Recap / Farscape S 01 E 03 Exodus From Genesis

Season 1, Episode 3:

Exodus from Genesis

When a Peacekeeper Marauder arrives in the same system as Moya, presumably sent by Crais on a search-and-capture mission, she hides near a stellar cloud of unknown material — which turn out to be bug creatures known as Draks, currently in the midst of "genesis", their birthing cycle. Apparently, these creatures use passing ships as birthing grounds, and Moya unwitting becomes a host for them. Not long after they make themselves at home, Crichton encounters one of them; in a panic, he kills it. Believing that they are being threatened, the Draks start interfering with Moya's systems, raising the temperature to accelerate the birthing process and producing "doubles" of Moya's crew to sabotage the ship.

The rising temperature starts affecting Aeryn: as a Sebacean, she can't regulate her internal body temperature, and the heat is sending her into a condition called "Sebacean heat delirium". Beginning with mild disorientation and continuing on through loss of short term memory, muscle coodination, long term memory, the condition ends in a permanent coma known only as "the Living Death"- the only circumstance in which Peacekeepers kill their own out of mercy. In a desperate attempt at preventing the sweltering temperatures from worsening Aeryn's condition or damaging Moya's systems, Pilot opens the docking bay to vent some of the heat into space- even though this might leave them open to attack from enemy ships.

When a Drak manages to implant a spore in Zhaan, their Monarch uses her to communicate; after finally managing to establish who they are and what they want, she and Crichton work out a deal to keep the temperature low enough to keep Aeryn safe for the time being without ruining the birthing cycle. It's going well until the Peacekeeper Marauder returns, taking advantage of the open docking bay to board Moya and deposit a crew of heavily-armed commandoes; encountering some of the duplicates, they naturally open fire- spoiling the deal. With the Monarch no longer interested in what Crichton has to say, Rygel approaches the Drak hive himself, and manages to negotiate a new deal: crank the heat up enough to disable the commandoes, and provide Crichton with an entire battalion of duplicates.

While Zhaan keeps Aeryn stable with cold water, Crichton, D'Argo and the duplicates successfully bluff the commandos into believing that humans possess the ability to clone themselves, and send them away with a warning on the subject for Crais. Genesis completes and the Draks leave peacefully.

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Tropes present in this episode include:

