Farscape Rewatch: 4.01. "Crichton Kicks"
May. 23rd, 2021 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWiki summary: After spending months on a dying Leviathan, Crichton's troubles only increase when a visitor crashes her ship aboard only to be followed by a group of less than friendly pirates.
As season openers go, this is actually a fun one, dealing with the immediate cliffhanger (Crichton stranded almost out of fuel in space with none of his friends either nearby or aware or both) in a way that works with what's been established (he's near a space graveyard for Leviathans) in a way that's also accessible for potential new viewers. (The only thing not explained in the episode itself that I imagine a newbie might be confused by is the random Harvey cameo in Crichton's daydreaming, but other than that...) It's a zany adventure story with darker undertones (the not!Klingons having a go at poor old Elack for scavenging), introducing a new regular character, Sikozu, a one shot character for this episode who still is very moving and makes you care for her (Elack's Pilot), brings back Chiana and Rygel at half point with good character scenes for both, and provides us with full on brand John Crichton insanity (1812!) while doing justice to both his sympathetic side (he's lovely with the old Pilot and Elack, not taking it for granted one second that they're helping him, and being aware that they're giving up their life long wish to die in the sacred space in order to help him; he's also, after quickly deducing Chiana is upset way beyond attitude, being a good friend to her and getting her to talk about it) and obsessive side, see also the Aeryn daydreams and his conversation with Rygel who lists John's obsessions ("Earth, Aeryn, Wormholes, Scorpius, Aeryn, Earth, Scorpius, Aeryn") is still one of my hands down favourite scenes. (And a great example of how far they've come - can you imagine John and Rygel having this conversation in s1?)
Because this is Farscape, we also get ample bodily fluids - Crichton has to take a dive into Elack's waste disposal (look, Rygel tried to catch him! Honest! - , and, in the dog scene, the most vid-used shot of Ben Browder's behind. I remembered liking the season opener back in the day, and I still do. Though invitably, when I saw Sikozu I also thought that I was disgruntled about the way her story ended in The Peacekeeper Wars. Still, in terms of how to introduce a new character, I thought this was better done than Jool last season, when you could tell it took the writers a few episode to figure out what she was like, and they resorted to a one note gag early on. With Sikozu, I thought both actress and writers have a clear idea (her uncertain loyalties not withstanding) about her personality and what they wanted her to do on the show from her introduction onwards. I could have done without her and Chiana also disliking each other from the start, given "instant hostility" was how Chiana's relationship with Jool had started before developing from there, but otoh, given the state Chi is in, she's prone to bite everyone's head of, especially of people she doesn't know.
I had forgotten Sikozu's inability to use translator microbes and corresponding genius at learning languages. It reminds me of what we talked about when I was rewatching s1 - if on most planets, babies are already injected with translator microbes, how do people in this universe develop language skills anyway? How do languages develop further? And, in this particular episode, where John, nerd who he is, speaks a bit Klingon, because of course he does, do his friends actually notice this when he does something like that, or do the translator microbes work with fictional languages as well? (I bet they'd do with Quenya and Sindarin, because Tolkien was a linguist, but Klingon?)
Daydream!Aeryn saying "Maybe" when John wonders whether the child she expects might not be his - well, his other self's - but Crais' -back in the day had me wonder whether this might be an upcoming plot, because I had watched my share of soaps, i.e. several episodes devoted to the exact identity of the biodad. Thankfully, as far as I remember, while we do get soap opera, we don't get this particular variation. At least, like I said, I don't recall we did? Anyway - I myself didn't wonder, given that the Aeryn/Crais scene in "The Choice" made it clear they hadn't had sex so far (and weren't likely to after, unless Crais felt especially self flagellating between this and Fractures, and just assumed that TalynJohn was the father, Aeryn not having had sex with MoyaJohn after her return. (Yes, I do recall we'll find out female Peacekeepers can put their pregnancies on hold later, but we didn't know that then.) Overall, like I said in the previous review, I'm not arguing with the choice of letting Aeryn have a child per se, I just wish the show had tied it more to her own development (her mother, Talyn) instead of letting it just be a part of John's.
(Sidenote: thinking about genre shows handling pregnancies in a way that works as part of the female character's development, the first thing that comes to mind for me is Alias, of all the series. Now Sydney got pregnant because Jennifer Garner did, but because Alias was at its core a twisted family romance, and Sydney's relationships with both her parents had been so instrumental in it, it worked for the final season, and Sydney coming full circle, not least because the series rolled with it and had her become a mentor to a younger agent as well. I had a lot of problems with s5 of Alias, but the way they made Sydney becoming a mother part of her overall transition into the next phase of her adulthood and coming to terms with her family issues was A plus.)
Lastly: the s4 credits. In s3, our hero told us he was waving whether to return or stay - "but then you'll never know the wonders I have seen". In s4, he wants "nothing more than to return and warn you" but also urges the audience/humanity to marvel at "the wonders I have seen". If there had been a season 5 instead of "The Peacekeeper Wars", what would have the narration been then?
