Season 3, Episode 9:
Losing Time
Energy riders with hidden agendas occupy the bodies of Moya's crew.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Batman Gambit: With Tallip refusing to leave Pilot, Crichton comes up with a plan to get rid of him. While Chiana waits in the lower chamber, he has D'Argo and Jool mess with the connections in the neural cluster to make it appear that Pilot's body is flatlining and then goads Tallip into entering Moya to buy himself some time. Once Tallip leaves Pilot, Crichton signals Chiana to trigger starburst so that the energy can kill him in mid-flight. It almost doesn't work because Chiana passes out, but DRD Pike manages to rouse her.
- Benevolent Boss: Zigzagged with Scorpius. He subjects Drillic to a ghastly fate, but only because Drillic's demand that they move forward on biological trials got a pilot needlessly killed. And as ever, Scorpius is quite pleasant to Braca and lets him know about the overall situation with the Scarrans.
- Bluff the Impostor: Tallip in Pilot tells Crichton and D'Argo that the diseased rider wouldn't know personal details about a given host, so we're treated to multiple examples of this.
- Crichton and D'Argo immediately recap details they had previously told each other, such as the names of family members. Everything checks out, so they trust each other.
- Chiana is quizzed about her brother's name and what became of Salis (with D'Argo even deliberately mispronouncing his name as a further test). We later learn this was all for naught, as the diseased rider was in Chiana the entire time and still had no trouble answering the questions. It presumably learned personal details because it had possessed her for so long.
- Jool is in a particularly bad position here because the crew know so little about her. When D'Argo tells her to repeat what she had told them after being unfrozen, she botches the details and claims she was simply lying before.
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with Scorpius dreaming about confronting Crichton in order to claim the secrets of wormhole technology. In The Teaser, he is woken up by Braca for a new development in the work; in the final scene, he wakes up after Crichton chastises him for missing the key to it all.
- Call-Back:
- Crichton first mentioned losing his virginity with Karen Shaw in "That Old Black Magic".
- While testing Chiana, D'Argo asks her if she killed Salis back in "Durka Returns". Chiana points out that question won't help him as he doesn't actually know if she killed Salis or not. She instead proves her identity by telling him the name of her brother.
- Catapult Nightmare: Scorpius in the last scene after being told he's failed.
- Dying to Wake Up: Scorpius finds himself on the receiving end of this in his concluding dream, managing to literally unlock the secrets of wormholes in the form of a box in Moya's cargo hold - only for the seemingly defeated Crichton to catch him off-guard and throw him into the open wormhole. Scorpius immediately wakes with a start, sitting bolt upright, equal parts alarmed and irritated. For good measure, this is one of the few times this trope has occurred in the show, with most other instances of death in dreams resulting in real-world death.
- Evil vs. Evil:
- Both riders accuse the other of being a threat to the crew and claim to only want to help them out. It turns out they're both trouble and not to be trusted.
- On a grander scale, war is brewing between the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans.
- Eviler than Thou: The Scarrans are massing armies, as preparation for a full-scale war against the Peacekeepers. Scorpius says estimates have Scarran warriors outnumbering Peacekeeper soldiers ten to one, meaning a decisive loss until they can crack wormhole technology and gain a tactical advantage.
- Foreshadowing:
- Chiana's insistence that Tallip is lying about one of them being infected and accusing Jool. The diseased rider is really in her.
- Scorpius talks to Braca about how the Scarrans are massing armies to wage war and are only hanging back out of fear of possible wormhole weapons. Braca also muses the neural chip has some more information in it, setting up a main plot-point in their next episode.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: When discussing who could be the alien's host, D'Argo admits he's been feeling a little angry lately. Crichton quips that's normal behavior for him.
- I Lied: After the diseased rider is killed, Tallip says he's grown to enjoy being in Pilot and intends to stay after all.
