Perhaps it is something of a cheat to include Farscape on this list, since it is a show that features an uncommonly high ratio of Bottle Episodes, due to having a fluctuating budget and a single ship for the entire main cast to live on. However, the most memorable of these Bottle Episodes winds up being one of the most compellingly farcical episodes in science-fiction television. The setup for this episode is relatively simple: the main characters pick up a hitchhiker and an abnormally large supply of crackers on their travels, and by over the course of the next day or so, proceed to turn on each other and go insane for vague reasons. The real fun in this episode is how deliciously twisted everyone in the main cast can get when they truly start to hate each other. Free from inhibitions, the characters fling around the accusations and jabs that they have been keeping to themselves all this time, creating a crucible of interpersonal cruelty that couldn't be more entertaining. The clear highlight of this episode is Ben Browder as John Crichton - this is the episode where he proves just how far from your generic everyman protagonist Crichton truly is. The mental breakdown is particularly interesting in Crichton, because he becomes truly manic - seeing hallucinations of arch-nemesis Scoripius as some kind of id figure, abusing and tying up the entire crew, and insisting upon the "superiority" of mankind, his performance elevates the episode into the realm of black comedy. These tropes have all appeared before, but rarely as twisted or as funny as in Farscape.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
