Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[Falcon Horus]

That's called sexism. I'm not blind. All the other reviewers here are female but I refuse to support this notion as it offends me greatly

I stand with Jelgate on this one.

[squirrely1]

I apologize profusely for derailing this thread into a debate on this subject. I also apologize if I have offended folks here. It was not my intention to do that.

If you want to call me sexist then so be it. Then I am a sexist! I stand by my understanding that men and women can and do process things differently. We are different in our physiologies. But DIFFERENT is not a bad thing. It's a good thing.

I refuse to continue this discussion here. Feel free to PM me or come talk on my wall about it if you wish to debate this further. I can withdrawl my participation in the re-watch if my comments here are so offensive.

[Falcon Horus]

And nearly lost it a second time...

*****

Damnit, I lost the review I typed up of Vitas Mortis...
Not cool. It was short so maybe I can replicate it somehow...

I can withdrawl my participation in the re-watch if my comments here are so offensive.

I remember some very heated discussions between us, in other threads, and I'm ver much certain there are other things we vehemently disagree about, but that hasn't stopped me from talking to you.

Withdrawing from the rewatch/review seems to be a bit drastic. We will continue to disagree on several more matters, but then we'll have to agree to disagree (almost wrote disagree to agree, which is quite the opposite from what I was getting at ).

****************************

So, that lost review of Vitas Mortis

I liked this episode more than the season opener. I really enjoyed learning more about the lifespan of Pilot's species and Leviathans. Chiana and Aeryn's back and forth about doing laundry and getting Chiana unstuck. Rygel's royal butt used to plug a hole, and showing his royal behind to the entire universe, freezing his mivonks off (although Aeryn didn't look that closely).

I especially liked more on D'Argo and how Luxons deal with death.
The old woman trying to be young again to enjoy the pleasures of life, only realize her life has been fully lived and she's killing a living being for it. I like how that plays out, that she's aware her magic's done this.

Also, D'Argo's OH-face...

************************************

My next reviews will probably be the next 4 episodes all at once in two weeks time because I'm having a busy weekend ahead in which I have to prepare to go on holiday.

[jelgate]

And nearly lost it a second time...

*****

Damnit, I lost the review I typed up of Vitas Mortis...
Not cool. It was short so maybe I can replicate it somehow...

Do you remember those "Jelgate's Two Cents " I used to do back in the old days. Those things took me over an hour to do as they were long. Anyway one Friday when I was still learning the mechanics of the forum I went to post and lost the whole review. I didn't know the forum kicks you off after an hour if you click remember me when you log on. Mad doesn't even begin to describe what I felt that day

I remember some very heated discussions between us, in other threads, and I'm ver much certain there are other things we vehemently disagree about, but that hasn't stopped me from talking to you.

Withdrawing from the rewatch/review seems to be a bit drastic. We will continue to disagree on several more matters, but then we'll have to agree to disagree (almost wrote disagree to agree, which is quite the opposite from what I was getting at ).

Remember the old pro/anti wars? We got really heated at one another especially if Sam Carter was involved. Not matter how much we argued we stayed friends. Their is a point to my trip down memory lane. Even though I technically can't claim ownership of a thread I do feel a sense of leadership since I started and organized this. I point out as one of my oldest friend (We are friends,FH?) and I fought over so many things in a TV show and at the end of the day we still got along. There are some places here I know its impossible to stay civil*cough*Politics *cough* but lets don't make this one of them. I don't know blue that well but I get the feeling she is one to respect others. I know FH and SQ respect other people's views. So if a disagreement personally bothers you please say something. What makes half of this fun is the discussion. I would hate to see that fun go away because a person is deeply offended. No I am rambling like SQ

****************************

So, that lost review of Vitas Mortis

I liked this episode more than the season opener. I really enjoyed learning more about the lifespan of Pilot's species and Leviathans.

Such rare insight into Pilot . I wish we had more development of high

Chiana and Aeryn's back and forth about doing laundry and getting Chiana unstuck.

What I liked was it answered those mundane questions about a spaceship. Now, if we could only find the bathroom,

Rygel's royal butt used to plug a hole, and showing his royal behind to the entire universe, freezing his mivonks off (although Aeryn didn't look that closely).

