Premieres this Sunday.

For your amusement: http://www.ucomics.com/foxtrot/2004/10/16/

SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MINISERIES, YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ AHEAD


I'M SERIOUS, IT'S SPOILERY


LAST CHANCE


OK, DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Joooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That opening shot with the Dreadnought and the rising Command Carriers was awesome.

Sikozu can make fire with her hands? I didn't realize.

Is it just me, or does Pilot sound a little different?

So, it seems that Sebaceans may have started on Earth. Pretty cool.

How did Chi survive in space for so long? She's not Luxan. Nebari can survive in space for extended time too?

The Harvey scenes were awesome. Crash test dummies? I missed this show.

Nice "Land of the Lost" ref from Chrichton.... "These aren't your Saturday morning Sleestaks!"

Cool beans!! Excellent! Though I really, really hope there's some sort of happy ending out of all of this.

So how many offspring does John now have? Three? (I'm assuming that Grayza's kid is John's, though I may be wrong.)

So, then, is Jool's species also originally from Earth, brought forth by the water-planet-guys (sorry, I can't remember their names)? If so, why did they develop two species (Peacekeepers and whatever Jool's was)? I got the reasoning for the Peacekeepers, but why the supersonic screamers? But, this does explain why they all have Australian accents.

Pilot's voice did sound different. And Jothee looked different, too (I swear he had a nose job). So, Jool returned just to be blown up. That has got to ••••, as an actress. "I'm called back for the mini-series, just to be killed!"

Soldiers don't have a sense of humour? Really? 'Cuz I was cracking up. And the gun thing at the end of that was *so* Crichton...He has rubbed off on her, *so* much, hasn't he?

Liked Sikozu's hair better this way (short and spiky) than the long wavy hair from the series.

Wow. I've been speechless for days. It's like TPTB tried to pack 22 episodes worth of stuff into four hours! Tightly written, great character development (I love how so many of the characters have matured and developed over the four years), and they pushed some envelopes I think they might not otherwise have tried in a continuing series. Thoughts, observations, in no particular order.

It was great seeing Rygel in his natural habitat. I may have missed it elsewhere in the series, but it was nice seeing his feet, seeing him out of his chair!

Noranti tasting the crystals after they'd been barfed up by Rygel, to see which is who - GROSS! 'Course, she's always been kind of a great character because of her gross-ness...

But here's my nit: if John and Aeryn were reduced to crystals (and therefore the baby), how did Rygel's ingesting a crystal make him pregnant with the baby? First off, it took the Healer/Doc being to reorganize the crystals and reconstitute John and Aeryn, so how'd the baby reconstitute out of its crystal form inside Rygel? Second, the crystals were in one of Rygel's stomachs, so how did it develop without being digested? Or, how did it move out of the stomach to somewhere else?

I mean, I know we have to take a lot of things without explanation, and there's the ever-present "They Can Because They're Aliens" (should we make that an acronym, TCBTA?) but still, it didn't make any sense at all.

Tho' it was funny seeing Rygel's reaction to being pregnant. Oh, and was that a subtle-as-a-sledgehammer statement of the Henson Co. or Hallmark as to the nature of an in utero baby?:

Rygel: Get this thing out of me!
Crichton: It's not a thing, it's a baby.
Rygel: Fine. Get this miracle of life the frell out of me!!!

Taoiseach
But here's my nit: if John and Aeryn were reduced to crystals (and therefore the baby), how did Rygel's ingesting a crystal make him pregnant with the baby? First off, it took the Healer/Doc being to reorganize the crystals and reconstitute John and Aeryn, so how'd the baby reconstitute out of its crystal form inside Rygel? Second, the crystals were in one of Rygel's stomachs, so how did it develop without being digested? Or, how did it move out of the stomach to somewhere else?

I mean, I know we have to take a lot of things without explanation, and there's the ever-present "They Can Because They're Aliens" (should we make that an acronym, TCBTA?) but still, it didn't make any sense at all.
-You're not the only one to ask this. I did too. Though, I love your new initials for this. I nominate we use them from then on. On this, I kinda may have a reason for this, but if it doesn't make sense, that's ok. I too wiould like an explanation. My thinking is that, the baby, being stasis for a certain amount of time, and probably was knocked out of it, because of the Scarren torture, probably also de-crystalized, when coming in contact with Rygel's stomach. Who knows, the combination of Rygel's alien Hynerian stomach, and it's previous power to come out of fetal stasis in Aeryn probably made it do it by itself. I also wondered, how the baby stayed within Rygel, and didn't get thrown up alone with his parents? Then again, if Rygel can keep down a diamond ring, while throwing up John and Aeryn, maybe the baby can manage that too. Or that, the ring, and baby went into one of Rygel's stomachs, and John and Aeryn were in another.
I also wondered how it kept itself from being digested as well. I don't think I can try to explain it either.

