Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[jelgate]

What Was Lost Part II: Resurrection

Their is not a whole lot to say about this episode. That being the criticism I have for this episode is mentioned in Part 1. Their are a lot of times the writers are unclear of what happens. I don't recall them ever answering what happens to Scorpy after Grayza burries him alive. I don't remember what the point of the aquatic alien. Yes they answered he is the one who killed Vella and that it would be dangerous if he had the Darnyz probes, but I don't recall ever finding out what his motive was for finding the probes. Moving on, I find it hilarious that Grayza's oil that rapes John makes him smell bad. I find their isn't much to say. It soon because a battle of wills of John's trying to suppress his knowledge of the probes while being "interrogated" by Grayza while everyone else sneaks around to figure a way off the planet. While it is interesting and funny to watch John get high off Nooranti's bug I find this kind of drags on after awhile and doesn't make sense. Do we really need to see Grayza bury Scorpy. We already know she is in charge. It kind of rushes our escape plan honestly. Although I do find the look of Elack slamming into the Mauraders fun to see. It just seems rushed of us running to Lo'Lal and tricking the Peacekeepers with a satellite because we have to land again. The whole finding the probe is done in 5 minutes after we kill the aquatic alien and look how we launch the probes in the nick of time to protect us from the magnetics. I never understood why the probes locked the priests in time. I think this was a storyline that was suppose to be explored more because we never learn the answer to the question about the probes and who locked the priests in the first place. So its an okay episode but I think it suffers from the same problem as the last one. I do like how it gives a goodbye to Jool. I don't think she ever got time to developed personally but this episode is nice as it shows something she is passionate about

[squirrely1]

What was Lost - Sacrifice : From the Companion Book

We had a tremendous production scheduleing difficulty with that two-parter," Ben Browder points out. "We were shooting a lot of exteriors, which is difficult with prosthetics and creatures effects, compounded with rain and variable weather. And we were shooting in water, which is never easy -- and particularly hard for a guy in a creature suit!"

"I became completely consumed with the almost ridiculous task of creating these worlds,"director Rowan Woods comments. "It was almost a perverse exercise in raising the bar to the point where we had to fail, but we did it anyway! You use most of your energies making the story work. Lord of the Rings took three years to create their world with huge models, on Farscape you're asked to do it in three weeks."

In fact the pre-production time on 'What Was Lost' was rather longer than usual, since David Kemper had initially planned to tell the story as the closing episode of season three and the start of season four. At the time, he couldn't make the story work properly, but as the new year began, Justin Monjo offered to write the scripts based on Kemper's file card notes. One major change was the cliffhanger at the end of part one: in the original version, Crichton and Aeryn would have been turned into crystal. This was an idea Kemper kept up his sleeve for later...

The Creature Shop had already begun work on Oo-Nii at the end of the third year. "We'd done hands, feet and a whole body, and it was going to have an animatronic head," Fabrication supervisor Lou Elsey recalls. "When we came back to it for the fourth season, the producers wanted it to really fly under water and do loads of action stuff, so we decided it would be better to use a prosthetic make-up, and create a suit which was lot more flexible.

"The suit wasn't made out of foam latex, because that would have just held all the water. It was made out of a reticulated foam," she continues. "All the muscles and shapes were carved out of this foam, which was covered in Lycra, artworked and then covered in a Hot Flesh [the Creature Shop's special translucent compound] hybrid coating of rubber over the top, to make it look like it's wet and really shiny. When the actor went into the water, the suit would absorb the water very easily , but when he got out, it would drain out very quickly as well."

One surprising element of the episode was the inclusion of scenes between Scorpius, Grayza and Braca in the 'Previously on Farscape' reprise. These had been filmed for 'Crichton Kicks' but hadn't made it into the episode. "We always have things that get dropped, and we just decided we'd use that scene there, because it really clears up stuff in the Peacekeeper world." David Kemper explains. "It was made for a certain place and time, so it wouldn't work as an ordinary flashback."

A lot of the sotry was filmed on location in Marubra, and Anthony Simcoe enjoyed the opportunity to work away from Homebush. "In season one we did lots of location work, but we hadn't done much the season before," he recalls. "The look we got was spectacular. It was really exciting being out in all weathers on the cliffs and near the beach."

