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Production No.
318
Best Viewed As
3.18
Aired As
3.18 (US & UK)
Original Airdates
24 Aug 2001 (US)
14 Jan 2002 (UK)
Ratings
1.4 (US)
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Fractures
Abbreviations: (none)
Alternate Titles: (none)
Wassup?
· Backstory
· Reactions
· Annotations
· Microbes
· Quotes
· Cast & Crew
Wassup?
"We choose our own path. This one is mine."
The reunion of Moya and Talyn's crews isn't the joyous occasion John expected, but there isn't much time to dwell on it, thanks to a shuttle fleeing the Peacekeepers with a handful of escaped prisoners -- one of whom is a traitor.
Backstory
The prisoners escaped in a transport pod that was to serve as the target for the weapons testing of a new Peacekeeper deep space device. They were to be part of the test, to see how different species reacted to the new weapon's fire; they took one hit from the weapon during their escape.
The new Peacekeeper weapon destroys the bonding of metallic molecules.
The first thing Peacekeepers do with Scarran prisoners, is remove the gland that provides their heat protection. It protects them, and weakens the Scarran. The gland is located at the top of the left breast.
The Boolite was heavily damaged by the weapon, becuase it has a larger metallic component that other species.
Parts of Boolite can remain alive apart from the main body for up to half a cycle.
Rygel can detect the scent of another Hynerian, and discern that it's a female.
Orrhn claims that she was arrested for not supporting Bishan.
It is evidently considered inappropriate for Hynerian subjects to speak of themselves unless their Dominar gives them leave.
Chiana's precogitive abilities now include sound has well as images; she hears a pulse blast well before it occurs.
Whether there's an actual difference weight and feel, or it's merely a psychological significance, John still prefers Winona over other identical pistols.
The tech is locked in a cell on Tier 11.
Jool's scientific and medical knowledge enables her to direct Crais in the Boolite's reassembly, despite the fact that she's never seen the species before.
Crais wouldn't tell John any details of the relationship between Aeryn and John(T), directing him instead to ask Aeryn directly.
John always thought of John(T) as "the copy"; D'Argo believes Aeryn now considers John the copy.
Rygel believes he has fallen in love with Orrhn.
The Peacekeepers originally tried to give Hubero back to the Nebari, but they wouldn't take her. The Nebari considered him/her just enough mouth to feed.
Nebari are sometimes born as androgens; when this happens, they are apparently taken away shortly after birth, and placed in a "non-conformist colony".
Rygel lets Orrhn drive him around on the thronesled.
The traitor had access to the neural cluster on Tier 8, where the signalling device was planted.
A signalling device can be constructed from common parts found on Moya, if one has the necessary technical knowledge to assemble them.
The Scarran's skin hadn't fully healed/hardened from the removal of his heat gland. Whoever shot him knew exactly where to aim.
Jool says she knows less about Scarrans than she does about Boolites.
Crais uses what appears to be a soldering iron to work on the Boolite (perhaps due to the high metallic content of the species?).
The Boolite was shot because it caught Orrhn making a deal with the tech.
Orrhn struck a deal with the tech because she felt her chances of staying free were slim. She plans to offer Rygel to the Peacekeeper as a bargaining chip.
Orrhn is actually a common soldier.
All Hynerians sleep deeply after pleasure.
Hynerian females evidently have no trouble "faking it".
The Luxan ship has wings that extend after launch.
They may not be communicating well directly, but John and Aeryn are still thinking alike; they both immediately come up with the same plan to rescue Rygel.
Aeryn hadn't heard that D'Argo couuld fly the Luxan ship.
For a moment, Aeryn confuses John(M) with John(T), when she refers to the events of "Green Eyed Monster".
John(T) left a message for John(M), via Stark's mask. However, he apparently did not record any wormhole technology information for his twin.
Per John(T), wormhole technology could be used to "fry a whole solar system".
John(T) knew that John(M) would think identically to him, and chose his words accordingly. He knew that his other self would understand the magnitude of the danger from Scorpius' research efforts...and he knew his other self would also be in pain over Aeryn. Even at the very end, both Johns still tie at Rock, Paper, Scissors -- and John(T) knew beforehand that they would.
John plans to go to the Command Carrier and stop Scorpius from discovering how to use wormhole technology. Aeryn and Crais are willing to stand with him in this effort, but everyone else (including Moya and Talyn) is opposed to what they consider a suicidal mission.
Jool got a piece of boolite in her eye during the mayhem, and is wearing an eyepatch until her eye heals.
