Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Farscape #2.2 -> Into the Uncharted Territories

**Cryostar** · 02-22-2007, 06:33 AM

Throwing the new thread up, let the discussion of syndicated shows and DVD views continue!

jalapeno_wildchild · 02-22-2007, 08:44 AM

great new thread Cryostar, like the title also.

i saw the second part of Into The Lion's Den last week on t.v. and i'm amazed that john was able to do what he had to do with aeryn being so cold to him. one of the things that i wish they had explored more in season 4, was the whole twining thing. all that was said was aeryn telling john that there wasn't a distiction in her mind anymore. i wish john had told her how badly she had hurt him and all the pain that he went through because of it. even though i'm sure she already knew it, cause she said she was sorry but it would have been nice to see a better closure on-screen than what we got. (at least that's my opinion.)

**Cryostar** · 02-24-2007, 11:10 AM

I think it was because john's ability to sense that she knew the pain she was causing him and move past it that allowed them to eventually come back together.

enigma777 · 02-25-2007, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cryostar (View Post)

I think it was because john's ability to sense that she knew the pain she was causing him and move past it that allowed them to eventually come back together.

Eh. I was actually able to enjoy season four a lot more once I got over (first and foremost) the cancellation and to a lesser extent, my sympathy for Aeryn. There was no excuse for being so secretive and not talking to John about what happened to her after she left Moya. She didn't have to tell him about the unit, or sensitive information, or specifics about missions, but she owed it to him to tell him about why she chose to become an assassin and the big secret about the baby and how/why she wasn't sure it was his. I never did like that she did choose to become an assassin, where as her mother was forced to become one.

Of course, the writers had to invent something to keep them apart, so it was John not trusting Aeryn with his heart (because she was keeping secrets) and then we come to find out that it was more that he had figured out that Scorpius was spying on everyone and he didn't want Scorpius to know that Aeryn was his weak link. Like Scorpius didn't already know that.

But I suppose by pretending that it was "over" between them, maybe John thought that would be enough to fool Scorpius.

But there was a lot about season four, especially the first third of it, that seemed not quite right. We were supposed to find out why (and also find out why Aeryn was being secretive--one theory was that she had knowledge of future events) in season five.

Something I was going to respond to in the last thread, but apparently I forgot to post it...

Quote:

Originally Posted by jalapeno_wildchild (View Post)

i didn't much care for Eat Me either, but they had to do some kind of weird story to be able to clone crichton. i agree with you yossarin that at first none of the crew is sure which is the original crichton. for me it was easy to distinguish who the original was, the writers make it very plain to see.

If the writers made it plain to see, it was not done intentionally. I must have missed something, because they always made it clear to me that both were equal and original. The whole point was that they did not reveal which was the duplicate and which was the original because, at least in my mind, there really was no longer an original. It's like the actual John Crichton was split and each "half" was used to generate a whole. Hence the genetic degradation. Each time there was a splitting, there was a deviation in the genome of both individuals which, after many duplications, resulted in creatures similar to the Xarai.

As for Aeryn and John, they were screwed either way. If Aeryn had stayed on Moya with that Crichton and he had died, everyone would have said that Aeryn was thinking the other guy was the copy. Or if the other one would have died, she probably would have felt guilty about that for not being there to protect him. But despite what she said later about there no longer being any distinction, I don't think that was ever really the issue anyway.

The issue was that she went through falling in love, dropping *ALL* of her peacekeeper emotional barriers, opening her heart and then having her love taken away from her. "I am very angry," she said. Then, after returning to Moya, seeing his face again, who in their right mind would want to go through that again, or even take the chance of losing their lover a second time? I've written many long posts (even before "I-Yensch, You-Yensch" premiered) about Aeryn's loss and why it was so devastating for her, but that is basically the crux of the matter. The first cut is the deepest, blah, blah, blah.

yossarin · 02-26-2007, 03:29 PM

I hate WGN!!!

They didn't broadcast the 2nd to last episode of S3, and then I skimmed the review and they kept saying it was the best episode of the year and it tied all of the wormhole loose ends together!!!!

Hopefully the transcript I found appeases me for the S3 Season Finale. It seems like every syndicated station for Farscape has S4 playing but not S3. I guess that's what I get for not paying for the DVDs.

..... regarding the cloned crichtons, do you think they did that storyline just so you could see the potenial John has opposed to a gimmick to force Aeryn to show her feelings in a more direct manner?

enigma777 · 02-26-2007, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yossarin (View Post)

..... regarding the cloned crichtons, do you think they did that storyline just so you could see the potenial John has opposed to a gimmick to force Aeryn to show her feelings in a more direct manner?

