As you all of course remember, “Mal” is a nickname, and in fact is short for a slightly longer nickname (and while we’re on the subject, the fact that he’s got the same name as the main character in Joss Whedon’s Firefly is entirely a coincidence, although naturally I’m a big fan of the show 
). Given that information, it’s probably not too much of a mental leap to conclude that “Meg” and “Con” are not their real names, either. So the question is… what are “Meg” and “Con” short for? I guess what we need is a…
CONTEST!
…please see the blog post below for more details!
Finally, a small but nerdy response to something a fellow webcomicker whom I respect posted in passing last week. She said (and geek cred to those of you who know who I mean), “It has to be ‘Farscape’ specifically. ‘Star Trek’ or even ‘Babylon 5′ would be too classy.” (This is in reference to a calendar that one of her characters presents to another.) Having just re-watched the entire run of Babylon 5 on DVD and currently working my way through all of Farscape, I must take firm exception to this! I declare that Farscape is superior to B5 in almost all respects– the stories are more interesting, the ship more unusual, the characters more compelling, the funny stuff funnier, and the cast superior actors. And yes, I would even count the muppets in that last category. Some of the muppets are better actors than a few of those guys we got on B5. In the end I think it’s the fact that there are any muppets at all in the show which lowers folks’ opinions of the show. I don’t see why, frankly. It’s just another kind of special effect. Nobody had a problem with Yoda, right? I much preferred muppet Yoda in the original trilogy to the CGI one we got in the later movies. Or maybe it’s a generational thing– I grew up with the Muppet Show and Sesame Street and similar TV programs, the Age of Henson you might say, where puppets and humans interacted all the time and there was nothing odd about it. So having them on a sci-fi show seemed perfectly natural to me (although I swear those were Skeksis in that one episode).
I know, I know, this is about as ridiculous as arguing Superman vs. Spiderman. But I just couldn’t let this go unchallenged! 
LOL!! Somehow I just knew this trip to the lab would once again lead to hot chocolate…
I’m afraid I haven’t watched very many sci-fi TV shows other than the many iterations of Star Trek. So if the names are references to B5 or Farscape or even Firefly, I won’t have a clue.
Despite being Australian, I never got into Farscape. The couple of episodes I saw just seemed silly and boring… and yes, I’m reading the “Director’s Commentary” re-run of a certain renowned webcomic, and got the reference
I think the idea is that WE come up with ideas for what the nicknames are…
In other words, if they can synthesize hot chocolate, they can do anything?
B5 had funny staff?
Two words: Vir. Cotto.
“What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?!” – Ambassador Londo Molari to Vir.
Vir was funny in the same way as Charlie Brown, I thought. Perseverance in the face of others’ bad actions, and all that.
Sorry to disagree, but I’ve seen all B5 and I’ve bought Farscape because many people told me it was a great show. Having seen the first season and part of the second, I must say (sorry about this to Farscape fans) that I find it frankly boring and on the limit of becoming stupid. Stories are no very good (in general), characters are sketchy, and the “muppets” are frankly dumb (good for a comedy/children show but not for an SF show!). I’m actually regretting having bought the complete show… my only hope is it improves towards the end, but I’m not very confident about that happening. B5, Stargate (all three versions) Firefly, and even the short lived (but excellent) Defying Gravity are far superior to Farscape in any detail. To say a little more, Ben Browder and Claudia Black have been OK in Stargate (because of the stories and scripts), but in FS they appear overacting and, somehow, stupid…
Obviously, it’s only my opinion.
Keep doing a good comic (and do not try to imitate Farscape!)
Ehem… Compare to B.R.A.T.S. of the Lost Nebula from a couple years prior before you judge Farscape harshly. And I actually found both B5 and Farscape to be better written and executed than a lot of the later Trek material.
I miss Fraggle Rock.
with respect, I suggest you slug though F/S before you finally make up your mind, since you have it. It has been my experience that different people are hooked by different things along the way, and some people never are. Among my friends I’m the one that only ever liked the first season of B5 and hated the later ones while all of them hated the first season, but we have many different reasons for liking F/S. And if not? wellllll, donate it to your local library and write it off as a good deed, everyone has different tastes, as it were. I have the same reaction to StarGate as you do to FarScape, but hey we seem to like the same webcominc, ne?
Also, for humor in B5, how can you beat the AWESOMENESS of the episode where Lando and G’Kar are trapped in an elevator together?
