Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[jelgate]

Natural Election

This is classic Farscape. I mean look at it. We have a problem that is damanging Moya and the result is the Moyans (You still owe me royalities SQ) running around with frelled up plans where one frell up plan saves the day. The thing is that the story of us screwing up is to show character interactions. It has happened before and it happened in this episode. A plant that eats metal is something different so I applaud the creativity. What I think I really like about this episode is how we integrate Nooranti and Sikozu into this episode. Nooranti very much to me seems to take Jool and Zhaan's place as the scientist of the group. Her methods of tasting the plant seem a little strange. I mean eating something radioactive plant is strange right? I love the digs of how Sikozu says she defies natural selection and Nooranti just laughs it off. I really see how she is the one who studies the plant and realizes when attacked it takes a more aggressive action in eating. I think I dated a girl like that once. Of course in typical fashion we frell up and attack before Nooranti can warn us. From there we float on until we find out Scorpy makes the plant afraid. I don't really blame it as many things are probably afraid of Scorpious. I think its a nice metaphor. Yes SQ I know what a metaphor is. This brings me to our frelled plan. In classic Farscape we discover something by totally accident. In this case, Scorpy's cooling rods harm the plant that is eating Moya. Before we go on I think it would be wise to discuss Scorpy at this point. I like this battle we have of how no one but Sikozu wants to give an inch of room. The reasons for this are obvious as he was the one who hunted gave Moya yotz for 2 and a half years. But its also interesting how they give him the narrowest of freedom when they realize he can help with Moya. I think a theme of S4 is the gradual of trusting Scorpy as time moves on. Again it is similar what happened to Crais in S2. In SQ fashion, I seemed to have wandered from my train of thought. Oh that is right, I was talking about the cooling rods. It kind of seems a setup to show Sikozu's role. We get this technobabble element found in Scorpy's rods also exist in Moya. Only Sikozu knows it probably because Pilot is so far gone. Because lets be honest, before Sikozu Pilot would have known Moya contains this element. I studied radiation in college so I want to know what is being used for shielding. I also want to know what made up device shields radiation 100% and how certain species block all radiation. Because I'll tell you they don't exist in the real world. These once again little tidbits we learn about Nebari and Levithians. I would go on my typical rant but its been done so I'll skip it. Its just a crazy and frelled plan. What else is new? I love watching John spray like a crazy man. I don't know why Rygel is there. I know its for him to show redemption after he blames himself for the situation they are in. But it seems like he serves no purpose as Scorpy did everything in the Pilot den. Even the part where Pilot goes crazy is only stopped by Scorpy. I saved the John/Aeryn stuff mostly because I don't care a whole lot. Again its for reasons we have already discussed. I thought it was interesting about how Peacekeepers can freeze a pregnancy. How many women would love to have that? Given that fact I understand why Aeryn would want to keep it a secret. She just wants to know more information until she tells John. It wasn't about trust. It was about getting more intel which a nod to her soldier days. I find John being an idiot. I find him being too picky and expecting too much from Aeryn. Poor Chiana, she didn't know about the fact that she wasn't suppose to spread the news about John not being the father. I guess the next episode will have her funeral.

EDIT: The election to me seems tacked on to solve the problem who will take charge. Its not surprising D'Argo is elected. I would have suspected him, Aeryn, or John just because they are the one who often take charge. I would have voted for the Eternal Divine

[squirrely1]

Did jel just say..."I applaud the creativity" ??? *faints*

[jelgate]

You have been a bad influence on me.

I am trying to get back on schedule but it has not been easy with my work responsbility

[squirrely1]

You have been a bad influence on me.

I am trying to get back on schedule but it has not been easy with my work responsbility

yes I know how you feel. Work sucks ...but I'm off tomorrow! are you?

[jelgate]

People with real jobs don't get MLK day off

[squirrely1]

Promises - From the Companion Book

"Geoff Bennett is twisted, sick and dark," David Kemper says of this episode's new-to-Farscpe director, "and that's the highest praise I can give someone on this show! He is magnificent, and was 'one of us' from the first day."

