FARSCAPE - "Crichton Kicks"

By: Chris Wyatt
Date: Friday, June 07, 2002

Tonight's FARSCAPE season premiere shows once again why the series has often been called the best SCIFI show on TV. Last season ended with Moya's crew members scattered to the solar winds. FARSCAPE's producers were unsure of the show's fate, so in case there weren't any further episodes, they wanted to give the story of life in the Uncharted Territories a meaningful stopping point. It was a wise, if conservative, notion; but it left many fans wondering if the complete absolution of the crew could be reasonably reversed. Could the writers really think of a way to put everyone back in the same room without making it seem too convenient or contrived? It seemed doubtful.

Well, those doubts can now be erased. Tonight's episode, entitled "Crichton Kicks," is a perfect follow up to last season's finale. It doesn't feel the need to develop events too quickly. We don't see the whole cast pushed back together in one hour; instead, it seems, members of the Moya crew will be slowly, organically reunited over a period of weeks.

This episode opens with Crichton alone on a derelict and dying leviathan parked in the traditional leviathan graveyard space. Some time has passed since last season's finale, and the lonely Crichton has, ala CASTAWAY, grown an unruly beard and taken to talking with inanimate objects. Ben Browder turns in a fabulous performance as the half-crazed spaceman, playing up the edgy insanity of the role.

While working on the solutions to wormhole technology, having filled a cargo bay's walls full of crudely drawn equations, Crichton is nearly killed when a shuttle cashes into the leviathan's hull. The shuttle's pilot, named Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu (try saying that three times fast), is attempting to escape from a horde of pirates. The pirates seek the leviathan's ancestral homeland so that they can extract valuable wetware from the dying ships by basically gutting them alive.

Crichton must defend his leviathan in an all out effort, without knowing whether he can completely trust the newcomer. Rygel and Chiana also return, looking for a hide-out. The reunited threesome cook up a plan to defeat the pirates that will ultimately take them out of the region and set them on the path to finding the rest of their friends.

Without giving away the several unpredictable twists, it's safe to say that few shows achieve the kind of intelligent action, heady atmosphere and complete otherworldliness of FARSCAPE as typified by tonight's episode.

If you have to nit-pick you could find a few problems. For example, Sikozu, who seems to be a new regular intended to replace Jool, is so similar to Jool in both appearance and attitude that it hardly seems worth the while to make the change. Also, Sikozu is a member of a race that has the biological capability of changing their center of gravity. She uses this power to climb walls like Spider-Man and stick to the ceiling when needed. Now, I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure that no matter where the center of gravity is in your body, you still have to have said body part planted firmly on the ground.

But those are just minor character problems which don't significantly interfere with an otherwise splendid episode. It looks like we could be at the beginning of a very promising season.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at feedback@cinescape.com.