setsuled

The crew of Farscape finally make it to Earth--for real, this time, and in the right time. Aeryn's fears of not fitting in on John's home, which she voiced back in seasons one and two, seem to be well founded but not just for her. Crichton has become an alien, too.

Season Four, Episode Thirteen: Terra Firma

Set and broadcast in 2003, the episode emphasises not just how John (Ben Browder) has changed by how America has changed as well. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Jack Crichton (Kent McCord), John's father, is no longer the optimist he once was, no longer a believer in sharing America's discoveries and technology with other countries. Ironically, John's experience over the same period of years has seen him witness greater destruction and brought him even closer to deadly peril many times but he still wants the technological discoveries he brings back with him shared openly with the rest of the world.

Is that really such a good idea? I don't recall ever finding out. But the situation bears an interesting resemblance to Scorpius' (Wayne Pygram) preoccupations about wormhole technology. Considering how strongly Crichton feels that neither side should have the power of wormholes, it's curious that he's so blasé about world changing tech falling into the hands of humans here.

Of course, the episode inevitable encounters territory already covered in previous episodes where Crichton has been tricked into thinking he was back on Earth--"A Human Reaction" and "Won't Get Fooled Again". It's no wonder the story rushes over a few details. I do like how it focuses more on the experience of being alien on Earth, something that will be explored more in a future episode.

"Terra Firma" ends with a pretty effective action sequence which sadly cuts off some relationship drama between Aeryn (Claudia Black) and John. But the stunt work, squibs, and editing are so good, I almost forgive it.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

Season Four

Episode 1: Crichton Kicks
Episode 2: What was Lost, Part I: Sacrifice
Episode 3: What was Lost, Part II: Resurrection
Episode 4: Lava's a Many Splendoured Thing
Episode 5: Promises
Episode 6: Natural Election
Episode 7: John Quixote
Episode 8: I Shrink Therefore I Am
Episode 9: A Prefect Murder
Episode 10: Coup by Clam
Episode 11: Unrealised Reality
Episode 12: Kansas

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Earth
Current Music: "Distant (Rubicon II)" - VNV Nation

Farscape does Back to the Future in an episode that sends its cast back to Earth and back to the 1980s. Featuring a few fun moments for fans, the episode nonetheless does itself no favours by inviting Back to the Future comparisons.

Season Four, Episode Twelve: Kansas

Crichton (Ben Browder) is rescued from EVA Earth orbit by D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), Rygel (Jonathan Hardy), Aeryn (Claudia Black), Noranti (Melissa Jaffer), and Chiana (Gigi Edgley), who find their way through the wormhole in D'Argo's ship. Meanwhile, Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) and Sikozu (Raelee Hill) stay behind on Moya for a disappointing B plot.

Along with Pilot (Lani Tupu), Sikozu and Scorpius form the not so brilliant plan of allowing Grayza (Rebecca Riggs) to board Moya under the theory that if she sees Crichton isn't aboard she'll leave them alone. At least by the end of the episode we see Grayza leave a spy aboard so that this doesn't go as completely without a hitch as Sikozu mysteriously thinks it will. Scorpius, we see, has his own ulterior motives for the plan and his reunion with Braca (David Franklin) shows he's still got a friend among the Peacekeepers after all.

But most of the episode involves Crichton interacting with his family, trying to stop his father from going on the ill-fated Challenger mission. In addition to the 80s setting, the episode also borrows the "fading from existence" effect from the Robert Zemeckis movie for when younger Crichton (Jamie Croft) seems about to die. Mostly this just has the effect of making the episode seem like Back to the Future done quick.

The best moments of the episode are fan service moments, like when Chiana, posing as "Karen Shaw", takes young Crichton's virginity.

Also worthy of note are Aeryn's inexplicably groovy scavenged duds.

The show previously referenced Back to the Future in the first season episode "Back and Back and Back to the Future", a far more interesting episode than this, to be quite honest. I started watching Farscape during the first run of the fourth season which I think, looking back, was probably the most flattering way to see season four. Pilot and Moya's design, Chiana, Crichton--these were all new to me. Now I'm finding season four puzzlingly mundane at times compared to the first three seasons. I wonder if this had to do with any pressure from SyFy to make the show more palatable to general viewers. Still, there are some very good season four episodes and I'm still looking forward to all the drama with the Scarrans.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

Season Four

Episode 1: Crichton Kicks
Episode 2: What was Lost, Part I: Sacrifice
Episode 3: What was Lost, Part II: Resurrection
Episode 4: Lava's a Many Splendoured Thing
Episode 5: Promises
Episode 6: Natural Election
Episode 7: John Quixote
Episode 8: I Shrink Therefore I Am
Episode 9: A Prefect Murder
Episode 10: Coup by Clam
Episode 11: Unrealised Reality

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Earth
Current Music: "Cargo Culte" - Serge Gainsbourg

It turns out wormholes aren't just about crossing distance on Farscape but time and alternate timelines, as well. Crichton learns this essential lesson in an outstanding episode.

Season Four, Episode Eleven: Unrealised Reality

Engaged in the questionable exercise of floating, E.V.A., near a wormhole, Crichton (Ben Browder) gets sucked in after Pilot (Lani Tupu) mysteriously fails to deploy the docking web. Incidentally, I love that alternate term for a tractor beam. Docking web. It's very Farscape to reinterpret a familiar Sci-Fi concept as something gooey and organic.

John ends up in a mysterious realm, apparently on a little piece of ice on a vast, dark sea. With him is a being he calls "Einstein" (John Bach), one of the wormhole aliens, now gauging again if John is worthy of surviving with his wormhole knowledge. We, along with Crichton, are treated to disjointed, documentary style interview clips of people from his past.

