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John redirects here. For the lizard of the same name, see John (lizard).
Commander John Robert Crichton, Jr.
Crichton 1
A stranger in a strange part of the universe.
First appearance Premiere
Last appearance Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars
Details
Gender Male
Species Human
Affiliation IASA, Moya's crew
Romantic Associations Married to Aeryn Sun. Gilina Renaez, Jenavian Charto, Alexandra O'Connor, Caroline Wallace
Known Family D'Argo Sun-Crichton (son), Katrana (unborn daughter)
Vehicle of Choice Farscape-1 Module, Moya
Weapon of Choice Pulse pistol named "Winona"
Portrayed by Ben Browder(present-day Crichton); Jamie Croft (teenage John Crichton); Robert Supple (young Crichton)
"John Crichton. Commander John Crichton. Generations will know that name..."
-Scorpius to John Crichton

John Robert Crichton, Jr. (played by Ben Browder) was an IASA astronaut who was shot through a wormhole to a distant part of the universe during an experiment.

Overview[]

John Crichton was an astronaut and theoretical scientist in his 30s around the time he was shot through a wormhole. He was setting out on the space shuttle to test a theory with his childhood friend, DK, while his proud father (Jack Crichton), who was also an astronaut in his younger days, watched. However, due to a scientific phenomenon he had not anticipated, the experiment resulted in Crichton traveling through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy, and he eventually found himself on the run aboard Moya with a collection of aliens who eventually become his allies and friends.[1]

While growing up, he had a dog named Hubble.[2]

Character History[]

Pre-Show[]

Young John

Young John Crichton.

Teen Crichton

Teenage Crichton.

John Crichton was born in the late 1960s[3] in Memphis[4] to Jack and Leslie Crichton and had a younger sister, Olivia, and an older sister, Susan. He had a childhood friend named Douglas "D.K." Knox, who he helped cheat on his SATs.[5] Jack was an astronaut and as such spent a lot of time away from home, something the young John Crichton grew to resent. However, he still had some very happy memories of his childhood with his father, including his tenth birthday: his father missed it, but woke John up at four in the morning the following day to go fishing. He had a girlfriend named Kim during his teenage years,[5] and he attended a high school called JFK High.[6] He lost his virginity to, he thought, Karen Shaw, but it turns out it was really his Moya companion Chiana, who had traveled back in time.[5] His mother died four years before his Farscape-1 accident.[7][5]

Eventually, John Crichton went off to university (possibly MIT) and found himself following in his father's footsteps as he studied cosmology and astrophysics, achieving a Ph.D. and, with his friend DK, formulated his own theory about gravity-assisted propulsion. Around this time he considered proposing to Alex, his long-time girlfriend, but just before his planned proposal she told him she was taking a fellowship to attend medical school at Stanford in California, while he was planning to become an astronaut in Florida, so he decided against proposing and they broke up. He joined the IASA, flying two missions aboard the space shuttle as Science Officer and achieving the rank of Commander. He was given the go-ahead to be the pilot on a flight to test out his propulsion theory. He had a casual relationship with a woman named Caroline for the two years prior to his Farscape accident.

Season One[]

John finally had the chance to test his and DK's theory. However, during the test flight, a wormhole appeared and John and his module (named Farscape One) are pulled through it to parts unknown. On his sudden exit from the wormhole, in the middle of a spaceship dogfight, Tauvo Crais - the brother of Peacekeeper Captain Bialar Crais - clips Farscape One's wing with his spacecraft, causing Tauvo to lose control and fatally collide with an asteroid. Crichton then found his craft being pulled aboard a large spaceship, where he met his first aliens. Confusion was his initial reaction and even after the aliens injected him with translator microbes, allowing him to understand what they were saying, he was still bewildered. He eventually learned that he is aboard a bio-mechanoid prisoner transport vessel named Moya, a Leviathan, which has been taken over by its three prisoners (Zhaan, D'Argo and Rygel); they brought him aboard because they assumed his sudden appearance was deliberate and they might be able to utilize such technology to facilitate their own escape. Despite Crichton being unable to help them, they managed to escape.

When Bialar Crais learned of his brother's death, he blamed Crichton for murdering his brother by charging him in his "white death pod" and swore vengeance. Crais' determination to capture the escaped prisoners takes on a more personal twist as he became the main antagonist for much of John's first cycle aboard Moya, determined to kill Crichton with his bare hands.