[squirrely1]

What Was Lost - Part II: Resurrection

Ok so maybe I was a tad too hard on Part I of this two parter. I think despite all the crazy plot threads they had going on, they did a pretty good job at tying them all up! But I will agree with jel once again that it still seems rather schizophrenic.

I think the only good things that actually come out of this are just some of the on location/scenes are pretty cool to see. Jool and her goodbye scenes are very touching. We see the soft side of Scorpy in how he saves Sikozu with that word which apparently got Grayza's attention. I'm with jel though they didn't address Scorpy's burial and I'm assuming they want the audience to think that Scorpy is now out of the picture for good since we have a new bad girl in town. As for the "Keeping Grayza Busy for 2 Arns Deal" Yeah that was a crazy op that John had to do . I found it was almost a bit too much. Also, I think it was a little too convenient that John had kept the drug that Nooranti gave him to "forget Aeryn" super handy that he could get to it while being in such close quarters with Grayza. It was funny though how John managed to earn her trust enough to allow him to tie her up. I had to laugh at her, "Untie me!" LOL

I have to mention that there was a deleted scene with Chi and D'Argo from Part I that I forgot to mention that was really touching between them. It was D explaining what he had done while they were apart and why he didn't seek revenge on the man who killed Lolann. It's too bad that scene was cut because I think there are too few scenes with them trying to work out their issues. It's obvious that Chi thinks that D'Argo gave up on them and didn't "fight" for their relationship as there are a few times when she also mentions (I think in Part I as well) where she said "Like Us" when they were discussing why D'argo didn't fight for something. I can't recall the exact quote now and where it was. Either way I'm glad Jool left the show so that we could work to get D and Chi back together where they belong. While I think Jool and D had feelings or each other I just don't think they were genuine (like D and Chi) they were together out of convenience because they had no one else, that is my take anyway. I did like D'Argo and Jool's goodbye scene though it was very well done.

I don't really have much else to say. Again like jel says the Black Lagoon monster doesn't really seem to have much of a purpose except to get in their way of the probes, like they didn't have enough obstacles to overcome That just further complicated things that really didn't even need to happen. I did enjoy seeing the probes restore the atmosphere and they were all happy for a moment which is so rare on this show.

All in all an ok ep, but for all the money, time and effort that I'm sure went into producing these two eps, it's just a shame that it didn't come off as more spectacular in the end.

[jelgate]

Lava's A Many Splendored Thing

After the headache of the last few episodes I'm glad to have one I can follow. Its a comedy episode so I am guessing SQ hates this episode. This is the lets pick on Nooranti episode. Which I just find hilarious. I laugh when they suggest on burning Nooranti. Or the part where D'Argo screams after seeing her naked. I think I would freak too if I saw that. I once made a comment about how Farscape loves vomit. This episode comes to mind with how Chiana compares vomit piles and D'Argo's pile is huge and Sikozu says no creature could produce that much vomit. This kind of has a B plot with Sikozu. She has to learn to think outside the box and get more practical. She just dismissed D'Argo as stupid as to not have an override. It actually makes sense that he would not have an override so others can't steal it. Lo'Lal is quite a powerful ship. As for the story itself, its not really itself. Its quite simplistic. How many times before have we had to outsmart the bad guy because they have something we want? Their isn't much to discuss as John goes Die Hard on the aliens, picking them off one by one. Even in Nooranti keeps going how they are Tarkan Freedom Fighters. As I said earlier, this episode is more about the jokes what I found hilarious. I also thought it made good use of the planet by letting John walk around in lava. Not much to talk about really unless you want me to ramble what was funny and what was not. But rambling is SQ's thing

[Bluemeany]

Ooop, late again. I’ll just move on to review Lava as tbh I don’t have much to add to SQ and jel’s reviews. Although like both of you, both parts leave me slightly underwhelmed. It’s okay but all a bit protracted.

I do like the whole ‘Greek island’/ Ulysses thing they’ve got going on though. Plus the imagery of the handprint on the wall linking Crichton as a human to the (presumably) proto-Peacekeepers.

There’s something very true about that image. I’m an archaeology fan (of the UK variety – so we’re talking digging in muddy fields as opposed to Indiana Jones). Despite distances in time, culture and location a human handprint on a surface seems to universally mean ‘we were here’.