• Air Vent Infiltration: The Draks; which means Rygel isn't happy when he has to enter the vents himself. Crichton and D'Argo have to follow his progress from the outside, banging on the walls to scare off any Draks that might be lurking there.
• Artistic License – Biology: If Sebaceans are cold-blooded they should handle heat better. For instance snakes do well in deserts, not least because they don't have to eat as much as warm-blooded animals. Cold would actually be more of a problem because there's no external temperature to warm them up.
• Attack Pattern Alpha:
  Melkor: Our objective is Command. Advance pattern Decca. Shoot to kill is your order!
• Badass Boast: Crichton uses his replicants to make the Peacekeepers think that humans can copy themselves by the thousands. Their leader lunges at Crichton and puts a knife to his throat.
  Crichton: Go ahead. Use your blade. Then next time Crais sees my face, his crew'll be dead and he'll be staring up from a pool of his own blood.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: When Melkor finds what's assumed to be the corpse of the renegade Officer Aeryn Sun, he comments that she was fortunate to be spared the fate that Captain Crais had in mind.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies
  Crichton: I think I've found our problem...bugs!
  Aeryn: Stop wasting time. Ship's beetles don't clog exhaust vents.
  Crichton: Well they might if they're two feet long!
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Rygel once again shows that he has skills in areas other than eating, and manages to successfully negotiate with the Monarch.
• Captain Obvious: Rygel is trapped in the vent by Drak bugs.
  Rygel: If I sit perfectly still, they don't advance. Yet when I move...they get disagreeable!
  D'Argo: Right. (in a commanding tone) Don't move!
  Rygel: If we ever survive this, Luxan, you must become my advisor.
• Ceiling Cling: Crichton jumps up off the floor on encountering the first Drak, only to be startled by another one hiding in the 'rafters' of Moya.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Crichton can't open a door until Zhaan shows him the right way to pull the lever. When Crichton comes across Zhaan struggling to open a door lever, it's Five-Second Foreshadowing that it's not the real Zhaan.
  • Pilot opens the cargo doors to cool down the ship to give Aeryn more time, despite her objections that it leaves them vulnerable to attack. Later the Peacekeeper Marauder flies right into the open cargo bay.
• Decapitation Presentation: Crichton walks in holding his own head!
• Distinction Without a Difference: After everyone else is busy or immobilized, Crichton says to D'Argo that "It's just you and me."
  D'Argo: Actually, it is just me! (beat) And you.
• Due to the Dead: Zhaan gives a prayer of the dead to the Drak bug that Crichton kills, even though it just seems like a parasite at the time.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The commandos wear Egyptian-style eye makeup which is never seen again.
• Fate Worse than Death: The final stage of heat delirium, called the "Living Death". Apparently it's the only time a Peacekeeper will show mercy to end the suffering.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Zhaan points out that D'Argo and Aeryn are soldiers and Crichton needs to earn their respect by deeds rather than words. Crichton risks his life to remove the Marauder squad, earning D'Argo's respect, while Rygel earns Crichton and D'Argo's respect by risking his life to negotiate with the Monarch.
• Fish out of Water: Crichton is still struggling to adapt to his new, extremely alien, environment where even simple things like how to open doors are confusing to him.
• Foreshadowing: The Aeryn/Pilot scene for the close relationship they'll later develop.
• The Heart: Zhaan provides a sympathetic ear to Crichton's complaints about how Aeryn and D'Argo treat him and gives advice on how to gain their acceptance. She recognises the possibility of the Drak being sentient beings when the others are still thinking of them as pests.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: The Marauder squad tear off their helmets the moment they realise how hot it is on board Moya.
• Hope Spot:
  • Zhaan discovers a way to dissolve the blue sealant and is immediately stunned by the Not Quite Dead Drak bug she's been autopsying.
  • Crichton talks the Monarch into not killing them, as it just wants to spawn and return to space. Then the Marauder locates them.
• Human Outside, Alien Inside: We get our first major sign that despite appearances, Sebaceans are not physically identical to humans.
• Hypocrite: Crichton complains about how D'Argo isn't cutting him some slack, but D'Argo later calls him on doing likewise with Rygel when he's doing the best he can.
• Hyperspeed Escape: Crichton suggests they just starburst away from the Marauder, but that would only give away their position to Crais who'd follow up with his Command Carrier which they can't outrun (though they did in the premiere episode).
• Idiot Ball: Farscape One, Aeryn's Prowler and Moya's transport pods all have their own independent life support systems and thus should be perfectly comfortable. This seems like the obvious way to cool Aeryn down and yet it is never once suggested nor is it stated that the bugs have somehow prevented this option.
• Like a Duck Takes to Water: Averted; Crichton doesn't even know the correct way to open a door on Moya and complains that the others think he's an idiot because he doesn't understand everyday things that they take for granted.
