Prepare for Starburst: A Farscape Rewatch Thread

[squirrely1]

@jel on these bits:
1. Glad you hung in there and continued watching on my promise that it gets better cuz it does! So if any of you fence sitters out there are watching this for the first time and are considering bailing....Don't! Hang in there....(although my son didn't listen he wouldn't even give it 3 eps) But I tell you give it the full season. By the end when you meet a special character *cough* Scorpy *cough* if you don't love the show by then....then maybe it's not the show for you.
2. I thought we agreed on the companionship issue. I don't think men are more obsessed with sex over women. I think there are obviously different needs and I think men may crave the physical intercourse more and women crave more the outercourse more (kissing and cuddling). I think that is a natural birth control if you will. But again that is sort of my own theory and of course you will probably discount that and call me stupid and inferior. So meh

3. Why do you not like Ben Browder's acting?? I will admit it was a little weak in the beginning but I honestly think he's amazing. I think he can really emote with his eyes and there is a scene coming up soon

Spoiler:

I think when he finally faces off with Crais...

and I don't want to spoil anyone here but it's an amazing scene and I think that scene really highlights Browder's acting abilities.

[Falcon Horus]

You dirty mind you

I never went there... Okay, perhaps there was a fleeting moment... But Pilot started it.

I interpret that scene as nothing has changed and everyone is going to still grow the space pot.

Meh -- they're addicted to the stuff. It makes them happy while they work.

3. Why do you not like Ben Browder's acting??

For the record, I was referring to Crichton's acting, not Ben's. I think Ben is brilliant.

[squirrely1]

I never went there... Okay, perhaps there was a fleeting moment... But Pilot started it.



Meh -- they're addicted to the stuff. It makes them happy while they work.



For the record, I was referring to Crichton's acting, not Ben's. I think Ben is brilliant.

ah Ok I get it now....sometimes it does take me a while. So it was the character's acting that was poor LOL *mind warp* Not the actual actor's bad acting of the character's bad acting ability

[jelgate]

@jel on these bits:
1. Glad you hung in there and continued watching on my promise that it gets better cuz it does! So if any of you fence sitters out there are watching this for the first time and are considering bailing....Don't! Hang in there....(although my son didn't listen he wouldn't even give it 3 eps) But I tell you give it the full season. By the end when you meet a special character *cough* Scorpy *cough* if you don't love the show by then....then maybe it's not the show for you.

I thought it hit its stride actually before Scorpy. I loved the addition of Chiana and the stories start to gel more. Scorpy adds more of a serialized

2. I thought we agreed on the companionship issue. I don't think men are more obsessed with sex over women. I think there are obviously different needs and I think men may crave the physical intercourse more and women crave more the outercourse more (kissing and cuddling). I think that is a natural birth control if you will. But again that is sort of my own theory and of course you will probably discount that and call me stupid and inferior. So meh

That wasn't addressed at you personally. I hate stereptypes and generalizations. Bear in mind seriousness vs my jokeative nature

3. Why do you not like Ben Browder's acting?? I will admit it was a little weak in the beginning but I honestly think he's amazing. I think he can really emote with his eyes and there is a scene coming up soon

Spoiler:

I think when he finally faces off with Crais...

and I don't want to spoil anyone here but it's an amazing scene and I think that scene really highlights Browder's acting abilities.

John Cricheton's acting not Ben Browder. I loved when Browder channels his inner Scorpious.

I never went there... Okay, perhaps there was a fleeting moment... But Pilot started it.

You forget who you are talking too. We have known each other for 9 years. I know how dirty you can be.





Anna Glavin

Meh -- they're addicted to the stuff. It makes them happy while they work.

Then its settled. I'm going to drink alcohol before I go to work tomorrow.. I'm going to tell my supervisor it makes me happy.

For the record, I was referring to Crichton's acting, not Ben's. I think Ben is brilliant.

[/QUOTE]
What the Heightmeyer lemming said:O

ah Ok I get it now....sometimes it does take me a while. So it was the character's acting that was poor LOL *mind warp* Not the actual actor's bad acting of the character's bad acting ability

Yes. When John tries to masquerade as a Peacekeeper he is terrible at it.

[squirrely1]

@jel - I love the addition of Chiana too....she really adds a wonderful dimension to the series -

Spoiler:

and a much needed companion for D.

[jelgate]

PK Tech Girl

I was going to rant on about how we never found out really attacked this Peacekeeper ship. We know its not the Sheyang since they are scavengers and only attacked unarmed and weak opponents. But then I remembered that question is answered in a future episode. I think this is the start of more arc storytelling that made Farscape great. Stay tuned newbies. This episode has many "little" stories going on for all the characters with the exception of Zhaan and Pilot (My favorites). They all converge on the Peacekeeper ship but everyone gets something. I can't criticize that John was the center this time. That is why I liked this episode. A lot of people got something. Lets start with the elephant in the room. You win this time SQ. I will give in this episode their was a John/Aeryn shippness in the episode. This was mostly on Aeryn's side When John has an attraction to Gilinia you can see their is hint of jealousy in her eyes. This was the first time I ever saw anything between John and Aeryn. Moving away from shipping (Because I don't care about these things) this episode was an eyeopener for Aeryn. Gilina is used as a plot device to discover what Aeryn has lost since she has been irreversibly contaminated. I think its a point to show just how much she has changed. And also how much she has not. Look how Aeryn still defends the atrocities of the Peacekeepers. At the same time we see Aeryn hurt about what her actions have done to her previous unit. The overall conclusion is that Aeryn has grown but she still has lot to go. Now I usually don't care for Rygel. His greed and selfishness annoy me. However, I loved his personal demons in this episode. He is one who usually gives in to fear so I loved seeing how he confronted Dukura and rubbed it into his face. The flashback hallucinations were nice as they give us an insight on the torture Rygel went through. You may have notice I really have not mentioned the plot. That is because really the plot is kind of weak. The Moya crew has to fix the defense screen while the Sheyang could attack us. Its highly technobabble because an energy shield is kind of beyond human technology at the moment. So really the plot is nothing more to serve too many character arcs. One of them I have already discussed. The first one is to serve as a character attraction between John and Gilina. The two characters are similar in mind. So giving them a common task allows them to bond and be attracted to one another. The other point of the plot is to give D'Argo something to do. What I liked about D'Argo's story is that it shows he is more than an angry warrior. That will always be a part of him but as we see in later episodes he is more than just a warrior so I like the part of this episode that shows us that the start of his other attributes. Despite it having a weak plot this is probably one of my favorite pre-Scorpy episodes.

