I have a friend who has this response to Farscape. I recently finished it (didn’t have access to cable when it was actually on-air) and consider it head and shoulders above most contemporary television SF. She came to visit during that time, and while we were watching it mentioned she can never get immersed in it, because “the muppets are too distracting.”
I inquired a little and apparently she simply cannot empathize with or attribute even fictional personhood to Rygel and Pilot. Pilot is one of the more emotionally-evocative characters for me (despite being literally incapable of facial expressions in the usual sense), so it was quite odd to hear. On the other hand, I routinely perceive hermit crabs as having emotional states, goals and the other stuff that empathy can key on, so possibly I’m very far in the other direction. Even plants—I once had to plant an onion that began sprouting in my fridge (rather than use it), simply because I was moved at its sheer tenacity.
I have a friend who has this response to Farscape. I recently finished it (didn’t have access to cable when it was actually on-air) and consider it head and shoulders above most contemporary television SF. She came to visit during that time, and while we were watching it mentioned she can never get immersed in it, because “the muppets are too distracting.”
I inquired a little and apparently she simply cannot empathize with or attribute even fictional personhood to Rygel and Pilot. Pilot is one of the more emotionally-evocative characters for me (despite being literally incapable of facial expressions in the usual sense), so it was quite odd to hear. On the other hand, I routinely perceive hermit crabs as having emotional states, goals and the other stuff that empathy can key on, so possibly I’m very far in the other direction. Even plants—I once had to plant an onion that began sprouting in my fridge (rather than use it), simply because I was moved at its sheer tenacity.