Pictured: Jo and Carter investigating an unscheduled launch. Not pictured: the Director of GD and Professor I.P. Freely
Fargo: We just survived launch in a non-launch-ready craft. I'd say it's our lucky day!
SARAH leaves Andy at the altar, but then the town is rocked by a bigger drama; a shuttle is launched by accident, with Fargo and Zane inside.
As the pair run out of oxygen, rescue attempts are hampered by an ion pulse that wipes out the town's electronics. Improvisation is required both on the ground and in orbit if everyone's getting home alive.
Tropes
- Acronym and Abbreviation Overload:Allison: The FTL Drive?
Henry: Yeah, if we can get the BCE up and running.
Carter: That sounds good. How about we speak in whole words? - All Girls Like Ponies: Averted: Allison is the least happy when the gang are forced to ride horses around. Played straight with Jo, who rounded up the horses.Carter: You did great.
Allison: My ass hurts.
Carter: I'll rub it later, you did great. - Almost Out of Oxygen: Fargo and Zane are stuck in space in a capsule which only has emergency life support. Then they need to use their oxygen tank as an ersatz rocket to avoid a collision with the International Space Station, so they have even less time than the "emergency" amount...
- Bait-and-Switch: As the episode opens, it's obviously wedding day at Jack's house, and it's implied Jack and Allison will be getting married, especially when Jack has to talk to the bride about pre-wedding jitters. Then it's revealed that the bride is SARAH, Deputy Andy is the groom, and this is something of an experiment in AI research, studying the pair bonding of emotionally-enabled artificial intelligences.
- Blatant Lies: Fargo tries to protect Zane from certain uncomfortable truths.Zane: Tell me that's not another oxygen leak.
Fargo: It's not another oxygen leak.
Zane: You're lying.
Fargo: Big time, we're screwed. - Call-Back:
- The FTL drive is derived from the bridge device, which Carter describes as "the gift that keeps on giving."
- The gang use the BCE or "catcher's mitt" built by sleepwalking townsfolk in If You Build It....
- Chekhov's Gun/ Chekhov's Gunman: Deputy Andy is lined with copper, protecting him from the ion pulse and allowing him to be used as a power source for the BCE.
- Emotional Regression: Fargo and Zane react to incoming missiles like the men of science they are.Zane: They're trying to kill us!
Fargo: It's standard protocol for any unauthorized launch.
Zane: Oh, "It's standard protocol for any unauthorized launch." Nice last words, you geek!
Fargo: Well, how about this? You're an ass-hat!
Zane: Bite me!
Fargo: Ass-hat, ass-hat, ass-hat!
Zane: Bite me, bite me, bite me! - Everyone Knows Morse: Subverted. Fargo uses the life support panel to send signal pulses to the capsule's radio at GD, but he isn't using Morse code, but ACP-131 Z Code
. - Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Fargo's preferred swearword on finding himself accidentally launched into space in a vessel of uncertain spaceworthiness is, "Holy socks!"
- Hidden Depths: Allison used to be a space geek as kid. Enough that she knows NASA's phone number off by heart.
- Horseback Heroism: With all the cars in Eureka rendered useless by the ion pulse, Jo rustles up some horses from somewhere and the gang ride them for the rest of the episode.
- Loose Lips: Fargo accidentally lets slip that Zane and Jo had a past. And then, not so accidentally, tells Zane everything when they are about to die.Fargo: Well, if you hadn't been trying to extort information!
Zane: I wasn't trying to extort information!
Fargo: No, you were just trying to get into Jo's pants, where you never deserved to be in the first place! [Oh, Crap! face] [Shuts up]
Zane: What first place? [Fargo pretends not to hear] THERE WAS A FIRST PLACE!?!? - Mind Rape: Zane's (not unreasonable) interpretation of the fact that he seems to have had a relationship with Jo that he doesn't remember. Under the sarcastic demeanor, he's freaking out over the fact that someone might have screwed with his memory for unknown reasons. Before firing up the FTL, Fargo tells him the truth.Zane: I wasn't trying to extort anything. I just need you to clue me in. You and Jo.
Fargo: Trust me, let it go.
Zane: Believe me, I'd love to. I hate feeling like this.
Fargo: Like what?
Zane: Like someone's messed with my brain. Erased my memories. We used to be something, Jo and I, but I don't know what, and she does. If you loved someone, wouldn't you want to know? - Nerves of Steel: Fargo, surprisingly, keeps his wits and stays calm through most of the episode, while Zane panics.
- Odd Couple: Fargo and Zane.
- Oh, Crap!:
- A shuttle unexpectedly taking off will tend to illicit this reaction.
Grace: Did we have a launch scheduled?
Allison: No.
Carter: So, not good then.- Carter, when he realises Fargo and Zane are in the launched module that's about to be shot with missiles.
- And again, when Carter aborts the missiles only to be told the module's about to hit the ISS.
- Our Wormholes Are Different: Fargo has found a way to use wormholes for FTL Travel.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- A nonfatal example. Fargo plays in the Mercury module, thinking it's powered down. Zane adds the ion damper he's built to the module, not realising Fargo is in there pressing buttons. Then Zane shuts them both in the module to grill Fargo about Jo...
- Again when Fargo and Henry both come up with using the FTL device to get Fargo and Zane home, with the "catcher's mitt" to get them back safely. Then Zane reveals that he built his ion damper with a part stolen from the mitt, and with no comms he and Fargo can't tell Henry. Firing up the mitt causes an ion pulse that wipes out almost every electronic device in Eureka.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Fargo has been putting Zane off questioning Jo about their relationship by threatening to send him to "the mucus lab," which is (understandably) a serious enough threat to cow Zane for now. He tells Jo that this is just a stall tactic, and she's going to have to tell him something eventually.Jo: Well, I'm really hoping that he'll be transferred to the North Pole or, I dunno, shot into outer space. [Smiling] That'd be nice.
Fargo: Well, the best I can do for now is the mucus lab. - Runaway Bride: SARAH got cold feet and called off the wedding with Andy.
- Secret Chaser: In order to find out what is going on, Zane even attempts to extort Fargo.
- Shout-Out:
- Zane signed into the module with the name, "Professor I.P. Freely."
- Fargo quotes Star Wars: A New Hope while playing in the shuttle.
- His appearance when he and Zane wake up after the launch echoes the Star Child in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- As Jo rides off with him draped over the saddle, Andy yells "I'm on a horse!" referring to an Old Spice advert.
- Fargo tells Zane to fire up the FTL by saying "Engage!", complete with Picard's hand gesture.
- Skewed Priorities: When Allison and Carter manage to use Nasa to call Fargo's cell, he stares at it and asks, "What do you think roaming charges are in space?"
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: After being accidentally launched into space and dinging the I.S.S., Fargo is hauled in front of a Senate committee to answer for the incident.
- Watch the Paint Job: Thanks to Fargo's quick thinking, a head-on collision with the ISS is downgraded to a scrape.Fargo: I scraped the I.S.S. Now they're never gonna let me be an astronaut.
