Scratch 'N Sniff

Ratings
1.2 (US)

Tammy MacIntosh............Jool
Francesca Buller...........Raxil
Tamblyn Lord...............Fe'Tor
Laura Keneally.............Theiadh
Anthony Martin.............Mitols
Richard Carter.............Voice of Kabaah
Milan Keyser...............Sarl
Jaye Paul..................Heska Tinaco
Julia Trappe...............Blue Girl (uncredited)
Rachel Sheriff.............Green Girl (uncredited)

Wassup?

"Pleasure planet, my mivonks."

Chiana and Jool need shore leave, and Pilot needs a break from John and D'Argo's bickering. A stopover on the local pleasure planet seems like just the ticket...if only the crew can stay out of trouble long enough to enjoy it.

Backstory

Pilot banished John and D'Argo from Moya for a period of ten solar days, due to their excessive bickering; Jool and Chiana took advantage of the opportunity for shore leave.

Both unfaceted green gems and brandar tiles (gold-colored tokens) are being accepted as currency on LoMo. Moya's crew seems to be using only brandar tiles.

No weapons are allowed on LoMo, although John was able to leave his pulse pistol on the transport pod, rather than back on Moya.

Jool has melted the edges of her comms with her screaming.

Kabaah uses a low quality of miramar root in his pleasure elixirs. It has a smell highly unpleasant to Luxans and Humans.

Hangi, generally believed to be mythical, have removeable eyes -- optic nerves which continue to send back images and record, even after they're separated from the body. Kabaah generally keeps an eye hanging out in the LoMo bar, but he also has optic recordings of the interior of Fe'Tor's compound.

Placing a Hangi tentacle on your eye links you to the optic memory, and gives you a three dimensional image of everything that happened.

Jool has some gymnastic talent; she can do cartwheels and backflips.

Chiana can do fire twirling, and apparently render someone unconscious with it (perhaps by hypnotizing them?).

At least one variety of raslak is a blue liquid.

Fe'Tor was clearly the most highly thought of freslin dealer in the region where Moya's crew was partying. He was credited with having the most sensitive nose in the business (in fact, his first words to Chiana are that she smells exotic). Kabaah was afraid to cross Fe'Tor by helping John and D'Argo.

Freslin can make you attractive, or attract you to others. It can be strong or weak, depending on where it's "manufactured". The base element of freslin is found in the senil gland of sentient beings, who are "milked" to obtain it -- Fe'Tor claims that being milked only hurts the first time, but in reality, prolonged milking is fatal. According to Fe'Tor, an "animal's" last batch is always more bitter. The freslin trade, while thriving, nonetheless appears to be illegal on LoMo. Crichton refers to it as "LoMo's dirty little secret".

Kabaah has a visual record of Fe'Tor's compound, which enables John and D'Argo to learn the layout.

D'Argo has now met Harvey personally, apparently due to their "unique shared consciousness" within Kabaah's optic recording.

Circuit breakers to the entire subterranean level are visibly located in the auction room. The milking room is located ten steps down the corridor.

John had easy access to 200,000 brandars on the transport pod.

Raxil knows how to mix or obtain a variety of freslin which creates an "aura morph" by radiating the subject's pheremones outward. The effect is temporary, and its duration is affected by the speed of the subject's metabolism.

According to Pilot, John has been aboard Moya for approximately 2.5 cycles.

Raxil suffered some sort of disaster on Elepuria, which left Fe'Tor with the impression that she had given up the freslin trade.

Chiana sells at auction for 250,000 brandars.

The combination of past history and freslin is enough to inflame D'Argo's jealousy, when John caresses Chiana during the auction.

Raxil's mate, Sarl, stole her design for the milking machine and sold it to Fe'Tor, who never knew who really designed it. Raxil only wanted the machine's central chip (brain) back, to make her own fortune.

Chiana appears to have had another precognitive episode. She knows that John is about to be attacked in a manner which might injure his neck, or break his night-vision goggles.

An overdose of freslin is apparently fatal. It also seems to make the victim's eyes cross.

