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Farscape episode
“The Hidden Memory”
Thm
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 20
Guest star(s) Lani Tupu (Capt. Bialar Crais); Alyssa-Jane Cook (Gilina Renaez); Gigi Edgley (Chiana); Wayne Pygram (Scorpius); Paul Goddard (Stark); Imogen Annesley (Niem); Anthony Kierann (Lt. Heskon); Christian Bischoff (Bixx); Pete Walters (Crais' Guard); Nicole Roma (Blonde Technician)
Writer(s) Justin Monjo
Director Ian Watson
Production no. 10120
Original airdate January 14, 2000 (US); May 15, 2000 (UK)
Episode chronology
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"Nerve" "Bone To Be Wild"

The crew of Moya hatch a plan to rescue Crichton, but will there be any of him left when they reach him? And Moya finally gives birth, but there are complications...

Synopsis[]

Moya is still orbiting the planet which homes the Gammak Base where Crichton is being held prisoner, and she can not Starburst or even move since she has just entered full labour. However, Moya is very frightened and Pilot reports that it is because she has discovered that her baby is not a normal Leviathan...

Meanwhile, Aeryn is awake and slowly recovering from her injury, and wants to see Crichton, but the crew reveal he's being tortured on the Gammak Base in the Aurora Chair. Aeryn says that she wants to go down and rescue him, against the rest of the crew's advice. D'Argo and Zhaan refuse to let her go alone and so accompany her in the prowler using the blind path still in place from Chiana's return.

On the Base, Crais and Scorpius continue to rip memories from Crichton's mind using the Chair. They know he is holding something back and Crais is determined to find out what it is. Although they think he us withholding information regarding wormholes, he is actually trying to keep Gilina safe since it would mean her death if the Peacekeepers found out she'd been helping him

Later, Crichton is once again allowed to rest, and in the cell he seems to think Stark was sent by Scorpius to spy on him. Stark denies the accusation and reveals he is not really crazy - he acts that way so they don't bother him so much. He has made a magnetic crypt encoder from metals he's collected during the two cycles he's been held, which will unlock the cell door once it finds the right code. Gilina gets in touch with Crichton, who asks her to find some way to get Scorpius and Crais off his back for a while.

Niem is getting the Techs to increase the power of the Chair, as per Scorpius' orders. Gilina assists in the repair and makes extra modifications while unseen for the distraction she promised Crichton. She contacts John in his cell and tells him he must remember their kiss on the Zelbinion, when suddenly Scorpius and Crais return for John. Scorpius says he wants to know what John is hiding, but he continues to say he is hiding nothing. Scorpius puts him back in the Chair.

Crichton remembers the kiss during the torture, when suddenly Crais appears in the memory while Gilina is replaced with an unfamiliar blonde woman. Upon continued viewing of the memory, Crais reveals he wishes to thank John for giving him the wormhole technology, since with it he has the power to rise to where he should be in the Peacekeeper ranks.

Scorpius then demands an explanation from Crais, who is speechless and obviously denies that memory is false. Scorpius retorts that he knows you can't make things up for the chair. John asks Crais if the game is up and plays along with the memory, 'revealing' to Scorpius that Crais found out about wormholes when he arrived, and exchanged the information for John's life so Crais could rise through the ranks. Crais persists in saying it is a lie, but Scorpius says there is only one way to find out the truth, and that is to put Crais in the Chair. Crais doesn't believe he'll do it, but Scorpius uses his unconditional authority on the base to persuade Crais' guards to seize him.

Whilst Aeryn finds a way into the base, leaving D'Argo and Zhaan in waiting on the surface, Stark helps ease Crichton's great pain in their cell. Stark gives him "just a few thoughts", which bring John back from impending madness. Stark reveals he's a member of the Banik slave race, who have been virtually wiped out by the Peacekeepers. He was kept alive as he was found "interesting", but the energy under his mask allows him to hide his feelings and cloud his thoughts.

