Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise, but taking a visual and conceptual leap beyond those shows. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics, and state-of-the-art puppetry, courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. Among the first season's 22 episodes, "Premiere" introduces the characters and the basic premise: American astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) is flung through a wormhole and comes out in the midst of an interstellar prison escape on the other side of the universe. When the galactic cops (called "Peacekeepers") mark him as the new public enemy number one, Crichton is forced to ally himself with the convicts: hulking warrior D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), blue-skinned priest Zhaan (Virginia Hey), fugitive peacekeeper Aeryn (Claudia Black), exiled king Rygel (Jonathan Hardy), and Pilot, the giant insectlike nerve center of their living ship, Moya.
Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise, but taking a visual and conceptual leap beyond those shows. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics, and state-of-the-art puppetry, courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. Among the first season's 22 episodes, "Premiere" introduces the characters and the basic premise: American astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) is flung through a wormhole and comes out in the midst of an interstellar prison escape on the other side of the universe. When the galactic cops (called "Peacekeepers") mark him as the new public enemy number one, Crichton is forced to ally himself with the convicts: hulking warrior D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), blue-skinned priest Zhaan (Virginia Hey), fugitive peacekeeper Aeryn (Claudia Black), exiled king Rygel (Jonathan Hardy), and Pilot, the giant insectlike nerve center of their living ship, Moya.
In the action-packed and stylishly directed "Throne for a Loss," a race of mercenary criminals called the Tavleks kidnap the imperious Rygel. "PK Tech Girl" and "That Old Black Magic" feature a peek into the pasts of Rygel and Zhaan as they hide from the fleets of Peacekeeper soldiers in the galactic frontier known as the Uncharted Territories. Leading toward the climax of the show's first season, "Nerve" and "The Hidden Memory" make for a bold two-parter that reunites Crichton with his Peacekeeper Tech girlfriend, Gilina, and introduces the dreaded Scorpius, who uses his Aurora Chair torture device to extract what he mistakenly believes is vital knowledge from Crichton. The final episode, "Family Ties," ends with a cliffhanger guaranteed to bring viewers back for more, as the duplicitous Rygel plans to turn traitor, which eventually leaves the fates of Crichton and D'Argo up for grabs and Moya's young offspring under the control of the conflicted villain Crais, among other developments.
Season 1
| # | Title | Original airdate | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01-101 | "Premiere" | March 19, 1999 | #10101 |
| Present day human John Crichton is unexpectedly sucked through a wormhole and flung to "...some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange alien life forms." | |||
| 02-102 | "I, E.T." | May 8, 1999 | #10102 |
| Moya hides on a planet to suppress a Peacekeeper beacon. While searching for a painkiller for Moya, John becomes the accidental "first contact" for the inhabitants of the planet. | |||
| 03-103 | "Exodus from Genesis" | March 26, 1999 | #10103 |
| Moya is invaded by spawning space bugs, which produce clones of the crew. To complicate matters, a Peacekeeper retrieval squad arrives and Aeryn begins to suffer heat delirium. | |||
| 04-104 | "Throne for a Loss" | April 9, 1999 | #10104 |
| Rygel's plot to appear regal backfires when he, along with a much needed part of Moya's propulsion system, are snatched by Tavlecs who possess drug-dispensing power gauntlets. | |||
| 05-105 | "Back and Back and Back to the Future" | April 2, 1999 | #10105 |
| When two rescued Ilanic scientists come aboard, Crichton finds himself experiencing disastrous future timelines, while D'Argo becomes infatuated with the female Ilanic. | |||
| 06-106 | "Thank God It's Friday, Again" | April 23, 1999 | #10106 |
| D'Argo, after threatening the crew with Luxan hyper-rage, is later found docile and happy on a planet and decides to stay. Crichton discovers that the planet's food contains a drug, with the help of a small band of rebels immune to its effects. | |||