Despite acknowledging that Crichton has never lied to him, Pilot sees too many inconsistencies in John's story to believe it.

John and D'Argo will be left on a nearby industrial planet which has accommodations for visitors; Moye et al will return in eight days.

Reactions

Questions

1. Does Chiana have a new haircut? Her hair looked shorter in this episode.
2. How many eyes does a Hangi have? Kabaah doesn't appear to be missing any in the usual locations, despite the fact that he keeps an eye in the LoMo bar. He's also hard of hearing -- is this a personal handicap, or a species trait?
3. How does Harvey recognize the circuit breakers in Fe'Tor's compound? How does he know where the milking room is located?
4. How does the Hangi's optical recording/playback system actually work? Does it include audio playback? How does it enable Harvey and D'Argo to meet?
5. John had ready access to 200,000 brandars without leaving the planet's surface; just how much cash did they bring in on the transport pod? And how more do they have back on Moya?

Observations

1. The window scene is destined to be a classic Farscape moment. John shrieking, fleeing, and then peeking around the edge of the window again -- absolutely priceless.
2. The entire story was told by a somewhat inebriated Crichton, leading to a certain degree of uncertainty about its accuracy. For example, Pilot points out that they couldn't drain that much fluid from someone in the milking room, without killing them far sooner.
3. The interplay between Crichton and Raxil was delicious, knowing that the actors are married to one another in real life:
   • Crichton: "This alien is Raxil. There's one like her on every planet."
   • Raxil: "You're not very smart, are you? Now he -- he's got a brain. But you, you're a bit of an idiot."
4. Loved the executioner costumes on Fe'Tor's henchmen.
5. D'Argo dancing the funky chicken was a riot.
6. That wasn't a stunt double doing Chiana's fire twirling -- Gigi Edgley counts that among her personal skills.
7. The aura morph made D'Argo look like Furby, or a Gremlin.
8. D'Argo seems to be picking up some of John's Earth phrasing: "none of it, my ass". However, his comment about the "slim duck" demonstrates that he still hasn't quite mastered the idiom.
9. The score was excellent, especially in the final shootout sequence. Letting it play over the closing credits was a nice touch.

Bloopers (none)

Annotations

John: "Right, go find 'em, Lassie, it was your idea to come down here in the first place."

As noted in the annotations for "Beware of Dog", Lassie is the beloved canine character created by Eric Knight in 1938, and who later became a film, radio, and TV star.

John: "All right, then. You know what? We are being scammed. Ren and Stimpy here are teamin' up to rip us off. Let's get outta here."

Ren Höek and Stimpson J. Cat are the stars of the cartoon REN & STIMPY, created by John Kricfalusi, that aired on the cable channel Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1994.

John: "Wha...what doesn't make sense? She nailed him with Love Potion Number Nine."

"Love Potion #9" was a hit song first recorded in 1959 by The Clovers. It was written by Jerry Lieber & Mike Stoller, who were responsible for many of the greatest hits of early rock'n'roll, including Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock", The Coasters' "Yakety Yak", The Drifters' "On Broadway" and "Spanish Harlem", and Ben E. King's "Stand By Me". Their songs are the centerpiece of the stage show SMOKEY JOE'S CAFÉ.

Harvey: "Ka D'Argo."
[D'Argo hisses]
John: "No, it... it's okay. That's... um... that's Harvey, it's not Scorpy. He's a pooka, he's... he's not real."

In the 1950 movie HARVEY -- whence comes Crichton's nickname for the Scorpy neural clone in his head -- the invisible rabbit of that name was referred to as a pooka, which is actually the term for a type of Irish sprite.

The exterior shot of Fe'Tor's compound shows it to be based on Frank Gehry's design for the Guggenheim Museum (see also) in Bilbao, Spain. [Thank you to GutPageant for the information and links.]

Mitors: "Distinguished friends...We now come to the sale you've been waiting for. I present the olfactory genius, Heska Fe'Tor."
John: "Does this guy just scream Vegas or what?"

John's referring to the ostentatiousness of the headliners in shows held in the various Las Vegas venues.