Reactions
Questions
- John seems profoundly affected by the news that his twin is dead. Is it merely a dawning recognition of what pain Aeryn is in, or has he suddenly seen his own mortality, and realized that he really might die before ever returning to Earth?
- Orrhn claims to recognize Rygel's "royal profile". Did she really, or did she pick up from the rest of the crew, or the possessions in his quarters, that he was a deposed Dominar?
- What does John smell, when he sniffs John(T)'s jacket?
- Does Stark's mask have some sort of recording device? Or is the projection purely spiritual? How does it recognize when it has made contact with the intended recipient of its message?
- When Chiana says that she's never met an androgen, Hubero comments that she only thinks that. Is there some sort of underground androgen community?
- Why do Rygel and Chiana try to hide their guests, when John tries to get everyone aboard the pod?
- The tech knew how to neutralize Moya's calorics and immobilize her. How? Are Leviathans that common a ship among the Peacekeepers?
- Are the Scarran and Boolite killed during the shootout in the medical area?
- As Orrhn floats off into space, it appears that she has a substantial bustline; Rygel has stated previously that Hynerians are not body breeders, but do they nurse their young?
- Does Aeryn actually see the projected image of John(T), or only overhear it?
- The tech's family name was "Tal". Was he any relation to Makton Tal, D'Argo's murderous brother-in-law?
Observations
- Moya and Talyn were separated for the better part of ten episodes, which equates to almost half a cycle, in the Uncharted Territories.
- Jool attempting to advise Chiana on wardrobe: too funny for words.
- What terrible irony in John's words to Aeryn: "Well, there's a familiar face."
- Chiana has recognized that she is intermittantly experiencing precognition, but she is apparently unable to control the skill, and is in fact rather freaked out about it: "Okay, okay, it's happening again. I'm frelling sensing stuff before it happens!"
- It's fascinating to watch Moya's crew interact with their guests, who seem to parallel them so closely. Two Hynerians, two Nebari, two warriors -- as they pair off, the empathy of old crew for new is striking.
- Rygel certainly didn't waste any time seducing (or being seduced by) Orrhn.
- The gun Orrhn uses to shoot Hubero looks like the one from "Premiere" that John used to shoot "little yellow bolts of light".
- Both Jool and Crais scream, when pieces of the Boolite land in their laps, and it makes for an incredibly funny moment. This was actually out of character for Crais, but Tammy MacIntosh talked Lani Tupu into doing it for fun during shooting, on the assumption that it would be edited out of the final cut. During the 2001 Official Farscape Convention, the blooper reel shown included outtakes from this scene: immediately after the point where the scene is cut, Lani dissolves into hysterical laughter.
- For all his selfish behavior, Rygel is considered part of the family on Moya; when Orrhn takes him with her on the escaping shuttle, there's no hesitation among the rest of the crew, to mount a retrieval operation.
- The chess set behind John, as he listens to the message in Stark's mask, is a nice symbol of the situation, at the same time as it reminds us of all John has endured in the past year.
- The real reason Jool is wearing an eyepatch at the end of this episode is that Tammy MacIntosh accidently got a bit of paint in an eye duct. While not a permanent injury, it did require a hospital visit, and she couldn't wear the contact lens for that scene.
- John seems to immediately become more confident and sure of his choice, when Aeryn comes to stand beside him.
Bloopers
(none)
Annotations
Rygel: "And, ah, since she arrived, sweet Orrhn has been atop me. Or, ah, beneath me. Or, ah..."
John: "Ohhh-kay, there's a mental Polaroid we can all live without, Ryge."
Polaroid is primarily known as the maker of instant photographic cameras and film, and secondarily of light polarizing filters and lenses.
Rygel: "And Orrhn and I will just be, ah..."
John"...be making the Hynerian with two backs, trunks, whatever."
A play on the saying "the beast with two backs", a common euphemistic description of a couple having sex, coined by Shakespeare in OTHELLO, Act I, Scene I:
Brabantio: "What profane wretch art thou?"
Iago: "I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs."
John: "Mag-stet. [long pause] Turbo-sealer. [long pause] Fluffy pink slippers. Donald Duck. Mickey Mouse. Huey, Louie, and Dewey. You wanna talk? Okay fine, no talking. No, you know what? I want to talk. [...]"
Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are, of course, the two most well-known and popular of Walt Disney's stable of characters. As mentioned previously, in the annotations for "Green Eyed Monster", Huey, Louie, and Dewey are Donald Duck's three nephews.
Rygel: "What do you want?"
