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John Crichton

2007-03-31T04:59:32Z

203.39.81.8:

'''John Crichton''' is the [[lead character]]/[[protagonist]]/[[hero]] of the TV series ''[[Farscape]]''. He is played by [[Ben Browder]], who also wrote two episodes for the series.

== Enter the Crichton ==

As an astronaut for the IASA, John Crichton was piloting an experimental module named Farscape One ("[[Premiere (Farscape episode)|Premiere]]") around the [[Earth]] to test a [[scientific hypothesis]] when it accidentally went through a [[wormhole]], sending him across the galaxy into a region of space inhabited by [[aliens]], where he immediately got into trouble by colliding with the spaceship of a [[Peacekeeper (Farscape)|Peacekeeper]] pilot, which crashed against an asteroid, killing its pilot -- and sending that pilot's brother, Captain [[Bialar Crais]], into a [[vendetta]] against him.

Crichton was then brought on board [[Moya]], while she and her prisoners were escaping from those [[Peacekeeper (Farscape)|Peacekeepers]], and he became a fugitive along with them, and [[Aeryn Sun]], a PK officer whose contact with him and the others had led to her rejection from Peacekeeper ranks (and a death sentence hanging on her head).

As the series's protagonist, the character of Crichton received the deepest exploration in ''Farscape'', and as the only human regular character, he also served as a point of identification for the [[audience]], which accentuated his importance.

== Crichton as Hero ==

John Crichton, in many ways, typifies the Americal male hero: he is white, middle-class, educated, and an adventure-seeker with access to a high-status job. The very portrait of privilege. But he is also a science nerd, and a sensitive kind of guy, and, more importantly, the series places him in a situation where he becomes the [[outsider]], the fish-out-of-water, in a very literally [[alien]] culture where he doesn't speak the language, doesn't have any of his social privilege, and risks his life not as a hobby but through very real and constant dangers in his environment.

;"I am not Kirk, Spock, Luke, Buck, Flash or Arthur frelling Dent. I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas."

The tension in Crichton's character as a point of feminist interest comes from the tug-of-war between the series's use of Crichton as a subversion of the myth of the male hero, and his actual narrative role as the show's protagonist, which cannot push him against type too far without altogether abandoning him. Crichton's heroism also places him against odds all too often present in masculine heroic narratives, sometimes skirting on frontier myths, as well as eventually positioning him in a [[heterosexual]] relationship with a humanoid female character that both deflects and reflects [[sexist]] [[romance]] tropes.

{{spoiler}}

Crichton's resourcefulness as a scientist and a space-jock often saves the day, but in his [[subaltern]] position as an "inferior [human] being", he must also mediate the interactions between his shipmates (and the ship herself!), which is a traditionally feminine task.

His identification with [[Dorothy Gale]] crosses gender lines, but he also engages in male posturing as a reaffirmation of his gender.

== Crichton as Victim ==

Throughout the series John is repeatedly put in the position of victim, to an extent rarely (if ever) matched by any other male television hero, from which he must often be rescued by others, and which inflicts severe and lasting side-effects to his character.

He is the victim of:
* of [[Bialar Crais]]'s vendetta against him;
* of [[Scorpius]]'s torture of him while attempting to extract information about [[wormhole]] technology;
* of [[Scorpius]]'s [[neural clone]];
* of rape by [[Mele-On Grayza]];
* etc.

In Season 2, the [[neural clone]] drives Crichton to insanity and suicidal ideation (while keeping him from killing himself).

In Season 3, one of the "[[Eat Me|twinned]]" Crichtons dies of radiation poisoning.

In Season 4, in reaction to [[Aeryn Sun]]'s absence and to [[Mele-On Grayza|Grayza]]'s rape of him, Crichton becomes a drug addict.

== Crichtonisms ==

One of John Crichton's techniques for preserving his sanity in an alien environment is his recourse to pop culture references which are usually completely incomprehensible to others around him.

