Blu-ray review: “Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray Edition”
A version of this review appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray Edition”
The always kaleidoscopic science-fiction series “Farscape” gets even more colorful and otherworldly with a high-definition upgrade well worth the wait and the premium price.
All too often, revisiting a late, great sci-fi show becomes a bit of a laughing matter when storytelling and special effects are revealed as less extraordinary than viewers’ memories of them. With “Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray Edition,” the series’ famously loyal fans won’t be disappointed: The space opera with its complicated characters, eye-popping special effects and mind-bending plotlines looks light-years more beautiful and bizarre than it did during its 1999-2003 run on cable television or on the previous standard DVD box set.
Arguably the most vivid, daring and imaginative sci-fi series ever to air on TV, the cult favorite follows the wild adventures of astronaut/scientist John Crichton (Ben Browder), who gets caught up in a wormhole while making a space flight in an experimental craft of his own design. The wormhole flings him into a distant galaxy, and he emerges in the middle of a prison break aboard a vast living ship, or Leviathan, named Moya.
The inmates — temperamental Luxan warrior Ka D’Argo (Anthony Simcoe), bright blue Delvian high priestess and empath Zhaan (Virginia Hey) and arrogant deposed royal Dominar Rygel (a Jim Henson Co. puppet voiced by Jonathan Hardy) — and Moya’s wise, multi-armed Pilot (another puppet voiced by Lani Tupu) bring Crichton on board but are as distrustful of him as they are of each other. They are joined by the fierce Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), a humanoid Sebacean and former member of the mercenary Peacekeepers, and later by mercurial Nebari thief Chiana (Gigi Edgley) and the unstable Stark (Paul Goddard), a Stykera with the ability to ease the pain of those passing to another realm.
While Crichton is determined to find a way back home, he is pursued by vengeful Peacekeeper Capt. Crais (Tupu again), whose brother the earthling accidentally killed when coming out of the wormhole. Later, ruthless scientist Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) hunts Crichton in the hopes of tapping the astronaut’s knowledge of wormholes.
Like any long-running sci-fi series, “Farscape” has its convoluted and hokey moments. But it remains consistently innovative, cleverly blending dynamic live action, state-of-the-art puppetry, impressive makeup and prosthetics and ahead-of-its-time computer-generated images.
Must-see episodes include the thought-provoking “A Human Reaction,” the dark fan favorite “Crackers Don’t Matter” and the Looney Tunes-inspired “Revenging Angel.”
To the outrage of fans, the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) abruptly canceled “Farscape,” ending it with a cliffhanger at the close of the fourth season. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray box set doesn’t include 2004 miniseries “Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars” that tied up the show’s storyline.
But the complete Blu-ray edition does include 15 hours of bonus features, which includes all the deleted scenes, commentaries and interviews from the 2009 DVD box set plus the new documentary “Memories of Moya: An Epic Journey Explored.”
— BAM
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