John had to adapt rather quickly to a life of aliens, guns, space travel, and a lack of chocolate and TV. The last item may have been the toughest privation for Crichton, as he was very fond of pop culture, as he would make numerous references to 20th century products, movies, commercials, TV shows, and the like, all of which were hopelessly lost on his friends and crewmates aboard Moya, though John did sometimes try to explain some aspects of Earth culture to them.

Towards the end of Crichton's first cycle aboard Moya, he encountered a mysterious alien race known only as the Ancients. It was this encounter that first gives us a window into Crichton's life back on Earth, as The Ancients tried to fool Crichton into thinking he had returned to his home planet with his new alien friends in tow. Crichton eventually saw through the simulation but this encounter proved to be one of the most important events Crichton experienced during his time in the Uncharted Territories.  Shortly after this event, Crichton displayed his exceptional, perhaps eidetic, memory, easily confirming a set of lengthy and complex commands that Aeryn remembered due to the brief time she had Pilot's DNA merged with her own. Later Crichton found himself captured by a Sebacean-Scarran hybrid Peacekeeper by the name of Scorpius. Scorpius put Crichton in a device called the Aurora Chair, which was a torture device that painfully forced victims' memories from their minds and onto a projection screen. During this torture both Crichton and Scorpius were surprised to discover that The Ancients left Crichton with some subconscious wormhole knowledge that they intended as a guide to help Crichton get home. But Scorpius had an obsession with wormholes and after Crichton escaped with a little help from his friends, Scorpius took over from Bialar Crais as the main antagonist for the approximately the next two cycles, hunting Crichton across the galaxy.

Season Two[]

After Crichton's experience with the Aurora Chair on the Gammak Base, he started to have hallucinating visions of, and eventually entire conversations with, Scorpius. He learned that while he was prisoner in the Aurora Chair, Scorpius injected a neural chip into his head that contained a neural clone of Scorpius, which Crichton would dub  "Harvey",  and had been slowly influencing Crichton and searching through his memories in an effort to discover the hidden wormhole knowledge.  Possibly as a result of the neural chip or his continued absence from Earth and being chased through the galaxy, but more likely as a result of a combination of both, Crichton's behavior during this cycle grew more erratic and unpredictable and he found himself taking to the life he had aboard Moya more and more. It must be said that a lot of his acceptance of his position was due to his feelings for Aeryn Sun(see below). Towards the end of this time period, the control of the neural clone started to get stronger and stronger and at times Crichton had trouble controlling his own body. This eventually led to the clone finally taking control and the clone-controlled Crichton escaped Moya, and eventually killed Aeryn in a dogfight while trying to fulfill the imperative of returning Crichton to Scorpius. An attempt to find a surgeon to remove the chip ended in disaster, for while the surgeon is eventually successful, the mission resulted in Crichton being left with aphasia on the operating table as Scorpius arrived, stole the neural chip and attacked the surgeon in an attempt to kill him.

Season Three[]

With Crichton still on the operating table, it quickly emerged that although the neural chip was successfully removed, the neural clone of Scorpius still remained in Crichton's head. The surgeon, who had only been momentarily stunned, restored him to normal speech but his hopes of having the clone removed were unsuccessful, and he wanted to die because Aeryn was dead. Zhaan used all of her psychic energy to revive Aeryn and announced that now she was dying. She gave her life soon after to restore Moya after colliding with a Pathfinder ship inside a wormhole. Not too long after, Crichton was "twinned" by Kaarvok. This "twinning" is explained as the splitting of Crichton into two identical beings; neither of the Crichtons could be called a copy and neither was the original; they are both equally John Crichton. This proved to be an unhappy development for John Crichton (both of them) and he often argued with himself and each Crichton resented the other, who each saw as a clone trying to move in on his life.

Twinned John

John after the twinning.

Eventually the crew of Moya was split across the two Leviathans Moya and Talyn, and are separated from each other. Each ship had one Crichton. Aeryn began a romantic relationship with the Crichton on Talyn. The adventures of one of the crews proved to be far more dramatic than the other and the Crichton on Talyn ended up dying while successfully fighting to prevent wormhole knowledge from falling into the hands of the Scarrans.

When the survivors of the two crews were reunited, Aeryn was very cold to the remaining Crichton, unable to process her grief at his death with the fact that he was still alive and therefore could die again. Then the surviving Crichton, at the urging of the dead Crichton via a deathbed message recorded by Stark, formulated a dangerous and risky plan to stop Scorpius from utilizing the wormhole knowledge he obtained from the neural chip, completing the job begun by the dead Crichton.

