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FARSCAPE |
John Crichton - Ben Browder Aeryn Sun - Claudia Black Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan - Virginia Hey Ka D'Argo - Anthony Simcoe Crais - Lani Tupu Chiana - Gigi Edgley Scorpius - Wayne Pygram Jool - Tammy MacIntosh 
OTHER FARSCAPE SEASONS Season 1 Season 2 Season 4 The Peacekeeper Wars OTHER SPACE TRAVEL SHOWS Star Trek The Next Generation Voyager Enterprise Space:1999 Battlestar Galactica 
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Season of DeathNow that Scorpius has the chip out of Crichton's head, he only has to get back to his support carrier, but with Talyn around that is a harder prospect than he might have thought. Crichton is still struggling with the echo of Scorpius in his mind and Zhaan takes desperate action to save Aeryn. All of the cliffhanger plotlines that were left dangling are tied up here, but how. This is quality drama with Crichton not being rescued, but being left to wallow in his own misery by Scorpius, fast becoming one of the great science fiction villains. It's a terrific start to the new season and if the rest lives up to this then FARSCAPE will have outgrown its origins to have become a great show. TopSuns and LoversMoya's crew stop at a space station in an unstable region of space to look for a planet on which Zhaan can regenerate her dying body, but a cosmic storm hits and leaves the station a wreck. Whilst the others mount rescue operations, D'Argo learns of the relationship between Chiana and his son. The Poseidon Adventure style disaster movie that the characters get locked into here isn't the real focus of this episode, merely the background. What really matters is the triangle between D'Argo, his son and Chiana. These are grown up emotions being played out by grown up actors with grown up writing and far removed from the 'muppets in space' origins of the show. Anthony Simcoe gets special credit for the new depth and subtlety that he has brought to D'Argo who has grown considerably as a character. TopSelf-Inflicted Wounds Part 1: Could’a, Would’a, Should’aWhilst looking for a planet of which Zhaan can renew herself, Crichton takes Moya to investigate a wormhole. Another ship emerges and the strange effects of the wormhole fuse the two ships together. The two crews will have to work together to put things right, but can the aliens be trusted? And what is the flying worm thing and who is the woman who has emerged from the last of the cryochambers? The first of this two part story sets up quite a few plot strands not all of which are successful. Apart from the continuing problems between D'Argo and Chiana and Zhaan's deterioration, there is the introduction of the woman from the cryotube who happens to have a scream that can melt things, but who seems otherwise superfluous and a really well rendered flying worm that looks great, but never actually does anything and that's before we get to the main story about the two ships being merged, though this is very much a STAR TREK style story. TopSelf-Inflicted Wounds Part 2: Wait For The WheelTwo conflicting plans have emerged and the aliens are using one of sabotaging Moya to ensure their own survival. Pilot needs to be revived for a desperate act and one last chance of survival, but the price will be high. The pace of this episode is breakneck since it has to deal with invisible aliens, flying worm things, waking up pilot and dealing with Jool, the new alien, but even so it seems altogether rushed through. There's a reason for that though. As seen with the reappearance of Stark after only a few episodes, death is not necessarily the end on FARSCAPE, but Zhaan's farewell scene is a dignified and moving one, showing how much we have come to like the crew of Moya in the last two and a half seasons. It's a bit overextended, but you never get to the point of crying 'Die already!' and the mourning period of the characters afterwards is not just acceptable, it's required. It is a sign of how FARSCAPE has matured that it feels capable of taking away one of the major characters like this. Top...Different DestinationsStill mourning the loss of Zhaan, Moya's crew stop off at the site of a famous peacekeeper battle, now marked with a monument. An accident with Stark and a viewing helmet sends him, Crichton, D'Argo, Aeryn and Jool back in time to the point of the battle, where they pollute the timeline. Attempts to get history back on track lead to the loss of millions, then the destruction of the entire planet. A very familiar story gets the FARSCAPE treatment and actually gets turned into something quite special, one of the best episodes that the show has come up with to date. It starts off without any deviations from the expected, but then goes down some very dark paths until everything is wrapped up, not in the neat fashion of STAR TREK, but in a much messier, darker fashion. In FARSCAPE fashion, in fact. The ending has the bottle to be far less than happy and there is a daring moment when Scorpius appears in Crichton's head playing the harmonica the night before the final battle. He's wearing cowboy boots and it takes a second to register before realising that the bottom of the boots have 'ANDY' scrawled on them. This is laugh out loud funny if you've seen TOY STORY. The script is sharp when it needs to be, even if it is as familiar as the plotting at times, but everything comes together in a tight, fast-moving, action-packed, but also character developing episode that should convince anyone that FARSCAPE has grown up. TopEat