Trivia
Previously on Farscape: Lead man Ben Browder finally gets to do the intro voiceover on his own show.
Trick or treat: The idea of aliens moving freely around because of Halloween also appears in Steven Spielberg's 1982 movie E.T. There they put E.T. under a sheet. It's a move which might have made the equally wrinkly Noranti a little easier on the eyes.
Mother dearest: Carmen Duncan returns as Leslie Crichton, John's mother. Previously seen in Won't Get Fooled Again, she dies of cancer four years before John sets off in Farscape 1.
A shade of himself: Crichton's "fading out" is a trick straight out of eighties time-travel paradox blockbuster Back to the Future. At one point in the film its hero Marty McFly loses the use of his hand when it seems as if his parents won't get together.
Altered history: Farscape has played a bit fast and loose with the actual date of the Challenger disaster. The ill-fated shuttle actually exploded on January 28 1986, killing all seven crew members. There's no way Jack Crichton is going up on that mission if John and the aliens have arrived just before Halloween.
Sugar baby: Seriously addicted to American confectionery, Rygel demands John get him "Kit-Kat, M and Ms, Pez, Reises Pieces" to fuel his sugar craving. As John says in A Human Reaction, "[There are] people out there, that you wouldn't believe. But they do not have chocolate."
Let's do the Timewarp again: We already know, from a comment in season three's Losing Time, when and how John Crichton lost his virginity - at sixteen, to Karen Shore in the back of a four-by-four. What we didn't know was that Karen Shore was actually Chiana - in a paradoxical little twist.
The John Crichton guide to pop culture.
Ruby Slippers: Finally, John really can see Kansas - like Dorothy at the end of the Wizard of Oz. This 1939 movie is obviously one of his faves, as he's referred to it many times.
Square eyes: The aliens take to TV in a big way. They thrill to creaky old gameshow Wheel of Fortune and are captivated by Sesame Street - featuring Kermit, one of the earliest creations of Farscape producers The Jim Henson Company. So, when Rygel sits giggling at the gogglebox, he's actually watching his ancestor in puppetry.
Ghost of the future: John describes himself as Casper during his non-corporeal period - a reference to classic animated character Casper the Friendly Ghost. Created in 1950, Casper was popular right up to the seventies, and was revived in 1995 for a live action movie.
I Fought the Law: John gives Murphy's Law as the reason why no plans ever go right. Murphy's Law says that if anything can go wrong, it will.
Say my name: John gives Fred Scarren and John Clarence as aliases.
The Truth is Out There: There's a little nod to The X Files at the end of the episode. As the traumatised police officer is interviewed about his alien experience, we see two strangely familiar agents watching him. They aren't Mulder and Scully, but from behind they do look very similar.
