Farscape: The Apolitical success story

Normally, I am not a fan of apolitical sci-fi series, because their writing is usually weak. For example, Stargate turns into little more than a justification for military aggression, while Buck Rogers is prone to fits of unintentional comedy not befitting a true sci-fi series. Farscape, however, is unique. The series is not totally devoid of political intent: Peacekeeper society has some resemblances to Nazi Germany and New Age spirituality is featured prominently in several episodes. But, by and large, Farscape eschewed political commentary so it could instead focus on the interaction of the various characters in the cast, as well as tell an epic story with a minimum of studio interference. Farscape, for me, is one of the defining series of U.S. sci-fi, because it's the first series to truly take on the challenge of Blake's 7 and actually leave one in real doubt about the morality and ethics of our heroes. It is also the first sci-fi series on TV that truly posited an alien universe. Nothing in Farscape has been duplicated. Indeeed, the special effects and aliens in the series compare very favorably with much more expensive fare from George Lucas and . . . ahem, James Cameron.

What Farscape did was turn the sci-fi genre into an adult genre, removing the last vestiges of kiddieness that still lingered a little bit in Babylon 5 and Star Trek. Characters in Farscape made love, killed their enemies, showed unflattering moral flaws, and were in general nice bastards, rather than tragic heroes. For that, Farscape should be thanked. Without it's moral ambiguity, Firefly and BSG would never have got off the ground.