MeCrichton, D'Argo, Chiana and Jool are in a failing transport pod and have to take shelter in a damaged, decaying leviathan ship that was once a peacekeeper prison transport. Aboard the ship is a scientist who can make exact copies of anyone and proceeds to do so to provide food for his voracious 'family'. The watchword of this season would appear to be 'dark'. This episode goes to darker places than the show has gone before. The creatures on the dying ship are not only eating the ship, but also eating the pilot whilst he is still alive and conscious, allowing his arms to regenerate so that they can come back for more. D'Argo is killed, Chiana is killed and it's only after it is revealed that the scientist can create doubles that the effect of this is lessened. The body count is also high as everyone takes down the 'cannibal' residents of the ship almost randomly in disgust. Once again, happy endings don't seem to be on the cards and the episode has a serious twist to lay down just before the final credits. TopThanks For SharingThe search for a substance that will help with Talyn's healing process brings everyone together in the low orbit of a planet where they can hide from the Peacekeepers whilst trying to source the material. One of the Crichton's is assaulted and needs blood from the other one whilst Talyn is poisoned. Well, there's a whole load of plot going on in here and that's the truth with the two Crichtons trying to deal with their dual existence, everyone else trying to adjust to the two of them and the machinations on the planet and their subsequent implications aboard Talyn. This keeps things moving at a clip and leads to a finale that splits up the team, for a while at least. TopGreen-eyed MonsterTalyn is swallowed by a giant space creature. The crew manage to anchor it to the creature's throat wall, and Aeryn agrees to become linked to the ship, but Crais and Talyn have decided that Crichton is no longer needed and that he should perish in the escape attempt. Apart from borrowing its whole premise from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, this is a thoroughly entertaining episode that mixes the narrative drive of the dangerous situation to character-based humour and some serious emotional drama to top off the heady mix. The love story between Aeryn and Crichton is being dragged out too long since they have both declared undying love often enough, but the discovery that Crichton makes and his subsequent reaction is the stuff of real drama. The always excellent special effects also rate a mention with this episode since it comes up with a giant beast roaming through a planetary ring and makes it utterly believable. TopLosing TimeCrichton believes that something attacked him and the rest of the crew suddenly lose conscious track of time. Pilot is taken over by an energy being that is chasing another energy being that is hiding in Chiana. Even when the quarry is removed, however, the hunter refuses to give up his newfound body. Something is hiding in the body of one of the crew and nobody knows which one. It's another riff on THE THING and sadly familiar. The rest of the plot isn't much better, even with Scorpius running a side story that has nothing to do with the main plot, but is sure to become significant at some point in the future. The energy aliens are straight out of THE ABYSS, but are impressively realised all the same. Gigi Edgley and the pilot puppet give good performances, making their possessed bodies seem definitely alien. TopRelativityA Peacekeeper Retrieval team lands on the jungle where Talyn is hiding out, recuperating. The team is under the command of Aeryn's mother and a fierce firefight rages across the surface. Aeryn faces serious angst as she is faced with a mother who is everything that she has come to despise and who has some devastating secrets to tell about what happened to Aeryn's father, who was himself named Talyn. It's a good performance from Claudia Black in a story that has demanded more of her than most, convincing in the torn loyalties that she suffers. She's certainly more convincing than the alien bounty hunters that the Henson shop have coem up with. TopIncubatorThe information stored on the neurochip that Scorpius took from Crichton's brain about wormhole technology is incomplete. In a bid to get the missing pieces, Scorpius plugs the chip into his own mind and engages with the remnants of Crichton's personality, telling of his life story in the hope of convincing him to give up the information willingly. The switch of focus is abrupt, but this is Scorpius' backstory (assuming that he's not lying) and it gives some insight into how he became the way he is. Wayne Pygram's villain has been so good that there is a big chance that revealing that story will undermine him and give the audience some pity or empathy for him. Fortunately, the young Scorpius is as devious and nasty as the current Scorpius and so he survives the risk intact. TopMeltdownTalyn is drawn by mysterious radiation towards a star and two beings appear on the ship. One of them is a beautiful female who convinces Stark that he should become Talyn's version of Pilot, putting everyone at risk. There's lots of running and shouting in this episode as the threat to the ship becomes clear, but before that there is a huge amount of snogging between Crichton and Aeryn, not to mention flirting and hot almost-sex. It's all because the crew are being subjected to an increase in their desires which makes Crais furious when nobody treats him like the Captain and