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Posted By: ZimNova Jan 17, 2003 - 06:05 pm

The main theme here was, IMHO, the complete difference between what John remembers as his past life on Earth and what experiences have led him up to this point in the story arc over the past 3 1/2 years [tortured in the Aurora Chair, Twinned, relationship with Aeryn etc.].
There is no frelling way anyone seen here in the current story time line has a clue. This was pointed out as he was writing his journal on the dock and at the end when Jack thinks they [Earthers] can protect the wormhole.
Thay are out of their league.

I was surprised that this story was "real time" as far as the story arc go's.
I was thinking that there has to be a way Moya's crew gets back to their own time without leaving behind the knowledge of our "aliens".
This will change everything on Earth.
Maybe that's what "Einstine" meant when he said; "Going to your species homeworld will start the most problems".
He was speaking about the "time line" and how changing "anything" will change that "time line" [see: Different Destinations]

This is great SF.
Thank the Great Maker we have Farscape.

I've only watched the first airing tonight [live]. So I need to review the tape to find more meaning in the overall scheme of things. Bottom line is, there was planty of J/A soap, Graza's story and Crichton's remorse was leading into who knows what with future episodes.

Posted By: Gizmo_Goddard Jan 18, 2003 - 05:08 pm

This was a wonderful episode, IMO. It asked a wonderful, "what if?" and then proceeded to give us a really good look at the things and people that mattered most to John before he left, and to give us a good look at how he and they had changed over time.

WHAT HAPPENED
-------------

The last time they asked the question "What if John actually got home, what would happen next?", they gave us a tale of dark paranoia and secrets gone wrong. Of course, that was a conjured exercise to see just how John would react. This time around, it's different, it's for real. John gets back to Moya only to find his dad and others waiting for him. Once he is convinced that this is for real, he introduces the rest of Moya's crew to the group, and off we go.

It starts off in a bit of quiet retrospection, John writing in some strange language in a journal. The "aliens" have been put up in a gilded cage and the scientists are driving themselves to distraction trying to figure all of the toys out. The suits are making an effort to understand, but they can't. In one of the many great scenes in this one, John and his dad argue vehemently about whether the information and technology should be shared or should be hoarded by the US. That's when Jack brings up September 11th, and just how those events have changed the world and made it a different place than it was when John was last here. It's a jolting bit of reality interjected into our little story. It becomes clear to John that Earth isn't ready to accept the knowledge that they bring and he decides that they'll hang around just long enough to give the scientists a hint and then leave before the suits become more aggressive.

We also get to see how the rest of our gang deals with being on Earth. Sikozu seems to be having the hardest time adapting and soon she departs to meet up with Scorpy. We're give a surreal image of Chiana sunbathing in a bikini in all of her grey glory as if it were something she does every day. Aeryn also does her best to fit in, but she's clearly uncomfortable. That gets even more complicated by the arrival of Caroline (?), one of John's former girlfriends. She does her best to try to rekindle a relationship, but clearly John is distracted and not buying back in. In a frank and surprisingly calm conversation, Aeryn and Caroline discuss John and Caroline admits that John doesn't want her anymore. Aeryn isn't sure that he wants her either, and decides that it's time to leave and head back to Moya. She takes the clothes and stuff that John's sister lent her back, clearly intent on leaving. She and John start one of those deep, personal "TALK TO ME!" kind of conversations, which keeps getting interupted by his dad, much to John's frustration. Just as it looks like they're going to get down to brass tacks (or brass knuckles), Grayza's alien appears and attacks. Aeryn and John fight it and with a little help from D'Argo, they manage to kill it.

John's path is clear. He has to go back to Moya and return to the universe of the uncharted territories that he's discovered. He has a job to do and no amount of pleading can change his mind. In a possible prescient moment, his sister gives John his mother's wedding ring.


A FEW THOUGHTS
--------------

A beautifully done episode. A much more even-handed look at what it would be like for Moya and company to show up in Earth's orbit. While the back story was all about the dignitaries, the scientists and the suits trying to comprehend what's going on, the real story is a much more personal examination for both John and Aeryn as they try to decide what, if any, future they may have now that John has gotten his wish of getting home.

- Wasn't Chriction's last girlfriend named Alexandra??? So who's this Caroline chick? TPTB are usually better at continuity than this. It's probably one of those pesky "We couldn't get the same actress" things.

- D.K. seemed to be very frustrated with John and I don't blame him. Of all of the people from his past, you'd think that John would at least be comfortable enough with D.K. to try to answer his questions. Instead, he seems to be deliberately stalling him. Unfortunately for D.K. and his new bride, Grayza's attack critter found them. Fortunately for Earth, neither of them know enough about interstellar travel to be able to give anything of substance away about Earth's location.

