Season 4, Episode 4:
Lava's a Many Splendored Things
During a pit stop on a lava planet, the crew accidentally interrupt a robbery attempt and get separated. While Chiana and Sikozu try to access D'Argo's ship, Crichton and D'Argo try to navigate the caverns with Noranti to save Rygel.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Big Damn Heroes: Chiana manages to reach Crichton and Raa'Keel in time to shoot the latter (so that he can be slammed down into his own amber-encasing gun), then the former so that his shield belt will activate again to protect him from the lava.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: A variation without dismembered limbs. The controls to D'Argo's ship are bio-locked and can only be opreated by a pilot with Luxan DNA. Chiana coats her hands in D'Argo's fresh vomit which does the trick. Sikozu ends up doing the same thing after getting annoyed with Chiana screwing up the control sequence.
- Breather Episode: A light-hearted comedy episode with minimal reference to the main storylines.
- Brick Joke: When talking to Raa'Keel over the comms, Crichton identifies himself as Lou Costello. A few minutes later, D'Argo asks who that is.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: Downplayed; by the time Noranti manages to summon the real Tarkan Freedom Fighters, D'Argo has taken out his opponent, Chiana has saved Crichton from Raa'Keel, and Crichton has gotten Rygel out of the lava so that he can be freed from the amber. However, they are still able to take Raa'Keel into custody, prevent the robbery of their hidden cache, and let everyone out of the caverns.
- Fallen Hero: The lead Villain of the Week, Raa'Keel, was once a genuine Tarkan Freedom Fighter.
- Fanservice / Fan Disservice: Noranti does a strip tease to distract Sloggard and Frool, so Crichton and D'Argo can knock them out. She uses a powder to make sure the mooks see her as a shapely, blue-haired woman, while Crichton and D'Argo continue to see her as she really is. It works, but she keeps the strip tease up after Sloggard and Frool are knocked out.Crichton: [looking away before the last piece of cloth is removed] Oh, my God.
[D'Argo sees everything and screams] - Hazmat Suit: Harvey appears in one before Crichton enters the lava.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment: When the crew receives Pilot's message.Rygel: By the yotz, Moya's all right. She's waiting for us!
- Also, invoked by name by Crichton, after he succeeds in rescuing the amber-covered Rygel from the lava.
- Hero of Another Story: Tarkan Freedom Fighters, according to Noranti.
- Here We Go Again!: As the crew is given leave to depart the planet, Noranti shows their appreciation by giving the Tarkans some of her restorative; needless to say, everyone is in a hurry to get away before their benefactors discover what caused them to end up on the planet in the first place.
- Honor Before Reason: While Crichton fights a mook, Rygel (encased in amber) accidentally falls into lava. Crichton figures it's his responsibility to get him back out, despite the risks and uncertainty of the Tarkan shield belt's effectiveness.
- Insane Troll Logic: To get around the Tarkan shield belts, Crichton proposes hitting the mooks with rocks, which D'Argo is incredulous of.Crichton: The shields work against pulse energy; they don't work against other things. We saw the guy get burned.
D'Argo: Yeah, but not by a rock!
Crichton: All right, let me lay this out for you. Fire is thermal energy.
D'Argo: Okay.
Crichton: Thermal energy is like kinetic energy. A rock has kinetic energy. Ergo, a rock will work.
D'Argo: Uh, okay. Okay, I'm with you. I just have, uh, one small, little question. Who is Lou Costello? - "Not So Different" Remark: After Raa'Keel states they blundered into his robbery, D'Argo notes he and Crichton have performed a few robberies over the years. It doesn't endear them to Raa'Keel.
- Shout-Out
- Crichton says, "There is no "We", white girl", which is a reference to The Lone Ranger joke. "Tonto, we're surrounded by Indians!" / "What do you mean, 'we', white man?"
- Spanner in the Works: The crew stopping on the planet completely wrecks Raa'Keel's robbery attempt.
- Tested on Humans: The shoot-the-schmuck-wearing-the-bulletproof-vest version.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: At the end of the episode, the crew receive a message.Pilot: Ka D'Argo, Moya and I have received your signal. Here is our location. We look forward to your return.
- Too Dumb to Live: Sloggard and Frool.Crichton: What if they got friends downstairs?
D'Argo: I'll take these two. You can take the friends.
Crichton: What if there's a hundred of 'em?
D'Argo: Of these guys? We should be so lucky. - Vomit Chain Reaction: The reason they stop at the planet. Noranti gave them a restorative to alleviate their hunger. Sikozu didn't take it, but everyone else did, which made them sick and throw up.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Just barely in some cases.
- We Need a Distraction: Noranti's strip tease. It was her idea.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Raa'Keel cares little for his underlings being killed throughout this episode. He even shoots Sloggard and Frool point-blank to remove Crichton and D'Argo's leverage. Gleeg (the second-in-command), though, is annoyed that more and more of his people keep getting killed in all this.