Aeryn has infiltrated the base and finds Gilina, thanking her for saving her life. Gilina tells her that Scorpius thinks John is blocking a memory about the wormhole technology, but she reveals it's actually to do with her, as John is trying to protect her.

A short while later, Aeryn tells Lt. Heskon that she detected a signal coming from Crichton's cell whilst on Crais' command carrier. He believes there is no signal, but when he scans he picks up the signal from Stark's magnetic encoder, so he opens the cell. Aeryn knocks him out, and she takes Stark and John away.

Although Crais' memories prove that his alliance with Crichton was a fabrication, they also show everyone that he killed Lt. Teeg, and Niem reveals this is the memory he was trying to hide. A security breech is announced, and Scorpius orders the base sealed so Crichton can't reach the surface. Stark manages to get away, but John, Gilina and Aeryn are forced to hide in the floor. Gilina finds out that they require a senior officer's ident chip to escape, so Aeryn goes in search of one.

Back on Moya, Pilot reveals that a vacuum must be created inside Moya for her to give birth. Without enough time to reach Pilot's den, Chiana and Rygel have to hide together in a pressure tank as Pilot reveals he can see the child, and Moya gives birth.

In her search, Aeryn finds Crais in the Chair, and she asks now him if now he is irreversibly contaminated. He says that he is still her superior officer, and she will release him. She tells him she is no longer a Peacekeeper, and she lost everything because of him. Everything she has learned since she left on Moya has made her realize being a Peacekeeper means nothing to her anymore, and she will never go back. She takes his ident chip, as Crais says he will track her down and kill her. She replies that she will show him his life, and she cranks up the Chair, leaving Crais screaming, and leaves without looking back.

Gilina asks John if he wants to be with Aeryn, she needs to know before she gives up everything but Aeryn arrives before he can answer. As they escape, Gilina asks Aeryn if she wants to be with John, and she avoids the question saying if she doesn't go with them she will be killed. Gilina says she'll take care of herself and runs off.

Moya meanwhile is re-pressurised, but a portion of the offspring is unable to get past a vent. Pilot gets a visual of the offspring and we see it is covered in weapons. When D'Argo broke the contraceptive shield half a cycle ago, the catalyst released must have contained the DNA to produce weapons. Pilot cannot say who will control the male offspring, as it panics and charges its weapons to try and break free. Chiana goes down to try and help, but tells Pilot the only way to cut free is to allow the offspring to fire a low level blast. As Chiana escapes the duct, the offspring breaks free and everyone is unharmed.

On the surface, a shoot-out ensues. John reveals his secret memory to Stark, and Stark reveals he was hiding the memory of the place he lived as a boy. As everyone is escaping, following much crossfire, Scorpius grabs John saying he cannot leave with them. Gilina appears, but she hesitates and Scorpius shoots her. The distraction allows John to break free. Scorpius runs for cover and John picks her up and carries her away.

The crew return to Moya, where Pilot says Gilina scrambled channels before she left, so no-one will be able to detect Moya for a while, however they cannot move very far and are unable to Starburst with the offspring. Pilot confirms that Moya's child is a boy, and he is in good health. However it is clear he is far from normal, as his appearance is a cross between a regular Leviathan and a Peacekeeper ship.

John asks Gilina why she came back for them. She says she realised that, as Aeryn said, they would have found her out and killed her. She tells him she loves him, as Stark enters and shows her the place he once saw, and she eases up saying it's a beautiful place. Zhaan and Stark leave them alone, when Gilina asks if John would have loved her if things had been different. He says yes, and she asks for one last kiss, before passing away.