Crichton led his crewmates into a dangerous, seemingly suicidal situation to stop Scorpius. After this event, the crew of Moya started to go their separate ways, and Aeryn Sun broke Crichton's heart as she decided to leave for good. Just after she left, he learned she was pregnant and he began to pursue her but Moya gets swallowed by a wormhole, and Crichton was left outside Moya on his module with little fuel and no supplies.

Season Four[]

Crichton was saved by boarding Elack, a dying Leviathan, with nothing to do to occupy his time but work on his wormhole theories. Slowly he found himself reuniting with the other  crew members of Moya and they return to Moya, reuniting with Aeryn Sun, who was dying of Heat Delirium. However, her life was saved by Scorpius who in return requested asylum and safe passage onboard Moya as he had fallen out of favor with Peacekeeper high command. Scorpius also injected Crichton with something that he claimed would remove Harvey from his brain, which appeared to be effective. The role of the head Peacekeeper chasing Moya and her crew was assumed by yet another higher-ranking officer, Commandant Grayza. He also picked up another traveling companion, Sikozu, who quickly became close to Scorpius.

Eventually, Crichton found his way back to the real Earth. he then shared alien technology and knowledge about the galaxy to the US government, opening the era of humanity to reach the stars in the near future and giving them the head start to deal with threat from the galaxy. However, the US government kept a strict supervision on him and all the aliens.

As John proposed Project Farscape to send 500 brightest minds of Earth into space to experience the galaxy, he was dismay to learn that the US government mostly only allowed their scientists not international scientists from other countries like China or Russia to edge up the competition in the global scale.

He found his loyalties torn but as Commandant Grayza sent an assassin to Earth the resulting chaos and carnage showed Crichton that he had unfinished business back on Moya. Earth had already been severely changed by his return and its exposure to his alien friends, but he voluntarily gave up the life he had dreamed of back on Earth and returned to Moya and his life of being chased. This sacrifice followed on from the sacrifice of the other Crichton earlier, giving up his life and his happiness in exchange for what he saw as his duty.

Shortly after the events on Earth, Aeryn Sun was captured by the Scarrans and John Crichton demonstrated there was on thing he valued more than his duty - Aeryn herself. He went to Scorpius and made a deal to give Scorpius everything he wanted about wormholes in exchange for Scorpius' help freeing Aeryn. Scorpius agreed and the unlikeliest of alliances was forged.

Together Crichton, Scorpius and the rest of Moya's crew rescued Aeryn Sun. However, in the process Scorpius was captured, and Crichton abandoned him to his fate. However, Harvey was now resurrected—Scorpius lied when he said he was getting rid of Harvey. Instead Harvey was made dormant, and loyal to Scorpius, with the provision that if John betrayed Scorpius, Harvey would reemerge from dormancy. Harvey told Crichton that everything Crichton knows had been transmitted to Scorpius, and Scorpius would now tell the Scarrans. Crichton realized that he must now risk everything once again to save his mortal enemy to prevent the Scarrans from learning about wormhole technology. Once again, Crichton sacrificed his and his friends' safety in the cause of his principles. He arguably had had no intention of fulfilling his promise to give Scorpius wormhole technology. In any event, when Scorpius was rescued, Crichton made a deal with him to forgive the wormhole technology promise if he destroyed a plant (bird-of-paradise) that was particularly important to the Scarrans. With the plant destroyed, the Moyans fled the Scarrans, and sent Scorpius and Sikozu to join the Peacekeepers. However, the Scarrans were now bent on traveling through a wormhole to conquer Earth and gain control of the bird-of-paradise flowers that they needed. Crichton then called his father and told him about the situation in which he stated that it would be too late for Earth military to prepare to deal with the alien invasion so he had no choice but to destroy the wormhole connecting Earth to the part of the galaxy he and the rest of Moya's crew were in, which eliminated his own route back to earth. He then revealed that he left behind a capsule contained enough technology and navigation information on the moon near the American flag pole during the Moon Landing so humanity could use it to reach the stars and deal with potential alien invasion in the future. After saying goodbye to his father, he and the Moya crew destroyed the wormhole in which John was hopeful that he gave humanity a head start to reach the stars.

Finally, with all the danger seemingly passed, Crichton and Aeryn found time alone together. Aeryn told him he was the father of her child, and Crichton proposed to her. Immediately after she accepted, she and Crichton were apparently killed by an alien craft.