Bennett's introduction to the series was the episode that finally reunited the crew on board Moya. "The main feature of this story was bringing back Claudia and Wayne to the cast, so that our ship was together again. Then we could really start telling stories," Kemper explains. "This year was like a train pulling out of the station, chugging along, letting everyone get on board and then we could pick up speed." "In some ways the arc for the season starts in this episode," Ben Browder agrees, "when Aeryn says, 'Promise me you won't hurt him.'"

At the start of the season, the producers had to decide what they were going to do with Scorpius. "We'd destroyed his Command Carrier, so he wasn't going to get a promotion with the Peacekeepers," Ricky Manning explains. "He's persona non grata with the Peacekeepers at the end of season three. We could easily have killed him off -- he could have died in the destruction of the Command Carrier, but we thought he had a couple more miles in him. On Farscape characters evolve and do what you might think in advance is the last thing you'd expect, but which in context makes sense. Scorpius is not going to walk away and let events take their course. He's a player -- he's going to get involved. The most direct way to do that is to go to Crichton and say, 'I realize I'm not going to be able to coerce anything out of you. I've tried that and failed. All I can do now is keep you safe from enemy forces and hope that when the Scarran bloodbath inevitably begins, you see reason and give my side some help." That was a pretty gutsy thing for us to do, but we felt Scorpius could justify it."

Manning notes that there are loose ends regarding Scorpius's arrival, and Aeryn's involvement with him before we see them at the start of the episode. "We didn't really explain how Scorpy got involved and saved her," he concedes. "He says he saved her, she backs him up, and that's where we left it. How did the mechanics of it work? Well, we honestly did not design these things so as to leave out a couple of ingredients to drive the fans mad, so they could debate it endlessly. But if that's how it turns out, we don't mind that either!"

Ricky Manning also wanted to give a fresh twist to the idea of the Crichton/Scorpius hybrid seen in 'Die Me Dichotomy' and 'Infinite Possibilities', and wrote scenes for Aeryn as Scorpius. "I had to get another life cast done for that, and I was determined to try to enjoy it this time," Claudia Black recalls. "Dave Elsey commented that I was one of the first people he'd ever seen to have a smile on their face in the life cast when it came out. I'd had a few episodes off and I came into work very relaxed and happy!"

After the difficulties of 'Lava', Tim Ferrier enjoyed creating the Lukythians' world. "I started off with some ideas about the spaceship and their people being like a squid underwater," he notes, "and that evolved into the designs they did for the computer-generated imagery. We gave the interiors a soft feel. I was trying to get away from what we had done for the past four episode, which was really earthy, with oaky tones, browns and oranges. I wanted to do something that was cool, blue and aquatic."

"I always wanted to try out Geoff on Farscape because I thought he'd really enjoy it," Andrew Prowse concludes. "It blew his mind!"

[squirrely1]

Natural Election

Kinda in a rush tonight with lots to do, but I don't want to fall further behind so I'll probably make this one fast. I don't want to comment too much on the plot points as jel covered those most accurately. Besides as jel mentioned it was one of those type of plots we've seen before (remember when they had to burn Moya?) Similar type of deal here so as jel mentioned it's a way to give our characters a chance to bond back together again. John has figured out how to predict wormholes and note how clear headed he is now that all traces of Harvey are gone. Scorpy is hanging out in his cell/quarters and Sikozu and Granny are busy doing their science-y stuff.

As for the whole Aeryn Baby B plot I think it almost seems middle school-ish that they are using this time to gossip about Aeryn and the potential father. I don't particularly like how they wrote this. I think they were treating the Moya problem way too cavalierly while they sit and debate the father of Aeryn's baby. But I don't know of any other way for them to "get the word out to everyone" other than your typical "rumor mill" but honestly it seemed a bit trite to me.