[squirrely1]

PK TECH GIRL

I will have to agree completely with what jel said up there ^ What is the world coming too??

Actually in the end John sums up this entire episode with his "Good, Bad and Ugly" movie reference. This ep was all about once again character arcs and everyone having some growth in one of these areas (Good, Bad and Ugly).....for the sake of me not just repeating what jel said above and mixing things up a bit let's start with....dun dun dun....

The UGLY - Facing Personal Demons
As jel mentioned the plot was a bit weak, but really served to give our characters time to address some of their own personal demons they've been struggling with.

Rygel - he made it the most obvious in the way in which he had to confront his fear of his previous capture and torture. I loved how this ep started out zoomed in on Rygel's eye (goes to show you just how amazing the art and crafting involved with these puppets...that they are that confident in their craftsmanship to get that close...another reason I love this show...is how real they have made these puppets which serves to draw you into that world of believe-ability). It was Rygel who first recognized this ship as well and you just had to feel his pain and discomfort as he was undoubtedly terrified at what he may encounter there.
I do love how Zhaan helped Rygel to summon up the courage to find the corpse allowing him to move on. I did have a moment where I wasn't sure how Rygel was on the Zelbinion one moment looking around and then back hiding on Moya shaking and scared. I thought maybe he was having hallucinations about the Zelbinion but then I realized that Moya was actually coupled with the Zelbinion allowing them to walk to and from ship to ship...so Rygel would go investigate the Z a little then come back and speak with Zhaan. That was a tad confusing for me...but give me a break I have a squirrel brain.

Aeryn - Facing her fears and her "irreversible contamination" consequences were another great beat in this ep. Catching John and Giliana kissing put things front and center for her. I did like the jealousy aspect of this and how John could see it and chased her down just to "check in" to "clear the air". I loved how Aeryn worked hard to suppress her feelings and not deal with the pain it was causing her. This was another great character moment for her because she really wants to grow and be better but she continues to fall back to her old ways as the warrior. Although at the end when she was having the very selfless and touching moment with Giliana I was proud at how dignified and diplomatic she was being and decided to return her smile and shake hands with this rival. I think it was key that Aeryn was able to help Giliana keep from being branded as "irreversibly contaminated" as she was and Aeryn was able to impart to her some good advice when being debriefed by Crais. I think that part of this ep was really soothing to her character and allowed some healing. Which in contrast if you remember the beginning of the ep, the look of anguish Aeryn had on her face when she found out from Giliana that her whole unit was banished.... that was the very ugly part of reality that Aeryn had to face regarding the consequences of her actions. It was much needed to help her realize I think there was no going back..not now....not ever. I think it was a door finally closing for her. Jel mentioned he found it odd that Aeryn continued to defend the Peacekeepers and Aeryn "wanted answers" by searching the Z....well I think she got answers, but probably not the ones she was looking for. I think by the end it was clear to Aeryn that her old life was really over and if she is going to survive and find some form of happiness she needs to learn to let go of that old life.

The Bad - Zhaan's changing Morality. I thought it was very ironic in this ep that it was D'argo who didn't want to lie to the Sheyang's about the condition of their ship's armaments. Zhaan's "little bit of bad" tickled me and I think it's really what makes Zhaan a very likeable character because she's not so sickening sweet, rational and loving all the time. She can be, as we've seen, quite the warrior and now she can tell little white lies when they prove useful. I loved this exchange between D'argo and Zhaan and how she was feeding him lines to say...helping him become more of a diplomatic ambassador type.. This play she made to scare the Sheyang's I thought was brilliant and did save their arses and bought them some time. SO in the end we could see a very proud D'argo that he was able to negotiate such a tenuous treaty with really nothing. I think it even shocked himself that he was able to pull that off.

Which brings me to the Good....Aeryn and John's Relationship...

Yes eventually you know I am going to talk about the shippiness of this ep. It should be no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am a shipper and proud of it. However, I will try not to be annoying about it. I do love this show primarily for the John and Aeryn love story, but all the characters and the over arcing story is all icing on the cake too. I think this ep, as jel mentioned, established that this is going to be more of an arc driven serialized show. I loved that after the "monster of the week" was over our characters remained changed and things were altered for them, forever. I hate when TV shows do all these things to their characters and then reset them back to the beginning like all that stuff never happened. Farscape at this point I think really established it's footing as a serialized space drama showing that these characters were on a journey and they were taking you with them. At this point I was hooked on the show!

So back to the Good. I think it was good that John and Aeryn could "Clear the air" but it was not what they said...as they verbally agreed that he meant nothing to her, I think based on her actions and the little "Hey...." conversation they had at the end was very telling about just how much they deeply cared for each other. It was interesting if you'll note the different kind of love Crichton felt for Giliana than he has for Aeryn. Many would argue that he has no love for Aeryn yet but I disagree. I think he does see Aeryn as his "ship mate", however, I think he has a deep love for Aeryn that is more than just a feeling of love which many times when you click with a person and have those hormonal attraction to them it's more of a lust driven desire and maybe not truly love at that point. Yes Giliana was willing to die with John and that can all be considered a love of sorts but many times we allow that physical attraction (lust) to draw us close to a person because we continue to seek that feel good feeling. But down deep when that all wears off sometimes that just doesn't hold you to the person for long after that feeling is lost. It's the deep connections that keep us bound to a person long term. I think John has more of those deep connections to Aeryn and with Giliana I think it was more lust filled and sort of a heat of the moment thing.

