Farscape Rewatch: Bone to be Wild (1.21
Jul. 26th, 2020 08:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWiki summary: While on the run from the Peacekeepers, the crew of Moya takes shelter in a hollow asteroid that has a breathable atmosphere and is filled with flora. They soon discover that the asteroid is not as free of predators as they thought.
The main reason why I wanted to (re)watch this was the Aeryn subplot, but before I get to rave about it, let me say I had plain forgotten the Crais and Scorpius subplot was in this one. Somehow, in my memory their scenes got put in the season finale, and also Braca's debut in a speaking role. (I did recall Scorpius shows up at the end in the tag scene, but I thought that bit with M'lee was his only appearance.) I also had recalled this is where Crichton finds out Zhaan is a plant, but not that D'Argo was the one to advice M'lee to eat the PKs pursuing them. Some other details had been forgotten by yours truly as well.
Not, though, that the actress playing M'lee, Francesca Buller, was real life Mrs. Ben Browder, who will show up in future seasons in a variety of memorable one shot characters, too. She's good here, which is necessary as the script pulls off a double twist - first, the expected "this supposedly harmless creature is really the monster" one, and then "but wait, she can't help it, she's starving, and she's even trying not to eat our heroes, it's the other one who is cold bloodedly malicious". M'lee does have pathos, which makes it understandable that our heroes have compassion for her, though I have to say "have a go at the PKs instead" is basically handing over killing her to their enemies. (Since M'lee might manage to kill several of them but there's no way she can take out an entire Command Carrier, and as soon as these highly armed people realise what's going on, she's dead.) Mind you, of course this isn't the Star Trek universe where you can just replicate the food M'lee needs, but surely the Unchartered Territories have found a way to come up with some artificial calcium as well?
Since in retrospect Zhaan's plant nature seemed obvious for me and upon rewatch I spotted the show actually providing several broad hints through the season, Crichton's initial freak out seems a bit over the top, especially this late in the season when he's encountered far stranger things already.
Could be the last time Zhaan refers to the Luxan as "sweet D'Argo", since between seasons the writers seem to have ditched any D'Argo/Zhaan ideas.
Now, on to Moya. I love, love, love the Aeryn subplot here, from Pilot (and Moya) asking her for help (building on the special connection Aeryn has formed with Pilot through the season) to Moya asking Aeryn to name her offspring in the final scene. Technically speaking, Claudia Black does nothing but wander through a new set and touch parts of it through the episode, but oh, the emotion she shows. The baby Leviathan as a hybrid between Leviathan and PK technology as an equivalent to Aeryn herself right now, uniting what she wants to keep from her old life with her new one, and the expressions on her face as she talks to him - she's just so open and eventually happy, and we so rarely see Aeryn like this.
(There's the extra emotion of knowing what's in store for Aeryn and not yet named Talyn, but even without that, I love this subplot.)
The set designers using the PK coloring for the inside of the new ship while still keeping the round leviathan curves really does get the idea across, too.
Meanwhile on the command carrier: like I said, I had plain forgotten Crais gets a transition time between the Aurora chair and the finale as well. While watching, I wondered why the writers bothered, given the Aurora Chair experience should already have made it clear to Crais that there's no more future for him with the Peacekeepers, and given him a reason to hate Scorpius. Otoh, maybe not: given that the chair did reveal that the whole reason Crais was in it (Gilina's forgery) wasn't true. Also, Scorpius choosing to humiliate Crais by holding the Teeg knowledge over him and making him look powerless on his own ship for weeks as opposed to taking over in one fell swoop probably makes for extra hating when Crais could have excused Scorpius putting him in the chair to begin with as part of Scorpius doing his duty. And given Crais has spent a season hating on Crichton and making John's death his primary goal, the writers probably believed there needed to be some more build up for the momentous decision he's about to make.
Speaking Braca: something else I had forgotten was that Braca doesn't immediately 100% take to Scorpius, but has this scene with Crais where he sounds downright diappointed and let down Crais doesn't stand up for himself.
Early installment weirdness: Scorpius talking with a different voice when demonstrating his "physical superiority". To my knowledge, he never does that again (though I might misremember? Please correct me if so). At a guess, the writer hadn't completely decided on his backstory yet (i.e. the part where he's a Scarran/Sebacean hybrid rather than a full Scarran), and also they probably found Wayne Pygram to be far more effiently scary in his own voice, speaking softly, than if he's given electronic modulation.
Lastly: Scorpius' little speech about compassion at the end. Presumably just there as a funny punchline, given what the audience knows, but leaving aside Doylist considerations, I could see him meaning it. In that he knows what it's like to be helpless and tormented, and as long as (seemingly) helpless person X doesn't interfere with his plans, sure, why not help?
The other days
Now, the first season is about to end, and I'm enjoying this rewatch so much I want to continue. In season 2, the episodes I'd skip are "My Three Crichtons" and "Beware of Dog". What do you think? Anyone passionately interested in these, and/or wishing to skip over other episodes?
