Ratings
1.1 (US)
3.64 (UK)

John Adam..................Bekhesh
Jeremiah Tickell...........Kyr
Zoe Dimakis................Hontovek
Api Bavardra...............Nonk

Wassup?

The Ransom of Red Chief...er, Rygel

The crew's plan to earn a little credit goes awry when Rygel is kidnapped for ransom. Now they need to get him back, not because they particularly want him, but because he's taken a vital component that Moya needs in order to maintain orbit. Complicating matters, the local thugs are pharmaceutically enhanced -- and our crew isn't exactly immune to the drug's effects.

Backstory

The fugitives must be starting to run low on resources if they are proactively looking for a way to generate income, and willing to contract with the strangers to haul an unknown cargo.

Only a few episodes into his Farscape adventures, John is still in negotiation mode at this point: while Aeryn refuses to go unarmed to their meeting with their Tavlek employers, he suggests the Kung Fu ("never carried a gun"), rather than John Wayne ("the Big Guy, True Grit" etc.) approach.

Rygel obtained stale food cubes on Porzin Two to keep the crew from starving.

D'Argo can't get the gauntlet to work when he first puts it on, although it immediately injects him. However, it almost immediately turns him overly aggressive, and he soon is able to fire it instinctively. It also gives him sufficient strength to throw a barrel across the bay and smash a shelf.

The Tavleks support themselves by kidnapping wealthy and/or powerful individuals and holding them for ransom; they come to Moya for the express purpose of kidnapping Rygel, believing he is still in control of the Hynerian Empire.

The Tavlek prisoner says the drug is a "stimulant" that increases strength. The only way to remove the gauntlet is if the wearer is unconscious (or the drug reservoir runs dry). It takes time to sleep off the effects of the drug once the gauntlet is removed; long term usage will lead to more severe withdrawal symptoms.

The concept of a "tractor beam" is not generally familiar to those in the Uncharted Territories, despite the existence of Moya's docking web. The docking web also seems to have a very limited range, given how quickly the Tavlek shuttle was able to get out of range.

Moya is experiencing system malfunctions, and has lost all propulsion control. Evidently, this requires Pilot to manually vent her excess supercoolants in order to avoid a dangerous pressure buildup.

Moya's synaptic processors (control circuits) are composed of trillions of silicon neurons, suspended in a semi-organic crystalline matrix. This gives them the appearance of jewels.

Chloroferric compounds in vegetation will block Moya's sensors.

If you overload the pulse chamber, you will blow up a pulse rifle.

It has been over 100 cycles since Rygel was deposed.

Zhaan "bleeds" a milky white substance. This fluid can be used medicinally, to ease withdrawal symptoms from the Tavlek stimulant.

D'Argo's Qualta Blade is not only a sword, but also a rifle. It also retains its charge amazingly well; even after eight cycles since its last recharge, it packs a powerful punch.

John is still easily distracted by alien species; he calls Jotheb a "critter".

Luxans initially bleed dark red or black; this is toxic. The wound isn't cleansed until the blood runs clear, which requires that the injury site be stimulated so that the blood flows freely.

John compares the guantlet to the Green Lantern's ring -- it works by willpower. The stimulant takes effect almost immediately, with a feeling of mild euphoria.

Zhaan is stronger than she looks, able to overcome the prisoner with no difficulty whatsoever. She also easily crumples his drug injection device with her bare hand.

The Tavleks have an interesting code of ethics. The prisoner is mystified by the fact that Zhaan is trying to help him, and Bekhesh says it's been so long since he heard the truth, he no longer recognizes it. Yet Bekhesh releases Rygel without consequences once he realizes there's no profit in holding him. Despite the aggressive effects of the gauntlet's drug, they seem to be rationally mercenary, motivated strictly by profit, without need for retribution or revenge when things don't work out as planned.

Reactions

Questions

1. What was Rygel thinking? He plans to welcome the Tavleks to his "yacht" at the same time as he's trying to complete a deal to haul cargo on the same vessel -- it's not like him to overlook the blatant inconsistencies in this story.
2. How exactly did Jotheb resuscitate Rygel? We heard a soft hissing sort of sound; was he providing some sort of tentacle-to-mouth breathing?

Observations

1. The footage of Rygel and his airborne thronesled in the docking bay was very nicely done. The clip where he knocks himself out cold by flying into the wall was particularly enjoyable. ;-)
2. The score is more primal than usual in this episode; it suited the story well.
3. Gotta love the blue plant effects on the Tavleks' planet; anyone know how it was done?

Bloopers (none)

Annotations

John: "We do know that they'll pay us to haul cargo, which they're not gonna do if you go in there doing your John Wayne impression."
Aeryn: "John Wayne. Who's that? A relative?"
John: "John Wayne? No. The big guy. TRUE GRIT, THE SEARCHERS, THE COWBOYS, GENGHIS KHAN. No, look, forget about GENGHIS KHAN. Everybody makes a bad movie..."

Sterling examples of how a mediocre actor can make some of the best films in the Western genre. Henry Hathaway's TRUE GRIT, Mark Rydell's THE COWBOYS, and especially John Ford's THE SEARCHERS are classic Westerns. THE SEARCHERS, in particular, is considered by many to be one of the best Westerns ever made.

