Tag Archives: John Crichton

Apr 2 2014

Top 15 Farscape Episodes

new castIt’s hard to believe that fifteen years have already passed since Farscape, one of the best sci-fi TV shows, made its debut. It chronicled the saga of John Crichton (Ben Browder), an astronaut stranded on the other side of the universe. Joining him was a genuine motley crew of alien fugitives such as his eventual lover Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), fierce warrior D’Argo (Anthony Simcoe), the pacifistic Zhaan (Virginia Hey), insane Stark (Paul Goddard), Chiana (Gigi Edgley), an exotically beautiful con artist, non-humans Rygel and Pilot, and more. Farscape was captivating, exciting and usually off the wall. These are fifteen of its best episodes.

15. “Into The Lion’s Den (Part 1): Lambs To The Slaughter”/”Into The Lion’s Den (Part 2): Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing” The crews of the living ship Moya and her offspring Talyn board a Peacekeeper carrier ship to supposedly help their main nemesis Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) with creating wormholes. In reality, they set about to cripple his and the Peacekeepers’ research.

14. TIE: “Rhapsody In Blue”/”Scratch ‘n’ Sniff” Farscape ran the gamut with both thought-provoking and hilarious episodes and it wasn’t afraid to explore many avenues. “Rhapsody In Blue” is one of the show’s most spiritual episodes as Crichton psychically scratch 3bonds with the priestess Zhaan to calm her troubled soul. “Scratch ‘n’ Sniff” is one of those love-it-or-hate-it episodes. Moya’s crew take shore leave on a pleasure planet. Hilarity and downright outrageous hijinks commences after the crew are drugged by nefarious types. For a show that prides itself on the bizarre this episode set new levels with its strange imagery and camera work.

13. “Infinite Possibilities (Part 2): Icarus Abides” A running plot line in the show’s third season had John Crichton being duplicated. Soon after, both Crichtons (and other characters) went their separate ways as the ships Moya and Talyn traveled on different courses. In this episode, one of the Crichtons makes the ultimate sacrifice to keep wormhole technology from falling into the wrong hands. The final moments with him and his lover Aeryn Sun were very touching and memorable.

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12. “Out Of Their Minds” This episode takes one of the most tired sci-fi clichés, characters switched into different bodies, and makes it fresh and above all hysterical. Credit for this has to go to the actors who perfectly captured the personalities of other characters. An audacious example includes the moment when D’Argo with Chiana’s mind tries to seduce the toad-like Rygel, who is in Crichton’s body.

11. “A Constellation Of Doubt” Depressed after Aeryn is captured by the evil reptilian Scarrans, Crichton constellation of doubtretreats to his quarters and watches a video transmission from Earth. It’s a sensationalistic documentary about his and the Moya’s crew recent visit to Earth. Sadly, while humanity’s paranoid and bigoted reactions to the aliens are disheartening, the video provides intriguing insights into the show’s characters with their alien views of life.

10. “Bad Timing” As the final episode of the series, “Bad Timing” couldn’t be more aptly named. It ends in a big cliffhanger where John Crichton and Aeryn Sun are killed off after he proposes marriage to her! Fans were on pins and needles until the mini-series Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars resolved that problem. That aside, the episode was a fitting epitaph for this grand space opera.

way werent9. “The Way We Weren’t” Moya’s records reveal that before Farscape began, Aeryn, when she was still a militaristic Peacekeeper, helped kill Moya’s previous pilot. At first enraged, the current Pilot reveals his own dark past regarding Moya. This disturbing trip down memory lane was a thought-provoking look at forgiveness and letting go of the past. It best illustrated how Aeryn had grown so much since the show’s beginnings when she was antagonistic.

8. “Incubator” The episode focuses on the villainous Scorpius as he reveals his back story. We learn that the half Sebacean, half Scarran was conceived when a Sebacean prisoner was raped by a brutish Scarran. As young Scorpius grows, he is tormented and looked down upon by other Scarrans who think he is inferior. Not only do we learn why he hates Scarrans, but astonishingly, Scorpius becomes someone to be pitied because he is a victim of his tortured upbringing.

