The last time that I
took a major vacation, I gave the column a bit of a vacation as well.
Instead of writing about comic books, I turned my attention to some
of my favorite television shows. Two years later, I’m ready to
do it again. I’m off to foreign lands, and “Fluit Notes”
is off to the far reaches of space with the best episodes of
“Farscape.”
Season One
It was actually pretty
easy to pick a list for the first season. I had been drawn into the
series by a Friday night Farscape marathon featuring many of the best
episodes from the first season. These are the episodes that made me
fall in love with the show and the episodes that I enjoyed immensely
when I watched them again.
Premiere: An
outstanding debut. You know right away that this show isn’t
going to be like any science fiction you’ve seen before.
Instead of Star Trek’s efficient yet friendly Federation, you
have the tyrannical Peacekeepers. Instead of Star Wars’
friendly, and often cute, alien life forms, you meet a ship full of
escaping prisoners. There’s betrayal, mistrust, confusion and
danger right from the word “Go!” The main character, John
Crichton, is sarcastic, funny and full of appropriate pop culture
references. And, oh yeah, there’s the wizardry of the Jim
Henson company bringing new life to puppets and prosthetics.
Throne for a Loss:
An early episode that shows you that the cast is not going to become
best friends so easily. Rygel steals from the ship in order to
impress some trading partners only to get kidnapped for ransom. The
others borrow one of the enemy’s weapon gauntlets in order to
rescue him (and the crystal he stole) only to turn on each other with
a version of steroid rage. Farscape does a great job of depicting
the complex relationships of characters thrown together by
circumstances who don’t necessarily trust each other or even
have the same goals in mind. Plus, Zhaan has some great scenes in
which she tries to convince their own hostage to give up his violent
ways, including one in which she shows that she’s not
embarrassed to be naked.
Thank God it’s
Friday… Again: One of the things that I like about
Farscape is that, just as the crewmates can’t trust each other,
they also can’t trust the planets that they land on for
supplies. The city of the Sakarens is a great example as this
apparent paradise is actually an enslaved population kept in
perpetual happiness by drugs. D’Argo is quickly entrapped
himself and the others have to find a way to extricate him while not
knowing who they can actually trust. Pretty soon they find
themselves as part of an underground rebellion standing up to the
suitably alien queen Volmae.
DNA Mad Scientist:
Just when you think that the crew might be coming together as
friends, Farscape trips you up with a compelling story of selfishness
and betrayal. A mad scientist claims that he can help anyone find
their homeworld through their DNA. What should have been a series of
painless trips to the doctor turns into a brutal fight for primacy as
the aliens argue about who should get to go home first. In one of
the most memorable scenes of the first season, they even cut off one
of Pilot’s arms in order to achieve their goals. Plus, as
we’ll learn time and time again, the alien always has goals of
his own which don’t line up with those of the crew. In this
case, the doctor injects Aeryn Sun with Pilot’s DNA turning her
into a grotesque hybrid in another unforgettable and tearful scene.
Till the Blood Runs
Clear: This episode is a perfect example of what makes Farscape
great. There’s the constant conflict and tension: from each
other, the alien worlds they encounter and the Peacekeepers who are
chasing them. There are the sudden surprises and twists. There’s
the humor. And, increasingly, there are the tender moments as
creatures who seem to have nothing in common are inevitability drawn
into friendship. “Till the Blood Runs Clear” features
wolf-like bounty hunters tracking down the crew, a delightfully
sarcastic alien mechanic named Furlow, Aeryn’s temptation to
betray the others to the Peacekeepers in order to get her old life
back and a powerful scene in which John and Aeryn rescue D’Argo
from torture and try to keep him alive.
Jeremiah Crichton:
Farscape loves playing against expectations. In this episode, John
Crichton is apparently abandoned by Moya and the crew. Instead of a
quick rescue, the show jumps forward several months. Crichton has
eked out a living, grown a beard and befriended the locals including
the beginnings of a romantic relationship. He’s making a life
for himself on this planet, just as he had on Moya. When the crew
finally finds him, it’s not obvious that John will actually
rejoin them. Of course, the presence of so many aliens throws the
locals into confusion, resulting in some hostile encounters and one
of Rygel’s best scenes as he’s worshipped as a local
emperor/god.
