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| Matala | |
| Continuity: | Farscape |
| Type: | Antagonist |
| Gender: | Female |
| Race: | Scorvian |
| Status: | Deceased |
| First: | Farscape: Back and Back and Back to the Future |
| Actor: | Lisa Hensley |
Matala was a minor character featured in the Farscape mythos. Played by actress Lisa Hensley, she made only one appearance. She appeared in the third episode of season one, "Back and Back and Back to the Future".
Biography[]
Matala was a spy and a member of the race known as the Scorvians. The Scorvians were an aggressive, warlike species who had been engaged in a three-plus year battle with the Ilanics. An Ilanic scientist named Verell developed a powerful weapon which consisted of a containment unit housing the quantum singularity of a black hole. Realizing that whoever possessed such a weapon held a crippling advantage over their opponents, the Scorvians decided to infiltrate the Ilanics to get the device. Matala underwent genetic surgery to make herself passable as an Ilanic and befriended Verell. She worked as his colleague and arranged to deliver the weapon to what Verell believed would be an Ilanic cruiser. In truth, the ship they were scheduled to meet was piloted by Scorvian warriors.
Matala amd Vere;; took an Ilanic cruiser through the Uncharted Territories to deliver the weapon. The device was unstable however and caused a phase imbalance in their ship. Fortunately, the crew of the fugitive Leviathan ship Moya happened upon them and they were able to escape with the weapon on a small shuttle and board Moya's docking web. One of Moya's crew, the Luxan Ka D'Argo, immediately befriended the two and offered them his services for whatever they would need. He was instantly smitten by Matala and his interest in her was easily perceived by the rest of the crew. D'Argo cheerfully agreed to have Moya bring them to the rendezvous point so they could deliver the weapon to the Ilanics. To keep D'Argo from suspecting her of treachery, Matala used her seductive charm to keep him distracted.
The former Peacekeeper known as Aeryn Sun had the opposite reaction to Matala's presence than D'Argo. She disliked her secretive nature, in particular: her refusal to divulge any information concerning their cargo. Matala caught Aeryn scanning the computer console from their shuttle and the two nearly came to blows. Later, they faced one another in a sparring session down in the hangar. Matala defeated Aeryn in combat by way of a unique combat technique known as the Scorvian neural stroke. When Aeryn eventually came to, she knew that Matala was a Scorvian spy.
One unforseen incident ultimately spelled Matala's downfall however. When John Crichton first boarded the shuttle, he was exposed to quantum energy given off by the singularity. This caused him to temporarily suffer from "future flashes" in which he envisioned Matala betraying Verell and the others, killing them and taking off with the weapon.
Though it took him a great deal of coaxing, John eventually convinced D'Argo that there was more to Matala than met the eye. Aeryn substantiated John's claim by telling them about the Scorvian neural strike. They uncovered her ruse and tried to warn Verell. When Matala realized that she could no longer maintain her disguise, she withdrew a dagger and stabbed Verell in the back. She stole the shuttle and the encased weapon and took off to meet her fellow Scorvians piloting the Ilanic ship. Before dying, Verell deactivated the containment field on the singularity and it opened up, consuming the shuttle, Matala and the enemy cruiser.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Matala was created by director Rowan Woods and writer Babs Greyhosky.