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Farscape episode
“Out of Their Minds”
OOTM
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 09
Guest star(s) Lani Tupu (Captain Bialar Crais), Thomas Holesgrove (Tak), Dominique Sweeney (Yoz)
Writer(s) Michael Cassutt
Director Ian Watson
Production no. 10209
Original airdate July 7, 2000 (US); September 4, 2000 (UK)
Episode chronology
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"Dream a Little Dream" "My Three Crichtons"

The Moyans walk a tier in each other's shoes when their minds switch bodies. But how can they get back?

Synopsis[]

Moya has been targeted by an alien ship, with the crew rallying to rejuvenate the defense screen they salvaged from the Zelbinion. Zhaan has gone over to the Halosian ship, which is badly damaged, to try and stop them from firing. She is confronted by a bird-like creature called Tak, who is feigning injury, and says that his ship was attacked by Talyn! Zhaan says she can help them, and that Moya has no weapons. Hearing this, Tak strikes her down and orders his second, Yoz, to fire. Ka D'Argo and Chiana manage to get the defense screen up in time, but the effect of the beam on it causes a problem for the crew: when they come to, John Crichton is in Aeryn Sun's body, Aeryn's in Rygel's body and Rygel's in Crichton's body!

Amongst much confusion, they find that the three in Pilot's den have also switched bodies: D'Argo is in Pilot, Pilot's in Chiana and Chiana is in D'Argo's body. D'Argo is having trouble sorting out the sounds he can hear from Moya, so Pilot tries to explain to him what to do. Meanwhile Rygel thinks it's all a dream, but when Crichton whacks him round the head and he finds himself still in Crichton's body, he attacks Aeryn, desperate to get his old body back.

Tak says that Zhaan lied – they have a defense shield. He shows her Talyn firing, and says that 30 of his crew are dead. It will take 3 arns to recharge the weapon, and Zhaan tells them they're wrong about Moya, but they remain unconvinced.

Pilot tells D'Argo how to distinguish between the sounds that he can hear and with everyone in Pilot's den Crichton gives them all picture tags to hang around their necks so they know who is in whom. Pilot explains what he last remembers – Zhaan docked on the Halosian vessel and the defense screen was damaged by the shot, and it needs repair. Pilot thinks that if they align the defense screen to 62% like it was during the first shot, they may switch back, so Crichton and Aeryn get to work. Meanwhile Tak agrees to go over to Moya to see that it she has no weapons, but Zhaan must stay as insurance.

Pilot is getting queasy, when Zhaan gets in touch to explain the situation. Pilot begins foaming at the mouth, apparently rejecting Chiana's body. The Halosian shuttle arrives, and Rygel, Aeryn, Chiana, and Crichton go to meet Tak. As he arrives, Rygel suddenly needs to pee, and has to go in the middle of the maintenance bay, after some how-to pointers from Crichton.

Pilot tells D'Argo that if he stays calm he's fine, but he feels like all his senses are gone. D'Argo says that everything Pilot goes through makes his own life feel insignificant, but Pilot says that he doesn't experience love and friendship.

Zhaan is praying, when Yoz says that she believes Moya is harmless. She shows Zhaan a video of Crais saying that he travels in peace, however the Halosians fire unprovoked; the 'attack' was merely Talyn and Crais defending themselves. Zhaan is relieved that Crais does not appear to be mistreating or using Talyn for battle. Yoz explains that Tak fired on Talyn as every kill he makes gets him closer to 'evolving' (moving higher in rank). Meanwhile, Crichton has fixed the defense screen, when he notices his (or rather Aeryn's) breasts. As Chiana and Aeryn walk in, he gives them a wiggle and a feel, and on noticing the others in the doorway, his only excuse is "I'm a guy!"

Rygel is showing around Tak, who throws up on Moya's neural cluster, and Rygel again asks to be changed back. As they leave, the sick starts to attack Moya's circuitry! Tak returns to his ship, where he asks Zhaan what they meant by "switching back", but she doesn't know. He says that he'll destroy Moya, so Zhaan tries to convince Yoz to remove him, so she can "evolve" quicker, since he failed to destroy Moya first time.

