Ratings
1.4 (US)
2.62 (UK)

Paul Leyden................Larraq
Richard White..............Thonn
Zoe Coyle..................Hassan
Michael Tuahine............Rhed
Gigi Edgley................Chiana 

Wassup?

Draks would be preferable to this bug, and less lethal to Aeryn.

The crew pretends Crichton is a PK Captain in order to keep a Marauder crew from commandeering Moya. But the Marauder's cargo is far more dangerous than the PKs themselves: an intelligent virus that moves from host to host, and will kill to protect itself.

Backstory

Reactions

Questions (none)

Observations (none)

Bloopers

1. Around the 44-minute mark, as Chiana is thrown off Larraq's back, you can briefly see the blue stunt mat she lands on.

Annotations

The title is taken from the Disney-released film from Pixar Studios.

John: "Rygel has been possessed by some Mensa-member virus..."

John is playing on the term "intellivirus", by comparing it to the Mensa society, which describes itself as a group of "people from every walk of life whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population".

John: "And what if you don't? You might kill Rygel. You might think your magic pill worked, and then Rygel's up, walkin' around the ship, coughin' up spores, cats and dogs living together..."

From a line by Bill Murray in the film GHOSTBUSTERS, during the scene in the New York City Mayor's office:

Venkman: "Or you could accept the fact that this city is headed for a disaster of Biblical proportions."
Mayor: "What do you mean, Biblical?
Ray: "What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor. Real wrath-of-God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the sky. Rivers and seas boiling."
Egon: "Forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes."
Winston: "The dead rising from the grave."
Venkman: "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria."

(Rockne S. O'Bannon confirms this line was added by Ben Browder, and is one of his favorites of Ben's ad libs.)

John: "Look, as soon as I leave here, I'm goin' straight to Hot Lips."

John's nickname for Lt. Hassan is a reference to Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan of M*A*S*H fame, played by Sally Kellerman in the original 1970 Robert Altman film, and Loretta Swit in the later TV series.

Translator Microbe Report

Quotables

Comments from Cast & Crew

David Kemper (& Ben Browder), September 23, 1999

• Moderator: <GrandLady> to <Moderator> Ben, how did you end up in Australia and was it hard to work on last weeks' accent?
  

  BlackTee: The trick with last week
  BlackTee: was keepin the accent off a bit
  BlackTee: when John was doing it
  BlackTee: and more on when it was the virus
  

• Moderator: <truthseekr> to <Moderator> Is the virus in "A Bug's Life" really dead?
  

  DavidKemper: That one is, but he/it/she was part of a "species," of which there are more.
  

• Moderator: <GrandLady> to <Moderator> Will we ever learn more about Aeryns' childhood years and those that helped form it?
  

  DavidKemper: Definitely. We're all over that one.
  

• Moderator: <RoguePlanet1> to <Moderator> Will we be seeing more of The Virus?
  

  DavidKemper: Again -- a possibility.
  

  BlackTee: Yeah Dave... I wann do more Evil John
  BlackTee: Hehehehehehehe