The Peacekeeper Wars: The Mini-series[]

Crichton and Aeryn had in fact been crystallized and were quickly reconstituted. They learned that they were on a planet of Eidelons, an ancient race with the power to influence peace. As galactic war broke out between the Sebaceans and the Scarrans, Crichton once again risked everything for what he believed in as he did all he could to get the Eidelons into a position to use their powers to end the war. But ultimately he was forced to do what Scorpius had always wanted him to do and he used a wormhole weapon to enforce the peace. He activated a high-gravity wormhole that tore apart the Eidelon's planet, above which both the Scarrans and Sebaceans were fighting each other. He told the commanders of both fleets that he was more than prepared to let the wormhole weapon swallow up Moya, its crew and his and Aeryn's new child, all in the name of forcing a peace treaty. Ultimately the commanders of the fleets agreed, Crichton deactivated the wormhole weapon and peace was restored. While deactivating the weapon, the ancient whom John named Einstein appeared to him and removed the wormhole knowledge from his mind, which put John into a coma for some unknown period of time. John came out of the coma to the sound of his crying child, and to a signed peace treaty. He and Aeryn decided to name their child D'Argo Sun-Crichton.

Post-War[]

After the completion of the war, Crichton began searching for a more permanent place in the Uncharted Territories where he and his young family could settle down and live. During this time, he accompanied his longtime ship mate Rygel back to Hyneria in the former Dominar's attempt to unseat his cousin Bishan from power. Roiin then made his mark.

Personality[]

As he demonstrated many times, John Crichton was a man of principle and conviction and was prepared to risk and sacrifice himself and his friends (provided they were willing to help) for what he believed in. When one of the "twinned" Crichtons died while preventing Furlow from selling wormhole knowledge to the Scarrans, the other risked everything by taking his friends onto Scorpius' command carrier. When he finally made it back to Earth, he voluntarily gave up the happiness of a life on Earth that he had longed for since he was shot through the wormhole. Shortly after he left Earth, he once again risked himself and his friends, this time to stop the Scarrans from obtaining wormhole technology. However, there was one thing more important to him than his principles and his beliefs, and that was Aeryn Sun. His love for her proved to be his ultimate driving force.

He was a naturally upbeat man, and constantly made jokes and looked on the bright side. It seemed that his pop culture laden references were a way of putting his unfamiliar surroundings into perspective, giving something he didn't recognize a comprehensible label.  His hope for the future was the main thing that got him through the day. Later this hope took second place to his love for Aeryn and this central relationship became a driving force for him and Aeryn.

He also was a very intelligent man and despite the advanced technology of his new surroundings he often proved to know and understand more theoretical physics than most of his companions (even if it did take him, as he once complained, ten minutes to figure out how to open a door on board Moya). In many ways, his ignorance of how things worked in his new life actually gave him an advantage, as it meant that he was able to make suggestions about how to resolve a situation in different ways than his friends might have come up with; an early example of this was when the crew was attempting to remove a beacon that had been planted on Moya, and Crichton suggested that they land her to do the work, something that no one else considered as Leviathans were typically thought of only as space-dwelling life forms.

Crichton habitually gave people and things nicknames, some affectionate, some derisive. He often referred to Chiana as "Pip", Zhaan as "Blue", Rygel as "Sparky", "Spanky", "Fluffy", "Buckwheat", or "Guido," Scorpius as "Grasshopper", "Leatherface", "Nosferatu" or "Bob", Sikozu as "Sputnik", the neural clone as "Harvey" (a reference to a giant invisible rabbit featured in the 1950 James Stewart film, Harvey), Ka D'Argo as "D", Jool as "Princess", Noranti as "Grandma", and his own personal pulse pistol as "Winona" (named after Winona Ryder, who had just starred in Alien Resurrection). He also taught a DRD the "1812 Overture" and painted it red, white, and blue with the number 1812 in black.

Johncrichton2

Family[]

John Robert "Jack" Crichton, Sr[]

John's father and the inspiration for his life in IASA. Jack worked with his son in IASA and was part of the team helping coordinate the Farscape project. As a result, Jack witnessed his son's module disappear into the wormhole on its initial test. Father and son would be reunited nearly four years later when John returned to Earth.

Leslie Crichton[]

John's mother and Jack's wife, she died of cancer four years before John's test of the Farscape module.

Ruth[]

John's aunt.