Kudos for Farscape for doing a non-con scene with the male hero as the victim though, and for treating it as rape…albeit if it takes until a later episode for Crichton to openly call it out as such. The way it’s portrayed as effecting John definitely treats it as such from the beginning, even if some of the other characters aren’t so sensitive.

Editing wise: there’s not a much nice stuff as you’d think as the island gets a bit..samey after a while. But the jumping off the cliff shots are good. Plus the fight in the water.

[Bluemeany]

Lava’s a Many Splendid Thing

All a bit Red Dwarf this one, but in a good way. As jel says, very funny right from the start: I like the idea of only visiting a planet ‘cause you’re all space sick and need to pull over.

Even the title is a bad pun.

I think you’re right jel about Farscape’s vomit obsession. They do have a higher than usual ratio of onscreen puking. I wonder if, over the course of the series, there’s more onscreen chucking up than (loving, mutually consensual) kisses…something for another re-watch I think. There’s definitely more vomiting than ‘ I love you’s’.

Yes the plot is simple. Kind of the equivalent of Crichton’s plan: hit it with a rock. Blunt but it works so why over-complicate things? I love how annoyed D’Argo gets about that. D’Argo & John bickering is always fun.

Visually, a handy episode particularly if you want some red or yellow shots. The volcano planet has a great look to it: the lava glows and I imagine that can’t be easy or cheap.

[squirrely1]

Wow I better get on the stick! I'm behind too. I'll try to watch Lava tomorrow and review it. Had a busy day (despite what jel says about my being a teacher and not working ) I am tired and about to crash for the night. Nice reviews guys... I always enjoy reading them.

[squirrely1]

What Was Lost Part II - Resurrection - From the Companion Book

"We were in the frame of mind at the beginning of season four to set ourselves the most difficult tasks we could, and give them a shot," says Rowan Woods, recalling the tricky, somewhat waterlogged location shoot. "Kevin Costner's Waterworld had tens of millions of dollars spent on preparation before they even rolled the camera. The logistics of water nearly always get you, and bite you in the arse! But we had an incredible time on the rocks at Marubra. We took over a whole peninsula. We only had a couple of days for those sequences on the rocks, and the rest we did in the studio."

Catastrophe nearly struck during filming. "Probably the most exhilarating, exciting moment I've ever had outside on location was when we were shooting the monster fight in the water," Woods adds. "We shot that in a rock pool. It was blowing a gale, the tide was going against us and the whole sea was coming in over the pool. Crichton has jumped off the cliff, and is in the water, swimming to shore. I had all the stunt safety officers in the water around me, along with the camera, all strapped to safety lines. Then this freak wave came over the top of us! Everyone in the pool including Ben who was in his heavy boots, hung onto the lines but disappeared from view for about eight seconds as this wall of water washed right over the top of our heads. One of the safety officers got washed up onto the rocks. It was amazing nobody got seriously hurt!"

Ben Browder found the scenes where Crichton is forced by Grayza's potent sweat into having sex with her difficult in a different way. "Crichton is being raped," he points out. "That's a very uncomfortable thing to do on series television. It'd be uncomfortable to do in a film. How do you answer to this kind of material? We were doing it, but I don't think anybody in the end was really happy with it. In true Farscape fashion, we went ahead and did it. As an actor, you are there to service the story but I was never comfortable. I think it made Grayza reprehensible."

Rowan Woods notes "the second episode was an action romp. If it didn't have that serious B story where Crichton was being put upon in a sexual way by Grayza, it wouldn't have worked. The second and third acts were insane action beats. Fortunately in the first and second acts you had the chance to cut away to the Crichton/Grayza story, which brought the episode down to earth, and gave you some serious, unsettling stuff. I'm really glad that story was taken as seriously by Ben and Rebecca as it was. They created a very tense, unnerving experience for the viewer."

The episode needed extensive work in post-production to counter-balance the varied weather conditions on location. "One day there'd be beautiful sky, then the next day it was overcast," Deb Peart says. "The effects company Frame, Set and Match did about fifty sky replacements in about eight hours to deal with that."