Translator Microbe Report

Quotables

"Oh, yeah, they are going write songs about how you guys tore this place up."
"Right. Go away."
"I am away. I'm on vacation!"
- Chiana, John Crichton

"This alien is Raxil. There's one like her on every planet."
- John Crichton

"Are you boys...a couple?"
"Ahh! Nooo!"
"No."
"No. No."
"No."
- Alien Girl, John Crichton, D'Argo

"What happened?"
"What didn't happen?"
"Oh, god...there were girls, right?"
- John Crichton, D'Argo

"They rolled us?"
- John Crichton

"D'Argo...we're in a window. There are people watching."
"Uh huh. I think they've been there for about seven arns, so why don't you just get dressed, and give them a good show, sweetheart."
"I am dressed. [looks down] Aaaiiieeek!"
- John Crichton, D'Argo

"Right, go find 'em, Lassie, it was your idea to come down here in the first place."
"You go frelling find them. Aren't you worried about them?"
"Ah, hell, no. They're probably sleeping off the fun they had last night."
- John Crichton, D'Argo

"But you looked so angry before, when you were in the window."
"Not talking about the window!"
- Raxil, John Crichton

"You're not very smart, are you? Now he -- he's got a brain. But you, you're a bit of an idiot."
- Raxil

"That's Jool's comms."
"How do you know?"
"It's melted around the edges from when she screams."
- D'Argo, John Crichton

"Kabaah, get your eye out of the gutter!"
- Raxil

"Oh, big deal. She's being hit on by some guy. Knowing Chi, he's probably in more trouble than she is."
- John Crichton

"What, what doesn't make sense? She nailed him with Love Potion Number Nine!"
"It made him dance?"
"Well, it's a way to meet girls."
- John Crichton, Pilot

"Hey, you know what? It's a weird universe out there, man. You don't know that, because you're spending all your time indoors."
- John Crichton

"These people....will not dance with me. No one wants to dance--"
"No, go away! Oh, oh, oh, look at the booty on that girl!"
- D'Argo, John Crichton

"Hey, Hammerhead, how you doing? I'm back for some home video."
- John Crichton

"Ka D'Argo."
[hisssssss]
"No, it's okay. That's...um...that's Harvey, it's not Scorpy. He's a pooka, he's...he's not real."
"But thanks to our unique shared consciousness in this situation, we finally get to meet Ka D'Argo. Give me five!"
"Go away."
"I've had some weird conversations in my head before, but this...is a little..."
"Yeah, I know. Hey, look, Harvey just shows up every now and then to give me bad advice."
- Harvey, D'Argo, John Crichton

"Pleasure planet my mivonks."
- D'Argo

"Ten steps."
"Uh, eight steps."
"Ten."
"Eight. Small legs, Human."
- John Crichton, D'Argo

"Two guns? I mean, I thought you were the great Crichton and D'Argo! I mean, you blew up a Shadow Depository. I mean, I thought you'd bring pelshfer charges...and a plasma bomb...and a really big gunship...but No! You bring nothing! You bring two little weapons that wouldn't kill a negnik!"
- Raxil

"Please don't hit me, please don't-- Aaagh! ...All right, you can hit me just once. Just once!"
- Raxil

"I do not appreciate the lies to you tell to circumvent--"
"Whoa, whoa! How long have we known each other?"
"Approximately two and a half long cycles."
"I ever lie to you?"
- Pilot, John Crichton

"Does this guy just scream Vegas or what?"
- John Crichton

"You mind cutting this heifer down, so I can take a closer look?"
- John Crichton

"Listen up, Mr. Horny Toad!"
- John Crichton

"I'll raise ya fifty dollahs..."
- John Crichton

"No, no, that's not right."
"No, it's eight."
"No, no, he said ten."
"Will you shut up! I know what I'm talking about! It's eight! You're making me lose my place. Eight! Eight! Shut up!"
"You're wrong!"
"Aauugghh! Okay. Ten."
- Raxil, D'Argo

"How's your neck?"
"It's fine; I don't mind sticking it out for ya."
"You don't want these broken."
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Good. ... Weird."
- Chiana, John Crichton

