Ratings
1.0 (US)
2.73 (UK)

Alyssa-Jane Cook...........Gilina Renaez [PK Technician]
Derek Amer.................Teurac
Peter Astridge.............Lomus
Peter Knowles..............Evran
David Wheeler..............Capt. Selto Durka
Phillip Hinton.............Voice of Teurac
Christopher Truswell.......Voice of Evran

Wassup?

Even the big ones go down.

Moya comes across the remains of the Zelbinion, the most famous of all Peacekeeper ships. Exploring the wreckage for clues to its past (and any surviving scraps of navigational data), the crew discovers Gilina, a PK technician recently left onboard by Capt. Crais. Their salvage efforts are further complicated by Rygel's flashbacks to his captivity and torture aboard the Zelbinion by Capt. Durka, and the arrival of a Sheyang scavenger vessel whose crew is bent on claiming the wreckage for themselves.

Backstory

Rygel's whiskers have grown back since Aeryn "broke" the ones on his left side, during his cryo-stasis at Sykar.

The Zelbinion was the most feared ship in the Peacekeeper armada, and even other races thought her invincible. She was missing in battle for over 100 cycles.

Whoever destroyed the Zelbinion attacked from below, judging by the vacuum damage. Zhaan advises her crewmates to stay "starboard and high" when they go aboard.

Aeryn grew up on ships like the Zelbinion.

The Zelbinion was the first ship Rygel was tortured on. (This seem to imply that he was tortured on other ships, later.)

Rygel was dethroned over 130 cycles ago.

Two days after Gilina arrived, her Marauder transport was destroyed by a weapon she had never seen before, when another ship "came out of nowhere".

D'Argo is able to identify signs of Sheyang scavengers on the Zelbinion, even before the Sheyang vessel returns.

Sebaceans consider the Zelbinion to be a cultural treasure.

Other cultures hire the Peacekeepers; per Aeryn, it is to keep order and harmony, while per Rygel, it is to kidnap, torture, and assassinate.

Sheyang burn their victims to death.

Aeryn's entire unit was demoted upon her "defection"; they can only be reinstated upon her death.

The Zelbinion's defense screen was the least damaged part of the ship.

Moya and Pilot are "very afraid" of fire.

D'Argo's code of honor will not permit him to lie to an opponent in battle.

The defense screen is constructed with a progressive power drop; the fiber pattern must be maintained in sequence.

The reputation of Luxans is enough to make the Sheyang back off and reevaluate their plan of attack, when they discover that D'Argo is aboard Moya.

Rygel was literally caged during his torture and imprisonment by Durka, the captain of the Zelbinion.

John's doctorate is in "Cosmic Theory".

Rygel recovers a decoration of some sort (a badge of office?) from the wreck, when he goes to face Durka's corpse. It appears to be the same item Durka ripped from him, over 100 cycles ago.

The defense shield is actually two identical systems overlaid on top of each other; running only one of the systems at a time leaves holes in the force field.

Sheyang do not consider it dishonorable to lose to a clever opponent.

Aeryn still regrets being banished; if she had it to do over again, she would lie to Crais.

John is still overwhelmed by his experiences on Moya, telling Gilina, "this is no way to live".

Reactions

Questions

1. Was Gilina's Marauder destroyed by the Sheyang vessel? Or by the same type of vessel that destroyed the Zelbinion?
2. Why do Moya and Pilot fear fire?

Observations

1. Beautiful opening shot of the Zelbinion reflected in Rygel's eye.

Bloopers (none)

Annotations

John: "Like, shouldn't we be doing Warp a thousand by now?"

Another Star Trek reference.

D'Argo: "This ship is legendary even in my culture. It was thought invincible."
John: "Yeah, well just ask Leonardo DiCaprio. Even the big ones go down."

Reference to James Cameron's 1997 film TITANIC.

Ben Browder reportedly has said he wanted to change this line to "...ask Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Clinton...". Fortunately, saner heads prevailed. ;-)

Aeryn: "Well, be that as it may, we can't stall them for eight arns."
John: "Four. Four. I'll...um...uh...I'll do half the work. What? There some kind of union thing I don't know about?"
Gilina: "No, it's just this wiring is very...sophisticated."
John: "Yep. And I love opera."

John's alluding to the commonly held attitude that liking opera is a sign of sophisticated taste.

(The part of the above quote following "half the work" appears only in the longer version of the episode available on DVD/VHS.)

John: "And so it's red wire, blue wire, red wire, blue wire, and at the last possible second [clicks tongue] he cuts the wrong wire."
Gilina: "And the bomb never goes off."
John: "No no no. He cuts the wrong wire. That's the whole point. Fifteen seconds later, they're running out of the building. Everything blows all to hell."
Gilina: "And you call this entertainment?"