I think we all loved that scene. Finally found a use for Rygel always stuffing his face

I especially liked more on D'Argo and how Luxons deal with death.
The old woman trying to be young again to enjoy the pleasures of life, only realize her life has been fully lived and she's killing a living being for it. I like how that plays out, that she's aware her magic's done this.

Also, D'Argo's OH-face...

************************************

She wasn't really a bad person. She was just doing what I think most of would do. Find a way to starve off death. The thing is most of us do have the means to fight death like the Orician. I don't think she would ever really sacrificed Moya. The Orician wanted to find a way for both to live. The problem is that the episode's premise makes it that one has to die

My next reviews will probably be the next 4 episodes all at once in two weeks time because I'm having a busy weekend ahead in which I have to prepare to go on holiday.

I'm really busy this Saturday as well. I have the day shift at work but am off Monday. I think I am going to do Farscape Sunday and Monday this coming week. I guess blue or SQ will be first

[Falcon Horus]

I didn't know the forum kicks you off after an hour if you click remember me when you log on.

I do a lot of my posting at work, cause I'm easily bored with my work and when I can't concentrate I do something else entirely -- play on GW.
However, my settings are that my browser won't remember anything (precautionary measures for anyone snooping) and thus GW will indeed kick me out after a period of time. Half the time I remember to copy my post before I attempt to post, half the time I forget and then I loose things.

Remember the old pro/anti wars?

How can we ever forget?
Those were nuclear.

I point out as one of my oldest friend (We are friends,FH?)...

We are indeed.

What I liked was it answered those mundane questions about a spaceship. Now, if we could only find the bathroom,

Bathrooms always tend to be mysterious places.
I mean, I still don't know where it is on Atlantis either.

She wasn't really a bad person. She was just doing what I think most of would do.

No, not a bad person. Just sad really...

[squirrely1]

@Jel and FH... Thank you for your comments and the invitation to stay and continue the reviews. I just didn't want to cause undue drama or "political" bickering in this thread since this is supposed to be for entertainment. And yes I remember some of those times when heated discussions went on in other threads years ago And yes we will have to just agree to disagree. I am all for that because Tolerance does NOT have to equal agreement!

DISCLAIMER:
With that said let me just say that I may from time to time say stupid things and I apologize for them ahead of time. I treat these reviews as a way I can voice my own personal opinions which are largely made up of my unique life experiences which include religious, political and social interactions with the people who I'm involved with in my real life and try as I might, bias may come out from time to time in doing reviews such as these. I doubt anyone can claim they are 100% bias free all the time. It's important to try to remember that we all come from such varying and diverse backgrounds, experiences and cultural situations that some personal offenses may inevitably happen. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to Zhaan into someone's mind and consciousness and see all things the way they do, so unfortunately it becomes very difficult to remain sensitive to everyone's unique perspectives and perceptions. Please don't take what I say as a personal attack as that is not my intention.

Ok so.... *breathes in deeply*

Taking the Stone

I love this ep, unlike jel who hates it. There! We're already at odds here *Jumps off the cliff* Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! *THUD*

I think this ep is so important as it sets up the following things for us:

Establishes Aeryn and John as the "Parental Units" to Chiana - It's so clear to me...maybe because I am a parent IDK, that this is the role Aeryn and John were playing in this ep. I thought it was critical to the story because it clearly sets Chiana as the child or little sister to John and pretty much seals the John/Aeryn (J/A) ship as the One True Pairing (OTP) in this series up to this point ....again IMO. I think it's been a little muddled from time to time with the Chiana's advances toward Crichton to their sizzling on screen chemistry between those two characters, I think it was a decision of the writing team to try to put characters in their respective places and I appreciate that! I hate when shows *cough*Friends*cough* write their characters allowing anyone to bed anyone at anytime on any ep ad nausem that it's almost painful to watch. I love it when a writing team takes a clear and definitive stance on who will likely hook up with whom early on and they stick with that. Now it doesn't mean that dampens the chemistry it just sets clear boundaries.
With that said, I could really relate from the whole J/A Parental Team at how different Aeryn wanted to play mother to Chi and How John struggled with the Paternal role. Aeryn being the more "give Chi" the reigns and let her work through it and then John trying to knock her out and drag her back to Moya. It was a sort of classic overprotective Father trying to bring his daughter to safety while Aeryn played a typical peace keeper role (not necessarily the faction PK) but you know what I mean. And I loved that John recognized that Aeryn had wisdom regarding the matter.

