Farscape (TV Series) DNA Mad Scientist (1999) User Reviews

One of the best Season 1 episodes...

[InfiniteInertia · 9/10 · 7 June 2007]

This episode is a clever take on the old "Carrot & Stick" ploy; of offering something badly wanted, only to deliver a short sharp shock! The crew of Moya encounter an alien geneticist who can track down a path across the universe to the home world, simply by sampling the races' D.N.A. Then deliver the results in the form of an interstellar map. The introduction of such an opportunity causes major upheaval to the crew, as Rygel, Zhaan and Dargo quickly decide that the cost (one of Pilot's four arms)is well worth the sacrifice, much to pilot's dismay. Crichton and Aeryn object but are not consulted in time to stop the event occurring, needless to say Crichton in his human-ness is horrified as is Aeryn (possibly due to the fact that Crichton has no foreseeable route home anyway & Aeryn cannot return from exile to the peacekeepers and has no home"world" to boot, unlike the other 3). The geneticist then proceeds to graft pilots' D.N.A into Aeryns prompting major changes to her overall form.

This episode is one of my favourites from Season 1, for many different reasons: It highlights how quickly the crew turn mercenary and forsake pilot to look out for number 1. It is also one of the major indicators that Aeryn and her "tough-girl" attitude is all a front, as she leans on Crighton heavily throughout the second half of the episode, reaching out to him both physically and emotionally for help and reveals a great deal of her inner feelings. P.K Tech girl highlighted her jealousy of having a significant rival for John's attention, but this episode far outstrips it with real emotional turmoil sparking the start of what I consider to be THE best "Space-Opera" romantic relationship, that takes well over 3 seasons to properly develop. It also shows us how aggressive Zhaan's encounter with Maldis in the previous episode has resulted in her being decidedly darker and quicker to anger than we had come to expect from earlier episodes.

All in all this episode really delivers on many different levels and represents why so many fans have heaped critical acclaim upon this fantastic and underrated Sci-Fi series...Superb!

An Excellent Demonstration of What Makes Farscape So Special

[BSHBen · 9/10 · 28 March 2008]

"DNA Mad Scientist" exhibits many of the numerous qualities that set Farscape apart from nearly every other sci-fi series. On Star Trek, for example, the main cast usually works together in perfect harmony, and disagreements are often the subject of entire episodes. In Farscape, the main cast consists mostly of escaped prisoners with their own agendas. In the course of "DNA Mad Scientist", much of the cast turn against each other, willing to do anything to reach their goals.

As the episode opens, an alien named NamTar offers the crew maps to their home worlds (or at least worlds where they would again be accepted) in exchange for DNA samples. Rygel, D'Argo, and Rygel eagerly comply. NamTar then states that he also needs one of Pilot's arms - resulting in an absolutely shocking scene where Rygel, D'Argo, and Rygel violently cut of an arm from a protesting Pilot. This is perhaps the greatest demonstration in the series of the nonaligned nature of the main cast - the crew members are capable of committing such a violent act on someone who has been their close ally since the start of the show. Interpersonal conflict doesn't stop there - the three soon turn on each other when they realize that only one of the maps NamTar gives them will function.

Something needs to be said about NamTar as well. He's one of the most awesome creatures yet created for the show for sure. I've never seen any creature remotely like him, and his genetically enhanced strength makes him an extremely formidable villain.

Anyway, eventually NamTar injects some of pilot's DNA into Aeryn, resulting in a bizarre, painful, and disturbing transformation in another impressive display of makeup and special effects. Crichton teams with Kornata, NamTar's servant, who reveals that NamTar was a test subject who took over after he was greatly enhanced. The climax features more exceptional special effects as NamTar is reduced back to his original figure. The special effects are all believable - the episode never disintegrates into mindless technobabble like the similarly DNA-themed "Threshold" from Voyager.

All in all, "DNA Mad Scientist" is a first-rate Farscape production, ranking with "Back and Back and Back to the Future" as one of the strongest episodes in the first half of season one. 3.5/4

What price the route home?

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 7 May 2012]

The opening of this episode comes as quite a shock; Crichton is having a needle inserted into his eye; it turns out the is entirely voluntary as they have tracked down Namtar, a geneticist whose database contains information on millions of species and he can use a sample to find the home planet of any species he tests and give them a route home... that is until he comes to Crichton. Zhaan, D'Argo and Rygel are happy with their results and are quite willing to pay Namtar's asking price; one of Pilot's arms... whether Pilot agrees or not! Aeryn initially opts not to be tested as she knows she can never return to the Peacekeepers but later decides to go through with the procedure in the hope that Namtar's database will point her in the direction of a Sebacean planet. He does something else to her though; rather than extracting her DNA he injects her with Pilot's DNA. She immediately realises that something is wrong and it isn't long before she starts to mutate to become more like Pilot. Meanwhile Zhaan D'Argo and Rygel have received the promised data but they soon discover that it is only possible for them to extract data to get one of them home and each of them are determined that they should be the one. With those three fighting it will be up to Crichton to find a way to save Aeryn.

