(originally aired April 14, 2000)

The First Jerry Springer Family of Space

Crichton: We all have things in our pasts which we'd rather not have on instant replay.

Aeryn: Pilot, this is difficult for both of us.    More Stories The SPACE.com Guide to Farscape Farscape - 'The Way We Weren't' (spoilers) 'Crackers Don't Matter' on Farscape, or Do They? Farscape's Chiana Faces Death in 'Taking the Stone'    Multimedia Opening credits sequence    Related Links Farscape Sci-Fi Channel Pilot: Both of us? It isn't me on that recording committing barbaric slaughter with no remorse.

Crichton: I don't think Pilot's in a Leviathan for Dummies mood right now.

Written by Naren Shankar
Directed by Tony Tilse

GUEST STARS

Alex Dimitriades - Lt. Velorek
Lani Tupu - Capt. Bialar Crais

In addition to his usual duties as the voice of Pilot, Lani Tupu also provides the (electronically shifted) voice of Moya's first Pilot.

WHAT HAPPENED

Three years ago . . .

Peacekeeper stormtroopers march through Moya. A lieutenant named Velorek leads them into Pilot's chamber.

Moya's Pilot is not the one we know. In an outraged voice, she tells the lieutenant, "This display of force will change nothing."

Velorek offers her one final chance to cooperate. As she refuses, an impatient Captain Crais bursts into the chamber.

Confirming that a replacement Pilot is now aboard, he orders the troops to fire. They do, and Moya's first Pilot dies a painful death.

Crais then orders Velorek to install the new pilot as quickly as possible. As he storms out, camera recording the ship's log catches a familiar face among the execution squad - Lieutenant Aeryn Sun . . .

In the present . . .

It's all a log tape Crichton and Chiana are viewing. Chiana found the tape among some equipment in Moya's top tier. If it really is Aeryn on the recording, what do they do now? (more spoilers)

ANALYSIS

The important events in "The Way We Weren't" aren't on the tape. The murder of Moya's first Pilot is horrible for Aeryn and Pilot, but what wrecks their equilibrium is the memories connected to the incident.

As the others point out, Pilot's anger is unusual for him. He's rarely excitable, and at times he's put up with some truly appalling behavior from the others.

In the end, of course, we learn that the person Pilot is really angry at is himself. He made a Faustian deal so he could see the stars, and he has good reason to blame himself for the death of Moya's first Pilot.

For three years, he's been able to forget about that - except for the punishment of constant pain - but the discovery of the tape brings all his guilt back to the surface.

Similarly, Aeryn's grief has more to do with her betrayal of Velorek than participating in the first Pilot's murder. It leads her to beat her own hands to a bloody pulp, then try to do penance by leaving the place she's begun to call home.

"The Way We Weren't" makes a good point: the punishments we design for ourselves are usually far worse than those meted out by others.

The sweet smell of hypocrisy

D'Argo, Zhaan and Rygel are sitting a little too high on their horses this week. All of them have things to be ashamed of in their pasts, which should make them think twice about throwing stones at Aeryn.

Their horror at her killing such a gentle and defenseless creature as Pilot is particularly hypocritical, given that they ripped an arm off of him in "DNA Mad Scientist". Chiana is right to call this to their attention, but it doesn't seem to make much of an impression.

It's a reminder that despite the strengthening bonds between these characters, they can still be extremely selfish and flawed individuals.

Blasts from the past

A lot of past history has been cropping up on Farscape lately. We found out two weeks ago that Chiana had a brother, and now we learn that several of the characters met years before we thought they did.

These new details don't have to be deep revelations or continuing storylines. They're simply used to launch the individual story that they're revealed in.

It's one of the advantages of being a relatively new science fiction show. With only a year of established history, it's still easy to add new elements to the series' characters or the overall universe.

Most of the things we've learned about our characters in recent weeks probably weren't in the series bible. But as long as it leads to good stories, Farscape's writers should use that flexibility as long as they can.

WHAT WE LEARN

The Pilot we know has been bonded with Moya for three years. An earlier, female Pilot was bonded to Moya for 21 years.

After breaking his original, artificially accelerated bond with Moya, Pilot is now creating a new one, a process that will take one to two years. During this time, his ability to control Moya will be greatly reduced.

The elders of Pilot's species decide which of their kind is ready to be bonded with a Leviathan and travel among the stars.

The ancient speech of Pilot's species is so complex that translator microbes can't decipher it.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Just how much control will Pilot have over Moya now?

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK WHEN

A shape-shifting portrait exposes the crew to an old foe - the evil sorcerer Maldis - in "Picture If You Will".