scifi_rewatch | Farscape Episode 1.02: “I, E.T.”

Watching this very early episode from “Farscape,” I was reminded of what first drew me to the show; I'd somewhat forgotten, given all that it’s come to be. But back in 1999, when “Farscape,” like John Crichton, was still getting to its feet in an alien world, what intrigued me most were the budding character relationships. These people were not comrades in arms; they had no reason to like each other, and in some cases they outright hated each other. The one thing they had in common was that they were fugitives, and they could do that just as well (perhaps better) alone than together.

But something—maybe the selfish desire for safe harbor in the beginning—kept these folks together. In this episode, John comes face to face with a world much like the one he left behind. And the others realize that maybe they’re not so different after all.

The sirens of hell are blaring on Moya. A twitching John joins irritated Aeryn and D’argo as they try to figure out what’s going on. The former Peacekeeper gages that her people had something to do with this. John: “It feels like it’s melting my brain. …can it do that?!” Hey, that’s a good question, all things considered.

Pilot locates the siren as coming from tier seven, accessed through a small, head-sized hole in the wall. Our leads stick their heads in, and sure enough it’s a Peacekeeper beacon, broadcasting because it’s not getting any signal from the now-removed control collar. Apparently this beacon is a little late to the party. :P

This is a dire event indeed, as a Peacekeeper signal might attract…well, Peacekeepers. D’argo immediately accuses Aeryn of keeping this info from the crew. Her response: “Look, I’m new to all of this escaped prisoners crap, all right?” In later episodes, she would’ve probably said “dren.” ;) “Farscape” curse words ftw! Today’s word was “hezmana.”

A DRD promptly goes into the mini-tier to sniff the situation out, and is shot by the beacon for it’s trouble. :-O So there we go—no DRDs can get close enough to destroy it. What now?

Twitchy John suggests that they take Moya down to a nearby planet that’s largely covered in bogs. The water could muffle Moya’s unwanted signal. Pilot and the others aren’t sure if Moya (as with most Leviathan ships) could survive a trip to the surface of the planet. John sums it up as “If she can’t, we can stick our heads between our legs and kiss our asses goodbye.” Looks received by crewmates…priceless. :P

So they go careening like a red-hot comet down to the planet, which includes some beautiful shots of dusk along the water. John’s first thought is that this reminds him of Earth. Cue homesickness! As the ride gets a little bumpy under increased gravity, John and Aeryn experience one of their many “accidental falls” onto each other. ;) Shippiness, can you feel it?

Moya is sinking in the mud! And John gets his first voiceover in the opening sequence; he identifies himself, a la radio transmission, looking for contact from anyone who might lead him home. He describes his life of late as being “shot through a wormhole” and he now lives on a ship, “this living ship of strange, alien creatures; help me!” Oh, John. If that’s not bad enough, he’s being “hunted by an insane military commander,” which seems scarier to me! But yes, I love the opening, down to the last randomly scream!singing female. :P

Back to the eppy at hand! The mud is muffling the beacon, which is about the only good thing anyone cares to say about it. In the meantime, Rygel is pegged for being the one to remove the damn thing. Plenty of complications…not the least of which being the Dominar’s unwillingness to stick his neck out. Also, the beacon is in Moya’s neural cluster, and Pilot informs the crew that severing it will hurt. More than hurt, it could kill her. Major problems.

John asks about a “Leviathan anesthetic.” Turns out there is an alloy that might numb Moya to the pain—chlorium. (Predecessor to Dr. Horrible’s wonderflonium. :D) There might be some down on the planet. John joins D’argo and a still-conflicted Aeryn on a retrieval mission. He compares the planet to Degobah, explaining to a mildly-interested Aeryn that Yoda, “a little green guy,” trains warriors there. This might be the first thing that the ex-Peacekeeper can respect about “Erp.” ;)

While there, John proves himself the nerd of the group by being the only one who can figure out how to work the chlorium detector. In a nice homage to the real “E.T.,” the three of them must duck and hide in the brush when faceless men come riding up with flashlights, looking for aliens. D’argo and Aeryn send John ahead as they distract The Feds.

