...Different Destinations

Ratings
1.7 (US)
1.96 (UK)

Tammy MacIntosh............Jool
Dan Spielman...............Sub-Officer Dacon
Lucy Bell..................Nurse Kelsa
Marshall Napier............General Grynes
Terry Serio................Colonel Lennok
Basia A'hern...............Cyntrina
Alan Cinis.................Officer Tarn
Anne-Marie Kreller.........Unspecified

Wassup?

Myth and Legend

Stark has a bad reaction to a tear in time, turning a simple tourist stop into an up-close-and-personal encounter with a planet's bloody past. In an Uncharted Territories version of the Alamo, the crew discovers that legendary history is a very tenuous thing, less mythic than it appears -- and that Peacekeepers weren't always so corrupt.

Backstory

The time tear is limited; it oscillates between the final battle, and the nurses' surrender. It is only visible with the aid of special goggles.

Jool has nothing but contempt for Peacekeepers, and considers them rapers and pillagers.

Aeryn, despite her disillusionment with life as a Peacekeeper, still defends their ideals and values her cultural history.

The Jocacean memorial commemorated events of 500 cycles ago, when 30 Peacekeepers died defending the monastery and its nurses. Subofficer Dacon, who orchestrated the final ceasefire, was considered one of the greatest heros to the modern Peacekeepers.

Moya was in orbit so that Pilot could oversee the repair of her condensers.

Neither Chiana nor Rygel can bring themselves to loot Zhaan's quarters.

At some recent point, Zhaan bought Stark new clothes.

Stark can no longer hear Zhaan in his mind.

Stark's interaction with the time tear causes him to lose consciousness.

Aeryn seems to know how to deal with primitive weapon wounds very well, expertly snapping the head off the arrow in Jool's arm and pulling out the shaft.

The Veneks amassed forces in the thousands, in the valley around the monastery.

Officer Tarn claims that all pulse weapons were being jammed by the Veneks.

Pilot initially reports that the planet's automated orbit instructions have changed from Jocacean to basic Venek vernacular.

Veniks originally abandoned the planet 400 cycles ago.

Aeryn's digipamphlet is still functional; it retains its memory of the original history even after the timeline has been altered.

Because John and Aeryn's pulse pistols still work, Aeryn theorizes that only "primitive rechargers" are affected by the dampening field; these would include D'Argo's antique Qualta blade.

Jool burbles when she drinks.

A mixture of one part water to nine parts Fellip urine creates a powerful anesthetic which can be orally administered.

The nurse's convoy was actually saved by Tarn, not Dacon.

Dacon was the Comm Supervisor and Sustenance Preparer -- in other words, the cook.

Grynes escaped in the original timeline, returned to his army with the news that there were only women and children left, and convinced the Venek to offer a ceasefire.

At the Battle of Madizak, Grynes forced a truce when he could have forced victory.

Jool's shed hair is piling up on the consoles in Command.

Pilot next reports that a vicious planetary war 500 cycles ago claimed millions of lives.

Dacon's soldiering skills are so limited that Aeryn has to tell him to take his finger off the trigger and point the weapon away them.

Aeryn was not only raised, but also born, on a Command Carrier.

The Venek forces are called the Horde; even their General says that it is almost impossible to control them.

The Veneks' water supply has dried up; they need access to the source of the river inside the mountain. Failing that, they'll attack the cities for an alternate supply, and millions will die.

The nurses were on a healing caravan when the Horde began the conflict; found by Peacekeepers, they were brought to the cloister for protection. The Peacekeepers are contracted to defend their world, and uphold all that's good.

Nurse Kelsa would rather kill her daughter, than let her fall into the hands of the Horde.

Either Grynes spits a whole lot when he's shot, or his blood is clear.

Harvey likes "Home on the Range", but only discovered it when John mentally compared their situation to an old western.

John called Harvey to answer a question: can they get the timeline back on track?

Harvey claims that research points to the elasticity of time, rather than a brittle framework: if nudged close enough to course, events have a way of restructuring themselves; if the participants are the same, the venues are the same, and the motivations are the same, then the outcome is likely to be the same.

The message sent by Colonel Lennok can be recorded over; apparently it was a reusable device.

Moya next detects no microbial chemistry; craters indicate global destruction by military conflict.

John asks Aeryn four times to untie him before she complies.

After John and Aeryn agree to use their pulse pistols in the final assault, Pilot reports that the planet has now been totally destroyed. When Chiana takes a transport pod out to investigate, Pilot detects a massive gamma disturbance where the planet used to be.

The crew's decision to return through the tear is made when Stark senses that the billions of deaths have been averted.

