| Farscape episode | |
|---|---|
| “Premiere” | |
| |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 01 |
| Guest star(s) | Kent McCord (Jack Crichton); Lani Tupu (Cpt. Bialar Crais); Murray Bartlett (DK); Greg Blandy (PK Guard #1); Colin Borgonon (PK Weapons officer); Christine Stephen-Daly (Lt. Teeg); Damen Stephenson (Bio Isolation Man #1); Lawrence Woodward (PK Guard #2) |
| Writer(s) | Rockne S. O'Bannon |
| Director | Andrew Prowse |
| Production no. | 10101 |
| Original airdate | 29 Nov. 1999 (UK), March 19th, 1999 (US) |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "N/A" | "I, E.T." |
John Crichton, and astronaut with the IASA, and his best friend DK are out to prove a theory, that a manned spacecraft can overcome atmospherical friction to increase velocity to never before recorded speeds. John is pretty nervous, and the fact that his father was a legendary astronaut doesn't help. His Dad wishes him luck, John says his goodbyes and his shuttle, "Farscape 1", launches.
Unfortunately for Commander Crichton, things don't go too well. Something appears ahead of him and he is told to abort, but as he attempts to do so, he is pulled through a wormhole and flung across the galaxy...
Alien ships whiz past him at super speeds, one of which hits his shuttle and collides with an asteroid, being destroyed in the process. He soon sees a huge ship under attack, and is being pulled aboard. The inside of the ship is not what you may expect - it looks almost alive. Suddenly a little robot appears, as Farscape 1 malfunctions and a piece of it flies of the front. One of the robots gets trapped and its antennae broken, as two more seem to usher him somewhere. He looks up and sees two aliens – one blue, the other a feline-like creature – talking in an incomprehensible language. The aliens turn and notice him, and the feline-like one approaches and grabs him! One of the robots injects him, and the alien languages become comprehensible. They ask him what technology his ship is, and can they use it to escape? One asks for manoeuvrability from an alien that appears as an image on a clamshell, named "Pilot", who says he can do nothing until the "control collar" is removed. Crichton goes to look as the aggressive alien is pulling out wires from a console, as another small alien flies in on a sled! It says they were scheduled to go to a prison, and the aggressive one says it will not be taken prisoner. The little one hovers over to Crichton and says he'll look after him now, if Crichton looks after him later.
The aggressive alien pulls something, the blue one says she hit the code, and Pilot announces the control collar is coming off! The aggressive one says to prepare immediately for something called "Starburst", but Pilot says "Moya", the ship's name, has been restrained too long, but it's their only way, and in a jump-gate like technique, it Starbursts dragging a small ship with her.
Meanwhile, the small ships, named "prowlers", that were attacking Moya are ordered to return to their huge carrier ship. We see a human-like man called Captain Crais on a bridge, and he receives word that the Leviathan ship (Moya) escaped, and the Hynerian prisoner got the key-codes for the cells. He is told two prowlers are missing, one is his brother's, and they watch the collision Crichton had when he arrived, and Crais says he wants to see who was in the other ship.
The other prowler is pulled aboard Moya, but Pilot cannot tell them exactly where they are. The little alien spits in John's face, and the aggressive one shoots out its tongue, knocking John unconscious. Later, the blue alien tells the aggressive one she is "Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan", and he responds he is "Ka D'Argo". Zhaan says she is a Delvian priest. She was imprisoned for being the lead anarchist on her world. D'Argo says he killed his commanding officer. He is 30 cycles old, a Luxan warrior and he has seen two battle campaigns. He says their escape probably won't last long enough for the "Peacekeepers" to note in their logs.
Crichton wakes up, naked and imprisoned in a cell. He asks the little alien, who is hovering outside the cell, why he was stripped. The alien says he is "Rygel XVI", Dominar to over 600 billion, and his brother stole his throne while he slept. He says Crichton was stripped to be examined, and the robot earlier injected him with "translator microbes", so they can understand each other. He says he was locked up because they can no more trust him than that, and points to a female in a spacesuit. She also looks human. Crichton goes to introduce himself, but she attacks him, asks for his rank and regiment and asks why he is out of uniform.