"Skreetuk."
"You smell exotic."
"Aaauuugghhh!"
"Smell this!"
- Fe'Tor, Chiana

"Neck still okay?"
"Yeah."
"I knew it. Sad thing is, he's gonna die happy."
- Chiana, John Crichton

"I don't believe you."
"Why not?"
"Too many inconsistencies. Too much obfuscation."
"Obfuscation? How the hell does that translate?"
- Pilot, John Crichton

"What, he didn't believe you?"
"No."
"Well, what was that thing about a slim duck?"
"Slam dunk."
- D'Argo, John Crichton

"He's throwing us off Moya."
"Yeah, well, you wanna give it a go?"
[grrrrrr]
"... No."
- D'Argo, John Crichton, Pilot

"You would argue with a lamppost."
"I do not. Open the door."
"You open it."
"You open the door."
"What, you're a girl, I going to open the door for you? Open the door."
"I'm older than you, show some respect. Open it."
"You can't open it? I'm not opening the door."
"I'm not opening no door. You open it."
- John Crichton, D'Argo

Comments from Cast & Crew

Anthony Simcoe, May 01, 2001

• vacush: Has Tammy MacIntosh adjusted to the show? And can you add any info on Jool?

  Anthony_Simcoe: Tammy and I used to share a flat together about 5 years ago so it is wonderful to have her joining our family.
  Anthony_Simcoe: And she is settling in wonderfuly and is a real asset to the cast.
  Anthony_Simcoe: Jool remains as prickly as ever, which I think is real fantastic.

• Ka_Leo: Anthony, can you tell us how far along you are in filming season 3 and why Sci Fi is taking over a month for new episodes?

  Anthony_Simcoe: A unit starts episode 15 tomorrow. And I am finishing off episode 13 on B unit.
  Anthony_Simcoe: Because Sci-Fi started showing season 3, not long after we started, you now have to wait for our post production team to catch up before we can show any more episodes.
  Anthony_Simcoe: I think they are up to 9 so we need to wait for a bit backlog.

• Ka_Leo: The show has taken a very dark turn this season, I know you cant give any specific plot points away, but is the show going to continue on this dark road, or take a turn for some lighter episodes?

  Anthony_Simcoe: Episode 13 is the funniest episode of Farscape we have made yet. So there are moments of light!
  

Richard Manning, May 02, 2001

• Xenajules2: Ricky, Anth told us last night that season 3's ep #13 was the "funniest ever". Do you agree?

  Ricky_Manning: Funnier than episode 306??? Hmmm I would have to get back to you on that one.

Ben Browder, Mat McCoy (w/Fiona Gentle and Tim Mieville), Lily Taylor, & Richard Manning, July 12, 2001

• Moderator: <shokoti> to <Moderator>: A Clockwork Nebari was a fantastic episode. Any more plans yet to give us more on the Nebari and their whole story?

  Lily Taylor: You never know with Farscape. I love the Nebaris so I'd love to see more of them.

• Moderator: <primatebrain> to <Moderator>: To: Lily; Did you or will you be writing any episodes for Season 3 or 4?

  Lily Taylor: Ep 313 "Scratch "n" Sniff. Should be on air soon.

• Moderator: <SunAeryn> to <Moderator>: <Satalieo at work> Lily, can you comment on eps #313-Scratch and Sniff, Anth said it's the funniest eps to date, what this intended to balance out the dark tone of the season so far?

  Lily Taylor: Absolutely.

• Moderator: <Jayce66> to <Moderator>: What do you like best about writing a Farscape episode? What do you like least?

  Lily Taylor: It's totally unpredictable. It's totally unpredicatable.

• Moderator: <Armed-Chick> to <Moderator>: Lily, who is your favorite character to write for?

  Lily Taylor: I love writing for Chiana. I'd love to write for Aeryn.

Dave Elsey, July 19, 2001

• Moderator: <Jayce66> to <Moderator>: It sounds like there are critters or aliens in upcoming episodes of which you are particularly proud ... any episode we *must not* miss?
  Moderator: Just a heads up for you Dave. In the states we are currently up to episode 13 "Scratch 'N' Sniff", which will air tomorrow evening.

