Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[squirrely1]

Fractures

I'm still waiting on the discussion of my eating habits/weight issue *waits*

Meanwhile.... I'll go ahead and discuss this ep.

Like jel if you can believe I too was very annoyed with Aeryn with how she treats Moya John at her reunion. But like Blue mentioned and I agree, I can understand it. You have to get inside Aeryn's head to truly understand her reasoning on the matter. I would have raced towards John and leaped into his arms and sobbed into his chest and shared the agony of losing his counterpart. Afterall John is grieving too. He just lost a part of himself...his twin. Even though it was an odd thing to have happen to him and they weren't together physically all that long...I'm sure (and Blue being a twin could probably put more insight into this theory) they were emotionally and psychologically close and linked to a degree. I think that is what the whole Rock-Paper-Scissors games is meant to show us. That these two men are inexplicably linked and it's only when they move apart onto separate ships that they begin their separate journeys and creating exclusive memories. Up until that point they shared even all the same memories. To Blue at the end of this ep it was both of the Crichton's throwing scissors at that end. I took that to mean that even though they were both separated and experienced different things that they are both honest down deep the same man. I think it was important for Aeryn to see that as well. Because if they continued to treat the Other Talyn John like his twin it would've meant that there would be no hope for Moya John and Aeryn to try to repair their relationship. I think for any hope of Aeryn/John 2.0 to happen it has to erase all doubt that John is now the original John and so that is the reason for the Black T-shirt, him making the comment to D'Argo that the copy is gone (referring to the death of Talyn John), him going through and re-claiming his stuff, sniffing it and probably smelling Aeryn and knowing the other John had her intimately and knowing that he has to now step up to become the John she has always loved...that he has not really gone anywhere. It's a tricky tactic and hard to really make work, but I think the writing team did a pretty good job with it in the show.

So back to inside Aeryn's head...yeah yeah jel just hold on a minute *hands him the barf bucket*... I think Aeryn is sickened almost by the idea that she is now faced with a 24/7 reminder of what she had with the other John and what she lost. It's hard for her to even comprehend it and again even though he looks the same and for all intents and purposes the same John DNA wise, because they don't share the same history for that time on Talyn I think she is seeing him almost as a stranger. It totally reset their relationship back to almost the beginning when they met for the first time. And even though I would've run up and shared in the grief with John, that is totally not in Aeryn's nature. What did she say to him on his death bed through her tears and grief? "I'm Angry!" She is really angry with him because he played the hero and got killed. Would she have done the same thing if the roles were reversed? Yes.....but she is angry because she has lost him. It's sort of an innocent reaction (like how a child would react to losing a parent almost) they get angry for a time, it's part of the grieving process. I think it's Aeryn's anger towards Crichton's heroism and his almost obsession with wormholes that got them into this mess and she just doesn't see a way around it. She allowed herself to become vulnerable to him and she feels she got burned. So when you see it from Aeryn's POV it's perfectly logical and explainable. I don't see it that she is treating him bad...she simply is not ready to face him yet.

But I do love how D'Argo tries to help. AFterall he's been there with the pain of losing a relationship and I love the scene were John slams down his wrench and puts his hands to his face in anguish over the situation. He wants so deeply to carry on with Aeryn just as they were when she left but he realizes not only did he lose her to the other John for a time, but she is now so grief striken she can't even look at him. I think that is actually worse than a break up. It's so sad and heart wrenching.

On another note...the light bits help this ep move along....finally Rygel gets some and well it's pretty ironic that for once he is literally skallywagged. So he got his just desserts there. I think like jel points out this ep was pretty plot light and they used the usual aliens aboard ship storyline to allow the reunion to happen.

I like Blue's analogy of the Boolite being sort of a symbolic metaphor for them trying to put the pieces of the crew and Aeryn/John back together...after all the ep is called Fractures. I think it fits. I don't think the writers or the creative team on Farscape do anything coincidentally. I too felt the Jool/Crais medical team was odd. But maybe Crais had to complete some basic first aid? during his PK stint? IDK but it did seem out of place, but comical.

