"Crackers Don't Matter" is one of our terrific, stand alone episodes. The fans and actors and all the creative people were really willing to grab hold of this and run with it. It never becomes fantasy. We stay within the parameters of the characters while trying to get as much "out there" as possible.
One of the things I admire about Ben Browder is his willingness to just push something as far as it will go. He's the lead of a T.V. series and he was willing to get into the costume that we put him in at the end of this particular episode.
What's significant about "Crackers Don't Matter" as regards season three development, is that this is the first time Crichton has a Scorpius hallucination. Because of the episode's plot, it's reasonable to think his hallucination is derived from his exposure to the light, but it's a foreshadowing of what was to come in season two, Crichton's decent into madness. Which has tragic results for all.
We know our fans like to go back and watch our episodes again, so we wanted to lay in that foreshadowing lightly, in anticipation of the full-blown crisis later.