In one series of clips, everyone will say something nice about Crichton, in another, they only have bad things to say, and in another, the same people can barely remember him. This culminates in Crichton experiencing alternate versions of his comrades in moments from past episodes.

Einstein informs him that these things aren't illusions but all complete realities which he might become a part of if he lingered long enough. In order to successfully escape the wormhole, he has to find the right place and the right time. So, within the story, the wormhole acts as an illustration of how reality might be reshaped by perspective. In reliving a moment from the first episode, John already knows who D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) and Zhaan (Virginia Hey) are and it changes the nature of the encounter (despite old clips being used). The alternate presentation of opinions of Crichton would seem to indicate that he is a different person. But is he?

The creepiest alternate reality is a version of Earth, many years after a Scarran takeover. Ben Browder wears subtly Scarran-ish makeup and his father has been replaced by a slightly human looking Wayne Pygram, who normally plays Scorpius. The scene has a real Twilight Zone eeriness while at the same time kind of demonstrating Scorpius' point about the Scarrans.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

Season Four

Episode 1: Crichton Kicks
Episode 2: What was Lost, Part I: Sacrifice
Episode 3: What was Lost, Part II: Resurrection
Episode 4: Lava's a Many Splendoured Thing
Episode 5: Promises
Episode 6: Natural Election
Episode 7: John Quixote
Episode 8: I Shrink Therefore I Am
Episode 9: A Prefect Murder
Episode 10: Coup by Clam

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: A distant part of the galaxy
Current Music: "Honey, are You Straight or are You Blind?" - Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Sooner or later, strange poisonous molluscs were going to factor into Farscape. Naturally, they also force physical connexions between pairs of crewmembers, too.

Season Four, Episode Ten: Coup by Clam

Though they're more like squid than clams. It's hilarious when Crichton (Ben Browder) gets annoyed by the "technobabble" explanation in this episode but it is kind of funny, the idea of a mollusc that must be eaten by a single person or everyone who eats from it will share physical symptoms, pain, or pleasure.

This means poor Aeryn (Claudia Black) farts every time Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) does (which is often) and Cricthon feels Sikozu's (Raelee Hill) pain. Maybe the worst off is D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), though, who experiences Noranti's (Melissa Jaffer) orgasm at a very awkward moment.

This kind of thing never happened to Worf. You'd think it would undercut his efforts to interrogate the long nosed doctor (Barry Otto) who tricked them into eating the mollusc.

After a season with many episodes that felt more typical of other shows, it's nice to see this one with a uniquely Farscape-ish predicament. I also like that Crichton and Rygel team up in drag at the end, instead of the usual Crichton and D'Argo, to rescue Aeryn and Sikozu. Crichton in drag looks a bit like Val Kilmer in Willow.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: A squid
Current Music: "Smile" - Charlie Chaplin

Having Australian shooting locations sets Farscape apart from other space opera series in a very good way. The production team could also take advantage of rare opportunities, like using a recently burned forest as a unique alien landscape.

Season Four, Episode Nine: A Prefect Murder

The first part of the story is told in a slightly bewildering, non-linear fashion as we see from different characters' perspectives the fallout from Chiana (Gigi Edgley) apparently frelling every eligible body in a village where the crew have stopped for water.

D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), in his role as Moya's captain, is trying to negotiate with one of the clan leaders (Ivar Kants). Crichton (Ben Browder) is still snorting the drug Noranti gave him in order to deal with talking to Aeryn (Claudia Black) while Aeryn has started having disturbing hallucinations. Meanwhile, Sikozu (Raelee Hill) is the star of an awkwardly framed sex scene with a local prince (Brett Stiller).

We see several conversations multiple times from different perspectives which mainly has the effect of making the episode feel shorter than it is. As a result, the story never quite gets off the ground. The highlight of the episode is a weird, amazing new puppet from the creature shop as an old priest. When Chiana tickled him under his chin, I kind of wanted to see what their relationship would be like.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Charcoal world
Current Music: "Aguas De Marco" - Antonio Carlos Jobim

So it seems, when it came to the finale, the people behind Doctor Who this season had nothing. They set up a bunch of dangling threads and tossed them into the wind.

What a mess. Where to begin? The subplot in Ireland which appears to have been merely visions experienced by the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) implanted to cover up or hint at the secret history of the Time Lords . . . How, why? The secret history of Regeneration which doesn't seem to have anything in it worth keeping a secret? Doctor Ruth not making any sense and having a pretty insubstantial presence anyway (I'm sure enough people have pointed out how her Police Box TARDIS and sonic look like cock-ups now for me to rehash it)? The Doctor escaping the Matrix by using flashbacks from the series?

So Chibnall definitely watched The Deadly Assassin but seemingly not The Three Doctors or Brain of Morbius. Or maybe the reason no mention was made of Rassilon or Omega in "The Timeless Children" was that the "official" history, the one pasted over what the Master () uncovered, is actually much worse than reality.

It is more than a little ironic that an episode about how terrible it is to ignore and rewrite history is an episode that ignores and rewrites the show's history.

I'll say something nice about the episode, though. I still think Sacha Dhawan is good as the Master, even if he's no Missy. I like the return of his shrink ray. I like how the Master saw bringing about the destruction of the universe as a sort of recompense for not being as important as the Doctor. That motive has a real sense of egomania to it. Though this is lost somewhat in the Doctor's big speech about how it's fear that caused the Master to think the secret history is so horrible. It's true, anyone thinking it's horrible, particularly the Doctor, that she'd actually had several lives before William Hartnell doesn't make sense. It's understandable being angry about having one's memory erased without their consent, sure, but not that they had a bunch more lives. It seemed more like a thinly veiled attack on fans who would have any problem with it, essentially saying, "If you hate this, you're racist."

