| Farscape episode | |
|---|---|
| “Thanks for Sharing” | |
| |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 07 |
| Guest star(s) | Tammy MacIntosh (Jool), Rebecca Gibney (Sarova), Robert Bruning (Pralanoth), Sandy Winton (Tolven), Linda Cropper (Xhalax Sun), Julianne Newbould (Felor), Hunter Perske (Bloy) |
| Writer(s) | Clayvon C. Harris |
| Director | Ian Barry |
| Production no. | 10307 |
| Original airdate | June 15, 2001 (US); October 8, 2001 (UK) |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Eat Me" | "Green Eyed Monster" |
Two Crichtons means double the fun and double the trouble as the crews must deal with the slowly recovering Talyn and the politics of an isolationist planet.
Synopsis
The two John Crichtons argue over who is "the clone". Aeryn Sun gives one a green t-shirt so as to distinguish them; we have John-black and John-green. Ka D'Argo, Chiana, and Rygel are on the planet Moya is orbiting, Kanvia, attempting to get a hold of some chromextin – a stimulant required to heal Talyn. Aeryn sends John-green to watch Crais and sends John-black to Talyn to help Stark. Rygel comes close to securing a deal, but because they require such a large quantity the dealer says it needs the security officer's approval. A man enters the refreshment house and comes on to Chiana as if she's some sex slave, which D'Argo takes exception to. Cue a fight, in which D'Argo unsurprisingly overcomes his foe, but the dealer walks out wishing Rygel luck – D'Argo just attacked the security officer.
Over on Talyn, Stark tells John-black that everything, even Talyn's DRDs, are offline. Crais' neural link may be the only thing keeping Talyn alive. Back on Moya, John-green goes to Jool, who is healing Crais, and persuades her to test him to prove that he's real and John-black is the "clone." John leaves and Crais suddenly grabs Jool, an unfamiliar face, by the throat. She manages to stab his hand and let out a scream, causing John-green to return after calling Aeryn. Crais is shocked at the sight of Aeryn (since he left Moya before her resurrection). He tells everyone that Talyn was attacked by Peacekeepers – they want Talyn back.
Rygel is talking with Kanvia's sovereign, Rinic Pralanoth, father of the security officer, Rinic Tolven. Tolven's sister, Rinic Sarova, appears to be on Rygel's side, but Tolven believes that they're hiding gunships to attack. Pralanoth tells Rygel that there will be no sale and gives Rygel one arn to leave the planet. Crais explains that Talyn destroyed a Prowler, but this was a diversion; he was surprised by a Vigilante with an immobilizer pulse. They barely managed to break free and starburst, but that used all of Talyn's remaining energy. Aeryn notes that Talyn was attacked by a Peacekeeper Retrieval Squad. Crais says that they won't be afraid to take Moya to get to Talyn and says that he will leave to allow Moya to flee, but the others say they will not abandon Talyn.
As Rygel attempts to leave the planet, D'Argo and Chiana are at the refreshment house, trying to find another source. Crais awakes from unconsciousness and tells Aeryn that Talyn was designed with intelligence gathering facilities. He and Crais accessed Peacekeeper database, including Aeryn's personnel file, where he found what is on the chip. Aeryn watches the recording – it's of the time that her mother, Xhalax, came to tell her, as a child, that she was conceived in love, not to fill the ranks, and she says that it makes Aeryn special. She and Aeryn's father, Talyn, wanted her and love her. Crais says that it was on both Aeryn and Xhalax's files, but he found no information on Talyn. Xhalax's last notes on her file detail a promotion – the Retrieval Squad is under the command of Senior Officer Xhalax Sun.
Tolven is told that the ships have not left and orders the missiles to be fired. Moya and Talyn are shook by the missile fire and Moya's sensors are disrupted. John-black has a plan and Moya and Talyn descend into the bonosphere, where Talyn targets his main cannon as John threatens Pralanoth. Tolven is ready to continue firing, but Pralanoth objects and orders the missiles to stand down before asking to speak with John face-to-face.
