A Human Reaction

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“A Human Reaction”
Farscape episode
Image:Farscape season 1 episode 16.jpg
John's "father"
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 16
Written by Justin Monjo
Directed by Rowan Woods
Original airdate August 1, 1999
Episode chronology
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List of Farscape episodes

"A Human Reaction" is the sixteenth episode from the first season of the television series Farscape, written by Justin Monjo and directed by Rowan Woods.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

While Chiana and Zhaan clash over Chiana's behavior on Moya, Crichton is ecstatic when Pilot detects the formation of a wormhole—a possible route home. In fact, he can see to the other end of the wormhole, and there's a blue planet that appears to be earth. Deciding to take the risk, Crichton readies Farscape One and says farewell... which he finds harder than he expected. He asks Aeryn to come with him, but she declines.

Crash-landing in Australia, Crichton is greeted by a military squad, and their leader, Wilson, shoots him with a tranquiliser gun. Put in isolation custody, guarded by Cobb, he is treated with deep suspicion by his IASA colleagues regarding: his absence and sudden return after seven months, the new alien technology on his module, the foreign microbes in his brain, and his ability to understand all languages. Finally, his father is allowed to see him, and questions him about the events of his 10th birthday in order to determine if it is really John. Confirmation that it was John hinges on his remembrance that John caught a big trout on his birthday—his father tests him by claiming it was a bass. His father is convinced, but still he seems to be the only one who believes it's really John. They refuse to tell him anything about the world as it currently is or explain why they are so suspicious. The situation becomes far more complicated when one of Moya's transport pods follows after him, bearing Rygel, D'Argo and Aeryn; they had approached the wormhole to monitor Crichton's module, and were inadvertently sucked in. They are intercepted and imprisoned, much to their anger and distress. Rygel complains of illness from the tranquiliser, and John has him taken to the infirmary, after which he talks with his father and tries to get his friends better treatment. Sometime later Crichton finds Rygel's corpse, dissected, in the medical lab. They claim he died, but John tells D'Argo and Aeryn that he believes they killed him. John begs his father to use all of his influence to save them.

Returning to see D'Argo and Aeryn, John finds that D'Argo was taken away, and Aeryn knocked out a guard and took his gun. Aeryn demands to know if Crichton is with her, or "them". John says he's with her, and quickly joins her in an escape. They find out that D'Argo has been taken away, and pistol-whip Cobb. Then they seek refuge for the night in an empty apartment his father knows of. Crichton is distressed by the deaths of his friends and the strange paranoia that has overtaken the people he thought were his friends and colleagues. He and Aeryn seek comfort in each other's arms that night, but the next morning, Aeryn is once again cold to John. Jack visits in the morning. Aeryn worries he will betray them, but instead he warns them to run. John and Aeryn follow his advice and depart. However, in the street, Crichton starts to realise that nothing is as it seems. He know every face he passes, and the newspapers and magazines are all seven months old. Panicking, he flees Aeryn and runs into a bar, and the place and the people are all familiar. The ruse ends when he seeks out a place that he wouldn't have seen before—in this case, the women's restroom—and finds a glowing orange void instead of a room.

Crichton returns to the IASA base and confronts his "father", who explains that the entire experience was a simulation based on Crichton's own memories, and "Jack Crichton" is really a member of the species "the Ancients," whose own world has become unliveable. Their mythology has told them they are to make their new home on a world whose inhabitants would welcome them, and as they only have enough power for one last trip, they create simulations from the minds of each new species they encounter to see if that species will be the one to welcome them. From Crichton they sought "a human reaction" to aliens, and thus have learned that humans would be hostile to them. When Moya's crew, who were actually unharmed, investigated the wormhole Crichton went through, they decided to add them to the simulation for the purposes of verisimilitude.

After showing Crichton his true form, Ancient Jack bids John farewell and good luck in his search for home.

[edit] Guest stars

  • Gigi Edgley as Chiana
  • Andy Cachia as Technician
  • Frankie Davidson as Newsstand guy
  • Kent McCord as Jack Crichton
  • Phillip Gordon as Wilson
  • Albert Mensah as Dialectic
  • Selina Muller as Woman on beach
  • Richard Sydenham as Cobb

[edit] Quotes

  • Crichton: [about his experiences] They have worlds out there, people that you wouldn’t believe. But they do not have chocolate.


  • D'Argo: [after hearing of Rygel's demise] Which one of us do you think they'll kill next, Crichton?
    Crichton: No, it's not going to go down like that. Look, I know you have no reason to trust me -
    D'Argo: You're right, I don't trust you! But you tell those humans when they come for me, I'll kill them.
    Crichton: D'Argo, don't -
    D'Argo: We've tried it your way, and one of us is dead. Go.
    Crichton: Aeryn....
    Aeryn: You know, Crichton, Peacekeepers wouldn't even kill their prisoners to study them. D'Argo's right.


  • Crichton: Aeryn, pick it up, I want to get out of this rain.
    Aeryn: [sticking tongue out to catch drops] Rain....is that what you call this? I like it.

[edit] Notes

  • Jack Crichton has the rank of colonel (or at least is addressed as such by his Australian colleagues).
  • The Ancient in Jack's form informs John Crichton that the world around him is a physical construct by the Ancients, produced from John's memories. This can be interpreted as meaning that the Aeryn, D'Argo, and Rygel that John has been with are also not real. (For example, Rygel is dissected but is later seen alive and healthy). However, the Ancient also says that when John's friends traveled too close to the wormhole, the Ancients decided to make them part of the simulation as well. The fact that they are the real Aeryn, Rygel, and D'Argo is further confirmed in the episode "Family Ties", when Crichton and Aeryn speak of events that occurred in this episode, and establish that they were all really there.
  • When John Crichton panics and runs away from Aeryn, he identifies one of the extras as someone whose sister he dated. In reality, the name was an ad-lib by Ben Browder of a high school classmate who Browder thought would be likely to watch the show, since he was a Trekkie when they were growing up; but that person never contacted Browder following the airing of the show.
  • The rain Aeryn admires and the strange light in her and Crichton's hideaway were an accident —an ad-lib by Claudia Black and an improvisation by the director, because the episode was written for sunny weather but it unexpectedly rained for most of the shoot.
  • When John opens the door to the men's restroom near the end of the episode, the three men in there are, left to right, an uncostumed Anthony Simcoe, episode director Rowan Woods, and

[edit] External links