The episode spared a moment for Ryan (Tosin Cole) to look like an idiot and for Yaz (Mandip Gil) to get some unearned validation from Graham (Bradley Walsh) which descended into an awkward joke about Yaz being from Yorkshire.

The episode ends with the Judoon somehow easily entering the TARDIS and taking the Doctor prisoner. Because why not? It's not like the show has to follow any kind of canon.

So, in two seasons, the Thirteenth Doctor has managed a more precipitous drop in ratings than the Twelfth Doctor in three seasons. You have to search carefully to find positive comments about it on the internet. Its Rotten Tomatoes user rating is under 20%. Just how far is the BBC willing to go with this bullshit before they finally put the show back in the hands of a good auteur? Are they really going to play chicken with a slow, boring death next season? Time will tell, it always does.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: The ruins of Gallifrey
Current Music: People talking at the coffee shop

For the first time in its 56 year history, Doctor Who finally went to Ireland on Sunday night. I wonder why it took so long. There were several Irish characters too, named characters, even, for the first time since one minor character in the Third Doctor era. I only wish it happened in a better episode.

We begin with the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and with the companions referred to by the increasingly ironic appellation "Fam" showing up in a war zone--the aftermath of the Cybermen wiping out most of the human race on Earth. So is this an alternate future to the apocalypse that happens in "Orphan 55"? Spirit, "are these the shadows of the things that Will be or are they shadows of things that May be, only?" Funny, no-one asks the Doctor that question.

A lot of people call out Chris Chibnall personally for the bad writing of the Thirteenth Doctor era but I've generally refrained from doing so. Oh, I certainly don't think he's among the best showrunners ever and I'd say he's the weakest of the revived era but I'm not prepared to say for sure what's his fault and what isn't. Particularly since Neil Gaiman recently discussed publicly how scripts for the show have been meddled with without consent from the writers since at least Eleven's final season, I suspect many of the very worst elements of the past two seasons have come from the producers and not from Chibnall. That would explain the tacked on feel of "Orphan 55"'s epilogue and would also explain the Doctor's abrupt reversal of her nonsensical rule against explosives in the previous season. Sometimes Chibnall gets in a shot against the meddlers. That's what I think is going on but I can't be sure. If Ryan (Tosin Cole), Yaz (Mandip Gil), and Graham (Bradley Walsh) are creations of the producers, it might explain why Chibnall seems to have given them pretty rough and unflattering treatment this season.

Of course, things like Graham and Yaz's pep talks to each other last night have the kind of dopiness of something intended to be great, so it's hard to say. Gods, the arrogance of these two telling each other they're unstoppable. Their suggestions amount to little more than look out the window and divert power from life support. What this show needs is William Shatner.

There's a conflict set up in the episode between the Doctor's belief that she needs to work alone and the Fam's desire to contribute. So the companions being insubstantial and poorly developed undercuts everything, particularly when Graham all of a sudden knows a thing or two about spaceships. When did that happen? Maybe it'll be up to Big Finish to supply crucial character development fifteen or so years from now.

I did like the design of the ramshackle space ship and how you can see the hull spinning from the inside. This season certainly hasn't fallen down on production design, though the cinematography is still pretty lazy. The music hasn't irritated me as much as it did last season until last night's episode when the constant, sappy violin for every shot in Ireland accompanied director Jamie Magnus Stone's overuse of close-ups to achieve the effect of having my eyes and ears gouged with lumps of butter. It made Darby O'Gill and the Little People look like The Field.

So I guess next time we're going to get an answer to the Gallifrey mystery and Doctor Ruth and just how in blazes those flashbacks to Ireland add up to anything. Could be it's a really good explanation, who knows? Who knows.

Twitter Sonnet #1331

Controllers made the gamer move the sprite.
Detectives saw the pool behind cigars.
The heavy case was lighter sans the night.
Along the ridge there rode the smoke hussars.
The desert took a train of golden clocks.
The sand consumed the iron hands of time.
In feet we measured bags of sainted socks.
In metric lengths we took the longer climb.
In closets stuffed with cloth we quickly dress.
A normal suit displays the manic ken.
As plastic limbs decry the paper mess.
Recycled teeth could chew the metal bin.
As metal fate distorts the door-ish cloud
The window mist becomes increasing loud.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: A ruined planet
Current Music: "Группа крови" - Кино

Farscape has its inevitable shrink ray episode, and that's always fun (or almost always), but it turns out to be a minor element in an episode that focuses more on the season's overarching plot.

Season Four, Episode Eight: I Shrink, Therefore I Am

In an amusing cold open, Crichton (Ben Browder) and Noranti (Melissa Jaffer) are heading back to Moya after a supply run. Crichton is tipped off by Pilot (Lani Tupu) that the ship has been taken over by mercenaries when Pilot tells him everyone else is too busy to talk--that Aeryn (Claudia Black) is writing poetry and Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) isn't hungry for dinner which Chiana (Gigi Edgley) and Sikozu (Raelee Hill) are cooking together.

Sikozu has the cutest glare. Naturally, the two are actually getting on each other's nerves, tied up together. When Crichton finally does get aboard (leaving Noranti floating in space in a trance) he has to hide in the air ducts and team up with Scorpius (Wayne Pygram).

Crichton and Scorpius feels a little like Crichton and Harvey though Scorpius refrains from making any pop culture references. Crichton seems to enjoy teasing him, to the point of giving him an unloaded gun in a dangerous situation.

This episode features the first appearance of a "ruling class" Scarran (Duncan Young) who shows an ability to read minds, finding Crichton's location by reading Rygel's thoughts. He doesn't even have to use a heat ray.

