Farscape: Back and Back and Back to the Future Rewatch
July 17, 2015 7:07 PM - Season 1, Episode 5 - Subscribe
The crew comes across a ship that is molecularly de-stabilizing. D'Argo makes everyone bring the ship's escape pod aboard when he discovers that the ship's passengers are Ilanics, long-time allies of the Luxans. Aboard the escape pod, Crichton gets a shock and starts experiencing strange visions of the future, first of himself and one of the Ilanics, then of Moya's destruction. [via]
If memory serves me correctly, this is the first "black t-shirt episode." Which was Ben Browder's shorthand for an episode where things got dark.
I always read the bit with Zahn's mask being a commentary on fate. Crichton eventually manages to find the possible future that's best for him and the people he cares about, but some things can't be avoided.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:19 PM on July 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
I always read the bit with Zahn's mask being a commentary on fate. Crichton eventually manages to find the possible future that's best for him and the people he cares about, but some things can't be avoided.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:19 PM on July 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
Hey's "He is Chrichton" cracks me up.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:23 AM on July 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:23 AM on July 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
I still can't stand Matala. All these years later.
Watching again, I don't understand where the Crichton and Matala alone flashes are coming from. They never come to pass, nor is it suggested he avoids them through some action of his own. Is there? Did I just miss it?
I like the idea that the mask is his sanity.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 4:47 PM on July 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Watching again, I don't understand where the Crichton and Matala alone flashes are coming from. They never come to pass, nor is it suggested he avoids them through some action of his own. Is there? Did I just miss it?
I like the idea that the mask is his sanity.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 4:47 PM on July 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
This was the first episode I ever saw, and the weirdness had me instantly hooked.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:32 AM on July 19, 2015
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:32 AM on July 19, 2015
Yes to pretty much all of the above.
It's not until I watched the show again that I realized the extent to which this episode foreshadows where Farscape is going and quite a bit of what it's going to be about.
To see Crichton's horror at the potential weapon in this episode is really strong now when you consider the ultimate events of the show. The foreshadowing for that particular scenario, Crichton's sanity (I agree the mask signifies both that and taking control of his own fate as has been said) and his vulnerability has to be deliberate, surely?
I can't think of that many other shows where the male hero is so constantly at risk of harm, including sexual harm, at the hands of female characters as much as male. Maybe that's what the Matala flashes are meant to underline? Matala was a great creepy performance, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the Scorvions, but it was not to be IIRC.
Aeryn being an all-around badass.
The Malevich-inspired PK graphics are one of my favourites things in this ep. I remember a bit of debate at the time as to whether Aeryn's pose when she's lying on the mat is meant to evoke 'The Hanged Man' tarot card - the sense of a person in limbo, caught in a moment of stasis before the massive change symbolised by the next card 'Death'. I always loved the fact that Aeryn is physically much stronger and visually perceptive than John and he knows it. (I think secretly he quite likes it too but that's another story.) Also, unless it's an out and out comedy ep, her professional competency is rarely questioned - she is very skilled in her field and it's not a big deal to anyone.
D'Argo's backstory was never quite as interesting to me as it probably should have been, but I think Anthony Simcoe did a consistently great job at conveying the character's emotional states under all those prosthetics.
posted by along came the crocodile at 7:10 AM on July 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's not until I watched the show again that I realized the extent to which this episode foreshadows where Farscape is going and quite a bit of what it's going to be about.
To see Crichton's horror at the potential weapon in this episode is really strong now when you consider the ultimate events of the show. The foreshadowing for that particular scenario, Crichton's sanity (I agree the mask signifies both that and taking control of his own fate as has been said) and his vulnerability has to be deliberate, surely?
I can't think of that many other shows where the male hero is so constantly at risk of harm, including sexual harm, at the hands of female characters as much as male. Maybe that's what the Matala flashes are meant to underline? Matala was a great creepy performance, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the Scorvions, but it was not to be IIRC.
Aeryn being an all-around badass.
