That Old Black Magic -1.08

[K_Lara7]

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I really like the vampire episode.  By this point John has established a pattern of labelling what he experiences in human terms.  He rather quickly figures out what Maldis is doing.  John also learns that he can loose control.  He is capable of killing.  In the end he also knows there is no way he can defeat Maldis and he would have surrendered if Zhaan hadn't shown up.  Crichton has no idea that he isn't in his own body at this point.  This is also the first time someone has entered his mind to manipulate him.

Aeryn learns that there are some fights that can't be won in simple combat terms.  Sometimes the "Delvian mysticism" is the only way to fight an enemy one can't see.

Zhaan made the decision that her crazy new family is more important to her than her serenity.

We get more back history on Crais.  We understand his motivations.  We also learn just how far off the edge he has gone.  I feel sorry for Lt. Teeg.  The first time I watched the episode, that really surprised me. 

I really love Rygel in this episode.  He declares Crichton dead so he can steal his stuff.  But he selfishly won't share his Hallowed Realm or admit how much he might actually miss that human.  I do think it funny that the first thing he goes for is Crichton's boots.

[KernilCrash]

I finally got time to sit down and watch this episode last night.  It's been a while, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it more than I recalled.  Both of the Maldis episodes tend to take a bad rap because he comes across as such a lame villain in Picture If You Will.  I'd forgotten how much else is going on in TOBM, and how much I like what the episode provides. 

I like the maze (or whatever you want to call the sets for Maldis' home) as the surroundings for Crichton's encounters with Crais.  I think it works really well for a symbol of their entire relationship.  The writers dropped some back story in without bogging anything down, which makes up a lot of the episode.

I've got a different opinion when it comes to John figuring out what Maldis is doing.  I think he's mistaken, as he was when he was trying to come up with theories about what was going on in Back To The Future.  I think Maldis is playing him all along.  Yes, Maldis is a vampire, but I don't believe he's feeding off the conflict.  He's setting John up in order to get what he wants.  John goes for the "Star Trek Solution" (which I assume, even though it's never mentioned), and isn't quite right about what's going on.

And am I the only one who thinks John is playing a little loose and easy with the truth when he tells Crais, "I did everything I could to get clear?"  Lying or misrepresenting the truth is a theme with Farscape, and I think either the writers never got a good look at the final edit of Premiere, or else John is distorting things a bit to try to sway Crais.  I never saw any time for John to attempt to avoid Tauvo's prowler. 

[K_Lara7]

And am I the only one who thinks John is playing a little loose and easy with the truth when he tells Crais, "I did everything I could to get clear?"  Lying or misrepresenting the truth is a theme with Farscape, and I think either the writers never got a good look at the final edit of Premiere, or else John is distorting things a bit to try to sway Crais.  I never saw any time for John to attempt to avoid Tauvo's prowler. 

I don't think John's playing loose with the truth.  I think he's replayed the whole thing over so much in his own mind, that he really couldn't figure out anything he could have done differently to prevent it.  When Gilina asks him about it in PKTG, he points out that the accident could have gone either way, so he's ben thinking about it.  He could have just been trying to to avoid the whole space battle.  His statement could have been just trying to explain that he couldn't have prevented it and he spoke wrong, pressure could do that. 

It also could be that the writer's didn't see the final cut of Premiere before writing that.  The commentary for JC mentions it was about the time they were filming the 8th episode before the final CG was done for Premiere.  I've always thought Crais's lines in Premiere were a little off the playback of the accident myself.  (I mean, really, can you tell the difference between one prowler or the other?  Probably as Captain he could, but there was nothing distinctive about the craft.)

[KernilCrash]

I've always thought Crais's lines in Premiere were a little off the playback of the accident myself.  (I mean, really, can you tell the difference between one prowler or the other?  Probably as Captain he could, but there was nothing distinctive about the craft.)

I've always assumed that he had an additional readout that indicated who was flying the prowler.  We might not see it, but it was probably in the information arrays on either side of the screen.