The
series begins with astronaut and scientist John Crichton, who hopes to make his mark with a new theory of space travel that exponentially increases velocity.
When he takes his one-man shuttle Farscape One into orbit to test his theories, however, something goes wrong.
A wormhole through space forms, and Crichton's ship falls through it. The next thing he knows, he's in the middle of a space battle in a strange star system.
Strange worlds and new civilizations
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After barely surviving a near-collision with a fast-moving fighter craft, Crichton is taken aboard a gigantic living starship named Moya.
Moya was a prison ship, but her prisoners have escaped and commandeered her. Crichton meets the Luxan soldier
D'Argo, the Delvian priest Zhaan, the deposed Hynerian ruler Rygel XVI, and Pilot, a spiderlike creature that lives in symbiosis with the ship.
The prisoners complete their escape using a form of hyperspace travel known as "starburst," but freeing Moya's controls damages her navigational charts. As a result, neither the Leviathan nor her crew know where they are in the "Uncharted Territories."
They've also been followed by one of the fighters from the original space battle, but manage to capture it rather than be captured themselves.
Friendly neighborhood Peacekeepers
The fighter's pilot is Lieutenant
Aeryn Sun, a member of the humanoid race of Sebaceans. The Sebaceans are ruthless mercenaries and empire builders -- their military force is euphemistically known as the Peacekeepers -- and they were Moya's original owners.
D'argo, Zhaan and Rygel are unwilling to trust Aeryn or Crichton and treat them as prisoners. Aeryn and Crichton escape, however, and Aeryn contacts the Peacekeepers to arrange Moya's recapture.
She receives a nasty surprise from a Peacekeeper captain in hot pursuit -- Bialar Crais, who declares her "irrevocably contaminated" by contact with Crichton and the others.
Crais also wants vengeance against Crichton -- the human astronaut's near miss with a Peacekeeper fighter caused the death of Crais' brother.
Thanks to Crais, Aeryn, Crichton and the escaped prisoners are forced to work together to escape. With nowhere else to go, all remain aboard Moya, each looking for a way home.
These are the voyages
In the months that follow, we learn more about this motley crew.
D'argo was falsely accused of killing his wife. Zhaan is an assassin as well as a priest. Rygel is haunted by the Peacekeepers who tortured him.
Crichton also learns that the wormhole Farscape One fell through was no accident, and that the equations which describe wormholes have been hidden in his mind by aliens.
Despite their initial distrust, the crew learns to work together. By the
end of the season, they've become a family -- though Crichton admits it's of the "Jerry Springer kind."
Week after week, the crew survives encounters with body-copying aliens, evil sorcerers, garbologists and mad scientists obsessed with DNA. They also encounter the occasional ally, such as a
Peacekeeper technician named Gilina who falls in love with Crichton.
One such ally proves to be a permanent addition:
Chiana, a freespirited "expert burglar and causer of distractions." Chiana causes nothing but trouble at first, but quickly becomes a vital part of the family.
Their lives are further complicated when they discover Moya is pregnant. The developing baby drains Moya's resources, making starburst difficult and even causing the Leviathan to get stuck between universes.
Birth, death, and family
The crew's luck seemingly runs out at the end of the year. The baby's imminent birth makes Moya nearly immobile, and an encounter with a
sentient virus leaves Aeryn mortally wounded.
After learning of a secret Peacekeeper base nearby, Crichton
impersonates a Peacekeeper captain in an attempt to get a tissue to heal Aeryn. With Gilina's help, he obtains the tissue, but is captured and tortured for information.
Scorpius, an alien scientist working on wormhole technology for the Peacekeepers, takes an interest in Crichton's wormhole knowledge, forcing a power struggle with Captain Crais that Crais loses.
The rest of Moya's crew develop a daring rescue plan to free Crichton, but the cost is Gilina's life. Meanwhile, Moya gives birth to a baby Leviathan genetically altered to bear weapons.
Tightening the screws
With Moya still unable to starburst and the Peacekeepers hot on their trail, the crew hides in the system's asteroid belt. There, they have a
close encounter with a bone-devouring life form, but no means of escape presents itself.
Now aligned with Crais, the crew plans a desperate gambit: Moya and the baby will make a run for freedom, while Crichton and D'argo draw attention by destroying the secret base. Aeryn will pick the human and the Luxan up in her fighter after they eject from their kamikaze transport pod.
The plan
almost succeeds. As the first season ends, Aeryn is stranded among the Peacekeepers in her fighter, Crichton and D'argo are drifting in space, and D'argo has fallen unconscious from exposure . . .
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