As the episode opens an unidentified ship is preparing to fire on Moya; Zhaan goes over to explain that Moya is unarmed and finds the other ship heavily damaged with only two survivors on board. Tak, its captain, claims to have been attacked by Crais and Talyn. Ignoring Zhaan's pleas they fire on Moya just as she raises her shields. No damaged is sustained but something very odd happens; the crews somehow swap bodies! Crichton ends up in Aeryn, Aeryn is in Rygel, Rygel is in Crichton, Pilot is in Chiana, Chiana is in D'Argo and D'Argo is in Pilot... it is all so confusing that they have to wear pictures of who they really are! Tak believes the presence of a defence shield implies that Moya must be military and prepares to fire again; luckily he consents to hold fire until he has searched Moya for weaponry; during his search he is apparently ill and vomits a strange red substance that starts attacking Moya's circuitry. Realising Tak won't stop his attacks Zhaan tries to persuade his deputy to take over; unfortunately it doesn't work and he fires again causing another body swap! The crew have two problems; they must avoid destruction and find away to get back were they belong.
On the face of it this should be a weak episode; after all the body swapping idea is both silly and cliché... however it is absolutely hilarious. I've often thought that plot ideas in Farscape are the sort of thing that might come up in 'Star Trek: TNG' without that shows po-faced seriousness... some of the things that happened here would never have happened in TNG; hilarious high points included Chiana coming on to Rygel while they were in D'Argo and Crichton's bodies, Rygel trying to figure out how to empty his bladder while in Crichton's body and best of all Crichton having a little bit of fun with the Aeryn's body...as he said it is every man's fantasy! All rather puerile of course but utterly hilarious! The cast did a great job mimicking each other's behaviour; Anthony Simcoe's performance in particular was priceless when he played Chiana!
On the face of it this should be a weak episode; after all the body swapping idea is both silly and cliché... however it is absolutely hilarious. I've often thought that plot ideas in Farscape are the sort of thing that might come up in 'Star Trek: TNG' without that shows po-faced seriousness... some of the things that happened here would never have happened in TNG; hilarious high points included Chiana coming on to Rygel while they were in D'Argo and Crichton's bodies, Rygel trying to figure out how to empty his bladder while in Crichton's body and best of all Crichton having a little bit of fun with the Aeryn's body...as he said it is every man's fantasy! All rather puerile of course but utterly hilarious! The cast did a great job mimicking each other's behaviour; Anthony Simcoe's performance in particular was priceless when he played Chiana!
