A squad of Peacekeepers takes over the Moya to bring a dangerously intelligent virus to a secret base. When the virus escapes, the crew must recapture it without giving their fugitive status away to the soldiers.
(Originally aired September 17, 1999)
Written by Stephen Rae
From a story by Doug Heyes Jr.
Directed by Tony Tilse
GUEST STARS
Paul Leyden -- Captain Larraq
Richard White -- Sergeant Thonn
Zoe Coyle -- Lieutenant Hassan
Michael Tuahine -- Rhed
WHAT HAPPENED
D'Argo is being chained up, and even though he doesn't like it one bit, it’s a necessary subterfuge. With a Peacekeeper commando transport approaching, the Moya crew's only hope for escape lies in convincing the soldiers that she's an ordinary ship. It's Crichton's plan, which only adds to D'Argo's frustration. Rygel is also upset because he won't be able to ride around in his throne for the duration.
The commando ship comes in hard and fast, with its complement of four soldiers hitting the deck before even it even finishes landing. They march out of the hangar only to be greeted by Aeryn, in full uniform and armed to the teeth, and Crichton, dressed in the rich red-and-black uniform of a Peacekeeper Captain.
It's impressive, but Larraq, the captain of the squad, is no pushover. He has a Priority Red One mission and his ship has a fuel leak and that, he tells Crichton, means that he's commandeering Moya. He then points a gun in Crichton's face and silently dares him to object… (more detailed spoilers)
ANALYSIS
It's funny that during this episode, the Sci-Fi Channel was advertising the movie Leviathan as "the ultimate Alien rip-off."
"A Bug's Life" is a similar story, though it's a more direct descendent of John Campbell's classic story "Who Goes There?" Unfortunately, this episode isn't the ultimate of its kind -- it's serviceable but not exceptional.
Part of the problem is that the subplot of "fool the Peacekeepers" is fresher than the main plot of "hunt the monster that's pretending to be one of us." Both are old, but we don't see the former quite as often.
"Fooling the Peacekeepers" presents opportunities for sneakiness, fast-talk and other character moments, while "hunt the monster" doesn't involve much more than stalking around the corridors and acting paranoid.
Unfortunately, "A Bug's Life" emphasizes the monster hunt. There's plenty of corridor stalking, both the virus and the humanoids make a couple of stupid mistakes that keep the plot going, and the climax -- with everyone pointing guns at each other and panicking -- is quite tense.
It's solid storytelling, but there are no surprises or twists. There's also a surprising shortage of the show's trademark quirky moments, most of which are relegated to the subplot.
Ben Browder gets most of those moments. His portrayal of Crichton affecting Peacekeeper mannerism is offbeat and fun, especially mixed with the occasional slip back into his normal personality.
Gigi Edgley also gets some nice physical acting as the possessed Chiana, but nobody else really gets to stretch their acting muscles. Even Aeryn's romantic attraction to Larraq is perfunctory. That's too bad, because as the lead, Crichton gets most of the spotlight in every episode. You have to wonder what the other characters could have done if they'd really put their minds to scamming the Peacekeepers.
"A Bug's Life" isn't a bad episode. Most of it's quite good, in fact. But I can't shake the feeling that it would have been even better if they hadn't spent so much time chasing around after that virus.
THINGS WE LEARN
All Peacekeepers must have Australian accents, since Crichton adopts one to masquerade as a Peacekeeper Captain.
The Peacekeepers are experimenting with using Leviathans without control collars but the living ships keep disappearing with all hands aboard.
The Peacekeepers have at least one secret base in the uncharted territories.
Aeryn started flying scrub-runners at fourteen and went to pilot/tactical school at sixteen. She explains that this is older than usual because her feet couldn't reach the pedals until then.
Crichton must be a "Ghostbusters" fan, noting that if the virus spreads, the effects could include the apocalyptic "cats and dogs living together."
REALITY CHECK
Viruses are a simple form of life -- it's hard to imagine one with enough information storage in its genetic code to be intelligent. On the other hand, one thing viruses do very well is reproduce quickly. So what explains this virus, which is intelligent but replicates slowly?
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK
Double reruns continue as we build directly on the events taking place in this episode. First, Aeryn's injury at the hands of the possessed Captain Larraq reveals unexpected complications in "Nerve", and then D'Argo, Zhaan and Aeryn launch a rescue mission to free Crichton from the Peacekeepers in "The Hidden Memory"
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