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selenakWiki Summary: Returning to Earth through a wormhole, Crichton receives an unfriendly welcome but is reunited with his father. Aeryn, D'Argo and Rygel arrive to rescue Crichton but receive less than humane treatment.
When first watching the show, this was another of those episodes that made me sit up and really pay attention. And btw, can't say I figured the big twist out before Crichton did, though upon rewatch, the episode is really careful to play fair and plant clues; it's mentioned several times Crichton has been in Australia before, that he knows Wilson, his request about the baseball news - or any kind of news post his departure - remains unanswered and no one tells him anything he did not already know. Now obviously, I didn't expect the show to end two thirds in to its first season with Crichton's return to Earth, so I thought something would happen, but mostly I thought the something was him leaving again in disgust, and yes, I thought they killed Rygel.
The contemporary context to view the episode in has much changed. I mean, twelve years old me found the scenes where the US government invades Eliot's mom's home in E.T. and everyone Ends up in a lab incredibly scary, but in the end the government people did not actually do anything bad, they did try to save E.T., back in ye olde 80s. Even years later, in 1999 when this episode was first broadcast, the depiction of the US government forces and the US in general in American genre media was more positive than not. (Excepting theX-Files where everyone was in a conspiracy.) So this worst case scenario of John Crichton's mind in how an encounter between his home planet and his alien friends could go came across as startlingly self critical and self aware. Fast forward to twenty years later, and yeah, no kidding, John. No kidding. (Mind you, if Crichton had come home to an earth where the Orange Menace was President and the entire Republican Party had fallen in line while similar evil clowns rose to the top in other countries throughout the globe, he'd have suspected an alien mind game set up much earlier.)
On a Doylist level, I admire the tightness of the construction: Crichton has his one joyful moment on the beach upon arrival, and things go relentlessly downhill from there. (Also, observe the careful details - the blonde he sees does not talk to him because she's based on a memory of a woman walking past him and he has no idea what her voice sounded like. Otoh, since no one on Earth has translator microbes, we do get to hear Aeryn, Rygel and D'Argo speak in their own languages - which Crichton has briefly heard at least for D'Argo and Rygel, and I assume that since Aeryn is really there, the Ancients based her language on what it was.) On a Watsonian one, I'm gripped despite knowing the twist, not least because in retrospect this is a big turning point for the show in general and John Crichton in particular. (Thanks, not!Jack.) Incidentally, I forget which vidder it was that observed it was a great visual gift that the wormhole has the same shade of blue like Crichton's and Scorpius' eyes.
Also because it really puts you through the wringer along with the main character, whose dream of a homecoming turns into a first class nightmare, and that he has these fears subconsciously is also very telling about who John is. Not just in the sense that seven months in the Unchartered Territories have made him more suspicious and less willing to assume good motives, because this innate distrust of human nature when faced with the alien evidently predates Earth, no matter how often he tells Aeryn she'd be welcomed. The sight of a dissected (vivisected?) Rygel still is a punch in the gut, no matter that I know Rygel is fine and will remain with us till the end of the show and then some. It's a vicious and viciously effective visual for the, excuse the lack of a better term, dehumanisation of the alien (in both senses of the word alien).
Mind you: on a Watsonian level I do wonder why Rygel has come along on the rescue Crichton mission. I mean, I know why he had to on Doylist terms (Rygel is the most alien looking and most physically helpless, and thus it's believable they'd with him, then move to D'Argo), but since we learn at the end of the episode that Aeryn, Rygel and D'Argo really were all there, not just their minds or avatars or whatever: Aeryn and D'Argo to the rescue makes sense, but was Rygel curious about Earth? Did Zhaan think he would be better at negotiating with the local authorities than Aeyn and D'Argo and pushed him to go along? Did he face his grudging fondness for the irritating human? What?
Aeryn being really there also means this is when the UST between leading man and leading lady becomes RST as of this episode, not that this solves much between John and Aeryn emotionally, but in terms of tv conventions where UST, especially in the late 90s, a) got dragged out endlessly, and b) if solved, did so in a very special episode (tm), the way it happens here is pretty casual. Speaking of Aeryn, the way she's delighted with the rain is such a neat detail and reminder she grew up on space ships and space stations. But given how things go here, it's a wonder she wasn't more paranoid when she finally does make it to Earth in s4.
Question, though: Aeryn saying Peacekeepers wouldn't dissect their prisoners in labs. Is this Aeryn still deluding herself, or are we supposed to believe our soon to be introduced main antagonist picked up the habit solely from the Scarran side of his heritage?
Trivia: Australia does look great. Where exactly did they film this?
The Other Days
When first watching the show, this was another of those episodes that made me sit up and really pay attention. And btw, can't say I figured the big twist out before Crichton did, though upon rewatch, the episode is really careful to play fair and plant clues; it's mentioned several times Crichton has been in Australia before, that he knows Wilson, his request about the baseball news - or any kind of news post his departure - remains unanswered and no one tells him anything he did not already know. Now obviously, I didn't expect the show to end two thirds in to its first season with Crichton's return to Earth, so I thought something would happen, but mostly I thought the something was him leaving again in disgust, and yes, I thought they killed Rygel.