John: "Their transport pod is stocked, and it's, ah, almost repaired. Is Barbarella ready to vamoose?"
Barbarella was the heroine of a racy French science fiction comic strip, created by Jean-Claude Forest for V. MAGAZINE in 1962, and collected into graphic novel form in 1964. In 1968, the comic strip was adapted into a film, with Jane Fonda in the title role.
John: "Can he hear us?"
Boolite: "Yes."
Jool: "Well...there's an ear here somewhere."
John: "Okay, this is...a little too Naked Lunch."
NAKED LUNCH is a controversial avant-garde novel by William S. Burroughs, first published in 1959. A perceptive analysis of the book contains the following observation that perhaps explains the point of John's reference:
"When addicted/possessed, the human being becomes identical with the virus and regresses to a lower form of life. Numerous transformations in the novel from man to subhuman organism illustrate this hypothesis. Willie the Disk, for example, is an informer-addict whom police use as a bloodhound. Bradley the Buyer is addicted to contact with junkies and becomes a man-eating monster eventually destroyed by flame throwers. Dr. Schafer's 'de-anxictized man' turns into a giant black centipede. The most important episode illustrating this process is the story of 'the talking asshole' told by Benway in the central section of the book: 'Ordinary Men and Women.' In this story, a man is taken over by one of his bodily functions (the 'lowest') and reduced to 'one all-purpose blob.'"
Burroughs' novel was made into a film in 1991 by David Cronenberg, himself a filmmaker whose body of work follows a theme of biological horror, in which people are transformed in mind and body. Of particular note in this vein are: 1983's VIDEODROME, 1986's remake of THE FLY, and 1999's eXistenZ.
Translator Microbe Report
| Androgen |
an individual of indistinct gender, usually socially outcast from Nebari society |
| Blegzoon |
a creature that growls: "Growl like a blegzoon!" |
| Blexk |
adjective used in compliments: "Yeah, you look blexk!" |
| Boolite |
semi-amorphous species, whose body parts can survive for extended periods of time when separated from the main body |
| Darcat |
unit of currency: "Two hundred darcats, for a tech?" |
| Jensii province |
a region of the Hynerian homeworld or empire |
| Mag-stet |
tool used to effect repairs on a transport pod |
| Non-conformist colony |
where Nebari sends androgens to live |
| Prong |
unknown; the Boolite's dying words: "Ah, prong prong!" |
| Turbo-sealer |
tool used to effect repairs on a transport pod |
Quotables
"Which one, green or black?"
"This is not the time."
"D'Argo, green or black?!"
"Well, the black, of course. Far be it from me to say, but I've always thought the color of that green shirt doesn't suit the shape of your body."
- John Crichton, D'Argo
"You want me to wear this when they come aboard?"
"Yeah, you look blixk!"
"I don't think so!"
- Chiana, Jool
"Aeryn's fine. I'm sure the other you has taken extra good care of her. I mean...all I meant was, I'm sure he did everything that you would have done, if you had been there with Aeryn all this time......"
- Jool
"Well, there's a familiar face."
"Hello, John."
- John Crichton, Aeryn Sun
"What's wrong?"
"The, uh... other Crichton... he's dead."
- John Crichton, Bialar Crais
"Oh, it is a female! Oh, please rise. You recognize me?"
"Who could forget the royal profile? You're alive!"
"Indeed. And you are?"
"I'm Orrhn Pak, from the Jensii province."
- Rygel, Orrhn Pak
"Not quite the reunion we were expecting, the other Crichton dead and Stark searching for Zhaan's spirit."
"Well, with a single Crichton and Stark missing, perhaps it will restore some sanity to the ship."
- Chiana, D'Argo
"Okay, okay, it's happening again. I'm frelling sensing stuff before it happens!"
"So much for sanity."
- Chiana, D'Argo
"Those are escaped prisoners you have on your ship. They're dangerous. Don't you care?"
"No. Not any more."
- Markir Tal, Aeryn Sun
"If this image has appeared, it means my mask has reached its destination, and you have made contact with it. I have a message for you, Crichton, for you alone. Listen...listen Crichton --"
- Stark
"And since she came aboard, sweet Orrhn has been atop me...or beneath me, or--"
"Okay, there's a mental polaroid we can all live without, Ryg."
- Rygel, John Crichton
"I was hoping that once we got enough of him together, that he would be able to tell us how to do the rest. That's why I'm starting on the head and the mouth first."
"Head and mouth."
"What, you don't think that's the head and that's the mouth?"
