Each week on a Sunday afternoon, join Alex (of Randomly Yours, Alex) and Katharine (of the unpronounceable Ventureadlaxre), as they re-watch the Australian-American sci-fi show Farscape, notable for the Jim Henson animatronic puppets, the excellent mish-mash of accents, and the best OTP ship of all time.

Season One, Episode Three: Exodus from Genesis

Summary

What appears to be a beautiful shimmering golden cloud out in space turns out to contain nasty creepy-crawlies who need to spawn, and in doing so, take over the ship aggressively.

As though that’s not difficult enough, Peacekeepers catch up with our merry crew once again…

A: Rygel, your hubris knows no bounds.

K: I do want a hover chair though. And they do really do excellent things with the animatronics.

A: Ah, more Alien Craziness! This time, Freaky Worms for Cleaning Your Teeth.

K: I love this kind of stuff. And although it would initially be icky I would love this type of thing – surely that would mean it works so much better than a toothbrush. And it’d be able to get places it’s hard to get at with a toothbrush. Can you tell I hate dentists?

A: I love that Aeryn is trusted enough to be on the command level alone.

K: That’s an interesting note, actually, and rather quick of them to trust her really. (I think there’s mention of this later on in the series.) Is it that they generally think good of other people, or that they think she’s at least out for survival which generally aligns with what they’re after also?

A: CRAIS IS BACK! Or at least, his eyes and ears… and claws… are looking for them. And Aeryn helps Moya escape, and for perhaps for only the second time in her life Aeryn is thanked for doing something.

K: Does Alex like his claws also?

A: Rawrr.

But of course the most important thing that happens early on is that Moya gets invaded by something very small, and by definition of being small, uninvited, and From Space, It Must Be Bad. Right?

K: Of course. It’s never tiny cleaning fairies or space pollen that provides a constant renewable food source, or something.

A: Aw Aeryn. Refusing to acknowledge that working together they might actually do better…

K: Of course not. Peacekeepers can’t even marry because that forms alliances that work against the Peacekeeper ideal. I wish they had worked a little more at getting her transitioning from living for her work to having kinda nothing to do with her time – surely that would have left her a bit more bored in general?

A: Ooh, Freaky Points of View from under the desk! What could be going on?! And then something jabs Aeryn, who’s already feeling too hot, and you just know that things are going to go bad. Especially since Dargo has also been jabbed. AND SOMETHING IS ANALYSING HAIR SAMPLES? And then John has a Moment where he really doesn’t cope well with large bugs, and enjoys bashing one up just a bit too much.

K: Aarrrgh when the thing stands up on its legs and tries to attack Crichton, I would have absolutely squealed if it were me. Stupid space and its damn bugs! Speaking of bashing it up, does that bed even look remotely comfortable?

A: And we discover the great Sebacean problem: that they can’t sweat, so getting really hot is really problematic for Aeryn. Isn’t that interesting…

K: Sassy Aeryn is so adorable though.

A: Hey John, here’s a hint that something is wrong with Aeryn: she let you touch her cheek without smacking you.

K: So creepy. I wonder if they had Claudia Black lie down on the autopsy table and just edited bits, or if they made a really good plastic/whatever replica?

A: Dargo: let’s cut off our little fingers so we know who we are! John: how about something less permanent?

K: How about they just talk A LOT? Aha and throw Rygel into things more? Wait, does that mean we should start keeping a tally of how many times Rygel saves the day?

A: Pilot and Aeryn are SO LOVELY together. When Pilot stops Aeryn from falling over is the first indication of just how large Pilot is… and then Aeryn doesn’t want Pilot to do something that could hurt Moya, and the crew.

K: They really are. After John and Aeryn I think Pilot and Aeryn’s friendship is my favourite in this show, especially as we go on.

A: That Aeryn doesn’t expect the others to want to help her certainly shines light on her earlier comments about not thinking they can work together. Even if she wants to, she doesn’t think the others will.

K: Which means she feels guilt for what Peacekeepers have done. Surely she now sees what her people have done is wrong?

A: John punching himself up may be one of the funnier scenes yet.

K: Nest and hive have the same amount of letters, Rygel!

A: As is so often the case, it turns out that everything bad that’s happened is because of a misunderstanding. And John manages to negotiate a deal, which turns out to be best for everyone… Except that then the Peacekeepers turn up with really excellent eye makeup. NOTE: they have female commandos. But we did already know that.

K: What was with the eye makeup anyway? Is it a general peacekeeper thing? It sweats off so it really is just makeup, I more expected it to seem permanent for some reason…

A: Aeryn asks John to kill her, to avoid the Living Death. SO SWEET.

K: While clinging to his shirt, n’aww. John mentions that space is freezing. Surely there would have been a suit or something to let Aeryn out of the ship for a little space walk where they could sliiightly adjust the suit’s life support? I need to stop thinking too much about this.

A: Rygel saves the day?! It’s worth keeping the little twerp around occasionally I suppose.

K: Yeah, see, tally. Sigh.

A: Did Aeryn just troll John?! And smile at him?!

K: She’s turning human! I do love their terrace. How freakin’ awesome would it be to have a deckchair out there and just stare into the endless black.

In summary, everyone loves Aeryn…

Number of times Aeryn saves the day: 1

Number of time John saves the day: 2

Times John compares someplace to Earth: 1

References Star Wars: 1
Join us next week for episode four, Throne for a Loss