I don't agree with jel here I do think it's a trust issue. And while part of me thinks John is being a bit too harsh with Aeryn, I think he has a right to feel hurt therefore mad at her. Think of it like this...he finally hears it from D'Argo about the baby and all that personal information that Aeryn has yet to tell him herself. So she's been blabbing all about it to every one (well she told Chiana...she may as well got on the loud speaker ) and so John sees that as almost a betrayal because he had to more or less guess by saying to Aeryn...well you could tell me if you were pregnant. At this point we haven't seen on screen that she has actually come to him privately and talked about it. Yes she was trying to do that when all the dren hit the fan, but she didn't get to do that and so instead of her waiting until she could have the private convo with John first, she tells Chiana about it. So then everyone finds out. That had to hurt John even more when that happened. That's even more of a slap in the face IMO.

So while I don't blame John for feeling hurt and a bit betrayed, I think as D'Argo put it...."either way you may get hurt so be careful". I think that is what lead John to voice his decision to her that he will trust Aeryn with his life but not his heart. He's been hurt too deeply by her up to this point. Yes that was hard to hear and it hurt, but it's no different than when Aeryn refused to even talk to him and refused to give John her heart after she returned from dealing with Talyn John's death. It's just an ironic role reversal here.

They both will need some time and I think for once Aeryn has been pushed away by him and I think that was necessary for her to start to see how important he is to her. Because again sometimes we don't realize how much we do care about someone until we don't have them in our lives anymore. Or not have them in our lives to the same level. That I think really hit hard with her.

So, all in all a great character ep but the premise was a bit on the awkward side.

[Bluemeany]

Natural Election

See, this week everyone is concerned about the baby! Where was that last episode? In Promises Aeryn tried to kill herself/ wore a cooling suit/ got shot with weird vaccines and no one said a word. But now suddenly she can’t close fuel leaks or get irradiated.

In real world news, I’ve had a severe allergic reaction to lilies this week….so I’m totally on board with D’Argo shooting the plant. And them killing the plant. In fact, this turned out to be quite a cathartic episode for me.

From an editing point of view: this director seems to be big on close ups. It’s a bit of a locked down episode shot wise because they don’t really leave the ship. But the end scenes look cool. Although a giant spinning fan which we’ve never seen before in the middle of the ship to put Chiana in peril is all a bit Galaxy Quest.

I do like the scene between Aeryn and Chiana: some genuine female talk in sci-fi. It seems very real that bit.

And it’s interesting in that bit Aeryn questions whether she can trust Chiana with emotional/ personal matters. Kind of links to Crichton’s line at the end: “I’d trust you with my life. But not with my heart”. I think for all the Moyans ( trademarked jel) relying on each other emotionally is still up in the air.

I also approve of the D’Argo/Crichton scene and “the thought had crossed my mind”: it’s an adult approach to the situation.

But I too am a little confused as to why John then suddenly gets so sulky about Aeryn’s explanation? Is it because it might not be his? Is it because she’s not decided whether to keep it/ or whether to let him be the father? Is this when he starts pretending not to care to put Scorpy off the scent?

Admittedly, I’m a little confused as to Peacekeeper biology…but it could be a baby from before she met him: I don’t think it’s like she gets to pick?

Anyways- I’m about to go enter the twilight zone that is John Quixote. Wish me luck

[squirrely1]

Ok so I just spilled a whole cup of ice cold water in my lap and all down into my keyboard, splashing up on my computer tower. My cat was on my lap at the time. He literally climbed up my body and leaped off my shoulder onto the floor. I not only have an ice cold lap but claw marks up my body. OUCH!! Not fun at all. It's all cleaned up now of course, but I just hope my keyboard and computer hold it together.