I think there were two stories the writers wanted to tell (two Crichtons, two leviathans, two crews), and they wanted to do the relationship but with a way to hit the reset button so as to put the relationship on hold after a while, and they wanted to find a way of suspending the relationship that hadn't been used hundreds of times already (love triangle, etc.) The other thing they wanted to accomplish was the development of Aeryn. It's one thing to let down her defenses without knowing how much it will hurt if she should lose him, but it's quite another to be willing to do it a second time, knowing all the pain she went through. In addition, having the split crews allowed more character/relationship development between John and D'Argo.

I loved the split crew arc. It may have been used in the past, but I think Farscape did it brilliantly, and it drove viewers crazy because they kept alternating between the crews. Also, it provided an opportunity for them to do a very important, underrated episode, Incubator.

**Cryostar** · 02-27-2007, 06:43 AM

There was a rumor that Henson was getting set to do another Farscape project....is it officially over now? It would be very sad if it was.....I can't believe that the series is done now.

Reading E7's post made me think of all the things I still want to know about the universe. PKWars didn't wrap everything up as much as I wanted. Sigh.

jalapeno_wildchild · 03-02-2007, 03:34 PM

i heard that the Henson company wanted to try and do another Farscape project in 2008 Cryostar, but i haven't heard anything else. there's alot great fan fiction out on the net that centers around PK Waes and even a little after that. if you're interested go to the website TerraFirma, lots of stuff there and i think it has some of the best Farscape fanfiction i've ever read.

**Cryostar** · 03-02-2007, 09:59 PM

I've been there before, but quite frankly, I'm not one for fanfics....I want real stuff.....YOU HEAR THAT HENSON>>>>GIVE IT UP!

John Crichton · 03-03-2007, 08:02 AM

I have been watching my newly bought FarScape DVDs. Just finished season 1 and starting season 2 now. So many things I never noticed first time around and things that I did not understand at the time, also, this show was so well made that even now it looks fresh!

May I post the official story written by FarScape creator Rockne S. O'Bannon set 3 hundred years after the end of the miniseries again? (It has been several years since I typed it up and posted it on the

FarScape thread...)

**Cryostar** · 03-03-2007, 12:42 PM

Feel free to go for it....it's always a good read.

***Raonaild*** · 03-03-2007, 12:57 PM

Regarding the twinning of Crichton ... I suspect another very practical purpose it served was the ability to keep their lead actor in every episode (and maybe Scorpius too, can't remember if he was in every ep during that period), but only use half the rest of the cast for most of the season. It probably saved them some money to do it that way, considering how large the cast had become at that point.

Dog with Two Bones was for me one of the most painful Farscape eps ever - I could completely understand both Crichton and Aeryn's perspectives, and it was heartbreaking to watch it play out. The first part of S4 did seem a little strange, in that Crichton was so obsessed with getting Aeryn back in the first episodes, then when she does return he pushes her away again (the look on Crichton's face when he first sees her on Moya, and then the anger when he finds Scorpius is with her, summarizes the first half of the season in a few moments). Finding out that he was doing it because of Scorpius was what saved the season for me.

Despite all the crazy obstacles the writers kept throwing in to keep Crichton and Aeryn apart, I liked how they wrote the two as a couple for the handful of episodes where they did finally get together. I think it was just as interesting seeing them work together while they were in a relationship as when they were dancing around one, I think it would have been nice to see more of them together. I guess that's what we would have gotten had there been an S5.

John Crichton · 03-03-2007, 05:51 PM

FarScape: Horizons (This story takes place long after the end of the miniseries, Written by FarScape creator, Rockne S. O'Bannon. I typed this story from the final issue of the official FarScape magazine. It took me several weeks to finish typing it up.)

CHAPTER ONE:

Crichton awoke moments after the first sun crested the horizon. He had purposely never put a covering over the north facing portal because he liked
awakening naturally and the gentle light of the first sun did the job perfectly. One of the countless reasons he had chosen this planet on which to build his home.

The structure was no more than five cycles old, built by Crichton himself - with occasional help from some Jash-nak labourers he hired to help with the bigger tasks like transporting wall slabs and shaping the foundation. It was simple in design and function, in the natural colours and style of the American southwest. Crichton wasn't sure why he decided to build it this way - but it seemed to best fit the rusty clay soil and stark green vegetation of the expansive valley where it resided.

The furnishings were as spartan as the six-room dwelling itself. Having been a man on the run for so many cycles, he'd long ago become used to maintaining very few personal possessions. If there was one thing he'd learned living the vast majority of his life at this end of the universe it was that simple, basic, functional things were always most effective.
His first glimpse of that was his early days out here in what used to be known as the Uncharted Territories. Those first cycles spent aboard Moya he dedicated every spare moment to studying the remarkably elegant functionality of the living ship.

The thought of Moya gently nudged him back to today's events. "You're losing it, John. Mind wondering like that. You're acting like an 80-year-old man..." Which John Crichton certainly wasn't.