On the planet, John-black asks what Pralanoth's problem is and Tolven objects, while Sarova is again apologetic. Tolven's men grab John and a lobster-like creature is attached to his face – it is a Stranit and will kill him with one blow if he lies. They ask him if he is here to disrupt and cause them problems, but John is adamant that they just want Chromextin. Meanwhile, Crais and Aeryn are on Talyn and Crais again asks Aeryn to come with him and Talyn, hoping she can persuade her mother to stop pursuit and be more, like he and Aeryn.
John-black, D'Argo, and Chiana are talking in the bar when John gets a call from Sarova. She wants to meet John alone to discuss the Chromextin. She takes him inside her refreshment house and tells him that Tolven will not allow the transaction, despite Pralanoth's order. As John and Sarova talk of how she and Tolven will jointly rule, but she wants to do so alone because she believes Tolven is stupid. She says that she believes he will continue to try to stop the transaction, when a putty bomb explodes. The others take an injured John back to Moya, and Sarova is left behind as she tells them that no-one must know the two of them met. After the crew have left, Sarova is approached by an ominous figure.
Jool tends to John and announces he will need a blood transplant due to a cut artery, so John-green volunteers. Later, Jool tells John-black that he and John-green are both perfect copies of the original. John-green asks to be filled in on what happened on the planet as he plans to pay them a visit.
Tolven tries to tell Pralanoth that Sarova was with John, when the unscathed John-green enters, acting as though nothing happened. Tolven says that he has witnesses and that John was probably conspiring to take power. John goes and gets the stranit and announces that he did not meet with Sarova and was not present at any explosion (which is technically the truth). Pralanoth tells Tolven to give John what he wants. Meanwhile, Aeryn sees John-black and tells him that Crais is preparing to leave and this time she believes that Crais is telling the truth.
The others spread Chromextin on Talyn, when Crais starts screaming; the Chromextin is poisoned. Jool's analysis shows that it was mixed with clorium – a substance that numbs Leviathans. Jool and Chiana have to use Moya to filter the clorium out, as Aeryn and John-black head to Talyn. Aeryn says that the Retrieval Squad must be near and if they're here then Talyn will have to starburst and won't be able to go back.
John-green and D'Argo pay Tolven a visit and stick the stranit on his head. John asks if he poisoned the Chromextin, but he says no and the stranit does nothing. Pralanoth says that in rare instances disciplined minds have been able to fool it, but he says that Tolven is not a liar. Tolven appears to tell the truth until John asks if he is a good and loyal son. When Pralanoth forces him to answer, he says that he doesn't intend to dishonor the family, but is killed for his lie. Pralanoth tells John and D'Argo to leave. Sarova tries to avenge Tolven's death by having missiles fired, but Pralanoth says no, he caused his own death. Sarova pulls his breathing tube out and kills his guard before ordering the missile attacks to resume.
Talyn has awoken, but cannot take the pressure, so he is forced to release the umbilicals and ascend. They sense a Peacekeeper scan and Talyn is forced to starburst immediately with John-black, Aeryn, Rygel and Stark still aboard. Moya then escapes herself, as the Peacekeeper ship arrives.
Sarova appears to be possessed, and turns into some sort of creature (later named as a Colarta), which kills a passer-by. The Colarta is met by Xhalax Sun (being part of the Retrieval Squad), and it is revealed that it was the one who placed the bomb and poisoned the Chromextin before killing Sarova after the bombing and disguising itself as her. The Colarta reports that Talyn only got a third of the needed Chromextin, and Xhalax states that Talyn will therefore be weak for some time. It's just a case of finding them.
On Moya, John-green tells D'Argo that John-black took Winona and his notebook. He says that the other one set it up just so he could be on Talyn with Aeryn and says that he had better be taking care of her.
On Talyn, Rygel is angry that there will be no contact with Moya until the threat of the Retrieval Squad is over. Crais says that food will be rationed and Stark and Rygel will have to share a room. Meanwhile, Aeryn tells John-black that her mother commands the Retrieval Squad and she doesn't think that it's a coincidence. She says that she will not let the Peacekeepers capture Talyn, even if it means she has to kill her mother...
Memorable quotes
- Crais: You don't believe me, Crichton.
- John: Only because I know you.
- Jool: Remove your lower garments and face away from me.