  DaveE: Kabbah is pretty cool in Scratch 'n' Sniff.
  DaveE: He's a very good puppet and is capable of much more than we showed in the episode.
  DaveE: Maybe he could come back.
  DaveE: Also, I think you will enjoy Rowan Woods's episode (Ep. 317 coming up soon-ish)
  DaveE: This was epic for us. And without giving anything away, has the most unique character I think I've ever seen.

Farscape Wrap Day Extravaganza, July 26, 2001

• Moderator: Hi Tim!
  Moderator: Last year at this time, you told us you had a fabulous chair in store.
  Moderator: I thought you were kidding, until I saw "The Ugly Truth." What can we look forward to this year?

  TimFerrier: We've got 2 chairs. The 1st one was for The Ugly Truth, and the 2nd one is for Scratch 'n' Sniff this Season - both are torture instruments which are our specialty!

• Moderator: <Thinkum> to <Moderator>: Tim, what was the weirdest thing you had to design for Season 3?

  TimFerrier: I'd have to say the Freslin extracting chair in Scratch 'n' Sniff..

• Moderator: <AnnieBW> to <Moderator>: Hi, Tim! Welcome. We just saw "Scratch 'n Sniff" here in the States. It was certainly a different look than most FS episodes. Can you give us some insights on the set design for that?

  TimFerrier: Tony Tilse and I felt that it was a good oportunity to move away from the dark, claustrophobic feel of the second seriees just for one episode.
  TimFerrier: Also the subject matter was pretty heavy stuff.
  TimFerrier: Slavery, intoxicants.... but we wanted it to have a kind of hallucinatory, dance party feel.
  TimFerrier: So, we thought we'd go crazy retro colours to reflect the hedonistic planet.

• Moderator: <Xhalax--Sun> to <Moderator>: Tim: was the party room in Scratch n Sniff the same room that John had his flashback in Rhapsody in blue?

  TimFerrier: No - completely different room...

• Moderator2: <Busco> to <Moderator2>: Hello Tim, Was the scene with Jool in the tub shot on location or was it all on a soundstage?
  Moderator2: And more importantly. What was under those bubles?

  TimFerrier: It was at my house!!

  Moderator2: Who's home was it? Tim's or Marusha's?

  Moderator: (and can we get invited to a party there?)

  MarushaKushnirukXeros: Tim's house - Marusha's very private!

• Moderator: <AnnieBW> to <Moderator>: Hey, Froon! Between "Meltdown" and "Scratch 'n SNiff", we've all been wondering if the writers have been visiting Aaron Sorkin's mushroom farm. What gives? Are you guys all on laughing gas lately?

  FrooniumRicky: "Lately"?
  FrooniumRicky: Haven't you been watching?
  FrooniumRicky: We try to mix things up
  FrooniumRicky: pharmaceutical-wise and otherwise

• Moderator2: <Scaper1984> to <Moderator2>: Hi Ms. Edgley! (Thanks for the autographed pic BTW) How did you do that fire twirling in Scratch and Sniff? It was GREAT ! I want to do that! :)

  Gigi: I picked it up through university....
  Gigi: What can I say I graduated with an arts degree
  Gigi: tee hee
  Gigi: lotsa trips to the park with bongos....firesticks and chains
  Gigi: The scene was originally written as Chi pick'n someone up at the bar.....thoguht that one had been done a few too many times so I had a chat with Tony and pulled out da fire chains
  Gigi: Hopefully gonna squeeze my trapeze work in next time
  Gigi: tee...heee

• Moderator: <Busco> to <Moderator>: Hey Deb, was "Scratch 'n Sniff" a bigger challenge, considering all the edits required?

  DebPeart: Scratch n Sniff was huge we are talking about 1300 picture edits - the biggest ever!!!

• Moderator2: <stargatetravler> to <Moderator2>: Yo Gigi, what up? Looking forward to seeing you in Burbank again this year!! Out of the eps for S3 which one has been the hardest for you to do, which one the most fun, & which one your favorite?

