Scorpius (Farscape)
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| Farscape character | |
 |
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| Scorpius | |
|---|---|
| Title | None |
| Homeworld | None, Scarran laboratory |
| Race | Sebacean/Scarran hybrid |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | Peacekeepers |
| Portrayer | Wayne Pygram |
Scorpius is a fictional character in the television science fiction series Farscape.
Played by Wayne Pygram, he is the half-Sebacean, half-Scarran Peacekeeper who pursues John Crichton for the secrets of wormhole technology locked in John Crichton's unconscious mind to create a wormhole weapon [1]. He is the product of an experiment by the Scarrans--his Sebacean mother was raped by a Scarran in order to see if there would be any benefit to a hybrid. Raised by Scarrans, he has come to hate them, to reject his Scarran side, and to live for revenge against them.
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[edit] Physical attributes
Scorpius' body is shaped more like a Sebacean/humanoid than a Scarran, though he has grey, lizard-like skin that is closer to the Scarran than Sebacean form. He is much stronger than a Sebacean, but is rarely physically violent. His unique heritage gives him the ability to see light/heat spectra, enabling him to distinguish a subject's species through each species' unique signature, as well as tell when someone is lying. Scorpius has a highly-trained mind, enabling him to resist torture and the Scarran heat-based mind probes.
Since he is a Sebacean/Scarran hybrid, he at once suffers from the Sebacean inability to tolerate extreme heat and the higher body temperatures imposed by his Scarran heritage. This makes for an unhealthy combination, one that Scorpius compensates for through the use of sophisticated equipment built into his heat dissipating costume. This includes a coolant rod imbedded inside his brain, which must be replaced periodically as they heat up according to Scorpius' energy expenditure. They may overheat quickly if he overexerts himself for too long a time. If Scorpius' body temperature rises too high, the coolant rod will be automatically ejected from his skull for replacement. He needs help from others to change the rod.
[edit] Character traits
He prides himself on his patience and his intellect. Scorpius is willing to do absolutely anything to achieve his goals, which he is very honest about when it suits him. He will (and does over the course of the series) lie, kill in cold blood, order the deaths of multitudes, torture innocents, and sacrifice those close to him in order to get what he wants. He is also willing to aid his enemies or humiliate himself if it will further his goals. He has returned from supposedly fatal situations more than once, which he credits to his "foresight and preparation." He manipulates others to do his work but does much on his own; his obsession with Crichton and his wormhole secrets is proof of that. He is highly educated, very intelligent, and extremely clever. Only he knows how deep his schemes run and, while he claims his main desire is to eliminate the Scarran threat, protagonist John Crichton is loathe to ever trust him.
His rank is never mentioned, and it is assumed that he does not officially hold one. Wayne Pygram seemed to confirm this during an interview on the Farscape DVD set, and Dominar Rygel XVI once claimed that he was "higher even than a captain" ("I-Yensch, You-Yensch"). His authority is not absolute, however, as Commandant Mele-On Grayza informed him when she superseded it. He does have the authority to command a research base, a command carrier, and even a fleet of command carriers. Since he has commanded a fleet of craft, he may hold the equivalent authority of a low ranking admiral or Fleet Captain (similar to that held by Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation on several occasions), allowing him special privileges in command situations. During Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, Scorpius was seen commanding much larger fleets, so his rank would most likely be equivalent to vice admiral or full admiral at this time. Official Peacekeeper ranks at this level have never been established, so the specifics are conjectural.
[edit] Character development
[edit] Season 1
In his first appearance on the show, he encounters Crichton disguised as a Peacekeeper, and is immediately able to identify him as an imposter (due to his non-Sebacean energy signature) and has him arrested. While holding Crichton captive, Scorpius probes John's mind with a Peacekeeper device called an Aurora Chair, which Scorpius seems to have invented. During the interrogation Scorpius discovers (as does John) that a race of alien beings called Ancients planted latent knowledge regarding wormhole technology in John's head, gifting him with the ability to effectively research and develop such technology in order to take himself home to Earth. Scorpius then becomes determined to wrest that knowledge from John's mind. Meanwhile, Scorpius takes control of the command carrier formerly captained by Bialar Crais. John manages to escape Scorpius with the help of his friends, leading into Season 2 where the crew of Moya are on the run from Scorpius.
