Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[squirrely1]

@Falcon - (can I call you Falcon?) good review as always. You reminded me of just how callous Zhaan was about practicing on Rygel. And that little comment she made when it was over. "There was a part of me that enjoyed that." LOL I had to chuckle at that.

@Blue - Thanks for agreeing to the Blue... you wouldn't think I'm a lazy typist with all these words but meh.....every few words help. I just like to shorten names...you know the whole nickname thing. About Crichton's orange jump suit you may have something there with the "Reminder" to the audience that he is like this fish out of water. It's this bright orange like what they put inmates in when they take them out to do community service So yeah I mean visually you can't help but notice John sticking out like a sore thumb.

@jel- do you have to shoot down everything I post? I will work on trimming down my wordiness if that will make you rant at me less. Geez. I was gonna comment on some of the comments you made to my post but I think you said something just the reverse of what I said....so why bother. We'll just each have our own theories and be happy with that

[jelgate]

@Falcon - (can I call you Falcon?) good review as always. You reminded me of just how callous Zhaan was about practicing on Rygel. And that little comment she made when it was over. "There was a part of me that enjoyed that." LOL I had to chuckle at that.

We call her FH or little lemming. I also laughed at Rygel because I think I would enjoy it.

@Blue - Thanks for agreeing to the Blue... you wouldn't think I'm a lazy typist with all these words but meh.....every few words help. I just like to shorten names...you know the whole nickname thing. About Crichton's orange jump suit you may have something there with the "Reminder" to the audience that he is like this fish out of water. It's this bright orange like what they put inmates in when they take them out to do community service So yeah I mean visually you can't help but notice John sticking out like a sore thumb.

I agree John stick out mainly because he is a stranger in a strange land with limited clothing to choose from. Although you can notice that all the characters have one set of clothing. ZHaan always wear blue robes, and D'Argo always is wearing that red clothing

@jel- do you have to shoot down everything I post? I will work on trimming down my wordiness if that will make you rant at me less. Geez. I was gonna comment on some of the comments you made to my post but I think you said something just the reverse of what I said....so why bother. We'll just each have our own theories and be happy with that

Yes. I respond to everyone to promote discussion in the thread. Just remember my theories are the right one. You knew from the start we like Farscape for different reasons. I'll have you know in the old days, FH and myself argued with almost every Stargate episode.

[squirrely1]

@jel. Well I don't wanna argue over these eps. I want this to be enjoyable. Can't we see different things and that's ok? I don't think it's necessary to come to consensus about everything in them.

[Falcon Horus]

I believe you created all the Heightmeyer videos

Music comes first -- I tell a story.

@Falcon - (can I call you Falcon?)

See Jelgate's response.

But Falcon's fine.

We call her FH or little lemming.

[Bluemeany]

It helps to post in other places besides this thread

Ah yes, probably shouldn’t admit this on a Stargate forum but ( other than the James Spader movie) I actually haven’t seen that much of it yet …Ben Browder and Claudia Black being my gateway drugs I’ve started the very last episode and am working my way backwards…

[jelgate]

@jel. Well I don't wanna argue over these eps. I want this to be enjoyable. Can't we see different things and that's ok? I don't think it's necessary to come to consensus about everything in them.

We are not arguing. We are discussing our different POV. Of course its not necessary or even expected to us agree

Ah yes, probably shouldn’t admit this on a Stargate forum but ( other than the James Spader movie) I actually haven’t seen that much of it yet …Ben Browder and Claudia Black being my gateway drugs I’ve started the very last episode and am working my way backwards…

So you are a Fargater then? Their are other areas to go if you don't watch Stargate. Although I would encourage you to watch the whole franchise. Except the unspoken series of course

[squirrely1]

DNA Mad Scientist

Wow ok so now everyone is at each other's throat in this ep. And we have a Minotaur wearing some twisted S&M costume ....oh joy! And I don't know about you but it was painful to see beautiful Claudia Black aka Aeryn to transform into the hideous Pilot like creature. But all in all this ep was remarkable for one thing and that was it allowed for some bonding to take place between Pilot and Aeryn that you don't necessarily realize in this ep but it comes to fruition much later in the series. Sorry if that was a tad spoilerly. Also, I loved Pilot in this ep. It is about time we have a more Pilot centric ep. We learn that Pilot can regenerate limbs and just how ruthless D'argo and Zhaan and Rygel for that matter when they all have something they desperately want.
I loved how graciously forgiving Pilot can be and just how understanding he was of their situation. All the talk of what body parts they each would be willing to sacrifice was quite humorous as well.

