Farscape Rewatch: Through the Looking Glass (1.17)

[selenak]

Wiki summary: Moya performs an emergency starburst that fragments her into four different dimensions. As John attempts to find crewmembers missing in each dimension, an energy creature appears to add more danger to their predicament.



Second bottle show of the season, where all events take place on the ship. Would be worth rewatching for the two group meal scenes alone that open and close the episode, but there are other things I like about it, too. Seriously, though, I'm ridiculously charmed by the two meals. The opening one might be when everyone is contemplating - or in the case of John and Aeryn, rejecting - the idea of leaving Moya because they're afraid her now very limited ability to starburst will get them captured. But consider: this group of beings who at first had no connections beyond their escape situation and in some cases serious dislike involved is now comfortable sharing meals together. ( And Rygel is sharing food. Rygel!) They haven't gone any more prickly (see also the way new arrival Chiana is ignored), but they have bonded, and just know each other. And speaking of Chiana, while the set up for the punch line that she actually has something important to observe was obvious, I stll found it gratifying. In this episode, I think the writer have settled on her being considerably younger than the rest of the cast (which wasn't apparant in Durka Returns, given the gang treats her like an irritating teenager, and Crichton starts with the big brother attitude (here more admonishing and educating than protecting, but there). We also get the debut of his nickname "Pip" for her. Which causes this German to ask: what pop culture allusion is this? Because the only Pip I could recall is the one from Great Expectations, who doesn't really work as a Chiana analogue.

Aeryn in the blue dimension coming up with a solution to the ringing sounds by using the headsets from her prowler was a great way to showcase her practical intelligence, and of course the episode gives us more continuity in terms of her sharing Pilot's knowledge. However, the crew member who does some bonding with Pilot here is John, not just because he's the one moving through all the dimensions but because he provides some comfort to the anxious Pilot (and Moya) in their fear that they'll be left behind. It's one of those things I love the show for, that it never forgets Pilot and Moya are living beings, not a bord computer and a mechanical ship respectively, and have thoughts and feelings about any given situation, and the scene where John talks to Pilot in person (not via view screen) is quite tender.

Another thing: D'Argo and Zhaan rejecting the possibility that Moya could terminate her pregnancy in order to starburst provides a strong contrast to both their willingness to hack Pilot's arm off earlier this season. I don't think it's about less or more selfishness but the way they now see Moya, Pilot and Moya's unborn child as one of theirs.

I don't think we see the starburst dimension alien again, but it's worth pointing out this encounter is the second time in a row Crichton has had with a very powerful alien being connected to space travel. (And go him for figuring out it was trying to communicate, not menace the crew. Very Star Trek of him, if you'll allow me the heresy. :) )

Chiana remaining unaffected in the red dimension is an early hint that Nebari eyes work somewhat differently, yes?

Lastly: as the world's lone John/Rygel shipper I am gratified to hear Rygel in the dimension of yellow laughter considers Crichton "cute".

The other days

Comments

[neuralclone]

The two meals that book-ended this episode were perfect. The Moyans have gone from being a group of mutually hostile strangers thrown together in the first episode, to being a family. And as you said, they're all sharing food (even Rygel!) And I loved the fact that Crichton tried making an old family recipe, in spite of the fact that he didn't have any of the ingredients. (Let's hope the crew got to sample the real thing when they finally visited Earth in the fourth season.)

I read somewhere that "Pip" is what Ben Browder nicknamed Gigi Edgley (but that's the Doylist explanation of the name). Now, what I want to know is where the nickname "Buckwheat" came from. *g* And yes, Crichton does call Rygel "Buckwheat" in this episode.

The main plot of this episode didn't make much impression on me--yes, I enjoyed it, but it didn't inspire any deep thoughts or observations. I will say I enjoyed Aeryn's competence in this one, D'Argo's "one mippippi, two mippippi" to count the microts was amusing, and Rygel telling bad jokes to Crichton was priceless!

Finally:
Lastly: as the world's lone John/Rygel shipper I am gratified to hear Rygel in the dimension of yellow laughter considers Crichton "cute".

... But alas, you're going to have to wait until the second season's "Won't Get Fooled Again" for some hot Rygel on John action. *g*

[kernezelda]

"Buckwheat" probably came from The Little Rascals, a long-running black-and-white comedy series from the 1920s-40s with a varied cast of elementary school kids. It's where "Spanky" comes from, too. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Gang. The series was in re-runs for decades, and was still a Saturday morning staple when I grew up in the seventies. You can still find re-runs sometimes.

[kore]

Yes, and there was also an Eddie Murphy satire on SNL, which culminated in Buckwheat getting assassinated and was a parody of the US news media covering the attempted assassination of Reagan endlessly -- I think that's where Crichton could get it from too (I also grew up in the seventies and remember those serials, and I didn't know Browder was an early GenExer!).

[kernezelda]

That SNL skit vaguely ring a bell. Browder was born in 1962, so he's actually a late-model Baby Boomer, while Crichton was sixteen in 1986, so he's a Gen-Xer like us. :)

[kore]

I love early Crichton with all his pop references and his naivete, and how he gets flung around and crunched up like a tinfoil ball.

[kernezelda]

This re-watch is bringing so many fond, fond feelings for this guy, before the trauma. I still love John Crichton so deeply, but it's hard to avoid grieving for who he used to be. It makes me think of this very apt line from Tolkien, FOTR: “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

[kore]

Aww, yeah, that's a great quote. I mourn Early Crichton and even Middle Crichton too. I'm not that crazy about the last season/miniseries (and a lot of the third, honestly) even though it's one of my favourite shows ever.

