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Posted By: Nomad Aug 09, 2002 - 08:29 am

"A Prefect Murder"

On a world of warring clans, Aeryn stands accused of assassinating a tribal leader.

Friday, August 9, at 10PM & 12AM EST/PT

Posted By: Nomad Aug 09, 2002 - 07:18 pm

OK, I watched tonights ep and while it had a lot of... hmmm..how shall I put this... regular character building as well as regular character "knowing each others ways" type situations, I think that this was nothing more than an ep to show that the regualr characters are as one.

They were ther to get supplies on their own whil Moya was out of commission. It just shows that they all NEED each other and basicaly trust eacdh other. Even our new red haired chick.

I suppose I could have gotten A LOT deeper when it comes between the bug induced situations between Aeryn and John, but Ill wait to see it again. But , IMHO, it was obvious...ITS LOVE!

There was a lot going on here and I think it was like a JMS typoe thing. Character bulding, again. Time to renew th actual ARC!

Oh yeah...one more thing....WELCOME BACK GIZ! Been a while!

Posted By: Gizmo_Goddard Aug 10, 2002 - 01:01 pm

A Prefect Murder - some thoughts

First - Howdy Nomad!

Our adventure begins in a familiar place - a strange planet where Chiana's, ahem, exuberance for life has gotten our merry band into hot water. Apparently she had taken a liking for the son of a local clan leader (Gaashaw), which surprisingly enough is not a good thing. D'Argo sends her back to Moya in a prowler with explicit orders not to touch the autopilot and guess what happens (yep, you got it), Chi can't resist the opportunity to defy authority in whatever form. In the meantime, John seems to be talking with the HGIC (the current Prefect, Falaak) trying to smooth over any ruffled feathers.

Aeryn seems to be having some kind of waking dream in which she witnesses the deaths of several of the local folks, including the previously mentioned Gaashaw. OBTW, did I mention that he was in line to become the next prefect? Events seem to repeat themselves a few times but with another key element to the story, namely that Sikozu and the son of Gaashaw, Zerbat have *really* gotten to know each other.

Somewhere along the line, Aeryn's dreams become horribly real as the nightmare that she has been reliving becomes all too real. She sees herself shoot and kill Gaashaw with one clean shot. She disappears and Zerbat, enraged at the death of his father, sets out after her with Crichton and Sikozu in tow. After splitting up, Aeryn finds John and is horrified to learn that Gaashaw wasn't her only victim.

With the help of the local priest, a highly respected guy among all the people, it becomes apparent that Aeryn is being controlled by something that she got from an insect bite. About that time, Crichton starts having hallucinations. More insects swarm around Aeryn and John and they start seeing visions of each other's death. It becomes clear that they are being programmed to kill each other; the question becomes by whom.

That is answered when Falaak is seen encouraging another off-worlder, E'Alet, to use the insects to eliminate any potential successors as well as the other off-worlders (read our intrepid crew). Of course, Chiana just happens to be there, having been taken into custody after being caught back on the planet. Even as John and Aeryn race to confront Falaak, they struggle against the subliminal commands that are driving them towards killing each other. In a final confrontation, D'Argo and company rush in to prevent John and Aeryn from killing each other and E'Alet is killed by the priest. Falaak, after being confronted by Zerbat, commits suicide rather than face the wrath of all of the clans.

In the aftermath, Aeryn is shown mourning at the graves of the people that she had killed, John quietly standing behind her. Sikozu is offered a chance to stay by Zerbat, who is now the new prefect. Although she is clearly tempted, she turns him down by turning his own words against him; "A leader needs to be with his people."

Well, that's the story. What's really going on here is an examination of the featured characters and how they are forced to rely on and help each other in spite of their best conscious efforts. D'Argo is adapting to his new role as captain, Chiana is rebelling against his orders, John and Aeryn find themselves having to rely on their strong feelings for each other to fight the subliminal control. At the end of the day, despite starting out at odds with each other, all of our featured characters rallied to help each other out. Sikozu is the most surprising character out of the bunch. She provided a remarkably calming effect on Zerbat, in a departure from her normal self-centered behavior.

