Cheap Farscape Season 1, Vol. 10 - Nerve/The Hidden Memory (DVD) (Peter Andrikidis, Ian Watson (II), Rowan Woods, Catherine Millar, Geoff Bennett (II), Andrew Prowse, Tony Tilse) Price

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Customer Reviews of Farscape Season 1, Vol. 10 - Nerve/The Hidden Memory

Essential Farscape
"Nerve" and "The Hidden Memory" are a two-part story that gathers together the various plot threads of the Farscape story and launches some ambitious story arcs that will figure prominently for the remainder of the series. Crichton (Ben Browder) and Chiana (Gigi Edgley) infiltrate a Peacekeeper base to obtain genetic material that is necessary to save Aeryn's (Claudia Black) life while the remainder of the crew remains aboard Moya to attend the birth of her child. Crichton falls into the clutches of Scorpius (Wayne Pygram), a hybrid being working with the Peacekeepers who is determined to rip the secret of wormhole technology from his mind. <
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>The biggest development here is the introduction of Scorpius, who deserves to be ranked among the great villains of science fiction. Other new characters introduced in this pivotal story are Stark (Paul Goddard), the former slave, and Talon, Moya's unique offspring. This is Farscape at its best, which means this is television at its best. <
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Two of the best first season episodes
Farscape was a mixed bag during the first season; the best episodes rank with anything produced by the Trek franchise or Babylon 5. What made Farscape unique is the quirky sense of humor at the core of every episode. It's the first series since Tom Baker's Dr. Who era to wink at the audience while serving and exciting premise or boots to the floor action episodes for dinner.

Both episodes feature Scorpi and Nerve in particular stands out during the first season. The premise is borrowed from an old Trek episode; Scorpi has a device that allows him to see inside the mind and pick apart the psyche of whomever is strapped into its chair. Unfortunately, Crichton becomes victim # 2 when Scorpi discovers that Crichton has wormhole technology buried in his brain by an alien race.

Never and The Hidden Memory are among the best two part episodes produced for the series. The writing is sharp and the dialog witty. I'd recommend either episode as a fine taste of the Farscape universe which has, sadly,gone on to rerun heaven.

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The alien women in Crichton's life all gang up on him
Volume 10 of Season 1 of "Farscape" is basically a two-part story necessitated by the fact that pretty much every woman in the life of John Crichton (Ben Browder) is complicating his life to maximum. In "Nerve" the chain reaction starts with the news that the wound Aeryn (Claudia Black) suffered earlier is going to prove fatal. In a desperate effort to say her life, Crichton infiltrates a secret Peacekeeper Gammak Base, taking along Chiana (Gigi Edgley), which seemed like a good idea at time. On the base Crichton runs into an old friend, Gilina Renaez (Alyssa-Jane Cook), who clearly wants to do a lot more than just help our hero with his mission. He might be able to survive all this if it were not for his encounter with Scorpius (Wayne Pygram), a Scarren-Sebacean hybrid who is basically the Peacekeeper version of Joseph Mengele. Scorpius likes to put people in his Aurora Chair and have a nice time ripping memories from their minds and he has gotten the idea that Crichton knows something interesting.

"The Hidden Memory" continues the story as Crichton's crewmates now have to figure out a way to rescue him without them all falling into Peacekeeper hands. Of course, this is when Moya's child decides that now would be a good time to be born. With Chiana and Rygel (Jonathan Hardy) remaining aboard to keep an eye on the birth of the new leviathan, Aeryn, D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), and Zhaan (Virginia Hey) storm the Peacekeeper base. However, as if the threat of Scorpius was not enough, it turns out that Captain Crais (Lani John Tupu) has arrived to bring Crichton to justice. The contrast between Scorpius and Crais is interesting, with the former offering a coolness to counter the hot headed behavior of the latter. However, Crichton, who has a most interesting cellmate, might be more in danger from Gilina, who wants to know whether or not Aeryn is competition for the Earthman's affection. Meanwhile, Moya is about to give birth to a surprisingly strange offspring.

Clearly these two episodes up the ante for the "Farscape" crew as we get to the end of Season 1. The birth of Moya's child is the dominating event of this period but clearly significant things are being set up for the future with regards to Scorpius. The two memorable confrontations here are between Crais and Aeryn as well as between Crichton and Gilina. At this point in Season 1 "Farscape" was getting into a bit of a rut, where one of more of Moya's crewmembers would get themselves in a fix and Crichton would save the day. It was certainly nice to see the situation reversed for once and you also get the sense that the show is starting to develop some significant story arcs. Taken together, "Nerve" and "The Hidden Memory" can be seen as the point where the story starts getting a lot more series as some substantial elements are put into place.