The other thing I really enjoyed about this ep was the little scenes between Aeryn and John and his promise to her that IF he could ever find his way back to Earth he would take her with him. He would give her a home...he also tried to convince her that she would fit in. I did love just how shippy this ep was because I think for the first time they both realized they were alone (John didn't have any luck to get info from Nam Tar about Earth and Aeryn can't go back as has been established) so they were drawn together in this ep because they share a common problem and the alternative if they weren't together would be a life of loneliness. So If anything good came from this ep it more or less shoved Aeryn and John together because of their common plight. Once John realized something was wrong with Aeryn he was desperate to help her. This may have been one of the times in which Aeryn is totally dependent on someone to save her. I think that was a revelation to her at the end in that convo she had with John, when he asked her what was the worst part? And her response more or less was having her body gone, the warrior (physique) and she was left only with herself....internally, something she has never had a full grasp of until this point. That was terrifying to her. That situation forced her to truly look inside of herself. It was also huge that she admitted to John that she had never been alone, showing her fear and vulnerability. Wow you don't really think that this rough and tough warrior would worry about such things but she had always been part of a team and to face the possibility that she would spend the rest of her life alone she again was terrified. For once she became more like John here and was the new fish out of water and together they could on a level relate to each other in a new way.

All in all a great bonding ep for Pilot and Aeryn and John.

I could probably say alot more but I'm gonna keep this shorter...as to not go on and on and allow others to make some great points.

[Falcon Horus]

DNA Mad Scientist

This one I remembered. And it's still as heart-wrenching this 4th or 5th time as the 1st time I watched it.

I love Aeryn. I love Pilot. And what is done to these characters in this episode... ... I wanted to drag them through the screen and squish them, and keep them save from harm.

The drive to find a way home turns D'Argo, Zhaan and Rygel into monsters. It's like they loose all perspective and all they can think about is themselves and everything else, everyone else can go to hell as far as they are concerned.
Aeryn has no home to back to, and is painfully aware of that situation. (heartbreakingly so) John doesn't even know where home is at the moment -- he's good and truly lost in space. And Pilot is home, on Moya.

Pilot is such a gentle creature. When John asks him why he isn't angry, and he is telling him he'll be okay and that he understands the will to sacrifice his arm in order to gain what they want, I was with John thinking "Why isn't he pissed off? They took his arm for crying out loud? Without questioning what they were doing was right or wrong?". They would quite literaly sacrifice one another if it could get them home. That's a scary thought.

Namtar striving for perfection and creating a superbeing, himself. You saw where he came from -- I guess it's understandable he was striving for more. However, the scientist experimenting on him does not go without blame. Had she not upgraded him in the first place, he wouldn't have felt the urge to continue feeding his addiction. She created the monster and then brought it down again. Full circle. However, one can only hope they learned their lesson so that no one else falls victim to their creations.

Anyhow, definitely one of my favorite episodes in that first season. Lots of interesting character interactions and a glance into their psyche.

How far would you be willing to go to find a way home?

[jelgate]