The Malevich-inspired PK graphics are one of my favourites things in this ep. I remember a bit of debate at the time as to whether Aeryn's pose when she's lying on the mat is meant to evoke 'The Hanged Man' tarot card - the sense of a person in limbo, caught in a moment of stasis before the massive change symbolised by the next card 'Death'. I always loved the fact that Aeryn is physically much stronger and visually perceptive than John and he knows it. (I think secretly he quite likes it too but that's another story.) Also, unless it's an out and out comedy ep, her professional competency is rarely questioned - she is very skilled in her field and it's not a big deal to anyone.
D'Argo's backstory was never quite as interesting to me as it probably should have been, but I think Anthony Simcoe did a consistently great job at conveying the character's emotional states under all those prosthetics.
posted by along came the crocodile at 7:10 AM on July 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
I generally enjoyed the episode, but I just couldn't stand Matala. Whenever she spoke in her regular Scorvion voice, it was a scratching needle sound on a record to my ears. Throw in a general less than appreciative thought on her character design and I find her the weakest part of the episode. In contrast to the work they put into their alien designs, she felt very Star Trek: TNG.
The fight scene between her and Aeryn, while I respect the idea, was not very well executed. It makes no sense for her to pull the special Scorvion finger strike unless she knew she was going to be gone before Aeryn left and there's nothing in the episode that implies that was so. It's as if she did it entirely to benefit Aeryn becoming aware of her true identity.
I think the episode would have been stronger if Zhaan had picked up on the false identity, instead.
I found D'argo's immediate alliance to the new folks very weird, and the comment about the scale of the alliance between his and the other race could have come sooner - it lead to the affect as if he was under some kind of influence, and while he was kind of crushing on Matalla, it didn't really follow as smoothly.
posted by Atreides at 11:20 AM on July 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
The fight scene between her and Aeryn, while I respect the idea, was not very well executed. It makes no sense for her to pull the special Scorvion finger strike unless she knew she was going to be gone before Aeryn left and there's nothing in the episode that implies that was so. It's as if she did it entirely to benefit Aeryn becoming aware of her true identity.
I think the episode would have been stronger if Zhaan had picked up on the false identity, instead.
I found D'argo's immediate alliance to the new folks very weird, and the comment about the scale of the alliance between his and the other race could have come sooner - it lead to the affect as if he was under some kind of influence, and while he was kind of crushing on Matalla, it didn't really follow as smoothly.
posted by Atreides at 11:20 AM on July 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
The fight scene between her and Aeryn, while I respect the idea, was not very well executed. It makes no sense for her to pull the special Scorvion finger strike unless she knew she was going to be gone before Aeryn left and there's nothing in the episode that implies that was so. It's as if she did it entirely to benefit Aeryn becoming aware of her true identity.
That's a really good point. Why would a spy reveal their true identity like that to a trained soldier? Unless she has the same arrogance problem as the PKs and just assumes a Sebacean wouldn't identity the strike. Kind of similar to the 'why didn't Aeryn know about the Qualta blade' question.
I found D'argo's immediate alliance to the new folks very weird, and the comment about the scale of the alliance between his and the other race could have come sooner - it lead to the affect as if he was under some kind of influence, and while he was kind of crushing on Matalla, it didn't really follow as smoothly.
I guess I read it as indicating how very lonely he has become, which affects his judgement. Also his need to receive some kind of recognition and acceptance as a Luxan which he thinks he can never get from home?
posted by along came the crocodile at 11:35 AM on July 19, 2015
That's a really good point. Why would a spy reveal their true identity like that to a trained soldier? Unless she has the same arrogance problem as the PKs and just assumes a Sebacean wouldn't identity the strike. Kind of similar to the 'why didn't Aeryn know about the Qualta blade' question.
I found D'argo's immediate alliance to the new folks very weird, and the comment about the scale of the alliance between his and the other race could have come sooner - it lead to the affect as if he was under some kind of influence, and while he was kind of crushing on Matalla, it didn't really follow as smoothly.
