Farscape s02e18: A Clockwork Nebari

Series

Farscape^[3]

Season and episode

Season 2, episode 18^[1]

Title

A Clockwork Nebari^[1]

Running time

44 minutes 16 seconds^[1]

Published on YouTube

22 February 2025, by the Farscape channel (video bC6Q7zMe8jI)^[1]

Summary

A group of Nebari infiltrates the living ship Moya and uses a drug designed to wipe everyone's mind clean.^[1] Rygel, Pilot and John Crichton are able to resist the drug's effects and work together to rid Moya of the intruders.^[1]

What happens in "A Clockwork Nebari"?

The episode opens aboard Moya, where Pilot, Chiana and the others are gathered and Crichton tells Aeryn Sun that she can yell at him later.^[4] A group of Nebari then abducts Chiana, and their leader, a woman named Vara, tells the crew that Chiana must be delivered to Nebari control.^[4] The Nebari give the crew a mental cleansing drug and collar Pilot, because his species nullifies the cleansing process and has to be contained by other means.^[4]

Vara tells the crew that a Peacekeeper patrol from Scorpius's carrier is operating in the area and orders Pilot to take the ship to the nearest Nebari territorial outpost.^[4] The collar will detect any attempt to Starburst and inject Pilot with a lethal dose, closing off the obvious route of escape.^[4] During the confrontation, Chiana confesses that she and Ner escaped Nebari Prime years earlier using exit permits whose meaning she only now understands.^[4]

Once a resistant core has formed, the crew decides to head for the Nebari outpost using Vara's own coordinates, in order to free Pilot from the collar.^[4] Throughout, a Peacekeeper patrol remains in the immediate vicinity of Moya, adding an outside threat to the standoff inside the ship.^[4]

0:00 A Clockwork Nebari The episode as published by the rights holder, from the start, covering the Nebari takeover of Moya and the crew's resistance.

Memorable quotes

“you're not using me again”17:23

“the only thing that ner cares more about than the resistance is you you got to get me out of here”25:47

“give me your gun no you have to choose between these women you have to choose no you are senior here Vara but I resist the temptation to terminate the prize that we were sent to retrieve”38:24

“you betrayed me and you have betrayed the spirit of our people”40:02

In the episode

1:30 Crichton apologizes to Chiana After a skirmish, John admits his recent conduct has been poor and promises to face forward together.

4:41 Malac arrives as guide A Nabari envoy boards to collect Chiana and confirm the ship is secure.

6:32 Crichton learns the crew was drugged Rygel explains that Aeryn and the others were temporarily mind-cleansed, and that Chiana is their prize.

9:00 Chiana reveals her secret Pressed by John, Chiana admits her estranged brother is alive and involved with the resistance.

11:01 Chiana plans to flee alone She insists on splitting up so she can identify a high-ranking defector who gave her the antidote.

14:34 Crichton resists the treatment Strapped down, John fights the cleansing process and apparently breaks free of its effects.

18:01 Crichton recovers onboard John recounts his snap-back to reality and shares Malac's destination coordinates with the group.

21:03 Chiana finds Rygel uncleansed She discovers the little Hynerian was also unaffected, and the two begin plotting.

24:38 A recorded message from Ner Chiana watches a hidden image disc in which her brother confirms he is alive and leading the resistance.

27:31 Faking a Peacekeeper attack John proposes fabricating sensors and visuals to convince Malac that a patrol is closing in.

34:32 Malac demands Ner location Chiana stalls for time, claiming she needs half an arm to remember the safehouse.

39:01 Simulation ends mid-blast John cuts the feed just before a direct hit, revealing the ruse and forcing Malac to abort.

41:37 D'Argo leaves to find his son Released from cleansing, the Luxan storms out toward the slave auctions while Chiana is held behind by Rygel.

Air date, credits and where to watch

A Clockwork Nebari is the eighteenth episode of the second season of Farscape, which originally aired on the Sci-Fi Channel between 17 March 2000 and 19 December 2000.^[2][3] The series was created by Rockne S. O'Bannon and co-produced by The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, and it ran for four regular seasons and 88 episodes between 19 March 1999 and 21 March 2003, starring Ben Browder as John Crichton and Claudia Black as Aeryn Sun.^[3]

The episode can be watched on this page because the rights holder published it on its own YouTube channel: the Farscape channel uploaded the full episode on 22 February 2025 (video bC6Q7zMe8jI), with a run time of 2,656 seconds (44 minutes 16 seconds).^[1] The channel's own description of the episode is the source of the summary above.^[1]