Writer	Director	Tour Date	Production Number
Justin Monjo	Rowan Woods	August 20, 1999	1.16
Synopsis
In an amazing bit of luck, a wormholed leading back to Earth opens up, and Crichton decides to take his chances and pilot the Farscape 1 home. But it isn't quite the homecoming he'd hoped for --- and it just gets worse when he's followed by Aeryn, Rygel and D'Argo, who are then captured by Earth authorities.
Best Lines
Crichton: I miss the sun. Day. Night. Little things.... Aeryn: I can't go with you. John: Aeryn this is our last chance --- Aeryn: No, this is your last chance. I can't go with you. I'm not certain I'll belong there. John: You would. You will. I promise. Aeryn: Sorry.... Crichton: Listen miss, I know this is going to sound insane, but this is Australia, right? Aeryn: You know, Crichton, Peacekeepers wouldn't even kill their prisoners to study them. Aeryn: Are you with me or them? John: I'm with you, Aeryn. Trust me. Aeryn: Rain. Is that what you call this? I like it. John: Sorry. Aeryn: What for? John: Everything. What's happened here. Getting you stuck on Moya. If it weren't for me you'd still be a happy little Peacekeeper, dominating the lesser races. Aeryn: Got a lot to blame you for.
Missing Scenes
DK! Where was DK! Even if it was only in John's mind, whenever he talks about home, he talks about both his dad, and his best friend, yet DK wasn't even mentioned. While he might not have had the clout to bull his way into the detention area, there should have at least been some mention of the man!
Technical Issues
A lot of people wanted to know how they created the weird-and-cool voice effect of Claudia Black's alien dialogue. Nicholas Breslin, one of the many talented members of the production crew for Farscape, e-mailed TGUT with this to say: "As the Dialogue Editor on the episode I can assure you this is not a created effect. The talented Ms. Black can actually create that bizarre clicking sound with 'backward sounding' speech naturally! - Playing it backwards only reveals this truth. (There would also be enormous technical difficulties encountered with shooting the picture to backwards mimed dialogue. - Sync would be a nightmare.) Furthermore, obviously we have access to the location sound tapes -- and what you hear is what she said. Pretty cool." Thanks, Nick. Couldn't have put it better ourselves. And kudos to Claudia Black for being her own sound F/X creator!
Kiki Says
My, my, my. Listen to all the people screaming. It was good, it was bad, it was fair, it was a cheat, did they, didn't they, live or Memorex? Eeeeeeeeee! Any episode that generates this much strong feeling and controversy can't be a bad thing. Shows live off the emotions of fans, and I'd say Farscape will live a *long* time off the intensity expressed over this one episode. That said.... I'm personally having real mixed feelings about it. As Perri says, everything that happened before John went down the wormhole was exquisite. There is no way it could have been done better; Aeryn's pain, John's hesitancy, Zhaan's tears, that great good-bye from D'Argo--- perfect. It's what happened after the expected White Light(TM) took John to La-La-Make-Believe-Land that can make you nuts or very, very happy, depending on what you think was real. I knew from the commercials and just the fact that no *way* would they kill Rygel for real, that this Earth was not John's real Earth. John's not much of an optimist in his subconscious, is he? Then again, I think the aliens were setting up the ultimate Worst Case Scenario, in case that's the position they ended up in--- and while I find it also the most unlikely case scenario, I can't discount a bit of wisdom from another show, Alien Nation. "We aren't ready for aliens to come *here*. We want to meet them out there, on equal terms." If you start from that, everything that Wilson and Cobb do during this ep makes perfect sense. So, we get Project Bluebook and the Oz version of the MiB glaring at John through plate glass; not fun (for him--- I'm sure most of the rest of the female audience was just as happy as I was about those tank-shirt shots), but not unexpected, really. John's dad shows up and is his quite cool self --- I know John has issues with the guy, but I can't help liking him, whether he's real or imaginary. Ben Browder