The main reason why I wanted to (re)watch this was the Aeryn subplot, but before I get to rave about it, let me say I had plain forgotten the Crais and Scorpius subplot was in this one. Somehow, in my memory their scenes got put in the season finale, and also Braca's debut in a speaking role. (I did recall Scorpius shows up at the end in the tag scene, but I thought that bit with M'lee was his only appearance.) I also had recalled this is where Crichton finds out Zhaan is a plant, but not that D'Argo was the one to advice M'lee to eat the PKs pursuing them. Some other details had been forgotten by yours truly as well.
Not, though, that the actress playing M'lee, Francesca Buller, was real life Mrs. Ben Browder, who will show up in future seasons in a variety of memorable one shot characters, too. She's good here, which is necessary as the script pulls off a double twist - first, the expected "this supposedly harmless creature is really the monster" one, and then "but wait, she can't help it, she's starving, and she's even trying not to eat our heroes, it's the other one who is cold bloodedly malicious". M'lee does have pathos, which makes it understandable that our heroes have compassion for her, though I have to say "have a go at the PKs instead" is basically handing over killing her to their enemies. (Since M'lee might manage to kill several of them but there's no way she can take out an entire Command Carrier, and as soon as these highly armed people realise what's going on, she's dead.) Mind you, of course this isn't the Star Trek universe where you can just replicate the food M'lee needs, but surely the Unchartered Territories have found a way to come up with some artificial calcium as well?
Since in retrospect Zhaan's plant nature seemed obvious for me and upon rewatch I spotted the show actually providing several broad hints through the season, Crichton's initial freak out seems a bit over the top, especially this late in the season when he's encountered far stranger things already.
Could be the last time Zhaan refers to the Luxan as "sweet D'Argo", since between seasons the writers seem to have ditched any D'Argo/Zhaan ideas.
Now, on to Moya. I love, love, love the Aeryn subplot here, from Pilot (and Moya) asking her for help (building on the special connection Aeryn has formed with Pilot through the season) to Moya asking Aeryn to name her offspring in the final scene. Technically speaking, Claudia Black does nothing but wander through a new set and touch parts of it through the episode, but oh, the emotion she shows. The baby Leviathan as a hybrid between Leviathan and PK technology as an equivalent to Aeryn herself right now, uniting what she wants to keep from her old life with her new one, and the expressions on her face as she talks to him - she's just so open and eventually happy, and we so rarely see Aeryn like this.
(There's the extra emotion of knowing what's in store for Aeryn and not yet named Talyn, but even without that, I love this subplot.)
The set designers using the PK coloring for the inside of the new ship while still keeping the round leviathan curves really does get the idea across, too.
Meanwhile on the command carrier: like I said, I had plain forgotten Crais gets a transition time between the Aurora chair and the finale as well. While watching, I wondered why the writers bothered, given the Aurora Chair experience should already have made it clear to Crais that there's no more future for him with the Peacekeepers, and given him a reason to hate Scorpius. Otoh, maybe not: given that the chair did reveal that the whole reason Crais was in it (Gilina's forgery) wasn't true. Also, Scorpius choosing to humiliate Crais by holding the Teeg knowledge over him and making him look powerless on his own ship for weeks as opposed to taking over in one fell swoop probably makes for extra hating when Crais could have excused Scorpius putting him in the chair to begin with as part of Scorpius doing his duty. And given Crais has spent a season hating on Crichton and making John's death his primary goal, the writers probably believed there needed to be some more build up for the momentous decision he's about to make.
Speaking Braca: something else I had forgotten was that Braca doesn't immediately 100% take to Scorpius, but has this scene with Crais where he sounds downright diappointed and let down Crais doesn't stand up for himself.
Early installment weirdness: Scorpius talking with a different voice when demonstrating his "physical superiority". To my knowledge, he never does that again (though I might misremember? Please correct me if so). At a guess, the writer hadn't completely decided on his backstory yet (i.e. the part where he's a Scarran/Sebacean hybrid rather than a full Scarran), and also they probably found Wayne Pygram to be far more effiently scary in his own voice, speaking softly, than if he's given electronic modulation.
Lastly: Scorpius' little speech about compassion at the end. Presumably just there as a funny punchline, given what the audience knows, but leaving aside Doylist considerations, I could see him meaning it. In that he knows what it's like to be helpless and tormented, and as long as (seemingly) helpless person X doesn't interfere with his plans, sure, why not help?
The other days
Now, the first season is about to end, and I'm enjoying this rewatch so much I want to continue. In season 2, the episodes I'd skip are "My Three Crichtons" and "Beware of Dog". What do you think? Anyone passionately interested in these, and/or wishing to skip over other episodes?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-26 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-27 06:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-27 01:39 am (UTC)You're ahead of me in what you remember of this episode: all I recalled was a) Zhaan telling Crichton she was a plant, b) Crichton's "stinking plants" remark (and Zhaan's reaction) and c) a bone-eating alien. And while I wound up enjoying the A plot of "Bone to be Wild" (see my "best aliens" comment above) I was surprised to discover that I was more impressed by the B and C plots.
As you said, the scenes with Aeryn wandering through the baby Leviathan were wonderful. Her relationship with Pilot is wonderful in this too--don't forget she now has some Pilot DNA in her, which makes the parallels between her and Talyn that bit stronger.