Olivia Crichton[]

John's younger sister, he was reunited with her when he returned to Earth.

Susan Coleman[]

John's older sister.

Frank Coleman[]

Susan's husband and John's brother-in-law

Bobby Coleman[]

Frank's and Susan's son and John's nephew. He spent quite a bit of time around John and his crew mates from Moya on their visit to Earth and recorded quite a bit of footage of them with his video camera.

Unborn daughter[]

A child that he fathered with Princess Katralla of the Breakaway Colonies. As a result, she was a human/Sebacean hybrid and the first one conceived. She was not to be born, however, for over 80 cycles after her conception due to her mother's state in stasis as a statue. However, Crichton was able to view, and briefly interact with, a holographic projection of what his daughter would look like as a young child.

D'Argo Sun-Crichton[]

John's son with Aeryn Sun. D'Argo was named after their fallen comrade Ka D'Argo and was born during the final battle of the Peacekeeper/Scarran War. He was the first human/Sebacean hybrid known to be born.

Romances[]

Julie[]

John's very first girlfriend, nicknamed Jules, loved mirror mazes.

Kim Kupperstein[]

John's girlfriend in 1985 when John was 16. An adult Crichton encountered the teenaged Kim again, when he traveled back in time following his encounter with the Ancient dubbed "Einstein".

Karen Shaw[]

Karen was really a time traveling Chiana whom young John encountered on Halloween in 1985. It seems that there was also a real Karen Shaw whose identity John mixed up with Chiana's, whose alien appearance he believed to be a costume. John lost his virginity to "Karen".

Alexandra O'Connor[]

Before joining IASA, John had a serious relationship with Alexandra, a.k.a. "Alex". It grew to the point that John considered asking her to marry him, having gone as far as buying the ring. Their diverging career paths, however, put them on opposite ends of the country and they chose to break it off.

Caroline Wallace[]

John's girlfriend for about two years before he left Earth, presumably while he was with IASA. When Crichton returned to Earth around four years after his disappearance, Caroline tried to resume the relationship. Crichton, however, had already found someone else.

Gilina Renaez[]

A Peacekeeper tech whom the crew of Moya discovered aboard the derelict command carrier Zelbinion, Gilina was one of his first romances upon arriving in the Uncharted Territories. Though her return to Crais' command carrier would separate them, they would meet again at Scorpius' gammak base. Gilina realized, however, that John's heart seemed to belong to another. Nevertheless, she eventually chose to go with him aboard Moya and helped John and his friends escape the base. She was shot by Scorpius as they fled and later died aboard Moya, shortly after John admitted that he could have grown to love her.

Lishala[]

The daughter of the local tribe's chief on the planet Acquara, Lishala grew to like Crichton in his months stranded on the planet. This led to complications with another potential suitor, Rokon, as well as the arrival of Moya to rescue Crichton, all in spite of John's attempt to coexist peacefully and separately. After the crisis on the planet was resolved, Crichton bid Lishala and Rokon farewell.

Princess Katralla[]

The heiress of the Breakaway Colonies discovered to her joy that Crichton was one of the few if not the only man able to impregnate her. As a result, she requested John to marry her, ensuring the royal line continue with Katralla and not pass to her Scarran-collaborating brother. With little choice thanks to Scorpius, Crichton married Katralla and was turned into a statue, planning to stay that way for 80 cycles. Clavor's machinations, however, led to Crichton being turned back. Eventually, Clavor's plot failed, though Crichton requested the freedom to leave. When it was revealed that material had been harvested from John and that Katralla was pregnant with their daughter, Crichton changed his mind. The process to turn him into a statue, however, could not be performed on him again without killing him. Crichton convinced Katralla's lover Tyno to rule and raise his daughter in his stead and left the Royal Planet.

Jenavian Charto[]

While on the Royal Planet, Crichton also worked closely with Jenavian Charto, an undercover Peacekeeper Disruptor whose mission it was to prevent Clavor from taking the throne. After Jenavian saved Crichton's life no less than two times, the two spent the night together. The next morning, however, Crichton noted that they were "not compatible".

