Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[jelgate]

Liars, Guns, and Money Part 3: Plan B

Although I wonder if we should call it Plan F as is we are so frelled. I wanted to make that joke. If its too chessey I don't care. We have talked about how the production crew saved their money for this trilogy. That is very apparent. Their are a lot of explosions and shooting to save John. That is not to say their isn't character moments because their are. However, it is very action oriented so much that my review is going to probably read like Fh and her synopsis review. But before then I can't help think in early S1 D'Argo and Aeryn would have probably just have John rot in the prison. When you see the message now their is a distinct sadness in their voices about John's sacrifice and the others don't even hesitate for a second to rescue John. Even Rygel. I talked last week going full circle. While this isn't the same I think its worth mentioning how much these people have changed. I think the Jothee moments are worthy mentioning . Yes did little. Actually he did nothing. Is he a teacher SQ? Anyway, I felt it was important to show how much has changed between father and son. You can see their is a rift between these two. Their is no denying their love for one another. However, the scene in D'Argo's quarters shows tension and even they are together their is tension between the two. This leads us to the attack. Like I said earlier this a lot of action so their isn't much to comment except I like the visual display and how everyone gets a part. No wait, I am forgetting something. Before we get to the actual battle I need to comment on two things. First we have to talk about Talyn and Crais returning. This is important in that Crais has changed. He almost to the point of pacifism of not fighting. Yes I know he has always hated John but even when Aeryn offers anything he still says no. I don't think an older Crais would have said no. Also a mention how great the burnt Moya looks like when Aeryn and Crais are talking. Also the Scorpy/Natria/John scenes. That would make for a creepy love triangle wouldn't it SQ? I love the interaction between John and Scorpy. I love watching Scorpy go into John's mind and rationalize what he does is not torture. Its such hypocrisy that its hilarious. Can we really blame Rorf (not Worf) for betraying us? He did find John for us but it made the plan more difficult. I'm of the belief that I don't blame him. Natria did gouge out hi eye. I think most of us (unless you are military) would cave in to so much pain. This is the episode where Natria creeps me out. She collects eyes and seems to have pleasure in people tasting blood. This gets us to the battle. As always our plans go to hazmatia. Rorf's betrayal ruin things. That is what makes it fun. The betrayal and the Sheyang inability to make fire ruins the whole plan since Scorpy arrives. They never did say why he had problems producing fire but I always assumed it was because of the injured state Aeryn found him in the previous episode. I also thought his new rapport with Zhaan was strange since it seems like he killed himself for her. Must be that Delvian priestess thing going on. That leads us to the fight of how John convinces Natria to leave. She sure is gullible. I love John's deer in headlights look as he tries to fire but can't because of Harvey. Although I have to think D'Argo and Aeryn's army they have to shot in the dark made no sense. Yes they can't see but our heroes are so outmatched that I would think even blind the Peacekeepers would hit someone. The part I love is how John has finally cracked. We have seen him detoriate constantly the whole season and this episode is where he finally loses it. You can see this in the shadow depository and his scene with D'Argo on Moya I laughed when John says he is going to Scorpy and then Aeryn says frell you are and knocks him out. Reminds me of a S1 scene that got blue mad when Aeryn knocked John out. I know its a separate set of circumstances but I just recall that discussion for some reason. The ending I'm not a big fan of. Talyn destroying the shadow depository and us surviving in a vault I can buy. It was no explanation or showing us escaping is what bothered me. Scorpy kind of disappeared that ending made no sense. I do like the somber note at the end where Rygel is happy t be rich and everyone else is somber because at the great expense it cost us. This is most clear with the crippled Moya. Also a special shoutout to Rygel having Durka on a stick. I kind of wished that stayed on longer. I also just realized tomorrow we are officially halfway done with an episode SQ tells me makes her cry.

[Bluemeany]

Can we really blame Rorf (not Worf) for betraying us? He did find John for us but it made the plan more difficult. I'm of the belief that I don't blame him. Natria did gouge out hi eye. I think most of us (unless you are military) would cave in to so much pain.

The British SAS have this thing where their soldiers have to hold out under torture just for 24 hours after capture. Then you can tell the enemy everything. They don’t expect anyone, even their own toughest elite squad to not crack under torture.