I can't think of anything else to comment on...now where is the discussion about my weight? *stomps foot*

[squirrely1]

Fractures - From the Companion Book

"I have lots of grey hairs," admits David Kemper, "but 'Fractures' didn't give me much grey hair at all! I warned Rock that he was in trouble, because he had to bring the two crews together and have all those people talking to each other, show what Crichton's going to do with Aeryn, and what she feels about him. Plus, as well as all that, he had come up with his own 'B' story of the Boolite. That's a lot for one script!"

The reunion of the crews "was a major thrust for me in the script," Tony Tilse pints out. "I talked to Ben about it, and he was really clear about what he wanetd to say, and Claudia had a very definite idea of what she wanted to do with Aeryn as well."

Black felt that Aeryn should simply walk straight past the excited Crichton. "It would cause her so much pain to look at him that she couldn't do it," she says, "but we had to honour those words in the dialogue. He runs in like a teenage boy, and she blows him off and walks out of the room. He's left reeling from a response he wasn't expecting. We added in little moments to highlight the awkwardness of the situation -- there's a long shot from Crichton's point of view of the back of Aeryn's head. He keeps looking to her for a response which she's not giving." Browder agrees: "It's a very difficult scene for both characters. how do you deal with someone who has that look on their face, knowing you'll shatter their world?"

The newcomers to the ship included the first sighting of a female Hynerian. "It's basically Rygel in drag!" Tony Tilse admits of Rygel's lover. "Terry Ryan had put her in a red boa, but she was supposed to be a soldier," David Kemper adds. "By the time it all came together and we saw the first dailies, we just figured that she looked like a grand old Hollywood actress or something!" Fiona Gentile provided the voice for Orrhn on the studio floor. "It was an almost strident cockney voice," Tim Mieville recalls. "It was a bit of a shock to hear the final voice that was dubbed in afterwards --it was so sedate!"

O'Bannon also created a new kind of Scarran. "They're all portrayed as very brutish, guttural guys, and I wanted to do one who's not the same -- he's not soft and gentle, but not quite as hard," he explains. Thomas Holesgrove enjoyed the experience of playing Naj Gill. "The design was fitted much closer to the head and the body," he reveals, "and I did like the extra element to the character. Once he was healed, he didn't have any interest in pursuing the usual seek-and-destroy Scarran objective. he's just trying to survive."

Reconstructing the Boolite threw Jool and Crais together, and Tammy MacIntosh and Lani Tupu had fun with the scene where they both scream. "It was like performance art," MacIntosh recalls. "The camera rolled, we took a pause, looked at each other," Tupu adds, "And looked back again, looked behind us -- then screamed at the same time." "I felt quite jazzed by that because there was a chemistry there," Tilse comments.

The episode fulfilled all the criteria Kemper had set for O'Bannon, plus one that SCI FI Channel added: "The network told me that they were taking a break after 'Fractures' for quite a long while," Kemper explains. "So we made the end a bit of a cliffhanger. Hopefully everybody would realise that something really good was coming..."

[jelgate]

I said how it was in character SQ. That doesn't change how much I hate Aeryn for acting so melodramatic

[squirrely1]

I said how it was in character SQ. That doesn't change how much I hate Aeryn for acting so melodramatic

I know and for that part (the in character part) I agreed with you and again I agree with you also that it bugs me seeing her "act this way" but I don't think it's melodrama....I honestly think it's how she is coping with her pain and avoiding dealing with him.

[jelgate]

Well as we know you have time with big words. I don't think anyone is arguing that it is out of character for Aeryn. As I said I hate how she acts.

[squirrely1]

Well as we know you have time with big words. I don't think anyone is arguing that it is out of character for Aeryn. As I said I hate how she acts.

agreed....we agree on all this! It's painful to watch.