Rygel eats the entire contents of the galley. It seems like we've been here before in many ways, but the sexual attraction between Aeryn and Crichton reaches supernova heat in this episode, distracting from the familiarity of it all. TopScratch N SniffAfter Pilot has kicked everyone off the ship to get a rest from their relentless quarrelling, they return early and Crichton has to explain why. The story involves a lot of drinking, a lot of partying and an aromatic aphrodisiac that comes from a very unusual source. Since it's Crichton relating the story to Pilot there is free rein with the surrealist direction of this episode that certainly stands out for a good many reasons whether it be Ben Browder in women's stockings, Chiana and Jool threatening to get it on or Anthony Simcoe's dancing as Ka D'Argo. It's all enormous fun with larger than life characters and no end of invention, but it all remains utterly disposable, adding nothing to any of the main plot arcs. Did we mention how much fun it is? TopInfinite Possibilites Part 1: Daedalus DemandsSomeone has discovered the secret of wormhole travel, putting fear into the Ancients who have just found a new home. Talyn's crew go in search of the technology and find themselves in the middle of a major firefight. In order to solve the problem, Crichton must unlock the wormhole information in his head, but to do that means taking on the Scorpius personality that still lingers there. When the move fails and Scorpius takes over, Aeryn is left with a difficult decision. The major part of this episode is taken up with laser fire and lots of it. Aliens are taken out by the dozen as Aeryn, Crichton and Rygel first attack and then defend an armoured bunker. The shooting's not all there is either as the plot twists first one way and then the other leaving Talyn hugely damaged, Rygel injured and Crichton out of his mind. TopInfinite Possibilites Part 2: Icarus AbidesWith Scorpius out of his head and the wormhole information taking his place, things are looking up for the crew of Talyn to be able to take down the alien dreadnought that is on its way. An advanced scout attempts to take control of Talyn and a betrayal means that Crichton gets a lethal dose of radiation. We've been worried about Crichton and Aeryn ever since they declared their undying love and got down to the dirty. When people are this happy in shows there is a tendency for them to get dead. Following the death of Zhaan a bit earlier on, though, we thoguth it unlikely that another major character would go in the same season and we were wrong. Of course, there is a spare Crichton back on Moya, but even so this is another strong death scene and the fact that it is so moving again proves that the show has gotten under our skin. Before that, though, there's plenty more action and plot twists to be dealt with both on the ground and on board Talyn. That ship hasn't been fully operational in, like, ever and here's another episode in which it gets shredded, but there is only one thing that matters in this episode and that's Crichton's tale with good performances from both Ben Browder and Claudia Black. TopRevenging AngelSomething goes wrong with the ship in Moya's hold that D'Argo is obsessed with and he blames Crichton. During a struggle, Crichton is knocked into a coma. The ship is on a self-destruct countdown. In Crichton's mind, he uses a series of cartoons to keep from being killed by D'Argo in his dreams. One of the things to love about FARSCAPE is that you never know where it's going to go next. This brilliant episode is a prime example as Crichton's mindscape is rendered as a Looney Tunes cartoon with himself as the Road Runner and D'Argo as Wile E Coyote. The events in the real world with the rest of the crew searching through Moya's waste system in search of D'Argo's sword, which is the only thing that can stop the destruction of Moya, the cartoons race by manically, just like the real thing. They are so accurate as well. The designs of the cartoon Crichton, D'Argo, Scorpius and Aeryn are hilarious and the antics that they get up to just as funny. If you're a fan of the show and of Looney Tunes then this will really crack you up. Admittedly, we're back inside John Crichton's head, something of a recurring theme that is starting to get a bit repetitive, but if the trips keep coming up as fresh, funny and wonderfully original as this one then we'll keep taking them. Absolutely one of the best episodes ever. TopThe ChoiceAeryn leaves Talyn and goes down onto a planet which is reputed to have dark powers in order to spend some time grieving. There, she encounters a being that might be her father and faces off against her mother one last time. An entire episode devoted to the depiction of one character's grief? We thought that FARSCAPE had come a long way, but it continues to surprise us with episodes that are as good as this one is. Claudia Black gives an outstanding performance as a woman consumed by her grief, not wanting to die, but not wanting to live either. It is quite simply the best work that she has done on the show to date and dominates the rather extraneous story about the deformed man who shares her DNA and the killer that is her mother. The production design buys into Aeryn's pain, coming up with a world that is decayed and in pain itself. Everyone is deformed and ugly and twisted, just as she feels inside. The creature design is remarkable, though somewhat off-putting. This, though, is a depiction of a woman in pain and as such transcends its science fiction setting to provide