A Human Reaction:
Farscape loves playing against expectations, but it also occasionally
plays against our fears. “A Human Reaction” is one of
the best examples. John apparently finds his way back to Earth but
his home isn’t exactly a welcoming environment for his
comrades. They’re hounded, quarantined and eventually
dissected. It’s an occasionally dark mirror, reminding us of
the worst of human nature and that we’re not always better than
the alien races John has encountered. This episode was already good
but the twist makes it even better. An advanced race is using John’s
knowledge of his home to test whether or not they would be welcome
there. They realize they wouldn’t but they appreciate John so
much that they bless him by implanting knowledge in his brain.
Nerve/The Hidden
Memory: Throughout the first season, John Crichton and the crew
of Moya have been playing mouse to Commander Crais’ cat.
Finally, in this stunning two-parter, they walk right into a
Peacekeeper base in order to save Aeryn only to be captured by Crais
and someone even worse. This story introduces Scorpius as a great
new villain, as well as Stark, a delightfully lunatic fellow
prisoner. It starts out like a heist film, turns into a prison
torture tale, and ends up as an escape story. Ongoing series in both
comic books and television like to claim that nothing will ever be
the same again. With Farscape, that’s true more often than
not.
Season Two
Out of Their Minds:
Season Two starts out a little rough. It’s not until the ninth
episode that I actually found an episode I would include in a “best
of” list. But at this point, the second season really picks
up. “Out of Their Minds” is a hilarious tale in which
the characters find that they’ve traded minds. It’s
great fun for the actors to pretend that they’re someone else.
And it’s great fun for the audience to see what the characters
would do in each other’s bodies. Farscape is usually very
funny, but it can sometimes fall flat when it goes for a straight
comedy episode. This one, however, is a wonderful success.
Look at the
Princess, Parts I through III: Farscape does a great job
introducing new villains. At the end of season one, we met Scorpius,
who’s an even bigger threat than Crais. Now, we get our first
extended look at the Scarrans, a race that’s an even bigger
threat than Scorpius. They’re trying to control a planet
through diplomacy, treachery and outright mental domination. And
John Crichton is caught in the middle of it when the princess falls
in love with him and asks him to be her husband. Once again, we’re
shown a life that Crichton might just prefer to that of being an
escaped prisoner. Once again, we’re caught up in a web of
intrigue, deceit and betrayal. This time, however, the crewmates are
actually able to trust each other. It’s everybody else that
they can’t trust, including Scorpius, Braca, the Scarrans, the
prince and his fiancee. “Look at the Princess” doesn’t
change the status quo the way that other Farscape epics do, but it’s
a great story deserving of the trilogy treatment.
The Locket:
Farscape has often flirted with other love interests for John or
Aeryn, but we’ve always been able to see the romantic tension
in their relationship. “The Locket” shows us what their
love could be like as first Aeryn and then John are trapped on a
world in which time moves more quickly. They spend a lifetime and
become old together in a truly touching tale.
Liars, Guns and
Money, Parts I through III: The second season of Farscape is at
its best when it tells big stories. “Liars, Guns and Money”
is the second trilogy in the season, and again well worth including
in a “best of” list. The basic story is a heist. But
what a heist! Stark learned that D’Argo’s son Jothee has
been captured and is going to be sold off as part of a slave auction.
In order to rescue Jothee, Stark proposes that they rob a
Peacekeeper Shadow Depository in order to get the money they need to
be admitted to the auction. Then, in order to rob the Shadow
Depository, the crew recruits foes and villains from previous
episodes including Bekhesh from “Throne for a Loss,” Rorf
and Rorg from “Till the Blood Runs Clear” and Rygel’s
former captor Captain Durka. The raid features some of the best
action and explosions of the series to date. But the plan is a
failure as Scorpius buys Jothee before they can free him. Then the
heist turns into yet another tale of betrayal, as their mercenary
allies turn on them and each other, while they’re caught in a
game of intrigue with Scorpius and Natira, the beautifully devious
ruler of the depository.
Die Me, Dichotomy:
Throughout season two, John Crichton has been battling a neural chip
that Scorpius implanted in his brain. The neural chip has led to
some great scenes as John argues with the Scorpius clone lurking in
his brain. Now, after the big heist, John wants the chip and the
clone out. They travel to a Diagnosin, but if you’ve been
following Farscape at all then you know that nothing will go
according to plan. Scorpius is there ahead of them. The Diagnosin’s
assistant isn’t to be trusted. And Chiana and Jothee betray
D’Argo’s trust by making love.
That’s it for
Part One, and the first two seasons of Farscape. Come on back next
week for Part Two.
* Thank you to farscapecaps.com for their excellent screen caps of the Farscape series!
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