Pilot explains to Zhaan how the Peacekeepers may have gotten the beacon onto Moya without her knowing it—when captured they force Leviathans to sleep, a process that kills the old and infirm, which is sort of the point. Show’s not really painting a rosy picture of Peacekeepers. Later, Zhaan approaches “his eminence” with an idea. He cuts out the beacon and she takes Moya’s pain, which she is trained to do as a ninth-level Pa’u. Rygel, softened by Zhaan’s kind treatment, points out “this is a big ship.” Is this our first real moment of caring among the crew?

John comes up to a farmhouse with an impressively large array of satellites. Stepping into the barn he thinks he detects some chlorium in the feed, but he rejects the notion. As a young boy named Fostro comes down; John drops the comms and hides, unconvincingly, behind some bags. Fostro notices him almost immediately. Besides for his ears (which probably reminded most of Vulcans, but reminded me most of Radu from “Space Cases”) Fostro and his species look remarkably human. Well, we’ve heard that before. :P

“You’re from space?” a bedazzled Fostro asks Crichton. “Yeah…I guess I am,” John admits. Cue moment of self-discovery! Fostro decides to run and tell his mother, but John is in hot pursuit. When they make it to Fostro’s kitchen, the young boy points a lightsaber-type weapon at John, and our favorite human goes down! For awhile, he can’t feel his body. Which gives the perfect amount of time for Fostro’s mom, Lyeena, a self-confessed extra-terrestrial nerd, the time to quietly freak out. This is her planet’s first E.T. contact. “I’m talking to an alien??” she squees, which apparently she is doing, though I’m not sure how she got her hands on some microbes from last eppy. It’s a shame; the microbe explanation was really awesome, and this cheapens it.

D’argo and Aeryn are getting not-too-cozy in a tree while The Feds prowl the woods below them. At one point D’argo’s hand almost brushes Aeryn’s shoulder, but she angrily swats it away first. This, of course, leads to snark—first concerning D’argo’s battle strategy here, and then about Luxan/Peacekeeper wars long past. Oh, warrior drama-rama. Interesting that each cited the other side for killing women and children in this war, but left out their own transgressions.

John explains that he’s looking for a part to his ship, but Lyeena is mostly taken by the news that there is a “UEO” in the bog! Fostro wants to tell someone about the aliens, but his mom hastily brushes him off. John and Lyeena share a moment when the woman realizes that space travel, aliens, and questioning everything you ever knew is something that our human has gone through personally as well. “You’re so much like us,” Lyeena wonders. “It’s really a kick in the pants, ain’t it?” John replies. :P He lies, too—says that they specifically chose to come to her, since they’re a scientific ship, they saw her satellites, and figured she might “understand” them. John’s dark side is coming out! He knows how special that would be to her…enough that maybe she might help them with this chlorium problem. Or maybe something else—could Crichton see her star charts? Maybe he’ll recognize something that might lead him home! :D

Back on Moya, Zhaan gives Rygel a bone “tokar” knife of D’argo’s to cut the cord. Rygel is disgusted. “Do you know what male Luxans use that for? At that—certain age?” :P I’m guessing it combines two ceremonies that my people, the Jews, are known for. ;) But anywho, they’re about to begin. Zhaan lays her hands and face on Moya, offering to take her pain. As Rygel begins to cut, Zhaan grunts but commands him to continue.

D’argo and Aeryn have actually found something to bond over—their bewilderment over John’s love of this planet! Is this really what Earth is like, what with primitive tools and fossil fuel cars? Humans are lame, man. Pretty bad placement; I bet the two warriors could admit grudging respect for each other's martial prowess, at least.

Fostro and Lyeena enjoy a domestic scene over dinner while John pours over the star charts. We’ll never know if he found anything there…probably not, given the rest of the show. :P Meanwhile, Lyeena has made John something that looks remarkably like matzo ball soup, but when she brings it near, the chlorium device goes crazy.

And so does John—grabbing Fostro’s gun, looking frantically for the Moya-juice, demanding “what the hell is this?” when he finds it in a spice container. Lyeena and Fostro are cowering—John’s gone back to being a scary alien, not a friend. He’s baffled to find himself holding them at gunpoint, and gives it back. Changing John. But before much can happen, Lyeena’s bosses, the military (only ones who will fund her E.T. work) are there! Fostro hides John in his room, and Lyeena talks to the leader, a man who used to be skeptical of her work, but after The Feds in the woods plus the strange sighting over the bog, he’s a little more on board. Lyeena, for her part, seems less so—the leader notes that she looks nervous, not excited. :-/ Uh oh.

