Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[squirrely1]

Maybe the doc removing all memories of American politics automatically raised his IQ 20 points?

I think so many people have messed with his head... the ancients, Scorpius, the doc, Harvey... it’s hard to tell anymore what is natural to Crichton. The super smart brain donor cousin is a good theory.

They also mentioned last week that Harvey and John’s personalities are blurring: so maybe Crichton’s acquired some Scorpy science too, along with a deep obsession with wormholes and the ‘ends justifies the means’ attitude that comes with it?

Personally, I view it as totally natural Crichton. I think he’s always been obsessed, risk-taking and ambitious right from the start. And the science is always there it’s just uber-focused knowledge on wormholes so only surfaces when they’re around. You don’t design, build and fly your own spacecraft away from your loved ones with a good chance of death without being a bit of a smart, stubborn bastard.

True... and I agree. He just seemed snapped back into his really focused Crichton, but it was because a wormhole showed up all of a sudden. it's like Pavlov's dog but he drools around wormholes.

[squirrely1]

Self Inflicted Wounds Part II : Wait For The Wheel

[Jool's voice] AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *the outbanks of Gateworld's servers begin to melt* ZHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!! *Cries like Stark* [/Jool's voice]

I feel like I need a drink or something Wow! What an emotional episode. It was bouncing all along and again bi polar comes to mind. I love/hate the ep. It is tied up pretty nicely and seemingly the science seems to come together in the end but wow getting there I feel like it was such a roller coaster journey.

Some great bits for me was Crichton's talk with Jool and his "Welcome to USS Starship Buttcrack" LOL Gotta love that. Speaking of Jool, she did redeem herself by managing to melt the poison barbs which saved Crichton. China's put down of her and her overpriced shoes at the end...GO CHI! Loved the Harvey/John bits and Harvey just isn't gonna have that Dumpster anymore. How does that work now? He's managed to get the upper hand again? I don't know...maybe John is going soft and crazy again? I loved the Tuxes. While I loved that scene it did seem a tad out of place, but it did get John thinking and gave him the idea to go deal with Neeyala. Speaking of Neeyala....she is probably one of the first really cool...and I mean temperature cool as in ice ***** ...aliens that actually almost bested John and the crew. She had them going and almost succeeded. Thank "the goddess" they worked out a plan....BTW.....loved how they linked the two discussions of the plans in the beginning. It seemed at first they were all in the same room discussing the plans but in fact I think Crichton was discussing the plan in a separate room with Rygel and Chi I think wasn't he? It was a tad confusing at first but I think it was two separate groups. Did you guys get that or am I imagining things? Because at first Aeryn mentioned that she didn't trust John because of the wormholes and D'argo agreed....so they were talking about John...so clearly he wasn't in the room with them.

I loved the scene with D'argo and Zhaan. It was very heart felt and I liked how they brought it all full circle having her talk about first meeting him back when they were brought aboard Moya as prisoners. I loved her scene with Aeryn as well reassuring her that she needs to trust herself. I do wonder why they didn't give John and Zhaan a scene. She did kiss him there at the end *sniff* so touching...I leave most of that for jel to discuss. But wow what emotion and sadness I felt so drained and depressed afterward. I think the whole thing was a very fitting goodbye for Zhaan. I just wish things were different and Virginia Hey could've hung around til the end. I think something was lost in the series when she left. Wouldn't ever be the same. *Sigh*

Lastly I loved how Rygel was literally petting Pilot there at the end. LOL I loved the concern for pilot and that whole build up with Aeryn walking into Pilot's den in her space suit was a real nail biter.

After this ep...I'm gonna need therapy

[Bluemeany]

Self Inflicted Wounds: Part II

I agree SQ, it is quite an upsetting episode. Its Stark being so devastated that gets me. Zhaan gets a nice noble death. I liked that she gave each of the crew an epitaph (Sensitive D’Argo, Exhubirant Chiana, Wise Rygel, Selfless Aeryn, Innocent Crichton etc.): she really does see the best part of them…

…although it does remind me of Rygel’s line a few weeks back, something like Zhaan had made a living out of misreading people.