Mostly the shrink ray is just a convenient way for the bandits to tote their captives around. The end of the episode features a very brief, amusing moment with tiny Aeryn riding a DRD and the final fight between Crichton and the Scarran involves them alternately shrinking and enlarging, which is still fun to watch even after having seen the Ant-Man movies.

At this point, "John Quixote" is still the most interesting episode of Season Four, with several episodes like this that seem to focus more on action and plots. I was never a fan of Aeryn's pregnancy and thought it generally didn't drive the story as well as the complicated, stranger motivations from the first three seasons. But there are still some very good episodes left to go.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

Season Four

Episode 1: Crichton Kicks
Episode 2: What was Lost, Part I: Sacrifice
Episode 3: What was Lost, Part II: Resurrection
Episode 4: Lava's a Many Splendoured Thing
Episode 5: Promises
Episode 6: Natural Election
Episode 7: John Quixote

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: A can
Current Music: "Running Gun Blues" - David Bowie

Farscape returns to an old fashioned bottle episode when Moya gets caught up in a deadly space plant. It smells like onion and it won't stop growing even as drama over Aeryn's baby unfolds within.

Season Four, Episode Six: Natural Election

And the title seemingly refers to a request from Pilot (Lani Tupu) at the end of the previous episode, that the crew finally pick a captain. Before the final election, they decide each person should serve temporarily, and we join our heroes while Dominar Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) is having his turn.

As a former ruler, you'd think he'd be a natural, but the poor little guy beats himself up when things go wrong on his watch. It really has been a long time since he had legions doing his bidding, I guess.

What goes wrong is a plant, one that seems to be getting bigger and finding new ways of clogging Moya's works. This doesn't stop chatter about pregnancy, though, and Aeryn (Claudia Black) makes the unwise decision to confide in Chiana (Gigi Edgley). The latter seems to think nothing of immediately telling D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) but she does seem a bit upset when the news spreads.

The news is that Aeryn isn't sure the father is John Crichton (Ben Browder), be it the current resident of Moya or the deceased twin from last season. There's an interesting bit of info about Sebacean biology, that Aeryn's body could have kept a conception in stasis since well before she met Crichton. Nonetheless, I found the drama about whether Crichton's the father a bit disappointingly typical compared to the usual, weirder Farscape fare. I also dislike Aeryn casually throwing away the tension about the Crichton copies by saying there's no longer any distinction in her mind between the two men. The plant plot therefore is much more interesting. I liked how it's Scorpius' (Wayne Pygram) coolant rods that save the day.

This isn't the best episode of the series, though it's not terribly bad. Maybe the best part to me is Sikozu (Raelee Hill) showing increasing eagerness to help Scorpius. I like how the show uses this to help distinguish her from Jool. And anyway, they'd make a cute couple.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

Season Four

Episode 1: Crichton Kicks
Episode 2: What was Lost, Part I: Sacrifice
Episode 3: What was Lost, Part II: Resurrection
Episode 4: Lava's a Many Splendoured Thing
Episode 5: Promises

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: Moya
Current Music: "Snakedriver" - The Jesus and Mary Chain

Moya finally returns in an episode of Farscape that tests the years of trust and loyalty that have accrued among her crew. But this ship is home, a fact sweetly underlined when D'Argo tells Pilot that Moya looks beautiful and Pilot conveys Moya's gratitude to the Luxan.

Season Four, Episode Five: Promises

The first person Crichton (Ben Browder) sees in the hanger is the long lost Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black). A damper is put on their reunion when she collapses from heat delirium. Apparently she'd gotten out of bed just long enough to make Crichton promise not to kill Scorpius (Wayne Pygram).

It's not hard to see where the episode got its title. Aeryn promised Scorpius he wouldn't be hurt, Crichton promises Aeryn not to hurt him. And so the ties of affection prevent the human from going all out in acting on that affection in the natural way; taking revenge on the man who tried to kill Aeryn.

Except Scorpius, as a prelude to finally extracting Harvey (Wayne Pygram), points out it was the neural clone, not Scorpius himself, who'd tried to kill Aeryn. The reasoning here feels a bit fragile and the events of several season two episodes in particular seem to argue against the thought that Scorpius was really so benign. But, then again, it's not as though the crew of Moya are saints themselves.

The episode ends with Aeryn seemingly happy to rejoin the crew but with Crichton calling her on not being forthright about her pregnancy. So much for mutual trust and promises.

It turns out Aeryn had been far indeed from a saint in her time away from Moya and some enemies she'd made working as an assassin show up looking for vengeance. It's a really neat stand-off plot as D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) and Crichton go aboard to try to negotiate for a cure to Aeryn's illness. Aeryn, meanwhile, is doing some cute Scorpius cosplay in a coolant suit.

She even gets to play Harvey in one scene and Claudia Black shows she can do a pretty dead-on Wayne Pygram impression.

This is also the episode where Pilot (Lani Tupu) decides it's time the crew elect a captain. Considering promises turn out not to be a reliable system of coordination among the group, maybe reverting to a hierarchical structure isn't such a bad idea. Though Crichton has usually acted as de facto captain anyway. It's not unlike the way pirate ships used to work in which the captain usually hadn't any real power except during a battle in which his commands were expected to be obeyed.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

Season Four

Episode 1: Crichton Kicks
Episode 2: What was Lost, Part I: Sacrifice
Episode 3: What was Lost, Part II: Resurrection
Episode 4: Lava's a Many Splendoured Thing

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: The galley
Current Music: "Garota de Ipanema" - Antonio Carlos Jobim

Sometimes you find a heist, sometimes a heist finds you. The heroes of Farscape stumble onto a stockpile of hot merchandise on a lava planet of all places, giving us one of the more magnificent episode titles.