"Well, not unless he sits on his mouth."
- Bialar Crais, Jool
"Mag-stet. Turbo-sealer. Fluffy pink slippers. Donald Duck. Mickey Mouse. Huey, Louie, and Dewey. You wanna talk? Okay fine, no talking. No, you know what? I want to talk. I had words with Crais, and, uh, he told me that you and the other me...actually, he didn't tell me anything, he, uh, told me to talk to you. So, I assume... Aeryn, I'm sorry. I...maybe you're right. Maybe we shouldn't talk."
"Want some advice?"
"Nope. ...What? What?"
"Oh, my friend, I...I don't know what to say, I don't have any advice. It's difficult, isn't it? You're jealous of the other you, aren't you?"
"He died, the other guy. The copy."
"Now Aeryn thinks that you're the copy."
- John Crichton, D'Argo
"Is Barbarella ready to vamoose?"
"I'm not sure I want her to go. In fact, I'm sure I don't."
"Rygel, look, I completely understand. But you cannot let the little appendage start telling the big appendage what to do!"
- John Crichton, Rygel
"I liked it, Rygie. Are you ready to go again?"
"Again?"
"We have half an arn. I've heard Dominars never need rest."
- Orrhn Pak, Rygel
"You're an an- an- an- an- an- androgen."
"Not exactly male, not exactly female, not exactly anything."
"When I was growing up, I, I was told about androgens, and... But I, ah...but they were always taken right after birth. I...I never met one."
"At least you didn't think you ever did."
- Chiana, Hubero
"Can he hear us?"
"Yes."
"Well...there's an ear here somewhere."
"Okay, this is little too Naked Lunch."
- John Crichton, Boolite, Jool
"I've used all the brain matter we've found so far. It's possible the part of his memory that holds the answer isn't here."
"Either that, or we're tracking it all over the ship with our shoes."
- Bialar Crais, John Crichton
"I knew it. I knew it. I knew someone was going to get shot."
"Pip, that is no help to us right now. If you can tell us who did it, that might be useful."
- Chiana, John Crichton
"Aeryn."
"What?"
"Crichton. He, uh..."
"D'Argo. Don't."
- D'Argo, Aeryn Sun
"When they finally find us, they'll be angry at you for hiding me."
"They get angry with me a lot."
- Hubero, Chiana
"Whoever shot you will be in the pod."
"What are you talking about? I haven't been shot."
- Chiana, Hubero
"I really need you to move your ass now. I'm afraid I must insist."
- Orrhn Pak
"You might not have taken pleasure with me if you knew I was a common soldier. And I needed you to take pleasure so that you would fall asleep."
- Orrhn Pak
"You were faking."
"Oh, males..."
- Rygel, Orrhn Pak
"I got an idea."
- John Crichton, Aeryn Sun (in unison)
"What's their plan?"
"Ohhh, they're going to kill you, bitch!"
- Orrhn Pak, Rygel
"I will not be taken to task for having a trusting nature."
"Rygie---"
"Women..."
- Rygel, Orrhn Pak, John Crichton
"It's all in my head. Which means it's in yours, too. Wormholes, A to Z. You've probably already heard what we did with it. And that's just the beginning. You could fry a whole solar system. Heh. Furlow is still out there, somewhere, but for right now the Scarrans are back to square one. Peacekeepers...they're your problem. Look at me. Now look at yourself. You know. Don't let Scorpius crack this, whatever it takes. Okay, I'm gonna piss you off now, man. Be smart. Don't push her. She takes...time. Oh, one more thing. [they tie once more at Rock, Paper, Scissors] Good luck, John."
- John Crichton (T)
"So that's what I'm doing. You don't have to come along, you don't have to like it. I just want you to know."
"Moya and I are against this idea in totality. I'm sure Captain Crais is aware that Talyn resists, also."
"You don't know how far Scorpius is in his wormhole research. You don't know where he keeps it, you don't know anything. How're you going to stop him?"
"I'll pass, if you don't mind."
"Why are you wearing an eye patch?"
"Boolite in my eye...why are you such a moron?"
"Guys. I don't see another option. Scorpius has the knowledge from my brain, and I'm not going to let him shaft the universe with it."
"You're all gonna die."
"You see that one Pip, or you just guessing? We choose our own path. This one is mine. I'm going to the Command Carrier. I'm going to stop Scorpius."
- John Crichton, Pilot, Chiana, Jool, Rygel
Comments from Cast & Crew
Farscape Wrap Day Extravaganza, July 26, 2001
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