As for that last one, well, actually, this is an error. Crichton is mixing up the film title with the character. In what is generally considered the worst piece of casting in movie history, Wayne plays Temujin in THE CONQUEROR, directed by actor Dick Powell. The film is also notorious for being the death (literally) of a large number of its cast and crew: it was filmed in the desert near the sites of the atom bomb tests, and the bulk of the cast and crew (including Powell, Wayne, Susan Hayward, and Agnes Moorhead) ended up dying from cancer.

John: "Kung Fu. Kung Fu never carried a gun."

Once again, he's mixing up the character with the title. What he's referring to is Kwai Chang Caine, hero of the 1970s TV series KUNG FU.

John: "Pilot, get a tractor beam on that shuttle."
Pilot: "Tractor beam? What's that?"

The first of many references to STAR TREK.

Tractor beams actually pre-date Star Trek (E. E. 'Doc' Smith's Lensman novels from around 1950, for instance, feature both tractor and pressor beams), though Star Trek popularized the concept. Then again, John might have been thinking of Star Wars.

John: "Good night, sweet prince."

Quote from Shakespeare's HAMLET, Act V, Scene 2:

Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

John: "That's your plan? Wile E. Coyote would come up with a better plan than that!"

Wile E. Coyote (Canis Nervous Rex) is, of course, the Warner Bros. cartoon character created by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Despite being a self-styled Super Genius, his overly elaborate plans to catch the Road Runner for dinner always went awry.

John: "Willpower. Like the Green Lantern's ring."

Green Lantern is a DC Comics superhero. There have been various incarnations of the character, but the best known is Hal Jordan, a test pilot recruited by the Guardians of the Universe to be a member of their interstellar police force, the Green Lantern Corps. Green Lantern's "weapon" was his ring, powered by his willpower, which enabled him to create energy constructs in the form of whatever his imagination conjured up. For everything you could want to know about the Green Lanterns, go to http://www.glcorps.org/ or http://www.emeraldwarriors.com/

John: "I'm sorry...I don't feel anything. In fact, I feel pretty good. I feel real good. Oh, right. It's working."

This probably isn't an intentional allusion, but it reminds me of an exchange between Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) and Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) in John Carpenter's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. After they and their companions drink a mystical potion prior to descending into the villain's lair, Burton says: "Feel pretty good. I mean I'm not...uh...I'm not scared at all. I just feel kind of...I feel kind of invincible."

Translator Microbe Report

Quotables

"Tavloids."
"TavLEKs!"
"Whatever!"
- John Crichton, everyone else

"Our 'supreme emminence' has been bagged."
- John Crichton

"A stimulant? It's a little more than cappuccino, pal, our friend just tried to kill us!"
- John Crichton

"Soft, yes. Weak, no."
- Zhaan

"That's your plan? Wile E. Coyote would come up with a better plan than that!"
- John Crichton

"You hit me!"
"Hit...I...no, a pantak jab. You were more susceptible than most."
"Next time you hit me, make sure that I don't wake up."
"Tch, aww."
"Oh, don't tch me. This is not over with. And when it is, you and I are going to sit down and have a serious talk."
"Sure. When this is over, you and I will probably be dead."
- John Crichton, Aeryn Sun

"You shanghai my ass down here...now you want me to lead? Give me one good reason!"
"Lots of reasons: land mines, fire snakes, razor grass, night vision snipers, Morlian death spiders..."
- John Crichton, Aeryn Sun

"Enjoying yourself?"
"Oh, yeah...marching through a smelly, bug-infested jungle. If this is your idea of a good time, I bet you don't get a lot of second dates."
- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

"Oh, what happened? Wait...where's the rifle?"
"It's all over the place. Am I bleeding?"
- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

"Nice blanket you got there, D'Argo."
"A lumpy blanket. Get her off."
- John Crichton, D'Argo

"Jotheb, a little help?"
"Help? Of what sort?"
"Pull! [grunting] Ohhh, puuull! [slightly strangled] Maybe around the throat isn't a good idea..."
- Rygel, Jotheb

"If the gauntlet brings out the real you -- both of you -- think long and hard about therapy. I'm gonna go check things out. Play nice while I'm gone."
- John Crichton

"Hey, check out the critter!"
"Critter?"
"Critter?"
- John Crichton, Jotheb, D'Argo

"It's a fine weapon."
"I request...that you bury me with it."
- Aeryn Sun, D'Argo

"Rygel is an obnoxious gasbag, and who's gonna shell out for that?"
"He's right. I'm unloved, unwanted, unpopular...[Bekhesh kicks him]...unconscious..."
- John Crichton, Rygel

"Perhaps I like to offer choices."
- Zhaan

"Did you swallow it?"
"Swallow it? Yes, yes! Which means you're going to have to take me back as I am, or disembowel me here."
"Don't you tempt me, Fluffy."
- John Crichton, Rygel

"Well? Am I to live or die?"
"Die...but not today."
- D'Argo, Aeryn Sun

Comments from Cast & Crew