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Thoughts on Farscape and Star Trek: TNG

Thanks to availability on Amazon Streaming, I watched the entire
Farscape series in order,
including the final movie/season 5 episode, [Farscape: The Peacekeeper
Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape:_The_Peacekeeper_Wars). I
liked the series. I liked the first two seasons much more than the
latter two. The movie neatly tied it all up to the expected conclusion. I
didn't like the whole Scorpius thing with its political bent. Although,
the virtual Scorpius in John's head grows on you.

I've also been watching [Star Trek:
TNG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
from the beginning. The first few shows of ST:TNG were rough. They've
generally gotten better as the seasons have worn on. I'm surprised at
the number of shows I haven't seen before.

As I was watching the
Family
episode, I realized the 'real world' in ST:TNG was just as clean and
comfortable as the ship-based episodes. This is a huge contrast from
the world of Farscape. Of course, comparing the two isn't necessarily
the same thing. A better comparison may be the Farscape crew with the
independent mercenaries in ST:TNG. Or, Farscape with Star Wars, but
that's another post for another day. Anyway, I started to think about
which world I'd rather live in. I'd choose Farscape. It's less reliable,
more fun, more risky, and more free. I'm sure this says something about
my psyche more than anything else.

This also got me thinking more about my own family. In my mind, family
is the people, not the places and things. I would be just as happy with
my family anywhere in the world (well, ok with exceptions such as North
Korea) because my concept of family isn't location dependent. Perhaps
family is proximity dependent. Houses, artifacts, and the like are just
things. I can live without them, or get new things. It's tough to live
without the people and to get new family (due to human gestation and
genetics).

Hurtling through space on a ship with some strangers finding new
adventures sounds better to me than enlisting in a research military
vessel exploring the world in a controlled, methodical way. In both cases,
you could be raising a family. At least have some fun while doing it.

originally published at wiki.lewman.is