He makes references to TV shows (such as ''Baywatch'' and ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'') and films, and in the sequences where he interacts with [[Harvey (Farscape)|Harvey]], sometimes constructs entire mental landscapes based on Earth environments and popular culture.

Conversely, he also adopts slang from the [[Uncharted Territories]] (most notably, "[[frell]]"), but the series does not explore alien pop culture to the extent that it reflects its hero's.

== Relationships ==

Crichton's primary relationship throughout the series is difficult to pinpoint. Although his on-and-off romantic relationship and friendship with [[Aeryn Sun]], and their growth toward each other, is central from beginning to end, his adversarial relationship with [[Scorpius]] and their mirroring obsession with [[wormholes]], as well as the indelible effects of Scorpius's [[neural clone]] and its split-personality-like residue, [[Harvey (Farscape)|Harvey]], is in many ways its equal and opposite force in his life.

[[Gilina Renaez]] was Crichton's early romantic interest in the series in her first appearance, but by the time she returned she had been supplanted by [[Aeryn Sun]], and she died saving Crichton's life.

[[Zhaan]] looked to Crichton for stability; she saw the other crew of [[Moya]] as children and she and Crichton as parental figures towards them, though her relationship was somewhat maternal towards him as well (albeit not devoid of sexuality).

[[Bialar Crais]]'s vendetta against Crichton eventually turned into a grudging mutual respect.

[[D'Argo]] and Crichton became buddies, as the two principal masculine figures on [[Moya]], and close friends, although [[D'Argo]] sometimes resented Crichton's patronising attitude towards him, when he felt that Crichton's support did not match his support towards Crichton.

Dominar [[Rygel XVI]] thought Crichton -- and everyone else -- to be socially inferior, but eventually suffered to grow somewhat loyal towards them. Crichton often made fun of Rygel's diminutive stature, but also showed affection towards him, viewing him as something of a pet -- a Toto to his Dorothy.

[[Chiana]] was like a little sister to Crichton -- a situation she did not entirely appreciate, because he did not reciprocate her sexual interest in him, except under duress (cf. "[[Crackers Don't Matter]]" and "[[A Clockwork Nebari]]". (See also "[[Kansas (Farscape episode)|Kansas]]" for a situation in which [[Chiana]] got Crichton to reciprocate her advances, in a way.)

He both patronized and/or respected [[Jool]] and [[Sikozu]], who reacted to his behaviour with various degrees of scorn and offense.

He hated [[Mele-On Grayza]] and [[Minister Akhna]], and compared [[Miklo Braca]] to Smithers from [[The Simpsons]]...

He protected [[Moya]] as best he could, but also frequently endangered her, and got on [[Pilot (Farscape)|Pilot]]'s nerves, though he also showed compassion towards him.

[[Noranti]] was his pusher.

[[Stark (Farscape)|Stark]] was alternately a protector, an ally, and a victim of Crichton ("[[The Hidden Memory]]" and ''[[Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars]]'').

And Crichton also had both mother ''and'' father issues, which were the result of the trauma of his mother's death and of his father's exacting role model ideal.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crichton, John}}
[[Category:Characters]][[Category:Farscape]]

Jool

2007-03-31T04:56:40Z

203.39.81.8:

'''Joolushko "Jool" Tunai Fenta Hovalis''', played by Tammy McIntosh, is a character on ''[[Farscape]]''.

She first appeared in the [[List of Farscape episodes#Season 3|season 3]] two-parter "Self-Inflicted Wounds".

She is an Interion (which are a humanoid alien species). She is young, very intelligent and academically accomplished, but from a sheltered and privileged background, ill-equipped to the harshness of life in the Uncharted Territories, and unused to violence (although [[Chiana]] quickly introduces her to it). She also has a strong sense of ethics and compassion. She knows that she can frequently be a difficult person to like, and tries, albeit clumsily, to overcome that.

Her screams are powerful enough to melt metal.

== Jool's role in the series ==

Jool usually served as the [[comic relief]] in season three.

