You may or may not remember Farscape, an Australian sci-fi show that ran from 1999 to 2003. It featured a mis-matched cast fleeing space authorities aboard a living ship, a setup that gave us a steamy and complicated romance, lots of cool Jim Henson aliens, and–if you ask me–one of the best series endings on TV if you pretend the mini-series doesn’t exist. I recently learned that Farscape streams 24/7 on Youtube, and I’m here to share that information with you.
Shout Factory, which has the rights to the show, runs a nonstop Farscape channel on its website and on YouTube, where episodes of the show just play one after another in order. It’s just playing there, whenever you want! The Youtube channel has a chat, where as I look right now, 100 viewers are talking about what time it is in their respective locations. (Someone is also complaining about how TV is too woke these days, so, as always with the internet, proceed with caution.)
(Update 8/21/24: As far as I can tell, the stream stops and restarts at a new URL periodically. I've updated the link to a working one, but if you're visiting this post in the future and it's not working, you can check Shout's YouTube page to find the latest active stream.)
I found out about this thanks to games journalist Carli Velocci, who brought it up a few weeks ago on Bluesky. I’m not quite sure when it started, though the channel says it started streaming on June 6. There’s several languages available, and Shout also runs live channels for Mystery Science Theater 3000 (would watch) and Pee-wee’s Playhouse (would maybe watch), among others.
Farscape hasn’t been that hard to find–you can watch it on Amazon Prime, among others–but I think there’s something uniquely pleasurable about watching TV when it isn’t under your control. I’m old enough to remember when we didn’t have streaming and its attendant choice paralysis; instead, you either arranged your schedule around a show you wanted to see, or you just watched whatever was on. I don’t have TV anymore, but when I visit my parents, I always find something nostalgically soothing about flipping through the channels, throwing my viewing choices to fate instead of scrolling endless menus.
The Farscape channel feels like a very good version of that, because it is just episodes of a show I want to say I remember being very good. Honestly, my memory is a little fuzzy; I was introduced to it by a buddy in grad school, who parcelled out episodes to our friend group at a pace carefully crafted for maximum drama. I remember begging to watch the next episode in a multi-episode arc, only for him to make us wait, and spending the week wondering what would happen next. So I have strong emotional associations to the show, but I can’t say for sure I remember the plot.
What I do remember, though, is… delightful, if I couldn’t confidently say good. The basic premise is that American astronaut John Crichton accidentally goes through a wormhole into a far part of space, where he runs afoul of the militaristic Peacekeepers, forges a complicated romantic relationship with ex-Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun (played by Claudia Black, of Mass Effect fame), and makes enemies with, among others, Peacekeeper leader Scorpius, a wrinkly latex-clad dude who is weirdly compelling and I won’t say sexy, but I won’t not say it either. (There’s a lot of bodysuits in the show.) There’s a bunch of other characters too, both puppets and costumes: Worf-esque warrior Ka D’argo, plucky ne’er-do-well Chiana, and deposed ruler Dominar Rygel XVI. Space-faring adventures abound, relationships come together and break apart, and Crichton’s efforts to get back to Earth are thwarted by circumstance and by his growing connection to his friends and the universe they inhabit. (Several episodes focusing specifically on Crichton’s relationship with Earth are real standouts.)
It’s campy as hell, blending some serious and heart-wrenching storylines with a playful, quirky aesthetic that draws heavily from other sci-fi mainstays. It’s got distinct vibes, and whether or not they hold up to the quality of TV two decades later, it definitely has its own special delights. Farscape was cancelled abruptly by the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002, leading to an incredible cliffhanger series end that, to me, feels so perfect for the nature of the show. Fans, of course, were furious, and eventually, a three-hour miniseries called The Peacekeeper Wars wrapped things up in a way that I can see the need for but also feel like I could live without.
If you haven’t seen the show, it might be hard to jump in on the stream, and if you–like me–only kind of remember it, it might also be hard to tell what’s going on. But nevertheless, I’ve been letting it roll while I do my thing around my apartment, and revisiting the familiar characters and all their bonkers drama has been really great. (While writing this blog, I just heard Crichton yell at Chiana, “Why do you have to sleep with all my friends?!” if you want a sneak peek of what you’re in for.) Thanks, Carli, and thanks, the internet.