Aeryn Sun[]

John aeryn

John Crichton (Ben Browder) and Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black)

Then there was Aeryn Sun, the former Peacekeeper commando and pilot. For months then cycles they worked and fought together, taking every obstacle the galaxy threw at them beside their friends on Moya, growing closer as time passed. Though they shared their first kiss on a damaged transport pod trapped in the Flax and spent their first night together on an Ancient-simulated Earth, it was some time before they would be in a steady relationship, often reluctant to admit their feelings for one another. Their mutual peril at the hands of Scorpius drove them together, only to be pulled apart by Aeryn's then Zhaan's death. Finally, after Crichton was duplicated, one John began an ongoing relationship with her aboard Talyn before he tragically died. Apart again, they kept their distance, first because of Aeryn's reluctance to accept the other John as more than a copy, and later because of the many secrets Aeryn kept from Crichton. Finally, they resolved their issues and after rescuing Aeryn from Scarran captivity and protecting Earth from Scarran attack, Crichton proposed to Aeryn. They were later married during the Peacekeeper/Scarran War, during the birth of their son. Aeryn was in the process of pushing when she stopped and demanded Stark marry them. Their son was, in all likelihood, conceived by the dead John Crichton Aeryn was with on Talyn, but could have been conceived from the surviving John AND dead John when they were the same person during the one time they slept together on the false earth created by the ancients. The remaining John considered the child his own, as the baby still carried his DNA and was mothered by Aeryn anyway...

Deaths[]

Crichton, like most of the crew of Moya, died several times throughout the series.

IP2

The twinned John on Talyn dies from radiation poisoning.

  1. Died when Aeryn Sun injected him with a Peacekeeper "kill shot" in (1.13 "The Flax")
  2. Had brain activity and heart stopped briefly by the neural clone of Scorpius to convince a Scarran interrogator that he was dead in (2.15 "Won't Get Fooled Again")
  3. The John on Talyn died from exposure to massive radiation in (3.15 "Infinite Possibilities - Icarus Abides").
  4. The John on Moya was clinically dead for a time after being attacked by Ka D'Argo in (3.16 "Revenging Angel")
  5. Experienced "game death*" while playing a game blob in (4.7 "John Quixote") (non-lethal)
  6. Crystallized* by the Eidelons in (4.22 "Bad Timing") (non-lethal)
  7. Died many times from various future worsening in (1.05: "Back and Back and Back to the Future").

Quotes[]

  • Stay back or I'll fill you with.. little yellow balls of light.
  • Does this bother you? Because it bugs the crap out of me! Can we go before we become a permanent attraction in this bog and my eye falls out.....jeez!
  • There's life out here dad. Weird, amazing.....psychotic life.......and uh......in Technicolor. Hey..Dad, you know those rattlers in the stomach we talked about? Well....I've got them now.
  • I try to save a life a day. Usually it's my own.
  • You can be more.
  • D'Argo, just because some ancient Luxan doesn't like the feel of your spleen does not give her the right to call my friend a fraud!
  • Have we sent the "Don't shoot, we're pathetic" transmission yet?
  • Welcome to the Federation Starship SS Buttcrack.
  • I'm sick of this whole turd-burp end of the universe.
  • That's your plan? Wile E. Coyote could come up with a better plan.
  • (opening narration for each episode of seasons 1 and 2) My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. A radiation wave hit and I got shot through a wormhole! Now Im lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a LIVING ship, full of strange alien life forms! Help me, help me! Listen, please. Is there anybody out there who can hear me? I'm being hunted... by an insane military commander. I'm doing everything I can. I'm just looking for a way home.
  • (opening narration for each episode of season 3) My name is John Crichton ... I'm lost ... An astronaut ... Shot through a wormhole ... In some distant part of the universe ... I'm trying to stay ALIVE ... Aboard this ship ... This living ship ... Of escaped prisoners ... My friends ... If you can hear me ... Beware ... If I make it back ... Will they follow? ... If I open the door ... Are you ready? ... Earth is unprepared ... Helpless ... For the nightmares ... I have seen ... Or should I stay? ... Protect my home ... Not show them ... You exist ... But then you'll never know ... The wonders I have seen.
  • (opening narration for each episode of season 4) 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.
  • Opening narration for The Peacekeeper Wars: ONCE upon a TIME, there was a boy named JOHN... And JOHN... was an ASTRONAUT. He lived in a far away place called Earth which is so far away you've never heard of it. One day, when John was out doing astronaut things a big, blue wormhole gobbled him up and spat him out at the far end of the Universe.
  • You cant handle the tru...... Alright alright. Let's cut the crap. Let's cut to the chase - stick this critter on my face. Damn, in some parts of the galaxy, this guy would be considered GOOD EATIN'! WHOOO! My name is John Crichton. I was not at the refreshment house after-hours, I was not present at any bombing or explosion. I did not have a private meeting with the beautiful Miss Sarova, The End. Cross my heart, smack me dead, stick a lobster on my head!
  • I am TOO OLD for this SHIT!
  • Hey, you bastards. John Crichton was here.
  • Furlow I don't have time for this.
  • Crais, I want you to find the fattest target you can; Government House, missile site, McDonald's, whatever.