Here John is describing the opening scene to the 1992 Mel Gibson/Danny Glover film LETHAL WEAPON 3.

Aeryn: [shoots the Sheyang, who explodes] "Sorry about the mess."

From STAR WARS, spoken by Han Solo as he nonchalantly strolls out of the Mos Eisley cantina after shooting Greedo.

John: "I had a poster of Clint Eastwood." [Aeryn looks puzzled] "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY."

Sergio Leone's most popular "Spaghetti Western", and the film that established Eastwood as a major film star.

(This particular bit of dialog only appears in the longer version of the episode available on DVD/VHS.)

Translator Microbe Report

Quotables

"When you told me endless tales of your home, you spoke of forests, and rivers, and valleys. Well, I was thinking of walls not unlike these."
"Well, I'm sure it looks better with carpeting."
- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

"This ship is legendary, even in my culture...it was thought invincible."
"Yeah, well, just ask Leonardo diCaprio: even the big ones go down."
- D'Argo, John Crichton

"Wait, what about this console? The lights are still on."
"Someone has regenerated communications."
"Recently? Or, do you guys have like the best car batteries of all time?"
- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

"How long have we known each other, Rygel?"
"Long enough for me to see your blue backside meditating, but not long enough for you to touch me."
"Confront your demons, Rygel, or they will chase you from the shadows to the pyre."
- Zhaan, Rygel

"I can't believe you're not Sebacean."
"Human. It's kind of like Sebacean, but we haven't conquered other worlds yet, so we just kick the crap out of each other."
"Thank you for stopping her from killing me today."
"Well, I try to save a life a day. Usually it's my own..."
- Gilina, John Crichton

"Oh, man. If you guys only used your know-how to..."
"To what? To fulfill your vision of who we should be?"
"..to do Good."
"We are Peacekeepers. Other cultures hire us to keep order, to keep harmony."
"As well as assassinations...torture...kidnap."
- John Crichton, Aeryn Sun, Rygel

"She's not a traitor...not by a long shot. Crais never gave her a chance. Not like the chance we're giving you."
- John Crichton

"For a priest, you certainly have a very flexible morality."
- Ka D'Argo

"No, no, no, no, he cuts the wrong wire, that's the whole point. Fifteen seconds later, they're running out of the building, everything blows all to hell."
"And you call this entertainment?"
"Yeah, well, you know, it replaced cockfighting."
- John Crichton, Gilina

"We have such fiction also."
"It's a small universe."
- Gilina, John Crichton

"Uh, Doctorate? What is that?"
"It's a couple of letters they add to the end of your name."
- Gilina, John Crichton

"It seems Human and Sebacean men are much the same."
"Yeah, I'm not noticing any difference in the women, either."
- Gilina, John Crichton

"Sorry for interrupting."
- Aeryn Sun

"It's good to be on even terms."
"I agree."
"Yeah...um...it's always a good idea to clear the air."
"Very...Clear...Air."
- John Crichton, Aeryn Sun

"You once told me I would never leave your ship alive. You robbed me of so many cycles. But no matter what you did to me, I'll always remember one thing: you lose."
- Rygel

"On the ground, NOW!"
- Aeryn Sun

"Look, Aeryn, it's a long story, but I kinda got my hands full right now, so you're gonna have to get here! Better get here fast, because Froggie's outside the door right now."
- John Crichton

"They spit fire? How come nobody tells me this stuff? How come nobody tells me they spit fire? Aeryn! Come on, Aeryn, come on. [mouths silently] Oh, shit."
- John Crichton

"Listen, gas-hole, you kill us, you kill yourself!"
- John Crichton

"Sorry about the mess."
- Aeryn Sun

"I hope you will only ever imagine how horrible it is, to never return to the life that you love. You are smarter than that, Gilina."
- Aeryn Sun

"You had nothing...but you used it well. Evran, there is no shame in losing to a clever opponent. And Ka D'Argo, I make it a point to someday kill my clever opponents."
"You were magnificent, D'Argo."
"With or without your assistance."
"In spite of it."
- Teurac, Zhaan, Ka D'Argo

"Hey."
"A greeting I shall never understand."
"Well, it's kind of all purpose, lets the other person decide what they want to talk about."
"What if they don't want to talk?"
"Then they say 'hey' back."
"Hey."
"Now, the first person that doesn't want to talk can be trumped, if the other person realizes that they need to. Hey."
- John Crichton, Aeryn Sun

