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In going through the species of Farscape in the order of their appearance, I must confess I forgot a rather important one.
<Rygel explains clip>
In most science fiction, everyone in the universe speaks the language of the producers of the show or movie. There are some great exceptions, of course, but it’s a convenience, especially in television, to just have aliens speaking English, French, Chinese, or whatever.
About Farscape, I’ve mentioned the Kemper Doctrine of don’t explain, just show, but because communication is such an important part of any story, Farscape has to deal with how Crichton can talk to the aliens.
They explain it so eloquently and unobtrusively the writers deserve praise. It happens so naturally, you almost don’t notice it. < Crichton injected clip>
What about these translator microbes? They are never visible; almost never mentioned after the first episode, yet are always present, allowing the show to go on. Yeah, yeah, don’t explain, just show. But how do they work?
They are called microbes, not machines, so that implies they are natural biological organisms, though they could be genetically engineered. But every sentient species has them, even isolated species in tormented space. How did they spread across the galaxy?
And how do translator microbes actually work? <Rygel explains clip> Okay, fine, they live in the base of the brain and feed us information, but how do they translate the languages spoken? The microbes can translate this <Rygel clip> and this <Aeryn clip>, but how? Unless the microbes contain the universe’s most extensive language database, they must have telepathic ability.
So, not to be too technical, the microbes in one person’s brain must send signals to the microbes in the other person’s brain. And somehow in this transmission, the languages get translated. They can do this over great distances too. These little microbes are truly miraculous. They translate any language over any distance. And can live in any species, even humans.
Translator microbes are a babelfish level proof of the existence of a divine creator. And its existence is so irrational it doesn’t violate Kant’s proof that no rational argument can be made as to whether or not God exists.
Whether creative genius or a mere convenience, the Farscape writers created the show’s most important species in the translator microbes.