So... where was I? Blue...nice review I just think with John being all sulky and weird. IDK I can see John's side of this. I think he feels so hurt beyond measure. Just put yourself in John's shoes for a moment. Look at how Aeryn has rejected him up to this point. He tried to comfort her about the Talyn John death, she out and out ignored him and gave him not just a cold shoulder but the "Oh I can't do this....can't love you bit, cuz I can't go through that again...blah blah blah...routine", Then, He wanted to go with her at end of S3, She refuses and they do the silly coin toss....she leaves again....all the while knowing (at least in his mind) that she was pregnant and didn't tell him. That had to really hurt him. He has, up to this point, been the one to reach out and try to get her to open up to him/come back to him and love him and she keeps pushing him away. Now finally she is asking him to stay and be a part of things, but can't even talk to him one on one privately about the baby...but then blabs to everyone else about it? Again, another sort of slap in the face. If I didn't like Aeryn so much as a character, and just tuning in for the first time, I'd be thinking she was a real ***** at this point. I get that she's upset, now and wanting to get back with John, but she sorta had this coming. It's funny how knowing about her pregnancy I think puts people in an automatic defensive position for Aeryn, but that doesn't excuse her actions up to this point. IMO.

[squirrely1]

Natural Election - From Companion Book

"In science fiction, everything often comes down to base human behaviour," composer Guy Gross notes. "At the end of the day, this episode is about gossiping and trust -- who places the right trust in whom? They all trust each other and regret it the next morning." It adds an extra dimension to what Ben Browder describes as "A classic ship show."

David Kemper is delighted to note that "Sophie actually came up with this story on her own. She had a lot of enthusiasm. She got our sense of humour, and just how sick our people are! A lot of times with new writers, we are in the room with everyone talking, and we end up helping them to come up with a story. But Sophie wanted to do a story with plants, echoing something with Zhaan. It was a really good concept. We decided to make this like the classic monster movies where you didn't see the adversary that much, and it was stalking you. It was reminiscent of some of the old Star Trek episodes -- but of course we were going to give it the Farscape twist treatment!"

One of those twists came in the sequence where D'Argo enthusiastically sets about destroying the plant with Lo'La's cannon (which had been used to such devastating effect earlier in the year). Guy Gross recalls the tone of his music added to the false expectations in the scene. "We let the audience believe that he's doing the right thing, and it's all going to be fixed, only to discover he's made it worse," he says. "The music helped to lead the audience down the garden path!"

For director Ian Watson, returning for his fourteenth episode, the emotional core of the story was the repercussions of Aeryn's pregnancy. "It's all about Aeryn's emotional journey," he comments. "She knows she's pregnant, and has to deal with it. She doesn't want to talk about it, but has to . She and Crichton have to come to some sort of understanding about it."

Watson praises Browder's and Black's performances in the critical tag scene at the end of the episode. "It's the parting of the ways between those two and it's a wonderful moment," he says. "Ben and Claudia always do that stuff well. We're always rushing, and don't have time to do a lot of coverage with the camera, but they always make it work."

"The tag scene is very important," Black notes. "That's the first time we see Aeryn really yielding to Crichton, and ask what she has to do. He leaves it with her, firmly. She's got to get her story straight and get back to him."

The director worked closely with Black and Gigi Edgley on the earlier scenes where Aeryn takes Chiana into her confidence. Edgley notes that "these are the kinds of scenes that disagree with all I have learnt from my journey through life, so it was difficult for me taking the jump. I don't think Chi knows what to do with the secret! But when she realises how she has betrayed her friend, she has no idea how to take her words back."

The Chinese whispers sequence was a late addition to the script, which went through many different permutations before shooting began. "This probably gave us the most fits of any story of the year," David Kemper says. "There were so many scenes and so many strands to weave together, but in the end we got it right. We went down a lot of roads, because there were so many options. Every time we came up with one way to tell the story, we'd think of another one which might be better."

Visually, 'Natural Election' is one of the darkest stories the series has ever told. "There are bits where you can't see anything at all, with is pretty extraordinary in Farscape," Andrew Prowse comments. "I remember [director of photography] Russell Bacon asking if I'd seen the rushes, and whether I thought it was too dark, I said it was fine, but when I looked at a few bits later, I thought, 'Oh my God, there's almost nothing there!' But it works for that story, because it needed atmosphere above everything else."

