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Character profiles - All about the strange alien lifeforms, wonders and nightmares who've helped or hounded Crichton.
John Crichton
Ben Browder’s bewildered, forceful, funny astronaut with a plan.
Shot through a wormhole to the other side of the universe, Commander John Robert Crichton Jnr has somehow managed to keep his hide, his sanity and his sense of humour intact through three years of trials.
That’s apart from the times he had hallucinations, or died, of course. But he has always kept his sense of humour, along with his two burning obsessions - wormholes and Aeryn Sun.
At the start he was merely an incompetent abroad, but being a man of intelligence (he's got a Doctorate in Theoretical Sciences) he adapted quickly. By the end of season one Moya's crew found themselves following his plans more often than not, whatever reservations they may have had about their wisdom.
Crichton is especially prone to having his head messed about with. Twice he's thought that he's back on Earth; on one trip he was the guinea-pig of a race of Ancient Ones; another visit was a Scarran-caused hallucination. Then there's the wringer that Scorpius put him through...
Season two saw him getting a lot closer to Aeryn, but the path of true love wouldn't run smooth. It turned out that his escape from Scorpius hadn't been as total as he thought, as the pitiless scientist had implanted a neural clone in his head in order to retrieve Crichton's wormhole knowledge.
As the clone infiltrated Crichton's brain, he became more and more erratic, driven to distraction by visions of Scorpius. Finally it took him over, putting Aeryn in a position which led to her death. Only Zhaan's intervention brought his love back from beyond.
Largely freed of the clone, and in control of its weaker echo, dubbed Harvey by Crichton, his quest for the secrets of wormhole science took him and everyone else on Moya into danger, and finally led to Zhaan's death. Things got even stranger when Crichton was twinned into two identical versions of himself.
While one version ended up on Talyn, blissfully bonding with Aeryn, the other was left behind on Moya, bitterly cursing his double. Moya-Crichton was the lucky one though. A battle to stop the wormhole knowledge left locked in his brain from reaching the Scarrans left Talyn-Crichton dead in Aeryn's arms from radiation poisoning.
When Aeryn finally returned to Moya, Crichton hoped he and she could pick up where they left off. Her coldness to him, born out of seeing him as her dead lover, upset him deeply. That was nothing to the revelation that she was pregnant with his double's child, imparted to him too late to stop her leaving.
Crichton's work with wormholes continues to go well. Whether his attempts to get over Aeryn will be as successful remain to be seen.
Key episodes: Premiere, A Human Reaction, Nerve, The Hidden Memory, Look at the Princess trilogy, Won't Be Fooled Again, Die Me, Dichotomy, Self Inflicted Wounds parts 1 and 2, Green-eyed Monster, Infinite Possibilities parts 1 and 2, Revenging Angel, Into the Lion's Den parts 1 and 2, Dog With Two Bones, Crichton Kicks.
Find out about the man behind the astronaut in our actor profile of Ben Browder.
Aeryn Sun
Claudia Black’s crack soldier and bereaved lover.
Peacekeeper Officer Aeryn Sun’s time on Moya could best be summed up as conflict. Conflict with her upbringing as a Peacekeeper, conflict over her feelings for Crichton, conflict over the best road to take now.
Sebacean by race, Aeryn was born and brought up to obey orders, in the belief that all other races were inferior. A good soldier and ace pilot, only once in her strict training was any emotion allowed to creep in, when her mother, Xhalax Sun crept into her dormitory by night to tell her that she had been born out of love.
Sucked onto Moya, Aeryn found her life ruined. By consorting with Crichton, an unknown alien, she became ‘irreversibly contaminated’ by Peacekeeper standards, and was rejected by her former colleagues. Since then she’s had to re-examine her old beliefs and loyalties, becoming instead close to her fellow renegades on Moya. She is particularly close to Pilot, drawn by his non-judgemental attitude, and by the fact that she shares his DNA after a crazed scientist experimented on her.
Her relationship with John has been stormy. Right from the start there was something between them, no matter how much she tried to deny it. Their love affair has been on-off. Little things John did, like go mad, had much to do with the off-periods.
Then in season three it became both on and off at the same time, as she fell deeply in love with one of the two Crichtons created by mad scientist Kaarvok’s twinning of the astronaut. Right now it’s very much off: after she watched her lover die in her arms, how can she face his twin?