And as much as John and Giliana hated to say goodbye to one another I think they knew down deep they could never survive and some would say that if they really loved each other they would've tried it anyway. You know love conquers all ...and all that bs....well I think they weren't willing to even try that so I am not really putting my money on the solidarity of their relationship. But as jel said we may see things to come with regard to that in future eps. So stay tuned!!

So at the end of the day, this ep established it's footing and sparked that connection between Aeryn and John despite John's attraction to another woman....and gave some of the characters a chance to deal with their own personal demons, and others a chance to grow.

[Bluemeany]

PK Tech Girl

Bit late in m’ watching this week. And jelgate and Squirrely have already excellently covered a lot of the content.

Before we get to the shipping, the editing point of view:

Not so many moving shots in this episode, but great colour: yellow, red and cyan lights on close ups that work well for vidding, particularly in the scenes on the Zelbinian. CGI is passable, although not as good as other episodes.

Definitely worth editing this episode up if you are making a John/Aeryn video, despite the fact that they don’t actually physically do anything with each other. Lots of longing/ ‘what am I feeling?’ looks.

Similarly, from a *cough* purely aesthetic *cough* pov, Crichton discards the IASA ‘ I’m wearing a sheep’ jacket about half way through in favour of short sleeve white T-shirt.

Like Squirrely, the John/Aeryn love story is my favourite Farscape arc. Jelgate, you probably won’t be happy to learn that the video I’m working on from editing up the rewatch is a shipping vid…

Which brings me to the Good....Aeryn and John's Relationship... I think this ep, as jel mentioned, established that this is going to be more of an arc driven serialized show. I loved that after the "monster of the week" was over our characters remained changed and things were altered for them, forever. I hate when TV shows do all these things to their characters and then reset them back to the beginning like all that stuff never happened. Farscape at this point I think really established it's footing as a serialized space drama showing that these characters were on a journey and they were taking you with them.

Yep, totally agree, the show’s lack of a reset button is what make the love arc stand out. I also like the fact that their relationship and emotional maturity isn’t linear, sometimes they move backwards (just like real life!). But it is always in response to an event or an internal block they’ve come up against.

It was interesting if you'll note the different kind of love Crichton felt for Giliana than he has for Aeryn. Many would argue that he has no love for Aeryn yet but I disagree. I think he does see Aeryn as his "ship mate", however, I think he has a deep love for Aeryn that is more than just a feeling of love which many times when you click with a person and have those hormonal attraction to them it's more of a lust driven desire and maybe not truly love at that point.

It interesting to get different viewers angles on when they see them 'falling' for each other isn't it? I think Aeryn falls for Crichton from the very first episode. She takes a risk for a complete stranger by speaking up for him against Crais; that’s not a particularly peacekeeper-sort of thing to do. Nor is it particularly wise strategically and Aeryn is normally a smart cookie.

In this episodes there’s some dialogue that the penalty for being ‘irreversibly contaminated’ is death.I think this is the first time that it's mentioned: Crichton certainly looks surprised. He didn’t necessary clock before just how big a leap Aeryn took by trying to defend his crash as accidental. There is also a line in I think Bad Timing that could be read as

Spoiler:

if Aeryn on some level knew she loved him from the very start, something like:

John: What worries me, is that from the beginning I could never see the end.
Aeryn: What worries me is that I always could.

Crichton is a little harder to read as to when he starts having feelings for Aeryn. But to me, there’s a line in episode 3, when he says (of the Aeryn copy) “It was exactly like you. The way it moved. The way it felt.” There is then a definite moment. Yes, I’ll admit it subtext, but there is a beat.

And by this episode, the fact that he leaves Gilina to go ‘clear the air’… well there’s something there at least.

That said, I do like Gilina. And I think that she and early series ‘gee-whiz, isn’t the universe wondrous’ John work well as a couple. She’s good with science, doesn’t seem to want to kill anyone or screw them over (quite a novelty in the Farscape universe), is able to express emotions… in fact pretty much the opposite of Aeryn at this point.

However, I think it’s interesting

Spoiler:

that by the end of series 1, she will totally not be what darker, more world weary Crichton needs, particularly post-Scorpius. By then, he needs someone who’s harder, who’s going to keep him alive…

the best way to explain was for me to gif-set a paralleling of blocking I noticed in some later episodes ( see link below)

BUT WARNING: these are very spoilery for both season 1 and PK wars. Do not click if you haven’t seen the whole of Farscape yet.

http://thebluemeany.tumblr.com/post/...hip-priorities

I also enjoyed that Aeryn and Gilina’s interaction wasn't really to do with Crichton. That was refreshing. They weren’t rivals in terms of how they acted to each other. In fact they have a nice connection by the end of the episode with Aeryn giving advice, and Gilina taking hold of her hand.

Oh, and I also note that the old ‘I have something in my eye’ routine works in other galaxies too. That’s good to know.

[squirrely1]

@ Bluemeany....first off YAY!! So glad to meet another shippery person about the John/Aeryn love story. We will undoubtedly drive jel crazy. *snort* I can't wait to see your shippy vid, I actually have done a lot of vidding myself, but I have never made one of John/Aeryn...so I may just do one now...as a sort of challenge. We'll see. Maybe this summer.

As far as when John/Aeryn first really started "falling for each other" I think it was pretty close from the start for both of them. John I think clung onto her because she was the closest thing to human he had found up to that point, and her being female was even better. I'm sure he was pretty much elated. However, he was dealing with trying to cope in this new world and the other team members that he really thwarted his thoughts of her in that way IMO. I think John just continued to push it to the back burner because he recognized that Aeryn wasn't ready or receptive for that matter. Unlike the pliable (and no that's not a play on words ) Giliana. Let's face it Aeryn at this point is hard to love. She pushes people away and is very hardened. Giliana is what John finds refreshing because she accepts his advances and succumbs quite easily to him. Aeryn is going to prove a much harder catch for him and I think it's that dance (that you mention) that draws me to this ship so much too because while it can be frustrating for some to watch I really feel like this is how true companionship works alot of times...you know one step forward, two back. So I like that you pointed out that

Spoiler:

John and Aeryn's relationship is not linear by any means but it's that rocky path that makes it so titillating and interesting and makes you really want them to be together at the end for that pay off they both deserve.