It seemed at first they were all in the same room discussing the plans but in fact I think Crichton was discussing the plan in a separate room with Rygel and Chi I think wasn't he? It was a tad confusing at first but I think it was two separate groups. Did you guys get that or am I imagining things? Because at first Aeryn mentioned that she didn't trust John because of the wormholes and D'argo agreed....so they were talking about John...so clearly he wasn't in the room with them.

Yep, I really liked this bit: inter-cutting between the two scenes of the divided Moya crew at the beginning. It’s a nice way to structure what could have been quite a boring whole group ‘let’s plan’ scene. Probably done retroactively by the script editor, do we think?

To continue from my first part review: Crichton’s a real jerk sometimes. I am totally on board with Aeryn’s expression when he says ‘I trusted you’ in a self-righteous tone after finding out the alien captain has betrayed them. Such BS: he helped them because he wanted the wormhole technology.

At least he comes to his senses fairly quickly. And Aeryn and Zhaan are good at helping him see straight and the things he’s missed.

My favourite bits are the flashes to Harvey on Earth. I like the bickering/helping vibe he has with Crichton across this season. Kind of reminds me of the Al and Sam thing they had going on in Quantum Leap ‘cause no one else can see him.

From an editing pov: very pretty episode. Lots of oddly coloured shots. Lots of movement and running around. Also the drive-thru cinema scene at the end has got like this cinematic filter on it that works nicely.

[Falcon Horus]

Attempt number 2 -- yesterday was attempt number 1 when I didn't seem to be able to find the right time and words.

Season of Death

So, where were we:

* Aeryn's gone
* John's left talking jibberish, with a chunk of his brainmatter gone
* Scorpius needs a way of the icecube
* Rygel wants a way out
* Grunschlick is under Scorpius' spell (a bit sadistic too)
* the healer is KO'd

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

So, what happens next?

* John needs fixing
* Aeryn needs reviving
* Doc needs saving
* Hidden Scarren awakes
* D'Argo, Zhaan and Stark go investigating why John's not getting back to them
* Scorpius still needs to get off the planet and his cocky pilot thinks he can do it (idiot!)
* Moya is healing slowly and Talynn is nearby to provide assistence and defence

Zhaan believes Aeryn hasn't crossed over completely and she could bring her back. Stark knows what it'll cost her but can't stop her from being the stubborn blue BAMF that she is. That whole unity was beautifully framed and well done. So, she gives up her life essence, leaving her whithering away. Poor Stark.

So, Aeryn's back from the dead and immediately can come to D'Argo and John's aid who came up with a brilliant idea to lure the Scarran outside, cause he sure won't like the cold. And then, the door is locked. Typical!

The cocky pilot gets his due end, when Talynn destroys him, believing it to be Scorpius.
Grunschlick dies -- or not as he is frozen. Though Stark did say, dead dead.

Aeryn's hair though -- the ice did some great straightening there. It was noticeable that they'd been away for a while -- the in between seasons holiday thing.

John takes his saviors with him -- to take them back to their homeplanet for burial. **

**

Spoiler:

I don't realize it yet then, but JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL.

[Falcon Horus]

...loved Aeryn's look and how awesomely radiant she was even though she had no make up on and just came back from death.

If you're on screen, there's make-up...

[squirrely1]

If you're on screen, there's make-up...

Exactly! Lol. I really meant to say she looks as though she doesn't have on make up. Which again is a testament to the make up crew.

