Farscape originally arrived on our screens like a Sci-Fi breath of fresh air in 1999, following the more military-centric science fiction television shows, such as Star Trek and Stargate SG:1. With a crew of escaped prisoners attempting to find their way home across Uncharted Territories on the far side of the galaxy, Farscape took the genre into a new interesting and, often darker, place. Moving away from the mission-based episodes of Star Trek, Farscape offered a continuing story that explored the diverse crew and universe it had created.
As seems to be a standard for cult Sci-Fi, Farscape was cancelled in 2003 prior to its fifth season, leaving the show ending on a cliff hanger. The rights were later picked up in 2004 by Brian Henson (son of Muppets-creator; Jim Henson) and the previously unfinished story was wrapped up in a 3 hour mini-series entitled “The PeaceKeeper Wars”.
Since then, promises of webisodes and further miniseries have been made and subsequently cancelled on several occasions. However it has just been revealed that Justin Monjo, writer of several episodes of the original series and writer of the upcoming HBO sci-fi series; The Beasts of Valhalla, is working on a screenplay for a new ‘Farscape’ feature film.
The movie is rumoured to focus on the son of Farscape heroes, John Crichton (Ben Browder) and Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) and the son’s escape from Earth after his existence is discovered by enemy creatures still bearing a grudge against his father. While there isn’t much information out there at the moment, I intend to keep a close eye on the project as it develops.
With echoes of Serenity filling the void left by Firefly’s departure, a Farscape movie would be welcomed by many fans and potentially set the scene for a new series. My only question is whether or not a gap 10 years is a little too long. For sure you can succeed if you’re Star Trek, but could the obscurely remembered Farscape manage to last the often cruel test of time?