Farscape s01e13: The Flax

Series

Farscape^[1][3]

Season and episode

Season 1, episode 12 (rights holder's upload) or episode 13 (episode list)^[1][2]

Production code

10113^[2]

Running time

47 minutes 47 seconds^[1]

Upload published

8 September 2024 on the rights holder's YouTube channel^[1]

Summary

In The Flax, John Crichton's first attempts to learn to fly a transport pod under Aeryn Sun's instruction end when the pod is hauled into a Zenetian pirate trap in deep space.^[2] The episode belongs to the show's first season and appears on this page because the rights holder for the series chose to publish the full cut on its own YouTube channel.^[1]

What happens in "The Flax"?

In empty space, far from any planet, Aeryn is running Crichton through his first piloting lessons in a small transport pod, and the two trade remarks about how slowly he is picking up the controls.^[4] Without warning, something unseen takes hold of the pod and drags it off course, and Aeryn's readouts show that whatever is pulling them registers no mass at all.^[4] Contact with Moya drops away, leaving the two of them cut off from their ship.^[4]

A man named Stans hails the pod and introduces himself as a garbologist, a freelance salvager who once ran this stretch of space with the Zenetians.^[4] He explains that the device holding them is the Flax, a Zenetian pirate trap designed to snare passing ships for stripping, and that his own history with the Zenetians ended when he was caught and spent nine cycles in a penal labor stockade.^[4]

0:00 The Flax The episode as published by the rights holder on its own YouTube channel, from the opening title to the end of the credits.

Memorable quotes

“you're hardly a quick learner are you”2:52

“what a cou name all right okay I used to be as an one of the Pirates Who Run the fla and loot ships”10:47

“you lost a crackage on purpose you think it was easy it's an abominable place”38:22

“I don't want to die alone”40:37

In the episode

0:30 Pilot explains Moya's pregnancy symptoms Pilot tells D'Argo that walls in Moya are secreting gel and a strange odor fills the center chamber.

3:30 An invisible force grabs the pod Something unseen snares the transport pod, pulling it in while scanners show nothing in the area.

5:30 Stans offers help Stans comes aboard Moya and warns the crew that a massive invisible Zenaan net has caught them.

7:30 Power drains on Moya Aeryn and Rygel discover that Moya's energy readings are flatlined and they cannot contact the pod.

10:11 Rygel plays to buy time Rygel wagers with the visiting Zenaan captain while D'Argo patches into Moya's circuits to boost the signal.

13:03 Stans reveals a dead Luxan's boots Stans admits he boarded a wrecked Luxan vessel, killed no one, and wants to return for a map fiber.

15:02 Crichton and Aeryn blast free Crichton ramps the thrusters to maximum and the pod tears loose from the net in a violent lurch.

18:32 A tracer signal pins Stans down Stans spots a beam that reveals his former Zenaan crew is tracking him and closing in on Moya.

20:32 Crakka comes aboard for the wager The pirate captain arrives on Moya to play Rygel, unaware that Rygel plans to lead him astray.

24:32 The repair torch is the only option Aeryn and Crichton find only one working torch and decide to weld the breach while she holds her breath.

27:34 Crichton teaches Aeryn CPR Crichton coaches Aeryn through human resuscitation so she can revive him after the nerve shot.

29:31 Stans dissolves part of the net Stans fires a device that frees his ship from the invisible filaments and he heads for the Luxan wreck.

33:30 Rygel defeats Crakka The game clock runs out, Crakka leaves believing he won Stans's location, and the crew fakes the coordinates.

37:05 Crichton wakes up gasping Aeryn stops compressions and Crichton revives, learning the environmental fix is only half done.

44:09 D'Argo confesses to Aeryn Aeryn and D'Argo reunite after the rescue, and he admits his hesitation nearly cost their friends their lives.

Air date, credits and where to watch

The two sources number the episode differently: the rights holder's YouTube upload labels it S1E12 of Farscape, while the season one episode list counts it as the thirteenth episode of the season, with the twelfth slot in production order belonging to a different episode.^[1][2] The full episode can be watched on this page because the rights holder published it on its own YouTube channel on 8 September 2024, under the title "Farscape S1E12 FULL Episode | The Flax," in an upload running 2,867 seconds, about 47 minutes and 47 seconds.^[1]