The other days
As season openers go, this is actually a fun one, dealing with the immediate cliffhanger (Crichton stranded almost out of fuel in space with none of his friends either nearby or aware or both) in a way that works with what's been established (he's near a space graveyard for Leviathans) in a way that's also accessible for potential new viewers. (The only thing not explained in the episode itself that I imagine a newbie might be confused by is the random Harvey cameo in Crichton's daydreaming, but other than that...) It's a zany adventure story with darker undertones (the not!Klingons having a go at poor old Elack for scavenging), introducing a new regular character, Sikozu, a one shot character for this episode who still is very moving and makes you care for her (Elack's Pilot), brings back Chiana and Rygel at half point with good character scenes for both, and provides us with full on brand John Crichton insanity (1812!) while doing justice to both his sympathetic side (he's lovely with the old Pilot and Elack, not taking it for granted one second that they're helping him, and being aware that they're giving up their life long wish to die in the sacred space in order to help him; he's also, after quickly deducing Chiana is upset way beyond attitude, being a good friend to her and getting her to talk about it) and obsessive side, see also the Aeryn daydreams and his conversation with Rygel who lists John's obsessions ("Earth, Aeryn, Wormholes, Scorpius, Aeryn, Earth, Scorpius, Aeryn") is still one of my hands down favourite scenes. (And a great example of how far they've come - can you imagine John and Rygel having this conversation in s1?)
Because this is Farscape, we also get ample bodily fluids - Crichton has to take a dive into Elack's waste disposal (look, Rygel tried to catch him! Honest! - , and, in the dog scene, the most vid-used shot of Ben Browder's behind. I remembered liking the season opener back in the day, and I still do. Though invitably, when I saw Sikozu I also thought that I was disgruntled about the way her story ended in The Peacekeeper Wars. Still, in terms of how to introduce a new character, I thought this was better done than Jool last season, when you could tell it took the writers a few episode to figure out what she was like, and they resorted to a one note gag early on. With Sikozu, I thought both actress and writers have a clear idea (her uncertain loyalties not withstanding) about her personality and what they wanted her to do on the show from her introduction onwards. I could have done without her and Chiana also disliking each other from the start, given "instant hostility" was how Chiana's relationship with Jool had started before developing from there, but otoh, given the state Chi is in, she's prone to bite everyone's head of, especially of people she doesn't know.
I had forgotten Sikozu's inability to use translator microbes and corresponding genius at learning languages. It reminds me of what we talked about when I was rewatching s1 - if on most planets, babies are already injected with translator microbes, how do people in this universe develop language skills anyway? How do languages develop further? And, in this particular episode, where John, nerd who he is, speaks a bit Klingon, because of course he does, do his friends actually notice this when he does something like that, or do the translator microbes work with fictional languages as well? (I bet they'd do with Quenya and Sindarin, because Tolkien was a linguist, but Klingon?)
Daydream!Aeryn saying "Maybe" when John wonders whether the child she expects might not be his - well, his other self's - but Crais' -back in the day had me wonder whether this might be an upcoming plot, because I had watched my share of soaps, i.e. several episodes devoted to the exact identity of the biodad. Thankfully, as far as I remember, while we do get soap opera, we don't get this particular variation. At least, like I said, I don't recall we did? Anyway - I myself didn't wonder, given that the Aeryn/Crais scene in "The Choice" made it clear they hadn't had sex so far (and weren't likely to after, unless Crais felt especially self flagellating between this and Fractures, and just assumed that TalynJohn was the father, Aeryn not having had sex with MoyaJohn after her return. (Yes, I do recall we'll find out female Peacekeepers can put their pregnancies on hold later, but we didn't know that then.) Overall, like I said in the previous review, I'm not arguing with the choice of letting Aeryn have a child per se, I just wish the show had tied it more to her own development (her mother, Talyn) instead of letting it just be a part of John's.
(Sidenote: thinking about genre shows handling pregnancies in a way that works as part of the female character's development, the first thing that comes to mind for me is Alias, of all the series. Now Sydney got pregnant because Jennifer Garner did, but because Alias was at its core a twisted family romance, and Sydney's relationships with both her parents had been so instrumental in it, it worked for the final season, and Sydney coming full circle, not least because the series rolled with it and had her become a mentor to a younger agent as well. I had a lot of problems with s5 of Alias, but the way they made Sydney becoming a mother part of her overall transition into the next phase of her adulthood and coming to terms with her family issues was A plus.)
Lastly: the s4 credits. In s3, our hero told us he was waving whether to return or stay - "but then you'll never know the wonders I have seen". In s4, he wants "nothing more than to return and warn you" but also urges the audience/humanity to marvel at "the wonders I have seen". If there had been a season 5 instead of "The Peacekeeper Wars", what would have the narration been then?
The other days
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Date: 2021-05-23 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-23 09:04 pm (UTC)