Season 2, Episode 11 — Look at the Princess, part 1: A Kiss is but a Kiss
John and Aeryn’s on-again-off-again relationship boils over just as the crew arrives at a planet where the chief means of entertainment at the moment seems to be determining a couple’s sexual compatibility. Compatibility (genetic, romantic, or otherwise) immediately becomes a major plot point as the culture and politics of the planet shape the way each crew member understands what it means to love and to be loved.
Season 2, Episode 9 — Out of Their Minds
You’ve seen it before: it’s the body-switching episode. The episode where the characters get to act like someone they’re not, the episode one assumes was more fun to make than it is to watch. It’s difficult to recall a science fiction show of Farscape’s era that doesn’t have an episode like this (one that lets characters act differently than they usually do — think Star Trek’s “Mirror, Mirror” or Stargate SG-1’s “Holiday” or any episodes where all the characters get mysteriously inebriated), but Farscape manages to twist the cliché around on itself. While the characters in the episode are so fixated on their physical appearance — on their bodies — we as viewers are invited to step back and reexamine the role that those bodies — that all bodies — play in the construction of societal norms and practices.
Season 1, Episode 21 – Bone to Be Wild
Everything is not as it seems on the lush asteroid in Bone to be Wild, and that uncertainty pervades the entire episode. Even characters not exposed to the plot twists and double-dealings of M’Lee and Br’Nee find themselves mixed up and rearranged. Role reversals and treachery abound, which ultimately adds depth to the relationships built up so far in the series.
Season 1, Episode 13 – The Flax
In most science fiction television space can seem pretty crowded. There are aliens everywhere and adventure of any kind is always moments away. Farscape is no different — the Uncharted Territories are rife with conflict and the unknown. Despite this, in The Flax the crew confronts the powerful emptiness that space can bring, both literally and metaphorically, and finds it to be at odds with itself. Space is nothing, but there’s a lot in it.
Season 1, Episode 9 – DNA Mad Scientist
It might not cost the crew everything to get home, but it still costs plenty. Scheming against one another for control of star maps containing the way home, the crew’s relationships and personalities devolve as darker and more opportunistic versions of their characters emerge.
Season 1, Episode 7 – P.K. Tech Girl
Upon arriving at the wreckage of the Zelbinion, the crew of Moya have strong and varied reactions. Each of them is certain of some central attribute of the ship, and their beliefs guide their actions. The plot of P.K. Tech Girl is sculpted within the framework of these differing viewpoints, and each provides a subtle form of exposition. The show never really says much about the Zelbinion, but we get a strong impression of its significance by observing the effect it has on people.
Season 1, Episode 6 – Thank God It’s Friday, Again
Thank God It’s Friday, Again investigates the intricacies of wish-fulfillment, denial, and complicity. These themes materialize as the ambivalent serenity of Sykar splinters the crew and forces them to consider what remaining on Moya might mean for their future. In particular, D’Argo and Zhaan experience a different way of life than that of fugitives. And more than just blurring the lines between contentment or resignation, the simple life on Sykar asks the characters and the audience to reconsider the “realness” of short side-treks into alternative life paths.
Season 1, Episode 5 – Back and Back and Back to the Future
After being gifted (or cursed) with the ability to see glimpses of the future, and to repeatedly alter future events, John discovers that it is difficult to change fate. Back and Back and Back to the Future shows many facets of the same reality, and each plays out in slightly different ways. Taken together, they show that sometimes the smallest changes have the biggest effects and that it’s possible to betray your friends and still remain loyal to them.
Season 1, Episode 1 — Premier
After being sucked through a wormhole in the opening minutes of Premier, John Crichton stumbles onto the bridge of an alien spaceship and has his first encounter with the unknown. In under five minutes we meet almost all of the principal characters, learn about their feelings towards one another, and get the beginnings of several plot points and significant features of the universe. This first scene on the bridge is representative of the episode as a whole, perhaps even the entire first season: disparate entities, struggling to comprehend and interact with each other, eventually find a tenuous common ground. This is Farscape.
Unrealized Realities 