• Literary Allusion Title: To the first two books of The Bible.
• Mercy Kill: Peacekeepers will do this to those suffering from the "Living Death" phase of Heat Delirium rather than let them suffer. Aeryn asks John to do this if she reaches that stage. Luckily her condition doesn't get that far.
• Mirror Match: Crichton gets into a fight with one of the clones of himself. He points out that this gives him an advantage as he knows all his own moves.
• Monster Is a Mommy: The Monarch of the Draks.
• Mother of a Thousand Young: Again, the Monarch.
• Organic Technology: D'Argo gets Crichton to clean his teeth by shoving a dentic grub into his mouth. Crichton is grossed out, but it does work. And it's kind of minty.
• Our Clones Are Different: Moya is infested by a hive of insect-like Draks that begin producing clones of the crew so that they can keep the ship at the ideal temperature for the Drak Monarch to breed. These clones are born from cocoons as fully-clothed adults, and though they can easily adapt their bodies to cancel out Crichton's Impostor-Exposing Test, they can't speak. Plus, while they can fight just as effectively as their targets, it's very easy to rip their limbs off — revealing that they have gelatinous blue gunk instead of blood. On the upside, they are very easy to create in bulk, giving both the crew and the Draks an advantage when Peacekeepers invade Moya.
• Playing Possum: D'Argo seizes a rifle off a Peacekeeper by posing as a dead replicant, lying on a pool of Alien Blood.
• Robotic Reveal: Crichton grabs Aeryn—apparently suffering from heat delirium—to stop her entering a command that will raise the heat, only for her arm to tear off in his hand, with her insides revealed to consist of blue gunk.
• Shout-Out:
  • Crichton promises to rent Animal House for Zhaan when she doesn't understand the concept of fraternity hazing.
  • The fake crewmembers are referred to as replicants.
• Shower Scene: When Crichton gets Monarch to increase the heat to knock out the PK squad, Zhaan keeps Aeryn stable by dragging her into the shower.
• Silence, You Fool!: The Monarch to Crichton, who refuses to shut up and persuades the Monarch to release him from their cell to fend off the Marauder squad.
• Space Clouds: As usual they're used for Stealth in Space, but unfortunately this one is actually The Swarm.
• Spare a Messenger: D'Argo wants to kill the PK squad, now helpless from heat delirium, but Crichton tells them to get on their Marauder and tell Crais he don't know what he's messin' with. D'Argo is skeptical as to whether Crais will be deterred, even if he does believe the tall tale of some delirious grunts that Crichton can clone himself. Crais never brings the matter up in later episodes, so it's clear that he didn't.
• Spot the Imposter: Subverted; Crichton puts a spot of orange paint on everyone's hand, but the clones simply copy the mark once they see it (it's just as well they didn't use D'Argo's suggestion of cutting off the tip of their little finger). Fortunately, the replicants can't talk...only it appears they can do that as well when a replicant Zhaan attacks them. But then Crichton stops D'Argo killing her, realising it's actually Zhaan being controlled by Monarch.
• Starfish Aliens: The Monarch. We only see vague glimpses of her, but it's clear that she's big, insectoid, and very hard to describe.
• Super Spit: The blue gunk that hardens into a substance that's Made of Indestructium and is used to seal up Moya's vents to raise her internal temperature.
• Talking Your Way Out: D'Argo is ready to fight but Crichton talks the Monarch into not killing them and talks the Peacekeepers into leaving.
• There Was a Door: Pilot is outraged when D'Argo, frustrated over the inability of the laser saw to cut through the blue gunk, starts cutting into Moya's bulkhead without warning him first. He gets through only to find another bulkhead beyond that.
• Verbal Business Card: "I am Rygel, 16th of my lineage, Dominar of the Hynerian Empire. I am at once your equal, and your humble petitioner, requesting an audience."
• Voice of the Legion: Zhaan, when possessed by the Monarch, speaks like this.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Sebacean heat delirium, though it's not quite established exactly how much heat it takes to start it.
• What the Hell Are You?: Melkor asks this when confronted by multiple Crichtons.
• What Would X Do?: Zhaan manages to talk Rygel into approaching the Drak hive by asking him (over the comms) "What would Rygel the First do?"
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: When Aeryn has a momentary faint, Pilot catches her in a claw and says how unusual it is to be so close to a Peacekeeper and not be afraid. Aeryn gives him a glare and Pilot has to explain he actually meant it as a compliment.
• You Are Not Alone:
  Crichton: We're stuck together. As long as we are, we might as well be—
  Aeryn: What? Family? Friends? (derisive laugh) I want neither.
  Crichton: Somebody's got to be there when you need it.
  Aeryn: No offense human, but what could I possibly need from you?
  Crichton: Oh, I don't know. Manners, personality, stock tips...
  • This becomes a Meaningful Echo when Aeryn asks Crichton to Mercy Kill her. "You said I'm not alone. A friend would do this for me; family would do it swiftly."
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Discussed Trope when Crichton notes that he killed on sight the first Drak he saw.