- It was a telling moment when Jack brought up September 11th. From what little I've read of real-world astronauts, even the most "patriotic" ones come back from space with a much greater realization of just how small and fragile the planet is. You can't see national borders from space and the longer you look, the more that truth gets pounded into you. Still, the sight of the WTC in flames certainly had an impact on the station Alpha crew and for TPTB to include a reference to it in the show was a poignant reminder of just how far we silly humans have to go before we're ready for the next step.

- John has had his greatest wish granted. He's figured out wormholes and he's used them to get home. Unfortunately, he's different now, and he can grasp things that no one else on Earth can comprehend. He always thought that if he could just get home that it would all be better. As he examines the state of things both in the world as a whole and within himself, he comes to the conclusion that his place is not here - it's out there. He wants so desperately to stay, but the attack in his own home by the alien Whatever demonstrated clearly that even Earth is threatened by the powers in the universe that he just left behind, and he has a job to do.

- "Merry frelling Christmas!"

__!_!__
Gizmo

Posted By: ZimNova Jan 19, 2003 - 11:52 am

Right Gizmo, Terra Firma was a fine example of the quality storytelling that Farscape can achieve.

About Crichton's "girlfriend" [Erica Heynatz played Caroline Wallace]. She's the same actress that was in Unrealized Reality, I checked my tape to make sure but I don't have the end credits from UR because I taped Firefly's *Our Mrs. Reynolds* on the same tape.
Moya's journey log for UR does not have a complete guest cast listing either but the actress looks the same.
The take on the Farscape BBoard is Alexandra was Crichton's "last" girlfriend before he left Earth while Caroline was one of his "former" girlfriends so there is no continuity error.
I was really impressed by the writers ability to weave the alien characters into TF without coming off as tacky or as so often happens on lesser shows having the Humans standing around ou'ing & aw'ing "oh, look...aliens!".
When Ka D'argo came around the corner, that was priceless, then Chiana and better still, Rygel.
I tend to forget how alien this bunch is after 3 1/2 years knowing them as old friends.

I totally agree about the reference to Sept. 11th. I was stunned. It was almost too much, too real to inject into a drama but did have the effect of driving home Jack's point and setting the tone for the larger debate.

John see's the "big picture" in terms of the threat to the whole of Earth by the PK or Scarran's or Nebari should any of them find it.
John also bears the awesome responsibilty that comes with his knowledge of how to use wormholes as a weapon that can destroy entire star systems.
Jack et al are caught up in our current struggle between nations or, as is more the case with terrorism, the struggle for the hearts & minds of the Human race between 2 different religious philosophies. One need only to metaphoricly[sp] step into the shoes of an Arab or Isreali in the Middle East to understand how religious hatred can drive either to the most inhuman means to impose their beliefs on the other.

We see a common thread running throughout SF writing, films and TV that the beings who inhabit these fictional universes are from a "planet" [Vulcan, Minbar etc.] rather than from a "country" on a planet. The Minbari while of 3 castes were of one planet. This ideal of egalitarianism was a key point in the writing of Gene Roddenberry as he developed the Star Trek concept.

John with his experiences in the UT's has reached this same level of understanding about Earth being a planet of one species but how to explain it to his father or the "suits"?
Better the choice he made. Leave just enough technology to keep them interested but not enough that it would give "our" side any advantage then back to his more familiar life aboard Moya.
Was I the only one who saw a resemblance between Grayza's "communication device" she used to talk to Skreeth and a Drakh "keeper"?

One thought I am unable to purge from my mind, even as the show reaches new levels of greatness, is that after 4.22 we will be left swinging in the breeze without possibly knowing where all this is going.
JMS with Babylon was able to plan season 4 to wrap the story in the event there were to be no season 5. *Sleeping in Light* was the end either way.
Here with the abrupt cancellation everybody was caught off guard. It will be a real shame as well as a heartbreaking disappointment if Farscape's complete story is never told.

I must remember the wisdom as spoken by Delenn;
"Hope is all we have".

Posted By: Iznardi Jan 21, 2003 - 12:55 pm

Well, with the season winding down, we may never discover the rest of the back story, but I think John probably filled his father in sister in on a lot of what was happening on a "for your ears only" basis. Interesting, too, how everbody wants to leap on the alien tech (corporate/military mentality) and no one asks Crichton how to open or close a wormhole. So he leaves, and closes it, ensuring that the P.K.s, Scarrans, and Nebari can't stumble across Earth, learn its location, or reach it, if they do learn the location.