I guess I read it as indicating how very lonely he has become, which affects his judgement. Also his need to receive some kind of recognition and acceptance as a Luxan which he thinks he can never get from home?
posted by along came the crocodile at 11:35 AM on July 19, 2015
Matala not thinking a PK would gain any useful information from that fight makes sense. Peacekeepers are violent, xenophobic, authoritarian nutjobs who can quite literally be executed for being too involved in alien cultures. From Matala's perspective Aeryn is exactly that sterotype. I mean the first thing Aeryn did was to contrive a situation where she can try and beat the tar out of an alien they had rescued. I can see why Matala might not be thinking "Hmmm, this aggressive racist is probably a keen enough student of the differences between Illanic and Scorivan hand to hand combat styles to blow my cover." That said, it all could have been clearer in the episode.
posted by Grimgrin at 12:48 PM on July 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Grimgrin at 12:48 PM on July 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
In my memory, this episode stands out as when I realized "this show really isn't going to be about making the viewer feel comfortable."
The whole episode is uncomfortable: Matala using about 3 different voices, all of them profoundly annoying, the uncertainty of what she's done to D'Argo, John's pain/pleasure/holy shit face when she's assaulting him in his time flashes, the crew still all quite prickly towards each other, Zhaan's fatigued sigh of "He is Crichton." Nothing is going to be easy, nothing is going to wrapped up in a bow.
I just didn't know at this point how uncomfortable and hard it was actually going to get!
posted by Squeak Attack at 1:47 PM on July 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
The whole episode is uncomfortable: Matala using about 3 different voices, all of them profoundly annoying, the uncertainty of what she's done to D'Argo, John's pain/pleasure/holy shit face when she's assaulting him in his time flashes, the crew still all quite prickly towards each other, Zhaan's fatigued sigh of "He is Crichton." Nothing is going to be easy, nothing is going to wrapped up in a bow.
I just didn't know at this point how uncomfortable and hard it was actually going to get!
posted by Squeak Attack at 1:47 PM on July 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Malevich-inspired PK graphics are one of my favourites things in this ep.
Good call on the Malevich. The PK logo itself is basically copied from Lissitzky's "Beat The Whites With The Red Wedge."
I found a fantastic discussion of how the red wedge is used symbolically on the show here (scroll down). It's very insightful about the thought that went into how Aeryn's character interacts with the visual element. For example, in this episode:
Good call on the Malevich. The PK logo itself is basically copied from Lissitzky's "Beat The Whites With The Red Wedge."
I found a fantastic discussion of how the red wedge is used symbolically on the show here (scroll down). It's very insightful about the thought that went into how Aeryn's character interacts with the visual element. For example, in this episode:
Aeryn is knocked out during a sparring session. She crumples on top of the practice mat, her form embedded in the red wedge with only her small hand crossing the border into the white – reaching out into the unknown – reflecting how Aeryn herself is constrained by the narrow and confining perspective of Peacekeeper Culture.posted by Ian A.T. at 10:41 AM on August 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
This image demonstrates in one simple, spectacular shot everything the audience needs to remember about Aeryn and her character arc. It reminds the viewer of Aeryn’s background, her internal conflict and her halting attempts to reach out – to be more.
That's a *great* link. I like how they go on to look at the red wedge's use in The Way We Weren't as well. As we know the colours red, white and black were also strongly connected to Nazi symbology which the show alludes to with the PK flags etc, but this deliberate link to the ideas of Malevich is fascinating. Ricky Eyres is a bit of a genius. If I had any proper knowledge of cultural criticism and film studie I bet I could dig into this show for weeks.
posted by along came the crocodile at 11:58 PM on August 5, 2015
posted by along came the crocodile at 11:58 PM on August 5, 2015
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It's not until I watched the show again that I realized the extent to which this episode foreshadows where Farscape is going and quite a bit of what it's going to be about. D'Argo, his past, and his amazingly poor relationship choices. Aeryn being an all-around badass. Most importantly this is the first episode where John Crichton gets completely mind-frelled. I like to think that Crichton's sanity is represented by Zahn's mask. First it slips out of his hands, then he grips it so tight it shatters, and finally he quite deliberately places it on the ground and stomps on it.
posted by Grimgrin at 9:17 PM on July 17, 2015 [2 favorites]