So, Bob Grasshopper is back in the good graces of the Peacekeepers, and in command of a part of the fleet. Huh. But what was with Sikozu's soccer-mom haircut and spank-me-now outfit? She looked far too human in comparison to how she looked in season 4 - don't know whether that's aging (after all, Raelee Hill is now in her 30's! Hycheewawa! Rowr!) or a change in prosthetics and makeup, but she doesn't look as alien, IMO.
-I noticed this too. For the hair, maybe because she ended up working on a command carrier, she needed her hair out of the way, and that was the only way she could have done it.
I did try to notice her skin, since normally it's an orangie scaly tint color, and I did noticed that on her, but not as much as she was before the series ended. Who knows, her leather get up probably drowned out the skin color and texture. Doesn't black leather tend to do that to people? And as for that get up, yeah, she's a bit on the punk rock groupie side, but her other outfits were also left with little to the imagination, but so were her other previous outfits, they just happened to match her skin.

Where have I seen the actor who plays the Grand Chancellor before? I swear he looks like someone in one of the Crocodile Dundee movies, but his credits listed on IMDB don't indicate much more than Farscape. And, is he Baby Grayza's daddy, or is Crichton, or is Bracca, or is someone else? Grayza is a Sebacian, so she could have held the foetus in stasis for who-knows how long...
-As for the father, I think it's done on purpose for us to guess who he is. On one area, we do remember Grayza having her way with Crichton, back in 'What Was Lost', and also when she mentioned about 'Let's think of our children' and patting her tummy, it did give you a thought that she was telling Crichton he had another one. Then again, we're suppose to think it's that military commander, she was bonded to and later killed, and then there is Braca. I haven't seen all the episodes entirely, but I gather there's a hint that they did have a good time together. Also, I had noticed how Grayza was intent to get to where Braca is. Not where the action is, or where Scorpius is, or where Crichton is, but where Braca is. To me, that sounded a bit odd. She doesn't have him as her lap dog anymore, he sold her out and was still loyal to Scorpius, so why is she still concerned with Braca.
Though I also understand that the actress who plays Grayza was or still is, pregnant in real life when this was filmed, so there is an understanding to write it in, but then again, her role in this mini-series had her doing stuff, that could only also been done with various shots and stuff. I think though, that the pregnancy did have a significant role in the end of the mini-series, Grayza using it to show her reasoning to give in, and to get others to give in.
I also wondered how is it, that she was pregnant all the way through, and Aeryn had her child in no time flat. I read on another board though, that the guess was that Aeryn was infantry, and Grayza was a high level officer that stays within the command post, so for her to have a longer pregnancy was probably prudent, while Aeryn who was born into her station, ended up have her child quicker. I think this was mentioned somewhere.
One thing I don't get, is that now, you have marriages or bondings. Both Skikozu and Grayza have tatoos on them to show their marital status. I thought there were no marriages or families for that matter in peacekeeper life. You just had sex, had a kid to keep up the ranks, and no contact with them, or you're in trouble.
OK, I'll buy that D'Argo and Chiana were able to get out of Lo-La before Crichton's wife, er, Ben Browder's wife, blew it up,
Remember, Crichton's wife, is Aeryn, Ackna was played by Ben Browder's wife. I know, irrelevant, but I wanted to be tongue in cheek and a romantic at the same time, and show my happiness of the John/Aeryn shippiness.

but I don't buy that Nebari can survive in vacuum just like Luxans can, with only a little mouth-to-mouth. Why didn't Chiana's eyes freeze over, or she blow up from being in vacuum?
-I couldn't either, but then again, I think we still got very little of what Chianna's race can and cannot do. Maybe that is why they are so white?

I probably missed it in the regular episodes, but why do the Scarrans and Peacekeepers have such a jones for wiping each other out? And where did the question of wormhole weapons come from?
I think that the Scarrens are trying to get power and territory, that the peacekeepers normally have. And somewhere done the line, the Scarrens got wind of John's wormhole knowledge, around the time Scorpius did. And he was interested to get a weapon against the Scarrens.

OK, now that I'm finally past the "Oh, it's SO good to have Farscape back!!" phase, I can move onto a little nitpickin'.

I'd hope there was a more science/tech way of finding all the bits of Crichton and Aeryn than by trusting that Rygel found all the pieces during his dives.

The last ep of season 4 shows Moya floating in a vast ocean with Crichton's boat nearby. If the ocean is that big, I'm assuming it's pretty deep where Moya was floating. Sunlight doesn't extend very far underwater before you hit total darkness. So the CG opening of Rygel swimming around this well-lit ocean floor is a little unbelieveable. I guess Hynerians don't get the bends, either.

I get shriveled up if I'm in a hot tub for more than 30 minutes. After 60 days of deep-sea diving, I'd expect Rygel to be shriveled like a raisin. He looked pretty good, though.

So the water-planet-guys (Iolans? I don't recall the name) live in a hidden city on this ocean world. Why send the ship to Moya at the end of season 4? And why attack Crichton and Aeryn's little boat? They just drew attention to themselves.

Scorpius' command carrier is visible in the sky to Aeryn and Crichton. It looked to be no more than 2500 feet up. Odd that a ship that size can descend that far into the atmosphere.