The other Crichton’s still waiting, but she may never go back to him - despite being pregnant with his clone’s baby.
Key episodes: Premiere, PK Tech Girl, DNA Mad Scientist, The Way We Weren't, Look at the Princess trilogy, Liars, Guns and Money trilogy, Die Me, Dichotomy, Different Destinations, Green-eyed Monster, Relativity, Infinite Possibilities parts 1 and 2, The Choice, Dog With Two Bones.
Read our actor profile of Claudia Black.
Ka D'Argo
Anthony Simcoe's fiery Luxan warrior.
Looking every inch the warrior that he is, D’Argo is one of the most physically impressive of Moya’s crew. As well as his muscles and his skill with his antique Qualta Blade, his arsenal also includes a huge, prehensile tongue. And that’s before mentioning the terrifying Luxan hyper-rages he’s prone to falling into, or his ability to withstand half an ahn of vacuum.
Like most on Moya, his past hides its secrets, although most of them quickly came to the surface. D'Argo’s rank of general was revealed to be a fraud perpetrated by him when he took his dead commanding officer’s clothes during battle.
The crime which led to him being imprisoned on Moya turned out to be less than clear cut too - he roused Peacekeeper anger by marrying a Lo’laan, a Sebacean woman. Scandalised, her brother murdered her then framed D’Argo for the crime, giving him only enough time to get his son Jothee to safety.
While he many be all-grown up in body, he’s still an adolescent when it comes to emotions. Over the three seasons so far, he’s had a rough ride, made worse by his tendency to fall head-first into any emotional relationship, and his fondness for the ladies.
Even the high points have had their downsides. The happiness he found in being reunited with son Jothee, and from his sexually charged relationship with the beautiful Chiana, crumbled when the two betrayed him by sleeping with one another.
Since finding and losing his son, D’Argo has been at a bit of a loose end, tinkering with his strange Luxan ship, and constantly arguing with John.
Key episodes: They've Got a Secret, Vitas Mortis, Look at The Princess trilogy, Suns and Lovers, Scratch 'n' Sniff, Revenging Angel.
Read our actor profile of Anthony Simcoe.
Dominar Rygel XVI
Henson’s demanding Hynerian dictator, given voice by Jonathan Hardy.
The ex-ruler of 600 billion people, Rygel’s main motivations are recovering the throne from which he was deposed, sex and food. Mostly the last.
A small, physically feeble, froggy being, Rygel gets around on an anti-gravity throne and tends to run away from danger. His small size makes him wonderfully suitable for repairs in cramped spaces, so he often finds his crewmates stuffing him down tiny holes. Don’t get too near him when he’s nervous though, as he has an unpleasant habit of farting helium.
Rygel was imprisoned by the Peacekeepers for over 130 cycles, during which time he was tortured by Durka, the captain of the prison ship Zelbonian. Torturing Durka back then killing him seemed to lay a lot of Rygel’s demons to rest.
The pint-sized potentate is probably the most irritating person aboard Moya - with only Jool giving him a run for his money. He’s bossy, demanding and overfond of luxury. But he’s also clever, in a sly, scheming way, and has saved his crew-mates more than once by using his diplomatic skills. And somehow, over the years, his urge to sell them out at every opportunity seems to have shrunk.
Out of Moya’s crew, Chiana’s the closest to him. After all, they both share kleptomaniac tendencies, randy natures, and a loose interpretation of the word trust.
Key episodes: Throne for a Loss, Thank God it's Friday, Again, The Flax, Durka Returns, Dream a Little Dream, I - Yensch, You - Yensch.
Read our actor profile of the man with Rygel's voice, Jonathan Hardy.
Chiana
Gigi Edgley’s scamming, sparky sexpot.
A monochrome fizzbomb of scamming and seduction, Chiana became a part of the Farscape furniture when a Nebari transport in trouble was picked up by Moya. Imprisoned for behaving and speaking in inappropriate ways, she was on her way to be mentally cleansed to remove her wayward tendencies.
She remained on Moya, becoming an integral member of the crew. At first her snurching (read theiving) ways, habitual dishonesty and tendency to regard sex simply as an enjoyable contact sport just drove everyone to distraction.
