Although the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise existed before James Gunn‘s MCU movies, the writer/director’s take on the characters and storylines from the Marvel comics has gone on to inspire every successive adaptation of the source material. The changes Gunn made to Peter “Star-Lord” Quill and company have been so iconic that the live-action iterations of these figures have eclipsed the originals. However, I’m unsure just how much praise to give to James Gunn in this respect.
I maintain that Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies form a perfect sci-fi trilogy that gives Star Wars and Back to the Future a run for their money. I even adore the 2022 Guardians holiday special. It’s become essential viewing for me every December. That being said, I’ve come to a recent realization while rewatching one of my favorite TV shows. Gunn very clearly drew a lot of influence from elsewhere when adapting the Guardians comics for the big screen. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to notice it.
‘Farscape’ Is Essentially Just ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Without the Marvel Branding
Farscape ran for four seasons between 1999 and 2003, then it returned for a two-part miniseries called The Peacekeeper Wars in 2004. I grew up watching it, and it’s one of the biggest reasons I’m such a big sci-fi fan today. Despite its sheer quality, Farscape never became anything more than a cult classic. However, James Gunn was obviously tuning in along with me. Let me break down Farscape‘s premise, and it’ll become clear how I came to this conclusion.
Farscape is about a ragtag bunch of misfits who break free from incarceration. The group is forced to work together and led by a human character who finds himself far from his home planet. He’s constantly spouting pop-culture references that none of his new alien allies or adversaries understand. Other members of the crew include a love interest who has defected from the enemy, a diminutive loudmouth with a secret heart of gold, and a sentient plant. There’s also a heavily tattooed warrior with a traumatic family history. All of that also works as a synopsis for Gunn’s take on Guardians of the Galaxy.
Of course, the two space operas aren’t 100% identical. There are enough differences between Farscape and Guardians of the Galaxy to separate them as distinct entities. That doesn’t mean the parallels are easy to ignore, though. All of this is to say that fans of Gunn’s Guardians series are likely to also love Farscape. The latter is a little more mature with its overt sexual themes and slightly more brutal violence, but there’s certainly a huge overlap when it comes to appealing to those who love watching the adventures of Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and want more of the same.
What James Gunn Has Said About ‘Farscape’
Gunn has been very open about his love of Farscape and its influence on his work at Marvel. I went looking for vindication of my suspicions and found it almost immediately. There are a few different occasions where Gunn has confirmed that Farscape strongly guided his hand while adapting the Guardians comics, but one quote in particular pretty much sums up his entire relationship with the show. In a post on Instagram in 2017, Gunn outright said: “One of my favorite sci-fi shows of all time was Farscape.” He went on to say that Farscape star Ben Browder is in the second Guardians movie to serve as Gunn’s meta tribute to the 2000s space opera for which he’s declared his love.
Browder himself has also acknowledged the similarities. He once told us here at MovieWeb that when he went to see the first Guardians movie, he came away with the feeling that Gunn “stole [Browder’s] show.” He playfully confronted Gunn about it at the Saturn Awards, ultimately praising the movie. Finally, Business Standard reports on a post from Gunn (that seems to be no longer publicly accessible) that confirms Farscape was a direct influence on his Guardians movies – so, there we have it.
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Farscape
5
/5- Release Date
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1999 – 2003-00-00
- Writers
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Rockne S. O’Bannon, David Kemper, Justin Monjo, Richard Manning
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