The contemporary context to view the episode in has much changed. I mean, twelve years old me found the scenes where the US government invades Eliot's mom's home in E.T. and everyone Ends up in a lab incredibly scary, but in the end the government people did not actually do anything bad, they did try to save E.T., back in ye olde 80s. Even years later, in 1999 when this episode was first broadcast, the depiction of the US government forces and the US in general in American genre media was more positive than not. (Excepting theX-Files where everyone was in a conspiracy.) So this worst case scenario of John Crichton's mind in how an encounter between his home planet and his alien friends could go came across as startlingly self critical and self aware. Fast forward to twenty years later, and yeah, no kidding, John. No kidding. (Mind you, if Crichton had come home to an earth where the Orange Menace was President and the entire Republican Party had fallen in line while similar evil clowns rose to the top in other countries throughout the globe, he'd have suspected an alien mind game set up much earlier.)
On a Doylist level, I admire the tightness of the construction: Crichton has his one joyful moment on the beach upon arrival, and things go relentlessly downhill from there. (Also, observe the careful details - the blonde he sees does not talk to him because she's based on a memory of a woman walking past him and he has no idea what her voice sounded like. Otoh, since no one on Earth has translator microbes, we do get to hear Aeryn, Rygel and D'Argo speak in their own languages - which Crichton has briefly heard at least for D'Argo and Rygel, and I assume that since Aeryn is really there, the Ancients based her language on what it was.) On a Watsonian one, I'm gripped despite knowing the twist, not least because in retrospect this is a big turning point for the show in general and John Crichton in particular. (Thanks, not!Jack.) Incidentally, I forget which vidder it was that observed it was a great visual gift that the wormhole has the same shade of blue like Crichton's and Scorpius' eyes.
Also because it really puts you through the wringer along with the main character, whose dream of a homecoming turns into a first class nightmare, and that he has these fears subconsciously is also very telling about who John is. Not just in the sense that seven months in the Unchartered Territories have made him more suspicious and less willing to assume good motives, because this innate distrust of human nature when faced with the alien evidently predates Earth, no matter how often he tells Aeryn she'd be welcomed. The sight of a dissected (vivisected?) Rygel still is a punch in the gut, no matter that I know Rygel is fine and will remain with us till the end of the show and then some. It's a vicious and viciously effective visual for the, excuse the lack of a better term, dehumanisation of the alien (in both senses of the word alien).
Mind you: on a Watsonian level I do wonder why Rygel has come along on the rescue Crichton mission. I mean, I know why he had to on Doylist terms (Rygel is the most alien looking and most physically helpless, and thus it's believable they'd with him, then move to D'Argo), but since we learn at the end of the episode that Aeryn, Rygel and D'Argo really were all there, not just their minds or avatars or whatever: Aeryn and D'Argo to the rescue makes sense, but was Rygel curious about Earth? Did Zhaan think he would be better at negotiating with the local authorities than Aeyn and D'Argo and pushed him to go along? Did he face his grudging fondness for the irritating human? What?
Aeryn being really there also means this is when the UST between leading man and leading lady becomes RST as of this episode, not that this solves much between John and Aeryn emotionally, but in terms of tv conventions where UST, especially in the late 90s, a) got dragged out endlessly, and b) if solved, did so in a very special episode (tm), the way it happens here is pretty casual. Speaking of Aeryn, the way she's delighted with the rain is such a neat detail and reminder she grew up on space ships and space stations. But given how things go here, it's a wonder she wasn't more paranoid when she finally does make it to Earth in s4.
Question, though: Aeryn saying Peacekeepers wouldn't dissect their prisoners in labs. Is this Aeryn still deluding herself, or are we supposed to believe our soon to be introduced main antagonist picked up the habit solely from the Scarran side of his heritage?
Trivia: Australia does look great. Where exactly did they film this?
The Other Days
no subject
Date: 2020-06-22 06:03 am (UTC)I thought Aeryn addressing "Jack" and "Jack" appearing to understand her was another clue.
Well strictly speaking, Farscape is a US/Australian/British production, so I'd expect more cynicism from it than from a purely American product. That said, post 9/11 the paranoia in "A Human Reaction" seems that little bit more realistic.
On a Watsonian level, I wonder why the Moyans mounted a rescue Crichton mission at all! As far as they were concerned, there was nothing to indicate that everything wasn't fine and dandy with Crichton. Where Rygel is concerned you could make the argument that he's the team negotiator (Aeryn and D'Argo tend to prefer a, er, more physical approach). Also, knowing Rygel, I wonder if he was hoping for something tasty to eat on Earth? He's probably had to listen to Crichton extolling the virtues of chocolate, fries, pizza and beer for the last seven month. *g*
Thinking about images from this episode that have stuck in my mind (that scene with Rygel!) the sight of Aeryn sticking her tongue out in the rain remained vivid, as did the scene where Crichton flung open the door of the ladies room ... only to discover nothing but orange swirly light.
Lastly I have to say that Aeryn looked all sorts of wrong in that floral dress--and since as far as I know, Claudia Black does not look wrong and awkward in dresses, all credit to her acting wearing it!
no subject
Date: 2020-06-22 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-23 12:13 am (UTC)