[jelgate]

I Yensch-You Yensch

I sometimes pick on Rygel just like I pick on SQ's health problems. Maybe next week SQ. However this one of those times when we get away from scene stealing couple and get someone else to shine. This is a great episode for Rygel because we get another look at his talents. Lets be honest the robbers/arsonists aren't very bright. I think that is the reason they howl like monkeys. However these idiots do have giant guns and our heroes are unarmed. That is why I loved this episode because it shows how good Rygel is at diplomacy. He is able to outsmart and find advantages. I don't really care about the diner and the reason the cook wants to burn it down. That seems largely pointless. I like the banter between Scorpy and Rygel. In this episode they are largely the same. We could do a large character analysis on how the characters are different but in this instance their own character traits fall together. They both are highly skilled negotiators and out for their own side. Look how many times Rygel and Scorpy turn on one another because of some leverage. Scorpy bluffs about Rygel's standing as royalty and Rygel points out the only person who can shoot when threatened is Scorpy. A fact he has a little too much fun. I could go on but rambling is not my thing. The rest is kind of setup. The bracelets allow for D'Argo to not overpower the idiots and to answer the obvious question of how the Moyans would go onto Scorpy's command carrier. I find myself largely uninterested in the B plot. It was kind of obvious. Especially the part where Talyn firing at Moya. The whole thing smells of season finale setup and drawn out. Seemed to long to reach the obvious conclusion that Talyn needs to be fixed since he can't murder helpless people. I will note not so long ago, Crais wouldn't care about the killing of innocent civilians. Despite my lack of love for the B plot, I really do like this episode

[squirrely1]

I-Yensch, You-Yensch

Oh sweet jelgate...you can't complain that it's a set up episode when you are rewatching because now you truly know it is a set up ep and largely sort of a B Story-ish. I too liked the ep because it does for the first time show us that Scorpy could possibly turn out to become somewhat helpful to our beloved crew. How could this be? Well if Rygel had a facebook account he may indeed update his profile with regard to Scorpy as one that reads: Scorpy; "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" status.

I'm with jel on this that Thing one and Thing two really aren't the brightest tools in the shed. If it weren't for their big guns and the fact that D'argo was largely out of the picture, I wouldn't have been worried, but I did love how Rygel got to shine and use his masterful negotiating skills and actually worked with Scorpy to get through the crisis. I think jel actually talked about this enough and I agree that here Rygel and Scorpy really do seem like some of the smartest characters on the show. If your disks have the bonus features on it and you watch the Season 3 in Review bit, David Kemper actually talks about these characters and how these thieves were sort of whipped up quickly and thrown in to actually give the Rygel/Scorpy meeting a little more meat... I guess that is why the plot there does seem a tad contrived. They also talk about how great Rygel and Scorpy are and how they are amongst some of the back stage crew the favorite and most intelligent characters on the show. That feature is great so you have to go watch it.

As for the rest of the ep. Meh....like jel mentioned it is a set up for season finale, but I do like the rather touching scene between Crichton and Chi and how concerned he is for her. I really wish there could've been more development between these too. Every scene they have is really good. It's actually pretty ironic that Chi tells Crichton that she's "splitting" and Jool is looking to do the same and it ends up being Chi who keeps Jool from running off. Maybe it was because of Chi's vision that gave her cold feet and in turn kept Jool from leaving as well. But either way we have Chi's vision thing starting to really become more and more developed.

Probably for me as a shipper one of the most important things that happened in this ep was Aeryn finally breaking the ice and talking to John. I think if you really notice John in this ep he is being extraordinarily quiet and deferring to everyone else. I think this was done deliberately to almost give him a sort of contrast to the other John who was pretty aggressive and alpha male. I think it shows us our true John here almost back to our S1 innocent John who is actually looking at the aliens for answers rather than screaming out orders and making up the plans. John first asks Crais for his opinion and then when Aeryn comes to talk to him he says to her, "Are you asking me?" which Aeryn responds with a, "Yes John, we can still work together, we always did that well." John is probably thinking...well there is something anyway.