I guess I am the late one to the party this time

DNA Mad Scientist

I have always wondered if that was the Milky Way that we see from Namtar's device. The show has always given the impression that John is stranded in an area of the Milky Way but it was never clear if John was still in our galaxy. That is just a small point I guess. This another one of those character episodes disguised as a plot episode. Unlike I, ET I think the story is a strong one with a weak conclusion. John touched on the on the monster NamTar was. This guy reminds me of the era of Eugenics (again John touched on this) and the wrongness of experimenting of people with no regard to the ethics. All Namtar cared about was his own version of perfection. The problem with this type of philosophy is how do we define perfection. Namtar thought of perfection as physical abilities but as John pointed out their is a mortality to perfection. I know its a fraction of the episode but its these kinds of discussion that interest me. I thought the part of NamTar being a lab experiment that turned too powerful was creative (Their is that word again SQ). I just thought the solution was weak. But I am getting ahead of myself. Lets be blunt. Aeryn was just a plot device for us to get involved. Although I am surprised that John was the only one who cared. You would think Zhaan or D'Argo would stop the fight with Rygel to help someone who was dying. I know SQ and blue probably call the stuff between John and Aeryn shipping stuff. At the risk of causing a fight I think its just friendship. John by nature is a compassionate guy especially in these early episodes. I see him fighting with NamTar and scheming with his creator as nothing more as his caring for her in a friend way. He would have helped any other person who was slowly being killed. A fact we have seen in previous and future episode. I think this episode is weak because of the solution. Let mix a couple of technobabble chemicals and just like that NamTar returns to an ugly rat and Aeryn loses the Pilot DNA. I am going to call the D'Argo/Zhaan/Rygel story the B plot. One thing disturbs me is how willing Zhaan and D'Argo were to cut off Pilot's arm. I can see Rygel doing it but it seems so out of character for Zhaan and D'Argo to do it. Yes I can understand the desire to return him is a strong one, but am I suppose to believe they would sacrifice their values to do so. I think this is the episode I hated Rygel the most. His scheming around the other two because he selfishly believed he was more important annoyed me a lot. Although. Zhaan and D'Argo do deserve it since they were stupid enough to not check the door or call Pilot to open the door. I do like how the two abandon their alliance when they see chances to get what they want. As this stage, you can't trust anyone. I think we all knew the crystal was not to be trusted. But I loved the look on everyone when John destroyed the crystal. I swear I thought they were going to kill him. I did forget to mention one thing. We are so focused on John is stranded from home, that we forget the other Moya inhabitants have homes too. It was interesting to see how much they wanted to go home too. Something that is not often mentioned.

[squirrely1]

@FH and jel - yes this ep did show Zhaan, D and Rygel as monsters and to me other than Rygel I think it was too OOC for Zhaan and D. It really grated on me and I think the writers went too far. Especially when Aeryn asked D'argo if he would do (what he did to Pilot) to anyone else and he said Of course.... it seems they have really back slid as a team and have fallen so far into distrust it's almost devastating to the show IMO. It almost seems that the writers just needed to get D, Zhaan and Rygel out of the way so they could give Aeryn and John time to work out Aeryn's problem and so they allowed the silly bickering and do not pass go ...go directly to jail move. I didn't like this ep for how OOC they wrote D'argo and Zhaan.

@jel...1. I'm proud that you are using the word creative more... very nice. 2. I'm calling BS on the it's just friendship...granted they aren't jumping in the sack yet...but this ep helped them get even closer as they found out and it was fully realized that without each other they would be truly alone.

[Bluemeany]

So you are a Fargater then? Their are other areas to go if you don't watch Stargate. Although I would encourage you to watch the whole franchise. Except the unspoken series of course

Oh good, I’m glad to hear there’s a word for it. I have to admit, at the moment I’m watching it as some sort of mind-frelled, alternative reality Crichton & Aeryn ( a la Infinite Possibilities)…. I’m sure that’ll change as I get more into it though.

Wow ok so now everyone is at each other's throat in this ep. We learn just how ruthless D'argo and Zhaan and Rygel for that matter when they all have something they desperately want.

Yeah, I really like that aspect too. All totally ruthless and willing very quickly to exploit another living being to get what they want. Like there’s not even really a should we/shouldn’t we discussion; they just do it.

The drive to find a way home turns D'Argo, Zhaan and Rygel into monsters. It's like they loose all perspective and all they can think about is themselves and everything else, everyone else can go to hell as far as they are concerned.

