Farscape
"Beware of Dog"

Airdate: August 11, 2000

The threat of a deadly parasite in a batch of food they've just purchased leads Moya's crew to purchase a Vorc, a creature the locals say will clear up the problem. Since its arrival, however, things have gotten strange. Well, stranger than normal.

The Vorc, a cross between E.T. and a wizened old man, immediately makes a nuisance of itself, committing acts similar to a brand new pet of the canine variety, including the requisite leg humping episode. Just when you think Chiana and D'Argo were fleeced by the local populace, the Vorc begins sniffing out trouble. Crew members are attacked and D'Argo is felled by a poison to which Zhaan has no antitoxin.

Is it live, or is it Memorex?

John and Aeryn and even Chiana band together to hunt down the creature that attacked their friend in hopes of procuring a sample of its venom which they hope will enable Zhaan to create an antidote. Their efforts only lead to the discovery that the Vorc has two forms, one to track and another to attack. Despite its ferocious alter ego, its system is clean of all toxins. Theorizing that another creature, the real parasite, is indeed onboard and that the Vorc was acting as a bird dog, John and Aeryn set it free in hopes of finding the real cause of D'Argo's illness.

After the requisite references to E.T. and Lassie, the mystery of the disappearing parasite is solved and D'Argo is saved. Of course.

A standard evil-alien-presence-aboard-Moya episode, "Beware of Dog" is saved from mediocrity by what has become the Farscape modus operandi. What I mean by that is that there are certain things that you can count on from most, if not all, Farscape episodes. Each and every one was covered in this episode.

The most important feature is, of course, the manner in which all of the female characters are handled. Not a single one is a hand-wringing ninny. Zhaan uses her brain to try and treat the wounded D'Argo, Chiana, besides offering bedside companionship, joins John and Aeryn in their hunt for the creature, and of course Aeryn is, as always, a woman of action. The Crichton-isms of the week include not just the aforementioned references, but a great nod to the cinema classic Caddyshack. (Shut up. You know you've all seen it and laughed!) It could only have been made better if at one point John had been humming Journey's Any Way You Want It in addition to his Bill Murray impersonation.

But perhaps where "Beware of Dog" really shines is in its use of foreshadowing. We've seen Crichton reduced to near hysterics at just the thought of Scorpius and his appearances here, haunting and taunting in his oh so shiver-inducing way, do not bode well for the future of our favorite Earthman.

Now more than ever, I can't wait for what they've got in store for us next week.

-- Linda M. Najera

Farscape airs at 9pm EST, Fridays on The Sci Fi Channel.

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