Rygel is concerned when Zhaan faints, her eyes glassy and open. For a moment Moya goes dark, playing into the fear that perhaps they killed her by not waiting for the chlorium. But then Pilot and Zhaan come back…not that this is doing much for Moya's worsening condition. Hurry up, John!

John and Fostro bond in their desire to meet an alien at the young boy’s age. Well, one of them succeeded. :P When the military steps outside John feels he’s close to capture. He begs Lyeena to help him create a communications device that might reach the others and tell them about the chlorium. John, in fact, is able to have a conversation with a grainy Pilot on the tv monitor! Our human turns to Lyeena and remarks that the majestic Pilot might more fit the part of an alien she hoped to meet.

Aeryn has re-joined the others on Moya. When she tries to force Rygel back to the tier, he bites off a real, fleshy part of her arm! :-O Aeryn promises death in chilling tones. Zhaan has a better idea of how to reach the dominar about continuing to help. By being soothing, she coaxes out his fears over not performing the important task well enough. In his position—even in prison—he had others do the work for him. Zhaan is patient and understanding. I love how she can reach the vulnerable sides of even the most annoying, pesky characters.

Zhaan and Aeryn are more cold with each other, though the ex-Peacekeeper expresses concern about the toll this is costing the Delvian—not because she likes her but because she’s afraid she can’t do her job, of course. :P And yet later, Aeryn literally holds Zhaan up as she falls, and she watches over her exhausted body when it’s all over. Aww. Maybe the buddings of a female friendship.

On the planet the military leader is still outside—he radios a pal for “biological containment.” He’s sure he’ll be catching alien life—and soon. Inside, John opens up to Lyeena about flying through a wormhole, which she calls a “ribbon-hole.” Pretty innocuous conversation, but it’s the first time he can convene with another scientist in the Uncharted Territories. Lyeena is a breath of fresh air—in more ways than one. She also knows that John lied about “choosing” to see her, but she seems to forgive him for it.

She has more trouble when D’argo is captured outside. Witnessing the angry, snarling Luxan, she confronts John concerning his story about his “scientific” ship. John admits that Moya was a “prison ship” and that he, himself, is wanted for causing “a galactic misunderstanding.” Oh, John. If only you knew how deep the wormhole went. ;)

Lyeena demands that John leave, “and take your chlorium, too!” ;) But John, in the most straight-forward reaction of the eppy, refuses to leave D’argo to be dissected. Friends they are not…shipmates they are. He sneaks out to the barn where D’argo is tied up. He spies inside where Fostro is standing with some guards. Fostro, John and D’argo share a moment when the boy finds John’s comms. Suspense is growing! Fostro steps forward to the guards, distracting them while young Crichton sneaks in and whacks them all in the head with a shovel. :-O Whoah, John. Getting violent in the Uncharted Territories!

Meanwhile, is Lyeena turning traitor on our favorite human? :-O She shows the military leader her footage of Pilot, and promises him the source of that signal. But later, when faced with her son, John and D’argo, she admits that she sent them in the wrong direction. Aw. She cares too much to see our boys get dissected after all. She hands them the chlorium, and John gives her a kiss on the cheek, encouraging her to “keep watching the skies.” Lyeena flirts back at him, even using a little tongue –flicking action! Just goes to show that John Crichton is irresistible to all aliens. ;)

Pilot attempts to take off once John and D’argo are back on board, handing chlorium to a triumphant Rygel (he just disabled the beacon) to spread around for healing purposes. Someone give Moya a day at the spa! As our ship lifts off over the pretty Australian—I mean alien landscape ;), we get one last look at Lyeena, watching wistfully from her porch with a sleeping Fostro in her lap. Earlier she’d told the boy, “Some day, you will have a singular story to tell,” about first alien contact. An interesting parallel to John, whom we also see looking longingly out at the planet.

Aeryn joins him to remark with skepticism, “Don’t tell me you’re going to miss that rock.” “No,” John says softly. “Not that rock.” So perfectly spoken by each of them, for where their characters are at the time. Aeryn is largely masking the pain of losing her own home and place in the world with snark. John, meanwhile, has had the chance to touch two people the way he himself was altered when he met the crew of Moya. As Lyeena told him in response to “I wish there was more I could do”… “You’ve altered the perceptions and beliefs of an entire planet.” Some day, he might get that chance with humans on Earth. But either way, he definitely has one “hezmana” of a journey before him. :P

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