Over time she’s slowly built up warm relationships with Moya’s crew. Except late arrival Jool, of course, who she still can’t stand. It’s because of her real friendships with the crew that they can trust her now, not because her con-man character has changed.
She and D’Argo struck up a highly charged sexual relationship during the second season, which ended when Chiana herself shot it down in flames by sleeping with D’Argo’s son Jothee.
Since then, things have got much stranger for her. Possessed by an alien life-form, and now affilicted with visions that seem to accurately foretell the future, Chiana’s no longer so certain of herself.
Key episodes: Durka Returns, Family Ties, Taking the Stone, Dream a Little Dream, An Clockwork Nebari, Suns and Lovers, Losing Time.
Read our actor profile of Gigi Edgley.
Pilot
The companion to Moya who’s always there, voiced by Lani Tupu.
Massive, long-suffering and both physically and neurally bonded with Moya, Pilot is the true heart of the ship. Aware of every system, feeling and desire through his neural tendrils and the information sent back by Moya’s DRDs, Pilot sits in splendour in his chamber at the centre of Moya.
His only motivation is to serve first Moya’s needs, then those of the crew. He is selfless in this, even forgiving Zhaan and D’Argo when they cut off one of his arms to use in trade. After all, they grow back eventually. What he will not put up with is lack of consideration to Moya, and has sometimes insisted the crew go away and leave the two of them in peace for a time.
A member of a species unable to use interstellar travel, Pilot’s people willingly swap their mobile lives to be joined with a Leviathan, so that they can travel and see the stars. Those to be joined are chosen by elders, but Pilot was rejected by them. Instead, he connived with a Peacekeeper captain to be twinned with Moya after her original Pilot was killed for refusing to agree to genetic experiments on her.
Pilot, given his nature, gets on with all of the crew, but is closest to Aeryn, as she was injected with some of his DNA. Chiana is also one of his favourites, thanks to the help she gave during the difficult birth of Moya’s child, Talyn.
Key episodes: DNA Mad Scientist, The Way We Weren't, Look at the Princess trilogy, Scratch 'n' Sniff, Dog With Two Bones.
Read our actor profile of the man who voices Pilot, Lani Tupu.
Captain Bialar Crais
Lani Tupu's revenge driven renegade who ended up minding the baby.
Things got off on a bad footing between Crais and Crichton, right from the start. Spinning out of the wormhole which pitched him half-way across the galaxy, Crichton's ship collided with the Prowler of Crais’ brother, Tauvo, sending him into a fatal crash.
The death of his brother sent Crais on a personal vendetta against Crichton which was to lead to his disgrace and, ultimately, death. Disobeying orders to chase Crichton across the Uncharted Territories, his quest for vengeance was brought up short when Scorpius decided he’d make a better pawn than player.
A man of strong passions, Crais is arrogant, driven and always willing to play one side off against the other. Throughout season two he acted the double-agent between Moya’s crew and Scorpius, and in season three was quite prepared to do a deal with Xhalax Sun, sent to kill Aeryn and retrive Moya’s son, the half-leviathan, half-Peacekeeper hybrid Talyn.
Despite the distrust the crew of Moya understandably hold him in, circumstances have conspired to throw them together. Removed from his position as Captain of a Command Carrier by Scorpius, Crais stole and neurally bonded to Talyn. Crais’ originally intended to master the living warship, but their relationship quickly became something more.
Crais developed a genuine concern for the young ship’s well-being, bringing out the better side of his nature. Although he never proved himself to be really trustworthy, Crais’ final actions were undeniably noble. In the end, it was his choice to save Talyn from lobotomisation, and his maybe-friends on Moya from death, by sacrificing himself and his beloved ship.
Key episodes: Premiere, That Old Black Magic, Nerve, The Hidden Memory, Family Ties, Mind the Baby, Die Me, Dichotomy, Green-eyed Monster, , Meltdown, Into the Lions's Den parts 1 and 2.
Read our actor profile of Lani Tupu.
Zhaan
Virginia Hey’s self-sacrificing priestly plant
Slender, sensuous and a vivid blue all over, Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan was the calm centre at the heart of Moya. She was over 800 years old and a plant rather than an animal. Of all her pleasures, the touch of sunlight was her best-loved.