He was 311 years old.

As Crichton rose from the bed, he felt the usual stiffness in his joints - elbows, knees especially - and his back always ached for the first arn or so after getting up. But considering he lived nearly four times as long as he would have if he'd never taken that fateful ride into orbit around Earth back in - what Earth year was it? 1999 - he wasn't going to complain.

The extension of one's natural life was one of the unknown benefits of Translator Microbes. Well, unknown to Crichton, at least, in those early days at this end of the universe. It seems Translator Microbes have long life spans of their own, and when their host's body begins to age, the microbes go to work, repairing failing systems, fighting off any pesky debilitating diseases. Crichton's little guys and gals had been performing this function on his behalf for nearly three hundred cycles.

Crichton moved across the Nebari Tecca rug - a gift from a very dear, old friend - and gazed out the portal. The valley was brightening - the second sun, the larger of the two, was just below the crest of the distant mesas, its rich copper light already splashing across the magnificent unspoiled vista that sprawled before Crichton's view.

Growing up in North Carolina, Crichton truly loved his family home. As with all adults - well, human adults, he couldn't speak for the myriad other species he'd met over the centuries - but like human
adults, Crichton thought such a warm, comforting cocoon of family and home was something only a child could experience. But here he was at the other end of his life - and he had that once again. He loved this house he built.
For the longest time he thought he might never have a place to call home again. Yet here he stood. There was only one thing missing to make it perfect. One person.

As Crichton stared out, the second sun began to appear in earnest, the light very bright, but Crichton didn't look away. He was lost in a reverie and it was only someone's face he saw before him. Finally the sun cleared the mesa completely and Crichton blinked, his reverie broken.

And the importance of this particular day returned to him. He had a funeral to attend. "Rygel," he said to himself softly. From the last message he received, Moya would be coming for him today. It would be good to see her again. And Pilot. And any of the others they had managed to contact. He hurried to change, anxious to be ready for the living ship's arrival.

enigma777 · 03-03-2007, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cryostar (View Post)

There was a rumor that Henson was getting set to do another Farscape project....is it officially over now? It would be very sad if it was.....I can't believe that the series is done now.

Reading E7's post made me think of all the things I still want to know about the universe. PKWars didn't wrap everything up as much as I wanted. Sigh.

There was still a lot left untold, most notably about Chiana's brother and the resistance's fight against the Nebari establishment. It has long been my belief that the Nebari were worse than the PK and the Scarrans.

Then there were still the issues of the Delvians and the hynerians.

Yes, DWTB was painful, but at least I got to see my BRHG in a wedding dress. Still, one of the most powerful scenes of the entire series was the end of ItLD-2.

Interesting story. If Aeryn is not there, where is she? If that (the first chapter) is all there is, that he released it is only more torture for us looking for closure.

John Crichton · 03-03-2007, 06:40 PM

CHAPTER TWO:

Crichton stepped from the Transport Pod into Moya's Transport Hanger and immediately felt foolish. Did he really expect everybody aboard to drop everything and be waiting down here to greet him?

All several hundred of them?

Crichton hefted his Tak bag and headed into the Maintenance Bay where a group of Ulstran students clustered around one of the workbenches. A couple of them glanced up as he passed. It took a few moments before recognition dawned,
And their expressions immediately shifted. They quickly began nudging the others. Soon, all the students were staring at him, whispering to each other.

Crichton was used to this reaction by now. But he still wasn't comfortable with it. He expected that he never would be. He was now grateful that no one had made his arrival anything special.
He gave the students a small acknowledging nod and quickly moved on into the passageway. The passageway was teeming with activity. Beings from dozens of different worlds going about their business. It wasn't crowded really, but Crichton remembered the many years when there were only he and a few others living aboard.

"Commander Crichton!" A tall, lean figure hurried this way, slaloming past the slower beings around him. The figure was a full six inches taller than Crichton, his skin dark brown and creased,
the top of his head formed into a protective carapace. The eyes were large and expressive - and Crichton smiled in instant recognition.

"Hello, Pilot," Crichton said, as the tall figure arrived before him. The figure held out a familiar pincer-like hand. Crichton shook the pincer, grinning widely.
"I wanted to be in the Transport Hangar to greet you!" "That's all right, Pilot." Crichton remembered the many, many cycles when pilot wouldn't have been able to meet him in the Transport Hangar, or here in this passageway, or anywhere.
That was before they had discovered the Builders' homeworld and spent the better part of a cycle there.
During that time the Builders perfected a two-armed, two-legged bio-mechanoid Pilot hybrid into which they were able to transfer Pilot's consciousness. Pilot still had his all-important symbiotic relationship with Moya,
still helped maintain her systems, communicated on her behalf, but no longer needed to be physically connected to her.

