One of my daily stops on the Interwebnetz is io9, which despite being owned my media conglomerate Gawker Media usually does a good job presenting scifi/nerd/geek stuff. My faith in their editorial staff dipped significantly today with the article titled, “How We’d Give Farscape a Battlestar-style Reboot, and Make a New Hit“.

I’m a huge Farscape fan, and was one among the teeming masses of ‘Scapers that fought to have the show brought back in form of the Peacekeeper Wars miniseries. It was show that featured rich characterization and stunning production design. I’ve talked about it length before, so there is no need to rehash it.

What infuriates me more and more about the current attitudes about science fiction is the need to make it like Battlestar Galactica. BSG is the balls, simply put. However, not every science fiction television program needs to go that route. Farscape is a prime example.

Farscape worked because of the swagger that actor Ben Browder brought to the character of John Crichton, whom I often describe as being Jack Burton in Space. A lot of the times he’s over his head, and all he’s got is a half-assed plan and a lot of swagger to get him out of it.

Back to io9’s Annalee Newitz … :

A new, darker show might touch a nerve by delving deeper into the violence caused by political factions and splinter groups. And by focusing on the brain chip technology, instead of the wormhole technology, we open up space for genuinely scary episodes with a texture of conspiracy (who is controlling who? are our minds our own?). Plus, we get a chance to reinvent the cool aliens and sentient spaceships of the old show, using better special effects technology

Um. No. You Fail. Farscape doesn’t need a reboot … just a continuation of the story post PKW. We’ll certaintly be getting that via BOOM! Studios and their new Farscape ongoing comic written by series creator Rocke S. O’Bannon. Not everthing needs to be dark, brooding and fucking morally ambiguous.

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