There’s a running theme of actions taken to survive, get home or belong turning characters into monsters in this episode isn't there? Namtar, D’Argo, Zhaan, Rygel in the present obviously, but also Aeryn and her inner monster, all the things she did as a peacekeeper to belong sort of Dorian Gray themselves to the surface

Also anyone else notice that Nam Tar backwards is Rat Man? That’s kinda nice, I guess because he’s a lab experiment. Farscape does seem to have a tendency for well thought through character names.

Pilot is such a gentle creature. When John asks him why he isn't angry, and he is telling him he'll be okay and that he understands the will to sacrifice his arm in order to gain what they want, I was with John thinking "Why isn't he pissed off? They took his arm for crying out loud?

Yeah, I love Pilot in that bit. The line of ‘How can you not be angry, insanely angry’. And he just isn’t.

I know SQ and blue probably call the stuff between John and Aeryn shipping stuff. At the risk of causing a fight I think its just friendship. John by nature is a compassionate guy especially in these early episodes.

Yeah, I agree with the idea that Crichton’s defining characteristic is his willingness to help, ‘group’ and connect with others. This is partly because he’s inherently a stand up sort of guy.

But in keeping with the Darwinist themes of the episode, you can also see it as his particular survival strategy (mostly a subconscious one). It’s a very human/social way of staying alive. And it pays off later in the series when he asks and gets a lot from the others.

That said, although I think he would help any Moya crew member in Aeryn’s predicament… I still think there’s a shipping undercurrent particularly in her reluctance for Crichton to see all her ‘monster’ aspects.

Oh and from an editing pov: the Milky Way CGI is just beautiful. Looks great when you overlay it on other shots.

[Bluemeany]

So…I didn’t accidentally watch the wrong episode yesterday, not at all. I’m just going to skip over a full review of DNA Mad Scientist for…reasons…

‘They’ve got a Secret’

Last episode most of the crew turned on each other. Now the bloody ship’s at it too! I love that about Farscape, everyone and everything has their own agenda.

For the record, my favourite characters go in this order: Aeryn, Crichton, Pilot…the DRDs! I have such a soft spot for the DRDs. They are adorable. Hundreds of little psychotic ones only more so.

Anyone else think that sometimes this felt like a ‘set-up’ episode? There’s a lot of information in this we need re. D’Argo’s backstory, breathing in space and Moya’s pregnancy that’s important for later story arcs. I don’t know though, maybe you only get that impression re-watching…

But this is a ‘locked down’ episode: there’s no guest cast and it’s entirely Moya based (with the brief exception of the unplanned spacewalk at the beginning, but I don’t think that counts).

Similarly, from an editing pov there are very few action/moving scenes ( D’Argo being flushed and the DRDs trying to kill Crichton being the exception) and the CGI is kind of static. It's telling that Aeryn’s main ‘in- peril’ scene involves her being literally stuck to the floor unable to move. Compared to most Farscape it’s a very still episode.

That said D’Argo’s trippin’ is a way at least to try and ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ all his emotional baggage and backstory. And I like that his approach to ship maintenance seems to be hit it very hard.

But the most important part of the episode: Moya is having a baby!

I liked the foreshadowing

Spoiler:

between D’Argo’s half peacekeeper, half Luxan son and Moya’s hybrid baby.

Aeryn’s assurance at the end that, despite her view that inter species relationships are evil, she will keep Jothree a secret

Spoiler:

is later born out in her protective relationship to Talyn. And (although it’s a long way ahead) in her relationship with Crichton and little D’Argo.

My two favourite lines in this episode actually are both Aeryn’s, The first one is her line to Crichton that there is still death and suffering in space, just in new ways.

The second is when she’s about to sever Moya’s higher functions she says ‘This isn’t my decision alone. If we do this, we all have to be a part of it’. She is viewing Moya as a living creature and wants to be collectively sure that they are doing the right thing.

Oh, and following on from PK Tech's ‘I have something in my eye’ routine, I notice the old ‘injured hand touching' also seems to be something of flirting universal.