To Intervene or Not Intervene?? That is the Question
I do think as parents or as a "guardian figure" and you recognize that your ward or child is engaging in life threatening behaviors either by engaging in some harmful substance abuse, or other behaviors that could severely harm their well being we do have a responsibility to intervene in as loving a way possible. True people need to try to do it on their own, but I do think at some point in severe mind altering situations (addict or dangerous cult like situations), people may not be capable of getting themselves out of the trouble so this is a tenuous subject at best. I think John grappled with how to intervene. I think he knew he needed to intervene but didn't exactly know how.

Modes of Intervention
So what does John do? He jumps in with both feet and tried to get on their level and ate the 'shrooms. Silly John! Now in retrospect as Aeryn mentioned that was probably as equally stupid of him cuz it turned out that wasn't as helpful as actually obtaining the tissue sample from the Lost One woman. They all decided to educate the kids in order to try to help them. I appreciated the fact that they didn't make it a Kumbaya moment at the end where all the kids just said...Hey yeah cool....let's just move to the surface. I loved that this community albeit (somewhat cult like) decided they didn't want to throw away their way of life and change. They liked taking the stone, they didn't want to grow old. That was within their rights after all they weren't really hurting anyone outside of their community or taking anyone inside their community against their will. They were pretty much a self contained unit and not kidnapping people so meh.....to each their own.

Other bits that were really insightful to me were:

Rygel's comeuppance with regard to his greed and habit of stealing shiny things. Is he related to PH by chance? LOL I loved that he dragged that crap all the way back down and replaced it back to where it belonged.....Good for you Rygel....even if it took a mighty "curse" to do it.

Importance of Maintaining your SHIPS SHIPS And MORE SHIPS Yes this section is for you jel since you hate "shipping so much"
Isn't it funny when John was appearing to Maintain Moya's Guidance systems in the beginning that he really wasn't doing that great of a job? It was sparking and shocking him and he was almost cursing it? Well I think that was a little situational model or metaphor that all ships as in our Relationships and their guidance controls always need a little TLC from time to time.
Because we have Chiana's Link to her brother and her dealing with the grief of that. She begged John for his help, that she needed to talk. John showed annoyance with Chi and even pushed her away by saying NOT NOW! This was just like how often times a busy parent or a busy family member or friend could treat another family member or friend. We lose sight of how sometimes we let our important relationships sort of suffer because we do become so busy and don't MAKE time for them. We just come to expect them as a mundane part of our lives which require little to no maintenance. I think this too can be a dangerous area for us or a warning not to let that happen in our important relationships in our lives.

IMO, no relationship is ever that solid that you can ignore it and not expect it to die on the vine. I think all relationships need to be nurtured and tended to in order for it to thrive and become as solid and healthy as it can be. And yes that is for all ships not just the romantic ones.

I think that was a real eye opener for John and he admitted his guilt about it later.


And I think I better stop there or jel will beat me up again.

[Bluemeany]

Taking the Stone

I’m not keen on this episode. But, as I respect SQ’s life choices, I’ll stand on the top of the cliff and politely applaud as she hurls herself off it. No whooping though: I’m British.

From a vidding point of view, there are a few nice shots but not many. This is a very dimly lit episode and the non-Moya sets looks a bit ‘generic TV sci-fi cave planet’.

All the shots of people actually jumping have lovely movement though. Particularly a few camera moves of Crichton and/or Aeryn watching that drop down (although one of those is used in the title credits, so it’s probably easier to get it from another episode).

Chiana is doing a good job demonstrating the importance of making time to talk to the teenagers in your life. John’s protective intervening father/ big brother mode is particularly misjudged, albeit well-intentioned.

Don’t I remember Crichton being really pissed off that Aeryn knocked him out to get him to a planet without an argument? And yet he just did the same thing to poor Pip! Seems a tad hypocritical.

As SQ mentions, I do like the set-up of John and Aeryn as the ‘parental unit’. Family Ties actually kind of started that at the beginning of the season didn’t it? The two of them tried to get ‘Talyn some guidance’.