[jelgate]

John Quixote

You know I'm usually the one who supports those crazy out there Farscape episodes that make little sense. Like how me and SQ fought over Revenging Angel. So it kind of saddens me to say this is not one of those times. Those out there episodes grab a bunch of laughs that makes them funny. With a few exceptions (Rygel Knight ) this episode is not really funny. And because it goes for the humor angle the only point I see about this episode is to delve into Stark's psychie. BTW, am I the only one who realized that Stark's mask is on the opposite side of his face in this episode? I think this episode shows how much he blames John and Moya for the lost Zhaan on a subconscious level. Also, the ending shows that their is a part of John that still blames himself for what happened as evident by the final scene. I find myself uninterested in finding the princess. This cliché has been done before so many times. The video game aspect becomes an old method that I don't really care for. I was especially annoyed by video game D'Argo's room. Although I did find the elevator Cricheton to be annoying and laughed when John stabbed him with a sword. What really annoys me is the cop out of Scorpy. It kind of goes without saying that we don't trust Scorpy. So it was not a surprise that he could take over Moya. I was intrigued about seeing him taking over the ship and was wondering how John was going to get out of this one. It really annoys me that we pulla deus ex machina that we are still in the game and have to kiss the princess. I will say this, I did like the fake out as I naturally assumed Aeryn was the princess. I did not think it was the princess from Stark's perspective. Which is why I mentioned earlier this episode allows us to see how Stark really feels. The character's insanity often has own true feeling obscured from the rest of us. I never did understand the point of the opening scene. All in all I find this episode boring.

[squirrely1]

John Quixote

I have to agree with jel on this one...this is my least fav of all the eps. I just don't like the continuity or even the story. I didn't become invested in it at all. Perhaps if John and Chi were actually really in danger of dying in there, maybe then would I have become invested in it. But honestly I half watched it because I knew it was sort of a blow off ep.

I wouldn't even call it a character piece because it was so bizarre and it seemed that while Chi and John were in the game they couldn't even interact with the other crew members on any meaningful level either, so to me it was a big waste of airtime IMO. I want to say that I heard either at a con or in an inty that Claudia and Ben pretty much ad libbed their scenes when he got to the tower and that line that Claudia said "looking to find a place to sheath your sword" was not scripted and it almost sent Ben into a laughing fit when she said that.

I have to say, since Ben was the writer of this ep, he is one sick, twisted puppy and I wonder just what he was smoking when he wrote this ep. It's like Max Headroom, meets Matrix, meets Alice in Wonderland. I don't even want to know what the Blue "Stark" equivalent that actually ended up being Zhaan in disguise was doing with the psuedo breast milk turned acid and then back to breast milk again that ended up giving him convulsions. I don't even want to try to explain that one.

The only redeeming value in this ep is it did have a cameo by Zhaan. Even though it was so shrouded with the crazy it hardly did her return justice. I really wish if they were going to all that trouble to have Zhaan come back that they actually make the ep more meaningful. I mean I guess we can chalk it up to something that John needed to work out vicariously through Stark and Zhaan? IDK..... ??

The other thing that stuck out to me from a shippers perspective was when John at the end was talking with Granny and she asked him about "Aeryn....his war of the heart". And he responded...."It's always Aeryn... Yeah I don't think to clear when it comes to Aeryn." So this is beginning of the drug Granny gives Crichton so he can forget Aeryn and become clear headed for a time. Part of me thinks it's endearing that he's so in love with Aeryn that he needs something to help him be able to function, but another part of me is thinking....Dude just bury the hatchet and get on with things. It's at this point that I think John is really dragging this bitterness thing on just a little too long.