I would like to point out here too the shutting down of Talyn was sad and I'm sure in Aeryn's heart it was extra poignant because the last time she was on Talyn she was going through John Talyn's death and so for her this must seem like a second death of sorts. I think John is so sensitive to that too (go John!) He tries to give her an out several times. The first time is to say she can go back to Moya the second time comes in their very heart wrenching discussion at the end of the ep which I find so sad when she expresses her reservation about the Command Carrier op he mentions..."Yeah, some things you die for..." and she responds to him "I just can't watch that happen...again"...here is where she tells him that "it was perfect, we were so perfect and you're just like him, afterall you are him.." And he interrupts her to correct her and say...."No I'm Me... I was here, I missed that dance." that comment really cuts deeply and again shows Aeryn that this John really did miss out, and I think she needs to keep that in mind that she needs to stop "Punishing" this John for what the other John did. I think she automatically thinks this John is going to run out and get himself killed, but if we look at how John is handling himself in this ep particularly, I think we can surmise that this John does seem to be a bit more careful and level headed in his approach. I think Talyn John was by comparison alot more reckless. I don't think we saw it then, but to me now it seems pretty clear that these two Johns are very distinct. Then he finally gives her that second out..."Don't come with us." To which she responds..."No we started this together Crichton, that's how we'll end it." As a shipper this hurts so much because to Aeryn she really thinks this is a death sentence and she probably thinks for all intents and purposes this is not only the end of their lives but the end once and for all of their relationship.

This was an important ep to not only set up the ending with all the players to be in the right places and the plot set up, but John and Aeryn's head space, because honestly I think alot of what propelled them before was their love for one another and I think they are going into this thing without much of that in place now. I think that is telling for how things end up for the season which when I first watched this show I didn't agree with it or it seemed out of character but now after analyzing it...it makes perfect sense....and well....more on that later.

[Bluemeany]

I Yensch, You Yensch

Sorry I’m late all. I’m ‘fraid Christmas prep plus arrival of lots of relations is going to be slowing things down for a bit.

Speaking of slowing things down/preparing… this episode does feel a lot like that. Last week’s cliff hanger got everyone pumped up: Crichton was all set to go about his quest, Frell yeah! Imminent death etc.

Now, we have forty minute of Rygel and Scorpius doing The Petrified Forest in space. The former clearly being Betty Davies.

That said, I do like their scheming and as jel & SQ both mentioned, the way the similarities between them are brought out. Rygel is definitely a smart cookie.

In the B-plot, I love how wearier and older Aeryn seems. Like the version of her from the locket; the one who lived a life.

And Crais telling Talyn that he’s very brave and that he doesn’t hold him responsible is a nice moment considering his own background. Maybe what Crais wanted/ still wants to hear from his own parents?

From an editing pov: Talyn destroying both the ships is pretty cool, but it’s kind of a ‘talky’ episode so the number of usable shots is limited.

[jelgate]