24 hours being the amount of time it takes for HQ to realise your missing and change/move any secret bases, people and info you might know.

They aren’t coming to rescue or find you though. They’re just changing everything. It is very much Operation: Sacrificial Pawn.

[squirrely1]

Liars, Guns and Money Part Three - Plan B

WOW...ok First off....Jel yes you rambled....but I liked it and yes I'm proud. Secondly, I'm late....late....for a very important date...no wait that don't go here. Anyway... I almost said Anyhoodle but that is for FH

So yes...here we go... I can just say ditto to what jel says....cuz I agree lots of explosions and love the colors and action. I know that Blue already did her review of this but the camera movements in this are nice and the ep just feels really BIG...no jel not like my butt....but you know grandiose.

I did enjoy the Jothee and D'argo scenes they seemed real and genuine. It always ticks me off when they finally reunite characters after a long arduous journey of searching for them to run into each others arms and be all happy and settled. I like that there is discord amongst them....I think Jothee really does have some bitter feelings that he's dealing with and it's going to take time. I think it was sorta dumb though that D'argo at first wanted him to join in the fight...Jothee says no way....and D'argo grumbles then Jothee says ok I'll go...yeah I wanna...and D'argo is like no...just stay here it's not your fight. It's like really dudes? Make up your minds. I think it was just the writers trying to give Jothee something there but it was a bit lame. And no jel he's not a teacher..just a punk!

What struck me most about this ep is John's complete brokenness. I love how Aeryn has to completely take over and she refuses to give up. She was fighting back the tears in the beginning when Crais says he's already dead. (I think it was Crais). BTW, Crais showing up just in time to help Aeryn again...this harkens back to the opening of the season when Crais magically showed up to help Aeryn rescue D'argo and John. That's interesting that we have these "book ends" If you will. There is this sort of chemistry between Crais and Aeryn too that actually compels John to be a tad jealous of...maybe it's their shared past and the fact that I think Crais has this thing for Aeryn. And that sorta creepy way he says to her ...."Anything?" When she agrees to give him anything if he will help. Aeryn only relies on him because he is the last resort..but somehow I think he gets some satisfaction out of that fact that Aeryn needs him. Either way talk about kinky threesomes...that would be one if you ask me....John, Aeryn and Crais. I don't even want to think of the threesome jel mentioned of Scorpy, Natira and John....Spider lady is just too creepy in bed.

Back to John's complete break down. I love it that there is this fire fight and we have John basically sitting in the corner. That had to be hard for Browder not to be a part of that action and shootout but just the fact that John is merely sitting there...slumped over ....and so disoriented and spent speaks volumes over any acting or dialog Browder could've done. It was so powerful to see that contrast between them fighting and John laying back despondent. I love it because it's real and raw....and shows that Farscape is not afraid to show just how much our boy has changed over the course of 2 seasons. How much John has fallen into this state. As jel mentioned all our characters have changed so much and it's really amazing to see that here as well.

As for the ending I too was disappointed they didn't actually show how they got out of that predicament. It's like they ran out of time and just did a little time jump, I wanted some details there but meh....I'll live and I thought Durka head on a spike was hilarious too. LOL I actually cracked up the first time I saw Rygel holding it.

Ok I think I've rambled enough...but still jel wins out over me this week.

[squirrely1]

Liars, Guns and Money Part II - With Friends Like These... From the Companion Book

"Naren said he wanted to write the middle one, and he did a phenomenal job," David Kemper says. "Catherine Millar came in as director and Naren's script gave us great character work, and a real build to the end." "This is the one where we had to recreate all of the characters that we'd seen in season one," Dave Elsey recalls fondly. "It was so much fun to have everyone on the set at the same time," adds David Kemper. "The idea was, all of these characters travelled round the universe rampaging, pillaging and stealing things, so when they come up with their costumes, there's bits from elsewhere," Dave Elsey explains. "We decided that we would do a new costume for Teurac. I wanted him to look more like our original designs for the Sheyangs." Six foot two acto Thomas Holesgrove squeezed into the much smaller Sheyang suit. "As soon as you're in that costume, you think that you're small," he comments. "You've got three little stubby fingers. Not being that small, I was really working against it, which felt rather weird."
"As you can tell by the metal thing on his head, Bekhesh isn't too good at ducking when everybody else does," Elsey says of the Tavlek warrior. "We made his armour a little bit more battle scarred than it was before, and added a mechanical implant in the jaw."