Season Four, Episode Four: Lava's a Many Splendoured Thing

Stuck on D'Argo's (Anthony Simcoe) little ship, Lo'la, everyone's hungry and impatient. Everyone but Sikozu (Raelee Hill) is persuaded to eat something Noranti (Melissa Jaffer) vomits up necessitating a quick trip to a nearby lava planet so everyone can puke.

According to the Wiki, this episode was a particular challenge for the set designers. They don't really pull off realistic lava but I kind of like the groovy Star Trek: TOS quality of the lumpy pink goo.

More impressive is the prosthetics for the villain, Raa'Keel (John Adam), head of a gang of thieves. It looks like his brain is trying to get out.

The gang wear personal shield systems that power down when not being shot at. This ends up creating an opportunity for Crichton (Ben Browder) to show ingenuity by shooting at himself to activate the shields so he can swim in lava.

Sikozu and Chiana (Gigi Edgley) get stuck outside and have to learn to operate the craft keyed to D'Argo's genetic code. Chiana's idea to use D'Argo's conveniently located vomit adds some extra flavour to the amusing bickering between the two.

Meanwhile, it's back to routine humiliation for Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) who spends the episode encased in amber, trying desperately not to soil himself. What splendour indeed.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

Season Four

Episode 1: Crichton Kicks
Episode 2: What was Lost, Part I: Sacrifice
Episode 3: What was Lost, Part II: Resurrection

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Lava
Current Music: "Stir It Up" - Bob Marley

Matters at mysterious ruins come to a weird and violent pass on Farscape. Crichton wrestles with Grayza's seduction (and Grayza herself) while everyone else tries to figure out how to escape the Peacekeepers and the planet's dangerous radiation.

Season Four, Episode Three: What was Lost, Part II: Resurrection

Jool (Tammy MacIntosh) points out increased radiation could be seen by the apparent muting of all colour. To which Chiana (Gigi Edgley) retorts that she never had much colour to begin with.

What a trio. Chiana, Jool, and Sikozu (Raelee Hill). All three really shine in this episode with some funny moments and tense moments particularly a couple featuring a code word passed to Sikozu by Scorpius (Wayne Pygram). Meanwhile, I must say D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) does not come off very well.

He'd overheard Jool agreeing with her comrade that Luxans were a lesser species. As he and Jool are about to part for the last time because Jool's decided to remain on the planet, D'Argo takes a moment to brag about how the woman Jool'd been talking to was definitely dumber than him now because she'd been turned to stone. Maybe stone lady has it coming for being an unabashed racist but D'Argo still sounds like kind of an asshole, particularly in the middle of Jool trying to apologise to him--"I'm trying to apologise," she even directly tells him. The whole moment is awkward, made moreso when they kiss. Which I'd actually really like--sometimes life is awkward--though the accompanying triumphant score clashes with that tone.

Since some point in season three, there's been a change in how Anthony Simcoe played D'Argo. Maybe to differentiate him from Worf, he starts adopting a more casual, oddly human attitude reminiscent of his antics in "Won't Be Fooled Again." It never feels quite natural to me, always coming off like false notes.

Especially compared to Crichton (Ben Browder), the anachronistic unhinged human who gets better every time I watch the show. It's lovely how he's able to outsmart Grayza (Rebecca Riggs) and ties her down, backing away while she continues to exhibit a smug sense of dominance.

The finale is a nice series of suspenseful moments as Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) plummets to the ground in a dying Leviathon before Crichton, Chiana, and Jool are compelled to make an ancient artefact work on short notice. This caps a very solid two-parter.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

Season Four

Episode 1: Crichton Kicks
Episode 2: What was Lost, Part I: Sacrifice

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: Space
Current Music: "Little Earthquakes" - Tori Amos

At last in 16:9, the fourth season of Farscape begins by showcasing an even greater sense of improvisation and familiarity between cast and crew, blending seamlessly with complicated effects and design.

Season Four, Episode One: Crichton Kicks

We find Crichton (Ben Browder) with his Jeremiah Crichton beard again (though this time, apparently, it was real), taking refuge on a dying Leviathan. He's adopted a DRD he's named 1812, to which he's taught to play The 1812 Overture with electronic beeps. This recalls A Clockwork Orange but the general tone of the episode is more like a Terry Gilliam movie.

Another beautiful woman crashes into Crichton's life; the redhead Sikozu (Raelee Hill), on the run from aliens whose resemblance to Klingons Crichton doesn't refrain from pointing out. This felt scripted but a lot of the things Ben Browder does and says feel more spontaneous, like his antics when trying to lure an alien hound out into space. This moment shows how perfectly the makers of the show were able to blend natural performance with carefully contrived special effects and plotting.

The first of Moya's crew to come back after the inevitable massive bounties are put on their heads are Chiana (Gigi Edgley) and Rygel (Jonathan Hardy). Chiana, in the middle of chewing Crichton out for getting them into trouble, kisses him on the lips without missing a beat, another moment that's so fast and weird that it feels improvised yet also perfectly fits their relationship. The strange Moya family has now become very familiar, at least among themselves.

Sikou seems to fit in well despite being new. I always liked her, particularly in this episode. The way she and Crichton are placed in incidental physical intimacy, as when she sits on his lap facing him when they hide in his module, recalls the many times he and Aeryn (Claudia Black) were doing that in season one. Her abilities to walk on walls and reattach severed limbs somehow emphasise her sexuality. I'm really not sure why but that's Farscape for you.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: On the wall
Current Music: "Sheila Take a Bow" - The Smiths

The final episode of Farscape's third season introduces a new main character, a major plot development, and drastically changes the direction of the show but mostly it feels like denouement. After the events of the previous episode, Moya seeks to deliver Talyn's remains to a Leviathan burial ground of sorts. Meanwhile, most of the characters feel it's time to go their separate ways and head to their separate homes.