The memorable visual effects of the magnetics were originally going to be created 'in camera' during filming, but the team decided it was easier to handle this in post-production. "Rowan wanted this degradation to come over in about twenty stages, but it was too complicated to work everything on that sort of gradient," Peart adds. "What we ended up doing after talking to Rowan and the director of photography, Russell Bacon, was to bring it down to about four stages, desaturating the colour, taking the tones out, then bringing it in to abundance."

"This was a huge story," David Kemper concludes. "I joked that it could have been a four-parter!"

.... SQ agrees

[squirrely1]

Lava's A Many Splendored Thing

Besides the lava and rocky (literally) weak science in this ep, I'll give it a half hearted thumbs up. What is going for it is the humor and the fact that we can see our team in action working as a team and caring/not-caring for each other. I will say the whole vomit thing was pretty hilarious and why would they even trust eating something the old lady just happened to hocker up from her...?? Where ever?? They had to be really hungry is all I can say. That was about as comical as the Dentix ordeal. I'm shocked it actually upset Rygel you'd think he'd be able to tolerate just about anything but the GI antics were some of the highlights of this ep!
As for the rest, here we go again. Rygel wanders off finds some goodies tries to steal them...they get caught, wash, rinse repeat. I think the story is simple as it has to be after that mind boggling 2 parter, so I get it and it was nice to be able to just kick back and relax and not have to think too much. (Shut up jel! I do think, despite what you think!) Anyway, I don't think the writers put too much thinking into the science in this ep. Afterall, I doubt Crichton(even with the armor belt) could've dived into lava. That was just a bit over the top for me. I would've rather they came up with something a little more creative for him to attempt rescue because once that belt's activation wore off wouldn't he be burned....uh....really badly?

I did like however the funny scenes and Nooranti's faux belly dancing was pretty hilarious, but honestly it would've been even more funny if they made Nooranti's race become really beautiful when they are naked or something....that could've been a really interesting race. LOL Regardless, it was interesting but sort of borderline sexist cliche with the old woman....ewwww ...cover your eyes...oh look at this beautiful dancer *drool* sort of points out how animalistic ones hormones can completely take you over.

I give this ep a B+ ...it's not getting an A- because the science was a bit weak and some of the stunts (throwing Granny over to the other side to have her land just perfectly in a sleeping position...not injured or at least with a pulled muscle ) Seemed just too over the top for me. But it provided the needed comic relief from the insanity of last week.

Oh and I'd like to note that Aeryn has not really been in 3 eps now (aside from the beach scenes) and there has been No John/Aeryn story in any of these eps. I just like to point this out so when Aeryn does arrive back on the scene we can remind jel of this when he starts his belly aching about the focus on the Aeryn/John love story. *grabs back her barf bucket* I'll keep this on ice for you!!

[jelgate]

Promises

I'm going to need that barf bucket because right on cue the second that John and Aeryn are back it returns to the whole front. Be warned SQ. I generally hate this episode. Its interesting in that the little things about this episode bother me. I don't mind the actually story. Its the details. To make things different lets start with the main story. Aeryn is back on Moya and she has heat delirium and is wanted for the assination of a bunch of dignitaries. This plot is simplistic in nature as its purely a smokescreen for us to pick up on John and Aeryn. Obviously we know by now that Aeryn must have a good reason for killing people. A reason I think is justified at her climax. Sorry SQ the John/Aeryn scenes don't bother that much (except for the ending). I always felt that S4 toned down the two to a more tolerable level. Really the whole story is about Aeryn saying so can't tell John what is going on and she has to trust her. The aliens attacking is just exposition on why Aeryn is asking us to trust her. It just becomes more complicated with the inclusion of Scorpy. A lot of people in Farscape fandom disagree with me but I think S4 has Scorpy become like Crais of S2. He is not really our enemy but at the same time we can't trust him. Scorpy starting in this episode is like an ally we are unsure of how to treat. Sure he get brownie points (Note to self: Bake brownies) for telling us about the Peacekeeper missile but since we have already discussed how smart Scorpy is, how do we not know itsnot clever planning from him. Bracca's stuff kind of hints as a red herring. Its designed to show us him going from Mr. Yes Man to being as cold hearted as Scorpy and Grayza. Although the second we learned that Aeryn's enemy is using holograms it was clear that was going to be used to thrawt the Peacekeeper super missile. I don't hate the idea. It was just obvious. I did however love Bracca sentencing the scientist to execution. This episode kind of concludes the reuniting the Moyans. My problem is the whole story arc was clearly planned out. I find the suspense of the end of S3 was butchered. It was never really explained what happened to Moya and how John knew where everyone was at and how some of the Moyans were dropped off and reunitied. We never found out Scorpy got out of that hole or what caused Aeryn to get heat delirium. I do love seeing her in a Scorpy suit. I kind of feel people where too hard on Sikozu. I didn't think her questions of Pilot were any different than what the other characters were asking. Finally you're an idiot John. As much as you whine about Aeryn's distance when she finally offers an olive branch you get angry because she didn't tell you about the pregnancy. It seems like he wants it perfect

