Season 4, Episode 1:
Crichton Kicks
After months alone on a dying Leviathan named Elac with nothing to do except put down his wormhole knowledge, Crichton has gone almost completely insane. He's only broken from this state by the arrival of Leviathan "expert" Sikozu, the band of pirates pursuing her, and some old friends in trouble.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- An Arm and a Leg: The brindz hound rips off Sikozu's hand. Fortunately for her, it can be reattached if done quickly enough. It comes off again briefly, though, during the climax because the flesh hadn't had time to fully re-bond.
- Animal Motifs: At one point we have Chiana looking up at Sikozu perched halfway up a wall with overt cat/bird motif.
- Art Evolution: Starting with this episode the series is now filmed in widescreen as opposed to the 4:3 Aspect Ratio of the first three seasons.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Crichton asks Rygel to lure the pirate's brindz hound to him for his trap. After doing his part, Rygel conveys this attitude.Rygel: OH-HO-HO-HO-HO! You wanted him?! You got him!
- Blind Seer: Chiana's ability to see the future has evolved into this. She now has control over it, but she begins to suffer Temporary Blindness each time (and each time lasts longer than the last).
- Cat Fight: Chiana and Sikozu get in some punches and kicks.
- Cold Equation: How Sikozu reasoned finding the burial site. She'd rather an older Leviathan soon to die be harvested instead of one in its prime. Conversely, Crichton accuses her of simply looking for an easier target for the Grudeks.
- Continuity Nod:
- In Crichton's first beach vision Harvey is wearing his infamous Mambo Loud shirt from "Crackers Don't Matter" which was (technically) the character's first appearance.
- Crichton tasks Rygel with finding Sikozu's severed hand."Severed heads, severed hands. It's a motif."
- Deadly Gas: Sikozu and Crichton escape fumigation by ducking into the latter's module.
- Faking the Dead: Discussed and defied. After a firefight, Sikozu advises Crichton to lay low and make it look like they killed him. Instead, he walks over to the edge and shouts, "YA MISSED!"
- Foreign Money Is Proof of Guilt: Chiana suspects Sikozu of being involved with the Scarrans due to having their currency. Sikozu asserts that she simply grew up in Scarran territory but hates them. She also points out the others come from the Peacekeeper side of the tracks."What kind of change do you have in your pocket?!"
- Headache of Doom: Chiana's prophetic abilities have evolved into slow-motion insight of the present, but at a terrible cost: afterwards, she experiences crippling headaches so severe that Temporary Blindness ensues.
- Hypocritical Humor: Harvey tells John to stay focused, then gets Distracted by the Sexy sight of the bikini beauties in John's beach fantasy-scape.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Shades of this for Sikozu when Crichton learns that, for all her studying, she's never set foot on a Leviathan until now. She knows a good bit, but she doesn't know each Leviathan changes over time to accommodate passengers, which causes them to deviate in random ways from the universal specs.
- Nerds Speak Klingon: John is not your typical nerd but he is still a brilliant engineer and astrophysicist, and in this episode he shouts some Klingon at the aliens attacking the ship (an ad-lib by Browder).
- Person as Verb: "So you Jacques Cousteau'd your way upstream to where they die."
- Robot Buddy: Crichton has turned one of Elack's DRDs into one of these, painting it in the colors of the French flag and naming it "1812" after the overture.
- Ship Tease: Crichton gets a greeting kiss (and not Anywhere but Their Lips) from Chiana, and has noticeable Unresolved Sexual Tension when he's crammed in with Sikozu in the module.
- Shout-Out:
- Guess what overture the DRD named 1812 plays. It's also played during the climax.
- Harvey appears in John's Baywatch-theme fantasy world.
- When Sikozu asks Crichton for the alphabet of his language, he ends up singing The Alphabet Song.
- Skewed Priorities: Rygel is smug over how the price on his head is bigger than Chiana's.
- Stepford Smiler: Chiana tries to dismiss being raped and tortured as "nothing new", but finds it difficult to maintain her previous perky character.
- Time-Passage Beard: Crichton has again grown a beard while away from Moya. He shaves it off halfway through the episode, to Rygel's bemusement.
- Browder actually did grow a beard this time, but somehow it looks even faker than the one in in Jeremiah Crichton. The fact his facial hair is noticeably red while the hair on top of his head is not probably contributes.
- Time Skip: A "Some Time Later..." caption is used to indicate a vague amount of time has passed since the last episode.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Chiana, due to her freaking out over her evolving superpower and the consequences of using it. Being raped and tortured for trying to use it for gambling hasn't improved the matter either.
- Translator Microbes: Averted. Sikozu's species can't tolerate them. They learn languages simply by hearing the words. Crichton starts mixing in Spanish and Klingon just to mess with her.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A half-mad and Seen It All Crichton views Sikozu's Dynamic Entry with monumental disinterest.
- "Wanted!" Poster: Chiana and Rygel had to seek out Moya because everywhere they go they find beacons offering rewards for their capture. Rygel smugly points out that his reward is seven million credits while Chiana's is only five million.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Sikozu was supposed to merely find a Leviathan travel route for the Grudeks. She found the burial site instead. Since harvesting a Leviathan's toubray tissue is worth good money, the Grudeks don't want her sharing the location with anyone else.
