Join Farscape cast members in celebration of this epic sci-fi series! Moderator Kirk Thatcher (Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge) talks with Gigi Edgley (Chiana, Farscape), Ricky Manning (writer, Farscape), Rebecca Riggs (Commandant Grayza, Farscape), David Franklin (Lieutenant Braca, Farscape), Lani Tupu (Captain Crais, Farscape), and Paul Goddard (Stark, Farscape) about their love for this show. There is also talk of its return, and it isn’t just a rumor!
Watching the Farscape…To Be Continued panel
Farscape is now streaming on Amazon Prime! Fans can now watch every episode streaming to their homes. It is about American astronaut John Crichton (played by Ben Browder). He finds himself thrown across the universe when a space mission goes horribly wrong. Crichton ends up on an alien ship and has to team up with a group of rebels involved in an intergalactic battle. The series ran from 1999-2003.
This was a show like no other. Filmed in Australia, the cast and crew had more freedom to push the limits passed what other science fiction shows had done. When asked about what it was like to work with a set and show so different, Gigi Edgley said, “You don’t have to act. We just have to surrender to the situation.” The goal for this show was to not be Star Trek. Everyone who was part of the cast and crew understood that there was a vibe where everyone had to be bigger. There was a “go for it” attitude, and if someone could not get “there,” then the show would end up swallowing them.
Panel highlights
Writer Ricky Manning said that the lines in the sci-fi genre have started to blur a little bit, mixing with other genres in the current industry. It has become a more mainstream, accepted genre.
“It was the turn of the century when ‘Farscape’ was on, and I remember sci-fi was initially very…I mean they were very happy about it; they were very surprised that our demographic was pretty evenly split male/female. At that time, for a science fiction show, that was fairly unheard of. We were very proud of that.”
Talk of a new series that will be a continuation with the original cast is very exciting, especially after all of these years. There is no official script yet. However, Manning talked about how the show was more like free-form jazz versus a symphony. There were a lot of improvised moments in the series that they rolled with. In fact, some of the more prominent plot lines happened because of improvisation from either the cast or set designers or those in charge of the puppets. Kirk Thatcher asked the cast what they think their characters would be doing during the first episode. Again, this is not official. Their answers begin at the thirty-four minute mark!
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