This episode now has weird connotations to me now that I know there is a wine grape variety called Tannat - it's mainly grown in the small Madiran region of France, and has now become also the national grape of Uruguay.
One of the things that dates Farscape to its period is the typical dress of "sexy" female aliens - it always seems to be have a distinctly turn-of-the-century Britney/Xtina-influenced focus on low waistlines, taut abs, and belly buttons.
This episode is the first real sign of how coarse Farscape is willing to be (would anybody have expected the climax of a TV space-opera episode to revolve around hypergolic urine) and also, after the false start with the "vamp" plot of "Back and Back and Back to the Future", its lack of anxiety or slut-shaming about characters having sex - while D'Argo is in a bad situation, his sexual relationships aren't demonised as part of it.
The allegory for colonialism and cash-crop agriculture is unsubtle, but it's notable that the set design and costumes for Sakar have such an East Asian vibe, given that this is an Australian show. The mind-control and constant tannoy slogans similarly remind one of western stereotypes about East Asian communist states like Mao-era China or North Korea.
There are also some charming bits of dialogue - I particularly like the "gives me a woody" exchange and Rygel's threat at the end to come up with a *really* coarse insult for Aeryn once he's warmed up and recovered.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2020-04-19 01:54 pm (UTC)One of the things that dates Farscape to its period is the typical dress of "sexy" female aliens - it always seems to be have a distinctly turn-of-the-century Britney/Xtina-influenced focus on low waistlines, taut abs, and belly buttons.
This episode is the first real sign of how coarse Farscape is willing to be (would anybody have expected the climax of a TV space-opera episode to revolve around hypergolic urine) and also, after the false start with the "vamp" plot of "Back and Back and Back to the Future", its lack of anxiety or slut-shaming about characters having sex - while D'Argo is in a bad situation, his sexual relationships aren't demonised as part of it.
The allegory for colonialism and cash-crop agriculture is unsubtle, but it's notable that the set design and costumes for Sakar have such an East Asian vibe, given that this is an Australian show. The mind-control and constant tannoy slogans similarly remind one of western stereotypes about East Asian communist states like Mao-era China or North Korea.
There are also some charming bits of dialogue - I particularly like the "gives me a woody" exchange and Rygel's threat at the end to come up with a *really* coarse insult for Aeryn once he's warmed up and recovered.