"Farscape" PK Tech Girl (1999)

Director:

Tony Tilse

Writer:

Nan Hagan (writer)

TV Series:

"Farscape" (1999)

Original Air Date:

17 April 1999 (Season 1, Episode 5)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

After finding the legendary Peacekeeper battleship, Zelbinion, dead in space and emptied of most of its useful technologies Crichton...

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Space | Fugitive | Technology | Villain

Cast

Ben Browder	...	John Crichton
Claudia Black	...	Officer Aeryn Sun
Virginia Hey	...	Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan
Anthony Simcoe	...	Ka D'Argo
Alyssa-Jane Cook	...	Gilina Renaez
Peter Astridge	...	Lomus
Peter Knowles	...	Evran
David Wheeler	...	Captain Selto Durka
Jonathan Hardy	...	Dominar Rygel XVI (voice)
Lani John Tupu	...	Capt. Bialar Crais (as Lani Tupu)
Phillip Hinton	...	Teurac (voice)
Chris Truswell	...	Evran (voice) (as Christopher Truswell)

Trivia:

Crichton has the line about the Zelbinion: "Just ask Leonardo DiCaprio. Even the big ones go down." The first time the scene was filmed, Ben Browder ad-libbed 'Bill Clinton''s name in the place of Leonardo DiCaprio. They were forced to shoot it as written because it was unsure whether such a line would be appropriate.

Quotes:

John Crichton: They spit fire? How come nobody tells me this stuff, how come nobody told me they spit fire?

Movie Connections:

References Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (1966)

Sweet with Good Continuity

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"PK Tech Girl", the first episode of Farscape to be made on its own (as opposed to the previous episodes, which were made two-at-a-time), exhibits nearly everything that defines Farscape. It has bold alien costumes, interesting character conflicts, and fun action. That being said, "PK Tech Girl" is far from perfect, but it still comes across as a strong, intelligent episode.

"PK Tech Girl" opens with Moya encountering a derelict Peacekeeper ship called the Zelbinion, an extremely powerful carrier was lost years ago. Rygel was held captive and tortured on board the ship for years by the captain, Durka. Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo soon encounter a Peacekeeper technician named Gilina, who was left by Captain Crais. Soon, an alien race called the Sheyang, who breath fire and basically look like giant frogs, threaten to destroy Moya.

The main plot threads of the episode concern the Sheyang attacks on the Zelbinion, Rygel's attempts to overcome his horrible memories of Durka, D'Argo and Zhaan's attempts to bluff the Sheyang, and a romance between Crichton and Gilina. Each subplot more or less works. The Sheyang attacks had good visuals but were borderline underdone. Rygel searching for Durka's corpse is perhaps the strongest element of the episode, revealing a previously unseen sympathetic side of his character. D'Argo's speeches to bluff the Sheyang are well-delivered, but his problems with lieing to an opponent, despite adding more to his character, seem unnecessary and thrown in to add conflict. The romance between Crichton and Gilina is too predictable, and their relationship escalates way to quickly. On the other hand, the scenes with Crichton and Gilina reveal a lot about both of their characters. Aeryn's response and unhappiness in believable and well-written. Crichton and Gilina's conversation at the very end is a sweet highlight.

The production design of the episode, although an improvement over previous installments, is still somewhat sketchy, and the Sheyang costumes go a little too far over the top. Nevertheless, "PK Tech Girl" is a good episode. I enjoyed the interaction among the characters, and the episode introduces surprisingly many characters who will return later in the show. I also like the fact that Gilina wasn't predictably killed off at the end of the episode; her survival was pleasant and unexpected. "PK Tech Girl" is a strong early episode of Farscape. 3/4