Farscape (TV Series) Scratch 'n Sniff (2001) User Reviews

Proof that the writers are crazy!

[ben-adams · 10/10 · 1 July 2008]

Where to start, this episode is the most fun I have had watching television in a long time. It is just one giant flashback of Crichton's adventures on a nearby planet, which he is relaying to Pilot.

The basic plot (local crime lord kidnaps Chiana and Jool) sounds relatively uninspired but the show is so much more than that. This is an episode that provided final proof that this was one of the most daring and fun programs on television.

The edits are fast, dynamic and creative. The performances again are top notch. The scripting is witty and light. Crichton is in a t-shirt and stockings! D'Argo does the funky chicken! Gigi Edgely and Tammy MacIntosh get to show off their circus skills and the whole thing still holds together.

The only down side is that a casual viewer stumbling across it would have no idea what was happening, still it is well worth the effort and fans will enjoy it immensely.

A very trippy episode

[Tweekums · 10/10 · 25 August 2012]

Having annoyed Pilot with their constant bickering Crichton and D'Argo have been kicked off Moya for ten days. They are on LoMo, a pleasure planet but continue to bicker while Chiana and Jool enjoy themselves. While in a bar the boys are approached by a couple of alien girls; their drinks get spiked, their money is stolen and they wake up in a somewhat compromising position while a crowd look on through a large window. As they recover they realise they can't contact the girls but assume it is just because they are asleep. Soon a female alien called Rexal tells them that Chiana and Jool are in grave danger. They are with FeTor; a man involved in the trade of freslin; a powerful drug which we later learn is produced from sentient beings.

This episode is a lot of fun with none of the darkness of many recent episodes; that doesn't mean there isn't a sense of danger though. The way the show is edited with lots of sudden cuts gives the viewer a feeling of the affects of the freslin on the protagonists; it also makes one wonder what one is seeing is what really happened or just what they think happened. The cast did a fine job; it was fun watching Ben Bowder and Anthony Simcoe bickering as Crichton and D'Argo... and utterly hilarious to see what they looked like behind the window! Gigi Edgely and Tammy MacIntosh get to show how seductive they can be as Chiana and Jool. FeTor made a good villain; not obviously monstrous but particularly unpleasant when we learn just what he is up to; Rexal is an even more interesting character as it is ambiguous whether she is good or bad or just using Crichton and D'Argo for her own ends. This episode also features a very interesting alien; a species known as the Hangi that records what it sees and can play it back using a neural connection... this has the interesting effect that D'Argo gets to meet Harvey when both he and Crichton are viewing images together.

This episode is definitely a treat to fans of the series although casual viewers may be left somewhat bemused... although given that most episodes are part of an overall plot arc it is unlikely that many people watch it casually.

Snap, Crackle and lots of Pop

[Sonatine97 · 9/10 · 30 November 2018]

It's been awhile since I last posted a review on IMDb, but after watching this truly hilarious episode from a truly awesome SciFi show, I just felt compelled to make a return!

Okay, so this episode is relatively light and fluffy compared to the rather serious and somber tones of most of season 3 up until now. In fact the latter episodes of season 2 had also taken a more mature & darker stance ever since Scorpius defined himself as being a truly evil and nagging character in the life of John Crighton. So to see this episode take a step back and put some fun back into the proceedings was a welcome relief.

On this occasion John, D'Argo, Jool and Chiana are taking a break on some sun-blessed planet. They go clubbing at some stylish wine bar but both D'Argo and John continue to bicker and argue over the smallest of things while the two girls do the right thing and just chill out.

Shortly afterwards the two guys wake up sharing a room together, quickly realising they have both been rolled by two women they met at the bar the night before. What makes things worse is John is half-dressed wearing stockings and suspenders, with D'Argo almost on top of him in one scene - and all in front of a shop window overlooking a shopping mall full of gawping & pointing alien beings!

Things take a more serious edge when it is discovered that both girls have been kidnapped and loaded with something like a date-rape drug by a sinister Mr Nasty/Pimp called FeTor, who makes a habit of kidnapping women and bleeding them dry of their sexual pheromones and turned into a drug. Some of the more attractive women - Chiana in this case - are then sold at auction to the highest deviant.

It all ends rather happily as we all knew it would. Bu there are one or two stand-out performances, not least by Anthony Simcoe (D'Argo) and Raxil (Francesca Buller - Ben Brauder's real-world wife). Raxil in particular, is quite excellent as the annoying yet equally funny alien being with a mockney-cockney accent.

Another radical change for this episode is the fast editing, with plenty of blink-of-an-eye flashbacks and flash-forwards. So fast that if you miss them you will miss out on a small part of the jigsaw. But it worked very well and gave the episode some much needed energy compared to the more measured pace of the previous ones in this season.

Mrs Crichton's best Farscape role

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 6 October 2021]

Ben Browder's real life "Aeryn", Francesca Buller, was brilliant in this show. We first met her as the Bone-chompin "M'Lee" in season 1's "Bone to be wild". Then a slightly different role as "ro-Na" in season 2's "look at the princess" trilogy.

As the "Rexil-Thing" here (as John describes her), it's hard to tell whether she is better here or as the Skarran war minister Ahkna in season 4. I vote for the Rexil-Thing.

All of these characters, are brilliant. This is an actress that has quite the range, and we never would have seen her ever if not for Farscape. She had one very small role in 1992's "Chaplin" with Robert Downey Jr, and not much else over the years.

It is hard for me to identify the dialect she is using in this episode, as a British actress she obviously grew up with various dialects. She uses a kind of cockney here minus the English rhyming slang (which John Crichton used on occasion).

As far as this episode, there is always one extremely funny episode in each Farscape season. This is season three's entry, and I have to say this is probably the funniest episode of Farscape.

Look for "Kabaah", another muppet-alien, this one has detachable eyeballs which he uses to spy on the LoMo Bar where Crichton/D'Argo/Chiana/Jool were hanging in. His eyeball was also at one time in Fe'Tor's (the bad guys) Freskin Milking Room. And because of this, when both Chricton and D'Argo use Kabaah's eye at the same time- D'Argo is finally able to actually see "Harvey"- Scorpy's Neural Clone within Crichton's brain. A very minor, but nonetheless important thing that happened.

It's like... I am sure many of us have fond memories of being rolled by an attractive woman, waking up in a store front window and all of our braandar tiles stolen.

The funniest part is when Raxil sprays Ka D'Argo with the "special Freslin", changing his appearance and she claims that "she made him very handsome"- actually I can almost agree with that statement, at least the females in this episode agreed with it.

But then he has to spoil it by going into a hyperrage.

There are lots of good points to this episode, the music is almost as good as some of the Subvision music of the first season, but mostly it is the psychedelic editing. Speaking of which, during the part where D'Argo has his big FreslinReveal, we see a cut to an image of a "Boolite's" eye. Wait, Whaat??!? Why is this being shown, seeing as we had not even been introduced to a Boolite yet!? Pretty good PropheticEditing.

Very well done it gives us the impression of things just being slightly off kilter.

And then Pilot being driven crazy by Crichton's delivery of the story puts a lid on the entire thing.

Buddy action flick

[johnrbravojr · 10/10 · 20 June 2022]

This episode is definitely in the vein of the comedic buddy action movies, Like TANGO & CASH, LETHAL WEAPON, BAD BOYS, etc. It's absolutely hilarious; action-packed that hits all the classic tropes. Bickering friends? Grumpy senior officer? Sniveling little conman? Saving the girl? All checked here.

Bonkers

[chrisgalante45 · 10/10 · 15 August 2021]

This is the creative team having the time of their lives and one if my favorite episodes.