ORBzine - Farscape - December 1999
[ Season 1! Season 2 ! Season 3! Season 4! Peacekeeper Wars]
SEASON 2
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 1]
Mind The Baby
Shown June 2000
This follows on directly from the last episode. As the audience no doubt expected, Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ) saved Crighton and Dargo. Kreiss stupidly underestimates Crighton and lets himself get captured.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 2]
Vitas Mortis
Shown June 2000
Now the mini-arc with Moya's child and Scorpius is over, we get the familiar old one-off episode appearing again. Dargo becomes the assistant of a Luxan holy woman who is dying. She uses him to rejuvenate herself, but Moya (the bioship) is subject to rapid and extreme aging.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 3]
Taking The Stone
Shown July 2000
Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) steals Aeryn's Prowler and runs off. She joins a pack of feral teenagers (like in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome ) who live in the Royal Catacombs of a planet. Their philosophy is live fast, die young, and with good reason - they get radiation poisoning by their 22nd birthday. Incidentally, the babel-fish bacteria in Crichton's system is unable to translate any of the slang or swearing that Chiana and the teenagers use.
Chiana does not want to leave - she discovered that her brother had been killed, and wants to follow the teenagers' self-destructive lifestyle. Crichton and Aeryn stalk the shadowy corridors and try to talk her round.
This episode shows why Farscape is the best SF show being made these days. Excellent cast, script, direction, set ... This is what B5: Crusade should have been.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 4]
Crackers Don't Matter
Shown July 2000
Scorpius has despatched Bounty Hunters to catch Crichton and the others, decide to take a short-cut to an unknown planet.
They take on board a blind alien technician who says he can make their ship invisible. He takes them on a course between two pulsars that emit light at an unusual frequency. The light apparently causes mental disruption; the crew all become extremely aggressive and paranoid. The exception is Zhaan; as a plant she has photogasms!
Crichton has a John Woo -style shootout with Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ). Also, he subconsciously displays more attraction to Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) than to Aeryn, his former lover.
Finally, we get to see Aeryn Sun smile! Although she is temporarily insane at the time. :)
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 5]
The Way We Weren't
Shown July 2000
Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) discovers a Peacekeeper recording that shows Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ) as part of the Peacekeeper unit that executed Moya's original Pilot on the orders of Captain Kreiss.
The episode is a series of flashbacks into the pasts of Aeryn and Moya. Certain plot points are cleared up:
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 6]
Picture If You Will
Shown July 2000
Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) obtains a weird picture which seems to foretell the future. However, it prophesies that the crew will die. They rush around, getting picked off one by one, and the picture supernaturally resists all attempts to destroy it.
This sees the return of a super-powerful villain thought destroyed in Season 1.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 7]
Home On The Remains
Shown August 2000
The crew are starving - they ran out of food some time ago, and are desperate to resupply. Obviously Crichton shot too many crackers a couple of episodes ago!
Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) takes them to one of her old hang-outs, a giant rotting skeleton so large that Moya could fit into its mouth! The people there live in mining colonies, but the mines are shut down because there is a dangerous beast loose in them,.
Zhaan and Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ) stay aboard the ship. Zhaan is undergoing serious biological changes; she is sprouting poisonous buds, and releasing spores that are giving the others hayfever. Moya's allergy to the spores may result in permanent damage!
This episode builds up the foreshadowing of a relationship between Dargo and Chiana ...
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 8]
Dream A Little Dream
Shown August 2000
Zhaan has nightmares of Crichton, Dargo and Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ) being stranded in space - she feels guilty because the trio were left at the end of Season One. She tells Crichton of the adventure that took place during that time.
Zhaan, Rigel and Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) land on a hi-tech planet. Zhaan is arrested for jay-walking, and ends up framed for murder.
The planet has a very strange economic system. 90% of the population are lawyers; the other 10% (who do all the REAL work) are an underclass called the utilities ...
For some reason, lawyers cannot lie in court - if they follow a line of questioning that they know is not true then they will suffer the same punishment as their client.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 9]
Out Of Their Minds
Shown September 2000
Yes, the show that does everything that Trek does not is back. However, there is a typical piece of pseudo-science worked into the plot this week: the body-swop. Top marks go to the cast - everyone has to play characters usually played by different people. For example, Ben Browder has to mimic Rigel's space-aussie accent.
Crichton finds himself in Aeryn's body. In a manner of speaking. Finally, Crichton and Aeryn get familiar with each others' bits ...
Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) reveals she is physically attracted to Crichton. However, things also develop between her and Dargo.
The aliens - more excellent animatronics, this time we get ugly vulture people - were attacked by Talon, and claim that Kreiss fired first.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 10]
My Three Crichtons
Shown Second Week, October 2000
Moya is invaded by a mysterious ball of energy. It engulfs Crichton, then spits him out - along with two other versions of him, one less evolved and the other more so. Ben Bowder is excellent as the three different Crichtons.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 11]
Look At The Princess Part I: A Kiss Is but A Kiss
shown September 2000
Part 1 of a 3-part story.
