A Collider feature by Kelcie Mattson, published on 8 July 2026, argues that the cult sci-fi series Farscape reshaped how television handles on-screen romance. It contends that the Sci-Fi Channel show, which ran from 1999, deliberately abandoned the industry's long-standing "will they, won't they" formula and instead placed a committed love story at the heart of a space opera, making that romance central rather than incidental to the genre.

The piece focuses on the relationship between human astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) and Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), who kiss midway through the first season and become intimate soon after, with their bond treated as the show's main plot. Mattson credits the writers with pacing the couple's emotional arcs carefully rather than exploiting sex for ratings. She cites creator Rockne S. O'Bannon and co-producer Brian Henson, speaking at a 2023 Shout! Factory TV marathon, who confirmed they intentionally broke the convention of keeping potential couples apart and set out to craft a "classic" romance unlike other shows of the era.