Love the gifs and can we use some of them with your permission?

[jelgate]

PK TECH GIRL

I will have to agree completely with what jel said up there ^ What is the world coming too??

Its you finally accepting the rationalization of jelgate

Actually in the end John sums up this entire episode with his "Good, Bad and Ugly" movie reference. This ep was all about once again character arcs and everyone having some growth in one of these areas (Good, Bad and Ugly).....for the sake of me not just repeating what jel said above and mixing things up a bit let's start with....dun dun dun....

If we are going to agree on an episode, its only natural we are going to repeat ourselves. I also don't babble on as long as you

The UGLY - Facing Personal Demons
As jel mentioned the plot was a bit weak, but really served to give our characters time to address some of their own personal demons they've been struggling with.

Really the only one with personal demons in this episode is Rygel and Aeryn. The weak plot doesn't bother me as I know later episodes have stronger plots.

Rygel - he made it the most obvious in the way in which he had to confront his fear of his previous capture and torture. I loved how this ep started out zoomed in on Rygel's eye (goes to show you just how amazing the art and crafting involved with these puppets...that they are that confident in their craftsmanship to get that close...another reason I love this show...is how real they have made these puppets which serves to draw you into that world of believe-ability). It was Rygel who first recognized this ship as well and you just had to feel his pain and discomfort as he was undoubtedly terrified at what he may encounter there.

I thought the zoom in was better to show us camera work over. That not to downgrade the puppets just that it impressed more with filming. I thought Rygel mentioned the ship because of his pain

I do love how Zhaan helped Rygel to summon up the courage to find the corpse allowing him to move on. I did have a moment where I wasn't sure how Rygel was on the Zelbinion one moment looking around and then back hiding on Moya shaking and scared. I thought maybe he was having hallucinations about the Zelbinion but then I realized that Moya was actually coupled with the Zelbinion allowing them to walk to and from ship to ship...so Rygel would go investigate the Z a little then come back and speak with Zhaan. That was a tad confusing for me...but give me a break I have a squirrel brain.

I may be wrong but isn't this the only time Moya uses an airlock. I seemed to recall uselly using transport pods to investigate ships. The back and forth wasn't confusing for me at all. As for Zhaan, it showcases her role on Moya. To me besides being the medical expert, she was the heart of Moya

`
Aeryn - Facing her fears and her "irreversible contamination" consequences were another great beat in this ep. Catching John and Giliana kissing put things front and center for her. I did like the jealousy aspect of this and how John could see it and chased her down just to "check in" to "clear the air". I loved how Aeryn worked hard to suppress her feelings and not deal with the pain it was causing her. This was another great character moment for her because she really wants to grow and be better but she continues to fall back to her old ways as the warrior.

Its like I said. She has grown but still has a long way to go.

Although at the end when she was having the very selfless and touching moment with Giliana I was proud at how dignified and diplomatic she was being and decided to return her smile and shake hands with this rival. I think it was key that Aeryn was able to help Giliana keep from being branded as "irreversibly contaminated" as she was and Aeryn was able to impart to her some good advice when being debriefed by Crais.

It was really to save her own skin. If Gilina was contaminated Crais would be closer to finding Moya. I'm not calling Aeryn uncaring but lets call it what it was. She didn't want Crais to catch her.

I think that part of this ep was really soothing to her character and allowed some healing. Which in contrast if you remember the beginning of the ep, the look of anguish Aeryn had on her face when she found out from Giliana that her whole unit was banished.... that was the very ugly part of reality that Aeryn had to face regarding the consequences of her actions. It was much needed to help her realize I think there was no going back..not now....not ever. I think it was a door finally closing for her. Jel mentioned he found it odd that Aeryn continued to defend the Peacekeepers and Aeryn "wanted answers" by searching the Z....well I think she got answers, but probably not the ones she was looking for. I think by the end it was clear to Aeryn that her old life was really over and if she is going to survive and find some form of happiness she needs to learn to let go of that old life.

Not odd. It showcases how much Aeryn has to go. She is still somewhat brainwashed to the Peacekeepers propaganda. I don't think Aeryn ever believed a notion she was going back. It was just to show what has happened so far since we haven't seen Crais since the Premiere

The Bad - Zhaan's changing Morality. I thought it was very ironic in this ep that it was D'argo who didn't want to lie to the Sheyang's about the condition of their ship's armaments. Zhaan's "little bit of bad" tickled me and I think it's really what makes Zhaan a very likeable character because she's not so sickening sweet, rational and loving all the time. She can be, as we've seen, quite the warrior and now she can tell little white lies when they prove useful. I loved this exchange between D'argo and Zhaan and how she was feeding him lines to say...helping him become more of a diplomatic ambassador type.. This play she made to scare the Sheyang's I thought was brilliant and did save their arses and bought them some time. SO in the end we could see a very proud D'argo that he was able to negotiate such a tenuous treaty with really nothing. I think it even shocked himself that he was able to pull that off.

I'm confused. You did or did not like Zhaan's idea. I don't see it as a change. Peace loving Zhaan sees lying as acceptable compared to people dying.

Which brings me to the Good....Aeryn and John's Relationship...

I'll get my vomit bucket.

Yes eventually you know I am going to talk about the shippiness of this ep. It should be no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am a shipper and proud of it. However, I will try not to be annoying about it. I do love this show primarily for the John and Aeryn love story, but all the characters and the over arcing story is all icing on the cake too. I think this ep, as jel mentioned, established that this is going to be more of an arc driven serialized show. I loved that after the "monster of the week" was over our characters remained changed and things were altered for them, forever. I hate when TV shows do all these things to their characters and then reset them back to the beginning like all that stuff never happened. Farscape at this point I think really established it's footing as a serialized space drama showing that these characters were on a journey and they were taking you with them. At this point I was hooked on the show!

