series planned as a 5 year arc (which made me sad because we know that Sci-Fi pulled the plug at 4). So they decided before going into Season 3 that it would have to be a very dark place. They planned to spend the last two years healing the hurts of Season 3 (Hey, at least they planned to actually heal the hurts. I think this is why Farscape Season 3 is better that BtVS Season 6. ME seemed interested in playing with the dark, making things hurt, shocking the audience... but they had no plan of HOW to bring any of the characters out of this deep dark place. So much of Season 6 seems like ME pushing an agenda, not following the characters. They wanted to shock, to hurt, to destroy... for shock value. So what if characters take wild swings in characterization only to have an instant reset to make them "okay" while never really having them LEARN anything. It's why I still resent the shit that ME pulled in Season 6, whereas I view the season of de-evolution of Farscape as fantastic storytelling. ME focused on its metaphors --hey, Buffy digs herself out of a hole/grave at the end of the season, and she's back from the dead! That's her coming back symbollically!-- but they don't see the characters as PEOPLE. Kemper and Company didn't have things happen that didn't fit the characters. HOW things de-evolve fits and is heartbreaking because we see Crichton, Aeryn, Zaahn, etc. trying to do the right thing and it leads them inexorably downward. We didn't grow to hate the characters over the season. We hurt for and with them as things went from bad to worse to worst.
It was also nice to see that Farscape loved all of its characters. When discussing the characters it was clear that Kemper saw Crais as a hero. And I laughed when Kemper spoke with the staff writer who did the Scorpy-centric ep "Incubator." The guy said "Yeah, I thought we needed an episode about the real hero of the series -- Scorpious." I've always maintained that in Scorpy's head HE is the hero of this story. Now, no, I don't believe that Scorpy is the hero. But I believe absolutely that SCORPY believes it. . .which is why he's such a fantastic, fascinating, wonderful, gray-ish-ish villan. The writer clearly saw that too. He understood Scorpy and had affection for him. He "got" that in Scorpy's head, Scorpy is the hero and Crichton is just this naive sevant yokel who doesn't understand the true danger of the situation they face.
And apparently there's a writer debate about whether Scorpious or Rygel is the "smartest character on the show." Heh. In fact that seems to have been what generated the episode "I, Yensch..." They wanted Scorpy and Rygel to battle wits. They got a little stuck on the plot and a writer ran in and said "Why not in the middle of the episode everything changes and we have Dog Day Afternoon!" I liked that because long before I saw the commentaries, I thought that episode resembled Dog Day Afternoon. Heh. I figured out their reference!
Most endearing was Kemper discussing the Season 3 finale "Dog with Two Bones" how he was sleepless and desperate over the episode because if he didn't get it right, it would destroy the whole arc. He KNEW that pyrotechnics and action weren't the answer. But he just didn't know what was. He said he wrote and re-wrote the episode many times. He had this terrible feeling he was screwing it up. Then he said in the middle of the night it hit him. ( Read more... )
Anyway, it was really nice to have writer commentary that didn't make me want to smack someone. It was nice to see Kemper's love for the characters and the Farscape-verse.
I Heart David Kemper
Oct. 13th, 2004 11:07 pmPreparing for the Farscape Mini-series by rewatching the series. Some friends and I finished Season 3 last night. Yet again I'm astounded and awed by how many RIGHT moves the show made. Yes, it's an incredibly, incredibly painful season that devolves into destruction, loss and isolation. . .and every step of the way makes perfect sense both in plotting and in character. How frelling awesome is that? See, Joss, it CAN be done right.
After finishing Season 3 I saw on the DVD extras that head writer David Kemper did a season 3 overview. He goes over every episode bringing on some of the staff writers, explaining where they got ideas, what was planned, what wasn't planned, and what he lost sleep over.
First off, Kemper is ADORABLE. I mean, sure he's reasonably cute physically, but his enthusiasm is infectious. It's so clear that he loves these characters. He's quite a contrast to Joss who always seems so. . .Joss when he discusses the show. Kemper was joking around.