They haven’t got the hang of it yet though. And interestingly, it’s Crichton’s determination that he knows best that blocks them working as a team for much of the episode.

As I mentioned in an earlier review (when he was going to fly the both of them into a wormhole without knowing where it would take them or if they could get back) Crichton’s ‘look before you leap’ trait of taking unilateral decisions without considering Aeryn is one of the major sticking points in their relationship throughout the series.

Aeryn is guarded emotionally. But John guards against outside influences on his autonomy. I think in a relationship these two things are pretty much one and the same. Both end with you dismissing or failing to let in the person who could help you.

All in all, the whole story feels a bit ‘Star Trek’. There’s a 60’s episode where they beam down to a society of children who die when they reach puberty. But of course, Kirk etc. saved them all in the end. At least, with Farscape you know it’s not a given that the crew of Moya will make things better…

Psst! SQ (and continuing the theme of parental guidance)…you realise that jel and FH are gone ‘till Monday?*jumps on all the beds/ raids fridge for ice cream*

[squirrely1]

@Blue - LOL *jumps on all the beds and eats all the snacks*
I hadn't thought to compare the bit where Aeryn knocked John out early on to get him where she wanted him...pretty much against his will...good eye! But I wouldn't go so far as to consider her being hypocritical (since John was acting more as a stubborn adult at that point and not a 'shroom eating suicidal teen)....so I think there was a bit of a difference in those two situations. It was clear that Chi needed to work through this, but again she needed intervention and John knew that he just wasn't sure how to do it.

I remember that Star Trek ep too and I agree to a point at the Star Trek feel maybe visually, but I think the ep offers so much more in the character development department than 1960's Trek could.

[jelgate]

Taking the Stone

I made it no secret that I hate this episode. While I do dislike it, after rewatching I seem to recall hating it more. Whatever. First of all I find the creation of the premise shaky. Even if we ignore the probability of Chiana finding a habitual planet with Aeryn's prowler I find her leaving Moya to make no sense. I'm not talking about her brother. I'm not talking about the grief. That I actually understand having been it though it a few times. I find myself having a time believing John would ignore her like that. It has to be clear to everyone that she is hurting. The compassionate guy that John is would have noticed something is wrong and would have talked to her before continuing to destroy Moya. Yes I know without it their would have been no episode but it doesn't justify the out of character John. A big reason I don't care for this episode is I just do not care for what I am calling stoner hippies (aka SQs). The whole society annoying and I find myself dull with everyone talking to them. I just don't care and want to be done with them. No one is going to listen to our heroes, so why should we even bother? I would also point out that the writers butchered radiation poisioning. Most TV shows do this but long term exposure doesn't produce symptoms like that. Its the short term exposure. Another thing that bothers me is John actually took the mushroom. I know he was worried about Chiana but I can't really believe he would risk his life like that for Chiana. I know he has risked his life numerous times. This feels different as it was their life was immediate danger. In this instance, in the moment Chiana wasn't in danger. Chiana's part of the episode is the shinning light of the episode. Like I said before, I understand grief. I think anyone who lives long enough experiences. I can understand Chiana feeling so numb because her brother died. So I can understand her wanting to go through these suicidal tasks to feel something. John is right about the stupidity, but I also think Aeryn makes the best point. Who thought Aeryn would be the voice of reason for a change? Its stupid but if Chiana can't see reason, you can't force her to stop. People do stupid things all the time, grief of no grief. It pains me to say this but SQ might be right as its almost a John and Chiana episode. DOn't agree on calling John and Aeryn parental figures though I'm rambling again. You can't stop Chiana and have to let to take the risk or she is going to keep trying until she feels something again(Besides she has her character shield). Finally, the Rygel graverobbing is funny for a second. Only he would do such a thing. After that it just seems a place filler to add extra time. I don't think Rygel really learned anything as he would steal gold and jewels again. I also think ZHaan's chant was actually the curse to drive him crazy

[squirrely1]

@Jel - I know you don't want to admit that John is crazy but.... I say all this lack of compassion you describe and his out of character-ness is because he is going frelling crazy dude!