While D'Argo, Chiana and Sikozu were integral parts of this episode; the emphasis was clearly on Aeryn and John. John is forced to acknowledge and even fight to focus on his love for Aeryn (as she has to do in turn) to fight the psychic control of E'Alet.

It will be interesting to see how this character building is followed up on in the near future. Will John stop trying to forget his feelings for Aeryn? Will D'Argo continue handle his new duties as captain well? Will Chiana continue to challenge his authority? Will Sikozu's newfound maturity and calm wisdom remain in the forefront or will she lapse back into old habits?

Only time will tell...


__!_!__
Gizmo

Posted By: Iznardi Aug 12, 2002 - 10:34 am

question: any one know why they kept backing up scenes and showing them again? i have to admit i didn't get it. didn't seem to have anything to do with the storyline. was it just an experiment in story-telling?

Posted By: Bmat Aug 12, 2002 - 12:18 pm

I thought it was Aeryn's cloudy perception, being under the control of another will, then what everyone else was perceiving. Could be wrong though.

Posted By: ZimNova Aug 12, 2002 - 07:45 pm

As you may know, I spend a few hours a week surfing through for the most part worthless dren at the SFC's BB reading what others think about this and that to do with the show.
There is a large group of posters, including so-called "first ones"...LOL as that's a Babylon term used on the now defunked SFS boards, Gizmo, Iz, Nomad, Azziz and others know of which I speak, who seem to think the show has gone downhill.
I do not share that opinion.
I am disappointed that issues left hanging in DW2B's are still unresolved after 9 episodes but hey, I don't write the show.
It proves yet again to me at least that Babylon was the greatest sci-fi series even done, that JMS is a genius who may never be equaled.

*A Perfect Murder* my few takes. More later
We start off with politics, always a bad place to start. I for one want to see Chiana's character being written with well, more character. Her always playing the tralk is old imho.
Good to see Bruce Spence [the "gyro pilot" from the last two Mad Max films] working in this one playing Falaak.
So Crichton is still sniffing Laka bud...bummer dude. The more one uses any drug the harder the fall when one try's to kick.
Gaashaw gets the drop on Ka D'argo in the burned forest???, hummm he's getting lax.

Iz & Bmat. I have two separate feelings about the use of the different POV scenes during the first 20 minutes of APM.
One is there were clues there for us to see, that Aeryn was being influenced by the "bugs" which were foreshadowing her being driven to homicidal tendencies as she looked at all the soon to be victims as she was overcome by said bugs and was being controled by another.
The other thought was this is a neat writing trick by a new writer to move the story along, wasting 20 minutes of screen time in the process.
We already know that Moya's crew can work together, giving up their differences in a crisis.
I lean towards the latter.
That said this still was better than Enterprise or Andromeda re-runs.

Posted By: Iznardi Aug 13, 2002 - 07:26 am

i think i posted in NEWS that Farscape has been signed for a fifth season. however, i remember the course of sequest, also by these writers and producers, which was good show first season, okay show second season, bad show third season, downhill after that. i hope they are not about to repeat the trend. i don't know who they are writing for these days, but apparently, it ain't for me, because i've started to skip episodes are fall asleep during them.

Posted By: Nomad Aug 13, 2002 - 07:41 am

My take on the repeated scenes was to verify that something was amiss in the thought process of our characters. To me, it showed that they were being influenced. Ill admit that at first, I thought it may have been simple flash backs, but most of them were forced future memories. OIn otherwrods...make the person being influence by the bugs, do what their minds are telling them to do. See child...smack child. However, Aeryn did not smack the child. Almost...but didn't. I think you really need to watch the ep again and get more into it. It was more subtle, imho, than one thinks.

And yeah...they better get back to the main arc dang it!

Posted By: ZimNova Aug 13, 2002 - 02:10 pm

But wait, there's more.
I gotta say this again, boy does Farscape spend the currency to create fantastic new worlds for us. That's one benefit of all these stand alone type episodes. The Costume dept. should win, if there is any honor, the Emmy this year!
Also I can't remember any other series outside of a outlaw biker movie that has so many characters with outlandish tattoos. This was the 4th or 5th time they used lots of tattoos as a major part of the make-up effects. Weird yet cool.
Why is it that Sikozu can get all touchy/feeley with the prince while Chi is labeled a tralk?
We know Chiana's character but the people on this planet do not. Maybe it's because Chi got caught and Sikozu didn't? That scene was done pretty well although it didn't take any imagination at all to see where the prince's hand was going.