This episode showed us just how fragile the relationship between the crewmembers is; Zhaan, Rygel and D'Argo will do anything to find a way home; we saw them hack off one of Pilot's arms and it is clear that they would kill each other for the knowledge they desire. We also get to know more about Pilot's character; he is surprisingly forgiving of those who harmed him even though he is clearly as hurt emotionally as he is physically by their actions. Namtar was another good villain; made even more interesting when we discover his true nature at the very end of the episode. As always the alien designs and makeup were superlative; this includes Aeryn as she gradually mutated into a pilot. Over all this is a high quality character driven episode which doesn't lack drama and excitement.

Brothers in Arms

[craybatesedu · 9/10 · 18 April 2019]

This episode is the first story we get that shows the crew's real desperation to get home. Where the gang has so far been mostly content to bop around the galaxy on miscellaneous adventures, the opportunity to buy a map to their respective homes drives the crew to their most cruel, self-serving depths yet.

The previous episode ended with Zhaan's demons fully uncorked and now we see the results. Without hesitation she and D'Argo forcibly amputate one of Pilot's arms as compensation for a cruel scientist who promises to sell the crew a map to each of their respective homeworlds.

Where Zhaan, D'Argo, and Rigel instantly set upon each other when it is revealed that the scientist's map is mostly useless and can only show the road home for one of them, Crichton is excluded because Earth is unknown to anyone apparently and Sun is not lost, she is exiled. Where this realization instantly sinks Sun into a deep and desperate depression, Crichton is seemingly unaffected - as with the rest of the series, he seems to have no particular interest in going home at all.

The alien scientist, a creepy, lumbering cat-like being is masterfully constructed. The suit is angular and huge, intimidating even from a distance, and is well acted. The creature itself is unspeakably cruel. All along it has been trading scientific knowledge for lab rats to torment, and Sun falls victim next. Her desperation to find a safe place to escape to shows us that she has fallen so far from Peacekeeper society that she is even willing to submit to once unthinkable medical experiments for the opportunity to find somewhere to "fit in."

The lesson nobody aboard seems to learn that they already fit in with each other. Crichton, Pilot, and Sun work together to undo the damage and save the day, where the other three - Zhaan, D'Argo, and Rigel - have each become violent and selfish, spending most of the episode trying to open the map at the expense of the other two.

The creepy atmosphere, immaculate effects, and truly compelling villain aptly analogized to Joseph Mengele sell this episode. It is the strongest story in season 1 yet. The difficulty it poses for us is seeing how this crew ever gets its mojo back after spending most of this episode literally tearing each other to pieces.

The crew of Moya at their worst

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 25 October 2021]

After a visit to a mad scientist "Namtar", The crew of Moya also goes mad.

This totally unusual episode shows our crew at each other's throat's and doing something against another crew member that is unconscionable.

It was as if the evil of Namtar is rubbing off on Zhaan, D'Argo and Rygel- at first we don't realize that this character is pure evil, pure dren... it takes a while for that revelation to come to us.

Aeryn, who feels out of place, approaches Namtar to be included in his experiments.

His soothing voice and calm demeanor (The voice of the actor that played Hephaestus in Xena and Hercules), portray this character as a smart, intelligent scientist.

But that is not exactly what he is.

He is smart, of course, and he is devious. And he has origins that we would never guess. Prepare for a huge reveal at the end of the episode.

As Zhaan, D'Argo and Rygel become more and more antagonistic toward each other, all due to a piece of technology that they think will do one thing but is designed to do something else, Aeryn becomes part of an experiment that she did not agree to be part of. Well, she agreed to become part of an experiment but she did not know what she was asking and she was basically handing Namtar a blank check to do whatever he wanted with.

The music of Subvision in this episode is very different than the other episodes of this season. And it is totally different from Guy Gross' interpretations.

There are musical cues in this episode, but during times when they show Namtar working, The music becomes a lot like the ambient sounds from Forbidden Flanet- which depicted alien Krell scientists performing unimaginable experiments. Experiments which had a dire ending.

So, whenever Namtar is shown twiddling in his (actually 'Cortana's') Laboratory, The musical cues fall away and we start hearing ambient, alien, experimental sounds.

In fact there are long sections where there are no musical cues and it is all ambient sounds.

Namtar is not what he appears to be- which may explain his ability to get 3/5's The crew of Moya start acting like total Frelljeks who need a Fekkik-kicking. I hope those words are not too strong.

This is probably one of the first episodes after the pilot episode where John Crichton proves his usefulness, as that subject had been in question until this episode.

The puppetry work to create Namtar was simply amazing.

Also, Namtar's Lab is based on the remains of some huge creature, but the word "Budong" was not used- even though the creature in this episode, the skeletal remains that is, appear to be about the same size.

Oh yes... take note of the device which Namtar uses to inject or remove eyegoop: and then look for it later on Br'Nee's plant miniaturization machine in "Bone to be wild".