I love B5– I enjoy Farscape too, but it’s (necessarily) a very different vibe–more episodic. Less wrestling with big issues.
Also, if you ever watch the cast commentary on B5, it’s priceless.
I was NOT a fan of jettisoning Ivanova, however. Her replacement was just not as interesting…..
Actually, Claudia Christian, who played Ivanova, wanted to move on to other things. It was a huge upset to the show, since Straczynski had everything planned out overall from beginning to end. He had to struggle in the last season to make up for losing one of his main characters, and that’s why it’s so weak in comparison to the rest.
P.S. Much as I love both B5 and Farscape, B5 wins because of overall quality. For me, Farscape really started slipping in the second season and was just too totally weird and not the exploration of the human condition it started out by the third. As I said above, B5 was quality until the last season.
There was also the fact that the studio sponsoring B5 came very close to axing the series at the end of Season 4. So JMS had to rewrite that season so the story would wrap up nicely once Season 4 ended (the series ender was filmed at this time). I understand that this also played a part in the whole issue of whether Claudia would stay or go – why stay on if the show itself wasn’t going to last?
Then the studio said, “guess what? We’ll give you your last season after all!” and JMS suddenly had a season’s worth to fill up. I think he did brilliantly, given the handicaps thrown his way, but there’s no denying it was weaker than the rest of the show.
Ha! I wondered if anyone would pick up the gauntlet our esteemed colleague threw down.
My interpretation of her comments was a little different: I thought she was saying that a Farscape calendar specifically was less classy than a Star Trek or B5 calendar. And I think that’s a pretty reasonable assertion, given the probable content of a Farscape calendar — being composed of images from a show that Warren Ellis once described as, “The story of one American’s descent into Australia’s BDSM scene.”
That’s actually one of the reasons we never watched more than the first season of Farscape.
Babylon 5 was OK for the kiddies…. because the good guys were pretty darned good and win in the end. And even at its darkest, it was never TOO dark.
Firefly was way too violent and dark for them, but it was ‘boring’ enough that they could watch Inspector Gadget on Hulu while we hogged the DVD player.
Farscape was too dark for kids BUT IT HAD HENSON PUPPETS! SO IT WAS EXCITING!!!!
Not something we can watch at this point….
Now, if there was a Galaxion animated series……..
BTW, anyone here remember Space Cases?
Created by Peter David? Filmed in Montréal?
That Space Cases?
I think that good science fiction films are hard to do. You need a decent story with interesting details, characters and a comprehensive follow-through (read: production values!)
If everything isn’t balanced on the same point all it takes is one tiny detail to ruin it. Like crap that is designed to be cinematic eye candy but (unless you have a terminal case of suspended disbelief) you reject it because its just stupid.
The best science fiction films are the ones that were never made, that you imagine from a good book.
hmmm, as far as B5 and Trek being too classy… they are in a way. You don’y have as much mucking around in a ship’s bilge while commenting on what that really is down there… it’s messy, with messy people, who have messy reasons for doing things… they almost kill each other over crackers for heaven’s sake. Add that to the plant that has photogasms… That would have been firmly off-stage in Trek. the difference between in ‘verse existence as you might imagine, and writing that might be impish one minute and rip your heart out the next… if you haven’t gotten to that part yet, you will. Whereas Trek always struck me cleaner. D’ya recall scotty ever having grease on his face? “Wait a minute, Rigel farts helium?” Can you imagine Riker saying that? Maybe that speaks levels of classy both in universe and in show writing that would explain such a comment, although I’m just guessin’
Riker? No.
Barclay or O’Brien, though?
Several of the characters in these novels, definitely, though.
Heh, an ancient debate to wade in to! I’m with Tara that Farscape is the superiour work. B5 is not a bad series and it has some excellent characters (Londo and G’Kar stand out, and Marcus) – but only some. And it has soo many ridiculous things that are never addressed (why do station command always hop into those fighters to lead the dogfights and recon missions!?). And the myth arc begins to really sag under the weight of unnecessary baggage in season 4.
Farscape, by contrast, is slick, sharp and brilliantly funny, and the work put into the sets and characters makes it so much more engaging. It’s much more episodal than epic in its structure, but it does that very, very well.
All that said, my opinion might not carry so much weight since my scifi-fan credentials are quite patchy. — and I don’t accept the term “geek” from anyone unless they are impeccably groomed, eloquent in conversation, can deadlift 40kg and run a half marathon.;)