I'm not obsessed with shipping and proud of it. For the most part I agree but even Farscape did sometimes reset itself. No one is perfect except me of course.

So back to the Good. I think it was good that John and Aeryn could "Clear the air" but it was not what they said...as they verbally agreed that he meant nothing to her, I think based on her actions and the little "Hey...." conversation they had at the end was very telling about just how much they deeply cared for each other. It was interesting if you'll note the different kind of love Crichton felt for Giliana than he has for Aeryn. Many would argue that he has no love for Aeryn yet but I disagree. I think he does see Aeryn as his "ship mate", however, I think he has a deep love for Aeryn that is more than just a feeling of love which many times when you click with a person and have those hormonal attraction to them it's more of a lust driven desire and maybe not truly love at that point. Yes Giliana was willing to die with John and that can all be considered a love of sorts but many times we allow that physical attraction (lust) to draw us close to a person because we continue to seek that feel good feeling. But down deep when that all wears off sometimes that just doesn't hold you to the person for long after that feeling is lost. It's the deep connections that keep us bound to a person long term. I think John has more of those deep connections to Aeryn and with Giliana I think it was more lust filled and sort of a heat of the moment thing.

Well I am going to disagree with your disagree. He cares for Aeryn at this point the same he cares for the others. He doesn't love her yet because as you mentioned love takes time to develop. It was a step because Aeryn feels something but she is confused with her emotions. Something Peacekeepers discourage. As for Gilina their attraction is because they are similar persons.

And as much as John and Giliana hated to say goodbye to one another I think they knew down deep they could never survive and some would say that if they really loved each other they would've tried it anyway. You know love conquers all ...and all that bs....well I think they weren't willing to even try that so I am not really putting my money on the solidarity of their relationship. But as jel said we may see things to come with regard to that in future eps. So stay tuned!!

Love doesn't conquer all. Sometimes the reality of the world prevents love. That is what happened here. Gilina would have been a fugitive as well. That is what happened here. Lets just throw out who John really loves for a second. Is it really fair to ask them to give up their life and become outlaws? I say no.

So at the end of the day, this ep established it's footing and sparked that connection between Aeryn and John despite John's attraction to another woman....and gave some of the characters a chance to deal with their own personal demons, and others a chance to grow.

I'm scared. SQ is right

TO BE CONTINUED...

[jelgate]

Part 2

PK Tech Girl

Bit late in m’ watching this week. And jelgate and Squirrely have already excellently covered a lot of the content.

Not that late. Still waiting for FH. I had to rush myself to write the review. Well have to do it again. Frell these double shifts.

Before we get to the shipping, the editing point of view:

Or we could not talk about the shipping.

Not so many moving shots in this episode, but great colour: yellow, red and cyan lights on close ups that work well for vidding, particularly in the scenes on the Zelbinian. CGI is passable, although not as good as other episodes.

CGI was fairly new at the time. You ever notice how the Zelbinian looks like an old factory and quit different from Crais' command carrier.

Definitely worth editing this episode up if you are making a John/Aeryn video, despite the fact that they don’t actually physically do anything with each other. Lots of longing/ ‘what am I feeling?’ looks.

Where is that vomit bucket?

Similarly, from a *cough* purely aesthetic *cough* pov, Crichton discards the IASA ‘ I’m wearing a sheep’ jacket about half way through in favour of short sleeve white T-shirt.

I just assumed it was hot since they were in the engine room

Like Squirrely, the John/Aeryn love story is my favourite Farscape arc. Jelgate, you probably won’t be happy to learn that the video I’m working on from editing up the rewatch is a shipping vid…

Their is my vomit bucket. I'm going to need. Joking aside, I'm not blind. I know a lot of people love the John/Aeryn story. I'm not against it like SQ would believe. My issue is its overuse at the expense of other character. I think Pilot gets 1 episode devoted to him.

Yep, totally agree, the show’s lack of a reset button is what make the love arc stand out. I also like the fact that their relationship and emotional maturity isn’t linear, sometimes they move backwards (just like real life!). But it is always in response to an event or an internal block they’ve come up against.

That I can agree on. It takes a huge back in S3 with Aeryn's stupidity. But we will get to that later. SQ knows what episode I am talking about

It interesting to get different viewers angles on when they see them 'falling' for each other isn't it? I think Aeryn falls for Crichton from the very first episode. She takes a risk for a complete stranger by speaking up for him against Crais; that’s not a particularly peacekeeper-sort of thing to do. Nor is it particularly wise strategically and Aeryn is normally a smart cookie.

Nope. She stood up for John because she genuinely believed he was innocent. It wasn't love but here sense of right and wrong. It was naïve trust in the military of the Peacekeepers.

In this episodes there’s some dialogue that the penalty for being ‘irreversibly contaminated’ is death.I think this is the first time that it's mentioned: Crichton certainly looks surprised. He didn’t necessary clock before just how big a leap Aeryn took by trying to defend his crash as accidental. There is also a line in I think Bad Timing that could be read as

Spoiler:

if Aeryn on some level knew she loved him from the very start, something like:

John: What worries me, is that from the beginning I could never see the end.
Aeryn: What worries me is that I always could.

I think it was kind of obvious what the penalty was. I suppose you could make an argument this was the first time it was directly mentioned. Aeryn probably didn't think Crais would get so overemotional about his brother. She expected him to think in rational terms. Its not love just a misguided judgment on Aeryn's part.

Crichton is a little harder to read as to when he starts having feelings for Aeryn. But to me, there’s a line in episode 3, when he says (of the Aeryn copy) “It was exactly like you. The way it moved. The way it felt.” There is then a definite moment. Yes, I’ll admit it subtext, but there is a beat.