And just as Moya had served as Pilot's means of leaving his homeworld and seeing the galaxy, now Pilot could return the favour for Moya - often venturing down onto planets, walking among the civilizations, studying their cultures, experiencing them to their fullest, all of which he was able to share symbiotically with Moya.

"Moya needed me," Pilot explained, "She is experiencing a little dyspepsia. I'm afraid her calorics are off. Because of, you know... word about Rygel." Crichton nodded. Some of the others in the passageway were beginning to look his way and whisper. Pilot noticed and laid a pincer hand on Crichton's shoulder.

"There was no way to stop word from spreading that you were coming aboard." "I understand. Don't sweat it, Pilot." Then Crichton asked, "Is there anybody else, any of the others who...?" "Chiana and her husbands are aboard." "Really? That's great."
Pilot leaned closer, lowering his voice. "She wasn't here two arns and she tried to seduce me." Crichton tried to suppress the laugh but it broke in his throat despite his best efforts. "I wouldn't worry, Pilot. She's got two husbands already - I doubt she's looking for a third.
It's just, you know, her way."
"But, Commander - she's so... so female. Certainly she knows me better than that..." Crichton nodded, literally having to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling too hard.

Poor Pilot looked so worried about this. But then he always looked worried - he had from the very first day Crichton met him. "And what of Officer Sun? Is she with you? Or--?" Pilot froze in mid-question as he saw the look on Crichton's face. "Crichton!" A delighted voice suddenly pierced the din of the passageway.
Crichton spun to see Chiana charging this way. She leapt, taking flight the last twenty feet. Crichton girded himself for impact - but, hell, the girl was light as a feather, just as she had always been. She smothered his face in kisses, then slid down to her feet. "Hot damn! - isn't that the Earth expression?" She stood back and looked him over.
"Frell me, it's good to see you! How long has it been?" "A dozen cycles." "More like 15 I believe, Commander," Pilot corrected.
"15 cycles, and look at you. You look... well..." Crichton smiled. "Not that you look bad or anything," Chiana said quickly. "I mean, with the white hair, you're starting to look more and more Nebari every day." " I hear you're here with your husbands," Crichton said. " I've got Hespie right here." She reached down to the locket around her neck.
Crichton was a great admirer of Dr Hespin; he was a highly-intelligent researcher and scientist of considerable renown. And Chiana doted on him - well, to the degree that Chiana could dote. But theirs was a strong union based on great love.
It didn't matter in the least that Dr. Hespin was microscopic.

A small image-screen on the frontpiece of the locket flickered and Hespin's elongated, insect-like face looked up from the work he was engaged in. Of his two mouths it was the lower that smiled first, followed a moment later by the other.
"John, how good to see you." Hespin spoke from both mouths simultaneously, creating a wonderfully mellifluous voice. "I only wish it were under other circumstances."
Chiana turned the locket so she could speak directly to the image-screen." Don't be maudlin, Hespie. You know Rygel chose his time to pass over. we're going to Hyneria to honour his memory, not to mourn him."

"I know, Chiana, dear. I keep forgetting that you have a familiarity with death that we others do not." Crichton, Chiana, and Pilot all exchanged a look. A knowing look - Like soldiers who have been through a war together and have survived to tell about it.
"John, I'm hoping we'll have a chance to talk later," Hespin said. "I'm engaged in some research here that I think you'll find especially interesting."

I'd like that..." Chiana made eye contact with her husband. "Are you settling down inside there? How's your stomach? Still feeling the motion sickness?" "Well, it's not the same as being in my laboratory at home, my darling, but i'm doing fine, thanks." Pilot stepped forward so Hespin could see him.
"When you're ready to eat something, Doctor, we have quite a delicious selection of nano-nutrients." "I think i'll give my stomach a little while longer. But thank you, Pliot." "Bheaton!" Chiana said with a squeal. "I'd almost forgotten. He's just dying to meet you, John."

"Bheaton?" Pilot leaned closer and whispered into Crichton's ear."Husband number two." "He's it the Centre Chamber. He never has a problem eating," Chiana grinned. "Well, he's gotta keep his strength up."
The innuendo was obvious, and Crichton's eyes involuntarily flicked to the locket at Chiana's neck. "Don't worry about Hespie. He knows I have needs. I mean, c'mon, after all - he is microscopic."

The tiniest look passed between Crichton and Pilot. "Speaking of mates - where's Aeryn?" Chiana asked. Crichton's expression shifted. But before he could respond, Pilot stiffened, as if suddenly alert to something. "Pilot - what is it?" "It's Moya. She... she has just detected a... a Skellac Ship O'war bearing directly for us!"
Instinct kicked in instantly. Without a thought, the three of them took off, running for The Command.