Trivia
Commanding tones: Gigi Edgely, the woman behind Chiana voices "previously on Farscape." this time.
A treat for the ladies: D'Argo ensures that Grayza will be convinced John's taken a fall by knocking him out with his poisonous tongue. He's not been seen using this most Luxan of weapons at quite such a range before - have Henson done some work on his tongue, perhaps?
Scent of a woman: Grayza's secret to success in the bedroom turns out to be specially bioengineered heppel oil glands, as used by Dellos concubines. Apparently it won't just make you go blind though - it'll take cycles off your life.
Naming names: Finally we learn the name of the strange old lady. It's Utu-Noranti Pralatong, or Noranti for short. We also find out that she's a Traskan, courtesy of Braca.
Hynerians and DRDs first: Who's that wibbling his eye stalks in D'Argo's ship at the end? Hooray! DRD 1812 made it off Elack.
Imperial measures. We learn of another unit of measurement, the motra, which is about a yard long as indicated by John. Maybe it's an ancient forerunner of Farscape's more usual metras.
The John Crichton guide to pop culture.
Femme fatale: John calls Grayza 'Mata Hari', after the notorious first world war female spy. Following a career as an exotic dancer and courtesan, Mata Hari turned her hand to spying to make money. Her method of operation was to seduce army high-ups, then persuade them to spill their military secrets in pillow-talk. She was good at the former, but not the latter - she ended up executed by the French.
The great escape: "I'm not Steve McQueen," protest John when accused of trying to escape. Steve McQueen played Captain Virgil Hilts in the 1963 classic war movie The Great Escape, as seen every Christmas on British TV for the last thirty years. Virgil was the leader of a group of POWs determined to escape the clutches of their Nazi captors. In a scene that made his career, he just fails to make it to freedom by jumping the barbed wire fence of the Swiss/German border.
Yes, Mr Burns: John dubs Braca Smithers, after Mr Burns' crawly assistant in The Simpsons.
Of interest only to US readers: A number of baseball terms and names are used by John, including Gaylord Perry, Nekiro and "monkey on the ball". They're the names of pitchers, and a method of cheating.
Listen up, girls: There's some good advice from John on the best way to seduce an American male. Apparently "a six-pack of beer, night of bowling, a little skinny-dipping" will do the job - bizarre pheromonal control not required.
The hole truth: There's a nod to 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke. In this film, which starred Paul Newman as an irrepressible prisoner in a rural jail, the boss guard punishes prisoners by making them dig their dirt out of a non-existent "ditch.". The prisoner has to just carry on digging until the boss decides that's enough dirt out of his hole. Hence John's question to Grayza - "that enough dirt out of your hole, boss?"
Make my day: John's soliliquoy to his pulse pistol ("you are the most powerful handgun in the Uncharted Territories, andI don't know if you've fired 500 shots or 600...") is straight out of 1971 Clint Eastwood blockbuster Dirty Harry.
The original line is "I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?"