[jelgate]

Self Inflected Wounds Pt 2: Wait for the Wheel

I repeat what I said from Part 1. The plot makes no sense. Not the first part of the plot. That I understood. We find out from the worm creature that the Pathfinders are damaging our ship so they can survive. And Chiana gets injured for no reason. You can almost sympathize with Neeyla's motives. She is just doing what she must so he family won't die. Makes me wonder why we trusted her after we caught her sabotaging. The rest of the episode doesn't make sense. We are going around to pump adrenaline to wake Pilot so he can starburst out of Moya. It never made sense how the separation made us able to leave. They don't even show us escaping. Moya is sparking as Aeryn tries to fly and then we skip to the aftermath. I think the writers wrote themself into the corner for this one. They knew that were losing Virgina Hey (can't really blame her with the kidney damage) so they wanted to make her departure to the story. That I can understand with but it wasn't developed properly. And yet as a certain rodent will attest to, I love this episode. The character moments are what sell this episode. And I am not talking about Zhaan. We will get their SQ but first their are so many great moments. I for like D'Argo and John messing with the ship and the scene about D'Argo did all he could and Chiana still was pushed away. I think he was a little hard on himself. I also like the part where we get to see Rygel's sensitive side with Stark. Its seldom we see him care about others. Speaking, of Stark the dead rant to Jool reminds me of the first time we met him. Jool gets a bad rep. She has been through a traumatic experience to wind up on the SS Buttcrack. I knew she seems a little entitled and whinning but I guess I understand because of what she has gone through. In the end she did save the day by incapacitating Neeyela. Okay lets get the main course. As Rygel put it our big beautiful blue <snip>. Zhaan is the hero literally. I loved her scenes with Aeryn on how she sells herself too short when Zhaan trades her life. Zhaan is probably the most selfless person on Moya. I think she couldn't bear seeing her friend (Aeryn) go if she didn't do everything. Because lets be honest, Aeryn would have done the same if the situation was reversed. They all would for reasons I will point out in the goodbye scene. I also like the part where D'Argo and Zhaan reflect on their time as prisioners. How Zhaan was afraid of D'Argo compared to know. Okay its time for a little truth to blue and FH. SQ already knows what I am talking about. The first time I watched this episode, I cried watching Zhaan die. I admit when I watch TV, shows where our heroes make the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and family is weak point for me if its done right. I didn't cry when Carson died in SGA because it wasn't done right. Now the Zhaan goodbye was so beautifully done because it was intunned to Zhaan's character. She was so selfless and cared about the others so much its just in tune with Zhaan to sacrifice her life for the others. It really felt like Zhaan would give up her own life to save her "children". As to SQ's comment, yes they did lose something with Zhaan. I think the rest of S3 and S4 show those scars from the original Moya crew about losing ZHaan never healed. We can't expect them too. As Zhaan, put they are a family and that loss will never go away. Their is a scene in Incubator (I think ) where D'Argo calls John's wormhole obsession Zhaan all over again and you can see how much it hurts John. They are all hurting. That is what makes the scenes after her death so great. We see them all grieving her lose. Pilot and Ryge in the den or D'Argo in his ship or Chiana having no time for Jool because Chi lost a friend. I think John's scene is the best. Harvey taunting him and John throwing the bottle shows how much survivor's guilt he has. Like I said earlier, this events traumatizes and changes the crew to the core. And just because SQ expects it.

[Falcon Horus]

Exactly! Lol. I really meant to say she looks as though she doesn't have on make up. Which again is a testament to the make up crew.

That natural look -- ah... I get it.

[squirrely1]