So, if you don't believe me because well you often don't want to admit that I'm right so you take the devil's advocate against what I say.... take it from the Companion's Edition. I decided to break mine out. I lost the one I had for Season one But I have all the others and I wish I would've got s2 out sooner. I love the little insights they give there. I am going to transcribe a paragraph from that book here regarding John's progressive craziness:

Claudia Black enjoyed the battle between Crichton and Aeryn in the episode. "I just liked the opportunity to be in opposition to Crichton in a different way", she says, "for there to be conflict between the two of them brought about by a massive shift in their roles and their mindsets. It also gave them more of an opportunity to be like parents quarreling over an errant child. It's a nice reversal when Aeryn wants to use words rather than actions and Crichton is the one who's trying to knock Chiana out and drag her back to the ship."
"It's not typical John behaviour," Ben Browder agrees. "I think in a lot of ways that episode is very, very good. John doesn't want Chiana to die. He thinks she's going to make a stupid decision, so he's going to, do whatever he has to do whatever he thinks is right. There's a side issue, which is that he's a little nuts! From the time he stepped out of the Aurora Chair in "The Hidden Memory", he's actually been nuts. If you watch his reactions to situations, they're slightly off. I made the conscious choice that I was not going to react the way a normal person would react. John's synapses are in a weird place; he's sort of suffering from a mild schizophrenia. He's over-reacting to things he shouldn't react to, and he's under-reacting to things he should react to."
Browder suggested that Crichton should start to recognise that something is wrong. "Talking to Justin about the script, I said that I was a little worried because no-one was mentioning that Crichton was acting any way other than normal," He recalls. "So Justin added in Crichton asking, 'Lately, do I seem a little crazy to you?' and Aeryn goes 'What do you mean, lately?' The rest of the crew hasn't really cottoned on to the fact that John is nuts. The audience hasn't cottoned on to it either."

I would go on but my fingers are getting tired of typing. It seems that Browder has been the one who really wants the continuity of his character to be closely minded (no pun intended) so it was his choice to play John slightly more crazy now.

Also, There was a nice little paragraph about Gigi being a previous circus performer or something and she really enjoyed those stunts and the big jump as well as the leap we saw her do toward D'Argo in the previous ep where she had to wear a wire to do that, she loved it and this ep was especially thrilling for her. So I think they tried to write an ep that allowed Gigi to use some of her training and skills in a way that fit the story and I guess this is what they decided to come up with. While I will admit the story is a bit trite I think it works well to give us a Chiana centric ep and allows the other characters to evolve as well.

[Bluemeany]

Crackers Don’t Matter

A really cracking episode (badum-tish); definitely in my top five. And as about on the edge as I think Farscape could go. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but on original broadcast 11 year old me was watching this in a 6:45pm timeslot with tea and cheesy-pasta.

From a vidding point of view, there’s a lot of useful footage. There’s shots here of a type you won’t find anywhere else; the little laughing Scorpy heads for example. If you want shots of Crichton very obviously deranged (and let’s face it, who doesn’t), this is the episode for you, as the later neural chip insanity is more subtle.

And the camera doesn’t stop moving, even more so than usual. It sways to create this disorientation effect.

I love the introduction of ‘Harvey’ (even if the audience/Crichton/writers don’t quite know it yet). That bit where Scorpius’s hologram solidifies and steps out is so creepy! Like that bit in The Ring where the little girl crawls out of the television.

Plot wise it’s a very simple episode. It’s underwritten, but in a good way. Everyone goes nuts. But, boy do they really go nuts, as about as far as network TV heroes can do I think.

There are two scenes that disturbed me. First, D’Argo assaulting Rygel with the crackers. Second, Crichton getting very close to raping Chiana.

I think the latter one is made worse by the fact that it isn’t actually John who stops himself. It’s the neural clone. I suppose if you’re viewing or writing Scorpius as a hallucination for this episode, then it is some aspect of Crichton that pushes itself to the surface, so it sort of makes it better.

But when you watch ‘Crackers don’t matter’ knowing about Harvey… it does beg the question of what John, the hero, would have done if the chip had not stopped him.

Similarly, it’s interesting that it’s the villain who steps in. Given Scorpius’s backstory and family history, I wonder if it’s a little bit of Scorpy's personality (morality even) coming out through the clone there?! Or he could just be trying to stop Crichton getting distracted as he claims.

