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Farscape was an Australian/American co-production, a science-fiction television program combining puppetry and live actors to follow the trevails of American astronaut John Crichton, flung into the far reaches of the galaxy during the maiden flight of his experimental craft.
Farscape made use of puppetry to circumvent the problem of having to present alien life-forms as roughly humanoid in size and shape. However, despite the use of Jim Henson's puppet studios, the program was distinctly adult in tone and content.
Unlike other programs filmed in Australian studios (for example, Terra Nova), Farscape was very strongly a co-production, employing a high number of Australian actors and directors. Over a third of the scripts (thirty of the eighty-eight episodes in the original four seasons) were written by Australian script-writers (see below for details). In addition, two Australian script-writers (Lily Taylor and Grant McAloon) served as script/story editors and another (Justin Monjo) acted as creative consultant.
After its abrupt cancellation, Farscape was succeeded by a number of ancillary texts (including a mini-series, graphic novels, and a role-playing game), but these works were American productions rather than Australian/American co-productions.
Notes
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The list of writers above and list of episodes below includes only Australian authors.
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Wikipedia mistakenly credits the episode “Exodus from Genesis” to American script-writer Sally Lapiduss, but Ro Hume is credited as the author in the opening credits.
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After its cancellation, Farscape was followed by a mini-series, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. Both script-writers for the mini-series (Rockne S. O'Bannon and David Kemper) are American.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Is the Tide Turning for Australian Sci-fi on the Small Screen?
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Conversation , 29 August 2017;'Netflix’s planned Australian TV series Tidelands has been met with excitement from a country not known for its sci-fi. Tidelands will focus on an ex-criminal who returns to her hometown, investigating a mysterious group of half-humans and half-Sirens known as “Tidelanders”.
'The ten-episode series will be filmed in Queensland in 2018. Co-creator and co-executive producer Tracey Robertson said of the show:
The primeval landscapes of Queensland are a perfect setting to tell the story of betrayal, small-town secrets [and] ancient mythology …
'Meanwhile, the not-for-profit organisation Scripted Ink will invest in developing Australian author C.S. McMullen’s sci-fi thriller series Awake. The series is set in a dystopian future in which the world’s richest 1% are able to choose to live without sleep.' (Introduction)
-
Is the Tide Turning for Australian Sci-fi on the Small Screen?
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Conversation , 29 August 2017;'Netflix’s planned Australian TV series Tidelands has been met with excitement from a country not known for its sci-fi. Tidelands will focus on an ex-criminal who returns to her hometown, investigating a mysterious group of half-humans and half-Sirens known as “Tidelanders”.
'The ten-episode series will be filmed in Queensland in 2018. Co-creator and co-executive producer Tracey Robertson said of the show:
The primeval landscapes of Queensland are a perfect setting to tell the story of betrayal, small-town secrets [and] ancient mythology …
'Meanwhile, the not-for-profit organisation Scripted Ink will invest in developing Australian author C.S. McMullen’s sci-fi thriller series Awake. The series is set in a dystopian future in which the world’s richest 1% are able to choose to live without sleep.' (Introduction)