A trained priest from the planet Delvia, she was imprisoned for resisting a Peacekeeper coup on her homeworld. Skilled in medicine and science, as well as spiritual abilities, she was the crew’s healer, scientist and comforter.
Serenity was her goal until it was ripped from her from her by renegade members of her own kind. Then a very different personality emerged - full of the aggressive urges her priestly training had taught her to reject.
Over time her balance returned, helped by the close bond she formed with new arrival Stark - someone who shared and understood her ability to take on the pain of others. That very gift was to become her downfall when she reached beyond life to bring Aeryn back from the grave, dooming herself in the process. Maybe in her final sacrifice she reached the serenity that she had quested for all her life.
Key episodes: That Old Black Magic, Rhapsody in Blue, Picture if you Will, Die Me, Dichotomy, Season of Death, Self Inflicted Wounds parts 1 and 2.
Read our actor profile of Virginia Hey.
Scorpius
Wayne Pygram’s terrifying hybrid. And his alter-ego Harvey.
A frightening, black-leather clad prescence, with a face like a skull, the half-breed Scorpius has proved to be Crichton’s worst adversary so far.
The product of a Scarran experiment, Scorpius is half-Sebacean and half-Scarran. These two clashing physiologies – one sensitive to cold, one to heat, have to be regulated by a coolant rod implanted deep in his brain.
His unusual origins explain much of his motivation. Brought up by the brutal Scarrans, who tortured him for his weakness, he learnt to be strong and ruthless. He also learnt to hate the race who created him. He will stop at nothing to prevent the Scarran overthrow of Peacekeeper rule.
The thing he wanted most was Crichton's knowledge of wormhole physics. Unable to extract it from him with the brain-searing Aurora Chair, he implanted a neural clone chip in Crichton’s head.
From that point on, we’ve seen two faces of Scorpius – the ruthless, rational scientist, and the lighter touch of his clone, Harvey. Semi-autonomous, Harvey seems to be on Crichton’s side, living in his mind as another prescence, encouraging him in his wormhole studies. He’s even helped him from time to time by suggesting plans and providing support.
Things have not gone so well with the real Scorpius. When he struck a deal with Crichton, the earthman turned the tables on him. The command carrier he took from Crais after his Gammak base was destroyed was annihilated, and his authority suspended by the pitiless Commandant Grayza.
Key episodes: Nerve, The Hidden Memory, Look at the Princess trilogy, Liars, Guns and Money trilogy, Die Me, Dichotomy, Incubator, Revenging Angel (for Harvey), Into the Lion's Den pts 1 and 2.
Read our actor profile of Wayne Pygram.
Stark
Paul Goddard’s scatty, spiritual madman.
Stark is a member of a slave race – the Baniks, who can block their thoughts from others. Discovered by Crichton in a cell on Scorpius’ Gammak base, he had already endured two cycles of torture in the Aurora Chair, without letting anyone into his memories.
The metal plate he wears over half his face conceals a bright, penetrating glow. By removing it, Stark can share experiences and memories with other, most often doing so to relieve their pain and help them pass into death.
He is sensitive to death, able to feel when it is around, and can sometimes see the dead. Not truly corporeal, his body is just a vessel for his real existence, which is on another plane entirely. Luckily so, as it allowed him to survive "dispersal", a punishment meted out to him for destroying an alien ship in The Ugly Truth.
Stark often appears quite mad, gibbering, twittering and repeating himself in a little sing-song voice. The crew don’t exactly distrust him, but nobody would ever think him reliable. The only person on Moya he really became close to was Zhaan, the two of them entering a relationship based on a shared spirituality.
When Zhaan died, Stark became even more erratic. Eventually he left, claiming he could hear her voice and must follow it. His face-plate, passed to Crichton via Crais, contains some sort of message, but what it is we don't yet know.
Key episodes: Nerve, The Locket,The Ugly Truth, Self Inflicted Wounds pt 2, Meltdown, The Choice.
Read our actor profile of Paul Goddard.
Jool
Tammy MacIntosh’s prima donna with a very piercing scream.
A self-centred, arrogant, sulky teenager, Jool (full name Joolushko Tunai Fenta Hovalis) has a scream that can melt metal, and hair that changes colour according to her mood.