For me, it’s the fact that these darker elements are set against the funny and downright stupid that gives Farscape it's unique tone. Crichton cold bloodily skewers T’raltixx, but does so looking like an idiot and iced in vomit. Scorpius is creepy, but he’s dressed in an Hawaiian shirt. All of Moya crew are scary and believably homicidal, but they are trying to kill each other over crackers.

[jelgate]

Crackers Don't Matter

Here's Johnnnnny Jelly. What a strange turn of events. SQ and myself usually get our reviews before blue. I was reading her review (I think blue is a she). I think she makes a good point in Farscape being creepy and weird. This is one of those Farscape episodes that is just plain weird and does all these strange things. Farscape does that so well and is why I love this episode. Their is however a problem. Its really hard to review this episode in depth. I'm sure SQ will ramble on how the John and Aeryn psychopathy is some hidden shipping message. But that is not me. Its just so random and funny. But their isn't a whole lot to comment on except maybe how much I love special scene to show their paranoia. But we all know this isn't really the characters. Except maybe ZHaan who didn't really go crazy for the most part and just enjoyed some light sex. I guess what I liked is the subtility. I know their isn't much subtility in stuffing crackers down Rygel's mouth. But I though it was gradual (as much as you can for a 45 min. episode). I don't think we really ever found out how Tralltax was driving them crazy since it obviously wasn't the pulsars. I call gradual because at first the characters are just arguing like how Chaiana and Aeryn are arguing about a beacon. Then before you know it know John is shooting D'Argo in the leg and seeing a guy who knows a lovely beack with naked Sebecceans. I want to go there. Shut up. If you girls can envision John then I can do the same for females. I just love Harvey especially in this episode even if it isn't really Harvey yet (See SQ about the insanity). Its the highlight of him walking around with that Hawaiian shirt and his nudging of driving John crazy. He has my favorite line in the whole episode if not the whole show

Scorpius: Kill her. Then we'll have pizza. And some margarita shooters. Go on, John. Kill her! Do it. Do it.

John: Nobody has margaritas with pizza.

I really could go forever about all the crazyiness but I think you get the point Between the episode of insanity we get the point that apparently we are deficient. Aparently all the other species (even the Sebecceans) have superior abilities. I really love how Pilot is the one to drive that home to John because it shows how he is affected by the light. A person is generaly docile hates them all. I can accept that fact but it brings up two things I didn't agree with. We are suppose to believe Traltaxx's light is what causing people to go insane and John's poor eyesight makes him less suspectible. The problem I have is that John seems to go just as crazy as everyone else. Sure Aeryn has a gun pointed to her head at one point, but John seems okay at shooting her. I don't buy he was less affected. Maybe the writers went a little too far with the crazyiness. I think I saw the next scene in Braveheart. I remember laughing in seeing John dressed as a nomad. It was hilarious watching him dressed in puke and all that heat resistant tech to kill Tralltaxx. I never did understand what the whole deal with light was but maybe that is by design don't think too much and have a laugh

[squirrely1]

Crackers Don't Matter

This ep of course is just straight up crazy What's not to love? I've always sort of had some issue with them trusting this guy (Trailmixx) But seriously, as soon as they were just starting to go a bit loopy they should've turned Moya around. I think they were just in denial because no one wanted to admit they were a "lesser species" Talk about Trailmixx putting the major mind game on them.

This is by far John's trippiest ep I think as Blue mentioned in terms of camera movement and disorientation focusing trick. This is probably going to be my shortest review yet....yes it will too jel because Blue did a fantastic job and I may rather transcribe more from my Companion Edition.

But about the John crazy with respect to Scorpy my take on it when Scorpy just stepped out of the holograph message was that was all John's making in his own mind. Obviously it wasn't the premiere of the nueral clone Scorpy because he was mainly speaking in terms of what John would understand making reference to things (Marguaritas and Pizza) which are strictly Earth references, Scorpy would have no knowledge of such things. Most everything that Head Scorpy talked to John about had some basis to Earth either directly or indirectly. That is what made this incarnation of Scorpy so different. He was all basically a figment of John's Crazy imagination.

I agree with Blue about the two disturbing scenes. I remember hearing an interview by Gigi recalling that playing that near rape scene with Ben was very emotionally scary for her as he was so into character it was very real.