Her scenes with [[Chiana]] carried a lot of [[slash]]y [[subtext]]. They worked as each other's foil (Jool being the book-smart one and Chiana the street-smart one), bickered (calling each other "Princess" and "Miss Monochrome", respectively), and Chiana punched Jool in the face a lot (usually claiming that it was for her own good). They also showed closeness and comforted each other during difficult times, and they were the only girls on [[Moya]] for a good part of Season 3.

Jool's relationship with the male series lead, [[John Crichton]], was consistently prickly and never romantic. She blamed Crichton for the deaths of her cousins, one of whom was used as a donor of neural fluid to save Crichton after his brain surgery was interrupted by [[Scorpius]] at the end of Season 2. Jool never hesistated to tell to Crichton when she thought he was in the wrong, or being self-serving.

Jool established a non-romantic friendship with the [[Luxan]] warrior [[D'Argo]] in the second half of Series 3. The development of this relationship illustrated the growth of her courage, both socially (it is to D'Argo that she acknowledged her loneliness and awareness of being a 'difficult' personality) and physically: when D'Argo was attacked by a [[Peacekeeper]] officer in the "Into the Lion's Den" two-parter, Jool piled in physically to help him, the first time she undertook any such action in the series. The series introduced a belated textual [[romantic]] element between Jool and D'Argo in season 4.

== Quotes ==

"You made me drink piss!"

"Funny how you only support Pilot when you and he want the same thing ... Truth is never crap, John."

== External Links ==
* [http://www.scifi.com/farscape/characters/jool.html Character profile at SciFi.com]

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[[Category:Characters]][[Category:Farscape]][[Category:Non-human characters]]

Jool

2007-03-31T04:25:45Z

203.39.81.8:

'''Joolushko "Jool" Tunai Fenta Hovalis''', played by Tammy McIntosh, is a character on ''[[Farscape]]''.

She first appeared in the [[List of Farscape episodes#Season 3|season 3]] two-parter "Self-Inflicted Wounds".

She is an Interion (which are a humanoid alien species). She is young, very intelligent and academically accomplished, but from a sheltered and privileged background, ill-equipped to the harshness of life in the Uncharted Territories, and unused to violence (although [[Chiana]] quickly introduces her to it). She also has a strong sense of ethics and compassion. She knows that she can frequently be a difficult person to like, and tries, albeit clumsily, to overcome that.

Her screams are powerful enough to melt metal.

== Jool's role in the series ==

Jool usually served as the [[comic relief]] in season three.

Her scenes with [[Chiana]] carried a lot of [[slash]]y [[subtext]]. They worked as each other's foil (Jool being the book-smart one and Chiana the street-smart one), bickered (calling each other "Princess" and "Miss Monochrome", respectively), and Chiana punched Jool in the face a lot (usually claiming that it was for her own good). They also showed closeness and comforted each other during difficult times, and they were the only girls on [[Moya]] for a good part of Season 3.

Jool's relationship with the male series lead, [[John Crichton]], was consistently prickly and never romantic. She blamed Crichton for the deaths of her cousins, one of whom was used as a donor of neural fluid to save Crichton after his brain surgery was interrupted by [[Scorpius]] at the end of Season 2. Jool never hesistated to tell to Crichton when she thought he was in the wrong, or being self-serving.

Jool established a non-romantic friendship with the [[Luxan]] warrior [[D'Argo]] in the second half of Series 3. The development of this relationship illustrated the growth of her courage, both socially (it is to D'Argo that she acknowledges her loneliness and awareness of being a 'difficult' personality) and physically: when D'Argo is attacked by a [[Peacekeeper]] officer in the "Into the Lion's Den" two-parter, Jool piles in physically to help him, the first time she undertakes any such action in the series. The series introduced a belated textual [[romantic]] element between Jool and D'Argo in season 4.

== Quotes ==

"You made me drink piss!"

"Funny how you only support Pilot when you and he want the same thing ... Truth is never crap, John."

== External Links ==
* [http://www.scifi.com/farscape/characters/jool.html Character profile at SciFi.com]

{{charstub}}
[[Category:Characters]][[Category:Farscape]][[Category:Non-human characters]]