Stark (Farscape)

Stark is a male extraterrestrial television character who features in Farscape.

Biography

Stark

John Crichton first meets Stark near the end of the first season (episode "Nerve"), when both are imprisoned on Scorpius' Gammak base. They share a cell together, and Stark is not very accommodating ("My side, your side! My side, your side!"). Both are also subjects of Scorpius' Aurora Chair, and over 100 sessions in it may have driven Stark somewhat crazy, although he reveals to Crichton, who is in pain and disoriented from his own Aurora Chair experiences, it is mostly an act to keep Scorpius' interest in him as low as possible (Stark has also been constructing an electronic doorkey to the cell at the time). His species is apparently the only one who can indefinitely resist the Aurora chair. It's here, too, where we first see Stark's gift for easing people's pain, shifting back his mask slightly to bathe Crichton's face in orange light and calm him down. Moya's crew is eventually successful in rescuing Crichton. Stark gratefully escapes the Gammak Base with them and, after crossing over Gilina Renaez (mortally wounded rescuing them) borrows one of Moya's transport pods and heads off on his own way

Stark returns nearly a cycle later to Moya (episode "The Locket"), to find Moya trapped in a time-bubble of sorts (a 'centre-halo', where time does not exist, a theory he heard put forward - interestingly enough - by the Ancients). After aiding a distraught and suddenly extremely aged Aeryn Sun, he 'joins minds' - fuses spirits - with Zhaan to discover the anomaly, and later again to keep time alive to allow an also aged Crichton to reverse things. Stark then reveals the real reason he returned to Moya: he has formulated a plan to rescue a cargo-ship full of (mostly) Banik slaves, amongst them Ka D'Argo's son, Jothee.

Not long after these events (in the episode "The Ugly Truth"), the Leviathan Moya reunites with her son Talyn, and Crais recognises Stark from the Gammak Base. However they are all subsequently imprisoned by the Plokavians (or Plokavoids, in Crichton's terminology) when Talyn opens fire on one of their ships... or does he? The entire crew, including Stark, are interrogated to find who is responsible for the incident, where Rashomon-like intermeshed but not-quite-matching versions of events leading up to the ship's destruction are given from each member. However, most testimonies seem to recall Stark lunging at one of Talyn's control panels just before Talyn fires. When Stark learns that one of the possible punishments is dispersal - to which he might possibly survive by transferring enough of his inner energies to another plane beforehand - he confesses to the crime, saving the rest of the crew. He gives his face mask to Zhaan for safe keeping, revealing that his face no longer glows (thereby suggesting he might have had enough time to transfer his energies away), and is promptly dispersed. This has a personal impact on Zhaan - they were becoming very close after fusing spirits sharing their similar mental abilities - and she is seen quietly weeping over Stark's mask.

Stark survives dispersion and is seen next at the beginning of the "Liars, Guns and Money" arc at the end of season two, having reconstituted his body, stolen a ship, formulated his plans and met up again with Moya. His plans are to raid a Shadow Depository (a bank for illegal booty) for currency and use it to buy the lot of slaves of sale. However, not all goes to plan, even when he has possession of the bank's maps and doorkeys, after Scorpius unexpectedly arrives. Things take a turn for the worse when they realise the currency they had stolen was actually disguised metal-eating arachnids ("Karach metalites") that proceed to strip Moya, and Scorpius has outmanoeuvered Stark by purchasing the entire slave lot himself just to get Jothee, and then spacing the unneeded 9,999 Banik slaves. This sends Stark into a screaming fit as he experiences the psychic shock of the mass murder. Having then learned Crichton had exchanged himself for Jothee's life, he aids Moya's crew (still somewhat enraged) to successfully rescue Crichton before escaping what is left of the bank.

Upon Zhaan's disappearance, Stark becomes mentally disjointed, as well as becoming strangely interested in Aeryn, whom Zhaan saved. After absorbing the ancient Eidelon knowledge of how to influence peace from a dying Hierarch and passing it back to another Eidelon, Stark's mental derangement stabilizes. At the end of Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars Stark removes his metal mask to reveal his "light" gone, and his soul at peace.

Overview

Powers and abilities

Stark is Stykera, a specialized subrace of the Banik. Stark wears a half-mask - strapped to his head by two separate buckles - of an unidentified metal, covering an incorporeal area that glows dark orange when uncovered, on the right side of his face (roughly his eye and cheek-bone) that he only reveals when he is taking away someone's pain or "crossing over" a soul--aiding or comforting a person in the moments prior to their death. However, in doing so, Stark absorbs a small fragment of the soul - and thus the knowledge and lingering emotions - of the person he "crosses over" into his own psyche, something which might explain his somewhat unbalanced mental behaviour. In addition, by virtue of being a Stykera, Stark can ease the pain and suffering of others, one of the traits that made him sought after for Scorpius' Aurora Chair research (amongst others: see below). This has not helped relations between Stark and the Peacekeepers, judging by his hatred for Scorpius and deep distrust of Crais (even after he defected from the Peacekeepers).

Notes

• Stark was portrayed by actor Paul Goddard and appeared in the setting of Farscape.

Appearances

• Farscape:

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