7. “Nerve”/”The Hidden Memory” Farscape’s first two-part episode introduces viewers to the lecherous Scorpius, who would become the main villain of the show. Posing as a Peacekeeper to obtain medicine for Aeryn, Crichton’s cover is blown and is later tortured by Scorpius before he can be rescued. The information he unknowingly has about creating wormholes will change the nature of Farscape irrevocably as Scorpius becomes obsessed with gaining that knowledge.

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6. “A Human Reaction” Crichton finds a way back to Earth. But John begins realizing that things aren’t exactly right at home. Meanwhile, he is distraught by the increasing hostile reception D’Argo, Rygel and Aeryn get from human authorities. What make this episode stand out more is that the genesis of Farscape’s most important plot thread begins: Crichton meets advanced aliens who can create wormholes and impart this knowledge unknowingly to him. Later on, this information makes him the target of Scorpius and other villains.

5. “The Choice” After the death of a loved one, a grief-stricken Aeryn Sun travels to a planet where the dead can communicate with the living. As she encounters friends and foes from her past, Aeryn must decide where to go with her life. “The Choice” was one of the bleakest and most haunting episodes of Farscape and Claudia Black perfectly emoted the dark and worn mood of her character, who is emotionally raw.

terra firma24. “Terra Firma” John Crichton unexpectedly returns to Earth along with the rest of the Moya crew. This time it’s for real. What is supposed to be a joyous occasion turns out to be a mixed blessing for Crichton based on how humanity reacts to his alien friends. Although not as hostile as he feared, humans are derisive enough to make his friends uncomfortable. At the same time, he realizes the old adage about not being able to go home again as he admits to himself that he has changed since leaving Earth.

3. “The Locket” After Moya is stuck in a mysterious cloud, Aeryn goes on a brief scouting mission and returns having locket 2aged several decades. She then leaves for a planet that she has called home for years, so Crichton follows her and he winds up marooned there with her and grows old as well. In all that time, they grow closer to each other as they age gracefully with tenderly rendered scenes. This charming character drama was well embellished with the puzzling mystery of their aging, which is tied to Moya’s predicament. However, the heart of the episode is justifiably John and Aeryn’s relationship.

2. “Liars, Guns And Money” trilogy (“A Not So Simple Plan”; “With Friends Like These”; “Plan B”) Farscape excelled with epic three-part sagas. This one was its best. At times humorous, other times exciting, this nail-biting, explosive yarn had it all: liarscompelling drama, sacrifices, dark humor, explosive battle scenes and high adventure. All the components needed for a true space opera. The crew of Moya hatch an overly complicated scheme to rob a highly guarded criminal bank to obtain funds to free D’Argo’s enslaved son, Jothee (Matthew Newton). Their plan includes hiring savage thugs and mercenaries they’ve encountered in past episodes. What complicates matters is that Scorpius arrives at the bank and schemes to capture Crichton. Their final showdown was just spectacular.

1. “Die Me Dichotomy” This second-season closer focuses on John Crichton’s mental trauma. After the end of the “Liars, Guns And Money” die me dichotomytrilogy, Crichton is clearly insane with an implanted neural clone of Scorpius in his mind. As his friends try getting him medical help, the clone takes over Crichton’s mind and causes the death of someone close to Crichton and the others. Things get more desperate when Scorpius shows up to retrieve the wormhole knowledge from Crichton who is at the moment in a crippled, near-vegetative state. This pivotal episode exemplifies the animosity between Crichton and Scorpius and the love shared by Crichton and Aeryn. The personal stakes have never been so high or desperate for these characters, who are put through emotional wringers in “Die Me Dichotomy”. With this episode’s emphasis on character in spite of all its many story developments, it was Farscape at its very best.

Honorable mentions: “Fractures, “Infinite Possibilities (Part 1): Daedalus Demands”, “Look At The Princess” trilogy, “Family Ties”, “Crackers Don’t Matter”, “Season Of Death”, “Crichton Kicks”, “Unrealized Reality”, “Coup By Clam”, and the “We Are So Screwed” trilogy.