Involving Others[]

John: Who the hell are you?
Rinick: Rinic Pralanoth, Sovereign of Kanvia
John: John Crichton, Wizard of Oz
D'Argo: Maybe you should concentrate on Katoya's trainings.
John: Katoya is a frelling fruit loop.
D'Argo: Katoya.
John: Fruit loop.
John: Nice blanket you got there D'Argo.
D'Argo: A lovely blanket, get her off!
John: Nope. Child's gotta have a father, Harv.
Harvey: Well I hope it's a boy!
John: Boy, girl, either is fine.
.
D'Argo: How was the honeymoon
John: well, the brochure was better

Trivia[]

  • Many elements of Ben Browder's own life were integrated into Crichton's character.
  • In "Crichton Kicks", it's revealed that Crichton knew phrases in the Klingon language (a real-world construct based upon a fictional language devised for Star Trek).
  • In the 200th episode of Stargate SG-1, Claudia Black's character introduced a humorous re-imagining of Farscape with the SG-1 cast in the leading roles. Chrichton was played by Michael Shanks (who starred as Dr. Daniel Jackson, the love interest of Black's character), while Browder (who was starring as Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell) played Stark, and Claudia Black played the role of Chiana.
  • In "The Locket", Crichton commented that one time when he and his family were camping in Maine, astronauts landed on the moon, and that he couldn't have been more than four years old at the time. The first manned moon landing was in July 1969, with another in July 1971 (Apollo 15), and the fifth (of six) manned landings, Apollo 16, in April 1972. These are the most likely candidates, all of which suggest that Crichton was born sometime between 1965 and 1969.

Alternate Crichtons[]

Neandro[]

Crichton Cave

Neandro Crichton

Episode: "My Three Crichtons"

"Neandro" is the behind the scenes nickname given to the caveman-like version of Crichton that appeared after he had been absorbed and ejected from the alien sphere of unknown origin. In spite of his appearance, Neandro was certain that he was Crichton and attempted to wear Crichton's old IASA uniform, a notion Crichton himself found absurd. Chiana, however, saw in Neandro all of the aspects that she loved in Crichton and became close to him. When the sphere demanded one of the three Crichtons be placed into it or Moya would face destruction, Chiana allowed Neandro to escape before the other two Crichtons could choose to sacrifice him. Though Crichton eventually tracked down his similar self, he realized he could not allow himself to force Neandro into the sacrifice and let him go. Crichton confronted his future version, who held John at gunpoint in order to force him to enter the sphere. Neandro ambushed the other Crichton, however, killing him in the process. Though the dead Crichton would be sufficient, Neandro chose to enter the sphere as well, something assumed to be a suicidal decision. About his decision he said, "Want to. Not my place. Don't belong," and that Moya was "[John's] time. [John's] place. My fate, I accept."

Futuro[]

M3C

Futuro Crichton

Episode: "My Three Crichtons"

"Futuro" is the behind the scenes nickname given to the evolved version of John Crichton that appeared after he had been absorbed and ejected from the alien sphere of unknown origin. "Futuro" had a bald, brain-like wrinkly head and smoother, squarer teeth, and spoke with a heavier southern drawl. Like Neandro, Futuro believed himself to be the "real" John Crichton. True to his appearance, however, Futuro's intellect was superior to that of his "original template". This higher intellect, however, made him arrogant with a looser morality. When it was discovered that the sphere revealed that it needed one of the specimens to enter it or risk Moya's destruction, he suggested sacrificing the Neandro Crichton without hesitation. Chiana, however, helped Neandro escape and, after the original Crichton let him go, he confronted Futuro. Feeling that he was the superior of the three and that with the original Crichton around he would always be an outsider, Futuro tried to force Crichton into the sphere at gunpoint. Before this could happen, he was ambushed and killed by Neandro Crichton

Scorpius/Crichton[]

Scorpy John

Harvey-controlled Crichton

Episode: "Die Me, Dichotomy", "Infinite Possibilities - Daedalus Demands", "Infinite Possibilities - Icarus Abides"