Chiana (in D'Argo's body) corners Rygel (who's in Crichton's body), and says she wants to get off the ship. In an amusing scene she tries to convince him by offering to perform sexual acts, but Rygel refuses saying he wants to regain his throne, and only a Dominar can do that. Crichton and Aeryn come along, and Rygel mentions the sick, so they figure that must be causing the trouble on Moya. They go to the conduits, and find the sick destroying them. Crichton comes up with a plan, although he doesn't really know what he's doing since he's making it up as he goes.

They shut down the defense screen and neutralise the acid. The Halosians fire just as they put the defense screen back up, and they switch again: Crichton in Rygel, Aeryn in Crichton, Rygel in Aeryn, and in Pilot's den Pilot is in D'Argo, D'Argo in Chiana and Chiana is in Pilot, but D'Argo and Chiana can't wake an unconscious Pilot, and think he may be dying.

Tak says that he'll ram Moya since his weapons won't work, but Zhaan manages to convince Yoz to take over. Back on Moya, Crichton comes up with a plan; get the power of the defense screen to 62% again and let them fire to switch bodies. The Halosians remain on a ramming course, and Moya is attempting to starburst.

Zhaan uses her plant-power to pull her hand out of the handcuff, knocks out Yoz, and manages to steer the ship around Moya. Zhaan contacts Moya and says she has control. Crichton (in Rygel's body) asks her to fire again, but she thinks he's mad and asks to speak to Crichton (but Aeryn's in his body). Rygel says that they think he's paranoid when they say no one ever listens to him, but it's the truth. She shoots again and everyone switches back to their own body.

Everyone is happy to be back in their own bodies, and Pilot asks Zhaan about Talyn. The two take solace in that, although powerful, he isn't being used as a weapon by Crais. Pilot then goes to talk to Moya, whom he says wants to know all his experiences whilst he was away from her. Zhaan tells Rygel that the damage to her hand will heal slowly, and it may never fully recover.

D'Argo asks Chiana what she did with his tenkas, since they feel different. He says that he enjoyed being inside her body, but quickly corrects himself saying he likes her body and they hastily leave together... Aeryn mentions what Crichton did in her body and he says it was interesting to be in each other's shoes, to which she replies, "you were in my shoes, I was in your pants!"

Memorable quotes[]

John: Have we sent the "don't shoot us, we're pathetic" transmission yet?
John: Well they say you have to walk a mile in someone's shoes to understand them.
Aeryn: Well I certainly know what you were doing when you were in my shoes, Crichton.
John: Gimme a break.
Aeryn: It's okay. It's okay, you know. You were in my shoes, I was in your pants...
Zhaan: By the goddess! What is this madness that has overtaken all of you?
Aeryn in John: We'll explain later, just shoot us Zhaan. Full power, and don't worry we'll have the screen up.
Zhaan: Are you sure about this Crichton?
Rygel in Aeryn: Shoot the damn gun, you blue-arsed bitch!
John in Aeryn: Oh, come on, man! I'm... They're here. They're right here. They've been here for a couple of arns, and I just had to...
Aeryn in Rygel: You are mentally damaged.
John in Aeryn: I'm a guy. A guy. Guys dream about this sort of thing.
Aeryn in Rygel: I'll tell you one thing Crichton, if I find you've been dreaming anything else to my body I'll break your legs, even if they are mine
Rygel in John: (About peeing) Could you show me how to do this?
John in Aeryn: Oh my god... unzip.
Rygel in John: Right!
John in Aeryn: Pull it out. Point it like a gun. And shoot.
Rygel in John: Aimed the right way?
John in Aeryn: Yes, that's fine.
Tak: *vomits violently*
Rygel in John: Go on. Go on. Let it all out.
Tak: Excuse.
Rygel in John: Uhuh, that's all right, we do that sort of thing all the time here on Moya. I just peed in the maintenance bay.
Aeryn in John: She wants me?
John in Rygel: Yeah. Zhaan wants to hear it from you. She won't listen to Rygel.
Rygel in Aeryn: I told you! You all say I'm paranoid, but it's true: no one ever frelling listens to me!
John in Rygel: Can it, furball.
Rygel in Aeryn: Great! Now I'm getting yotz from my own body!
Tak: Where is Crichton? Told he show me Moya.
Rygel in John: By the Hynerian Gods that is good! Yes now I'll just urm put this thing away and then... OH!(gets caught in John's zipper) Yotz! Ah...
John in Aeryn: Put it away and be careful Sparky....
Rygel: Oh, yes, I'm back, too. Thanks for asking. Back to being me. Back to being ignored...