- John: What the hell for?
- Jool: You asked me. If you want a genetic comparison, I need a specimen.
- John: Of WHAT?
- John: Cross my heart, smack me dead. Stick a lobster on my head.
- John (to Tolven): You've been lying to your daddy, boy, and you know you shouldn't lie to your daddy. It's gonna stop. Who's your daddy? C'mon, you know who your daddy is. Who's your daddy? D'Argo, tell him who his daddy is.
- D'Argo: I'm your daddy!
- D'Argo: Oh, come on. Crack a smile, will you? At least he's out of your nose.
- John: Hair.
- D'Argo: That's what I meant, at least he's out of your nose hair.
- John: I just...I just hope he's having a good time...no, forget that, I hope he's having a terrible time. I don't know what I hope. He just better be taking care of her.
- D'Argo: I'm sure he's taking care of her.
- John: You KNOW what I mean.
- Stark: It's not working it's not helping!! Talyn's dying not waking up!!
- Crichton: Astro! Work... Now... Freak... Later... Work... Now... Freak... Later.
- Stark: All right, yes, that's fair.
- Crichton: Good.
- Stark: How much later?
- Crais:...you two will have to share accommodation.
- Rygel: Unacceptable!
- Stark: There'll be my side and your side, my side, your side--
- Rygel: Oh, don't start...
- John: So who is it? The Plakovoids? The Skeksis? The big bad wolf?
- Crais: Peacekeepers...
- Tolven: I want the truth.
- John: You can't handle the...
- Jool: There, I woke him up.
- [Rips needle out of Crais]
- Crais: Ahhhhhhh!
- Jool: Now I hope he drops dead.
Background information
- Wayne Pygram (Scorpius) does not appear in this episode.
- The entire cityscape was created in the Homebush Bay studios and by Animal Logic. No shots were filmed on location. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v3.1)
- The scene of Aeryn's mother's nighttime visit was initially mentioned in "Family Ties", and finally shown as a flashback in this episode. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v3.1)
- The Kanvian Truth Seeker is partly modeled on spiders and lobsters because Dave Elsey has a "mortal fear" of the creatures. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v3.1)
- To show the various positions Corlarta could go through in its transformation, Elsey prepared a series of small models for director Ian Barry. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v3.1)
- When Crais first wakes up, and John asks him who attacked him, he says "...the plakovoids? The Skeksis?...". This alludes to the fact that the Halosians were actually re-done costumes of the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal, a Jim Henson film.
Links and references
Starring
- Ben Browder as John Crichton
- Claudia Black as Aeryn Sun
- Anthony Simcoe as Ka D'Argo
- Gigi Edgley as Chiana
- Paul Goddard as Stark
- Lani Tupu as Bialar Crais
- Wayne Pygram as Scorpius
Guest stars
- Tammy MacIntosh as Jool
- Rebecca Gibney as Sarova
- Robert Bruning as Pralanoth
- Sandy Winton as Tolven
- Linda Cropper as Xhalax Sun
Guest cast
Puppeteers
Voice artists
- Jonathan Hardy as Rygel
- Lani Tupu as Pilot
References
A Few Good Men; Alien Nation; arn; Astroboy; Big Bad Wolf; bonosphere; calorics; Captain Crunch; chromextin; clorium; Colarta; Command; comms; "Cross my heart"; Dodge City; DRD; frell; Futuro Crichton; Gotti Family; gunship; Gunship neural implant; Halosian; immobilizer pulse; Jenet; Kanvia; Kanvian; kelvoy levels; klempt; lautinal; lennert; Leviathan; Luxan; Lyczac, Talyn; maintenance bay; McDonalds; microt; Moya; Neandro Crichton; novastatis index; Pantak-class Vigilante; Peacekeepers; Peacekeeper Retrieval Squad; Plokavian; primary conduit nexus; prowler; Qualta Blade; refreshment house; Shadow Depository; Skeksis; starburst; Stranit; Sylveko; Talyn; The Dark Crystal; The Three Little Pigs; The Wizard of Oz; transport pod; wamelon cake; Winona; yotz
External link
- Farscape World Synopsis by Dani Moure