Farscape: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning (Hardcover)

~ Rockne S. O'Bannon (Author), Keith R.A. Decandido (Author), Tommy Patterson (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up–While the Farscape TV series ended in 2004, its universe shows no signs of slowing down. This volume contains the first four issues of the comic book written by the series creator. The story takes place just after the miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, which followed the original TV series, so it is essential for readers to be familiar with these shows in order to appreciate and understand it. John Crichton, the former astronaut who spent years as the only human in a group of aliens, plans to settle down with his wife and child. But when Rygel, Chiana, and Jothee are captured and held prisoner on planet Hyneria, he has no choice but to try and rescue them. When his strong-willed wife refuses to stay behind, it becomes a family rescue mission, bringing even more risk and danger to the equation. The colorful artwork effectively captures the action, and is especially stunning when highlighting the skin tones, clothing, and skies of this alien world. An unusual but welcome bonus is O'Bannon's original story that was adapted into the script of these comics. While this book's reading level is appropriate for teens, it will be most appreciated by adult fans of the original series who will delight in revisiting old friends.–Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library
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Review

"...for those of you who weren't Farscape fans during the TV series run and don't understand what the buzz is about, this is a perfect opportunity to jump in!"-- Comic Related

"...most of the scenes definitely ring true to the show, even some four years later."-- Comic Book Resources

"Farscape [the comic series] is everything that made Farscape [the TV series] a cult hit and fan favorite, successfully translated to a new medium." -- WatchFarscape.com

"Farscape is probably the best TV series made into comics I have seen so far."-- The Independent Comics Site

"Frell me if this is not the best comic book done of a TV series." -- Comics And Other Imaginary Tales

"Great read, great fun." -- The Boston Herald

"If you were a fan, this is a must-read. If you weren't, go back, watch the show, then pick up here. It's a madly chaotic good time."-- Newsarama

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: BOOM! Studios (October 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934506753
• ISBN-13: 978-1934506752
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,621 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hoped to give this 5 stars, but..., October 17, 2009

By	jannert "jannert" (Hamilton Scotland) - See all my reviews

While I'm not a big fan of comics, as such, I found this one very easy to follow, and quite true to the spirit and tone of the series in many respects. It was great to finally get another dose of Farscape, which I've been missing like crazy. Farscape is still my favourite TV show of all time, and I still re-watch the entire series frequently on DVD. Nobody wants more Farscape than me.

Unfortunately, this effort --subtitled The Beginning of the End of The Beginning -- is nothing more than a coda tacked on to the end of Peacekeeper Wars. In fact, it begins only MINUTES after the final scene in Peacekeeper Wars, and merely chews away on a few old plots for a while. It reads more like a Deleted Scene from one of Farscape's DVDs than any new story.

BEWARE. SPOILERS FOLLOW:

What do we get with this 'new' story?

Rygel gets his throne back and becomes a wise, but humble despot -- after a short burst of mild Farscape pyrotechnics and a smidgen of crude intrigue -- but we already knew that was going to happen, didn't we? Ho-hum.

A mysterious Black-Cloaked-Critter-With-Red-Eyes is following Crichton around, taking pot-shots at him and Aeryn. Their baby slows the bullets by blinking. Exciting stuff? Ermm ...not really, at least not yet. We're only mildly curious, that's all.

Chiana and Jothee grieve for D'Argo by having lots of sex. Aeryn obsesses (constantly!) about being a "bad" mother, just like Xalax! -- hold me back. Shallow, overcooked, predictable rubbish.

And Scorpius ...the most marvellous 'dark' character ever committed to screen? In this story, Scorpius's character has lost all the subtle ambiguity Wayne Pygram built up during the entire TV series. With a bound, Scorpius is once again the power-hungry, ruthless, friendless villain from Season 1, who is willing to choke Crichton's child to death in order to extract a basically irrelevant hunk of 'truth' from Crichton and Aeryn. We're given a token explanation for his action (he no longer has an Aurora chair!) but none at all for the complete regression of such a thoughtfully-constructed character. Come back Wayne Pygram. Please.

A few new topics touched-on in this book ARE interesting, and worth further exploration in another Farscape story. For example, the Peacekeepers may indeed begin to fragment their society, now that their war with the Scarrans is over, and they have discovered their true origin with the Eidelons. (However, it's hard to believe that this sea-change would happen OVERNIGHT as it seems to have done in this book.) The idea that the Scarrans will eventually violate the peace treaty is also a good one. The idea that Scorpius suspects this might happen, is also an idea well worth keeping.

Of course, still lurking in the background but not touched-on in this book, are the Nebari -- another group bent on domination, with mind-control as their major weapon of choice. Indeed, they were built-up initially as a very dangerous and powerful race, so they should certainly figure in any new story. (And we would love to see Chiana and Nerri reunited at some point, wouldn't we?)

And there is still Earth to be reckoned with. Humans are stuck behind a closed wormhole at present, but Crichton left "us" with all that new technology as well as all our old prejudices. Earth is, after all, the key to Farscape. It always has been. It MUST be a major player in any new Farscape story. Without it, Farscape is just another space opera in a galaxy far away, and Crichton might as well be Buck Rogers.

Any story should always begin with a life-changing moment for its main character -- like John Crichton unexpectedly getting sucked down a wormhole into another galaxy. That story held us spellbound for five seasons, and ended most satisfactorily, with Crichton holding his newborn son up to the window of Moya so the baby can see the stars, and saying: "This is your playground." (And they all lived happily ever after.)

The original Farscape story ended there -- at least for now. Crichton needs a rest -- and we, the audience, need some distance -- before he gets hammered with another life-changing moment and a new story. We also need a few new major characters to replace the ones who have been killed off. And -- BIG warning to the writers who seem to be starting down this path already -- this new story should NOT involve the entire Universe chasing Crichton's ass around, as per usual. The writers seem to find this funny. It's not. It's boring. It's been done to death. Farscape's main strength lies in its unpredictability. The writers should give Crichton something else to do in the next story besides running for his life. Maybe he could even call the shots himself from now on.

Of course, I'll be delighted to eat my shirt and rescind all this criticism, if the upcoming issues of this comic book series take a huge turn for the better. In fact, I've pre-ordered the lot, so my money is already where my mouth is! Here's hoping for the best ...again. Meanwhile, just three stars for this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Continuation of the Series, December 5, 2009

By	C. Scott Smith "dcstud" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This book brought me home again. Being able to rejoin the Farscape crew was great and Rockne's story was where I expect he would take it if he had a huge budget and the show was still on.