Pressure of time meant that Elsey an his team were not able to work as closely on every returning actor as they might have liked. Responsibility for the Vorcarian Blood Trackers was consequently handed over to the make-up department. "in the first season when Rorf and Rorg appeared, they were our very first experiments in Hot Flesh, and they worked out really well," Elsey recalls. "However, because we were now handing them over to the make-up department to handle, we didn't want to give them anything too difficult. We made versions of the Blood Trackers' make-up in foam latex, and they then glued those pieces on." Both Rygel's voice, Jonathan Hardy, and the head of Team Rygel, Tim Mieville, enjoyed the scene in which Rygel takes his revenge against Durka. "Rygel's an extraordinary character," Hardy comments. "He's at his best when he's politicking, profiting or dealing as he did with his former torturer!"

Elsey and his team made a cast of David Wheeler's head for Rygel to carry. Elsey found himself explaining to the actor what was about to happen to his character: "I don't want to give too much away,' I said to David, 'but how would you look if your head was cut off?' He went quiet for a moment then he was fine about it. I didn't think we'd use it half as much as we did," Elsey notes. "It was quite perverse, having Rygel sitting there stroking it!"

The sex scene between Scorpius and Natria was enhanced, following a conversation over dinner between Dave Elsey and Wayne Pygram. "The first time, they shot it like a standard sex scene," Elsey recalls, "and we thought it was far too ordinary. We reckoned Natira should have done something weirder. I thought she should have done something with the spider legs on her head. He should have sucked poison from them, or been strangling her. You shouldn't have known if they were fighting or what. Then we heard they were re-shooting because everybody thought it was too ordinary. So Wayne proposed what we'd talked about over our yum cha, and they ended up doing it!"

[squirrely1]

Liars, Guns and Money Part III - Plan B From the Companion Book

In the margin there is this bit about Natira: Blue crustacean biped, with a crown of tendrils which secrete some sort of fluid, and when not folded against her skull can also be used as digits. Although she is Scorpius's lover, she has a maternal instinct toward him, as it was she who took him in when he was abandoned by both the Scarrans and Peacekeepers. Despite this, she also fears and loathes Scorpius, and freely admits that she would attempt to destroy him, if only to earn his respect. Sadistic and self-serving, Natira enjoys torturing and interrogating captives, and has a special fascination for eyes.

"The last episode was all about Tony Tilse, or, as I started calling him, Tony Woo." David Kemper says, in a reference to the action-oriented director of Mission: Impossible 2. "He was so happy. He had stuntmen on fire, guns going off. He was saying, "blow that up, blow this up'. I've never seen a man happier!"

"'The last two acts were the big rescue, and it was like, 'here we go, guns a-blazing!'" Tilse agrees. "We wanted to make it a big action sequence. I wondered how we were going to achieve battle scene after battle scene. David said, 'We'll do night vision, but Aeryn's won't be working. We'll turn off the lights and just have laser bolts.' And it went from there. We had an infrared camera to do all the night vision. We got into the studio, set up all the pyrotechnics, rehearsed it all, checked all the pyrotechnics -- then we turned the lights out in the studio! We shot the scene in the dark, lit by the pyrotechnics going off and using an infrared camera. We've got the best pyrotechnics crew -- these guys have done The Matrix and all the big movies shot in Australia. They know their stuff. It was spectacular!"

Claudia Black recalls that "it meant you had to have a cast and crew that were ready to work solidly as a team. When you rig up the effects, you don't want to spend another hour setting them up again. The pressure is always on with live effects to get it right the first time. We were told that there was going to be lots of people around us. We were going to be firing, and there were going to be explosions behind us. What we didn't realise --what someone neglected to tell us -- was that there would be absolutely no light on the set! The explosions were sufficient to get the shot. They would light up our faces and then camera would capture the image. A lot of the extras weren't aware really what it required for us to move through that hallway, so they were all doing very dramatic death scenes and falling at our feet. We were tripping over them, in amidst all these massive explosions."
Those scenes also introduced a new toy for Anthony Simcoe. "My favourite weapon for D'Argo came in season two," he says proudly. "A gun that actually shoots rockets! 'Mr Sparky' is D'Argo's new favourite friend. It's just a great effect because we can get those pyros in shot, really firing."

