Farscape review John Quixote Oops I Got Fooled Again part 1

Home ¤ John Quixote: "Oops, I Got Fooled Again"

John Quixote: "Oops, I Got Fooled Again"
Ross Ruediger ¤ 30 July 2002

PreRamble ¤ Set Up ¤ The Key ¤ Conclusions and Final Thoughts

PreRamble

"John Quixote" marks Ben Browder's second foray into scriptwriting for Farscape. The first, fans will recall, was Season 3's psychotic love and jealousy triangle, "Green-Eyed Monster", which largely focused on the characters of Crichton, Aeryn, and Crais, claustrophobically stuck onboard the Leviathan hybrid, Talyn. The three played a wonderful game of Virginia Woolf, whilst being trapped in the stomach of a Budong. Amidst all of this, Browder treated us to a comical little B-plot featuring Rygel and Stark, onboard a transport pod, attempting to save the other three. From the word go, the tale was special and distinctive. It didn't feel like retread - it felt fresh; the seeming catharsis of a man stuck inside the alter ego of one John Crichton for nearly three years. Few could know Crichton better than the actor responsible for giving him a face, a voice, a posture and gait, and the all-important dramatic insight.

"John Quixote", upon my initial viewing, seemed a nasty car accident in which I searched for signs of life. (It probably didn't help that I'd had only three hours of sleep.) Oh sure, it was chock full of icons from Farscape past and present, visually engaging set-pieces, clever caricatures and the smart sense of cinematographic style that seems to have become the stamp of Season 4. However I couldn't get past the notion that all I was really viewing was a retread of "Won't Get Fooled Again", which may well be my favorite Farscape episode ever, and is most certainly placed upon various pedestals by a great number of other Scapers as well. Ben Browder himself at one time stated that "Won't Get Fooled Again" was his personal favorite episode of the series.

" John Quixote" is about as far removed from "Green-Eyed Monster" in its approach to storytelling as Benji is from The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington. It's reassuring to know that Browder isn't a one-trick pony in regards to his writing skills. Episodes like "John Quixote" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" are really made specifically for fans of the series that follow it from episode to episode. The casual viewer is likely to get maybe a fifth of what's happening on-screen - it's all far too much of a big in-joke. Browder appreciates the fans. Browder knows Farscape. Browder has also stated that from now on he'll probably write an episode each season.

So it should probably come as no surprise that he might try to pay homage to "Won't Get Fooled Again", by penning a tale that might dare to expand or play upon ideas raised in that benchmark installment. One can make a good case that "John Quixote" is a rip-off of its predecessor. You can do that. Or you can enjoy the episode on its own merits, which is the fair approach, and also the one I didn't afford it the first time around. I saw it through my eyes and it felt wrong, poorly paced, and contrived on probably three too many levels.

On a second viewing, I made an effort to see it through the eyes of John Crichton and it seemed to be a different, more cohesive tale altogether - it was also far more difficult to pull apart. This must be how Browder himself approached the episode, and perhaps this is also the singular trait his second Farscape writing assignment has in common with the first: the viewer sees the events almost exclusively from the point of view of John Crichton. If Ben Browder chooses to write every episode of his from Crichton's point of view, then Kemper and company should let him. He's got a special insight into Farscape's central character that belongs to him. Both of the stories he has written, the fans, and John Crichton himself, are all the better for it.

Go to part 2, Set Up.