Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Gigi Edgley Collection
Date(s)
- 2023 (Creation)
- 1999 (Creation)
Extent
1 folder
Name of creator
Biographical history
Gigi Edgley is an Australian actress, singer, songwriter, and performer, born in Perth on November 16, 1977. A frequent guest at science fiction conventions around the world, Edgley is probably best known for her role as the streetwise and insoucient Nebari fugitive Chiana, who joins the fugitive crew of the ship Moya in the Australian-American television show Farscape (1999-2003). She is the daughter of theatre, concert and circus promoter Michael Edgley, known for bringing the Moscow State Circus to Australia during the 1980s. Edgley, experienced in ballet, jazz, and character dance became interested in acting and had her first professional theatrical engagement at the Twelfth Night Theatre. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Queensland University of Technology in 1998.
Edgley's first acting role was in the Australian TV minseries The Day of the Roses in 1998. Since that debut she has appeared in a number of films and television shows, perhaps most notably as one of the lead actors in the Nine Network medical drama Rescue: Special Ops (2009-2011). Edgley has also been a regular lead cast member in several other television shows, including The Secret Life of Us in 2003 and Stingers in 2004. In addition, her Farscape role allowed her the opportunity to host the 2014 SyFy show Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge.
She is an active singer and songwriter, having starred in and directed several music videos. Edgley has been nominated for a number of awards over her career, including the Film’s Critic’s Circle of Australia nomination for Best Lead Actress in the feature Last Train To Freo, the SyFy Genre Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series, and the Maxim Award for Sexiest Space Babe (all three of these for Farscape).
Edgley currently resides in West Hollywood, CA, is married, and has one child, her daughter Skye. More information about Edgley can be found at http://www.gigiedgley.com/.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This collection consists of the following items:
- "Durka Returns", a script for Episode 15, Season 1 of the joint Australian-American television series Farscape (1999-2003). The episode, originally released in 1999, is notable for introducing the character Chiana, played by Gigi Edgley. It was written by Rockne S. O'Bannon and Grant McAloon.
The script was originally the property of Edgley's, and has been heavily marked up with her acting notes and edits. It is inscribed to Jeremy Brett, to whom it was given in early 2023.
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An autographed photograph of Edgley in a pose as Chiana, inscribed to Jeremy Brett and given to him in 2016 or 2017.
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An autographed photograph of Edgley (in a still taken from an episode of Farscape) , inscribed to Jeremy Brett and given to him in 2016 or 2017.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Physical access
Located in Small Collections files
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated by Jeremy Brett, who received it from Gigi Edgley (2023_0094).
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
Farscape
Farscape was a science fiction television series that originally ran from 1999-2003. It was a joint American and Australian production, broadcast on both the Nine Network (Australia) and the Sci Fi Channel (USA). Farscape was the creation of TV writer-producer Rockne S. O'Bannon, and was produced by Jim Henson Productions, which was responsible for the elaborate alien makeup, prosthetics and puppetry that were hallmarks of the series. It was filmed in Australia and made wide use of a large stable of Australian actors (with the notable exception of the main star, American Ben Browder).
Farscape has been singled out for, among other features, prolonged story arcs, deep interpersonal relationships between characters, snappy tongue-in-cheek dialogue, and a wide variety of unusual alien species (both among the main characters and those encountered by them in the course of the show). It is also remembered for its frequent use of alien slang, thrown into the regular dialogue. Most of this slang consists of made-up swear words or sexually suggestive expletives.
In brief, the series details the adventures of American astronaut John Crichton (Browder) who, while piloting his experimental probe Farscape 1 in orbit around Earth, is accidentally shot through a wormhole to the far side of the galaxy. On the other side of the wormhole, Crichton boards a massive "living' spaceship (a "Leviathan") named Moya. Moya is a prison ship for an oppressive military force called the Peacekeepers; Crichton arrives just as the prisoners on board have broken free and are attempting to pilot Moya to freedom. He allies himself with these prisoners: the Luxan warrior Ka D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe); blue-skinned Delvian priestess Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan (Virginia Hey), and deposed Hynerian overlord Dominar Rygel XVI (a puppet, voiced by Jonathan Hardy). Also among the allies is Pilot (a puppet, voiced by Lani Tapu), Moya's alien pilot who is biologically linked to the ship.
At the same time that Crichton arrives, Moya's new crew captures Peacekeeper warrior Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), whose superiors declare her a renegade, contaminated by her contact with the escaped prisoners. Aeryn becomes a member of the crew, and one of the more important story arcs in the series is her gradual rejection of her Peacekeeper upbringing and a developing romantic relationship with Crichton.
The course of the show is driven by ongoing Peacekeeper pursuit of Crichton and his friends after their escape from Peacekeeper-dominated space into the Uncharted Territories. In the first season, Moya is chased by Aeryn's former commander Captain Bialar Crais (Lani Tapu), who believes Crichton responsible for the death of Crais' brother. As the series progressed, the show's primary adversary became the Peacekeeper Scorpius (Wayne Pygram), who wants the knowledge of wormholes that is locked inside Crichton's brain. Much of the show after the first year was dominated by an ongoing duel of wills between Crichton and Scorpius. Another key story motivation in the series is Crichton's ongoing attempt, while trying to avoid capture by the Peacekeepers (or death at the hands of any number of aliens on any number of worlds), to locate a method of returning to Earth.
The cast of the show evolved over time. Although Crichton, Aeryn, D'Argo, Rygel and Pilot were featured during the entire show, other characters were introduced periodically to round out the cast and produce widely differing personalities that contributed to the series' dramatic and emotional depth (as well as frequent bursts of humor). These characters included the sprightly, sexually adventurous Nebari fugitive Chiana (Gigi Edgley); psychic and former Banik slave Stark (Paul Goddard); Jool (Tammy McIntosh), an Interion woman of great intelligence and a supercilious attitude; mysterious herbalist Noranti (Melissa Jaffer); and the brilliant, impatient Kalish woman Sikozu (Raelee Hill).