Farscape (TV Series) My Three Crichtons (2000) User Reviews

Three Different Crichtons!

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 17 June 2012]

A strange energy ball enters Moya and hovers over each of the crew members until it comes to Crichton; then Aeryn shoots it and it starts to grow. He is engulfed by it and shortly afterwards something strange happens; a caveman like creature comes out of the sphere and flees he is followed shortly after by Crichton who has no idea what happened to him in the sphere. They pursue the intruder and when Chiana meets up with him she makes a startling discovery... the caveman is an atavistic version of Crichton! Not long afterwards third Crichton emerges; this one seems to be a more highly evolved version of the Crichton we know. It takes some time to convince Crichton that the two new beings are in fact versions of him; by the time he does they have another problem; the sphere is active again and it looks as though it will pull Moya into another dimension. The two more advanced Crichtons come up with a plan that might stop it and manage to communicate with the Sphere; they learn it is collecting genetic samples and unless one of the three Crichtons is returned to it Moya and everybody on board will die... It is no surprise that 'Caveman Crichton' is selected. Chiana however has decided that this is unfair and releases him; it looks as if the other two will have to find a way to decide which of them is sacrificed.

This wasn't the best episode in the series but it was quite fun. It gave us an insight into the characters as Chiana was willing to protect the most vulnerable while the others were all for sacrificing him. The plot of having a character split is a bit cliché although usually the split affects the original; it was good to see the unaffected original having to deal with the situation alongside the other two. Inevitably by the end only the original was left but this situation came about in a poignant way that left him thinking about himself. This being Farscape there were some laughs to be had; the best being when Aeryn seen the naked 'Advanced Crichton' and comments that a certain change can't just be due to the cold... a bit childish but funny!

Anatomy of a Crichton

[gus495 · 8/10 · 14 July 2022]

Going into this episode, I wasn't sure what it was going to be about going by the title. Farscape is one of those series that isn't afraid to experiment and go into the wackiest weirdest most unpredictable of directions (see "Crackers don't matter") when it wants to. So what is an episode titled "My Three Crichtons" going to be about, exactly?

Surprisingly, it is a bit of a philosophical take, along with a slight exploration of humanity as a race. An orb-like entity (later revealed to be a means for another civilization to gather data) enters Moya and directly targets Crichton. In the process however, instead of capturing Crichton it spits out the original plus two different variations: a caveman version of Crichton as well as a super-intelligent (posited to be the future of the human race) Crichton.

The episode allows us to take a closer look at the different sides of Crichton, and gets its fun out of showing how the crew reacts to his different versions. Crichton has always been a character that walks that line between trying to do the good thing and also just being blatantly human in not looking too far ahead and often making impulsive decisions. Here these two traits get put on display - super-intelligent Crichton shows his arrogance, low-intelligence Crichton his altruistic side.

The crew's accept or dismissal of the different Crichtons shows what the different members of the crew value. Chianna gravitates to low-iq Crichton as soon as she sees him. Chianna herself has history of duplicity and other acts of betrayal, but at the same time she's also one who perhaps is least entitled and doesn't value her own life as worth more than anyone else's (see also "Home on the Remains"). That trait is on display as she immediately connects to underdog Crichton, and even tries to help him against the wishes of his crew. D'Argo connects with regular Crichton. One conversation shows Crichton prompting D'Argo about the worth of fighting for a cause instead of giving up, and then spells out perhaps best their mutual appreciation. Most of the other characters don't seem to lean too much one way or another, Rygel dismissing all of the Crichtons (what else), Zhaan not really connecting with any of them in particular (she also probably has the weakest personal relation with Crichton of any member of the crew so that makes sense), and Aeryn being impartial save for shunning supersmart Crichton on account of his feelings of superiority.

Even though the themes are interesting, some aspects I thought were less well formed in the episode. It remains unclear why smart-Crichton behaves outright asocial and caveman Crichton on the other hand is so altruistic to the point of self-sacrificial. Even though these are different sides to Crichton I could definitely see a high intelligence-Crichton being sympathetic to the crew's needs. It would've been interesting to see how the crew would've reacted if super-smart Crichton appeared first out of the orb, and also if super-smart Crichton retained original Crichton's core values instead of developing a superiority complex.

Still, it's fun watching the different sides to Crichton interact with each other, and really it is just a showcase to what Crichton values in himself most (which ends up being his altruistic side), but also where Crichton stands and what he and humans present in the show. Besides a few caveats, and an ending that also feels a bit of a cop-out, overall a really fun outing in the 2nd season of Farscape.