[edit] Season 2
Soon John Crichton is seeing visions of Scorpius, often in absurd contexts. Slowly it is revealed that Scorpius placed a neural chip with a clone of his own mind into Crichton's brain to get the secrets of wormhole technology from his subconscious. This neural clone appears in visions only Crichton can see, and sometimes influences Crichton's behavior. Crichton nicknames the clone "Harvey" after the imaginary giant rabbit Jimmy Stewart talked to in the film of the same name. Harvey has multiple goals: firstly, to find a way to acquire the wormhole knowledge lodged in John's brain; secondly, to safeguard John's life to keep safe the knowledge he holds.
From the appearances of Scorpius throughout Season 2, it becomes apparent that Scorpius' goal for weaponizing wormholes is not for galactic domination, but rather for survival in the face of a rising Scarran empire. He appears to genuinely care about Sebaceans and doesn't want them exterminated, and at the same time is highly motivated by revenge against the Scarrans, whom he hates. By the end of the season, Scorpius has achieved his goal. He has retrieved his chip from Crichton's brain and defeated Crichton.
[edit] Season 3
With the neural chip in Scorpius' possession, he now has enough information to greatly advance his own research. Due to some form of "neural bleed," Harvey remains in John's mind, but is unable to control John as before now that the chip is gone (he is more a prisoner/occupant in John's mind). Whereas Scorpius is quietly menacing throughout the series, Harvey soon becomes clownish at times, appearing in humorous scenes based on Crichton's memories and fantasies. John also begins research of his own in earnest. It is revealed that Scorpius' reasons for hating Scarrans are very personal: he is the product of a Sebacean colonist woman who was raped by the Scarrans who captured her. Scorpius grew up on a Scarran Dreadnought, taught every day that his Sebacean half was weak and needed to be conquered. Failure in any way resulted in torture. He escapes using his cunning and defects to the Peacekeepers. At first suspect, he gains their trust. He is recaptured by the Scarrans while foolishly investigating his past on his own. After some torture, he escapes again - further confirming his loyalty to the Peacekeepers.
At the end of Season 3, John manages to lie to Scorpius (with the help of Harvey) in spite of the half-breed's ability to detect when someone is lying. Crichton tells him that he finally wants to help in his wormhole research. During a test of a wormhole John betrays Scorpius, and the former Captain Crais has the command carrier blown up with the aid of his Leviathan gunship Talyn.
With his ship gone, and having disobeyed Peacekeeper High Command (by continuing his research), vengeance against the Scarrans seems an unlikely prospect for Scorpius.
[edit] Season 4
Captured and humiliated by Commandant Grayza, and later imprisoned by Moya's crew, it is shown that Scorpius will endure almost anything to achieve his goals. He even allies himself with Moya's crew to protect the wormhole secrets in Crichton's brain and to convince John to help him resume their earlier research. Scorpius also crafts a device he claims will remove Harvey from John's mind. But this later turns out to be another deception.
Harvey resurfaces when John leaves Scorpius behind to die at the hands of Scarrans. Scorpius' device did not erase Harvey, but instead, insured Harvey's loyalty would be to Scorpius rather than Crichton, and that, if John betrayed Scorpius, Harvey would resurface. Harvey's stated purpose was to ensure the survival of Scorpius by influencing John. Harvey also claimed that Scorpius knew everything Harvey knew, but later, Scorpius indicated that this was a lie Harvey told in order to gain John's cooperation.
However, during a pitched battle at the beginning of The Peacekeeper Wars, after John has been crystalized into thousands of pieces and is seemingly dead, he is revived. Scorpius is somehow able to sense John's (and Harvey's) reappearance and location. This suggests that some form of telepathy may be at work between him and Harvey. There is no indication that Scorpius could read Crichton's thoughts, however, so the extent of this connection remains unclear.
[edit] The Peacekeeper Wars
During the Scarran-Peacekeeper War, Scorpius is given the position of commander of a Peacekeeper armada. Though his fleet's first battle goes well, Scorpius has his carrier pull out and make for Qujaga, the location of the recently revived John Crichton. With this action, Scorpius' commission is terminated and he is ordered to be executed on sight by the Peacekeepers' Grand Chancellor. Hoping to convince Crichton to give the Peacekeepers wormhole weaponry (see: Farscape Wormhole weapon) and end the war, Scorpius accompanies Crichton on his travels to Arnessk, in the captivity of the Scarrans, and back to Qujaga. He helps the crew of Moya defend the Eidelons' temple from a Scarran attack and he assists them when they are forced to fight their way back to Moya. Scorpius is last shown overseeing the signing of the treaty that ends the war, apparently quite satisfied that two people he despises, Grayza and Staleek, have been forced into peace.