That is just him saying how the clone looked just like Aeryn. He could of said the same of Zhaan or Rygel.

And by this episode, the fact that he leaves Gilina to go ‘clear the air’… well there’s something there at least.

Its John's feelings of compassion. He doesn't want anyone to feel upset. Its not any different than when he talked to D'Argo about how he feels betrayed

That said, I do like Gilina. And I think that she and early series ‘gee-whiz, isn’t the universe wondrous’ John work well as a couple. She’s good with science, doesn’t seem to want to kill anyone or screw them over (quite a novelty in the Farscape universe), is able to express emotions… in fact pretty much the opposite of Aeryn at this point.

I agree. They share mutual interests.

However, I think it’s interesting

Spoiler:

that by the end of series 1, she will totally not be what darker, more world weary Crichton needs, particularly post-Scorpius. By then, he needs someone who’s harder, who’s going to keep him alive…

the best way to explain was for me to gif-set a paralleling of blocking I noticed in some later episodes ( see link below)

Seasons. In American shows its called seasons not series This point I will concede on. Call it what it is. John needs someone more insane like him.

BUT WARNING: these are very spoilery for both season 1 and PK wars. Do not click if you haven’t seen the whole of Farscape yet.

http://thebluemeany.tumblr.com/post/...hip-priorities

I'll admit I clicked link and was totally confused on what I was seeing

I also enjoyed that Aeryn and Gilina’s interaction wasn't really to do with Crichton. That was refreshing. They weren’t rivals in terms of how they acted to each other. In fact they have a nice connection by the end of the episode with Aeryn giving advice, and Gilina taking hold of her hand.

Except for the scene where John and Aeryn kissed. Besides that you were. You could use Gilina as a comparison if Aeryn hadn't been contaminated.

Oh, and I also note that the old ‘I have something in my eye’ routine works in other galaxies too. That’s good to know.

I use it often.

@ Bluemeany....first off YAY!! So glad to meet another shippery person about the John/Aeryn love story. We will undoubtedly drive jel crazy. *snort* I can't wait to see your shippy vid, I actually have done a lot of vidding myself, but I have never made one of John/Aeryn...so I may just do one now...as a sort of challenge. We'll see. Maybe this summer.

You underestimate how much time I have been around the rabid actions of shippers. Making videos of any kind are beyond my ability. And I'm to lazy to care to learn.

As far as when John/Aeryn first really started "falling for each other" I think it was pretty close from the start for both of them. John I think clung onto her because she was the closest thing to human he had found up to that point, and her being female was even better. I'm sure he was pretty much elated. However, he was dealing with trying to cope in this new world and the other team members that he really thwarted his thoughts of her in that way IMO. I think John just continued to push it to the back burner because he recognized that Aeryn wasn't ready or receptive for that matter. Unlike the pliable (and no that's not a play on words ) Giliana. Let's face it Aeryn at this point is hard to love. She pushes people away and is very hardened. Giliana is what John finds refreshing because she accepts his advances and succumbs quite easily to him. Aeryn is going to prove a much harder catch for him and I think it's that dance (that you mention) that draws me to this ship so much too because while it can be frustrating for some to watch I really feel like this is how true companionship works alot of times...you know one step forward, two back. So I like that you pointed out that

Spoiler:

John and Aeryn's relationship is not linear by any means but it's that rocky path that makes it so titillating and interesting and makes you really want them to be together at the end for that pay off they both deserve.

If we call this this episode the start I'll agree. I mean we are not really that far in. I agree about Aeryn being hard to love because she has this emotional barriers. Like I have said before Gilina is because they similar. But remember the opposites attract cliché.

Love the gifs and can we use some of them with your permission?

Don't do it blue. She can't be trusted

[Bluemeany]

@ Bluemeany....first off YAY!! So glad to meet another shippery person about the John/Aeryn love story. We will undoubtedly drive jel crazy. *snort* I can't wait to see your shippy vid, I actually have done a lot of vidding myself, but I have never made one of John/Aeryn...so I may just do one now...as a sort of challenge. We'll see. Maybe this summer.

Yep, we are going be insufferable You should definitely do a Farscape vid! There a lack of recent ones round now; they’re all about 10 years old. So an entire decade of new songs to pick from

Although that said, I’m using a 70’s song so…

Love the gifs and can we use some of them with your permission?

Oh totally, no need to ask … I might make some more as we go along in the re-watch…I was messing around this morning with a Doctor Who/ Farscape parallel gifset that you might like since I think you mentioned you were a DW fan? http://thebluemeany.tumblr.com/post/...s-factories-of

[Bluemeany]

Don't do it blue. She can't be trusted

Oh no! I replied and then scrolled down and I read your post...eeek! Too late...

[Bluemeany]

Seasons. In American shows its called seasons not series

Ah yes, seasons not series over there, sorry, forgot that.

Doesn’t usually come up in the UK, as (with a few notable forty year plus exceptions) British TV tends to only make 6 or 12 episodes of a good thing before moving on to something else The standard response of the wider world being‘ What! Was that it?!What do you mean that’s the end?!! Where’s the rest of it?!’

I'll admit I clicked link and was totally confused on what I was seeing

I was trying (badly) to show that there’s a parallel scene of Gilina and Aeryn not shooting/shooting the big bad of the season… and world-weary post Scorpius Crichton's needs fit best with the latter one.

I don’t think Aeryn/John are ‘fated’ to be together from episode one… I think the universe Crichton experiences pushes him towards fitting with Aeryn and up until a certain turning point (IMO Human Reaction, but we’ll get to that when we get there) their relationship is by no means a ‘sealed’ deal.

Before then, John and Gilina are probably a better fit. ‘True loves’ in the Farscape universe depend on what ‘time’ or stage of life a character is at… it isn’t all destiny like it is in most films and TV.

[Falcon Horus]

You forget who you are talking too. We have known each other for 9 years. I know how dirty you can be.