[Bluemeany]

Promises

Aeryn’s come back! Yay! With a great new spider-like look and lots of eye liner. And Crichton is such a sucker: she cries and he just melts.

All in all, a bit of a mixed episode. I like the beginning scene, and the idea that Aeryn’s brought the devil right into Crichton’s home and then made him promise to give him sanctuary.

But there are some character notes that seem off to me. Both John and Aeryn seem to forget about the pregnancy right up to the very end.

Granted, she may still be undecided about whether she is keeping the baby. But one of Aeryn’s defining traits has always been protecting others, so I don’t think she’d be so willing to shoot herself or surrender to heat delirium without trying to save the unborn child first.

Nor do I think John wouldn’t ask about whether the baby needs special treatment as Aeryn is sick. Even if he’s not 100% sure, I still think he’d mention it...

Still, I like how the alien ship looks kind of like a virus. And the fact that, no matter how much her target deserved it, Aeryn was the assassin and killer.

“What is it with Peacekeepers? First the hunt us, then they want to move in. What are we a Bed and Breakfast? Do we have a sign outside that says free HBO?” is a classic Farscape line. Funny but delivered very darkly, in a very tense scene.

From an editing point of view: the Reservoir Dog pastiche with Harvey looks cool. Plus there are nice blue, green and red lights on the alien ship.

[squirrely1]

Lava's A Many Splendored Thing - From the Companion Book

'Lava Is a Four Letter Word' was one of the alternative titles suggested for this episode, and probably best sums up the feelings of most of the people working on it. "'Lava' was an extreme big push for us," production designer Tim Ferrier recalls. "In fact, I think it was the hardest episode I ever did on the show."

"The concept was great," David Kemper notes. "I was always positive it would be a winning episode. But it had so many problems in terms of the logistics of how we were going to pull it off. It gave Time and the director fits. How do you shoot lava? We had meetings about camera filters and shot tests. Everyone was tense and nervous because the director didn't have a plan -- not that he should, but he was new and it was a tough episode for him."

Puppeteer Mat McCoy explains the problem. "Over the years, a methodology had evolved between departments. The same people had been doing the same jobs for so long, and everyone was really excellent at what they did. As a newcomer, you haven't had that chance to build up a rapport with the cast and crew over a period of time. Plus, it's a big shock to the system to be thrown into sci-fi, which is the most complicated genre you can direct in!"

"Our characters had to get into the lava, have interplay with the lava, throw it at each other, and be killed by it," Ferrier says. "No one could cite an example, even on a big-budget feature film, where these things had been done. The script also demanded a very big labyrinth of caves, and that's a time-consuming project to build! We knew we couldn't go on location -- there had to be lava flowing through it, and explosions. I was please with the sets though. They looked pretty good in the end."

David Kemper describes 'Lava' as a 'Butch and Sundance' episode. "It's a great buddy story for Crichton and D'Argo: they're solving problems all the way through," Anthony Simcoe confirms. "They're also dealing with the complexities of having Noranti around, as she's a bit of a nightmare for them at that stage. There are some great comical moments Ben and I conjured up for that episode."

"It was a very frustrating one to shoot," Browder adds, recalling some of the cross words on the set. "It's what happens when you don't agree about what the script requires. But Anth and I got a chance to play together. I like the repartee between Crichton and D'Argo: we could do some of the comedic banter which we didn't really have much opportunity to do later."