Self Inflected Wounds Pt 2: Wait for the Wheel

I repeat what I said from Part 1. The plot makes no sense. Not the first part of the plot. That I understood. We find out from the worm creature that the Pathfinders are damaging our ship so they can survive. And Chiana gets injured for no reason. You can almost sympathize with Neeyla's motives. She is just doing what she must so he family won't die. Makes me wonder why we trusted her after we caught her sabotaging. The rest of the episode doesn't make sense. We are going around to pump adrenaline to wake Pilot so he can starburst out of Moya. It never made sense how the separation made us able to leave. They don't even show us escaping. Moya is sparking as Aeryn tries to fly and then we skip to the aftermath. I think the writers wrote themself into the corner for this one. They knew that were losing Virgina Hey (can't really blame her with the kidney damage) so they wanted to make her departure to the story. That I can understand with but it wasn't developed properly. And yet as a certain rodent will attest to, I love this episode. The character moments are what sell this episode. And I am not talking about Zhaan. We will get their SQ but first their are so many great moments. I for like D'Argo and John messing with the ship and the scene about D'Argo did all he could and Chiana still was pushed away. I think he was a little hard on himself. I also like the part where we get to see Rygel's sensitive side with Stark. Its seldom we see him care about others. Speaking, of Stark the dead rant to Jool reminds me of the first time we met him. Jool gets a bad rep. She has been through a traumatic experience to wind up on the SS Buttcrack. I knew she seems a little entitled and whinning but I guess I understand because of what she has gone through. In the end she did save the day by incapacitating Neeyela. Okay lets get the main course. As Rygel put it our big beautiful blue <snip>. Zhaan is the hero literally. I loved her scenes with Aeryn on how she sells herself too short when Zhaan trades her life. Zhaan is probably the most selfless person on Moya. I think she couldn't bear seeing her friend (Aeryn) go if she didn't do everything. Because lets be honest, Aeryn would have done the same if the situation was reversed. They all would for reasons I will point out in the goodbye scene. I also like the part where D'Argo and Zhaan reflect on their time as prisioners. How Zhaan was afraid of D'Argo compared to know. Okay its time for a little truth to blue and FH. SQ already knows what I am talking about. The first time I watched this episode, I cried watching Zhaan die. I admit when I watch TV, shows where our heroes make the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and family is weak point for me if its done right. I didn't cry when Carson died in SGA because it wasn't done right. Now the Zhaan goodbye was so beautifully done because it was intunned to Zhaan's character. She was so selfless and cared about the others so much its just in tune with Zhaan to sacrifice her life for the others. It really felt like Zhaan would give up her own life to save her "children". As to SQ's comment, yes they did lose something with Zhaan. I think the rest of S3 and S4 show those scars from the original Moya crew about losing ZHaan never healed. We can't expect them too. As Zhaan, put they are a family and that loss will never go away. Their is a scene in Incubator (I think ) where D'Argo calls John's wormhole obsession Zhaan all over again and you can see how much it hurts John. They are all hurting. That is what makes the scenes after her death so great. We see them all grieving her lose. Pilot and Ryge in the den or D'Argo in his ship or Chiana having no time for Jool because Chi lost a friend. I think John's scene is the best. Harvey taunting him and John throwing the bottle shows how much survivor's guilt he has. Like I said earlier, this events traumatizes and changes the crew to the core. And just because SQ expects it.

[vid=youtube;UA2YUBqBdoo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2YUBqBdoo[/video]

. Nice review jel but...
Noooooooooooooo! .

That natural look -- ah... I get it.

Yeah that! Lol

[jelgate]

. Nice review jel but...
Noooooooooooooo! .
Yeah that! Lol

??????

[squirrely1]

??????

The Zhaan death scene vid.

[Falcon Horus]

Still behind, but tonight I can finally catch up... and probably watch all 4 episodes cause convention this weekend so I won't be home for most of it. Have to guard the dinosaurs in our Jurassic World set (unless they put me in the Millenium Falcon set).

Suns and Lovers

This episode is compact. It takes place in two places, Moya and the space station.
It features two distinct story lines: D'Argo and his troubles with Jothee and Chiana, and the spacial phenomena on the station

It has some awkward dialogues -- the sex talk between Aeryn and John is funny.
It has some awkward situations -- Chiana using Jothee to drive a wedge between D'Argo and herself, though I'm fairly sure Jothee doesn't mind being used that way.

Rygel watching Chiana and Jothee getting it on in front of the dead people.