"David wanted it big, so we gave him huge. We thought, 'Let's try and break the record for the number of laser bolts in an episode' -- it goes beserk!" Tilse says, also pointing out a typical Farscape moment in the midst of the chaos. "'There's a guy on fire and Scorpius walks in and ignores him. He's got other things to worry about. It's his obsessed moment."

While all this was going on, the object of the rescue was strapped to a large steel ball. "'This was right on the heels of the crucifix, of eye-gouging and every other device that they'd strapped me into during the year," Ben Browder is at pains to point out. "It was very uncomfortable, suspended upside down with a steel bar driving into your spinal column. Next time, the art director gets to spend an equal amount of time in the contraption he designs for the actor!"

[jelgate]

Die Me, Dichotomy

So I guess I am alone for this week As I watch this episode I am reminded a lot of what Blue said when we approached the S1 finale. Its a soft ending with one huge exception which I will get too shortly. I'm going to keep this brief so I can someone else to review and because I rambled enough. If the last episode was John finally cracking, then this episode was about Harvey taking over. A lot of the first half was a touching aspect of John and Aeryn's love for another. Its obvious why they had this talking about their feelings but at this point I don't care. I guess when and if SQ and blue get to reviewing they will gush over John and Aeryn. I'm more interested in other things. I like the D'Argo and Jothee moments. So many shows have the father and son love each other unconditionally when found. I really love the tension and how Jothee is unsure of what he wants. Its why he and Chiana bond so much here I think. I mentioned how I do not care about the John and Aeryn stuff. Sorry SQ. I love seeing Ben dressed up as Scorpy to show us that he is no longer in control. We mock Cricheton's acting sometimes but Browder pulls as playing Scorpy quite well. Not as well as the original but still quite good. I'm going to jump around in my review because I want to first talk about the Dignosian and the Slob (because I'm not going to attempt to spell his name.) I quite like the contradiction of the Dignosian of being a medical genius but at the same time having no immune system. Its almost funny to the point of tragic. I remember the first time not quite understand why Zhaan was so disgusted by the Dignosian's collection. To me it seemed no different what we do to organ donors after we die. I know now that Season of Death contradicts this. At the time I didn't know what was going on. I kind of wished the burnt Moya lasted longer. While is was funny to see some people go high on the gas it seemed a tad convient we have this spray that will regenerate the burnt areas of Moya. Now I am going to go back to the first time Harvery took over. I can understand the first time that Harvey attempted to contact Scorpy. But why did we never lock John up after that? We should have locked him after that. All it takes is for him to trick Zhaan and we got a dogfight. They may have used a lot of money on the previous episode but I always thought it was a good fight. It reinforces my belief of how smarter Scorpy he is. We know Aeryn is a skilled pilot and a Prowler is clearly more flight worthy than the module. And yet Harvery was able to surprise her and damage her Prowler. Which brings us to the tear jerker of the night. It was a sad moment watching her regret to John as she ejected and everyone yells for her as she drowns. What really sells this scene is the fact that we have the funeral scene where everyone is in mourning. Remember when they all hated her? Which really sells me is how Rygel does a 180 about wanting to leave. I mock Rygel sometimes but I like how it shows he does have a heart under his toad skin. I kind of felt like the ending scene was tacked on to set up a cliffhanger I mean we knew it was going to be a cliffhanger. Their was no way the female lead was going to stay dead. Actually I liked watching the Dignosian operated because it was something so unique in science fiction and different. Like I said Scorpy coming in was predictable. Right when the chip is removed, he attacks the doctor so he/she () can't fix the end. I did find it interesting that we have the Dignosian to thank for the cooling rods. Anyone ever think that their is a double meaning. The guy who can never shut up is unable to speak at the end of the episode

[squirrely1]

But you ramble so well You are not alone this week. I am gonna try to watch and review Die Me tomorrow. That is my goal.

