Farscape s02e03: Taking the Stone

Season

2^[1][2]

Episode number

3^[1][2]

Series

Farscape^[2]

Original air date

31 March 2000 (United States)^[2]

Rights-holder upload

Farscape YouTube channel, 13 November 2024, under the title "Taking The Stone", which differs from the episode's title^[1]

Running time

44 minutes 16 seconds^[1]

Summary

Chiana, grieving a loss linked to a surgically implanted life-dis, slips away into the tunnels, and the others follow her down.^[1][2] As she is drawn into the clan's way of life and prepares to take the stone herself, the crew begin to suspect that the clan is dying young for a reason the cliff chamber hides.^[1]

What happens in "Taking the Stone"?

Moya's crew arrives at a planet the transcript calls a royal cemetery world, where Chiana tells John Crichton that she has lost someone connected to her through a surgically implanted life-dis.^[4] She goes underground, and the rest of the crew follow her into tunnels the transcript describes as exactly identical to one another.^[4] Down in the tunnels, Crichton speaks briefly to an unseen presence, and members of the clan living underground seize Chiana.^[4]

Crichton asks Aeryn Sun to be civil to Chiana when they find her, and Chiana defends the clan to Crichton, saying at least they get to live before they die.^[4] She encounters a sonic net sustained by the clan's own voices and prepares to take the stone, the clan's ritual jump from the cliff.^[4] Ka D'Argo explains that a jump victim's skin is soaked and bones hardened before burial, and tells Crichton that those at the cliff do not jump because they expect to live, and that Chiana will not jump if she does not want to.^[4]

Memorable quotes

“it's Chiana's Choice John great that's just great Aeryn you know I hope if I ever decide to jump in front of a bus you're not the only one”21:41

“you must be pushing 22 Cycles huh sport I'd say the end is near for you whether you take this St or not”24:02

“you want to jump yeah but whatever you want you cannot want to die maybe one day you'll understand”28:32

In the episode

2:04 Chiana vanishes from Moya Aeryn and the others learn that Chiana has left the ship in a stolen prowler.

3:00 A life disc reveals a death The crew finds a broken life disc belonging to Chiana's brother and realize he has died.

4:00 Crichton records a distress message John records a desperate video plea for anyone who can help him find a way home.

5:09 Landing on the cemetery planet The crew arrives on a royal cemetery world and prepares to search the surface for Chiana.

7:05 Chiana runs through fire The crew witnesses Chiana completing a dangerous trial by leaping through rings of fire.

8:30 Rygel meets the locals Rygel encounters the underworld clans and presses them for information about the underground.

11:04 Chiana grieves her brother Chiana tells John about the sonic chamber and admits her brother's death is why she fled Moya.

14:34 A sonic net awakens A glowing sonic net activates, catching John and the others in its humming field.

18:37 Crichton confronts Rygel Crichton angrily confronts Rygel in his chamber about tampering with cursed relics.

21:31 Chiana wants to stay Chiana refuses to leave the planet and tells John to stop trying to rescue her.

23:01 The lost people speak John meets an aged survivor who explains the mysterious illness strikes everyone at twenty-two cycles.

27:02 Crichton sends a tissue sample Crichton asks Aeryn to take a sample from the lost people back to Zhaan for scanning.

30:35 Zhaan confirms radiation exposure Zhaan reports the tissue samples show radiation poisoning amplified by the cliff chamber.

35:03 Crichton tries to stop the jump Crichton addresses the clans, pleading with them to move to the surface and abandon the deadly tradition.

39:00 Moltan completes the jump Moltan leaps from the cliff, and John is left standing at the edge in stunned silence.

42:00 Chiana is ready to leave Chiana tells John the jump was incredible and agrees it is finally time to go home.

Background

The episode can be watched here because the rights holder published it on its own YouTube channel, named "Farscape", on 13 November 2024. The upload, titled "Taking The Stone", runs 2,656 seconds (about 44 minutes 16 seconds).^[1]

The upload's description calls Farscape The Jim Henson Company's sci-fi series, and the channel description calls it "SYFY's first original series".^[1] The description credits Rockne S. O'Bannon as the show's creator and lists the regular cast as Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simcoe, Lani John Tupu, Jonathan Hardy, Gigi Edgley, Wayne Pygram, Virginia Hey and Paul Goddard.^[1]

The upload's description sums up the episode as "Chiana deals with loss by needing to feel more alive."^[1]

In the series

Taking the Stone is the third episode of Farscape's second season.^[1][2]