John Robert Crichton Jr. is the main character of the Australian/American sci-fi TV series Farscape. Originally an astronaut and theoretical scientist, he had theorized using planetary gravity as a boost for manned space flight and he developed and piloted the Farscape-1 space module in order to prove his theory. However, during the Farscape's flight, a radiation wave occurred and a wormhole was generated, catapulting Crichton to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. On the other side, he encountered the living bio-mechanical starship Moya and found himself joining its motley crew of escaped alien prisoners. Crichton spends the entire series journeying across the stars aboard Moya, but trying to find a way to return home to Earth.
Crichton is portrayed throughout the series by Ben Browder.
Deaths[]
Throughout the Farscape series, Crichton dies on multiple occasions. His many deaths are listed below in order.
Episode 1.13 - The Flax[]
Whilst Aeryn Sun is training Crichton how to pilot a transport pod, their pod is enveloped by the Flax, an expansive energy web. With the transport pod damaged, rendered inert and losing air, Aeryn decides to prolong the air supply by administering a Peacekeeper chemical injection called a "kill shot" which will induce death, then have Crichton revive her later with a "nerve shot" after they have been rescued. However, Crichton's space helmet is damaged and Aeryn's won't fit him, meaning that in order to preserve their air supply, Crichton will have to take the kill shot himself. He is injected and dies while Aeryn dons her space helmet as the pod's air runs low. Despite some difficulties and setbacks on Moya, the others manage to free the pod from the Flax and Crichton is revived with the nerve shot.
Episode 2.10- My Three Crichtons[]
During this episode a mysterious alien research vessel creates two duplicates of Crichton. The duplicates are not clones per say but rather alternate forms of John having all of his memories and most of his personality traits. The aliens who created the vessel contact all three Crichtons via telepathy and inform them that at least one must be delivered to them or else everything within a radius of 100 metras would be forcibly transported to the aliens' dimension. One of the alternate Johns, aptly named Futuro-Crichton, believes that the other alternate John is inferior and he should be the one sacrificed to the alien researchers. Unable to locate Neandro-Crichton, Futuro-Crichton decides to hunt for vanilla Crichton. During a fight between the two caveman John pulls a surprise attack and bashes Futuro-Crichton's head in, resulting in his death. Neandro-John then brings the body of Futuro with him into the research vessel, sacrificing himself and possibly also resulting in his death, though his fate is much more ambiguous than Futuro’s.
Episode 2.15 - Won't Get Fooled Again[]
In this episode, Crichton is captured on a commerce planet by a Scarran interrogator. The Scarrans are aware that Scorpius is pursuing Crichton and are determined to find out why, but Crichton is being protected from Scarran mental probing by a neural chip implanted in his brain by Scorpius after their first meeting. This chip contains a "neural clone" of Scorpius, a replication of Scorpius' personality that resides in Crichton's mental landscape. Crichton refers to this clone as "Harvey". As the Scarran interrogator becomes more invasive, Harvey triggers a complete neurological shutdown, stopping all of Crichton's brain activity and rendering him lifeless. As the Scarran checks his instruments to confirm Crichton's death, Crichton suddenly awakes and sets his pulse pistol to overload, diving for cover as it explodes and kills the Scarran.
Episode 3.15 - Infinite Possibilities: Icarus Abides[]
In Episode 3.05 Eat Me, Crichton is replicated by an alien called Kaarvok. For all intents and purposes, this duplicate Crichton is exactly the same as the original in every minute detail, so it is impossible to determine which of the two Crichtons is the copy. Over a period of several episodes, Moya's crew is divided with one Crichton joining Aeryn and Bialar Crais aboard Moya's offspring Talyn. In Episode 3.15, the Talyn group are on the desert planet Dam-Ba-Da trying to seize a modified duplicate of Crichton's Farscape module built by the alien mechanic Furlow. Whilst trying to keep the module out of the hands of the Charrids, this Crichton is exposed to high levels of radiation which kill him. During this adventure, Aeryn and Crichton confess their love for one another and Aeryn is devastated by Crichton's death, which makes for an uncomfortable reunion with the other Crichton who is still alive on Moya.
Episode 4.22 - Bad Timing[]
In the final episode of the main series, Moya's crew take a much needed break after they have successfully destroyed a wormhole leading to Earth that the Scarrans were attempting to exploit. On an alien planet in a large calm sea, Crichton and Aeryn are on a row boat celebrating the fact that the two are going to have a child. However, they are interrupted by the arrival of an unknown alien craft that swoops down in an apparent attack manoeuvre. With no way of escaping, Crichton and Aeryn embrace each other and share what may be their final kiss as the ship opens fire. The energy blast reduces the two of them to crystallized fragments and their friends are shocked and outraged by this random attack that has claimed their companions' lives.
However, this is not the end for Crichton and Aeryn, as is revealed in the mini-series Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. The Eidelons, the aliens that attacked at the end of Bad Timing, are actually pacifistic and the device that crystallized Crichton and Aeryn merely preserved them so that the Eidelons could study them. After meeting with Moya's crew and clearing up their misunderstanding, they retrieve the crystal fragments and restore Crichton and Aeryn to life, with no ill effects towards either them or the baby within Aeryn's womb.