Ratings
1.3 (US)
2.30 (UK)

Rhys Muldoon...............Staanz
John Batchelor.............Kcrackic
David Bowers...............Goon

Wassup?

The first major shippy (but no package check!) episode.

When Aeryn takes John out in a transport pod for a little flying lesson, they wind up stuck in the Flax, an energy net used by pirates. While they try to keep their pod functioning long enough for a rescue team to reach them, Zhaan and Rygel cope with pirates, and D'Argo must choose between saving his friends and finding a way home.

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John: "Oh, I don't know how you're supposed to have fun, but this is fun. This is Top Gun. This is the need for speed."

Top Gun is a special school established by the U.S Navy in 1969 at Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego to train its elite pilots in advanced aerial combat tactics.

It came into the popular American consciousness through the 1986 Tony Scott film starring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer (see also http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/6698/topgun.html).

(This particular bit of dialog only appears in the longer version of the episode available on DVD/VHS.)

(see also www.crichtonisms.com)

Translator Microbe Report

Quotables

Comments from Cast & Crew

Claudia Black ("ChickwithGun") & Anthony Simcoe ("Ploppy"), July 28, 1999

• Moderator: <Stayler>: For Claudia. Where do you see the sexual tension between Aeryn and Criton going?

  ChickwithGun: Straight through to Series 6

• Moderator: I'll repeat that last question: <Sparrowhwk>: which episode did both of you enjoy making or was just your personal favorite?
  

  ChickwithGun: Favourite Episode: 13 Got to kiss Ben Browder Whoooohoooo!!!!! Oooooooh Baby
  ChickwithGun: Seriously, fav. ep so far was Back and Back to the Future, PK Tech Girl, and DNA

• Moderator: <Claudia>: For Claudia, What's it like kissing Ben Bowder? (wink,wink)
  

  ChickwithGun: Ooohh Baby Ooooh Baby
  

  Ploppy: I concur
  

  ChickwithGun: he even brushes his teeth first
  

  Ploppy: lol
  

Ben Browder, July 29, 1999

• dizzydain: Claudia expressed her "excitement" about the kissing scene in The Flax. I don't mean to be inappropriate but was that at all a mutual feeling?

  Browder: As scripted in The Flax it was one tender kiss. Claudia and I got carried away.

• scifi_chic9: In episode 13 (The Flax) we heard a lot of your southern accent, and it really gave a good edge to your one-liners and metaphors. Will we get to hear more of it in future episodes?

  Browder: Ahhh, the writers did that to me. A decade of trying to lose the accent and they haul it back out for all the world to see. I love my native accent but I don't see Crichton as carrying too heavy a Southern Accent. I reckon it'll come out sometimes... y'all.