Anna Galvin

Damn it!
Anna -- she's just... ah, who am I kidding... yes, I admit... dirty, dirty, dirty mind I have.

Not that late. Still waiting for FH.

Watched the episode last night before moving onto the season finale of The Flash and two of the last four of Arrow. And then I went to bed... Today, I had vacuuming to do before I could turn my attention to fannish stuff.

Anyhoodle -- you guys pretty muched summed it all up.

PK Tech Girl

It's a fun little story where all the characters have their part to play except perhaps Pilot and Moya. Zhaan using Ka D'Argo to fool the scavengers (who spit fire?!?), John does a little Kirking, Aeryn finds out what happened to her unit. You can tell, she's upset by the notion. Rygel gets to confront his demon, Durka, and upsets the DRD's -- see, they're not just little robots, they have feelings too. -- I should really build one. --

Aeryn walking in on John and the tech girl kissing, and their "air cleaning" in the hallway -- *snort*
Well now, Aeryn, are you jealous?

[jelgate]

That Old Black Magic

This is a Zhaan episode disguised as John episode. Zhaan is my favorite character so its my turn to rave. And if you don't like SQ, I'm taking your rubber cement. This can be off putting because this episode establishes magic exist. I know some science fiction fans can be put off by that. I am not one of those people. Its the rules that matter and what makes Maldis so fun to watch. The magic fuels his desire. To keep it Maldis must kill. I say its disguised as a John episode because he is in a lot of the episode but ultimately John does nothing for 90% of the episode. Maldis tricks John with his deepest desire to straighten things out with Crais. I think we all knew that wasn't going to work out. Crais is too emotionally driven to listen to reason. Speaking of that, I liked the magic flashback. To me his father's wish to watch his brother is a big part why of Crais wants to kill John. Reason does not matter as Crais' brother is dead because of John. So we knew he was going to try to kill John regardless. The whole John scenes is just the two fighting and running. It get repetitive after awhile and like I said nothing really happens until their final fight where Maldis promises to let one of them live. I always have an issue with this fight. I for one struggle to believe John would be able to kill Crais. He should have the advantage with his military training. Now on the part I love. This is a Zhaan episode. Its about her leaving behind her peace attitude and doing what be done. I love the part on how she is reluctant to kill again because of the darkness it brings and how much she is afraid to lose herself. I find myself agreeing with the priest in that repressing it solves nothing in that sometimes peace is not enough and sometimes you have to fight to stop the evil. Like D'Argo said, sometimes you have to choose the lesser of the two evils. Even after Zhaan agrees you can still see reluctantance when her and the priest finally attack Maldis with the way she is shaking. Finally, I think the scene with Aeryn on Moya speaks to me with how it offends her. I can understand how hard it is for a person who does nothing but try to find peaceful solutions resort to violence. It is sadly sometimes necessary. Special funny mention to how much she liked hurting Rygel. I don't think I would blame her. Speaking of Rygel I loved his comedic moments. First when he skips over the death ceremony to steal John's things and then when he lies to John about being careless. I will end in saying the whole freezing of Aeryn and D'Argo seems to resonate that the writers didn't have a clue to do with these characters in this episode. I love this episode so do your worse SQ

[jelgate]

Ah yes, seasons not series over there, sorry, forgot that.

Doesn’t usually come up in the UK, as (with a few notable forty year plus exceptions) British TV tends to only make 6 or 12 episodes of a good thing before moving on to something else The standard response of the wider world being‘ What! Was that it?!What do you mean that’s the end?!! Where’s the rest of it?!’

I have enjoyed my fair share of British TV. I used to love Merlin when it was on until they butchered the show in the final season

I was trying (badly) to show that there’s a parallel scene of Gilina and Aeryn not shooting/shooting the big bad of the season… and world-weary post Scorpius Crichton's needs fit best with the latter one.

Fair enough. You also said that in text which I agreed with.

I don’t think Aeryn/John are ‘fated’ to be together from episode one… I think the universe Crichton experiences pushes him towards fitting with Aeryn and up until a certain turning point (IMO Human Reaction, but we’ll get to that when we get there) their relationship is by no means a ‘sealed’ deal.

I must learn to separate your shipping from SQ. I could agree with your analysis but as you said we will save that for later.

Before then, John and Gilina are probably a better fit. ‘True loves’ in the Farscape universe depend on what ‘time’ or stage of life a character is at… it isn’t all destiny like it is in most films and TV.

I don't believe in true love. I do agree about the Farscape part you said on the charater's stage

Damn it!
Anna -- she's just... ah, who am I kidding... yes, I admit... dirty, dirty, dirty mind I have.

If only we still had the rules

Watched the episode last night before moving onto the season finale of The Flash and two of the last four of Arrow. And then I went to bed... Today, I had vacuuming to do before I could turn my attention to fannish stuff.

I usually watch them back to back. They are one of my favorites shows. I can't even go into the Arrow folder anymore. SQ can do your vacuuming. She is on a 3 month vacation from her daily naps

Anyhoodle -- you guys pretty muched summed it all up.

You know I have that effect on people

PK Tech Girl

It's a fun little story where all the characters have their part to play except perhaps Pilot and Moya. Zhaan using Ka D'Argo to fool the scavengers (who spit fire?!?), John does a little Kirking, Aeryn finds out what happened to her unit. You can tell, she's upset by the notion. Rygel gets to confront his demon, Durka, and upsets the DRD's -- see, they're not just little robots, they have feelings too. -- I should really build one. --

They explain how they spit fire in a later episode but we will come to that later. I agree you see Aeryn is upset. I forgot about the DRDs. Makes me long for 1812

Aeryn walking in on John and the tech girl kissing, and their "air cleaning" in the hallway -- *snort*
Well now, Aeryn, are you jealous?

