Talking Farscape
With Co-Writer Keith R.A. Decandido
Welcome to a very special Why I Love Comics. For those of you who don't know, I was a very, very big fan of Farscape when it was on tv. I got hooked later on in the series but loved Scorpy and John and the rest of the crew of Moya. So when an interview with the co-writer of Boom! Studio's new monthly Farscape series Keith R.A. Decandido came up, I offered to jump in. We discuss everything from what he knows about the web series to his personal favorite characters. So let's jump right in!
Eric: So how long have you been a Farscape fan?
Keith: I became a fan in the middle of the first season--late '99, early 2000, thereabouts--and never looked back. :)
Eric: When were you approached to come on to the comic? Did someone find out you were a fan?
Keith: Actually, I approached BOOM!
See, in 2001, I wrote a FARSCAPE novel -- one of three that were published, mine was called HOUSE OF CARDS -- and also three short stories -- two for the official magazine, one for the official role-playing game -- so when I learned in 2008 that BOOM! had obtained the license, I immediately got in touch with BOOM! and gave them my bonafides.
It helped that Rockne O'Bannon loved my novel, and he and I had become friends and had stayed in touch over the past few years. So it wound up being a perfect fit.
Eric: How is it working with Rockne by the way? Does he do the overall plotting and then you go into the scripting phases?
Keith: Pretty much, but it's more collaborative than that. He writes up a detailed plot (if you want to see how detailed, pick up the FARSCAPE SCRIPT BOOK that BOOM! put out recently, which has Rockne's plot for the first miniseries). Then I do (for my own benefit) a page-by-page breakdown that has some suggestions of my own in them and some fleshing out of what Rockne provides. Then I do scripts, which I sent to Rockne, who then goes over them with a fine-tooth comb, and we spend an hour or two on the phone going over it.
It's been fantastic, one of the best collaborations I've ever been involved in, at least in part because Rockne and I are very much on the same wavelength, a concept that should frighten small children everywhere.....
Eric: For all the Farscape fans out there, do you know anything about that rumored webseries that was in the works?
Keith: They're still in production -- no solid ETA yet because they want to get them right, and Rockne firmly believes it's better to have it good than have it Tuesday....
Eric: So as a fan and a writer, who would you say is your favorite character to write in the Farscape universe?
Keith: Oh, that's easy: Rygel. He's the smartest person on Moya, and he gets most of the best lines.
Eric: Will we be seeing anymore old friends or enemies popping up soon?
Keith: One or two, yeah. Or more. Or less. Hard to say. (That vague enough for you?)
I can tell you that the third issue of the STRANGE DETRACTORS miniseries features two characters from the TV series in a prominent role whom we haven't seen in the comics yet.
Eric: Will we be getting more on the mysterious person who was following our favorite couple through the first mini?
Keith: Yah youbetcha.
Eric: So the book over all, how much do you guys have planned out so far? I know I heard that each 4 issue mini was basically an "episode" right? Is it considered a monthly book basically?
Keith: From my perspective, yes, it's a monthly book. We just slap a new title on it and start over at #1 every four months. From Rockne's perspective, it's a new story every four months, as he writes a single outline for each arc. So far, we've got "The Beginning of the End of the Beginning," which was the first miniseries (called simply FARSCAPE), STRANGE DETRACTORS (of which the first two issues have been released), and GONE AND BACK (which debuts once SD is done) all plotted out by Rockne, with the next arc due from him soonish. Meanwhile, I've written through to the second issue of G&B.
Eric: So what can people expect from yourself and the Farscape universe coming up?
Keith: STRANGE DETRACTORS has a few more twists and turns before it ends. D'ARGO'S LAMENT will give us some backstory on D'Argo in the third issue with the character's first-ever swordfight in the final issue -- it always bugged me that they went and gave D'Argo a blade, but he never got his Errol Flynn moment. He'll get it in #4 of DL, though.
After that, there's GONE AND BACK, in which Crichton finds himself in an alternate timeline -- or "unrealized reality" -- in which D'Argo and Zhaan are still alive, but in which Crichton and Aeryn never met. Meanwhile, D'ARGO'S TRIAL will be a prequel story that will detail D'Argo's courtship with Lo'Laan, their marriage, her murder, and D'Argo's trial after being arrested for killing her.
Other stuff of mine... There's a STAR TREK novel out now called A SINGULAR DESTINY, the followup to David Mack's DESTINY trilogy, and a STAR TREK comic book, ALIEN SPOTLIGHT: KLINGONS. Out later this year are two short stories, one in the coffee table-book anthology BATTLETECH: 25 YEARS OF ART AND FICTION, the other in MORE TALES OF ZORRO. I've got a couple of STARCRAFT items in the works: a spring 2010 novel called SPECTRES -- the sequel to my 2006 novel NOVA -- and a manga series for TokyoPop called GHOST ACADEMY, Volume 1 of which is due in January 2010. It is also pretty likely that I will be writing a third novel based on the CW TV series SUPERNATURAL.
I want to thank Keith for his time to answer these questions and you can get the Farscape comics monthly from Boom!
Eric Ratcliffe is a young writer/pop culture journalist/interviewer currently working on pitching a project named the Hunter chronicles. When not reading his weekly stack Eric can be found watching dvd's, playing on his 360 (gamertag: Zack Hunter) or just surfing online trying to find a scoop or two. Brand new to the Comic Related family, Eric is a fun new voice. Eric shops at TJ's Collectibles. Visit them on the web at www.tjcollect.com!
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