Matala

Matala is a character from the first season of Farscape, appearing in the episode "Back and Back and Back to the Future". She appears to be an Ilanic, a race distantly related to the Luxans, but she is in reality a Scorvian who has undergone genetic alteration. She is portrayed by Lisa Hensley.

History

Matala was a female Scorvian spy who was altered to look like their archenemies, the Ilanics. During the Ilanic/Scorvian War, she infiltrated the Ilanic ranks, attaching herself to their military research division. She was the assistant of scientist Verell, with whom she worked with for at least a cycle while he was involved in a project to develop a superweapon using a black hole.

In the weapon's first field test, a problem occurred that destroyed the Ilanic cruiser that was conducting it. Matala and Verell managed to escape the destruction with the weapon in a shuttle and were discovered and rescued by the Leviathan Moya. There she seemed to develop an attraction for the ship's Luxan crewman Ka D'Argo, though after exposure to the weapon, his human crewmate John Crichton began experiencing flashes where Matala seemed to come onto him sexually. As these flashes continued, they became more ominous as he began experiencing visions where Matala killed those aboard Moya or manipulated them against each other. After sparring with former Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun, Aeryn realized that she was Scorvian after recognizing one of the moves she used as a neural stroke.

Death

After Crichton realized that visions he was having were in fact short trips through time, he and D'Argo confronted Matala. She was ready, however, stabbing Verell and escaping in her shuttle with the completed weapon. In his dying throes, however, Verell deactivated the weapon's containment, releasing the black hole aboard the shuttle. As Moya starburst away, the black hole consumed Matala's shuttle and the Scorvian cruiser that had arrived to pick her up.