Merry Jelmas everyone

Into the Lion's Den Part 1: Lambs to the Slaughter

The nice thing about this two parter is they are kind of two self contained stories. Don't get me wrong their is a overarching story of why we are on Scorpy's Command Carrier but their is definitely contained story for part 1 and another one for part 2. Part 2 is better but we'll have to save this for later. We will also save John and Scorpy for later to talk about the major theme here. Distrust. I'm not talking about how SQ's doesn't trust me with her health issues. I told you we would talk about it later. Munity is strong in the Peacekeepers. Its an interesting parallel to S1. People had grown to despise Crais with Scorpy took his ship. And it seems like the same could be said here. We see through the whole episode of how the people on the ship despise the Moyans (remember to pay SQ and blue) and are disgusted to the point that they tend to defy Scorpy's orders. Even people who we think are on our side are not. This is most evident by Crais who thinks she is their to help him fix Talyn but in reality despises Crais as much as the other Peacekeepers. Their are more than a few brawls which I think shows how shaky Peacekeeper command structure is. One highlight is how a bar brawl leads some to return to Moya and then they are captured by Grayza. She doesn't do much in this episode but I think it shows much she dislikes Scorpy and it sets us up nicely for when Grayza takes Scorpy's place as the main nemesis. I feel like I should talk about the jetpack fight in the engine room but its just a repeat of the rest of the episode of the hate between our team and the Peacekeepers. Its not surprising as we have known from Aeryn how they are indoctorned to hate traitors. Look at how that former friend now despises Aeryn. I saved John and Scorpy for last because its an interesting parallel. They share an obsession. I also think its also continues how insane John has gotten. I'm referencing how John threw a chair at that computer console. Also their is a battle going on. The wanting to help his friends and his obsession with wormholes. He knows destroying the knowledge is in our best interest but he can't fight the obsession. Remember how he tells Aeryn how he struggling on damanging the research. Its similar for Scorpious. He sacrifices so much of his authority and standing with High Command because he is obsessed with wormholes.


EDIT: I forgot to mention the ending scene where Scorpy finds Earth. It somewhat answers a question I have had for a long time. We know where the Unchartered terrorties are in relation to Earth.

[jelgate]

Into The Lion's Den Part 2: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Lets blow things up. Isn't that the point of this episode. With the threat of Scorpy going after Earth, John realizes the only way to stop the wormhole knowledge is destroy the Command Carrier. I have to say the Moyans (remember to pay SQ) people than me as I wouldn't bat an eye at the killing of the Peacekeepers. Its the sad fact of war that soldiers have to die. If your enemy has to die to save the lives of billions then so be it. I think their was a nice nod to the Talyn team here where John is convincing what needs to be done. Its Rygel who actually convinces us that its necessary because of the danger that wormhole weapons possess. I also have to respect Crais in this episode. He has come a long way since he irreverably contaminated Aeryn. He realizes John's plan is suicide so he backstabs the team to make the plan viable. I think that is hard for him to do as at this point he really is a friend or an ally of Moya. Long gone are the days as the enemy, The only reason he played us along and betrayed us is because Crais knew Talyn was the only one who could blow up the ship. His goodbye to Cricheton I found was also kind of touchy. John tries to say thank you but with all that is going on between the two of them I think their was just a little too much for John to forgive. I really liked the excuse for John to go to Moya to get a part so he could tell Pilot what they were doing so Moya could understand the sacrifice. I have said before Scorpy is smarter than us and he is as obsessed with wormholes as John is. So what is great about this episode is we use his obsession (Notice how Scorpy says the wormholes are beyond words) to outsmart him so Crais can sneak onto Talyn. Crais' death speech was another one that teared me up. Not on the same level as Zhaan but it was sad. Earlier we have Crais admit he has no one who cares for (despite I think the Moyans do at this point) but he understands the danger they present. This is a tangent to what Rygel said earlier. Anyway the fact is we have come to see this selfish person change from an enemy to a wildcard (S2) to our friend/ally. I don't think at this point we have contempt for Crais. The fact that Crais was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the galaxy is a testament to how much he has changed. I have rambled again. I guess the summation is I like the speech because of the motivation of why he is killing himself. The blowing up ship is cool with the sparks and the music. I especially love the giant fish tank that explodes in Scorpy's throne room. I think it gets a little drawn out. Also the whole friends in a jail cell seems added because we didn't know what to do with these characters. But can I say how drad it was that D'Argo can use his ship to come pick him up. I didn't know it could do that. Its also kind of chilling watching Scorpy stare down at John at and says he will be remembered as the one who betrayed us to the Scarrans. One enemy at a time indeed The foreshadow at the end seems out of place to me. I know they are going to leave but given what we know it seems like it would be in place for the season finale. If you can't tell, I love this episode.