[jelgate]

DNA Mad Scientist

Wow ok so now everyone is at each other's throat in this ep. And we have a Minotaur wearing some twisted S&M costume ....oh joy! And I don't know about you but it was painful to see beautiful Claudia Black aka Aeryn to transform into the hideous Pilot like creature. But all in all this ep was remarkable for one thing and that was it allowed for some bonding to take place between Pilot and Aeryn that you don't necessarily realize in this ep but it comes to fruition much later in the series. Sorry if that was a tad spoilerly. Also, I loved Pilot in this ep. It is about time we have a more Pilot centric ep. We learn that Pilot can regenerate limbs and just how ruthless D'argo and Zhaan and Rygel for that matter when they all have something they desperately want.

Only you would go the S&M route. I didn't really find it painful. I thought it was some nice makeup work to see how well they could make a human look like a puppet. I don't call it a Pilot centeric. It was Aeryn centric. We learn a few things about but Pilot only has a few scenes. Their aren't many Pilot centeric episodes.

I loved how graciously forgiving Pilot can be and just how understanding he was of their situation. All the talk of what body parts they each would be willing to sacrifice was quite humorous as well.

I think that explained that Pilots serve others so they can venture space. Although, taking ones arm may be going too far. I don't think I would understand even if my arms did regenerate

The other thing I really enjoyed about this ep was the little scenes between Aeryn and John and his promise to her that IF he could ever find his way back to Earth he would take her with him. He would give her a home...he also tried to convince her that she would fit in. I did love just how shippy this ep was because I think for the first time they both realized they were alone (John didn't have any luck to get info from Nam Tar about Earth and Aeryn can't go back as has been established) so they were drawn together in this ep because they share a common problem and the alternative if they weren't together would be a life of loneliness.

Is that really a shipping moment? John's most dominant characteristic is his desire to help and care for others. If it was D'Argo or Zhaan I think he would have made the same offer. I will agree on liking and it was to demonstrate how alone they are. But that is what bonds the Moya crew. They are alone

So If anything good came from this ep it more or less shoved Aeryn and John together because of their common plight. Once John realized something was wrong with Aeryn he was desperate to help her. This may have been one of the times in which Aeryn is totally dependent on someone to save her. I think that was a revelation to her at the end in that convo she had with John, when he asked her what was the worst part? And her response more or less was having her body gone, the warrior (physique) and she was left only with herself....internally, something she has never had a full grasp of until this point. That was terrifying to her. That situation forced her to truly look inside of herself. It was also huge that she admitted to John that she had never been alone, showing her fear and vulnerability. Wow you don't really think that this rough and tough warrior would worry about such things but she had always been part of a team and to face the possibility that she would spend the rest of her life alone she again was terrified. For once she became more like John here and was the new fish out of water and together they could on a level relate to each other in a new way.

I agree with the analysis of Aeryn. Before all Aeryn was just a warrior. When you take that away, what is she?

All in all a great bonding ep for Pilot and Aeryn and John.

I'll give you Aeryn but I am not sold on Pilot.

I could probably say alot more but I'm gonna keep this shorter...as to not go on and on and allow others to make some great points.

The important thing is you are trying to be succient

DNA Mad Scientist

This one I remembered. And it's still as heart-wrenching this 4th or 5th time as the 1st time I watched it.

I love Aeryn. I love Pilot. And what is done to these characters in this episode... ... I wanted to drag them through the screen and squish them, and keep them save from harm.

I want to smack D'Argo and Zhaan for what they did to Pilot.

The drive to find a way home turns D'Argo, Zhaan and Rygel into monsters. It's like they loose all perspective and all they can think about is themselves and everything else, everyone else can go to hell as far as they are concerned.

I found it to be out of character for Zhaan and D'Argo. They are portrayed as more honorable. It does match Rygel's selfish nature

Aeryn has no home to back to, and is painfully aware of that situation. (heartbreakingly so) John doesn't even know where home is at the moment -- he's good and truly lost in space. And Pilot is home, on Moya.

Is she though? She mentioned Sebeccean colonies when Namtar injected her

Pilot is such a gentle creature. When John asks him why he isn't angry, and he is telling him he'll be okay and that he understands the will to sacrifice his arm in order to gain what they want, I was with John thinking "Why isn't he pissed off? They took his arm for crying out loud? Without questioning what they were doing was right or wrong?". They would quite literaly sacrifice one another if it could get them home. That's a scary thought.

