Lava’s A Many Splendored Thing
Written by Michael Miller, directed by Michael Pattinson
Season 4, episode 4
1st US Transmission Date: 28 June 2002
1st UK Transmission Date: 21 October 2002
Guest Cast: Raelee Hill (Sikozu), Melissa Jaffer (Noranti), John Adam (Raa’Keel), Jack Finsterer (Gleeg), Alan Flower (Frool), Ross Newton (Sloggard), Teo Gebert (Weldon), Mick Roughan (Airek).
Synopsis: Forced to land on a volcanic planet, Rygel, D’Argo, Noranti, and John stumble across a gang of thieves stealing some treasure hidden in caves by a bunch of do-gooders. Rygel is caught in a trap while John, D’Argo and Noranti, unable to escape from the caves, play hide and seek with the thieves.
Sikozu and Chiana manage to use Lo’la to blast into the caves, Noranti signals the owners of the treasure to come rescue them, and John and D’Argo deal with the bad guys and save Rygel. They fly away to rendezvous with Moya.
Buck Rogers Redux: His lo-fi plan to hit the bad guys with rocks actually works; he dives into lava to save Rygel, putting his life at risk to do the right thing. He makes jokes, looks pissed off that his day’s gone sideways again, and generally acts like the John we know and love, but who’s been MIA so far this season.
I Was A Teenage Luxan: D’Argo is on fine form this week, cracking wise, flinging the crew across lava pools and—a comparative rarity for a character who’s supposed to be a mighty warrior—fighting a bad guy one-on-one and decapitating the mug.
Buckwheat the Sixteenth: Rygel’s kleptomaniac tendencies get the crew in trouble again, but he gets his just desserts. Has he ever suffered this badly? Having his nethers sealed in amber when he’s got diarrhoea, then his whole body, then being dropped in lava.
A Ship, A Living Ship!: Moya has received D’Argo’s message and is coming to get them.
Grandma, we love you: She can regurgitate a substance called jilnak. It tastes like chicken but wreaks havoc on your guts. She’s narcoleptic, all of a sudden. Her blind trust in the Tarkans causes all sorts of problems, and she tends to blurt things out in a way that seems almost innocent—hard to square with the ruthless manipulator of the last two episodes. She finally proves herself a useful team player by using her hallucinogenic dust to convince two goons that she’s a belly-dancing alien siren so John and D’Argo can knock them out.
Bobblehead: After working with Crichton in 401, Rygel in 402 and D’Argo in 403, this week she’s teamed up with Chiana. It seems the writers are trying her out alongside each character in turn to see which ones she sparks off best against. Her spiky, patronising but ultimately successful team-up with Chiana is huge fun, and she proves herself well placed amongst the crew when she’s willing to cover her hands in D’Argo’s vomit—no room on Moya for anyone too squeamish about bodily functions of any kind. She can go without food for long periods of time.
Alien Encounters: Tarkan freedom fighters are known for their humanitarian good works throughout the galaxy.
Disney On Acid: Lou Costello was one half of the classic American comedy double act Abbot and Costello.
Blooper: Rygel’s arse is sealed tight in the amber, yet one of his farts escapes. John says Rygel can survive in the amber because he’s amphibious; but that only implies he can extract oxygen from water through gills, not that he can hold his breath for half an hour.
Behind the scenes: John Adam, who plays Raa’Keel also played Bekesh in the first two seasons.
The Verdict: Now here’s an oddity. Neither the writer nor director of this episode have been responsible for an episode of Farscape before, and neither will be again (although Michael Miller was a script editor this season). So it’s strange that this is the first episode this year which, for my money, is both well written and directed, and which feels like Farscape.
It’s not an earth-shatteringly original episode but it’s funny, silly, gross, exciting—everything the show should be. The ambitious sets and design are unlike anything the show’s tried before and they work really well. The bromance between John and D’Argo feels real and funny, and Noranti, while still feeling like she’s there to do what the story demands rather than being a coherent character, is at least amusing and good value for money.
A huge relief after the last three episodes and a sign that Farscape has life left in it yet.
