Trivia
The real me: A lot of personal secrets come out - Sikozu is a bionoid, Stark is still alive and bent on revenge, and Scorpius is... a Scarran spy? If we can believe even that, of course.
Floral food: Oddly, the favourite food of Scarrans isn't live rats or still-beating hearts, but a flower, Chrystherium Utilea. What's actually used in the show is the Bird-of-Paradise flower, a South African plant with spiky red blooms.
The John Crichton guide to pop culture.
The dark side: Katratzi looks awfully like a certain Death Star.
How Crichton learned to love the bomb: John's possession of a thermonuclear device leads to many references to Earth's nuclear history. He names it Fat Man after the bomb dropped on Nagasaki at the end of World War II, a bomb which many believe was unnecessary. He calls himself Johnny Radiation - probably a reference to kid's cartoon Jimmy Neutron.
Having put everyone in a position of mutually assured destruction if anyone attacks, he says "Welcome to my cold war," and after facing down War Minister Akhna, he retorts "Get ready to kiss your ass goodbye, Castro." It's a reference to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when Kennedy forced the removal of nuclear missiles from Cuba by threatening to use his own nukes.
Scarran blues: "It'll be John Lee Hooker time." says John. John Lee Hooker was one of the most famous US blue musicians, with a career spanning over four deacades. John may mean that they'll all be feeling blue if his bomb goes up, or it may be a reference to Hooker's 1961 hit Boom Boom.
Captain America: "I can leap whole galaxies with a single bound. I can scorch planets with a wave of my hand," Crichton tells Staleek, Akhna and Grayza. He's either imagining himself as a superhero, or remembering the classic Playstation advertising campaign "I've commanded armies."
As to why he's there, he announces it's "Because I am an American." And as such, he wants capitalism. No doubt utterly confusing the aliens, he compares his offer of wormhole knowledge for money to a supermarket style "blue light special in aisle three," and offers that favourite catalogue free gift of "a set of steak knives" along with the knowledge.
Robo-ho: John refers to the Aeryn bionoid as a fembot - probably a reference to the sexy female robots who attempt to seduce Austin Powers in the first Powers film, International Man of Mystery. (1997)
A fatal exception has occured in your wormhole: Assured by the Staleek that his safety will be guaranteed, John points out that "Bill Gates can't even guarantee Windows," referring to the well-known tendency of Microsoft products to crash.
Oooh, Smithers: "Feel the love, Mr Burns," says John when Braca saves Scorpius. He's comparing Braca to Smithers from The Simpsons, a slimy yes-man who sucks up to his boss relentlessly.