I really liked the look of the bartender. Farscape always pushed the boundery on alien life puppets, animatronics, and make-up. Something I really loved them for.

The magnetic girl was annoying but that was the point.

Loved Aeryn pushing through to save those children.

D'Argo really had it coming, but Chiana isn't Miss Innocence either.

An all-round okay episode as far as I'm concerned.

And nearly there, nearly there... JOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!

[Falcon Horus]

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

Only know one use of the word wench --> beer wench

It's a ren-fair thing.

[squirrely1]

So FH...do you do cons all over? Like some in the US? My son and I just went to one here in Cincinnati, Ohio...but it was more of a Comic Con. We got to meet Stan Lee Yes and I paid for him to sign a first edition Spider Man comic. That went straight into my safe at home. When I'm homeless and living under a bridge some day, I can maybe sell it to live. LOL

Ok so onto the ....Self-Inflicted Wounds Part II: Wait for the Wheel From the Companion Book

"After a while of walking into pulsefire and getting out of impossible situations, you can start to believe in your own immortality." Ben Browder believes. "The death of Zhaan inherently changes the nature of the series, and reinforces the idea hat death is real, even at this end of the universe. She's the first major character, who's been with us since the beginning, who we've lost in a permanent fashion. By that I mean she didn't disappear and come back three episodes later!"

Although Zhaan's death marked the high point of the emotional crescendo in the episode, other emotions were stirring, in part caused by the arrival of Jool. "Jool was never going to be instantly likable," Tony Tilse points out, while emphasizing that this applied to the character, not the actress. "From the very beginning of our first scenes, Gigi and I had an open agreement to really go for it together." Tammy MacIntosh recalls. "We knew how to push each other in a scene," Edgley agrees. "She's a method-based actor like me, so it's nice having another kid running around the set actually believing she's an alien as well!"

Claudia Black notes that "Aeryn is starting to get concerned about Crichton having seen the Three Stooges, because she now sees it's a possibility that he could get back to Earth, so the wheel starts again for her. I threw in the 'Yoda from Dagobah' line--I thought it was time for her to understand enough of the Earth references to get them wrong. She presumes when he's seen TV, it must be Star Wars again." Aeryn is also affected by Zhaan's increasing debilitation: "She's having to make decisions about Zhaan, because she feels the weight of Zhaan's illness the most, and it's really starting to take its toll."

Virginia Hey is grateful that Kemper wrote Zhaan such a good death scene. "It was heart-wrenching for me to complete my relationship with each of the main characters," she recalls. "It evoked the most intense emotion with-in me." Anothy Simcoe adds, "I think it was handled really sensitively, appropriately and definitively. We'd had so many 'fake' deaths that we wanted to appreciate the gravity of the moment." Gigi Edgley recalls the emotion of the moment spilling over. "All the truthful stuff was coming through," She says, "and we both started crying. There was blue and white make-up, then dark blue and light blue --we were like two little ice creams melting into one. They had to stop the scene!"

Tony Tilse wanted to go to a real drive-in cinema to shoot the final sequence, but unfortunately that wasn't possible. "The art department made me a little miniature screen that we ended up actually projecting onto," he recalls, "and then we inserted that over the main image." "the night before we shot the drive-in, we didn't have the clearance to use the Three Stooges clip you see in the scene," David Kemper adds. "We'd had months to sort it out, be we didn't get the clearances until three minutes before we shot it!"

Tilse enjoyed all the challenges of visualizing the episode. "When D'Argo plans to catch the invisible guy, there was no CG involved," He recalls. "We put dry ice on the ground, then put a little puffer on a roller-skate tied to a string, which we pulled underneath the fog and puffed the dry ice up. It gave the illusion of someone invisible moving through the fog. And those laser beams were all real, too."