Melissa Jaffer enjoyed Noranti's bellydancing routine. "I've been a dancer all my life and I knew the potential there," she recalls. "The thing about Farscape that I love is how it shows us that science fiction is fun. People might wonder how this old woman can dance. But, as David Kemper kept reminding me, she thinks she's eighteen years of age, and a model on a catwalk!" For the finale of Noranti's dance, the Creature Shop even provided a wild bush of hair for her armpits, but in the end, all we see is Crichton and D'Argo's horrified reaction.

Gigi Edgley had a similarly gross encounter. "The sampling of D'Argo's vomit was a fun moment," She smiles. "I just let Chi take over in that one, much to everyone's disgust in front of and behind camera. It took a quite a few takes to shoot that scene, so I was almost full by lunch!"

"It felt almost like a very quirky retro Lost in Space meets Star Trek meets Red Dwarf," Ben Browder jokes, trying to summarise how the episode turned out. David Kemper concludes, "We did have a lot of trouble shooting it, but in the end, the episode is a gangbuster!"

You ever get the feeling that the crew of Farscape is alot like the actual characters on the show? LOL They really first off sometimes bite off more than they can chew because they raise the bar so high, they don't have a real good plan but then wing it and it some how works out?? Hilarious! Wish I could've been a fly on the wall on some of these shoots!

[squirrely1]

Promises

I think they should rename this ep to Secrets! I love this ep *hands the barf bucket back to jel* tsk tsk really it takes a shipper to get inside the head of John and Aeryn and actually make sense of this bizarre dance between them. More of that in a moment cuz I don't want to make jel stop reading....

So first off I think they are getting tons of mileage out of that Scorpy suit design. I do love Aeryn's look. Her straightened hair and really cool, wet, slick look. Where is FH when you need her? I wish she would show up to put in her 2 cents here.

So this ep we have so many interesting things.

Scorpy Aeryn: This is really a mind blowing thing for John to try to comprehend. Let's just look at it from his perspective. First off he doesn't want Aeryn to know that he knows she's pregnant. THat is why he doesn't mention it to her. First off because making that common knowlege would possible give Scorpy more leverage with Aeryn if he knew she was "with child" as well. What better way to control John even more. Plus John desperately wants Aeryn to tell him herself. She doesn't know that John knows so she decides to keep it secret. This sort of infuriates him. There is nothing more hurtful when someone you deeply love knowingly keeps a secret from you. Now she is asking him on her word only to trust her and don't ask, don't tell and promise her to not harm Scorpy. That is a HUGELY tall order, but he does it, because he loves her that much. That action alone is worth more than any kiss or any "I love you scene" Because it demonstrates his love for her with action. Let's remember folks, Love is not a feeling, love is doing (action) for the other person and sometimes that is unconditional doing. So John agrees albeit reluctantly. I think at that moment when Aeryn persists not to ask her about what caused the delirium he decided to bite his tongue about the whole baby thing. Besides they had much bigger fish to fry right then. If Aeryn's life is truly in danger, he must first find a way to save her then by proxy the baby would also be saved....if indeed the "rumor the old woman told John" was true. Maybe he was imagining things....Which brings me to my next big thing...

The Death of Harvey This is sorta sad, but much needed. If you think of this logically they won't need a head Scorpy as that would complicate production from here on out if the Real Scorpy is going to join the ranks of the Moya crew. So it stands to reason they had to exterminate him once and for all. Plus if you note in the beginning of the ep, John has been going a bit crazy with the hallucination flashes...(let's not forget that John is still a bit "crazy"), I think Scorpy realized that John was having issues concentrating and needed him to have his full faculties restored. That is why Scorpy decided to vanquish Harvey. Adios Havey. Notice how much more focused John is once Harvey is totally gone so this is a big moment for him. I think that is why he actually gets angry at Aeryn at the end. He's crying at the beginning (crazy John) angry at the end (focused/hurt) John. He does seem rather bi polar from Blue's comments but I think this helps to explain it. But again more on that in a moment.