Crichton and Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ) are still close - but despite their Season One shagging and their virtual foreplay last episode, Aeryn insists I will not be a slave to your hormones! In comparison, Dargo and Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) are having sex on a regular basis.
The guys discover a remote Sebacean colony world, between Skaaran and Peacekeeper territory. It is ruled by a monarchy, which has problems with its line of succession. The Princess must find a genetically compatible mate, or her younger brother will succeed. The problem is that the Princess' DNA has been poisoned by the Skaarans - if the brother succeeds he will make an alliance with the Skaarans, and there will be a war against the Peacekeepers.
Because the Princess' DNA is no longer compatible with her own species, the only possible husband for her is the human, Crichton! But not only does Crichton have Aeryn as love interest, the Princess is romantically involved with a Government Councillor. Can there be a happy resolution here?
This season's arch-villain, Scorpius, pops up. And as soon as Zhaan and Moya detect his ship they have no option but to hop out of the star system. But they start to pick up strange signals that Moya recognises ...
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 12]
Look At The Princess Part II: "I Do, I Think"
Shown September 2000
Part 2 of a 3-part story.
Scorpius tries to capture Crichton,
who escapes with some well-timed insanity
and a Blazing Saddles routine.
The SPFX are good enough to match the dialogue.
And speaking of dialogue, here is a sample:
Dargo
There's good news and there's bad news.
Crichton
Bad news first, please.
Dargo
You're a married man, and you're just about to be turned into a statue
for the next 80 cycles.
Crichton
What's the good news?
Dargo
Chiana and I are having great sex!
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 13]
Look At The Princess Part III: The Maltese Crichton
Shown September 2000
Part 3 of a 3-part story.
Crichton is a statue, and a married statue at that. The plots on his life continue regardless. The Skaaran and his tame Prince are after the Earthman's head.
Meanwhile, Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ) and her new acquaintance go rock-climbing in a wilderness area. However, he has less experience at it than he suggested ...
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 14]
Beware of Dog
Shown Third Week, October 2000
Moya takes on new food supplies, but they are infested with parasites. Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) and Dargo bring in a strange creature called a Spork.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 15]
Won't Get Fooled Again
Shown Fourth Week, October 2000
Crichton finds himself back on Earth, returned safely from his first flight. Yes, this is a direct take on the similar episode from Season One. However, there are deliberate differences. To start with, he sees his Farscape comrades as other characters: Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ) is his nympho doctor, Zhaan a straight-laced psychiatrist, Dargo a fellow astronaut (in a tank-top and Ferarri!) ...
It seems that Crichton's only hope is the last person he would expect ...
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 16]
The Locket
shown 6th November 2000
Moya hides in a mysterious cloud of space-mist to avoid a Peacekeeper patrol. Aeryn Sun ( Claudia Black ) flies out to recce, and disappears for 1 solar day. When she reappears she has aged greatly, and claims to be 165 years old. She wants to fly back to a barren planet where she claims her grandaughter is.
This episode explores the relationship between Aeryn and Crichton. The cloud, OTOH, is just a useful plot device. In Trek it would be called a subspace anomaly.
Stark, the mystical being they rescued from Scorpius' base, is aboard Moya. He claims he knows the answer to the mystery. This is useful when the reset button gets pressed at the end of the episode, and Stark also gives us an intro into the next episode's plot.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 17]
The Ugly Truth
shown 13th November 2000
Like Rashomon, this story is told from different viewpoints.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 18]
A Clockwork Nebari
Shown 20th November 2000
Moya is taken over by Nebari, who use their mind cleansers on the crew.
Chiana ( Gigi Edgely ) discovers her big brother is involved with the Resistance.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 19]
Liars, Guns and Money (1): A Not So Simple Plan
Shown 4th December 2000
The team disguise themselves and break into an interstellar bank, the Shadow Depository.
Not only is Scorpius a major client of the bank, he is the lover of the eyeball-eating spider-woman who runs it!
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 20]
Liars, Guns and Money (2): With Friends Like These...
Shown 11th December 2000
The crew get their stolen goods to the destination, but too late. Normal banks have security devices: this time the money itself is the security device, and starts to destroy Moya.
They now have to cobble together a crew of mercenaries comprised of the villains from Season One episodes.
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 21]
Liars, Guns and Money (3): Plan B
Shown 18th December 2000
The heroes and their motley bunch of mercenaries attack the depository in a bid to save Crichton. Talon and Creis turn up ...
Farscape [Season 2, Episode 22 - Finale]
Die Me Dichotomy
Shown 19th December 2000
Moya arrives at an outlaw medical station, and with luck she and Crichton might get healed. However, Crichton now thinks he is Scorpius ...
The rest of the crew plan what they will do with their loot;
Return to the Winter Solstice 1999 Index