After the destruction of the Shadow Depository, the neuro biotracer chip containing the neural clone of Scorpius was operating more than it ever had before. At one point, the chip's consciousness was able to take over Crichton himself. When this happened and Harvey took over Crichton's mind and body, a visual representation of Crichton morphing into a Scorpius-like version of himself could be seen, presumably by him. While Crichton's mannerisms would change to mimic Scorpius', the visual image itself was not physical but only psychological and therefore unseen by Crichton's companions. This image would return months later when "Jack" the Ancient attempted to kill Harvey so that the wormhole knowledge in Crichton's brain to be unlocked. The attempt temporarily allowed Harvey to retake control of Crichton, hoping that Aeryn would kill Crichton before she realized that Harvey was dying. Though he almost succeeded, "Jack" was able to wake and stop Aeryn from carrying out Harvey's final sadistic wish.

John the Neural Clone[]

Episode: "Incubator"

Thanks to the extensive time Scorpius' neuro biotracer chip had sat in Crichton's brain, Crichton's psyche had left a duplicate on the chip, a reverse of the process that had left Harvey within the real John's mind even after the removal of the chip. Hoping to gain vital knowledge that would unlock the secrets of the wormhole equations recovered by the chip, Scorpius made contact with this neural clone. In order to win the clone's sympathy, Scorpius showed the image Scorpius' memories of his life and his reason for hating the Scarrans. The clone, however, proved to be much like his original template, eventually refusing to help Scorpius. As Scorpius' cooling rod overheated, the clone dissolved and disappeared.

Animated John[]

Animated John

John the cartoon

Episode: "Revenging Angel"

Using his subconscious to create an enjoyable world he controlled, Crichton appeared in an animated form within his head after an accident with an enraged D'Argo sent him to the brink of death. This image of Crichton had a series of misadventures with his adversary, a cartoon D'Argo in the style of Chuck Jones animation. Here, Crichton rode on top of his module and mostly got the better of his angry friend. He was, however, eventually shown that he couldn't stay in his animated fantasy forever...

"John Headroom"[]

John Headroom

John Headroom

Episode: "John Quixote"

"John Headroom" was a game avatar encountered by the real John Crichton and Chiana in a mental video game created from Crichton's memories taken from Stark. The image appeared on a screen in an elevator that moved the players between levels. It also appeared on a T.V. set seen throughout the game. The avatar was a spoof and made fun of many real aspects of John Crichton, such as his naming of a pulse pistol and his career as an astronaut. It would also act as a help and hindrance in Crichton's journey through the game, displaying a rather dark sense of humor.

The nickname comes from the character Max Headroom, the title character of the television show of the same name.

Unrealized Peacekeeper Crichton[]

Episode: "Unrealized Reality"

Visiting several unrealized realities shown to him by "Einstein", Crichton experienced one reality where he was a Peacekeeper captain and superior officer to Lt. Braca. In their custody was Scarran spy Sikozu. Believing her to be similar to the Sikozu he knew in his reality, Crichton tried to ease the situation by releasing her bonds and showing her kindness. This was repaid with an attack in which she shot and killed several Peacekeeper guards as well as Lt. Braca. Crichton, however, managed to blow out the window she was standing on, dropping her to the room below and presumably to her death, an occurrence which gave the Peacekeeper captain sadistic pleasure.

Unrealized Scarran Crichton[]

Scarran John

Human/Scarran hybrid Crichton

Episode: "Unrealized Reality"

Another unrealized reality Crichton found himself in was a Scarran-conquered Earth, in which humanity had been under Scarran subjugation for some time and had even cross-bred with their conquerors. In spite of the long life granted by the Scarran genes, humanity's descendants were slaves, a fact the Scarran hybrid Crichton could not accept.

Interestingly, thanks to the gene splicing, this Crichton resembled his longtime nemesis, Scorpius.

Unrealized Ponytailed Crichton[]

Farscape: Gone and Back

This Crichton inhabited an unrealized reality very similar to the original Crichton's own, the major difference being that Aeryn Sun had never been pulled aboard Moya. This Crichton was married to Princess Katralla and their daughter Katrana had been born. Rather than being turned into statues in the Breakaway Colonies, the three lived together aboard Moya as a family. The original Crichton's obsession with locating Aeryn caused quite a bit of friction with this reality's family and friends, including the still living D'Argo and Zhaan.

Appearances[]

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