"On my world, they say that loss is the hardest emotion to deal with."
"In my world, showing pain is a sign of weakness."
"How can you not feel pain, after what you've been through?"
"Don't presume to understand me, John."
"If I somehow, someday, get a chance to return to my world, walk around my old neighborhood, see my old house, Dad's truck, best friend's bike on the lawn, and then I get a chance to go inside...I walk through the living room, upstairs to my room...and then I think, what if everyone were dead? What if all my friends and family were lying there, dead? Now, what would it be like to go home then?"
"I stand corrected."
- John Crichton, Aeryn Sun

Comments from Cast & Crew

Rockne O'Bannon, June 24, 1999

• Moderator: <Mithrandir2> to <Moderator>: Will any of the minor first season characters (like the PK Tech Girl) show up again next season?
  

  Rockne: Oh, sure. PK Tech Girl returns in.......................................
  Rockne: ............oh no, that would be telling. Suffice it to say, the writers want this to be a flesh-and-blood world....
  Rockne: where even characters who appear to be "one shot" visitors, return...often in remarkable ways....

Claudia Black ("ChickwithGun") & Anthony Simcoe ("Ploppy"), July 28, 1999

• Moderator: I'll repeat that last question: <Sparrowhwk>: which episode did both of you enjoy making or was just your personal favorite?
  

  ChickwithGun: Favourite Episode: 13 Got to kiss Ben Browder Whoooohoooo!!!!! Oooooooh Baby
  ChickwithGun: Seriously, fav. ep so far was Back and Back to the Future, PK Tech Girl, and DNA

Sean Masterson & Tim Mieville (Farscape Puppeteers), December 20, 1999

• Moderator: <StarPaw> : Why do Pilot and Moya fear fire? And is the puppet itself flammable?
  

  Sean: Yes, the puppet is flamable
  Sean: We have to be very careful
  Sean: Why do they both fear it...
  Sean: You'll find out later this season
  

Rockne S. O'Bannon, January 13, 2000

• Moderator: <Rehanna> to <Moderator>: Is there anything that happened first season you weren't completely happy with how it turned out? Or anything that we took other than how it was ment?
  

  Rockne: There was some rough going in the first few episodes....
  Rockne: We started out trying to film two episodes at the same time. For example, one director directed "I, ET" and "Throne for a Loss"....
  Rockne: It just became impossible for the director, cast, everybody to work on two very disparate storylines at the same time....
  Rockne: By "PK Tech Girl" we went to shooting linearly....
  Rockne: ...and notice how much stronger the eps got after that....
  

Ben Browder (Interview Published April 20, 2000)

• Incidentally, this kind of off-the-cuff humor is something Ben's become known for on the Farscape set -- rumor has it that he's given to ad-libbing. "That's a vicious rumor. It's unsubstantiated," he says in a mock-serious voice. "Who said that? OK, yeah, I do a little bit... But the thing is, it's all there in the scripts, the situations are there and the writers write the scripts. I have a few ad-libs and I always feel like I'm stepping on their toes. But, I do step on their toes...yeah." He laughs guiltily. "Reluctantly, I admit it. As long as you phrase it that reluctantly, I admit it. I always come in and do the script the first time, and then we start sitting down, and we start to play.

  "But that's the beauty of the show. And [Executive Producer] David [Kemper]'s take on it is this: if half of the things that you do work, then you've improved the script. If you were hitting 25 percent, I'd say, 'Stop it now.' So, the environment is such that I'm actually allowed to play. And there are times where I get trumped. In episode seven last year, they're talking about the greatest warship, and Crichton's response about the great big invincible ship is, 'Yeah, well, just ask Leonardo DiCaprio, even the big ones go down.' Now, that's a funny line, right? But I hated it! So I come in, and my solution to that was, 'Yeah, just ask Bill Clinton, even the big ones go down!'"

  Ummmm...

  "Yeah, I know, that's exactly right," he says sheepishly. "But I thought it was great! Because I figured it played on three levels, right? It plays on a political level, it plays on the actual level of the ship going down, and then it's got that other...level. Which I figure, they've got twenty years out of that joke, right? But, I come back and they go, 'No. You're putting Leonardo back.' And they're right, you know. They saved me." For the record, though, Ben still likes his version better.

Farscape Wrap Day Extravaganza, July 26, 2001

• Moderator: <GeneralXakliaSun> to <Moderator>: Hi Tony! Is it true that during the ADR of PKTechGirl, Claudia lifted you up?

  TonyTilse: Yes.
  TonyTilse: Yes. I get all the people in ADR to lift me up!