Here are some bits found in the Companion Edition:

'Fear and Loathing in the Uncharted Territories', is Gigi Edgley's nickname for 'Crackers Don't Matter', the episode which its director Ian Watson sees as the time when Farscape "went from its adolescence to its really dangerous young adulthood, having serious attitude." Line producer Anthony Winley regards it as his favourite of the year. "It was a lot of paranoid fun. There were a lot of laughs, so I just loved it."

'Crackers Don't Matter' came about as a result of the sudden necessity for an episode that could take place entirely on board Moya. "Justin Monjo just went crazy with it," Rockne S. O'Bannon says. And he came up with a script that Lani Tupu regards as a "gift".

There were a number of comic moments during the episode. Claudia Black loves the showdown in Command between Crichton and Aeryn which ends "absolutely ambiguously. The lights go down at the end, there's a charge and the sound of someone getting hit. We knew that we had to find Crichton dragging Aeryn in the next scene and it's nice to leave that up in the air."
However, it was not all humorous. "I love romps", Ben Browder states, "but I prefer it when there is also something which grounds the story." Crichton's attack on Chiana in the corridor is one such scene. "We shot that with the second unit about a week after I'd shot the whole episode." Ian Watson recalls. "I was looking at a rough-cut of it, and I thought that it hadn't gone dark enough. They were meant to really turn on each other."

"It was the first time I'd seen Ben really lose the plot," Gigi Edgley recalls. "It was a bit disturbing shooting it. It was very full on. I was really scared of him - you just don't see Ben like that. We were close range, one on one. There's this bizarre 'God knows what's going to happen next!' vibe. Its dark and crazy but it takes that madness to another level."

I don't know if it was the mood that Ben was in or something but it came out that way." Ian Watson adds. "the funny thing is, it was done with so much love and care from Ben to Gigi when we did it. They gave each other a big cuddle afterwards."

We see that Crichton is capable of horrible things, and if he's capable of horrible things, then him being good, honest, true and a boy scout is made more significant," Ben Browder points out. "It makes John real. That's one of those scenes which grinds the entire audience back to a sort of reality about the situation."

So it seems that John pretty much deviated from the script as he was supposed to be angry with Chiana and go at her sort of like he did with Aeryn. But instead Ben during shooting changed it to the almost rape. I think it works because it certainly makes you realize he has absolutely lost it. And I think it makes a nice contrast to the other bickering and fighting going on with everyone else. It shows a whole different side of creepy crazy that John was capable of.

All in all I loved this ep!

[Bluemeany]

Here's Johnnnnny Jelly. What a strange turn of events. SQ and myself usually get our reviews before blue.

I know! It’s Tuesday here now and I was wondering where y’all were. It was getting to the point where I half expected to stumble across SQ’s corpse surrounded by cracker crumbs. Still no sign of FH though….*eyes Jel suspiciously*

We are suppose to believe Traltaxx's light is what causing people to go insane and John's poor eyesight makes him less susceptible. The problem I have is that John seems to go just as crazy as everyone else.

Yeah, I didn’t think John was any less crazy… everyone else managed not to actually shoot one another. Even Aeryn, which is a big deal for her. And yet D’Argo’s lying on the floor bleeding ‘cause supposedly ‘saner’ Crichton shot him.

But about the John crazy with respect to Scorpy my take on it when Scorpy just stepped out of the holograph message was that was all John's making in his own mind.

I think you can watch it either way which is kind of nice. It can be John-made Scorpius, which makes sense given the pop culture reference you mention.

Or it can be neural clone. When Harvey-proper shows up in ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, he tells Crichton about the chip. I think John says, “That explains why I’ve been seeing you’ and Scorpius says yes… (or something like that, it’s been a while since I’ve seen it). That could be Crackers he’s referring too.

Either way works. But I agree, it being a John-creation says better things about Crichton's character.

[squirrely1]

@Blue - haha ....It was last week you would've stumbled over me fat arse corpse

But about the Head vs Neural Clone Scorpy I agree it could go either way but to me it just really stood out in this ep as a complete Head Scorpy because of all the Earth References. But I will have to watch out for that discussion you mentioned in 'Won't Get Fooled Again'. Sadly my Companion Guide doesn't give any mention to the Scorpy bit.