But what I really loved were the scenes on the Command Carrier between Crais and Scorpius. Scorpius subtly goading Crais and gradually undermining him with the crew. (And given Peacekeeper xenophobia, wooing the crew really was a feat!) It seems evident that Scorpius despises Crais as a poor excuse for a Peacekeeper (though Scorpy's relationship with the PKs isn't entirely straightforward as we'll see).
I think they're already trying to make Scorpius that little bit more complex than just another "Big Bad" (how boring would a one-note Scorpy be!) As I mentioned above, he seems to despise Crais as a bad Peacekeeper, and in the future we'll see him punish, not failure, but hubris and wastefulness. In other words, he has his own ethical code, however twisted it might seem by our POV.
I think we'll hear him like that at least once again: I can't quite put my finger on when so I'm not 100% certain. Perhaps one of those scenes where his cooling rods fail him and he's in extremis? I'm not sure when they decided on his back-story, but given Farscape's role as an anti-Trek I can see the production team creating him as a sort of anti-Spock
Incidentally, Scorpius's voice is not Wayne Pygram's natural pitch--I've seen him in other things (and in person, once) and his own voice is a bit deeper. I remember reading an interview with him once where he said he deliberately chose a soft, higher-pitched voice for Scorpy. I'll have to see if I can find it again.
Lastly: I'd love to continue on with Season 2, and I won't weep if we skip "My three Crichtons".
no subject
Date: 2020-07-27 06:09 am (UTC)One of the many things I find compelling about Crais' very last scene in s3 is that one of his "reason why I hate you, let me count the ways" re Scorpius is the fact Scorpius voluntarily joined the PKs. Which to drafted-as-a-child-Crais is absolutely incomprehensible. Conversely, given what we later learn about Scorpius' own background, it's all too comprehensible that the Peacekeepers by comparison seemed the better choice (and of course given what he wanted re: Scarrans the only plausible counterweight at the time). It's an excellent example of two characters having utterly different povs, each formed by their experiences.
I think they're already trying to make Scorpius that little bit more complex than just another "Big Bad"
Agreed. You can do one note one shot little bads, but at this point they must have intended for Scorpius to last at least another season, and that means layers.
I'm not sure when they decided on his back-story
At a guess, between seasons. I mean, with a tv production you can't completely know a character will work out until you see the actor performing, and Scorpius made his debut relatively late into s1. But now they knew Wayne Prygram could handle it, and then some, so I imagine a part of the months between producing seasons was spent deciding who exactly Scorpius was, where he'd come from, and what he wanted, other than "wormhole access" (and what he wanted it for).
no subject
Date: 2020-07-27 02:02 am (UTC)Also, Br'nee is still so, so terrible to look at. And the delicacy of M'Lee's pulsating colorful spikes/nodules still impresses. I think per the next episode Scorpius sends her off somewhere with a small crew, but after that she vanishes from the story.
Scorpius displaying his physical superiority--I think we see this again in the LGM trilogy, when he pops his rod and growls for John to insert it.
BoD I recall as having the chess set scene in the teaser and end cap, and Harvey chattering at John to the point he nearly shoots Aeryn, and also, Crichton's "The answer to that is NO!" when Aeryn's interrogating the Vorc.
The Vorc was ridiculous, and surprisingly sympathetic at the end, although I remember from either commentaries or interviews that Browder and Black nearly burst out laughing during the death scene.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-27 05:52 am (UTC)I meant the voice, not the strength, but Neuralclone above thinks he does the voice thing there as well.
I wonder if the action figures were made beforehand to be ready for any marketing, and that's where the shrunken Zhaan came from?
Given that they worked with Jim Henson's shop, who had the Star Wars and Muppets experience to draw from, I'm willing to bet on it. Though I'm intrigued Pilot-mutated Aeryn got her own action figure in addition to regular Aeryn!
no subject
Date: 2020-07-27 04:17 pm (UTC)Also, the scene where Aeryn is trying to persuade Talyn to hide from the Peacekeepers have those astonishing close-ups on Pilot's eyes, which demonstrate again how much emotion they could create via the puppets. And given the future revelations about the role a "Talyn" played in Aeryn's life, it's definitely ominous. I wonder if they had any ideas about the meaning of the name at the time - Claudia Black's performance definitely suggests that it has a personal meaning for her and it's not just that she thought it was an aesthetically nice name.
I remember reading somewhere online, although it might just be fannish speculation, that M'Lee was intended to become a recurring character as Scorpius's sidekick, with him satisfying her food needs with everybody who he thought needed to be disposed of, but Francesca Buller couldn't do enough episodes per year for it to be possible. It's possible she might have ended up in much the same position that Sikozu eventually would in S4 - given his other relationships we see later in the show, Scorpius would quite possibly be sexually attracted to her.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-28 05:29 am (UTC)Re: Aeryn's backstory: since she's the main female character, I do think they had much of it worked out, including who Talyn the first was to her.
M'Lee as proto Sikozu? Hm, maybe. As you say, looking at his other relationships, it's entirely possible.