I guess Pilot and Moya were paying real close attention to Aeryn and Crichton's second wedding attempt, because they didn't detect the mercenary ship unitl it put a harpoon into the galley. So much for the long-range sensors.

What was with the harpoons anyway? You locate an unidentified vessel in your patrol zone and you tether your ship to it? It was a good thing Moya wasn't powerful enough to pull the merc ship. I'd also imagine that the harpoon would cause an atmospheric pressure decrease in the chamber where it strikes, before whatever emergency measures take effect to seal the breach. But it didn't look like anyone in the galley was getting sucked toward the point of entry.

Apparently the mercenaries have the same firearms training as Imperial Stormtroopers. They must have fired 30 shots in Pilot's chamber and they didn't hit Crichton, Scorpius or Pilot. Conversely, Crichton went to Wyatt Earp firearms school, because he bullseyed a merc above and behind him while jumping off Pilot's console and landing on the deck.

I guess it doesn't matter what sci-fi show you're working, if you're a security guard to an important character, you're going to get "red shirted" in a firefight. So much for the young water-planet-guy's security man.

Crichton accidentally discharges his pistol while loading it in the temple with Jool's friends. Why carry an unloaded gun?

I don't recall ever seeing Crichton or anyone else licking the power pack before reloading their pulse pistols. Then again, I don't recall them ever reloading in the 4 seasons before this special. Not really a nit, it's a clever tip of the hat to every generation of soldier who has had to do something to prep his weapon for battle. Contemporary soldiers give a loaded magazine a whack against their helmet to seat the rounds at the top of the magazine and to make sure the spring pushes the rounds into the chamber before loading their rifles.

more to come...

Taoiseach:

That wasn't a Young Frankenstein reference, it was a Dr. Strangelove reference.

Obi-Juan: I get shriveled up if I'm in a hot tub for more than 30 minutes. After 60 days of deep-sea diving, I'd expect Rygel to be shriveled like a raisin. He looked pretty good, though.
He is an aquatic species.

Obi-Juan: Scorpius' command carrier is visible in the sky to Aeryn and Crichton. It looked to be no more than 2500 feet up. Odd that a ship that size can descend that far into the atmosphere.
I think Command Carriers are thing something like 5 kilometers (metras?) long. It could be higher than 2500 feet and still look quite huge, couldn't it? Don't planes usually fly much higher than that?

Mike Nuss: We should ask the producers, because I'm watching Young Frankenstein on Comedy Central right now, and Harvey sounded suspiciously like Police Inspector Hans Friederich Wilhelm Kemp, the guy with the wooden right arm. Tho' perhaps Mel Brooks was making an homage to Dr. Strangelove with the character. Considering Farscape's penchant for pop culture references of both ilk (sci-fi and humor), one could argue that Harvey's actions were an homage to both, perhaps...

Taoiseach: Oh yeah, I forgot about that guy. Sorry... it's been a while since I've seen Young Frankenstein, and I am a big Dr. Strangelove fan. I could go with either explanation you suggest, if the characters are that similar (I really don't remember the YF character too well).

I finally got hold of this and part 2, only to find that part 2 is corrupted and crashes after 22 minutes!! I’m hoping that I’ll eventually get a clean copy of part 2, cos seeing part 1 on its own is going to be really annoying!!

Wasn’t it a bit late to do the backstory for the benefit of anyone who was watching Farscape for the first time? It was 11 minutes into the show by then! Most people who couldn’t understand what the heck was going on would have switched off, and the rest of us know the story.

The creature that crystalised John and Aeryn in Bad Timing didn’t look anything like the people in this episode. Was it meant to be an Arnesskan (or whatever they called themselves) or did the writers only decide to reintroduce the Arnessk thread when they got the go-ahead for the mini-series? And casting the same actress who played Aeryn’s torturer/nurse in Prayer as the woman Arnesskan wasn’t the most inspired piece of casting because I spent every moment she was onscreen asking myself, “Who is she?” until I finally remembered.

Did anyone notice the painting of Rygel that Zhaan did way in the first season is sitting in Rygel's quarters.

I got the DVD recently and thought it was a pretty decent conclusion for the series.

When we first see Sikozu, my reaction was, "Who's that?!?!?". The hairdo and the costume (as well as her Khalid markings being indistinct) rendered her initially unrecognizable.

I believe the reason Pilot's voice had changed (if you don't mind dealing in reality) is simply that Lani Tupu was out of practice. Unlike Jonathon Hardy, Tupu's voice is distinctly different from the character he portrays (considering he played a semi-regular character, it had to be).

When humans were modified to Sebaeceans, why did they get something as dehibilitating as the heat delerium? My only conclusion is that it was an unintended side effect of their gene diddling. At least I hope it wasn't deliberate.

And I'm glad Paul Goddard had gotten a crewcut by the time filming rolled around. Stark just doesn't look right with long hair.

Maybe the crystal that was the baby was turned back to flesh at the same time that the crystals that were John and Aeryn were. Rygel was awfully close to that machine and we don't know how far the field reached.