[Bluemeany]

Die Me Dichotomy

*waves* I’m here for a ramble too. This episode is another one of my favourites.

Nearly at the midway point: and what started off looking like a family friendly show with puppets, cute DRDs with wonky antennas and Crichton as basically Captain America in space ends up here…

… with our red, white and blue hero totally mind frelled, telling the doc to use KP on the glove, strapped to an operating table talking gibberish.

Great stuff Only two seasons later and that’s where we are. NCIS is like on season 14 or something ridiculous and nothing ever changes.

Jel, you are right: the Aeryn/John storyline is the one I find the most interesting in this. But not because it’s all lovey-dovey: quite the reverse.

It’s so subversive writing: the words all the shippers have been watching and waiting for might be coming out of Crichton’s mouth (‘I would be lost without you’ and ‘I love you’) but its Scorpius that’s saying them. All the classically ‘romantic’ stuff isn’t real.

I found that interesting, particularly when it’s contrasted to the relationship in the parts of the episode when John is actually John. Real Crichton/Aeryn isn’t romantic. It isn’t kissing and ‘oh I don’t know what I do without you’ – it’s basically Crichton relying on Aeryn while they try and cope with his illness together. That’s a far more realistic portrayal of love I think.

I agree that the Crichton/Scorpy transformations are good: both the make-up, effect and the acting. Probably worth mentioning (this may have come across in the reviews) that Ben Browder is my favourite non-British actor. He’s just great. Although I wonder if Wayne Pygram has done such a good job at making Scorpy iconic that he’s easy to mimic? Like the Olivier version of Richard III, Christopher Walken or Alan Rickman…they’re easy to impersonate because of the spaces they put in their speech.

From an editing pov: the chase through the ice canyon is pretty cool. As is the kiss which they end up using in the title credits (edit it out and it’s not creepy out of context). The ‘smashing the mirror’ scene has this nice red light and as mentioned above: the transitions into Scorpy are blended well.

Er… other things...I get upset when the doc asks if all the memories of Aeryn are necessary. I also don’t like the idea of losing the memories of all the dogs either: they are important! We’ve mentioned before the massive hair obsession alert when Crichton takes a lock of Aeryn’s from the casket.

Oh and a new piece of information I hadn't picked up on before: singing makes Harvey leave Crichton alone. Is that why he was screaming the Star Spangelled Banner at the top of his lungs at the end of LG&M part 1? And actually I think Crichton was singing ‘ One Way or Another’ by Blondie in A Clockwork Nabari too after he’d gone a little wappy. I’ll watch out over the next few episodes to see if he continues it when Harvey is around...

…although I don’t think humming ‘Ride of the Valkeryies’ is ever a sign of mental stability.

Re. the ending and as Jel pointed out the guy who never shuts up can’t speak. I think that’s really worse-case scenario for Crichton. Let’s face it, after unpredictability his best survival tactic is talking as a distraction and talking other people into doing/shooting/destroying things for him. Scorpius leaves him pretty much helpless in every sense.

[squirrely1]

Great review jel and blue! Nothing more needs to be said! *crosses hands and grins*. Nah I will post my review, but I'm not gonna get to mine tonight like I thought. Soon though.

[squirrely1]

Die Me Dichotomy

Ok seriously I think I was avoiding watching this because I knew it would be very emotional. As a shipper I do have such a love/hate for this episode because the writers tend to break all the rules here. They have a huge amount of angst between Aeryn and John and if you just look at this episode alone there is absolutely no pay off to all their pain and suffering. But we know how this ends up and ... spoiled for s3

Spoiler:

we know a very big pay off is coming for them. So I'll excuse it.

I honestly don't even know where to begin. I do believe that jel and Blue said alot of what I was going to touch on. I can't seem to really get my brain organized around it so I'm just gonna do a David Letterman Top 10 moments type thing and list out what I find striking about this ep...

Number 10.... Not only is Jothee into self mutilation, but he's contemplating shacking up with his potential step mother.....oh and he doesn't listen very well. The PUNK!

Number 9.... Zhaan.....according to Rygel is making a living out of "Misjudging people".