[neuralclone]

I don't think The Little Rascals made it to Australia, which is why I didn't get the "Buckwheat" reference. Tell me, did Buckwheat and Spanky resemble Rygel in any particular way?

[kernezelda]

It's probably been twenty years or more since I've seen any of the episodes, but Spanky, iirc, considered himself the leader of the gang. He came up with schemes which did not often work out as planned. ;D He was also shorter than his best friend, Alfalfa. Regarding Buckwheat, the reference is less clear, but it may be that John was just calling related names.

[kernezelda]

I found a few Youtube videos of old episodes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwH292SOWf4 - The Pooch (1932)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtxGMXsotyU - Forgotten Babies (1933)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAq0abNh6XE - Second Childhood (1936)

[jesuswasbatman]

This is one of my favourite episodes for how well it shows off all the characters and sums up the status quo of the first season, just before the next few episodes completely upend it.

As far as the characters' reactions to the different other dimensions showing off their sensory idiosyncrasies, is it later on in "Crackers Don't Matter" that we discover that Moya is covered in signs and labels that John and we can't even see are there, because they're in colours that aren't visible to human eyes?

"Pip" for Chiana, and also as Browder's real-world nickname for Gigi Edgley - it isn't a cultural allusion, it's slightly old-fashioned American slang for a charming live-wire of a person, the sort of thing you'd be more likely to encounter in a work from the first half of the twentieth century.

"Buckwheat" is a cultural allusion, though, it's the name of one of the characters from a long-running series of US short films about a gang of mischievous kids, first titled Our Gang and later The Little Rascals.

[kore]

I think that US meaning actually comes from British slang too -- "gives me the pip" was common in the 1920s, and "you can be a real pip" -- it can mean vivacious, but also a pain in the ass (perfect for Chiana). There's also "Oh what a gal, a real pipperoo" in "Gal from Kalamazoo" (1942).

There seem to be a couple of branches of it: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/408232/whats-the-meaning-of-she-is-a-real-pip

"Pippin" -- pretty girl

"Pip" -- "gives me the pip," supposedly from the name for a disease in chickens?

"Pip" -- something small, like orange pips (pits), pips on dominoes, "pipped at the post" -- to lose right at the end by a hair

When I first saw the show, all I could think was that Crichton was Dickens fan!....nope

[selenak]

Signs and labers - you're right, now that you mention it I renember that as well!

Pip and Buckwheat: thank you for the explanations!

[selenak]

Pfft. There's a John-on-Rygel kiss coming up before that. :)

Thank you for the Doylist Pip explanation!

[jesuswasbatman]

Also very "Farscape", the running gag with John graphically vomiting every time he's in the "red" splinter.

[kore]

LOL, the only show I have to give a warning for graphic bodily fluids when I recommend it. ("No, really, are you REALLY okay with lots of vomit?")

[selenak]

No other sci fi show has been that dedicated to vomit. :)

[kore]

The first time T saw that "You fart HELIUM?!" scene he laughed so hard I had to pause the DVD and wait for him to get breathing again.

[kernezelda]

Back in the heyday of FS fandom, a lot of us hypothesized after the introduction of "Jack" and "Einstein" that the interdimensional being from TTLG might be another of that race, perceived so differently because Moya was stuck in between dimensions instead of one of them taking on a material form. I doubt I could find that meta today, but I think I referenced the connection in one of my FS vids, and featured the being in one of my fics, briefly.
Ah, we're still in early days here, too, with both John and Aeryn wearing grey shirts before they hit all-black all the time. And the meals are such perfect parentheses, and yes, this is one of the good days when none of them die, no one kills anyone, pursuit is an ever-present backdrop, but not today close.

[selenak]

Isn't the black leather for John something coming up in the next episode or thereabout? So this is really the last outing of his civilian clothing?

[kernezelda]

I think... A Bug's Life is next, right? When he puts on the PK Captain's outfit and also wears for for what I believe is the first and last time the black tank top under the jacket, giving a nice glimpse of chest hair. Then both he and Aeryn start out in Nerve wearing grey shirts, I think, before going into PK gear. I don't think he starts wearing the leather duster until S2's Vitas Mortis, when D'Argo visits the Orican, and wears the PK red-black vest a lot in S2. I think he picks up the short leather jacket sometime in S3.

[kore]

....you are amazing. I love how dedicated we are to John in black leather. (Even if black leather pants do signify Moral Trouble.)

[kore]

YES YES YES, this is one of my favourite Farscape eps ever, how it's so zany and serious at the same time. It forms a great pair with Crackers Don't Matter.

[selenak]

I remember this great Farscape vid someone did to a pop version of Tchaikovsky, and their final images were from this episode (everyone materializing around pilot and laughing their heads off).

[kore]

I REMEMBER THAT, maybe it was this one by laurashapiro?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17304092

[selenak]

Yes! The very one! Thank you, I haven't watched it in a loong while, and it's still as adorable as I recal.

[kore]

I had to google "Farscape vids" on AO3, LOL, but there it was! -- The Chiana section is PERF.

Also, God, Crais was hot.

[kernezelda]

Off-topic, but here's a neat article about John Crichton's ethical journey: https://www.tor.com/2019/01/16/the-ethical-drama-of-farscapes-john-crichton/

[selenak]

Oh, thank you! That is a good description of his development.

[kore]

That is a really good article!

This is the first time Farscape has sounded interesting enough to possibly watch.

ARGLE SELF DON'T READ THE COMMENTS