According to Cyntrena, Jocaceans live 700 cycles.

Stark was apparently able to use his energy to draw the tear around them as a group. They never moved from where they stood; the time tear must have expanded to envelope them.

Moya registered every timeline change as it happened, but remained unaffected.

After their return, the tear is no longer stable; Stark can't take them back through to the past.

The martyred nurses are presented as holograms at the memorial.

The Horde was possessed by blood lust; even the Colonel couldn't control them. They murdered all the nurses and children left at the monastery. Kelsa died calling Crichton's name.

Cyntrina's mark in the stone has lasted 500 cycles.

Reactions

Questions

1. Jool claims she sees the tear in a different place than Stark does. Did she? And if so, how can she see it without goggles? And why would Stark say he saw it in a different place than she did?
2. Stark says "it's the light, that's what's wrong" when he senses that millions, billions, are now dead. Why? What was different about the light?
3. Why didn't John tell anyone about his plan to release Grynes? When he initially comes up with his plan, Aeryn cuts him off before he can explain it, but as stubborn as he is, he could have pursued it with her (or D'Argo, for that matter) if he had so chosen; Kelsa could have been prevented from killing Grynes, and the original timeline could have been restored. John told Aeryn that there wasn't time, but she didn't believe that, and frankly, neither does your editor. Was it merely a plot device, or is there significance in the fact that John did not trust his crewmates with his plans?
4. The tear seems to come and go during their sojourn in the past -- are their actions affecting it? And if so, how?

Observations

1. The statue in the old monastery doesn't look like either a Venek or a Jocacean.
2. John and D'Argo attach great importance to not altering the timeline, but Aeryn doesn't seem to share their commitment:
   • "I'm not dying just so that things don't change."
   • "You know, if we did change things, it is possible that we could improve the future."

   But despite their intentions, in the heat of battle not even John or D'Argo can help themselves:

   • "Hey, try not to kill anybody!"
     "I'm not going to kill anyone...oh, but I might kill this guy."
   • "Sorry, don't die, don't die!"
3. The flaming arrows (and their accompanying sound effect) were beautifully done. They also made an interesting display device for the Venek Colonel's message.
4. Aeryn transitions very smoothly to an environment in which Peacekeepers are the Good Guys; perhaps her disillusionment with her intended vocation is not as complete as previously believed:
   • "This is what Peacekeepers are meant to do: help the defenseless."
5. Although Guy Gross added in the final version of "Home on the Range", Wayne Pygram did actually perform on the harmonica during shooting.
6. In a tip of the hat (er, boots) to the movie Toy Story, the name 'Andy' is inscribed on the soles of Harvey's boots; reportedly, this was Ben Browder's idea.
7. The strain is showing a bit, in John and Aeryn's relationship. She makes a dark joke about him still having a voice in his head, and accuses him of making decisions for her. He doesn't share his idea about Grynes with her, turns to Harvey for advice instead of her, and has to ask her four times to untie him from the statue.
8. The attacking Horde sounds like an Indian attack from an old western.
9. John yells "Tony Montana!" during the final battle; this is a reference to Al Pacino's character in the movie Scarface.
10. The night before shooting "Different Destinations", Tammy MacIntosh had some friends over for a dinner party, and after a few drinks came up with Jool's 'burbling' method of drinking. She just tossed it in the next day, on set. (per Tammy's appearance at the 2001 Official Farscape Convention.)

Bloopers (none)

Annotations

Stark: "Zhaan bought these. Bought them for me."
John: "I know, and you look great. You look like Astroboy."

Astroboy is an extremely popular character from Japanese comics and animation, created by Osamu Tezuka.

Dacon: "This one's still alive. Can you help me get him to the locker room?"
John: "Yeah, no problem, Opie."

Opie Taylor, played by Ron Howard, was the son of Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry on the classic sitcom THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW.

While Harvey plays the old tune "Home on the Range" (see also "Home on the Remains") on the harmonica, we see "Andy" etched on the soles of his boots. This is a reference to the 1995 Pixar film TOY STORY in which the character Woody (a cowboy doll) is seen to have the name of his owner, Andy, etched onto the soles of his boots.

Aeryn: "Sub-Officer Dacon does not have to die."
John: "He's Davy Crockett at the Alamo."

One of the best known heroes in American history is Davy Crockett. After serving in Congress, he moved from his native Tennessee to Texas, where he died, along with over a hundred others at the siege of the Alamo mission in San Antonio, resisting a force of thousands of Mexican soldiers.