[squirrely1]

I-Yensch, You-Yensch - From the Companion Book

Fans of the American film actor Al Pacino might wonder who their fellow admirer is on the Farscape set, what with 'I-Yensch, You-Yensch' deriving its basic scenario from two of his greatest movies. "I had an image of Rygel and Scorpius meeting in a diner," David Kemper explains, "just like Robert DeNiro and Pacino in Heat. I was talking to Matt Ford, and he said, 'It would be interesting if it started out like Heat, but halfway through it turned into a siege, like Dog Day Afternoon.'"

For director Peter Andrikidis, "the biggest thing was getting Ben Mendelsohn and Tony Hayes as the guest stars. Ben's well known as a phenomenal actor here in Australia, and Tony is up and coming. They took on that make-up, and they became those aliens. They really pushed it to the boundary, but still kept a form of reality."

"It was a pleasure to work with the blue guys," Anthony Simcoe recalls. "and I had a really good time overall, even if I am lying there doing half a sit-up for days on end, handcuffed to David Franklin!" "it was a very relaxed and positive vibe on set," Franklin agrees. "It was an easy process working with Anthony -- when you're enjoying something, it doesn't feel like work!"

Andrikidis admits he was concerned that he was directing an episode where Rygel was heavily featured. "We tried to design the set so that we could hide Rygel's mechanism," he admits, "but we couldn't put anything underneath the sets. That was a huge difficulty, but in the end it worked out pretty well."

"That's a testament to how comfortable the production has become, dealing with all the various elements," Rockne S. O'Bannon points out. "Early on, we had strict orders for the writers to get Rygel in one place, and use him sparingly. But now, that simply doesn't apply any more."

The story also put another piece into place for the final episodes. "We knew we would need to get Talyn onto the Command Carrier," Kemper explains, "and there was no way that they would just let this Sherman tank on board! We had to find a way to neuter him, and from the audience's point of view, and from Crichton's, he was neutered."

Lani Tupu notes that "Crais precipitates that. He suggests that the only way to deal with Talyn is to disarm him." But, as Kemper notes, this is part of Crais's plan. "Crais knows that any cockamamie plan that Crichton has will probably not work against Scorpius on his own home turf. He decides not to explain it to the others, but builds in a safety valve in case things to wrong -- and that safety valve is Talyn. Crais is a hero -- he knows the if he allows this Crichton to die, Aeryn will never be Aeryn again. Crais's love for Aeryn, and his respect for Crichton, transcends his feelings for himself. That's my definition of a hero. And, for the record, Talyn agreed."

The scenes also allowed Crichton and Aeryn to start to work together again. "But they're not looking at one another," Ben Browder notes. "It's something they often used to do, but here they don't, until the very last scene. Peter Andrikidis had to shoot us in two-shots, using deep, full length focus between us to link Crichton and Aeryn together on screen, so you could see that it was really difficult for them. He's giving her the space to come to him, but when she does, she says the one thing that he doesn't want to hear."

[squirrely1]

Into the Lion's Den - Part I Lambs to the Slaughter

Ok so much of my review here will be responding to jel's review and adding a few bits of my own thoughts. Yes jel I have my own thoughts...get over it!

I agree that much of this ep is largely focusing on the Peacekeepers and showing just how racist they can be and the fact that even though loyalty is pretty much at the heart of their moral foundation they even begin to question their loyalty to Scorpius, largely because he is trying to welcome on board these escaped prisoners and give them immunity all to get his wormhole tech. They just cannot seem to get past their own racism in order to play the poker game. Which brings me to my first criticism. OK, so how can they get around this "irreversible contamination" thing now? Is it because they allowed them on board and are keeping their distance?? I just never really understood how Crais or any PK for that matter came up with the parameters for this "irreversible contamination" bit. Do you guys think that Crais just made that up or is there really such a thing as that? This puzzles me. Yes I know jel will say that it doesn't take much, but still.


