The crew discover a Peacekeeper beacon that has been left on Moya and which is triggered when it doesn't receive a regular transmissions from the control collar. It can be removed, but the process could kill Moya without an anaesthetic substance called Clorium.

In order to muffle the signal, Moya lands on a planet and submerges in a bog. Crichton, Aeryn and D'Argo then set out to find a source of Clorium.

Discuss!

I have to say, again, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

I've seen this twice before now, once being the infamous Sunday sleep-a-thon halfway though, so really I've seen it once in it's entirety before. I don't think it did much for me the first time, it's the kind of story that's been done many times before on one show or another, including TAKEN and STAR TREK TNG to name but a few. This however, does not detract too much from the enjoyment of the episode. In these early days the stories really play second fiddle to the characterisation and that's looking good at this particularly early juncture.

I did have a few minor gripes with the episode though. Firstly, WR, I think you mentioned that this was originally aired as the second episode but on the DVDs as episode 4. To me in places it seems as though it shouldn't have aired as the second episode. The crew are a little to familiar already. Also, when the inhabitant military turn up at the astronomer's house and John's hiding in the back room; with all those soldiers wandering around outside why would John keep wandering up and down in front of the window, granted the window has blinds, but they're open !! :rolleyes:

However, onto the positives. I liked the story. A nice juxtaposition of first encounter with Crichton this time the alien just days after going through the same first experience himself. The experiences though differing wildly. Which brings me on nicely to the characters themselves. This was a good character episode, in that I didn't actively dislike any of the characters. D'Argo fares better certainly, Crichton continues to shine and practically everyone is given something to do, having some important part to play, whether they stay on the ship or go off looking for what they need.

Pilots are an odd beast as episodes go, as such it's pretty difficult to draw any conclusions from PREMIERE, I, E.T. however being the first regular story is very promising.

Looking foward to the next two. :)

I, E.T. was the second episode produced, but was aired fourth. It seems to be an Australian practice that episodes are filmed in batches, so during the early part of the series the actors and crew were jumping about filming parts of different episodes on the same day. It must have been very confusing. The practice was abandoned with, I think, PK Tech Girl. It's interesting that the series begins to find its feet from that point onwards.

Had we watched Throne For A Loss second you probably would have found that the crew were getting along even better.

Just watched this again and enjoyed it. Val's spot on, it is very much a Star Trek story given the Farscape spin: whereas Trek would have focused on a crewmember being captured and Kirk/Picard/Janeway's decision to circumvent the Prime Directive to save them, Farscape pushes this into the background. I, E.T. is very much about Crichton finding himself in an environment that seems just like home but where he is very much an alien. It's also about him seeing himself in Lyneea and Fostro.

This is the first time we get to see Zhaan show her skills, and the first time that Rygel shows himself to be a valuable member of the crew. He also shows that he can stick up for himself when he takes a chunk out of Aeryn's arm. We also see Aeryn exhibit something close to feelings for Zhaan and Crichton. It's also interesting that Crichton refuses to leave without D'Argo.

On the acting front, Ben Browder's beacon induced twitch reminded me of Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys, but it could also be classed as the first time we get to see him do his Crazy Crichton act, something which becomes a mainstay of the series.

Negatives? Well, Lani Tupu still hasn't nailed down Pilot's voice at this stage and, for that matter, the writers haven't yet sorted out his character. But what this does show is that Pilot is young and inexperienced and is really just learning about himself and Moya. The lighting on set seems way to bright to me, probably because I've become so used to the darker, more atmospheric lighting of later episodes. Oh, and the music's a bit plinky-plonky (technical term :P ).

Special mention for the effects: the shots of Moya landing on the planet and then taking off are quite breathtaking. The makeup on Lyneea and co, however, is a bit crap and Trekky. Instead of funny foreheads they've got funny ears. Go figure.

All in all a nice, safe second episode after the scene-setting of Premiere.

Finally watched this one! :)

While it wasn't as good as Premiere, I still enjoyed it.