Case in point he's walking through the corridor at the end and Aeryn says to him, "I heard I was a princess". She waits for a response ....he pauses but then just continues walking without even acknowledging her. Now... I want to crack him over the head for that one...but he probably snorted his drug so he was feeling no pain. Oh here we go. *sigh*

[jelgate]

I Shrink Therefore I Am

John calls saving Moya the Die Hard way. I found it as more of a Lethal Weapon vibe. I love how John gives Scorpy a defective pulse pistol and when it backfires Scorpy thanks John. It cracks me up. SQ goes on and on and on and on about how about John and Aeryn. But this episode I find is about John and Scorpy. Lets cut the dren. Given the torment of the past three years John and Scorpy will never be friends. Once again I draw parallels between Scorpy and Crais. But I think this episode shows in a crisis how Scorpy's cold logic and tactics is an asset. I count two armored thugs he helped take out before being captured. Anyway, I like seeing the change as we learn that Scorpy is more than just a prisioner as I have said before he takes on the Crais role. I think this is even better as he has a more personal role with Moya. But I am starting to ramble and that isn't me. As for the plot itself, its another simplistic one. As we have said multiple times, a lot of times Farscape uses plots to further characterizations. The big one I already talked about of Scorpy and John. I've kind of noticed they have backed off on Rygel's greed and selfishness this season and seemed to focused more on his diplomacy and negotiations tactics. I am referring to how Rygel speaks to Sikozu that no matter how advanced and intelligent you are their are always things that are beyond our level of comprehension. Their is a truth to that as any scientist will tell you that they are first to admit their are things they do not comprehend. Its why theories exist to be disproven. Besides that it seems our characters are shrunk to keep them out of the way so John and Scorpy (We keep returning to this). Its just hunting and outwitting the aliens to kill them. I don't even think the revelation that one of them is Scarran is even that relevant. John going to the Peacekeepers or Scarrans is the same for us. All it did was give a plot device to kill the mercenaries that isn't the leader. I feel the same about the shrink technology. Its an old science fiction cliché like time travel. It doesn't seem to add much to the story. It didn't hinder John from killing the aliens and was only their for John to kill the aliens. That is some good memory John has to quickly learn the code. Chiana eyes only helped with the shrinking. A few random laughs is Pilot's attempt at subterfuge and how we just float Nooranti into space as its no big deal and how John uses the transport pod as a kamikaze run. One thing I never understood was the Scarran's telepathy. I don't remember that being a trait of the species

[squirrely1]

John Quixote - From Companion Book

Once again this was found in the "Script to Screen" Section of this book and far too much to type up so I scanned the 8 pages. Enjoy (Maybe you can at least find out what they were thinking?? )

Spoilered for size:

Spoiler:

[jelgate]

A Perfect Murder

Hey look SQ, its Zedd. Besides that this episode is largely unforgettable. It seems like a story that would have made sense to do this in S1. Remember how back then we didn't know if we could trust Aeryn. In that area it would have been interesting to explore since she was the enemy. At this point its kind of pointless. We are in S4 and have seen rises and falls of Aeryn from one spectrum to the other so I fail to see the point of showing her massacring a village. We know by now that she would not kill innocents. I also do not know why we had to show the massacre. It smells they had run low on time so lets show Aeryn killing from her, John, and D'Argo's perspective. I find it adds nothing to the story and a waste of air time. The one thing I did find interesting was this society. Feuding clans reminds me of Native American way of life. So many different groups. Some are peaceful while others fight. Only having a leader for half a year does seem a little bit unproductive. It was kind of interesting and I wished it was explored a little better. I want to know how priest looks like that, He looks so alien compared to the other natives of his planet. I'm struggling to say anything else as this has been done before. A bug that invades our mind and forces us to do whatever the alien programs it do is not new. Frell, its already been done twice in Farscape. Maybe its the anti-shipper in me but I don't care about seeing the fighting between John and Aeryn of not shooting one. The honest truth they would have fought to not shoot their friends no matter who they were. Also I find that Chiana is out of character. Yes she does like to go around but I find it hard to believe even she would go as far as too sleep with all those men and ruin Moya;s chance to resupply. I almost never bought the romance between Sikozu and the clan leader's son. He doesn't seem like her type. I'm going to end now as you can see I don't care for this episode