When he started joking around about their flying by the seats of their pants and having things just happen, I had major Mutant Enemy flashbacks. One thing that became clear with Succubus Club interviews from DrewGod, Jane, Fury, etc, is that Mutant Enemy didn't plan squat in the last few years of BtVS (and some of AtS). They were flying blind. They just did stuff. So when Kemper was going on about it, I cringed... except the more Kemper talked the more clear it became that Kemper's idea of flying blind is NOTHING like Mutant Enemy's blind leading the blind. Kemper said they began the season knowing (cut for spoilers)( Read more... ) Hmm... sounds like (gasp) they had an outline! Not just one of Joss's "and it will end here" but with the things Kemper mentioned, they pretty much knew the beginning, middle and end of the arc. Sure they gave themselves wiggle room about what would happen in each ep and they cut some things short and extended others when they saw it was working. ( Read more... )
Kemper spoke about how they had the series planned as a 5 year arc (which made me sad because we know that Sci-Fi pulled the plug at 4). So they decided before going into Season 3 that it would have to be a very dark place. They planned to spend the last two years healing the hurts of Season 3 (Hey, at least they planned to actually heal the hurts. I think this is why Farscape Season 3 is better that BtVS Season 6. ME seemed interested in playing with the dark, making things hurt, shocking the audience... but they had no plan of HOW to bring any of the characters out of this deep dark place. So much of Season 6 seems like ME pushing an agenda, not following the characters. They wanted to shock, to hurt, to destroy... for shock value. So what if characters take wild swings in characterization only to have an instant reset to make them "okay" while never really having them LEARN anything. It's why I still resent the shit that ME pulled in Season 6, whereas I view the season of de-evolution of Farscape as fantastic storytelling. ME focused on its metaphors --hey, Buffy digs herself out of a hole/grave at the end of the season, and she's back from the dead! That's her coming back symbollically!-- but they don't see the characters as PEOPLE. Kemper and Company didn't have things happen that didn't fit the characters. HOW things de-evolve fits and is heartbreaking because we see Crichton, Aeryn, Zaahn, etc. trying to do the right thing and it leads them inexorably downward. We didn't grow to hate the characters over the season. We hurt for and with them as things went from bad to worse to worst.
It was also nice to see that Farscape loved all of its characters. When discussing the characters it was clear that Kemper saw Crais as a hero. And I laughed when Kemper spoke with the staff writer who did the Scorpy-centric ep "Incubator." The guy said "Yeah, I thought we needed an episode about the real hero of the series -- Scorpious." I've always maintained that in Scorpy's head HE is the hero of this story. Now, no, I don't believe that Scorpy is the hero. But I believe absolutely that SCORPY believes it. . .which is why he's such a fantastic, fascinating, wonderful, gray-ish-ish villan. The writer clearly saw that too. He understood Scorpy and had affection for him. He "got" that in Scorpy's head, Scorpy is the hero and Crichton is just this naive sevant yokel who doesn't understand the true danger of the situation they face.
And apparently there's a writer debate about whether Scorpious or Rygel is the "smartest character on the show." Heh. In fact that seems to have been what generated the episode "I, Yensch..." They wanted Scorpy and Rygel to battle wits. They got a little stuck on the plot and a writer ran in and said "Why not in the middle of the episode everything changes and we have Dog Day Afternoon!" I liked that because long before I saw the commentaries, I thought that episode resembled Dog Day Afternoon. Heh. I figured out their reference!
Most endearing was Kemper discussing the Season 3 finale "Dog with Two Bones" how he was sleepless and desperate over the episode because if he didn't get it right, it would destroy the whole arc. He KNEW that pyrotechnics and action weren't the answer. But he just didn't know what was. He said he wrote and re-wrote the episode many times. He had this terrible feeling he was screwing it up. Then he said in the middle of the night it hit him. ( Read more... )
Anyway, it was really nice to have writer commentary that didn't make me want to smack someone. It was nice to see Kemper's love for the characters and the Farscape-verse.
After finishing Season 3 I saw on the DVD extras that head writer David Kemper did a season 3 overview. He goes over every episode bringing on some of the staff writers, explaining where they got ideas, what was planned, what wasn't planned, and what he lost sleep over.