Ok...So now...enter Graza and like jel mentioned just when we thought Scorpy was the main bad guy, here comes someone even worse! It's no secret that the PK's are lead by fear and who happens to have the most power at the time so to jel's point this command structure just seems so shaky and could literally tip without much effort and it's obvious that Graza is there to do just that. Also, I liked the scenes with Aeryn and her old friend trying to work out why Aeryn left in the first place, I want to say that she maybe mentioned her distrust of the PK leadership which is what she points out to her old friend but not only that I have a feeling she told her about her love for John Crichton. Which we all know is probably her main reason she "defected". Plus, this secret of the John/Aeryn relationship will lead us into the 4th season in which Scorpy will learn of John's real obsession. It's not wormholes, it's Aeryn. I think that is why John is so distraught over the decisions he has to make with destroying the worm hole knowledge. I think S1 or even S2 John would've destroyed it without question, but I think now this John has seen too much and been through too much, he realizes that his heart really longs to be with Aeryn (in her world), not really getting home anymore.

So John's hesitation, stalling tactics and almost lack of confidence leads me to the ending where the ante was raised even higher. Scorpy has to continually find ways to motivate John. He knows of his roots and so he uses that. So, now John knows that Scorpy knows about Earth and how to get there. So this gives John an even larger dilemma and the stakes got even higher. I have to back up just a second though and mention the line that had me rolling on the floor though. Just before Scorpy showed John the vision of Earth, John says, "I see I'm on a big stinking command carrier, Dick Tracy's neural bracelets linking me to Bram Stoker's Nightmare, What do you want from me!" I actually had to run that back a couple times cuz it was so funny!

So yes, here we are again. Scorpy has seemingly turned nightmare again and John once again is at his mercy. Backing up again....sorry yes...I'm ADD I'll admit it unlike jel, he'll never admit his ADD! Anyway....jel mentioned that John is crazy because he threw the chair into the console. I think that was more a matter of getting their attention and saying to them look do not give me a locked down dumb terminal with which to work. John knew that if he was going to try to erase data he would need to get on the ScorpyNet (I'm copyrighting that! ) so he could gain access and get at the data. He couldn't use a secured terminal to do what he wanted.

I enjoyed seeing Crais too and even though it appears that Crais could be getting set up for something, I think he's too smart for that. I think he's been around PK's too long to really trust them. But I'm glad he was able to have some recreation with his former flame. Even though he was probably picturing Aeryn the whole time. I have grown to respect Crais and appreciate how far his character has come. What an incredible arc!

So all in all a great ep and alot of action. I'll let Blue elaborate on the vidding aspects. I'll only say that I enjoyed all the Black, White and Red colors and there were some great sweeping shots of ships in space. Also Moya's attempted starburst was cool too.

[jelgate]

Dog With Two Bones

SQ what happened to you? Why didn't you talk about your health problems? We could have done something to help. Now you are old and wrinkly with three eyes. Not to mention a little senile. Joking aside I have always enjoyed Nooranti. She fills the role of Zhaan and Jool as the medical person on Moya. I have often enjoyed her good intentions despite being quite senile as she doesn't quite think things through. Its one of the few good points of this episode for me. As everyone can imagine I am not the biggest shipper (I wish FH was still reviewing so I wasn't alone). I was always more of a fan of John's obsession of wormholes journey and the way he fits into this rich universe. This episode strikes a negative cord for two major reasons. For one I find the whole wedding hallucination is not needed. It takes up a lot of time and I don't think its needed for John to come to his epiphany in the climax of the episode. The other part I have discussed before so I won't dwell on it to long. The jerk in Aeryn really ticks me off. I almost want to take D'Argo qualtra blade and shoot Aeryn in the face. Jool makes a good point that Aeryn make a good to not undo all the change she has done. Despite this, this is exactly what Aeryn does. She is an idiot for reasons I have already mentioned. Although I want to know how Nooranti knew Aeryn was pregnant. The whole scene with the powder and her talking into John's ear never made sense to me to be honest. I found myself more interested with the rogue Levithian. I though it would have been interesting to explore more the psychological torment that would cause a mother to attack anyone like the rogue Levithian. Or the ethical implications of Moya asking us to murder a living being. Note this different than when the Moyans are defending themselves from Peacekeepers or Scarrans. Its quite obvious this was a plot for the sake of a plot to justify the dull shipping scenes. It would have been nicer for me at least to see more of us saying goodbye and watching everyone go their separate ways. I will say I did like the final scene of watching Moya being sucked by the wormhole. I remember thinking of how everyone was going to get back together. I'm going to go get my barf bucket now. I think I will need it for when SQ reviews. Its been awhile old friend. No not you Nooranti/SQ

