Episode Report Card Couch Baron: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT He Said, She Said
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 12 | Aired on 07.15.1999
Back in the pod, Crichton crawls over to Aeryn and wakes her up. Confusion abounds, as, although they're not getting any mass readings, their view of the stars is being blocked by something. Also, Crichton thinks they hit something, since it felt like the head-on collision he was in when he was nineteen. Having only seen the first season, I don't know if that's going to be Important Later, but I figure an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of email. Aeryn admits she doesn't know what's going on.
Back on Moya, Zhaan is grabbing the plastic slingshot/tuning fork-looking thing away from Rygel. She then starts poking him with it, which is kind of hilarious, even if such hijinx are unbecoming to a tenth-level Pa'u. A high-pitched test of the emergency broadcast system cuts into the tomfoolery, causing the three infants to cover their ears and yell at Pilot. Pilot cuts the noise with a bored "So sorry. I appear to have hit the wrong comm." Hee. Pilot's finally growing a spine, and an amusing one at that. Zhaan snaps, "You desired our attention, Pilot?" I think he actually desired you to shut up, but your attention will have to do for now. He tells them that an unidentified vessel is approaching and signaling for permission to come aboard. The vessel apparently has pieces of weaponry, but nothing operational. Well, if that's the case, the indicated play is definitely to invade it. Cut to a prop ship discarded from the original Doctor Who as too technologically deficient-looking docking underneath Moya, and then some guy who will soon be joining the Australian musical tour of Pirates Of The Caribbean is being marched up to the bridge and telling them they're in the vicinity of "The Flax," which is a "magnodrift mesh, seventy-five million zacrons long." Thanks for clearing that up. Anyway, the Flax is invisible until you get caught in it (and afterward too, from what we saw), and was put there by the "Zenetan pirates." I wonder if those pirates wear belly shirts too. I kind of hope not. Zhaan bustles off to warn Crichton and Aeryn.
D'Argo gets the pirate, "Staanz," up to the bridge, where Rygel is still playing around with his tuning fork. (Ew.) Staanz says he's a "garbologist. I'm a connoisseur of what other people throw away." I wonder what they call eBay all the way out here. Staanz identifies the game as "Tadek," and notes that Rygel's set is in good shape. After the two of them each try to convince the other that he sucks at the game, they settle in to play. Of course, Rygel's slightly less convincing, given that he owns the set. And that he's a lying sack of puppet.