Farscape Season 1, Vol. 7 - The Flax/Jeremiah Crichton

Director: Tony Tilse, Geoff Bennett (II), Ian Watson (II)
Studio: Adv Films
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
"The Flax": When Crichton and Aeryn's Transport Pod is ensnared in an invisible drift net called The Flax, a former Zenetan pirate offers to free it for a small fee. He also promises he'll take D'Argo to a Luxan ship that is similarly trapped. But when readings indicate that Crichton and Aeryn's pod is running out of atmosphere, D'Argo must make a difficult choice-retrieve the star charts that will take him home or save his friends!

Description

"The Flax": When Crichton and Aeryn's Transport Pod is ensnared in an invisible drift net called The Flax, a former Zenetan pirate offers to free it for a small fee. He also promises he'll take D'Argo to a Luxan ship that is similarly trapped. But when readings indicate that Crichton and Aeryn's pod is running out of atmosphere, D'Argo must make a difficult choice-retrieve the star charts that will take him home or save his friends!

Customer Reviews:

Farscape regulars begin to work together.......2005-02-25

"The Flax" is memorable for presenting the first real intimations of the Crichton/Aeryn (Ben Browder/Claudia Black) romance that will later prove to be such an anchor for the series. The bickering couple is stranded in an energy-dampening space trap and must make some hard choices as they face the very real possibility of impending death. Meanwhile, D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) must also make some hard choices, as he agonizes over which is the greater priority: rescuing his erstwhile crewmates or searching a Luxon derelict for information about his missing son.

Crew cohesion appears to be increasing in "Jeremiah Crichton," in which John is stranded on a primative planet. The other inhabitants of Moya temporarily abandon their individual agendas to search for him. The resulting situation, in which Rygel is hailed as a god, may be cliché, but it has the virtue of being very well written and often funny.

Love, Abandonment, & Games all in one........2004-06-17

It was well into the first season before the Farscape we've come to know and love arrived. "The Flax" is one of the first episodes to capture that spirit.

"The Flax" is three subplots that meld into one fine show. Onboard Moya, Zhaan & Rygel must delay the guardians of the 'flax' (a kind of space web that traps ships for plunder). These pirates must be delayed because John & Aeryn are trapped in the flax and are running out of air. D'Argo, with the assistance of a rogue collector, sets out to free John 'n Aeryn. But he gets diverted to a gigantic salvage yard to search for clues about his son's wherabouts.

Admittedly, there is a certain "soapy" quality to each plot, but the acting and nice storyline twists keep this way above the "All My Children" level. 'Shippers (a term for those who follow John 'n Aeryn's budding relationship) will note that this is the first episode where they reveal their feelings for each other (the earlier episode PK Tech Girl only scratched the surface). Not to mention the top notch special effects work, particulary the junk yard with the Luxon ship.

A real highlight is the fantastic music by Subvision. Take particular note of the scene when D'Argo says, "...but can I look him (my son) in the eye." The background music is simply wonderful.

"Jerimiah Chricton" starts off with a great tease of John being abandoned by Moya after an accidental starburst. He's stranded on a paradise-ish planet where a dampning field prevents power sources from working. The Moya crew manages to find John and keep him from the clutches of the natives.

This episode features some really good special effects (take note of the first scene after the credits where John is sunbathing on his ship) and some humerous moments with Rygel. But all in all, it's not that interesting since the "natives" look like refugees from "Xena: Warrior Princess" and lack the ability to act. Plus the plot is boringly predictable, despite a end of show twist involving Rygel.

All in all, a worthy edition to your Farscape collection.

Farscape at its best.......2003-06-08

Two A-plus episodes that showcase all of Farscape's strengths.

Moya's crew actually start acting like a crew (Finally!).......2003-02-27

I do not know if it by design but the two episodes of "Farscape" on Volume 7 of Season 1 have a thematic unity in that they find Moya's crew actually starting to act like their are actually crewmates. In Episode 13, "The Flax," Crichton (Ben Browder) and Aeryn's (Claudia Black) Transport Pod becomes immobilized in the Flax, an invisible drift net used by scavenging Zenetan pirates. One of them shows up on Moya and offers D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) the opportunity to visit a Luxan ship also stuck in the Flax. Meanwhile, Crichton and Aeryn are running out of atmosphere had have to make some hard choices that will obviously remind you of "The Abyss." Any episode that has Crichton teaching Aeryn CPR is my sort of episode.