Scott K. Andrews has written episode guides, magazine articles, film and book reviews, comics, audio plays for Big Finish, far too many blogs, some poems you will never read, and three novels for Abaddon. He is, patently, absurd.
I totally agree, but I have a feeling I will be in the minority. It’s not that him falling in love with the holographical representation is unforgiveable – I think many people have preconcieved notions of people that we fall for (although I did also find it a bit creepy). But the fact that, once faced with her feelings towards it he then throws it in her face and makes it about HER behavior!! And while she was certainly blunt, she was never mean. And even if she was, that’s beside the point. After the last episode with somebody usign sex-as-blackmail to help somebody escaped (we watched these two back to back) I was squicked out.
I really would have liked to see more consequences, or at least him realizing exactly why what he did was creepy and why she felt offended by it, even if his motives weren’t as bad as she thought they were, and he did ultimately realize he was just seeing what he wanted to see.
As for the other subplot, I liked it, but it made me really sad, heh. Especially because they never rule out the idea that these could be sentient (although I suppose Deanna would have said something). But my son was weaned a few months ago (sooner than I wanted to) so it kind of struck a cord, ha!
Oh, and my husband had fun imagining what the conversation with Leah and her husband at the end of the episode was REALLY like. “OMG, there is this creepy engineer on this ship, I can’t wait to get home!”
ugh, I just went and re-read the Booby Trap episode, and I forgot they kissed. CREEPY!!!!
Lisamarie@2, your comment makes me want to go write a fanfic about that conversation.
“The engineer on this ship is a real sicko. And I just had to pretend to be friends with him!”
“That’s awful, honey. Perhaps when you get home I can give you a nice backrub…”
Nuts; I just lost a private bet with myself (I had the over/under for the word “creepy” or variations on it at ten, and you only managed nine in the post :-)
I can’t see how La Forge didn’t wind up facing charges for his holosimulation once Brahms discovered it. He’d probably have been exonerated (because it DID save the Enterprise), but in a paramilitary organization, that bit of creepitude deserves at least an administrative hearing. Compounded by his childish behavior and projection, I’d say he’s inordinately fortunate to have retained his commission, much less his post as Chief Officer of the flagship.
Gotta say you ranked this too high. This is one of the worst episodes in any Trek series. I can’t give it a lower rating than the clip show but this has to be a 1 of 10. Brahms reaction in the second half of the episode would be equivilent to Troi being all lovey dovey with the Ullian in Violations. What makes these two Brahms episodes even worse is the implication that these two get together in the end. Awful.
bwamabi: I bumped it to 3 for the Junior B-plot, which was actually kinda nifty….
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Agreed. It was more or less fine up until the point where she confronts him with his behavior, but how they handle that is outrageous. LaForge and only LaForge is at fault, and not calling him out on it is reprehensible, taantamount to an endorsement of stalking.
However, at a guess, I would say (pessimistically) that this behavior doesn’t get any official reprimand because it simply can’t be uncommon. If public computer databases contain a level of personal information about celebrities sufficient for the holodeck to create plausible simulations of them… Barclay and Geordi aren’t going to be the only ones in this situation.
Many socially awkward, lonely people would regularly turn to the holodeck for fantasies of sex, romance… even just friendship. Star Trek: Voyager deals more with the ramifications of this (in what is arguably the best facet of Voyager — the way they explore the mental state of the crew through their use of the holodeck is extremely engaging), but what’s lacking, anywhere, is a sign that Starfleet recognizes and addresses the potential for abuse in any systematic way. there ought to be Academy courses on holo-ethics, with an emphasis on marking that line between fantasy and reality and keeping people from displaying this kind of entitled bullshit. Even just a throwaway line indicating some kind of sensitivity training (and signing Geordi up for a remedial course) would have helped a lot.
I have to admit, they totally dropped the ball with this one. This is a case where the Star Trek Main Character Morality Shield ™ should have been lowered and Geordi should have been raked over the coals.
Even as a teen, the big rant by Geordi about how “I was trying to be NICE” (yeah, nice based on an extended romantic fantasy) left me feeling ill.
Isn’t this the episode where the voices are completely unsynched with the actors’ lips? The part where Geordi is shouting at Leah is so painful to watch because the synch is absolutely glaring.