First off, Kemper is ADORABLE. I mean, sure he's reasonably cute physically, but his enthusiasm is infectious. It's so clear that he loves these characters. He's quite a contrast to Joss who always seems so. . .Joss when he discusses the show. Kemper was joking around.
When he started joking around about their flying by the seats of their pants and having things just happen, I had major Mutant Enemy flashbacks. One thing that became clear with Succubus Club interviews from DrewGod, Jane, Fury, etc, is that Mutant Enemy didn't plan squat in the last few years of BtVS (and some of AtS). They were flying blind. They just did stuff. So when Kemper was going on about it, I cringed... except the more Kemper talked the more clear it became that Kemper's idea of flying blind is NOTHING like Mutant Enemy's blind leading the blind. Kemper said they began the season knowing (cut for spoilers)( Read more... ) Hmm... sounds like (gasp) they had an outline! Not just one of Joss's "and it will end here" but with the things Kemper mentioned, they pretty much knew the beginning, middle and end of the arc. Sure they gave themselves wiggle room about what would happen in each ep and they cut some things short and extended others when they saw it was working. ( Read more... )
Kemper spoke about how they had the series planned as a 5 year arc (which made me sad because we know that Sci-Fi pulled the plug at 4). So they decided before going into Season 3 that it would have to be a very dark place. They planned to spend the last two years healing the hurts of Season 3 (Hey, at least they planned to actually heal the hurts. I think this is why Farscape Season 3 is better that BtVS Season 6. ME seemed interested in playing with the dark, making things hurt, shocking the audience... but they had no plan of HOW to bring any of the characters out of this deep dark place. So much of Season 6 seems like ME pushing an agenda, not following the characters. They wanted to shock, to hurt, to destroy... for shock value. So what if characters take wild swings in characterization only to have an instant reset to make them "okay" while never really having them LEARN anything. It's why I still resent the shit that ME pulled in Season 6, whereas I view the season of de-evolution of Farscape as fantastic storytelling. ME focused on its metaphors --hey, Buffy digs herself out of a hole/grave at the end of the season, and she's back from the dead! That's her coming back symbollically!-- but they don't see the characters as PEOPLE. Kemper and Company didn't have things happen that didn't fit the characters. HOW things de-evolve fits and is heartbreaking because we see Crichton, Aeryn, Zaahn, etc. trying to do the right thing and it leads them inexorably downward. We didn't grow to hate the characters over the season. We hurt for and with them as things went from bad to worse to worst.
It was also nice to see that Farscape loved all of its characters. When discussing the characters it was clear that Kemper saw Crais as a hero. And I laughed when Kemper spoke with the staff writer who did the Scorpy-centric ep "Incubator." The guy said "Yeah, I thought we needed an episode about the real hero of the series -- Scorpious." I've always maintained that in Scorpy's head HE is the hero of this story. Now, no, I don't believe that Scorpy is the hero. But I believe absolutely that SCORPY believes it. . .which is why he's such a fantastic, fascinating, wonderful, gray-ish-ish villan. The writer clearly saw that too. He understood Scorpy and had affection for him. He "got" that in Scorpy's head, Scorpy is the hero and Crichton is just this naive sevant yokel who doesn't understand the true danger of the situation they face.
And apparently there's a writer debate about whether Scorpious or Rygel is the "smartest character on the show." Heh. In fact that seems to have been what generated the episode "I, Yensch..." They wanted Scorpy and Rygel to battle wits. They got a little stuck on the plot and a writer ran in and said "Why not in the middle of the episode everything changes and we have Dog Day Afternoon!" I liked that because long before I saw the commentaries, I thought that episode resembled Dog Day Afternoon. Heh. I figured out their reference!
Most endearing was Kemper discussing the Season 3 finale "Dog with Two Bones" how he was sleepless and desperate over the episode because if he didn't get it right, it would destroy the whole arc. He KNEW that pyrotechnics and action weren't the answer. But he just didn't know what was. He said he wrote and re-wrote the episode many times. He had this terrible feeling he was screwing it up. Then he said in the middle of the night it hit him. ( Read more... )
Anyway, it was really nice to have writer commentary that didn't make me want to smack someone. It was nice to see Kemper's love for the characters and the Farscape-verse.