Its Pilot's servant attitude. He acknowledges that his position is to help others. That said, I would have been right along with John

Namtar striving for perfection and creating a superbeing, himself. You saw where he came from -- I guess it's understandable he was striving for more. However, the scientist experimenting on him does not go without blame. Had she not upgraded him in the first place, he wouldn't have felt the urge to continue feeding his addiction. She created the monster and then brought it down again. Full circle. However, one can only hope they learned their lesson so that no one else falls victim to their creations.
[/QUOTE]It really depends on how far she had increased his intelligence before he took over. Also what caused him to go power mad. Its a complex issue.

Anyhow, definitely one of my favorite episodes in that first season. Lots of interesting character interactions and a glance into their psyche.

I like it but wouldn't call it my favorite
How far would you be willing to go to find a way home?[/QUOTE]
Its hard to say as most of us have probably never been away from home

@FH and jel - yes this ep did show Zhaan, D and Rygel as monsters and to me other than Rygel I think it was too OOC for Zhaan and D. It really grated on me and I think the writers went too far. Especially when Aeryn asked D'argo if he would do (what he did to Pilot) to anyone else and he said Of course.... it seems they have really back slid as a team and have fallen so far into distrust it's almost devastating to the show IMO. It almost seems that the writers just needed to get D, Zhaan and Rygel out of the way so they could give Aeryn and John time to work out Aeryn's problem and so they allowed the silly bickering and do not pass go ...go directly to jail move. I didn't like this ep for how OOC they wrote D'argo and Zhaan.

The thing is the majority of the episode is them fighting Rygel for the crystal. That is within their character I think. The cutting off the arm of Pilot is where I think they went out of character

@jel...1. I'm proud that you are using the word creative more... very nice. 2. I'm calling BS on the it's just friendship...granted they aren't jumping in the sack yet...but this ep helped them get even closer as they found out and it was fully realized that without each other they would be truly alone.

I'm calling BS on your BS. Yes that's right its a double BS. Want to go for a triple. My reason for friendship is that John would have done the same to anyone else. If it was love then the offer would only be to Aeryn.

Oh good, I’m glad to hear there’s a word for it. I have to admit, at the moment I’m watching it as some sort of mind-frelled, alternative reality Crichton & Aeryn ( a la Infinite Possibilities)…. I’m sure that’ll change as I get more into it though.

I haven't seen it used in a long time but it was big term back in the day. When Black and Browder came to Stargate, a lot of Farscape fans followed. I would just watch it as a total different show.

Yeah, I really like that aspect too. All totally ruthless and willing very quickly to exploit another living being to get what they want. Like there’s not even really a should we/shouldn’t we discussion; they just do it.

As I have said before I found it out of character.

There’s a running theme of actions taken to survive, get home or belong turning characters into monsters in this episode isn't there? Namtar, D’Argo, Zhaan, Rygel in the present obviously, but also Aeryn and her inner monster, all the things she did as a peacekeeper to belong sort of Dorian Gray themselves to the surface

I think its more about survival and how far you are willing to go to achieve it. NamTar's perfection or the others wanting to return home is ways to survive.

Also anyone else notice that Nam Tar backwards is Rat Man? That’s kinda nice, I guess because he’s a lab experiment. Farscape does seem to have a tendency for well thought through character names.

I did not. Good eye

Yeah, I love Pilot in that bit. The line of ‘How can you not be angry, insanely angry’. And he just isn’t.

It shows his servant look of life. I think its explained in how Pilots on ships serve others. Losing an arm may be too far in my opinion

Yeah, I agree with the idea that Crichton’s defining characteristic is his willingness to help, ‘group’ and connect with others. This is partly because he’s inherently a stand up sort of guy.

A lot of it is his upbringing. We look at his Earth life and John has had it easy compared with the others

But in keeping with the Darwinist themes of the episode, you can also see it as his particular survival strategy (mostly a subconscious one). It’s a very human/social way of staying alive. And it pays off later in the series when he asks and gets a lot from the others.

Agreed. And its social Darwism.