[squirrely1]

Man Jel you are zooming!

Into the Lion's Den Part I - From the Companion Book

"I have to thikn a year ahead," David Kemper says. "People have to know roughly when they're going if we're going to make pay-offs. At the end of the second season we knew we had to bring Aeryn back to life, and we knew that we were going to split the Crichtons. Then suddenly I said that at the end of the third year, we ought to low up the Command Carrier. But that should have a cost: Someone has to die. And after a month of discussions, we decided that Crais should be the hero."

The other central element was that Aeryn and Crais were coming home. "David pointed out to me that it was going to be weirdest for those two," Claudia Black recalls. "They grew up in this environment. There were certain things that Aeryn had said about her life on the ship that we had to make sure we honored. I had to remember that Aeryn's team mates had been demoted because of her defection."

Lani Tupu enjoyed hinting at the past relationship between Crais and Darinta Lavell. "Until they kiss, no one really knows what's going to happen," he comments. "We just gave a sideways look at each other as we were marching up towards Scorpius, and I knew we could play with that."

'Lambs to the Slaughter' opens with a conscious homage to Star Wars, as the crew are greeted by Scorpius. The large hanger set debuted in 'Incubator', and was part of Kemper's plans for the year. "We spend a lot of money on that set, because we knew we'd need it for 'Into the Lion's Den'," he explains. "We couldn't build thirty rooms just for those two episodes. I asked Tim Ferrier to ensure that every time he build a new set for Talyn, it could work as a Talyn set, but at the end of the year, he could do a lighting change or a paint job, and it could become part of the Command Carrier."

The park helped demonstrate that although the Command Carrier was the headquarters of Scorpius's wormhole project, it was also home to 50,000 people. "We were introducing the Peacekeeper world, which is not necessarily what we thought it was," Ben Browder notes. "We knew that these people were going to die in the next episode," Director Ian Watson adds, "so I suggested having some children in some of the scenes, running around the corridors." "it was a very foggy morning when we shot the first couple of scenes in the park," Claudia Black recalls, "and it looked quite surreal, not like a real park at all. We were trying to shoot it without the ducks in frame!"

'Lambs to the Slaughter' also introduces a new threat to Scorpius: Commander Grayza. "All of a sudden he's got problems," Kemper explains, "because this woman's on his ass! She wants something that he doesn't want." The addition of Rebecca Riggs to the cast pleased Anthony Simcoe, who has known her for years. "It was great to have her there, and also good to feel that the show was really going for it, with all the gang back together."

Ian Watson recalls Ricky Manning excitedly coming down to the set of 'Incubator' to forewarn him of the fight sequences: "He ran up and told me, "We know that D'Argo is going to have a fistfight with a man with a circular saw on each hand, and we know that Crichton is going to fly around with a jetpack!" I remember thinking, 'Great! I can work with that!"

At the end of the episode, Scorpius plays his final trump card. "He's been extending the hand of friendship all the way through," Ben Browder points out, "But by the end he has to resort to the strong arm, and threaten my home world to achieve what he wants..."