The two best known portrayers of Crockett in popular media are John Wayne, in THE ALAMO, directed by Wayne himself, and Fess Parker, who played Crockett in five episodes of Walt Disney's 1950s TV anthology series DISNEYLAND.

John: "If Grynes lives, he's a hero who averts a war. Dead, he's just another guy in the Laura Ashley Spring Collection."

Laura Ashley is a line of women's clothing that started in England in the early 1950s, and by the mid-70s was worldwide.

John: "D'Argo!" [fires his pulse pistol at a Venek]
D'Argo: "Whoa."
John: "Tony Montana!"

John's referring to Al Pacino's psychotic gang lord character in Brian DePalma's 1983 film SCARFACE, a remake of a 1932 film by Howard Hawks. The character in the earlier film was called Tony Camonte, not Tony Montana, so the reference is specific to the DePalma film.

Translator Microbe Report

Quotables

"Well, need I say more? If you learned about it in military school, it's certain to be farko."
- Jool

"Bullfrell!"
- Jool

"Zhaan bought these. Bought them for me."
"I know. And you look great, you look like Astroboy."
- Stark, John Crichton

"I got shot at a peace memorial!"
- Jool

"John's right. If we change anything here, change the past, the future might not happen as it's meant to."
"Then we might not get back."
"So, we don't get back...but I'm not dying just so that things don't change."
- D'Argo, John Crichton, Aeryn Sun

"Hey, try not to kill anybody!"
"I'm not going to kill anyone...oh, but I might kill this guy."
- John Crichton, D'Argo

"Sorry, don't die, don't die!"
- John Crichton

"You know, if we did change things, it is possible that we could improve the future."
"With our record? You think that's gonna happen?"
"I guess not."
- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

"You made me drink piss?"
- Jool

"Well, that was obviously wrong."
- D'Argo

"Mud! You threw me in mud! Bastards, they shoot me, they punch me, they make me drink piss..."
- Jool

"As Zhaan always says, 'do right by the wrong, goddess helps us all along'."
"Feeling left out, D'Argo? We're the only ones who don't have voices in our head."
- Stark, Aeryn Sun

"When they attack again, I'll show you my way to get a ceasefire."
"God."
- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

"Without renewal, there's stagnation."
"Yeah? Well, I feel the same way about men, but I don't leave them lying around."
"Can't you ever play nice? I got shot with an epcus-infected arrow, you monochromatic little bitch."
- Jool, Chiana

"Those recruitment holochips never said anything about this."
"About what? Fighting with primitive weapons?"
"Dying. Knowing you're going to die. Having time to think about it."
"Well, as a soldier, you don't think about it."
"I'm a cook. I like to think about food."
- Aeryn Sun, Sub-Officer Dacon

"This is what peacekeepers are meant to do: help the defenseless."
- Aeryn Sun

"Your superiors sent you into battle without an understanding of the antecedents? You really are barbarians."
"No, we're Peacekeepers. Barbarians butcher children."
"Yes, the Horde is bloodthirsty, and almost impossible to control. I'm trying not to be a barbarian, and I've never harmed a child in my life."
- General Grynes, John Crichton

"Yeah, bonnets are always a risk, but it's the little touches that put you over the wall."
- John Crichton

"Why didn't you tell us anything?"
"There wasn't time."
"Oh, like frell there wasn't...and since when do you make decisions for me?"
- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

"I'm in a hell of a slump here. Everything I do just makes things worse."
"Well then...do better."
- John Crichton, Harvey

"He's Davy Crockett at the Alamo. He stands on the wall and he takes one for the home team."
- John Crichton

"Read the history, it's in your pocket. If Grynes lives, he's a hero who averts a war. Dead, he's just another guy in the Laura Ashley Spring Collection."
- John Crichton

"He's not a soldier."
"I know that. But the way history unfolds, that doesn't stop him from taking an arrow."
- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

"Fear is good, keep that. But travel light. Forget hate."
- Stark

"If... we die, will I be with my daughter?"
"Different beliefs, different destinations...I cannot tell before the end. Should the worst befall, you will not be alone."
- Nurse Kelsa, Stark

"You're scary looking."
"You should have seen my father."
- Cyntrina, D'Argo

"You are a soldier...a brave hero."
"No, heros always get killed. I'll be fine."
- Aeryn Sun, Sub-Officer Dacon

"I listened to you. I let a man die, and we changed nothing. Nothing!"
- Aeryn Sun

"Two guns, Aeryn, we only have two guns!"
"Well, make it look like more."
"How?"
"Well, keep firing running backwards and forwards, and pretend you're an army."
"Oh, yeah, that's gonna work!"
- Aeryn Sun, John Crichton