Background information[]

  • The cast rehearsed this episode by videotaping each other and recreating the relevant mannerisms. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • ADR Engineer Angus Robertson spent hours with each actor to ensure that their performances matched up. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • At their first ComicCon, shorty after filming on season 1 wrapped, David Kemper asked Claudia Black what she thought Crichton would do if he were in Aeryn's body. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • Ian Watson did not feel that the Halosians were a deliberate tribute to the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal, but Dave Elsey admitted that they were saying "Originally in the script, the Halosians were described as 'bird-like' and the first thing that jumped into my head were the Skeksis form [sic] the Dark Crystal. One of my best friends in the world is a guy called Lyle Conway who designed the Skeksis and also the plant from the Little Shop of Horrors and at the very beginning of when the creature shop was formed, had basically my job in London. I still think that these were some of the best things the creature shop has ever done. They are a cheeky nod to these characters and I never thought for an instant I'd get away with it!!" ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2, 2001 Sci-Fi Dave Elsey webchat)
  • The original plan was to have everyone overdub the voices with the actor that normally played the character, but Watson changed that because he felt that swapping would be more effective with the actors themselves. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • Jonathan Hardy joked that Ben Browder's version of Rygel was very similar to Sir John Gielgud, an English actor. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • The pictures attached to each actor were a late addition to the script by Watson, and provided a new ability for the DRDs. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • "Out of Their Minds" is the title of a novel by science fiction author Clifford D. Simak and one of Michael Cassutt's favorite books. After hearing numerous comments about the title, Cassutt agreed that it should have been "Out of Their Bodies", but the original stuck. ("Cool Farscape Facts" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • Like the prior episode, the idea for "Out of Their Minds" had been germinating since the origin of Farscape. Rockne S. O'Bannon said, "that was one of the ideas David and I had when we were first speaking and starting to generate ideas for the show – when he and I were the only two people on the show." ("Farscape Chronicles" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • On the show's placement, O'Bannon stated, "In the first season, we sensed that the audience didn't know the characters well enough, and the actors were still getting used to who they were. It just wouldn't have been that much fun that early on, but by the middle of the second season, it was the perfect place to put it. The actors had spent a year and a half with each other and picked up each other's mannerisms, which they would mimic and have fun with." ("Farscape Chronicles" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • Anthony Simcoe found that the episode required him to consciously think about choices he'd made while portraying D'Argo. He recalled, "When I get certain kinds of things in a script, I always change them. Whenever the writers use apostrophe words like 'can't', such as 'I can't go into that room,' I will usually say 'I cannot go into that room' because that's how I see D'Argo speaking. It takes him just that extra stress. I'd always made that decision, but it was only when we came to [this] episode that I had to articulate it. When I heard Gigi saying 'can't', I said 'Gig, there's a can't in there, and I would normally split it into two words.' Then, Gig would do it. Hearing those little details and bouncing them back and forth was great!" ("Farscape Chronicles" - Starburst Edition DVD v2.2)
  • During the scenes immediately after the first transformation, dual-track audio is used on the dialogue, with the lines being spoken by both actors (i.e. both Claudia Black and Jonathan Hardy speak Aeryn-in-Rygel's lines). This effect disappears after Crichton assigns everyone photos of their real selves.

Links and references[]

Starring[]

Guest stars[]

Puppeteers[]

Voice artists[]

References[]

arn; Bishan; bizdak; Command; command carrier; comms; defense screen; Delvian; Dominar; Einstein, Albert; Fellip shank Fluffy; frag-leap; frell; Goddess of the Delvian Seek; gunship; Halos-1; Halosian; Halosian Code; Hazmot; Hynerian Gods; Ka Jothee; Luxan; maintenance bay; marjool; microt; mooning; Moya; neural cluster; numbnock; Pa'u; Peacekeeper; Pilot's den; pizza; rack off; Spanky; Sparky; starburst; Tal, Lo'Laan; Talyn; tenka; Three Stooges; transport pod; trelkez; Yotz; Zelbinion

External link[]

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