In Episode 14, "Jeremiah Crichton," the earthman gets in a snit and goes out in his ship to get away from it all. Unfortunately the pregnant Moya reacts to this by doing a spontaneous star burst. A quarter cycle later we find a bearded Crichton trying to survive on the planet Acquara where he is fast becoming the odd man out in a love triangle. He cannot get off the planet because something is draining all the power. Meanwhile the Farscape gang has been searching every planet in the area looking for Crichton, mainly because of the insistence of D'Argo and Aeryn. When D'Argo and Rygel investigate Acquara they also fall victim of the power drain. Then things get interesting when the locals decide that Rygel is their promised savior who will deliver them unto the light.

Now, I am not really sure why D'Argo suddenly considers Crichton to be a true crewmate and am also clueless as to why Rygel does the right thing two episodes in a row as well, but it is about time. Not that this will stop anybody from going after each other in the future. Right now my big question is what is going to happen on "Farscape" first: Aeryn and Zhaan (Virginia Hey) coming to blows, Aeryn and Crichton jumping each other, or Moya having her baby. I just started watching the series on DVD so this is all news to me and while I have yet to see any really great episodes, I think the first season of "Farscape" is stronger than that of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and we all know how good that one got down the road.

7th Farscape DVD is Good.......2002-03-12

Like the two previous DVDs in the FARSCAPE series, this weventh DVD shows how willing the FARSCAPE team is to experiment with the series and the two episodes on this DVD are worthy of note simply because one is so negatively overrated at times and one is so under appreciated.

This seventh DVD begins with "The Flax," an episode of FARSCAPE that finds Crichton learning how to fly a transport pod from Aeryn, while the others wait for them to return on board Moya. When the transport pod encounters an invisible mesh in space, designed to trap ships on behalf of the Zenetan pirates, called the Flax, Aeryn and Crichton are forced to struggle for their survival. Meanwhile on Moya, the remaining crew encounter Staanz, a former pirate who can help the characters recover Aeryn and John, if D'Argo can overcome a selfish streak. The episode is one of the better ones of the first season that has some interesting characterisation, shows several of the characters in a different light, and gives us the first kiss between Aeryn and Crichton (abeit under duress). The bonus footage on this one makes it an even more enjoyable episode, but I think it would have been terrific to see a commentary version of this episode with Ben and Claudia. Pity really that that wasn't an option.

The second episode on this DVD, "Jeremiah Crichton", is one of the more underrated of the first season episodes. When Crichton leaves Moya in a huff in Farscape 1 and the pregnant Leviathan is forced to Starburst, Crichton finds himself all alone. Some three months later, Moya's crew comes looking for him and finds him living on an idyllic planet called Acquara. But there is more going on here than first appears, as an energy field dampens the use of all technology, and when Rygel and D'Argo descend to the planet they find a Crichton who doesn't necessarily want to return to Moya. Meanwhile, Rygel's presence on the planet lifts the spirits of the Acquarans, since he is prophesised as the one who will "lead us into the light." The episode is a terrific piece of underrated work based on the movie JEREMIAH JOHNSON with the FARSCAPE twists and turns that we've all come to know and love. Some of the dialogue here is scintillating, although not as good as the one-liners from "The Flax," but the episode also features some very nice outdoor camera work and a good job of acting by Ben Browder and the rest - even if Aeryn and Zhaan literally sit on the ship with nothing to do. The extra footage here is very nice and offers all manner of little bits that complete the episode seen on tv with commercials. Again there is no commentary version to this one, and so the story must stand on its own.

The seventh DVD based on the first season of FARSCAPE highlights two episodes that, to me, are an indication of some of the unique aspects of characterisation that are found in the series, as well as the FARSCAPE production team's willingness to try new things. With little in the way of features and extra material on the DVD, the steep price of this one (as is typical for the series on the part of ADV Films) makes it a good DVD to own for the compleatist FARSCAPE fan. I've given it four stars because the quality of the DVD is very high, the extra footage makes the piece all worthwhile, and the material in the Profile adds some perspective on the series overall - but these DVDs need some extras, some *oomph!* to them, to make them worth the price we're paying for these [people].

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