[squirrely1]

....Different Destinations

What struck me about this episode:

1. Grieving for Zhaan? - Crichton, Aeryn and D'Argo seem to have moved on from Zhaan's death rather well, while Rygel, Chiana and Stark still seem to be struggling with it. Yeah I realize that it would've been hard to have everyone sitting around mourning but I would've liked to have seen a little more grief and seeing them dealing with Zhaan's death a little more. That is one thing that I think BSG got right and that was showing just how much everyone was struggling with the loss of Starbuck and how that effected everyone.

2. Timey Wimey...BLIMEY! - The science on this timeline thing if you can even call it science was odd that it would only effect the planet and not anything else in that timeline. I was hoping their could've been a larger scope in the ramifications that their actions could've caused. Not that I don't care about that planet, but if it was contained why should they really risked their lives to stay there and tinker with things? The whole premise bothered me. Because it was clear that Jool was able to get back to Moya unharmed. If everyone would've just jumped through the tear when Jool did that would've been the best for everyone and the least interaction. BUT with that Said...

3. Our heroes screwed up. I think that is the point. To show once again that our characters are fallible and they do, try as they might miss the mark. This is why I continue to adore this show because our heroes are not perfect and it allows us to really relate to them. If you compare this show to any of the Star Trek or even Stargate shows this is where things differ. I think the writers of Farscape continually push that envelope in how much they frell with the characters and show them screwing up and still make them likeable. I think they danced that line very well in this show. Even Jool as annoying as she is (to me) she was starting to become likeable even though she is a whiny self absorbed twit! That takes some magical writing and production and acting and again sets this show apart from many others. Not that others aren't good...it's just these writers really were able to get the character moments and relationship between characters right IMO.

4. Zhaan's Heirlooms - I loved the scene between Rygel and Chi when they were in Zhaan's room going through her stuff and neither one of them had the heart or even wanted to take anything. That was a good homage to Zhaan there on just how much of an impact she made on them.

5. Redshirt Lives Matter- I did end up really loving how much that culture had impacted our crew and how they really made it personal. From the short relationships they built with these people everything from Aeryn and Dacon the "soldier" that needed to die...to D'Argo and the little girl Cyntrina to Stark comforting Cyntrina as well. Finally, John's relationship with Kelsa and how he works hard to win back her trust only to have him to make a promise to her and then have that also fall flat. This really impacted John. I think this is again where Farscape excels and even though that whole planet ends up being "red shirts" it never has that feel that they are just expendable and oh well *shrugs* lets move on. It really effected them right down to how it impacted Aeryn and John's relationship as well in which Aeryn is starting not to trust John and it seemingly has put a wedge between them. It's clear that Aeryn still is not fully trusting John or knows where he ends and head Scorpy begins. I think that could be why Crichton is so off his game. Not really having Zhaan anymore as his foundation and now Aeryn has seemingly distanced herself from him as well...he has no choice but to summon Harvey to ask his advice. WOW! that is odd that he is actually asking for Harvey's advice. LOL I think it actually started an episode or so ago but now it's becoming a pattern. I think this is a really odd relationship he is forming with him. What would you even call that? Getting in touch with your harder/insane side? LOL Maybe this is how they choose to show, albeit subtly, how poorly John is handling Zhaan's death? He's losing his edge just a little.

6. Tiny Planet Ends Up Having Deep Impact Afterall - Props for all the battle action and John and Aeryn singlehandedly taking out just droves of the horde. I think they in the end it was clear that neither of their plans worked so maybe that is why in the end Aeryn chose to comfort John and just seeing the two of them grieving together was a great scene that lends it to these actors that they sometimes don't even need to say anything. That was again showing more than just the grief over the loss of this culture but all their loss in general.

So I rescind my earlier comments about them not choosing to show Aeryn, John and D grieving over Zhaan...I think in all their sensitivity towards this culture shows they were doing what Zhaan would do or what she would approve of. They all tried in their best way to honor that and correct things and in the end took on the pain and suffering of those people just as Zhaan would do.