| 07-107 | "PK Tech Girl" | April 16, 1999 | #10107 |
| The hulk of the legendary Peacekeeper ship, the Zelbinion, holds a pleasant surprise for Crichton, but Rygel must confront the time spent on the ship where he was tortured by the sadistic commander Captain Durka. | |||
| 08-108 | "That Old Black Magic" | June 11, 1999 | #10108 |
| On a commerce planet, Crichton finds himself lured into an alternate reality controlled by Maldis, a being who feeds off negative energy. He is pitted against Crais in a fight to the death. | |||
| 09-109 | "DNA Mad Scientist" | June 18, 1999 | #10109 |
| In exchange for samples of the their DNA, a genetic scientist offers the Moyans star charts to reach their respective homeworlds. | |||
| 10-110 | "They've Got a Secret" | June 25, 1999 | #10110 |
| While inspecting access shafts D'Argo is flushed into space. The DRDs turn on the crew and Moya cuts off life support, while the crew attempts to find the cause from a revived but delusional D'Argo. | |||
| 11-111 | "Till the Blood Runs Clear" | July 9, 1999 | #10111 |
| After creating a wormhole Crichton's module is repaired on a nearby planet, while Vorcarian Blood Trackers attempt to collect the Peacekeeper bounty placed on their heads. | |||
| 12-112 | "The Flax" | July 16, 1999 | #10113 |
| John's flying lessons with Aeryn come to an abrupt end when he is caught in a net left by Zenetian pirates to trap ships. D'Argo must choose between potentially finding his son and rescuing John and Aeryn | |||
| 13-113 | "Rhapsody in Blue" | July 23, 1999 | #10112 |
| Zhaan is asked to help an outpost of fellow Delvians attempting to avoid the madness that threatens them. | |||
| 14-114 | "Jeremiah Crichton" | July 30, 1999 | #10114 |
| Seemingly abandoned after crash-landing on a planet, Crichton starts a peaceful life alongside inhabitants once ruled by the Hynerians. He unintentionally becomes involved in a power struggle which puts his life in danger. | |||
| 15-115 | "Durka Returns" | August 13, 1999 | #10115 |
| A collision with a Nebari ship brings a Nebari criminal named Chiana to Moya, along with a mentally cleansed Captain Durka much to the surprise of Rygel. | |||
| 16-116 | "A Human Reaction" | August 1, 1999 | #10116 |
| Returning to Earth through a wormhole, Crichton receives an unfriendly welcome but is reunited with his father. Aeryn, D'Argo and Rygel arrive to rescue Crichton but receive less than humane treatment. | |||
| 17-117 | "Through the Looking Glass" | September 10, 1999 | #10117 |
| Moya performs an emergency starburst that fragments her into four different dimensions. As John attempts to find crewmembers missing in each dimension, an energy creature appears to add more danger to their predicament. | |||
| 18-118 | "A Bug's Life" | September 17, 1999 | #10118 |
| When a group of Peacekeepers from a damaged Marauder board Moya, the crew pretend to be a Peacekeeper prison vessel. The Peacekeeper's secret cargo presents a serious threat when Rygel and Chiana open the container. | |||
| 19-119 | "Nerve (Part 1)" | January 7, 2000 | #10119 |
| When an injury Aeryn sustained in A Bug's Life threatens to kill her, Crichton and Chiana travel undercover to a nearby Peacekeeper base to obtain a tissue transplant, and are aided by Gilina. Base leader Scorpius penetrates Crichton's disguise and subjects him to an interrogation device called the Aurora Chair. Crichton's cellmate is a masked individual named Stark. | |||
| 20-120 | "The Hidden Memory (Part 2)" | January 14, 2000 | #10120 |
| After a partial recovery, Aeryn leads Zhaan and D'Argo to the Gammak Base to rescue Crichton. At the base, Gilina does her best to help Crichton who is being repeatedly subjected to the Aurora Chair by Scorpius and Crais. Elsewhere, Chiana and Rygel have problems of their own when the pregnant Moya goes into labor. | |||
| 21-121 | "Bone to Be Wild" | January 21, 2000 | #10121 |
| While on the run from the Peacekeepers, the crew of Moya takes shelter on an asteroid with a breathable atmosphere and covered with flora. They soon discover, however, that the asteroid is not as free of predators as they thought. | |||
| 22-122 | "Family Ties" | January 28, 2000 | #10122 |
| When Rygel decides to sell out the crew of Moya to the Peacekeepers, the crew must come up with a way to escape capture. Their luck changes when Rygel returns along with Crais. They formulate a risky plan to destroy the Gammak Base. | |||
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