She is a Peacekeeper, and Rygel is the Hynerian. She says she is Officer Aeryn Sun, Special Peacekeeper Commando. She again asks Crichton for his rank. He explains he's a scientist, as Rygel lowers some possessions that he's been trying to get. Zhaan comes along and says they know now he's not a Peacekeeper, but now it's time to eat.
The Techs have completed the imaging of the pilot of the ship for Crais, and his Lieutenant, Teeg, on seeing Crichton remarks he is a "Sebacean". Crais orders the pursuit of the Leviathan.
Aeryn and John are handcuffed for the meal, and while John tries to make sense of everything Zhaan tells him the ship is a Leviathan – a bio-mechanoid, living ship! It cannot currently travel at high speeds because D'Argo ripped out some wrong wires earlier. They are approaching an inhabited system with a commerce planet. Zhaan asks Aeryn if there's a Peacekeeper presence on the planet. She doesn't respond, and John says he doesn't know. Rygel farts helium, as D'Argo notices a fork that Aeryn earlier put up her sleeve, and takes it away.
D'Argo, Zhaan and Rygel go down to the planet, where Rygel is bartering with a huge alien. John and Aeryn are still stuck in a cell, and he says he must have come here through a wormhole. Aeryn says if he wants to make one, how does he expect to do so from inside a cell? He reveals he also had a fork up his sleeve, and when they get out, Aeryn says she will sabotage the ship. John asks her how does he know he can trust her, and she replies it's just another thing he doesn't know. They take her prowler down to the planet. Crais receives a message from Aeryn, revealing she was captured and has the being from the white pod with her.
D'Argo tells Zhaan that he was just told Aeryn and John escaped, and Crais' full Command Carrier is on its way. D'Argo gets Rygel and the transport pod takes off. Aeryn says she must recapture the prisoners, when D'Argo appears to get them. Crichton says the Peacekeepers are on their way, when Crais appears with soldiers, who capture D'Argo. Crais approaches John and asks who he is. Aeryn says he's a human from a planet called "earp", and Crais says he's and ally of the prisoners and his brother's murderer. Crichton says the near miss for him was an accident, but Crais replies it was no near miss for his brother. They take him prisoner. Aeryn steps up and says she's spent a short amount of time with him and believes him when he says it was an accident. She says he is not brave enough or intelligent enough to intentionally charge a prowler. Crais tells her she is "irreversibly contaminated".
The Peacekeeper guards find Crichton's father's good luck charm in his pocket, and whilst two guards argue over it Crichton grabs a gun. He gets the keys, and D'Argo and Aeryn want to be unlocked. He gets D'Argo to unlock him. He says they are now all criminals. He asks D'Argo if they can get him away from Crais, and take Aeryn too. D'Argo says he can handle Crichton, but not her. Crichton insists if she stays, they all stay, so D'Argo reluctantly agrees. Aeryn says she won't go, it was her breeding, a Peacekeeper is what she is. Crichton says she can be more.
They all return to Moya, and D'Argo says to enter the "Uncharted Territories". The Peacekeepers are 60 metras away and charging their cannon, and Aeryn reluctantly says their range is 45 metras. John says to Starburst again, but Moya needs to recharge. He then says to go back towards the planet; they can use his theory to escape, with Aeryn manually controlling Moya. The cannons miss, and they escape. John thanks Aeryn, and Zhaan thanks John. D'Argo says he needs to talk, and says that he spent 8 cycles aboard this Leviathan and he doesn't know who John is, but if he threatens his freedom he'll kill him. Aeryn appears and says they are a brutal and violent race, and that Crais hasn't forgotten him – he will pursue Crichton. She says he should choose his allegiances carefully. He then fixes the robot from earlier, and leaves a message for his father.