Sgabba-flies eh? A world without insect life kind of reminds me of what I thought of the Rogue Planet on Enterprise, not possible, at least on an Earth type world or class M planet.
That was a neat camera trick when Chiana's eye changes from her normal color to the white lens blindness.
E'Alet deserves to die for no other reason in my book than he decks chi when she is blind. What a Feknik.
Nothing like a little buzz saw action to the back of the head to fix him for good, LOL.
That was not the only homage to the *Army of Darkness* movies. The black forest and high priest who looks more like an evil wizzard all reminded me of those films.
John and Aeryn are making some progress in their relationship with Aeryn admitting the coin toss in DW2B was a mistake. That's a good start.
I also liked the ending. Quite reflection with John there for emotional support.

While I liked APM this for me was not one of the most memorable episodes of Farscape and next weeks teaser does not fill me with confidence either.
I'm hoping we do not get another "the crew threatened by bugs [A Bug's Life], alien host [the engery rider], Metalites [Liers, Guns & Money], drugs [Scratch 'n' Sniff] etc." and then being saved by Scorpius? Didn't we just have that in ISTIA?
Plus the teaser called Scorpius "Their worst enemy"? Ah...although Scorpy has his own agenda I would think Grayza is a bigger threat or the Scarrans.
I've also heard that after the episode on 8-23 we go back into hiatus until January!!! Bogus.

Posted By: Iznardi Aug 14, 2002 - 07:56 am

i have to admit i am kind of looking forward to enterprise. as much as i root for farscape, i was really disappointed with the choice of stories this season--almost everyone was confront a monster, confont a villain, or confront a force trying to destroy moya. lots of action, but the problem with action stories is that after about 30 of them--they are all the same. i wish we could see some plots with character backstory. the nebari haven't been in a plot for ages; we rarely get any stories involving rygel's past. maybe it's time for a SpeculativeVision letter to the producers (as their most enlightened and avid fans).

Posted By: ZimNova Aug 14, 2002 - 07:34 pm

Well Iz, that brings up something I've been thinking about but have yet to offer for discussion.

Farscape has been renewed through season 5 which is good, but I wonder what Rockne & DK were thinking when they were planning this season? Everything that worked in S-1, interesting characters and well written stories, when the show was fresh and another season was in doubt, was carried over into S-2 with great results. Plus they added Chiana as a regular cast member and introduced Scorpius as the ultimate bad guy as former bad guy Crais with the birth of Talyn was coming around much like Aeryn had escaping from PK dogma and influence. This was first rate sci-fi television at it's best.
Season three was the *Season of Death*, no dren!
We lost Zhann for personal reasons, had Crichton *twined*, then he died as T-John which FUBARed the J/A relationship for M-John, had Scorpy beat by Crichton and challenged by Grayza as well as betrayed by his second in command [Braca] with everything coming to a head in DW2B. A new character *Jool* was coming into her own after almost everybody, crew and fans, hated her.

Along the way we had fantastic episodes like the *Lairs, Guns & Money* and the *Look at the Princess* trilogies which were not only great writing but also great for the characterizations of everybody aboard Moya. A motley crew who were only a crew because they had to be. In DW2B it appeared they would go their seperate ways and pursue their own agendas. Not!

So far this season we have no knowledge of which planet Rygel & Chiana were on [CK], no knowledge of where Aeryn was nor whom she was working for [Promises], what happened to Pilot & Moya after they were boarded and captured by a wormhole, how Scorpius survived or any other threads left hanging at the end of DW2B?