was outstanding in these scenes with Kent McCord (and his later reaction to finding out it *wasn't* his dad is wrenching; he'd almost rather it was, even if it meant his life was really sucking). If only John's pals hadn't shown up, this would have ended pretty well, probably. Since it *can't* be that simple.... well, the inevitable happens. Earth shows its worst side (since John's brain contains the awareness that there's a lot of Not Nice people running around down here), and the aliens decide it's not the Happy Hunting Ground after all. More importantly, D'Argo, Rygel, and most importantly Aeryn get a good look at what John's people are capable of, and it's not very pretty. How's *this* going to change the dynamic on the ship? Are his shipmates going to look at him differently, now that they have a frame of reference for Earth, and how brutal the primitives can be? How is this going to effect John's earnest wish to go home? He's going to have to be a sight more careful and deliberate about making that return trip, at the very least; now that he's faced in theory what might in fact happen when he comes home. Don't freak the natives, John. You know how they get. Additionally, his friends now know --- and John knows --- that he would blow off Earth's evil bureaucrats for them, and give up his home again if they were in trouble. Hopefully, that will foster a little more trust and friendship with D'Argo and Rygel. But what can it mean to Aeryn? She did exactly the same thing for John in the premiere--- albeit more for the sake of a principle and an inarticulate hope for a better life, than because of anything she might have felt for him on 12 hours' acquaintance. Which makes it great, and lovely that he just did the same thing (even if it was a holodeck experience). Yay. But! Is Aeryn really going to want to go back to a place she's experienced as extremely unpleasant just because John asks her to? [Except for that really neat rain stuff (I loved that bit! Claudia is a genius!), and John's dad being a stand-up guy] She had a hard enough time saying good-bye to him once. Is she going to be able to do it again, or face the possibility of becoming a prisoner if she goes back with him? Now she *knows* how well she might not fit in. You have to applaud an episode (and a writer) which manages to raise so many questions with one little well-worn scenario. Some of the answers to these questions might turn on that "did they or didn't they" and the "Aeryn or Not?" thing.... Right now, the jury's still out. I know what *I* think would be best for the show and the characters right now, but that doesn't mean I'm right. The evidence is sloppy, at best. But I am now convinced that the writers of this show are happy little alien beings who like to mess with our heads as much as the Puppet Guy messed with John's. I salute them even as I shriek in pain! Other things --- great speech stuff for Aeryn and Rygel. As alien as the dialogue for Zhaan and D'Argo in the premiere, so they get consistent coolness points there. Wilson and Cobb and those other Aussie villain yotzes did a good job of making me want to shoot them as badly as Aeryn did. Awesome continuity on the good luck ring. Great dress choice for Aeryn; Claudia looked fabulous (although, um, why did John have that dress lying around in that bungalow?). I don't want to *know* what Rygel was eating in the waiting room--- it's enough that he was never dead, and that he's enthusiastically saluting the catering staff. Go, Your Dominarness! The alien Spokesman was the one unconvincing FX element of the whole show; probably exacerbated by the constantly shifting lighting, which was really distracting the second time around. The rest was perfect. And I'm reassured that John has never been in the Ladies' Room. It's nice to know he's not that kinda guy. Ultimately, this one comes down to consequences. We better --- and I mean better!--- get some payoff to that kiss, guys. And about what may or may not have happened afterward. Discussions, slapped faces, rejections, reactions, unplanned pregnancies, accusations, freak-outs, anything! It's bad enough we have to wait four weeks to find out how Aeryn and John are coping with these events--- I don't want to be cheated out of ever knowing for certain what those events were!
