Farscape Season 1, Vol. 4 - PK Tech Girl/That Old Black Magic
by Geoff Bennett, Ian Watson, Tony Tilse

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DVD Reviews of Farscape Season 1, Vol. 4 - PK Tech Girl/That Old Black Magic

DVD Review: Action, adventure, boot stealing...
Summary: 5 Stars

DVD Review: Not as good as most Farscape, but better than most other TV
Summary: 3 Stars

DVD Review: Best Sci-Fi Show EVER!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars

DVD Review: A pair of pivotal PeaceKeeper episodes (but no commentary?)
Summary: 4 Stars

"PK Tech Girl" does offer the old chestnut about the prisoner who falls for the captor, in this case retelling the tale (quite self-consciously it must be admitted) with the titular character, Technician Gilina Renaez (Alyssa-Jane Cook), a PeaceKeeper technician found on an abandoned PK super cruiser, and John Crichton (Ben Browder) in the familiar roles. What makes this episode work a bit better than that is how this affair irks Aeryn (Claudia Black), plus the fact that this is not a one shot deal for Gilina, which makes this more than a brief but close encounter. There is also a nice little subplot with Rygel, who was once tortured aboard this Peace Keeper ship and needs to confront a rather significant ghost.

I had been wondering what had happened to PeaceKeeper Captain Bialar Crais (Lani John Tupu), who has vowed to hunt down Crichton in the pilot episode. Well, in "That Old Black Magic" Crais and Crichton are brought together by a warlock vampire type being who wants them to try and kill each other. Crichton has long wanted an opportunity to explain that the death of Crais' brother was an accident. This episode gives him a chance to reason with the PeaceKeeper, for all the good it is going to do him. Meanwhile, Crichton's crewmates are trying a way to rescue him, even though they do not know exactly what is going on. Again there is an interesting element to the story involving the difficulty Zhaan (Virginia Hey) is having in taking advantage of her long dormant dark side in being part of the rescue effort. Of the first eight episodes, this is the best of the bunch.

The reason that both of these episodes are above average is because they both have implications for several of the story and character arcs in "Farscape." Like all great science fiction shows, the characters and their relationships are the best part of the show. By this point in the first season we are starting to learn some interesting things and the characters and their relationships are starting to click. On to Volume 5, please.

DVD Review: Farscape is the greatest show on TV.
Summary: 5 Stars

Description of Farscape Season 1, Vol. 4 - PK Tech Girl/That Old Black Magic

"That Old Black Magic": A simple trip to a commerce planet turns into a life-or-death nightmare for Crichton when he is tricked by the dark sorcerer, Maldis. As his spirit literally gets torn from his body, Crichton is transported to a dark supernatural world and forced to battle his arch enemy, Crais, in a deadly game designed to entertain Maldis. It is up to Zhaan to save Crichton, but to do so, she must rekindle a dark side within herself that she thought was buried forever?

Rygel spent years imprisoned and tortured aboard the Zelbinion, the most feared Peacekeeper battleship of all time, and when they find it a drifting derelict in PK Tech Girl, his memories come back to haunt him. While he battles his demons of the past, the defenseless crew takes on a fleet of ruthless, froglike scavengers ("They spit fire? How come nobody tells me these things!") while American rocket jockey John Crichton finds romance with the a pretty Peacekeeper technician abandoned aboard the wreck (resulting in emotional fireworks from the jealous Aeryn).

That Old Black Magic pits the crew against an evil magician that has been draining the souls of his planet for years and craves the fresh minds of Moya's crew. "I feed on death," the psychic vampire cackles while pitting Crichton against his bloodthirsty nemesis, Peacekeeper Captain Crais, and only Zhaan can save him by unleashing the angry, evil former self she had spent years burying deep within her soul. --Sean Axmaker

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