Season Three, Episode 22: A Dog with Two Bones

I'm not really sure why everyone seems to feel this way. If anything, I'd think they were in more danger from the Peacekeepers after destroying the Command Carrier. But it makes for some bittersweet farewells during which no-one seems to care much that a total stranger is in the mess hall.

Noranti (Melissa Jaffer) cooks and dispenses wisdom for a barely receptive Crichton (Ben Browder). How differently this would've unfolded on Star Trek. But Crichton's too busy having visions of an alternate timeline where he and Aeryn (Claudia Black) marry on Earth, he has no time to interrogate the interloper.

Maybe this alternate tale is something like what would've happened if the other Crichton had lived. As it is, Aeryn, understandably, finds things too weird with the remaining Crichton and she takes off in her new Prowler, despite the episode's bombshell; Aeryn is pregnant. Presumably with the other Crichton's child. In a series about new and ambiguous family relationships, this may be the newest and most ambiguous yet.

It's an idea that certainly made for a great story across the length of season three and sets the stage for an even wilder season four . . .

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter
Episode 21: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Moya
Current Music: "Desafinado" - Tom Jobim

I caught wind of so many bad opinions of Wednesday's new Doctor Who, "Spyfall Part 1", that maybe I was predisposed in its favour a bit. But I think I just kind of liked it. I applaud the return to a two parter format, the pacing feels more natural, and the new monster (unless it's really an old monster) is genuinely creepy. Stephen Fry is good but needed more screentime and he gets a couple of too-dopey lines. Really, the main problem I have with the episode, and it is a big one, is the companions, whose dullness shines more starkly after their absence.

I can kind of dig Mandip Gil now and then but Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole seem like they took heavy doses of novocaine every morning. Listening to them talk about how they're not really qualified to be spies, I thought, "Yeah, it's true, you guys don't belong here." As Walsh wades through another slow line delivery about how he doesn't understand what's going on or asks why the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) is going to do something dangerous it is rather like some random, disinterested person off the street was pulled in and forced to be the Doctor's companion. Her affectionate calls to the "family" seem kind of sad, when you think about it.

So, it's not like the Doctor usually pulls companions from training facilities or elite military or science corps (though sometimes this is true). Often, they're ostensibly just regular people who get caught up in the adventure. There are two ways to make this work--make the companion a genuinely average person and dumb down all the rest of the universe to their level, or make the companion an extraordinary person whose abilities haven't been recognised by human institutions. Usually, the show has taken the latter tact. It's especially clear during the Davies and Moffat eras--Donna is able to spot weird things at work her coworkers can't. When Clara is reintroduced in "The Snowmen", she's a woman with two secret identities and even then the Doctor tests her with the umbrella on the roof. In the classic era, Ace was an explosives expert who'd left Earth before encountering the Doctor; Nyssa, Adric, and Zoe were young geniuses; Sarah Jane Smith was an intrepid reporter. You could say Ian and Barbara were pretty ordinary but, even with them, their expertise as teachers came into play more than once. The only genuinely average companion I can think of is Tegan and it's basically what drove her away in the end.

Thirteen's companions aren't just average, though. They behave average or even below average. Sometimes I think a note from the BBC after Moffat left was, "Everyone talks too fast on this show. Make everyone talk slower." As far as the companions are concerned, it's overkill.

But, all in all, I liked this episode.

Spoilers after the screenshot

The Master is my least favourite aspect of Doctor Who. I always felt the show lost 60% of its brain cells whenever he showed up. But Steven Moffat made me appreciate the character with Missy. She was so good, she made all the other appearances of the character better for me, except John Simm. And even he was better when he showed up at the end of Twelve's run. This new Master, played by Sacha Dhawan, I don't hate. He takes a page from Michelle Gomez's book and plays the character as though he has some real mental damage and he channels only a little of John Simm's zaniness. It's standard for the Master to show up after being definitely killed (Moffat even joked about this) but it is disappointing to see him come back with no nod to that finale with Gomez and Simm because that wasn't just a physical death, it was a thematic cliffhanger. There was a conflict between Master and Missy. How was that resolved? It's natural to want to know. And Dhawan would have to be ten times better than Daniel Day Lewis to make me not want Missy back in the regular role. Was it really necessary to cut all ties to the Moffat era?

I liked the siege with the alien beings, I like how mysterious they are, though they don't quite hit Weeping Angel heights or even the Silence. Mostly, I'm just happy to have an episode paced like a two-parter. That's the natural pace for Doctor Who and the show improves whenever it returns to it.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: The crystalline TARDIS
Current Music: "Tear" - The Smashing Pumpkins

Farscape's season three climactic two parter ends with the extravagant exit of two characters and the murky issues involving the Peacekeepers come to an unambiguous conclusion. More or less.

Season Three, Episode Twenty-One: Into the Lion's Den, Part II: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

It's been a few episodes since Talyn killed a ship of civilians. As often happens with a character who's redeemed after committing horrible deeds (as seen recently in another space opera series), Talyn must die, in this case by starbursting in the middle of the Command Carrier with Crais (Lani Tupu) inside. This is just one of the violent ways the moral ambiguities of the previous episode are concluded, the more impressive, in my opinion, being the fiery death of Henta (Marta Dusseldorp), the old comrade of Aeryn (Claudia Black).

It's hard to see this as a consequence of Henta's loyalty to the Peacekeepers since these random flames could as easily have hit Aeryn. It's worth remembering that sometimes life and death obey no code of morality or justice. Which makes decisions about such things all the more difficult and the final confrontation between Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) and Crichton (Ben Browder) the best part of the episode.