If, and I hope not, Rockne & DK are bowing to pressure from the SFC to make the show more *main stream* it's not working on 2 levels.
First off potential new viewers are not seeing the cutting edge series that got us all hooked in the first place over the last 3 seasons. If I want to introduce a friend to the show I screen *Different Destinations* because it's not only a who's who of cast members but it's also a fine well written *stand alone* episode of Farscape.
Second, we long time fans are split, if you read the merits of S-4 on various web sites all over the 'net [including here] about the quality of the show this season.
I don't know. I still love the show and will watch a pile of dren being overseen by Rygel because I love Farscape. Thoughts?

Posted By: Iznardi Aug 15, 2002 - 05:33 am

All I can tell you is that Rockne bowed to "suit" pressure every year with Seaquest, and the result was a complete change of cast every season (trying to find that elusive hit that would make all the suits into trillionaires). As a result, Roy Scheider--a great choice for captain--got fed up and quit (in the first season he had a great ensemble cast, ages 16 to 60, by season two it was Roy and a pack of twenty-somethings). Ultimately the show lost its original following, its second season following, and then went into ratings collapse. I sense the same thing happening here. And the choice of switching Farscape to 10 p.m. EST sucks as well. It should be running at 8 p.m. and midnight.

Posted By: Gail_Storm Aug 15, 2002 - 11:45 pm

Hi all,

I have to agree with the opinion that **so far** this fourth season of Farscape has IMHO been disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the show immensely...but I seem to come away still wanting something. I believe it is like Zim mentioned earlier...that there are so many threads that have been left hanging. Did D'argo ever find his ex-brother in law that murdered his wife? I too, also wonder just how Moya & Pilot escaped rather easily from the wormhole. I mean, John landed in the UT via a wormhole and hasn't been able to get anywhere close to home. Also, how Scorpy and Aryen met up was touched on, but wasn't really explained. I find the storylines are disjointed...sometimes confusing. Granted I'm just a simple fan and I don't super analyse the plots, but still...

I'm really beginning to resent Season 3..."Season of Death". I know why Zhaan left, but I was very disappointed in the loss of Crais and Talyn, although I saw it coming. And just when I was finally warming up to Stark (my side! your side!) and enjoying his lunacy, he's gone too. I found it to be a bit of a stretch too, that Scorpy was granted asylum on Moya, ala Crais. After all he did to everyone. I'm glad that he's still around, as I find him a most fascinating character. It's obvious that Scorpy is also obsessed with wormholes...but I don't know, after munching on Crichton's brain...oh well. He did say he was more interested in revenge against the Scaarans.

The teaser for tonights episode seems a bit lame...the crew being infected and the only hope is their 'worse enemy' Scorpious. Sci-Fi channel is going to ruin a good thing if they continue to pressure Farscape into 'conforming'.

I dislike the Sci-Fi's channel of having such a long hiatus between seasons...(August thru December...) This is the trouble when a series becomes so popular...the tendancy to make it more 'mainstream.' I guess it's that old saying, •••••• if you do, •••••• if you don't.

Well, at least we will be seeing new episodes of both Andromeda and Enterprise in September.

Thank the Great Maker for the B5 reruns...

Posted By: Iznardi Aug 16, 2002 - 05:16 am

The problem with suits:

Let's see how the suits have improved viewership at SciFi Channel. Hmmmmmm. They took Babylon 5, probably their anchor re-run series, and moved it to 5 p.m. EST when no one can see it. They kept fiddling with the Invisible Man time slot (and, let's see, where is that show now? in the dumpster, no?) They treated us to prime time viewing of a fake psychic. Now it's a version of Believe it or Not that they are trying to run against the TNN StarTrek NG time slot (oh, good move). They've got almost no programming except for Friday nite's, and they put Farscape on too late, with a four month hiatus.

If I ever donate my brain to science, I guess I will start a second career as a TV exec.

Posted By: ZimNova Aug 16, 2002 - 08:50 am

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Quote:

If I ever donate my brain to science, I guess I will start a second career as a TV exec.

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Funny Iz.

Your right about the SFC. It would be a lackluster second rate channel without Farscape. I really don't watch it much as I've seen every T-Zone episode like 20 times, John Edwards blows, their movie libaray includes a host of low budget horror [gators-bugs-slasher] films that I have no interest in wasting two hours watching and I already have the entire Babylon collection in LBX on Fuji HQ VHS tapes.ZimNova