I'm working my way through season two at the moment, but my question is about the third season.  I have this cool, new iPhone app that lists episodes and their original airdates.  I noticed that the final four episodes of the third season didn't air until nearly a year later.  Was there some doubt at the time about the return of Farscape?  I see the fourth and final season was a complete 22 episodes and ran as usual, but this gap in the third season seems really weird.

Did anyone watch this show?  I somewhat remember it being on around the same time as Farscape and thought of it as Farscape on acid.  I don't know how many seasons it ran, but four of them are on Netflix now, so I thought I'd give it a try as the first season was only four episodes long.

Just happened to look at my Netflix queue for Farscape and noticed that the episodes listed aren't in order of broadcast.  I'll try to correct that for future reviews.

Still, love my Netflix.

Another ship in a bottle episode, one of many in these early episodes.  It's funny, when the crew leave the ship, we're not disappointed in the visuals, but in these early episode, they are few and far between, most likely as a cost cutting meaasure.

The thing is, this has to be my favorite episode viewed so far.  And in viewing it, I finally get the appeal of D'Argo.  We get a better look into his background and see how there is more to this warrior than meets the eye.  I love how he's managed to assign people from his past on the crew based on how he views that crewmember.  An awesome story and definitely a hopeful sign of the things I hear about this show.

Now, here's another episode using a convention that science fiction television abuses to the point that CPS should be called - DNA manipulation.  Unlike the previous episode, "That Old Black Magic", nothing new is really done in this episode with the idea.  It allows Claudia Black to act even more alien and weird, but that's about it.  I found myself drifting away from the viewing quite often.  One of the letdowns.

Going to start playing catch-up here.

I'm not a fan when magic is introduced to science fiction.  Most writers who do it on television really play up the corniness of magic.  In this episode though, Richard Manning does a nice job of not having the magic overwhelm the story.  I also like that this is basically Farscape's "Arena" episode.  I wasn't as impressed with the B story of Zhann, but I liked the way it tied in nicely at the end with Crichton's story.

I'm backlogged on recording my thoughts, but it's interesting how the next three episodes I'm going to talk about follow up on something Hawk mentioned in our interview with Rockne O'Bannon.

This episode, and the two that follow, take the sci-fi conventions that we see in many of our favorite series and turn them on their ear.  Here, we have the peaceful, idyllic setting where one could easily lose themselves and forget all their troubles that hides a dark secret.

I'm not going to spoil it for anyone other than to say you can't go wrong with exploding pee, but I found myself engrossed in the episode despite initially groaning at the instant recognition of the trope.

Meh.  This is the first episode that bored me.  I kept looking at my watch and playing Bejeweled to pass the time.  I can't explain it.  Maybe I wasn't in the mood to watch an episode, but it didn't hold my attention.

Weird as I seem to recall this being a popular episode with the fans, or am I incorrect?

Out of all the episodes I've watched so far, I like this one the most.  I like it because it establishes that Rygel is not someone who is always the butt of jokes, but a real character and a part of the Moya crew.  The animatronics on Rygel are very good and the rest of the cast do well in their attempts to get him rescued.

Things are looking good so far.

This episode has so much going for it and yet the elements don't mesh together right somehow.  I can't quite put my finger on it.  The story is written by Babs Greyhosky, who wrote a number of episodes of The Greatest American Hero.  The visual effects are stunning.  I loved how they realized the destruction of the scientists' ship.  It was some of the best effects work I've seen in episodic television.  I liked the way the time distortions were handled.  I even thought that as a D'Argo-centered episode, Anthony Simcoe finally is starting to come into his own as the character.

And yet, despite all this, I found the story lacking.  I kept looking away from the episode and checking my watch, my email, etc.  I think the problem is that the story itself was a little too obvious.  I wasn't as surprised by this one as I was the previous episode.

It hasn't diminished my interest in the series.  I'm looking forward to the next episode which looks to be a Rygel-centered episode.

A very good episode.  I'm still not impressed with D'argo, but Aeryn was a much more solid character.  One thing I was disappointed not being addressed, which I hope it will be in a future episode, is how being a Sebacean Peacekeeper limits the areas of combat one can enter.  In looking at Rygel, I can't help but feel he'd fit in with the Muppets.  I know he's created by the Henson Workshop, but they should have gone out of their way to distinguish these characters from the Muppets and they fail with Rygel.  On the other hand, Pilot is fantastic.  We get a near full body shot in this episode and the realization is great.

As for the story itself, I can't but think how screwed the crew of the Moya would have been if Crichton were not among them.  They are quick to violent action, in particular D'Argo, but Crichton's taking a moment to analyze the situation helped save them all.  One might think that of all those gathered who have encountered other alien races, Crichton might shoot first and ask questions later.  Indeed, he admits to starting the conflict in the first place by squishing one of the bugs.  I'm still in for the long run and am looking forward to the next episode.

First, there are more people than me in the "you should give Farscape another try" peanut gallery.  I think it's a great show, but I haven't seen nearly as many episodes as other Riftians.

Second, are we to assume that you'll be watching the show one episode per week, on the day of the week that it originally aired?

:)

Okay, that's it!

*zips lip*