"Krytonite, Silver Bullet...Buffy? What's it gonna take to keep you in the grave?" - So just how did Scorpy get out of that grave alive? He chalks it up to foresight and planning but I think it's great they don't explain all this as this is what gives Scorpy his edge at being a great bad guy because it preserves the mystery as to how he can persevere in the most perilous situations. It actually hints that maybe Sikozu is working with him and I think there is this tantalizing chemistry between as we know they do eventually become bonded to one another. Sikozu almost acts as if she's orgasming at the idea Scorp has a spy aboard the Command Carrier. Oh relax....jel used the term 'Aeryn's climax' in his review! Either way I think it's important they didn't reveal too much as to how Scorpy survived it's not that important to the story and it keeps him cool

CPR for Moya? - I loved the actual shut down and reboot of Moya. Thought that was a creative move. I loved the Chi and Pilot scene and man it feels so good to be back on Moya. *sniff* A little tear came to my eye when I saw Moya in the distance upon their reunion and she did look so beautiful! I also liked that Pilot finally FINALLY asked for them to decide who was going to bark orders at him. 'Bout time....I thought this should've been done alot earlier in the series, but good for him.

"Hey" John/Aeryn have sorta come full circle again.... Remember this banter from PK Tech Girl in S1?

John: (entering) Hey.

Aeryn: A greeting I shall never understand.

John: It's kinda all-purpose. Let's see, let the other person decide what they wanna talk about.

Aeryn: What if they don't want to talk?

John: Then they say 'hey' back.

Aeryn: Hey.

John: Well, now the first person that doesn't wanna talk can be trumped if the other person realizes that they need to. Hey. (they glance sidelong at each other)

Aeryn: I hate being ambushed.

Notice these two exchange "Hey's" To one one another at the end, just like in this ep but this time Aeryn knows what the Hey is for and she takes this chance to open up to him, but unfortunately not enough according to John. He is still very upset at the fact that she hasn't let him in on her little secret, even after he asked her "Do you have any other...oaths of silence I should know about?" And with Aeryn's silence and head shake he busts out with it....."So you could tell me --if you were-- pregnant!" It pans out on Aeryn as her face slowly starts to change into a sort of an "Oh Frell" moment. I don't blame John at all for being upset with her for keeping something like that secret. Remember, Aeryn has more or less reverted back into her S1 self and she doesn't trust anyone. However, this ep was huge in renewing her trust in John and realizes as he mentioned to her that "It's just fate... As usual, keeping its bargain and - screwing us in the fine print." Remember that coin toss folks? Yes yes it was heads..or tails..or whatever they choose obviously forced them apart, but here they are again because of fate. These two are always driven together by fate and they seem to embrace that, maybe this is the confirmation Aeryn needed that she should be with him, which is why she asks him in the end if she can stay. Some of you think this version of Aeryn and her wanting to die is out of character for her, especially now that she is pregnant, but remember the warrior s1 Aeryn (who remembers her own mother leaving her as a child in order to protect her) is almost the Aeryn we have now again. She also reminds John of the promise she made with him back early in the season that he would kill her and not let her succomb to the very agonizing and painful death of Heat Delirium. I think this is why Aeryn was on the edge of suicide. She wasn't in her right Aeryn mind. John had to remind her of that which I think she slowly started to realize he was right. But maybe by the end it was a little too late, especially because she insisted to keep those secrets between them.

Angst is a Many Splendored Thing
These are the types of blocks to the ship that make sense and I love when writers use them because they aren't the gaggable "Oh lets marry one person off and form a miserable love triangle to make a block to the ship" or "Let's have them just wake up one morning and have them break up for no real good reason just so we can keep our lead apart and milk that 'will they won't they?' for as long as possible." I hate when writers do that. At least the Farscape writers come up with more realistic ways to keep them from going ham "her running and leaping into his arms and confessing her pregnancy and they run off into the sunset lovingly.." *vomits in the barf bucket*. This bit of angst is a real good way to allow their characters to rediscover their ship again and make it fresh and real and not make it seemed like a forced block like a so many writers try to invent.

So all in all I love this ep because it moved the main story along nicely, reunited our crews, satisfied many of the major questions and puts Scorpy right in the middle of things. Awesome!

[jelgate]

That is kind of insulting to suggest that because I am not a die hard shipper supporter that I don't understand the characters

[squirrely1]

get over it! I'm merely saying it takes a shipper to be able to tolerate an ep like this and fully appreciate it (from the shipper perspective that is).