Number 8... I'm gonna quote jel on this one...and no I won't pay you any frelling royalty....Rygel does have a heart under his toad skin.

Number 7... Ok so how many of you think the Dynosian would work for free if it weren't for the greedy Grunchlk? I think he needs all that money to fund the shipload of Proactiv he so desperately needs. *shudders*

Number 6... There was alot of tongue action in this episode. We had the Father/Son tongue n cheek.... like father like son...."hardly" thing going on when Jothee attempted to strike Neural Chip John out and he failed only to be bested by D'argo. I wonder if the size of their tongue has any type of reference to how virile a male Luxon is?...you know the whole size of the feet in relation to a certain body part type thing? Yeah yeah yeah.... I did it again jel... I am going there. Then we had D'argo and Stark's thick/numb tongue while they were applying the anesthetic to Moya. And of course we can't forget the Scorpy John licking of Aeryn's face. BTW... I read in the companion book that was the hardest scene for Claudia to film that and the coffin scene. Mainly because she had to lie still and it was hard to not react.

Number 5...Moya is getting healed...YAY....High Pilot and that whole scene...priceless!

Number 4... Scorpy John is really creepy and makes for a horrible boyfriend...but I have to say that when John and Aeryn were in the neural cluster, I think John did mean what he said to Aeryn...it's just that right after the moment when he said I love you, Scorpy took over. I think it was obviously in there....in John's mind so that is how Scorpy was able to use it and say it. The shipper in me wants to believe that anyway.

Number 3... Why does everything jam? Could Aeryn not find a way out of the harness? I think I would be dislocating every arm/shoulder joint I had to try to get loose.
So... Aeryn's death ...... Everyone took it so hard and Crais and the chip....hmmmm that is an interesting little nugget/teaser.

Number 2.... The Hair Obsession Continues....Ok so at Aeryn's funeral we have John asking for D's knife. The first time I watched this I thought he was going to try to kill himself. But here we have the hair obsession again. I was shocked no one objected to giving John the knife. But I did love the scene of him kissing her and taking the lock of hair.

Number 1...John's surgery saga and suspenseful cliff hanger. I really do hope he got to keep the dog memories. I think Blue mentioned this ...that John sure had alot of dogs. Plus we won't know if he got to keep the Aeryn memories either. So much riding on this cliff hanger. I can't believe how horrible it was to have to wait for season 3 opener to find out what happens. We have John speaking jibberish, a dead Dynosian, dead Aeryn, Scorpy in close proximity, with the chip and on the prowl, Jothee and Chiana about to hook up, a Stark marriage proposal that we never heard Zhaan's answer We don't even know if Moya ever finished healing, either way she's grounded and can't starburst for a while. We have Rygel trying to jump ship and it ends with John's maniacal scream. This is all frelled up!!

[squirrely1]

Ok Folks the information from the Companion Book from Die Me Dichotomy was combined with a recap of the entire season. It is about 9 or so pages long. I don't want to type all that, so I just scanned in these few pages from the companion book. Hopefully you can still read them. I spoiled for space.

Spoiler:

[Bluemeany]

Cool Thanks for the scan SQ. You can read it alright if you zoom in.

“Wayne has a peculiar, unusual phrasing which is particular to Scorpius. He will stop in the middle of a line and then run over the sentence”

Ah-ha! It is the spaces in the speech that you need to imitate Scorpy. Kinda neat.

[Bluemeany]

Season of Death

Is that an episode title or a viewer warning? By my reckoning

Spoiler:

D’Argo, Chiana, Crichton, Aeryn, Zhaan, Harvey Crais, Talyn, Rygel all die on screen in some shape or form before the end of Dog With Two Bones.

For some reason, whilst I’m okay with this episode, it isn’t one of my favourite. I don’t normally say this about Farscape, but the direction feels a little…clunky in this one. Not sure what’s off.

It might be a pacing issue actually. Wanna guess how long the ‘You’re alive!’ reunion scene of John & Aeryn in the snow is? I know ‘cause I have it cut up in my editing software: 43 seconds. Quite an important emotional moment I would have thought given how they laid on the grief in last season’s cliff-hanger. But given less than a minute of screen time.