serious emotional drama. THE CHOICE joins the ranks of the best episodes of the show, ranks that seem to be swelling rather quickly. TopFracturesThe crews of Moya and Talyn finally come back together, which leaves Aeryn to face the remaining Crichton. In the meantime, Moya has picked up a group of survivors from a peacekeeper weapons test, one of whom seems to be still working for them. The main plot here is a bit artificial. The crew of the transport pod that Moya picks up happens to contain a female of Rygel's species (and when one character mentions how disturbing the mental images of them together are they aren't kidding), another is a member of Chiana's race, the third is Skaren, but bonds with D'Argo whilst the last one is a Peacekeeper who appeals to that part of Aeryn that still wants to belong. It's all a bit too neat, too cosy with suspects that match up to Moya's crew too neatly to convince. The action, when it comes, is surprisingly poor with an awful lot of shooting that doesn't hit anything. Better is the emotional punch of Crichton's reunion with the still grieving Aeryn and the final few minutes where Crichton promises to take the fight to Scorpius and thus makes the prospect of some real action much closer. TopI-Yensch, You-YenschRygel and D'Argo meet with Scorpius in a diner and find themselves in the middle of a botched robbery. On Moya, the crew is faced with the fact that Talyn has turned into a killer capable of destroying even his mother. Having set up a big finale to the season, FARSCAPE now all but ignores it in favour of a half-assed siege story combined with a more interesting, but hardly relevant story in which Talyn finally goes off the reservation and starts killing innocent people. Whilst much more interesting than the other strand it still smacks of ground that has been covered before. There is a whiff of filler about this episode, but now that it is over perhaps we can get on with the serious stuff of season finales. TopInto The Lions Den Part 1: Lambs To The SlaughterCrichton takes his friends onto Scorpius's command carrier on the pretence of helping him achieve wormhole technology before the Skarens do. Their real task is to destroy the wormhole data that Scorpius stole from Crichton's head once and for all, but it means going into the belly of the beast with only Scorpius's word as surety of their safety. Aeryn and Crais are both faced with everything that they lost when they left the Peacekeepers, walking back aboard the giant ship and meeting people with whom they shared their lives who now call them traitors. There are schemes within schemes here as plots are hatched and attacks made. There is also a jet pack sequence that really needed to be cut because it doesn't convince for even a second. This is the set up for the big finale, of course, so it doesn't really work on its own, but it does its job efficiently. TopInto The Lions Den Part 2: Wolf In Sheep’s ClothingScorpius is out of time and takes drastic action to ensure that he gets what he needs from Crichton, imprisoning his friends and denying access to Moya and Talyn. Crichton agrees to a ride through the wormhole in his old capsule, but it's a diversion to allow Crais to make one final bid for success. This is the season finale even if there is another episode to go. All of the plot lines laid down in the last episode come together for one big, fiery, destructive meltdown. There is big action, plot reversals and heroic sacrifice. Friends and enemies suffer alike and any victory that is acheived comes at a price. FARSCAPE has been so much a show about the interior workings of its characters as well as the external plottings that we have really come to care for these people and so there are moments where they are the action whether it is Aeryn facing off against an old comrade or Scorpius admitting defeat and sharing a moment with his nemesis. The whole season has been leading up to this and it does not disappoint. TopDog With Two BonesScorpius is gone, either dead or without power. Nobody is chasing the escapees any longer. They are all making plans for the future that stretches before them, but for Crichton that means making a choice between friends and home. Even that choice, though, might be denied him as Moya's plan to bury Talyn in the Leviathans' sacred place is denied by a rogue ship. After the big all-action finale of Into The Lions Den Part 2: Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, this episode is a postscript, a moment of calm after the storm where the survivors can lick their wounds and come to terms with what has happened. Crichton struggles with the knowledge that he cannot take his friends back to Earth through a series of waking dreams, possibly caused by the new ship's cook who has appeared out of nowhere. It's really all over bar the shouting which makes this a rather unsatisfactory way to end the season. The introduction of the mysterious cook is clumsy and inexplicable, leaving the audience looking for plots that aren't there. Moya's travails with burying Talyn's remains are also clumsily executed both in their explanation and in their resolution. Fortunately, there is the emotional turmoil between Crichton and Aeryn to be sorted out in a really well-written scene that is played for all it's worth by Ben Browder and Claudia Black. This is the adult side of the show that has really come to the fore. Then comes the cliffhanger and the promise that everything is to be continued. See you next season. Top |
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