SQ will disagree but this is the first hint of the ship

[squirrely1]

@ jel - re: your comments on my comments about PK Tech Girl Sorry I'm too lazy to quote. But Yes I liked Zhaan's idea of telling the little white lie. You didn't get my clever little Good, Bad Ugly reference? Zhaan's "Little bit of bad" was in the bad portion of my review. Hence in this case bad is good. LOL I like that Zhaan has this deep down bad side. And soon when I do my review of That Old Black Magic we'll see alot more of that!

@Bluemeany - and Jel to an extent. I think we may all have some slight disagreements about when we see the first sparks of the ship with Aeryn and John and that's ok. Suffice it to say for me I think there was some minor sparkage in the very first ep when he met her but it was quickly pushed to the back burner as I mentioned because John can't really pursue his curiousity about her because too much **** is going on. So yeah.....PK Tech Girl I think is the ep when it's more realized on screen. And it only goes on from here. YAY! Yes we will be insufferable and I will probably make the John/Aeryn vid now cuz my vidding is getting rusty and I need to do something this summer.

Thanks for the gif's ....mwhahahahahahahaha jel look out!! I'm armed and dangerous.


@Falcon Horus - *snort* You crack me up at how accurately succinct and humorous your reviews can be. Here I go on for days and you pop on and just put it right out there and it's hilarious!

[squirrely1]

That Old Black Magic

Ok so here we go...the gang goes to the circus, Zhaan meets up with a drug dealing pimp *cough* priest and Crichton goes on a magical field trip. Seriously, I don't know what these writers are smokin but this ep was fun and you have to appreciate the diversity of the world they deliver in this ep.
Lesser of Two Evils....
I don't have a clever little way to break this down except for maybe by character again because this was a huge Zhaan ep and to jel's point up there (Ok I'll let him have this one) *sigh* but I too like Zhaan and it's interesting to note that her and Aeryn's character arcs are on opposite trajectories it seems. Aeryn is all about softening up and becoming less warrior like and Zhaan had to become less peaceable and more warrior like. I think it's all summed up at the end when Aeryn calls her a warrior and well Zhaan didn't like that so much. Then we see Zhaan's discussion with John admitting she was a "savage" in the past and she's worked hard to put that aside. Only to end the ep with a horrified John at the thoughts of "gee just what is Zhaan capable of?"

So I did really like the Zhaan bits. And especially when Aeryn and D'argo go about defaulting to their usual "weapon" of choice only to be shot down by Zhaan literally when she tells them quite calmly that their weapons will not work on this "magic". Aeryn's response was hilarious. "well then...by all means!".. or something to that nature. So for Aeryn and D'argo they sort of regressed back a bit again both of them choosing the rifle over any other methods.

As for the magic element, it doesn't bother me, what bothers me is if there was this kind of power in existence then why all the clamor from the PK's about

Spoiler:

what weapon they want that we know is in John's head later in the series.

That sorta seems tame by comparison in a sense. Why not just conjure up another one of these Maldis wizards and make him do your bidding. That is my issue with magic in any show as it can become too overpowered and then what do you do? How do you squelch that power and make it so it cannot be used over and over again? I think they solved that issue with Zhaan using her combined strength with the Hippie Priest, but I honestly think I heard Zhaan say he was just "dispersed" and he could conjure up again or something? I had to worry a bit about that a little.

Fight and Flight
So this brings me to John and Crais. I really enjoyed it when they were finally able to come face to face. You gotta love John for trying to reason with Crais but then by the end when John is realizing he just will not be able to successfully do that as he's talking into his recorder, he notes that one of them will end up dead. I don't have issue with their fight scenes. I think they looked pretty believable. Remember jel, Crais is alot older than Crichton and he's been in a higher command position so his hand to hand combat training is probably rusty. I think John, because he is younger and probably a lot more physically fit (astronauts go through alot of rigorous training...and well lets just say that he's been on the run since he's been with the team), so I would say that John could easily have one over on Crais. But John doesn't want to fight Crais and he holds back...this proves to Johns disadvantage. My issue with the fighting is only when John's shoulder gets dislocated. That would pretty much be a devastating injury, one that would take a long time to heal and rehabilitate. I have injured my shoulder recently, not nearly as severe as that and I can say that it's dang painful and really limits range of motion and strength. So for John to bounce back from that injury so soon is highly unlikely.

I now Pronounce you DEAD
Rygel was being Rygel and I too liked the death ritual ....that he only performed so he could proceed to take John's stuff. LOL Then when John finally wakes that scene of John Not being in Kansas.....OMG that's it!! I could've used the whole Wizard of Oz theme for this review...oh well. John kissing Rygel.....gotta love it!

All in all this ep was a fun, magic carpet ride in which you just had to go with it and enjoy where it was taking you and the characters. Another great one to help the characters grow and develop and gel more as a team.

[Bluemeany]

That Old Black Magic

Jelgate and SQ have both done detailed, insightful analyses of this episode above. My contribution is therefore going to focus on Ben Browder’s switch to a grey T-Shirt

I already have all the episodes queued up in my editing programme, so glancing down the list I can see that there’s a trend of: first third of season 1 = mainly white T-Shirt, middle third of season 1 (starting with this episode) = grey T-shirt, last third = black T-shirt.

Y’all going to tell me I’m reading too much into it, but I think the costume department might be trying to reflect the arc Crichton undergoes. He comes to the realisation he’s gonna have to kill Crais in this episode… his morals ( and therefore his T-shirt colour) shift towards the darker end of the spectrum.

Any vidders out there: if you’re looking to not edit up all 90 episodes, this could be on the ‘don’t bother’ list. Whilst it’s a fun episode to watch as a viewer, the moving shots are all a bit …samey… basically Crichton/ Crais fight sequences. Similarly, Zahn tackles the problem mostly with her mind and by being still. Probably not worth the trouble of ripping the whole episode.

The exception to this is if you are doing a Crais video… but even then the footage of his family/backstory comes up again in a condensed form in Hidden Memory so it’s probably easier to just go and get that.

My favourite bit is when D’Argo says ‘ It won’t work’ about Aeryn’s plan, and there is an immediate jump cut to Maldis saying ‘ It might work’.