Farscape
"Crackers Don't Matter"

Airdate: April 7, 2000

T'raltixx, an alien mechanic who promises to make Moya invisible to Scorpius' sensors, is brought aboard and accompanies the crew to his home planet. As they pass through a series of pulsars said to have strange effects only on lesser species, things start to get weird. Farscape weird.

"Crackers Don't Matter" utilizes a classic sci fi plot device to pit our heroes against one another. Never the most cohesive bunch in the best of times, this episode -- detailing a period that can only be called a worst of times -- shows what has been bubbling beneath the surface. Throughout the past season, Aeryn, Chiana, D'Argo, John, Rygel, and Zhaan have been pulling each other's asses out of the fire. Despite the differences in their backgrounds, they have formed bonds of friendship, of family. Okay, so like Crichton said, it's a Jerry Springer sort of family, but still... The crew is very close. Obviously The Powers That Be have decided that these bonds have become too close. That our heroes were getting a bit too predictable. And as everyone knows, predictable -- on television especially -- is bad.

Enter T'raltixx, who exerts some sort of influence that creates a heightened sense of distrust in all of them. Soon alliances are made and broken on whims and accusations of food theft and betrayal are bandied about. Crichton even begins having visions of Scorpius taunting him with Margarita shooters, naked Sebacean beach bunnies, and pizza. Things come to a head when his arch-nemesis shows up in a Hawaiian shirt that would make even Don Ho wince. It's then that he realizes that the combination of pulsars' light and T'raltixx's influence is what's making all of them go off the deep end. However, unlike the others, he's managed to stay a bit more on the good side of crazy because of his inferior eyesight. This deficiency allows him to recognize the fact that something is wrong and even though he has to tie everyone up so that they'll listen to him, he finally manages to talk some semblance of sense into the rest of the group.

His "deficiency" making him the best able to resist T'raltixx's influence, John is decked out like some space-faring Don Quixote (complete with SP9G puke to protect his face) and sent to rid Moya of this troublesome alien. Which he does. Of course.

The setup was clumsy, although T'raltixx (or "Brainiac" as John called him) gave me the creeps. The follow through however was quite enjoyable. They even managed to get the normally sedate Pilot all riled up. But it is the Scorpius hallucination that wins the Most Wacked Out Award.

What I really admire, however, is the brave choice made by the series. While others have used such plot devices to bring their cast of characters closer, Farscape has chosen the opposite tack and undone much of the trust and goodwill which the fugitives have spent many months building up.

Now the crew has to figure out a way to get back what they've lost. They have to re-earn the trust and friendship of their shipmates. It's not quite a reset button sending them all the way back to the premiere episode. In fact, it's worse because they have full knowledge of what they are missing. As long as the show doesn't wimp out and openly deals with the fallout of "Crackers Don't Matter" in subsequent episodes, Farscape will live up to its reputation of one of the most thought-provoking genre series on the air.

-- Linda M. Najera

Farscape airs at 8 and 11pm EST, Fridays on The Sci Fi Channel.

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