"Gone! The planet, it's gone!"
"It can't be gone; I was just there two arns ago. I got shot. I drank piss."
- Rygel, Jool

"And stop screaming! It is very, very irritating, and I don't want you melting anything."
- Chiana

"What are you doing?"
"I'm making like an army...D'Argo!"
[ducking] "Whoa!"
"Tony Montana!"
- D'Argo, John Crichton

"I'm gonna have a heart attack."
- John Crichton

"You're gonna be safe. I promise."
- John Crichton

"I screwed up."
"You... we did what we could."
"Why would they do that? What's the point?"
"There probably was no point."
- John Crichton, Aeryn Sun

Comments from Cast & Crew

Paul Goddard, May 10, 2001

• Moderator: <dw-mckim> to <Moderator>: One thing that impressed me with your debut was your chemistry with Ben (always a treat to see great male/male interaction) - will there be any more of that coming up this season?

  PaulGoddard: Ben was one of the people agitating for my return.
  PaulGoddard: Because we had a great time working together
  PaulGoddard: Both of us bemoan the fact (we did only yesterday in fact) that since Stark's return Crichton & Stark have had very little interraction.
  PaulGoddard: Stark had his Zhaan and Crichton had his Scorpy
  PaulGoddard: But we'd love to get some story lines where Crichton and Stark have a bit of drama together

• Moderator: <StaRMS-JennHi> to <Moderator>: Hello, Paul! Jennhi of the Stark Raving Mad Society here (StaRMS.org). In almost every episode that has Stark, you have at least one scene where he just goes wild. We at StaRMS call it a "Stark Moment". It's fabulous! How much of that is scripted, and how much is improvised?

  PaulGoddard: Well Jennhi (love the idea of a SRM Society), do you realise that Stark is of the Raving Mads. It is my belief that there is a long line of Raving Mads who have an illustrious and noble past.
  PaulGoddard: The words are carefully scripted, I may add a few here and there as we do, but I guess what I do with them is where sense of play and improv comes in.
  PaulGoddard: When Stark returned in the second season it was my concern that the feigned madness from the first series would go, leaving Stark with just his calm spiritual side.
  PaulGoddard: What I thought was fantastic about the character was the polarity.
  PaulGoddard: The writers were keen to keep both elements and for a while we played up the craziness.
  PaulGoddard: But when the idea of Zhaan and Stark getting together was muted, Virginia said one day, when Stark was being particularly demented. Oh my God! Zhaan gets together with that! or something along those lines and I thought.. she's quite right.
  PaulGoddard: I have to find the part of Stark that Zhaan would respond to positively and make him more that man when he is with her.
  PaulGoddard: So Zhaan came to have a calming effect on him and he became someone who when, with her, was a more attractive mate.
  PaulGoddard: When she died, I took that a cue for Stark through grief and through losing his "better half" to regress into a less stable state.

• Moderator: <stargatetravler> to <Moderator>: Hey Paul, which ep of the ones you have been in did you have the most fun doing, which one was the hardiest and which one was your favorite?

  PaulGoddard: Episode 8 coming up has been my all time favourite. Green Eyed Monster.
  PaulGoddard: You'll understand why when you see it.
  PaulGoddard: Of the ones you have seen which was the hardest???
  PaulGoddard: hrm....
  PaulGoddard: I guess the ones that are hard are the ones where there is some degree of emotion other than anger or fear that has to be explored.
  PaulGoddard: The early episodes of this Season where Stark is dealing with Zhaan's death were tricky in regards to emotional placement.
  PaulGoddard: You don't want to get too sentimental in the playing of it, you want the audience to feel the emotion more than you displaying it as an actor.
  PaulGoddard: I hope you understand what I mean.
  PaulGoddard: There is nothing worse, for me, than watching an actor indulge in some emotional acting to the degree where they don't let you in.
  PaulGoddard: So many times I've watched documentaries where people have talked about the most horrific and tragic things without turning into a blubbering mess. Yet you know, that underneath they are experiencing deep pain.

• Moderator: <Gmmas> to <Moderator>: Paul: you did an excellent imitation of Zhaan in Different Destinations. Can we expect to see Stark mimicing any of the others on Moya?

  PaulGoddard: I'd love too.
  PaulGoddard: I always thought that Stark should have kept some of Zhaan's clothing
  PaulGoddard: she had the best outfits.

• PaulGoddard: I am more of a psychology fan than physics fan. Hence it is often the episodes of Farscape in which the core drama is interpersonal or psychological or philisophical that I find most galvanising.