Even after Crichton has clearly betrayed him, Scorpius is actually still making his case, still telling Crichton about the threat posed by the Scarrans. This is after Crais has gotten his final revenge on Scorpius but I wonder if it's partly a reflection on Crichton's experience with Crais, the process of reconciliation between two bitter enemies, that compels him to stop a moment and cooperate with Scorpius to remove the bracelets. The fact that the two had been sharing each other's physical pain, and that Scorpius has been willing to hurt Crichton (and himself in the process), works as a good symbol of understanding, too. This is the beginning of not a beautiful friendship but certainly another of Farscape's famous weird relationships.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch
Episode 20: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: An exploding ship
Current Music: "Thursday's Child" - David Bowie

While boarding Scorpius' Command Carrier may seem like a hard job for our heroes on Farscape, at least the goals are easy to keep sight of. Right?

Season Three, Episode Twenty: Into the Lion's Den, Part I: Lambs to the Slaughter

The deal, hammered out in the previous episode between Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) and Scorpius (Wayne Pygram), is for Crichton (Ben Browder) to come aboard and help Scorpius develop the wormhole weapon so that the Scarrans don't have a chance to take over the galaxy. But secretly, Crichton plans to sabotage the whole project. But season three's effort to make the Peacekeepers more morally complicated comes to a culmination here as Crichton starts to wonder if it's not such a bad idea helping Scorpius after all.

He gets caught up on Scorpius' backstory so he knows just how vicious the Scarrans can be. He sees the infighting between Peacekeepers--the lower level officers chaff under Scorpius' orders to play nice with Moya's crew, none of them apparently seeing the big picture. Aeryn (Claudia Black) and Crais (Lani Tupu) run into old comrades who remind them this used to be home and that it was certainly never all bad. Finally, we're introduced to Scorpius' rival, Grayza (Rebecca Riggs), who wants to try to negotiate peace with the Scarrans.

Cool, calculating, with the amount of cleavage that somehow communicates an impression of ruthlessness, the mysteriously purple eyed lady is another thing making Crichton's moral quandary more difficult.

This is the beginning of the political plot that will shape most of the fourth season and it's a nice transition, turning the personal experiences of Moya's crew into something that fits into a grand scale.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures
Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: A ship
Current Music: "Life Can Be So Nice" - Prince

Two very different and very good stories are woven together for a dark, excellent episode of Farscape. A heist gone wrong plot forces some of our heroes to work with Scorpius temporarily while, back on Moya, the rest of the crew find themselves having to make hard decisions about Talyn.

Season Three, Episode 19: I-Yensch, You-Yensch

From the beginning, Talyn's personality has been a source of worry. And it's a testament to the show how distinctly that personality comes across from a being with no voice or facial expressions. He exists like a loose hypothesis, provoking the viewer to project his or her own concepts of childhood development and parenthood on this hybrid between a gunship and a peaceful Leviathan. Is Talyn conflicted because of his hybrid nature? Is it because Crais (Lani Tupu) kidnapped him, depriving him of less stabilising influences? Now Crais is in a place to feel the burden of his own past decisions. He's horrified when Talyn opens fire on and destroys a ship of innocent civilians for no apparent reason.

I like how subdued Ben Browder and Claudia Black choose to play Crichton and Aeryn in this episode. There's no yelling at Crais or Talyn or Pilot (Lani Tupu), none of the usual bickering. You can see the weight of these terrible developments on them both in the form of a profound weariness. The only spark is when Crichton observes Aeryn is asking his opinion on something, signifying she has, indeed, accepted him as Crichton.

Meanwhile, Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) and D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) are meeting with Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) at a diner to hammer out a deal to get Crichton aboard the Command Carrier when the three of them are attacked by none other than Ben Mendelsohn.

Yes, season three began with the villain from Mad Max: Fury Road and now we see the villain from Rogue One. He plays one of a pair of alien wolf brothers who were hired to burn down the diner for insurance fraud. Of course, Mendelsohn is good, managing to be a bit subtle behind the makeup and barking and his own drool. You can see him working out this strange situation he's stumbled on.

I also really like Rygel's role in this episode. I like when he's employed as a negotiator though he's really not great at it, taking every opportunity to insult the Peacekeepers. But he does so with a gentler tone of voice than usual.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice
Episode 18: Fractures

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: A diner
Current Music: "Django" - Luis Bacalov

The remaining members of Talyn's crew in Farscape season three return to Moya in an episode that also features a few unexpected guests. On a crowded Leviathan, it's especially hard to find a turncoat.

Season Three, Episode Eighteen: Fractures

And Aeryn (Claudia Black) now has to confront the other Crichton (Ben Browder). Mostly she does this with silence and brief courteous acknowledgements. I suppose this is understandable but it's a difficult situation to even imagine. The idea that Crichton might be jealous of his other self is brought up but his behaviour doesn't come off that way. He seems stunned mostly, which, again, is understandable.

The main plot of the episode focuses more on a fascinating motley of escaped Peacekeeper prisoners--a Scarran male (Nicholas McCay), a Hynerian woman named Orrhn (Alexandra Fowler), an Intersex Nebari named Hubero (Kate Beahan), and a member of a species called Boolite who can survive after his body has exploded. Moya's crew are obliged to clean up the body parts and reconstruct this strange sentient being.

Jool (Tammy MacIntosh) and Crais (Lani Tupu) are obliged to do the reconstruction. This is a strange context for Crais and it's easily his funniest part in the series as he's forced to politely follow Jool's condescending instructions and criticisms in his handling of raw brain matter and unidentifiable organs.

It would have been nice to see more of Hubero but Kate Beahan is beautiful and gives a good performance. Hubero and Chiana (Gigi Edgley) comparing notes about being outcast Nebari is nice.

Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) surprisingly enough has the lion's share of drama in this episode as his belief in his own majesty blinds him to the machinations of the attractive Orrhn. The poor little guy just never seems to stop falling from his grand height. Sometimes its funny watching him suffer indignities but by this point I just feel bad for him and his every pointed line in the climax was a satisfying little spark.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel
Episode 17: The Choice

Current Mood: hungry
Current Location: Moya
Current Music: "How Soon is Now" - The Smiths

On Farscape, the crew of Talyn head to a planet where it's purportedly possible to contact the dead. But Aeryn spends her time drinking alone in her room . . .

Season Three, Episode Seventeen: The Choice

Aeryn (Claudia Black) is faced with a choice to live without Crichton (Ben Browder) or to die. Well, there are complications, like the other Crichton back on Moya, but he's really not exactly the same guy at this point, having different memories. And even if they did share memories, would we then say one Crichton's death means nothing? However perfect the substitute--in this case, thoroughly--is it really possible to replace a person?

Another complication is that some shady characters on this planet are promising Aeryn they can resurrect the dead Crichton. If it's a con, it's a good one, because dead people are turning up all over the place--Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) spots Aeryn's mother (Lind Cropper), Stark (Paul Goddard) starts to hear Zhaan's (Virginia Hey) voice, and Aeryn runs into a man claiming to be her father (John Gregg).

Though he's a bit worse for wear, among other things.

There's a nice mood established with this episode. Aeryn in her uncharacteristically passive suede dress in a trashed room is set against the graffiti and blinking neon night indicating a clear Bladerunner influence.

Claudia Black's performance is very good as we watch her trying to come to terms with the fact that, while there may be a way to negotiate death's verdict, it may not be healthy to continue down that rabbit hole. One of the figures who tempts her is another extraordinarily effective puppet, a strange baby creature with four eyes.

It's a puppet with many evocative points of articulation.

Crais (Lani Tupu), Rygel, and Stark all make good contributions to the episode. I loved Aeryn mocking Stark and Crais for their desire to sleep with her influencing them and it's very cruel how she condemns Stark's desire to help her as being a manifestation of his libido. Rygel, meanwhile, is almost a father figure to her in this episode, floating up to her from the city while she stands at the edge of the window, making her decision.

. . .

Farscape is available now on Amazon Prime.

This entry is part of a series I'm writing on Farscape for the show's 20th anniversary. My previous reviews can be found here (episodes are in the order intended by the show's creators rather than the broadcast order):

Season One:

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: I, E.T.
Episode 3: Exodus from Genesis
Episode 4: Throne for a Loss
Episode 5: Back and Back and Back to the Future
Episode 6: Thank God It's Friday Again
Episode 7: PK Tech Girl
Episode 8: That Old Black Magic
Episode 9: DNA Mad Scientist
Episode 10: They've Got a Secret
Episode 11: Till the Blood Runs Clear
Episode 12: Rhapsody in Blue
Episode 13: The Flax
Episode 14: Jeremiah Crichton
Episode 15: Durka Returns
Episode 16: A Human Reaction
Episode 17: Through the Looking Glass
Episode 18: A Bug's Life
Episode 19: Nerve
Episode 20: The Hidden Memory
Episode 21: Bone to be Wild
Episode 22: Family Ties

Season Two:

Episode 1: Mind the Baby
Episode 2: Vitas Mortis
Episode 3: Taking the Stone
Episode 4: Crackers Don't Matter
Episode 5: Picture If You Will
Episode 6: The Way We Weren't
Episode 7: Home on the Remains
Episode 8: Dream a Little Dream
Episode 9: Out of Their Minds
Episode 10: My Three Crichtons
Episode 11: Look at the Princess, Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss
Episode 12: Look at the Princess, Part II: I Do, I Think
Episode 13: Look at the Princess, Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Episode 14: Beware of Dog
Episode 15: Won't Get Fooled Again
Episode 16: The Locket
Episode 17: The Ugly Truth
Episode 18: A Clockwork Nebari
Episode 19: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part I: A Not So Simple Plan
Episode 20: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part II: With Friends Like These . . .
Episode 21: Liars, Guns, and Money, Part III: Plan B
Episode 22: Die Me, Dichotomy

Season Three:

Episode 1: Season of Death
Episode 2: Suns and Lovers
Episode 3: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Would'a, Could'a, Should'a
Episode 4: Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait for the Wheel
Episode 5: . . . Different Destinations
Episode 6: Eat Me
Episode 7: Thanks for Sharing
Episode 8: Green Eyed Monster
Episode 9: Losing Time
Episode 10: Relativity
Episode 11: Incubator
Episode 12: Meltdown
Episode 13: Scratch 'n Sniff
Episode 14: Infinite Possibilities, Part I: Daedalus Demands
Episode 15: Infinite Possibilities, Part II: Icarus Abides
Episode 16: Revenging Angel

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: A world of the dead
Current Music: "Little Geneva" - Muddy Waters

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Entries tagged with sci fi

From Far to Firm

Back and Back Again

The Many Paths of the Wormhole

Mollusc Cuisine of the Stars

Burnt Trees of a Distant Part of the Galaxy

The Doctor Without a Secret

Ascension of the Doctor Product

Little 'Scape

Trap of the Plant

Taking a Sebacean at Her Word

Molten Rock Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Escape from Arnessk

Scapes Far and Wide

To Absent Crichtons and Hybrid Warships

The TARDIS and the Alphabet of Espionage

So Long, Command Carrier

There's No Christmas Present Like a Wormhole Weapon

Villains and Something Else

The Continuing Variety of Alien Life

The Purgatory of Dead Voices