  Gigi: Hmmmm........
  Gigi: the hardest ep of season three has probably been the cliffhanger.....
  Gigi: we got the script....after we shot about three days of it
  Gigi: So it is interesting...challenging and exciting...to try and figure out where your character is heading
  Gigi: My Fav.....the pleasure planet was funky to hang out on for a while...
  Gigi: always enjoy a good milking
  Gigi: Green eyed monster....is stunning.....
  Gigi: up there with my favs
  Gigi: The most fun
  Gigi: ......combinations of lotsa different eps....
  Gigi: BEing possessed...was good...and juicy....fun
  Gigi: Hate to admit it but play'n around with Jothee wasn't that bad either...heeehhhee.....Chi indulged though gi was fearful
  Gigi: :)

• Moderator: Tony directed Scratch N' Sniff, no?

  FrooniumRicky: Tony: "Define 'direct'"
  FrooniumRicky: (He's so modest, our boy Tony Woo)

  Moderator: Ah...
  Moderator: <AnnieBW> to <Moderator>: Tony, we all really enjoyed "Scratch 'n Sniff"! That was great! There's been some discussion about which movie the directorial style was inspired by.

  FrooniumRicky: Tony: "Good question"
  FrooniumRicky: "A mixture between Any Given Sunday and Natural Born Killers"

• Moderator: <GypsyJr> to <Moderator>: Hi guys, thanks for coming! For Tony, or whoever can answer, a question about Scratch and Sniff - where'd they get inflatable chairs in the uncharted territories? ;)

  FrooniumRicky: Tony: "Aren't they everywhere, like beanbags?"
  FrooniumRicky: Some things transcend space and time

• Moderator: <Busco> to <Moderator>: Hello Tony, is their any special shot in "Scratch 'n Sniff" that you particularly liked?

  FrooniumRicky: Tony's stumped
  FrooniumRicky: there were so MANY shots in SnS

• Moderator: <Bexa> to <Moderator>: What's up with shoving Fran around whenever she's a guest? First Ben, now Anth...

  FrooniumRicky: It's All Acting
  FrooniumRicky: who on Farscape DOESN'T get shoved around?
  FrooniumRicky: Certainly not me

• Moderator2: <rainier123> to <Moderator2>: Who's idea was it in SnS to put Ben in black Thiegh highs...I still laugh about that one when I see any hoisery?

  LilyTaylor: I asked for him to be completely starkers!

• Moderator: <Jayce66> to <Moderator>: 'Lo, Tony. Having done both, do you prefer shooting on the Talyn sets or the Moya sets?

  FrooniumRicky: Tony: "Moya sets"
  FrooniumRicky: Tony: "Not as hot. Talyn's a warm set"
  FrooniumRicky: (tighter quarters)

• Moderator2: <Cush> to <Moderator2>: Lily, "Scratch n Sniff" was....interesting. Was there anything you wanted to put in there, but couldn't? (censor reasons)

  LilyTaylor: At one stage we did drop into somebody else's bedroom...

• Moderator2: <birthsister> to <Moderator2>: Lil, do you have something against chi, everytime you write a script she gets strung up, strung out, and knocked around?

  LilyTaylor: I love Chi... that's why I always want to write about her.

• Moderator2: <MissyKat> to <Moderator2>: question for Lil: It seems that there were some issues in S'N'S that were deeper than I expected such as slavery, doing drugs with strangers and greed... was the social commentary intentional or did it just happen?

  LilyTaylor: It was intentionally there - we just didn't want to hit people over the heads with it.

• Moderator2: <NYScaper> to <Moderator2>: Hi Lil! Was there anything else to the dancing scene between Tammy and Gigi? Or were you just teasing us?

  LilyTaylor: Teasing?

• Moderator2: <Thinkum> to <Moderator2>: Sheldon, did Chi get a new haircut for "Scratch 'N Sniff"? her hair looked a lot shorter?

  SheldonWade: Her last wig had suffered almost two years of abuse, so, we thought it was time for a new look...