Memorable quotes[]

Stark: Who is she?
Crichton: That... is the radiant Aeryn Sun.
Stark: How many Peacekeepers do you know on this base?
D'Argo: (to Aeryn) If you can be an idiot, I can be an idiot.
Rygel: I've conceived hundreds of progeny! And those are only official ones with my wives.
Chiana: Well then you should know something about this; you should be able to help us.
Rygel: I was never present at the birth!
Chiana: Not one?
Rygel: Well of course not! I think this is a trifle different, don't you? My progeny were tiny... tiny and handsome, like their father.
Crais: You are a Peacekeeper for life. On the oath you took-
Aeryn: Your oath means nothing to me! You made sure of that. You destroyed everything. I lost everything because of you!
Crais: Aeryn Sun!
Aeryn: Do you know what I learned when I was away from you? Everything I lost isn't worth a damn. And I don't want to go back to your past.
Crais: I ORDER you -
Aeryn: You order me? You will never order me again.
Crais: I will track you down and kill you, Officer Sun! On that I give you my vow!
Aeryn: You know what I give you Crais? Your life. I will make you watch your life.

Background information[]

  • There was a power cut in the studio directly after filming the scene between Aeryn and Crais in the Aurora Chair. Claudia Black remembers it saying "There was one revolution of the chair, and Lani was screaming – and we lost power! The entire unit shut down. We lost light, the chair stopped, and there's Crais in the chair. It was just as a classic moment – a bloodcurdling scream and the power stopped." (Farscape: The Illustrated Companion, "Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v1.3)
  • Paul Butterworth was able to use some new techniques for the approach to the Gammak base. "The base itself was a large matte painting, projected onto 3D geometry so you could actually do flyovers of it. So, essentially, rather than build everything in a detailed 3D form, we could get away with a painting." (Farscape: The Illustrated Companion)
  • Ricky Eyres remembers the design of Talyn, saying "The design for Talyn came about fairly rapidly. I had a wealth of Farscape reference – a bible – to draw from. One idea was for the exterior of the ship to be chrome, so that it had an inbuilt cloaking device. [...] Ultimately, what we tried to do with Talyn was imagine that he was either going to be something that looked Peacekeeper-like in Moya's colours, or something that looked Moya-like in Peacekeeper colours." (Farscape: The Illustrated Companion)
  • The reference to "Peacekeeper Barbie" "was definitely from Ben," recalls Rockne S. O'Bannon. "None of us knew when we were writing it that Scorpius would have a beautiful, long-haired assistant. Ben walked on the set, saw her, and came out with that. That was a total Ben-ism, and it was absolutely perfect." He continued to note that "there's a whole second language to the show. You refer to things using references to other stuff. [...] 99.9% of the time, when you're plotting a regular show, you can't make those sorts of references. But on Farscape, we had the opportunity to use it, because we wanted John Crichton to represent us. His cocky attitude was the perfect opportunity to introduce that sort of stuff." ("Farscape Chronicles" - Starburst Edition DVD v1.3)
  • Rygel's hand on the fogged window is a spoof of the scene in the car in the 1997 movie Titanic. The idea was thought up by Rygel's puppeteer John Eccleston. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v1.3)
  • Some of the symbols that flash in the top right-hand corner of the screen when Crichton is looking into the camera in the Peacekeeper cell are actually Cyrillic characters, as used in Russian.

Links and references[]

Starring[]

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Puppeteers[]

with

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Uncredited co-stars[]

References[]

annex cable; Aurora Chair; Banik; Barbie; caftan; command carrier; comms; Crais, Elann; Crais, Tauvo; Crais, Wimmah; cycle; Farscape-1; flight recorder; Gammak Base; Gone With The Wind; gunship; Helium flatulence; Human; ident chip; information disk; irreversibly contaminated; level riser; Leviathan; magnetic crypt encoder; maintenance bay; Melrose Place; microt; Moya; paraphoral tissue; Peacekeeper; Peacekeeper ranks; Peacekeeper Tech; prabakto; prowler; Prybella; Qualta Blade; solar day; starburst; Talyn; Teeg, Fenra; Telok; thermal chamber; trannix; transport pod; wormhole; wormhole technology; yotz; Zelbinion

External link[]

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