José Soto

Mar 21 2014

Celebrating Farscape, Part Two

castThe beloved sci-fi TV series Farscape celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. It was a true space opera with epic and inventive storylines and colorful characters. Farscape starred Ben Browder as John Crichton, an astronaut from Earth that got sucked into a wormhole and was stranded on the other side of the universe. Crichton quickly made friends and foes as he first struggled to survive, then tried to find a way to get back home. One such person he met during his travels would become the most important person in his life.

A Star-Crossed Affair

sunOut of all the exotic alien beings John  Crichton met in his spacefaring adventures, the one he connected with the most was Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black). In a clever bit of irony, the show’s creators had her antagonistic alien race, the Sebaceans, look exactly human. Coming from the harsh and militaristic Peackekeeper culture, Aeryn was disdainful toward Crichton, who she saw as weak. Actually she was hostile towards him because she blamed him for being stuck with the Moya crew, who were escaped convicts. She was part of the Peacekeeper force trying to re-capture Moya , a living ship, in the pilot episode, but her fighter ship was accidently pulled into Moya’s docking bay. Though she tried escaping, Aeryn was unable to return to her people because she was considered contaminated from her prolonged exposure to aliens, including Crichton. Eventually she became part of the crew and one of Moya’s fiercest defender. Crichton and her began to feel something for one another but tried to deny them. In the time-travel yarn “The Locket” the idea of them having a relationship was explored when old, future versions of themselves were shown to have been in love with each other.

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However, things weren’t so clear cut with them. For many episodes there was a “will they or won’t they” aspect as they bickered with each other and had other relationships. In the second season finale “Die Me, Dichotomy” Crichton admitted his love for her when it seemed that she died. Spoiler: She did die but was resurrected by fellow crewmate Zhaan (Virginia Hey). Things took a strange twist in the third season when Crichton was duplicated by a mad alien scientist (“Eat Me”). During that time the crew of Moya was split up with one Crichton remaining onboard Moya, while the other took off with Aeryn onboard Talyn, Moya’s offspring spaceship. That Crichton and Aeryn fully developed their romance and he actually found a way to return home, but tragically died at the end of the two-part episode “Infinite Possibilities”.

Meanwhile, the Crichton on Moya was unaware of all this and was expecting a happy reunion with her when the two ships finally made their rendezvous (“Fractures”). Instead he found a heartbroken woman who was unable to reciprocate his feelings. As far as he was concerned they were back to square one. This constant back and forth would’ve been tiresome to watch in your standard TV show but this was Farscape; it was provocative and scintillating.

Always In His Mind

John Crichton had an additional emotional bond with another alien, but in the other extreme. He had a burning hatred towards the creepy Scorpius (Wayne Pygram), who first appeared in the episode scorpius and chick“Nerve” and quickly became the main villain in the series. Clad in a thick leather suit and tight-fitting cowl, Scorpius had a cadaverous appearance with his pasty white, scaly skin, bloodshot eyes and short, dark teeth. He was a cold and calculating person who spoke in an unexpectedly eloquent and sophisticated tone and who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Scorpius is one of the greatest sci-fi villains and that is due to several factors which include Pygram’s performance and the character’s back story.

As explained in the episode “Incubator” the alien is a hybrid resulting from when a humanoid Sebacean female (who make up the Peacekeepers) was raped by a reptilian Scarran. When his mother died at childbirth, Scorpius was raised harshly by his Scarran caretakers who looked down at him as a halfbreed to be tortured and experimented on. After reaching adulthood, Scorpius escaped and joined the Peacekeepers with the goal of defeating the Scarrans. It should be noted that the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans were bitter rivals constantly on the verge of war. This episode went a long hidden memoryway to explaining Scorpius’ motives and the revelations added more dimension to his character. The viewer understood why he was so ruthless and brutal and why he was so determined to get Crichton. When he is introduced in the two-part episode “Nerve”/ “The Hidden Memory”, he learns from torturing a captured Crichton that the astronaut has buried knowledge in his subconscious on how to create wormholes. Crichton unknowingly received this information by advanced aliens he met in the episode “A Human Reaction”. From then on, Scorpius became an alien version of Javert, who was obsessed with capturing his very own Jean Valjean.  Scorpius was desperate to gain Crichton’s buried knowledge in order to construct weapons and use the wormhole-based weaponry against the superior Scarrans.