Still, if that leaves more time for Harvey getting slammed dunked (is this the right word? We don’t get much WWF this side of the pond) and ‘Hell yeahs!’ I guess that’s fair enough.

And there is lots to like. Scorpius eating the brain tissue off the neural chip is pretty gross. And the controlled Grunchlich is a cool, if disturbing sight. They have gone hammer horror haven’t they?

Zhaan’s donor gift to Aeryn is mirrored nicely by all the donor bodies on ice. Death may be transferable in the Farscape Universe, but it’s not reversible.

Stark’s costume is really something else. He’s like a huge vulture…thinking about it, maybe that’s a 'following the dead' thing the wardrobe department is going for?

Throw Grunchlich, Bracca and Scorpius into the mix with the regulars and I really like the whole myriad of English accents we’ve got going on: Aussie, British, American and mixes in between.

Hair Obsession Alert: what is the first thing Crichton does when he realises Aeryn is real and not a mind trick? That’s right, he touches the hair!

Although I’ve got to say, Claudia Black with long hair is beautiful in this. Clearly dying and being frozen for days in ice has no detrimental effect on your appearance. And it can’t be easy stopping that hair-do frizz when it comes into contact with the snow/whatever they are using for snow.

And we end with the first (non-creepy) ‘I love you’ scene. Actually, I say first but here’s a question: do Aeryn and Crichton ever say those words again? They must do. But I can’t think of when/where right now.

From an editing point of view, obviously the J/A scenes are useful as is the very long kiss at the end. There is a bad ass zoom on Crais just before he blows up Scorpius’s ship. Similarly, there are a couple of really cool CGI shots of the ships running from the planet.

[squirrely1]

Great review as usual blue! As a John/Aeryn shipper I should know the answer to your question about the other time they say I Love You. But I'm not sure either. . I'll post my review soon.

[Bluemeany]

I have a day off today, so am (unusually) a little ahead and on to Suns & Lovers. This is after three weeks of posting extremely late

Suns and Lovers

I had no memory of this episode. At all. It’s possible this isn’t a re-watch and is in fact the first time I’ve seen it.

There’s a clear DH Lawrence influence on the title, dialogue and *cough* action. Right from the start. Poor D’Argo. I really feel for him. Didn’t he describe his life previously as ‘one crushing disappointment after another? Clearly his luck hasn’t changed.

Antony Simcoe is great in this one. Convincingly angry, aggressive and vulnerable all at the same time. And through all the make-up.

No, I haven’t seen this episode before. I would definitely have remembered the talk John & Aeryn have in the tube. Fair play to the actors there in making the awkward flirting dialogue pretty much work. Discussing fluid levels ain’t no sonnet. No matter how suggestively you say it.

Again, we see John’s inability to act. Just say ‘no, I’m not Crichton’ and have another drink. Keeping a low profile is clearly not his forte.

I have a question: Crichton calls Aeryn a ‘stubborn wench’.

Now, that’s a very archaic word in the UK: people might use it, but only in a self-mocking, pretending to be old fashioned or theatrical way. And certainly not like Crichton says it: i.e. as if is a word in common circulation. Do Americans still say wench?

I do like that Zhaan gets to see some pay-off from last episodes sacrifice. She saved Aeryn. Now Aeryn saves four children. I like that: Zhaan would be happy with that.

On a related note: when Aeryn rescues the children, they use the music cue from The Locket. That’s an interesting choice. Particularly when contrasted with the harsher, or at least more pragmatic approach John seems to be taking to life now.

It’s a throw-away line, but Crichton tells Aeryn that for practical reasons she might have to leave the child. Can’t help but feel that in Season 1 that exchange would have been the other way around?

Harvey did say his and John’s personalities were bleeding into one another last episode. I wonder if that’s what is changing Crichton… or whether it’s just a natural evolution given everything John has been through. He seems to have zero problem killing the religious zealot of the week.

Mind you, Pilot seems to really manically enjoy that bit as well…

From an editing pov: it’s actually quite a darkly lit episode with lots of shadowy shots. The exception is the bar set: all the shots in there are great for colour: lots of greens, purples and oranges. There’s also a nice, almost Viking like image of D’Argo staring into flames at the end.