That said, although I think he would help any Moya crew member in Aeryn’s predicament… I still think there’s a shipping undercurrent particularly in her reluctance for Crichton to see all her ‘monster’ aspects.

I will concede to that point. But did john ever see the other aliens as monster. They are new to him

Oh and from an editing pov: the Milky Way CGI is just beautiful. Looks great when you overlay it on other shots.

I love the look of Milky Way. Especially when John broke the crystal

[jelgate]

They Got A Secret

If the last episode is one of FH's favorites of S1 then this is one of mine. This is what I call classic Farscape. Everyone is doing their own thing to help solve the problem of Moya. Well except Rygel of course. I bet 10 food cubes that SQ thinks the scene at the start where John has Aeryn on his shoulders is some kind of shipping scene. I know its become a broken record for me but I don't think they had a whole a lot of time together. After the part where the DRDs spray them with superglue, you don't really seem together. That has a lot to do with the episode. Its a very plot focused episode. Its obvious from the start then when D'Argo knocked open the Peacekeeper shield that's what caused Moya to go crazy. What I love is us all trying to do their own thing. John investigate head on. Aeryn gets to play with Pilot. Zhaan uses her science knowledge. And D'Argo does his...well we will get to D'Argo. I think someone mentioned in a previous episode how Farscape has a trial and error method to their stories. When one thing does not work, they try another. I think this applies to this episode. We have an idea, like using Aerryn as a pilot to fix Moya. When that doesn't work we analyze the compound on D'Argo. When that doesn't work we investigate more and find out the DRDs are involved. I could go on but you get the point. What I love is this episode is one giant red herring. We are taught to believe the Peacekeeper device is some thing of virus. I love the shock that the Peacekeeper device was actually preventing Moya from delivering her baby. To me that is classic Farscape. It likes to take standard scifi stories and turns it on its head. What was believed to be a virus story is actually something quite different. I said I would get to D'Argo and well here goes. This was a great plot episode but it also uses the trauma of D'Argo being exposed the vacuum of space to explore his character. It shows the trauma of what he has been through and explores why he is what he is. My heart breaks a little. Yes, I have a heart. To watch your wife killed, have to send your child away, and to be framed for a murder by your brother-in-law. That is a lot to take in and I think it helps elaborate a few of the earlier episodes when we see D'Argo alone. I think you can see that look on everyone's face when D'Argo confesses to his friends the real reason he was imprisioned on Moya. Finally I thought it was hilarious when D'Argo thought Rygel was Jothee. I got weird looks when I laughed at Rygel announcing he is getting a piggyback ride. I will end that the final scene shows that Aeryn still drinks the Peacekeeper kool-aid. Notice how she doesn't disagree with the idea of keeping the bloodlines pure. I think by show's end she doesn't agree with that philosophy.

[squirrely1]

@Blue - I liked that you caught that NamTar's name backwards was Rat Man....WOW good eye!! I would have to agree with you that we could sum up DNA Mad Scientist as a great big Monster Theme! I wish I would've used that! DANG! Aeryn's transformation was the manifestation of that theme so maybe that is why the writers chose to really write D'argo and Zhaan so monster like. I think I can deal with it better now...thanks!

And if you overlay the way in which D and Zhaan handled the amputation of Pilots arm with How Aeryn handled the severing of Moya's higher connections it's literally 180 degrees different. Great that you pointed out that Aeryn basically asked persmission from the whole group and made sure there was a consensus first.

It's really interesting how much more you can see in a rewatch ...just how deliberate the writers were with each episode and how you may not be able to catch all that the first time through. I am not a huge fan of re-watching shows because I have so little time and there is so much I want to do ....but this series is so worth it as I really think there is so much art and thoughtfulness that went into each ep.

@jel - regarding our Triple BS Like Blue mentioned up there...can we at least agree that there were shipping overtones in DNA Mad Scientist? Ok so maybe no full on shipping, but overtones!! I love how close John gets to Aeryn. Just notice that. It's especially becoming more and more evident as the series progresses that John literally enters Aeryn's personal space all the time and she doesn't seem to mind.