"Jeremiah Crichton"
Air Date: July 30, 1999

Since discovering Farscape in March, I've been hooked. There's a lot to like about the show: spectacularly well-done visual effects, great acting by a well-chosen cast (which includes Muppets), competent directing and well-written original ideas. Then came "Jeremiah Crichton".

For the most part I found this episode amusing. It wasn't the best or my favorite, but it wasn't so bad as to compel me to switch channels or turn the TV off altogether. The plot in a nutshell is that after a temper flare-up, Crichton goes on a jaunt in his rebuilt shuttle, Farscape 1. Thanks to his bad timing, he gets left behind when Moya (a living ship called a Leviathan) starbursts to another location. When the rest of the crew find him some time later, his crewmates D'Argo and Rygel get stuck on the planet right with Crichton, and the natives think Rygel (one of the Muppets I mentioned -- he's a really mouthy runt, I might add) is their god come to fulfill a prophecy.

I found this episode to be highly derivative, reminding me of movies like Apocalypse Now, with Crichton and Rygel playing two sides of the Brando role; Crichton is just trying to fit in with the natives and live his life while Rygel is 'the slug who would be king'. In the annals of recent and classic television sci fi you can find similar stories. Both Stargate SG-1 ("Dogma") and Star Trek: TOS ("Bread and Circuses") featured episodes where former Earth military personnel play god or emperor to another world's natives. Still, as flawed as the plot was, the dialog between characters was on par with the high standards of the show. In addition, the characters were true to themselves with some surprising exceptions like Rygel being responsible enough to Just Say No to being called god by the natives (although he is totally happy to be their Dominar and enjoy the luxuries they give him) and Zhaan and Aeryn alternately working well and bickering with one another.

The episode didn't feature enough of Zhaan and/or Aeryn which is one of my continuing complaints about the series. However, the scenes which they did share were very good, proving again that the two women interact with each other a lot better than D'Argo and Crichton despite being of radically different species and walks of life -- Zhaan a Delvian priestess, Aeryn a former Peacekeeper footsoldier.

"Jeremiah Crichton" expounded on several variations on the theme of responsibility and the consequences of its absence. Crichton runs off and leaves the hard work to the others so is 'punished' by being left behind. Rygel, although not the perpetrator, must redress one of the lies his ancestor left behind for the Acquavari. The theme of unconditional friendship is also presented in this episode quite prominently. The entire crew and even Moya herself search for Crichton despite his bratty episode (which seemed long overdue) and D'Argo defends Crichton against attack from angry Acquavari.

However, I was particularly bothered by the idea of Crichton as an errant child in this episode. Although he was left behind by the others, that didn't seem like a completely satisfactory punishment. When I was little and wandered off without telling anyone I'd get a lecture at the very least. Crichton doesn't even get a stern look from any of his crewmates, much less the verbal beatdown I'd be inclined to give him before putting him on some nasty duty like cleaning Moya's Nether Regions -- with a toothbrush.

If the writer had produced a tighter, less derivative story this episode would have been a lot more watchable and less like an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. But even so, it was still better than other science fiction shows.

-- Vivian Lee

Farscape can be seen Fridays on The Sci Fi Channel at 8pm and 12am EST