Category:Season 4

From Farscape Encyclopedia Project

Episodes 67 - 88

John Crichton voiceover during opening credits:

"My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. Three years ago I got shot through a wormhole. I’m in a distant part of the universe aboard this living ship of escaped prisoners … my friends. I’ve made enemies … powerful, dangerous. Now all I want is to find a way home to warn Earth. Look upward and share the wonders I’ve seen."

Rescued from his module by a dying Leviathan, Elack, he has encountered in the Sacred Leviathan Burial Space, Crichton works on unlocking the wormhole knowledge and its mysteries in his head. He is interrupted by Sikozu, a highly intelligent but officious Kalish female who has travelled to the area to fulfill her contract with Grudeks, who butcher Leviathans for their valuable nerve tissue (toubray). The Grundeks, however, have decided to kill Sikozu to prevent her from sharing her valuable knowledge of the location of the burial grounds with their competitors. Chiana and Rygel also return to the region as the crew of Moya are being hunted by the Peacekeepers for the destruction of Scorpius' Command Carrier. After defeating the Grudeks, the four decide to search for Moya and their missing companions. They arrive at an archaelogical dig on the planet Arnessk being run by Jool's people, the Interions. They are greeted there by D'Argo, Jool and Noranti. Jool and D'Argo seem to have begun a romantic relationship while there. Crichton wants to learn more about the mysterious wormhole that swallowed Moya and left him stranded, but none of the crew aboard Moya at the time seem able to explain or remember what happened after they were pulled through. The dig on Arnessk concerns a vanished group of priests, the Eidolons, with mysterious and great powers, and Crichton inadvertently learns something very important about them.

While on Arnessk, Peacekeepers arrive commanded by Commandant Grayza and seconded by the newly-promoted "Captain" Braca. Grayza periodically controls Braca's mind via heppel oil, which she produces from an implanted gland. Scorpius is now a prisoner of Grayza's, and after humiliating him, she uses the heppel oil to interrogate and rape Crichton. Noranti, with regret, tries to kill Crichton in order to safeguard the important information he knows about the Eidolons, willing to sacrifice Crichton for the greater good. She fails to kill him, though, and Crichton uses the information he has to bring the Eidolons back from 12,000 years of stasis. Elack helps the Moyans to escape by suicidally destroying the Peacekeeper ships. The Eidolons are potentially a great force for good, and Jool decides to stay behind on Arnessk: the priests that have awakened on the planet after thousands of cycles of sleep need her talents more than her friends do. After several more adventures, the group finds and reunites with Moya, and find Aeryn there. She has been rescued by a now renegade Scorpius from an attack of Sebacean heat delirium, and Aeryn has agreed to grant Scorpius asylum in exchange for his aid.

Both the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans desire Crichton’s knowledge, and are growing impatient. The crew quickly realises that neither side should ever possess the knowledge in Crichton's brain: if it fell into the wrong hands it would mean death and destruction. Scorpius in turn remains on Moya, albeit under lock and key, with the stated intention of safeguarding Crichton's knowledge, and he forms an alliance with Sikozu. Crichton and Aeryn's relationship becomes more strained than ever before, due to Crichton's emotional distress about the rape, his preoccupation with wormholes, his anger that Aeryn did not trust him to tell him about the pregnancy, and to tell him that he (or the other Crichton) might not be the father. A stressed Crichton begins to inhale a substance called "distillate of laka", given him by Noranti, to keep Aeryn out of his thoughts--it is the same emotionally numbing substance that he used to escape from Grayza on Arnessk. It later emerges that he has also been taking it to prevent Scorpius discovering the depth of his feelings for Aeryn and using her, and the baby, as leverage to acquire the wormhole technology.

While observing a wormhole, Crichton is inadvertently pulled through and greeted by a member of the Ancient race, whom Crichton dubs Einstein. Einstein reveals that it was the Ancients who pulled Moya through the wormhole, to study her inhabitants and locate Crichton, in order to test Crichton's wormhole knowledge and satisfy themselves that Crichton's intentions are benevolent. After his encounter with Einstein, Crichton travels back through the wormhole, but emerges in Earth's orbit, at Halloween 1985. His presence in the past has altered history and he must fix it before leaving again. He is joined on the planet by Rygel, Aeryn, D'Argo, and Chiana, who help him to prevent his father from commanding the last launch of the Challenger Space Shuttle in 1986. Chiana, in disguise, also seduces Crichton's 16 year old self, and adult Crichton is able to talk with his mother, who has been dead in Crichton's time for almost 8 years. When leaving, the unstable wormhole then transports him to his own present, circa Christmas 2002. He has been followed by the others and his new friends are introduced to an unsuspecting planet. On Earth the 'aliens' are met with suspicion and fear. In addition, thanks to the machinations of Grayza, a Skreeth spying for the Peacekeepers has followed them. The Skreeth kills Crichton's friend D.K. and D.K.'s wife Laura, and after a failed assassination attempt on Crichton, he and the crew are forced to leave Earth. Crichton makes the difficult decision to go so as not to endanger his home planet if his pursuers manage to follow him to Earth again.

Once back on the other side of the galaxy, Aeryn is kidnapped by the Scarrans, who hope to use her to get the wormhole knowledge from Crichton. Once the Scarrans learn that Aeryn is pregnant with Crichton's child, they proceed to take her to a secret Scarran base, Katratzi, thinking they might extract the wormhole knowledge from the child's DNA. After a daring rescue of Aeryn and later Scorpius, the crew of Moya decide to end the conflict once and for all by gatecrashing the Peacekeeper-Scarran peace talks. They arrive under the pretext of selling the wormhole technology to the highest bidder, but are really there to sabotage the wormhole efforts of both sides. Only with that goal accomplished can Crichton and the crew of Moya live out their lives peacefully. Crichton ends up blowing up the secret Scarran base with a nuclear weapon, in the process destroying a vital plant that the Scarrans need to boost their intelligence.

After leaving the base, Crichton realizes that he inadvertently revealed to the Scarrans that those same plants grow on Earth. Knowing that the Scarrans will send troops to conquer the planet, he realizes the wormhole must be destroyed. Doing that, however, not only means that he cannot return home, but also prevents humans from exploring the galaxy. Having no choice, however, Crichton goes through the Earth wormhole one last time in order to destroy it. He sends a goodbye message to his father from the Moon. He and Pilot then causes the wormhole to collapse on itself, destroying the Scarran ship commanded by Scarran War Minister Ahkna's lover, as it is heading through the wormhole.

Once the Scarran threat appears gone, Scorpius and Sikozu are sent to return to the Peacekeepers and used to prevent Peacekeepers from following Moya. Stark, having been discovered as a prisoner on the Scarran secret base, rejoins Moya and the crew retire for a much deserved rest, taking refuge on a water planet, Qujaga. Alone on a boat, Aeryn tells Crichton that the embryo has been released from its stasis (whether by her deliberately or by the Scarrans during her captivity is never made clear) and that he is the father. She accepts his marriage proposal, but their happiness is cut short when they are crystallised by unknown split-faced beings.