Interon in race, she was on a grand tour, part of her education, when her ship was hijacked. All aboard were frozen and sold halfway across the galaxy as forced organ donors. She and her cousin were brought on board Moya by Crichton, but only she survived defrosting.
Finding herself on a renegade ship, far away from her home planet, and with all her relations dead, Jool did not deal with the situation well – whining, and throwing screaming fits. With nowhere else to go, she’s managed to make herself useful on Moya with her medical and scientific skills. Her undoubted intelligence wins her few friends, though, as she just won’t stop banging on about how smart she is.
Right from the start, Chiana detested her. As Jool got closer to D’Argo, finally entering into a relationship with him, the relationship between the two girls has got increasingly strained. Violence sometimes results, wearing everyone’s nerves very thin.
Key episodes: Self Inflicted Wounds Part 1, Self Inflicted Wounds Part 2, Losing Time, Revenging Angel.
Read our actor profile of Tammy McIntosh.
Captain Braca
David Franklin’s Peacekeeper yes-man.
Captain, previously Lieutenant, Braca is a man who knows how to obey orders, whoever gives them. One of nature’s followers, he was Scorpius’ loyal henchman until Commandant Grayza, with her higher authority, came along. Now he’s her willing follower, maybe even her slave, all in return for a promotion.
A somewhat pendantic and by-the-book Peacekeeper, Braca is determined to eliminate Crichton. But above that, he’ll look after his own skin – and if it means changing his loyalties a few more times, that’s unlikely to bother him.
Key episodes: Family Ties, Season of Death, Incubator, I - Yensch, You - Yensch, What Was Lost pt 1.
Read our actor profile of David Franklin.
Sikozu
Raelee Hill's new girl with the special sense of balance.
The most recent addition to the crew, Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu, or Sikozu for short, inadvertently joined up when she landed on the dying Leviathan Elack.
Employed by a group of Grudeks hunting toubray, Leviathan neural fibre, she did her job too well when she found the Leviathan sacred burial place. That meant killing her, rather than paying her, became the Grudek’s best option. So she fled, crashing straight into Crichton’s carefully arranged wormhole equations.
The red-haired Kalish has many strange physical quirks including an ability to rebond to body parts which have been severed, if they can be found, and an intolerance of translator microbes. Oddest of all is her trick of altering her centre of gravity to walk straight up walls or stand on the ceiling.
Now, her motivation is to clear her name of the bad report the Grudeks sent back about her. Although she’s going along with Crichton and the rest for the time being, she’s adamant that she won’t end up like them.
Key episodes: Crichton Kicks
Read our actor profile of Raelee Hill.
The three-eyed old Traskan clearly has strange mental powers. Blowing hallucination-causing dust into Crichton’s face seems to be one of her favourites. Able to give insights and visions to others, it was she who told John about Aeryn’s pregnancy.
She’s obviously strongly motivated, but to do what, who can tell?
Key episodes: Dog With Two Bones, What Was Lost part 1.
Read our actor profile of Melissa Jaffer.
Intent on seeking a truce with the Scarrans, she saw Scorpius’ pursuit of wormhole technology as a futile obsession. With the two thrown into inevitable conflict, she usurped his authority and cancelled his project. Scorpius came off worst - being reduced to no more than her plaything.
She didn’t take too well to Crichton pointing Wynnona at her either, but what she wants from him isn’t clear. Is it revenge? Technology? Or something rather more…
Key episodes: Into the Lion's Den part 1, Into the Lion's Den part 2, What Was Lost part 1.
Read our actor profile of Rebecca Riggs.
Utu-Noranti Pralatong
Melissa Jaffer’s wise weird woman.
Noranti, or Granny as Crichton calls her, came onto Moya as a refugee from Scorpius’ destroyed command carrier at the end of season three. She has been nothing but trouble since then. And she smells.
Commandant Mele-On Grayza
Rebecca Riggs' domineering Peacekeeper leader.
Coming over like Blakes’ 7’s Servalan on steroids, Peacekeeper Commandant Mele-on Grayza has a commanding presence. Her high rank, (and her trick of turning men into mindless sex-slaves with pheromone-laden sweat) make her an adversary to be respected.