Collection

Lani Tapu Farscape Autographed Server Faceplate

• 2003 (Creation)

1 box

This faceplate was on an old workgroup server (the hot-swap machine) originally used by the UNIX support team at Texas A&M University Libraries. This and other servers, which were replaced in the late-2000s, were whimsically assigned nicknames by the staff based on characters from the science fiction television show Farscape.

The server to which this faceplate was attached was named "Crais", after Captain Bialar Crais, a major Farscape character. In March 2003, Lani Tapu, the actor who portrayed Crais, was a guest at Aggiecon, and while on campus autographed this faceplate. After several years in operation, the server was replaced and sent to surplus, but the faceplate was retained by the Associate Director for Systems and eventually donated to Cushing Library.

These materials are stored offsite and require additional time for retrieval.

• English

Gift.

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).

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• Client/server computing--Equipment and supplies
• Science Fiction & Fantasy