Perri Says
I have to say this may be the most brilliantly written and executed Farscape episode yet -- with absolutely the most frustrating ending in television history! Grrr! Who was real, who wasn't? Was that Aeryn John was making out with in the hotel room, or was it all in his head? Were D'Argo and Rygel ever there at all? Has Aeryn now met an approximation of John's dad, seen his planet, been traumatized by his MIBs? Are we ever going to get any of these questions answered?!? Ahem. Excuse me, I'm having issues. < deep breaths > Okay. Like I said, outstanding episode; like Kiki, I was 99.9% sure from flash-of-white-light on that this was a dream sequence/hallucination/what have you situation, which allowed me to enjoy the ride with slightly less trauma. I'm a veteran of Star Trek. Which did not make it any easier to see things like Rygel being autopsied < shudder >. But first things first -- John getting his chance to go home, the intense parting from Aeryn after she turns down his invite to go with him, D'Argo urging him through the wormhole as Aeryn watches in frozen misery -- all of this was beautifully written and portrayed. But the fun didn't really start until we hit planetside. I would like to think John's subconcious is really freaking paranoid/dark, or that the aliens were pushing for a worst-case scenario -- I'd like to think we'd behave slightly better than this towards alien visitors, even with 7 months of working themselves into a frenzy about the open wormhole. But it's nothing I can guarantee, unfortunately -- the Wilsons and Cobbs of this world are always going to be around. The only humans who scored well were the Crichton boys, one of whom wasn't. :P But beautiful, lovely touches throughout the ep -- hearing D'Argo, Rygel and Aeryn speak their native tongues, when we'd forgotten for so long that yeah, they speak languages that sound way different from ours. Deep, deep coolness. Finding Rygel, as I've already said, was deeply disturbing; as much as the little spud annoys me on occasion, he never deserved that. It was one of the times I was covering my eyes saying 'It's just a dream, it's just a dream.' D'Argo's reaction to be captured again was just wrenching, and Aeryn... damn. Give Claudia Black a raise -- whatever she's making, she's worth more! All of her scenes were stand-out -- the utterly classic rain scene, telling Jack she'd protect John (that's got to be the rough translation), telling John that not even Peacekeepers would kill their prisoners to study them.. Claudia just could not put a single foot wrong. Aeryn would fit in on Earth, but only with the people like Crichton -- the best of us. And Crichton... Jeez. You have to feel for this guy in the worst way -- his dream come true of home turns into the nightmare from hell, and he has to choose between doing what the home team requires and exiling himself to protect his friends. Somehow, I think he's going to have a lot more sympathy for Aeryn's position with the Peacekeepers in the future. And as for John and Aeryn.... I hope that really was Aeryn and that that wonderful, incredible kiss was real. I'm also damn near certain no sex was involved, IMHO; neither of them was in any shape for that, John in particular. But if it was the real Aeryn, then they sure got some real bonding done, which is always a happy -- but she also saw where he comes from, good, bad and ugly. And she tasted beer. :P We'll see what the afteraffects are. If it wasn't the real Aeryn, of course, status quo ante and cut off the supply of Star Trek: Voyager to Australia. :P And there is evidence for it not being the real Aeryn -- we didn't see her in the holding cage with D'Argo and Rygel at the end, her reactions when John started freaking were off (telling him to keep it down instead of going for her gun when he started yelling that something was wrong)... I think she was real, but it's impossible to be sure. Which is really freaking frustrating!!! As for the whole alien thing -- too Trekkian for my taste (I like Trek, seriously, I tape Voyager every week; I just have no illusions about it) but an interesting set-up, and it gave us a chance to have an episode with the very cool Kent McCord. John's dad is exactly what we'd expect (and man do those two have issues) and, Human or alien, appears to be a good guy to have on your side. But, in alien form, the FX fell just a bit short (the only time in the episode, btw, outstanding job by the CGI guys throughout); I couldn't quite believe the insect-Dad was real. Of course, it wasn't like telling real from false through the whole ep wasn't a pain in the butt. :P I'll judge the entire episode after I get my answers. [Note: Okay, it was live, not Memorex, and this rocked!]