"This is Your Playground"

If you watched the "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars" 2-part movie (I can't really call it a mini-series), you know what the title of this entry means. If you didn't, well, I'd have to explain 4 years or so of the "Farscape" TV series to you. It wasn't a show for people who aren't into science fiction, but for folks who are or those who were willing to put up with space ships and aliens, graphic violence and gross behavior and activities, at its heart, this was about people, their hopes and their dreams. It was about heroism and sacrifice and about doing the right thing no matter how bad the odds are against you.

The 2-part movie that picked up where the series ending cliffhanger left off was one of those rare entertainments that lived up to expectations. I can't say it lived up to the hype because there was precious little of that. "Farscape" and the SciFi channel are a bit under the radar. This isn't "The Sopranos" or "Six Feet Under" I'm talking about. And yet, the writing on "Farscape," the level of drama and pure emotion, was better than anything on those shows. The only shows in recent years I'd put in the same level were "Oz," "Angel," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and "Boomtown." "Joan of Arcadia" comes close and in its own little way, in terms of how things always come together, "Charmed."

But "Farscape" at its best could rip your heart out, stomp on it a bit, then make you chuckle as it stuffed it back into your chest. This finale was a gift to its fans, showing respect for our devotion over the run of the series and rewarding us for our faithfulness. There were laughs, tears, horrors, pain, sacrifice, bravery, nobility, joy, loss, and everything in between. I'm a sucker for sad or happy endings, but it's been a long time since I cried like I did tonight for a TV show. And I wish I could thank Brian Henson, David Kemper, Rockne O'Bannon, and everyone else involved in making that extraordinary show. What other show could give viewers a wedding and birth in a pool while aliens are battling around them and make it feel so real? Damned few, I tell you.

I'm gonna watch it all again when they run all 4 hours together on Sunday afternoon. I figure I'll bawl my eyes out again then, too.