- I'm Melting!: It's established this happens to any poor soul attempting wormhole travel without the proper shielding. One poor Prowler pilot is turned to goo, and Scorpius punishes Drillic for rushing biological trials. In private, Scorpius questions how it is that Crichton could survive wormhole travel in a primitive ship, while those in advanced Prowlers don't.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Jool doubts that Tallip has complete control of Pilot, due to the assorted malfunctions throughout Moya.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- After realizing they have lost time:Crichton: Anything strange happen to you guys?
D'Argo: I live on this ship. Something strange always happens. - In his quarters, Scorpius explains to Braca why Peacekeeper Command has always given them so much leeway in hunting Crichton and researching wormholes.
- After realizing they have lost time:
- Once for Yes, Twice for No: Crichton tells the DRD he's using to communicate with Moya to use this system as he can't understand the beeping noises it usually uses.
- Paper Tiger: Scorpius reveals that the Peacekeepers lied about possessing wormhole weapons to keep the Scarrans at bay. It's worked for now, but Scorpius fears the Scarrans are starting to realize the truth.
- Person as Verb: "If I'm Linda Blair, why am I tellin' you guys anything?"
- Pet the Dog: Jool cradles the weakened Chiana after the diseased rider is removed.
- Properly Paranoid: Crichton observes the diseased rider was in Chiana longer than anyone else and thus could've caused some side-effects.
- Race Against the Clock: Scorpius reveals to Braca that they have to unlock the secrets of wormhole technology before the Scarrans invade and wipe out the Peacekeepers.Scorpius: There's so little time. Sometimes, I feel it is already inevitable.
- The Reveal: The diseased rider is in Chiana.
- Safely Secluded Science Center: By now, Scorpius has upgraded from a Gammak base to a full-blown command carrier, permanently-docked in space and used as a research facility for his experiments in wormhole weapons.
- The Scapegoat: Jool gets caught in a lie about her past, giving the diseased rider the opportunity to finger someone else and take pressure off itself.
- Seers: Chiana sees D'Argo already in the room with her and Crichton before he actually enters. A weirded-out Crichton prefers to go to sleep rather than have this explained.
- Self-Deprecation: After Crichton and D'Argo present their offer to Tallip to get him to leave in exchange for the rider's location.Tallip: How do I know one of you is not infected? That this is not the Riders plan?
D'Argo: It's not - believe me. This plan is so bad - it has to be ours.
(Crichton gives him a side-eye) - Shout-Out:
- Trying to interact with an DRD, Crichton remarks he doesn't get "the R2-D2 crap" and says they're doing the "one blink for yes, two blinks for no" from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Menagerie". He subsequently dubs this one DRD "Pike".
- Crichton references Linda Blair when talking about being possessed.
- Something Only They Would Say: The crew confirm they aren't possesed by the energy rider by sharing personal details that the rider couldn't pick up from a quick scan of their minds.
- Their First Time: Crichton references losing his virginity to Karen Shaw when he was 16. D'Argo remarks he lost his virginity when he was 7.
- Undying Loyalty: Scorpius says that Braca is his second-in-command because he does his job without asking questions.
- Wham Episode: Chiana's experience with the energy rider results in her gaining the ability to see visions of the future. Though only glimpsed at at the very end, this will be a prominent aspect of her character in later episodes.
- Wham Shot: In the chamber below the neural cluster, Crichton sees the diseased rider directly above Chiana.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Jool suspects Crichton is the infected one since he was the first to experience anything weird. Presumably the diseased rider actually recognized this would make Crichton the most obvious suspect and thus ignored him in favor of another.
- You Have Failed Me: Drillic demanded that Scorpius begin the biological trials of the wormhole experiment before the current one degenerated. This led to one poor pilot becoming liquidated, so Scorpius punished him by making him fly the next trial. Co-Kura is promptly promoted to project leader, and Scorpius cautions him what failure can lead to.Drillic: Scorpius, I'm not flying the next trial!
Scorpius: I'm afraid that, uh, Braca would insist.
