Farscape Rewatch: I shrink therefore I am (4.8.)
Wiki summary: While Crichton and Noranti are away, Moya is boarded by a group of bounty hunters who easily imprison the crew. Crichton and Scorpius must work together to fight them, with things getting more complicated when they find one of the bounty hunters is a Scarran.
I very much suspect this episode grew out of a single image, to wit, mini Aeryn with 1812 to the rescue. I don't mind, though. The ongoing Laka plot aside, about which I'll rant when we get to the certain episode in later s4 which "resolves" it, this was a solid hour of adventure episode. Hardly any show in the last few decades resisted the temptation to rip off Die Hard, and a lot of sci fi shows also had a go at the "miniature" plot device, but combining the two is, I think, a Farscape Only entry. Complete with lampshading when Sikozu points out what scientific nonsense the premise is.
In the "how far we've come" category: in earlier seasons Rygel might have ratted out the crew (if he thought this would get him somewhere) on his lonesome, these days he has to be listened to by someone with telepathic abilities in order to deliver the intel while making an honest effort at lying for everyone's benefit. Re: Rygel thinking that John's emotional priorities are Aeryn, then Chiana - no one is disputing the Aeryn position, and until this rewatch I'd have agreed that Chiana is No.2, too, but this rewatch has really sold me on the John/D'Argo friendship in a way I hadn't recalled being before, so... what do we think? Does John care for Chiana and D'Argo with the same intensity or does he prioritize Chiana?
This is the first episode to mention the Scarran caste system in the conversation between Scorpius and the disguised Scarran. Since inner Scarran hierarchies play a certain part later, presumably at this point the writers had figured out their Scarran world building that way.
It's also the episode where Crichton realizes locking up Scorpius is pointless and therefore stops doing it, which I'm sure was a relief to the writers since they didn't have to find an excuse to get Scorpius out of his cell anymore. One thing only this rewatch made me wonder: why does no one consider re-using one of these handy Yensch bracelets? Aside from the Doylist "been there, done that plot device" reason. Surely Scorpius didn't own the only ones in existence?
Let's see, what else: John calling the aliens of the hour "Cylons", thereby revealing he's an old school Battlestar Galactica watcher (the reboot version hadn't started yet when he left Earth), made me wonder what his take on New School BSG would have been. One thing I'M pretty sure of: he wouldn't have complained about Starbuck and Boomer being women!
The other episodes This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1450902.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
I very much suspect this episode grew out of a single image, to wit, mini Aeryn with 1812 to the rescue. I don't mind, though. The ongoing Laka plot aside, about which I'll rant when we get to the certain episode in later s4 which "resolves" it, this was a solid hour of adventure episode. Hardly any show in the last few decades resisted the temptation to rip off Die Hard, and a lot of sci fi shows also had a go at the "miniature" plot device, but combining the two is, I think, a Farscape Only entry. Complete with lampshading when Sikozu points out what scientific nonsense the premise is.
In the "how far we've come" category: in earlier seasons Rygel might have ratted out the crew (if he thought this would get him somewhere) on his lonesome, these days he has to be listened to by someone with telepathic abilities in order to deliver the intel while making an honest effort at lying for everyone's benefit. Re: Rygel thinking that John's emotional priorities are Aeryn, then Chiana - no one is disputing the Aeryn position, and until this rewatch I'd have agreed that Chiana is No.2, too, but this rewatch has really sold me on the John/D'Argo friendship in a way I hadn't recalled being before, so... what do we think? Does John care for Chiana and D'Argo with the same intensity or does he prioritize Chiana?
This is the first episode to mention the Scarran caste system in the conversation between Scorpius and the disguised Scarran. Since inner Scarran hierarchies play a certain part later, presumably at this point the writers had figured out their Scarran world building that way.
It's also the episode where Crichton realizes locking up Scorpius is pointless and therefore stops doing it, which I'm sure was a relief to the writers since they didn't have to find an excuse to get Scorpius out of his cell anymore. One thing only this rewatch made me wonder: why does no one consider re-using one of these handy Yensch bracelets? Aside from the Doylist "been there, done that plot device" reason. Surely Scorpius didn't own the only ones in existence?
Let's see, what else: John calling the aliens of the hour "Cylons", thereby revealing he's an old school Battlestar Galactica watcher (the reboot version hadn't started yet when he left Earth), made me wonder what his take on New School BSG would have been. One thing I'M pretty sure of: he wouldn't have complained about Starbuck and Boomer being women!
The other episodes This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1450902.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.