An interesting development was that before Crichton escaped Scorpius’ clutches in their first encounter, Scorpius implanted a sort of neural clone into Crichton’s mind. During times of great stress or danger, an imaginary version of Scorpius would appear to Crichton, usually as part of bizarre hallucinations. Sometimes this implant saved Crichton’s life, other times it kept him from killing Scorpius. The interactions between Crichton and “Harvey”, as he called the implant, were the highlights of many episodes. Their discussions unveiled many insights into Crichton’s character, sometimes they were humorous, other times they were poignant. Continue reading →

Mar 19 2014

Celebrating Farscape, Part One

farscape 3Farscape, the sci-fi TV show from the late ’90s that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, has received some attention lately and it’s quite warranted. It’s undeniably one of the very best sci-fi TV shows ever made. Created by Rockne S. O’Bannon and produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape rivals such classics like Star Trek, Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica thanks to the way it presented truly alien characters and worlds and more importantly well-written scripts with complex, nuanced characters. Though it was cancelled in 2003, the show has come back to the limelight with its availability on Netflix, daily airings on the cable channel Pivot and with recent news that one of the show’s writers (Justin Monjo) is penning a screenplay for a Farscape film.

The show starred Ben Browder who played John Crichton, an American astronaut who was testing an experimental mini-space shuttle called Farscape One. While in space, his shuttle gets sucked into a wormhole and Crichton wound up on the other side of the universe. Once there, he inadvertently joined a band of moyaescaped alien prisoners on a prison ship they commandeered called Moya that is actually alive. This gets him into trouble with the prisoners’ pursuers, the Peacekeepers, a militaristic power, who ironically enough look human. Think of them as xenophobic, intergalactic Nazis. One of them, Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) also wound up in cahoots with Crichton and the prisoners even though she’d just as soon throw them back in their cells. For most of the show’s run, Crichton and his eclectic group evaded the Peacekeepers and other foes, while he looked for a way to create a wormhole to return home. During his experiences he bonded with his reluctant alien allies, including Sun.

No Ordinary Space Hero

From the start, Farscape had an offbeat vibe to it and it started with the main character John Crichton. He easily could’ve been the typical stoic and rugged hero, but thanks to Browder’s acting chops and comedic skills, Crichton was much more than your standard space hero. He often referenced pop culture; specifically genre fare. At every opportunity he mentioned Star Wars, Star Trek, Looney Tunes and other genre classics. Actually an animated version of Star Trek’s Enterprise ship appeared in one episode as part of a hallucination he was experiencing!

It was all part of the way he dealt with the bizarreness that he experienced during his travels. Many of these references and his sometimes erratic behavior were downright hysterical and lessened the tension during many nail biting sequences. Rather than being the straight man, Crichton was the comedian who was able to see the absurdity of many situations he was stuck in.

Yet, he was heroic and often the voice of reason amongst the crew of Moya. Despite his bravery Crichton sometimes made bad calls out of good intentions. More often than not he just charged into a situation and improvised on the fly. Certainly that got him and his friends into more trouble, but he accepted responsibility and tried to make amends. These faults made him more fallible and relatable. And when it came down to it, these characteristics made Crichton someone to root for whenever he made a humorous quip and fired away with his beloved pulse pistol affectionately called Winona.

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But this didn’t mean that Crichton lacked a serious side. It was clear the humor he exhibited was to alleviate the stress he was undergoing. Crichton was obviously homesick at the start of the series and he knew returning to Earth was an impossibility, yet like a modern-day Quixote he continued looked for ways to do this. Later in the series, he realized that going home would lead to more problems and it conflicted with the life and deep relationships he established with his comrades. Often, he found himself making sacrifices for others and was rewarded with deep emotional bonds, both good and bad. Continue reading →