Not really much more I can add that hasn't been mentioned before, but hopefully it won't be another week till I se the next episode! :D

In fact, what I find all the more interesting here is how the Farscape fans are reacting to this in retrospect - once Farscape is done I think we must do the same thing with Babylon 5 - since you Scapers have made us endure your show it's only fair :)

Sounds like a plan to me.

Although, we don't necessarily need to wait until the Farscape stint's finished though, we're only reviewing two episodes a week, lots more time per week for watching/reviewing ;)

Incidentally, WR, which are the next two up then ??

I was wondering how long it would take someone to suggest that :lol:

Sorry Phillip - already rewatching B5, currently in season 3. Don't intend to watch it again for a looooong time! I'm sure lots of others will be up for it, though :)

Next up on my list to rewatch is The X Files :)

Oh, and I don't recall making you endure anything :P

Although I did kind of "persuade" Persephone... :lol:

You can check The Uncharted Territories thread, I post the next episodes there. This week it's Exodus From Genesis and Throne For A Loss.

Righto WR, so these two before next weekend then ??

Great stuff.

Although I enjoyed this one, it was never in my top 10 of favourite episodes, not even in the top 10 of this season. I think the reason is because there was not a lot of interaction between John and the rest of Moya's crew. He spent more time talking to the bird with the weird ears than he did to the rest of them.

To be fair though, there were some nice character building moments between Areyn and D'Argo, Rygel and Zhaan, and Aeryn and Zhaan, and Aeryn and Pilot. Promises of things to come........

It is a very unScapey 'Scape, isn't it?

You read my mind :D

You can see why they changed the running order when it first aired. It's a little bland as an episode. Having said that, it is interesting to watch them in the preferred order.

Yeah, it is nice to see how Lyneea thought John was so well travelled and that he would be amused by how in awe she was of everything, when in fact he felt exactly the same way. Except he has to live with it everyday but she could go back to a pretty much normal exisistance after he left. Poor John. He needs leather trousers to cheer him up. Honest.

Not that you're obsessed or anything! :rolleyes:

As an episode it went for the safe route. It takes a while for the series to find it's own very unique style. I think that's why it took me so long to get into it. These were the episodes I saw when it first aired and, as a whole, the first few are fairly unremarkable.

I am not obsessed. It is a healthy interest 'tis all :angel:

I'm not writing too much about this one. It was okay, fairly enjoyable. I haven't seen this kind of episode done before, since I've never watched any of the later Star Trek's so thankfully can't make a comparison.

Okay, so we have John going to a very Earth looking planet, and lo and behold, he's the alien. It started to go all 'Contact' for me at this point, with the funding etc :lol: I'm thinking this episode is a bit early on to be showing the irony of this episode, so its pretty lost.

I have to say this, so sorry if I offend but I think they do the 'pop' culture references better in the Buffyverse, it sticks out too much in Farscape.

No offense at all - it's a perfectly valid comment. Buffy has the best dialogue in any series, in my opinion. :)

The only response I would put is to remember that the events of Farscape are meant to be happening now, as opposed to in the future (which is a common misconception), hence Crichton's constant use of pop culture. He's out of place, not out of time. And I'm not trying to imply you didn't realise that, so sorry if I caused offense! ;)

For me, part of the joy of its use in this series is the way the other characters try to figure out what he's going on about, and then try to use it themselves. But I can understand why it doesn't work for others ;)

As far as the whole "pop culture" references go, I have to say I'm pretty much with WR on this one :)

It's a constant reminder that John's effectively one of us and completely out of his depth, using the references for his own comprehension of where he is and what's going on. They also invariably add to the subtle humour of the show, thus far at least. Agreed they're not as witty as those of Buffy, but they more than do the job they were intended for I think.

I finally got around to watching Exodus From Genesis earlier, my thoughts later, after the footy ;)

I'm guessing after your comments that the dialogue will probably make more sense to me, the more I watch. Either that, or I won't notice so much, maybe it's a bit too soon after the end of Angel for me to start. :lol: