Amazon.co.uk Review
An international co-production of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment,
Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of
Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the
Star Trek franchise. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry,
Farscape takes a visual leap beyond previous shows. Admittedly, the basic premise may be borrowed from
Buck Rogers (American astronaut catapulted to far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew have something of
Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas like the living ship are borrowed from
Babylon 5, but the
Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script never takes itself too seriously (fart jokes and double-entendres pop up when you least expect them). It must have been expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds) like every penny made it to the screen. In true Buck Rogers style, Ben Browder plays leading man John Crichton as an all-American astronaut, although with a more believable sense of bewilderment; the supporting cast is a mixture of Australian and British actors, mostly disguised under heavy make-up.
This tape contains the first two episodes. In "Premiere", astronaut John Crichton is inadvertently catapulted into a parallel universe where he is taken on board the bio-mechanical ship Moya and meets the inhabitants: D'Argo, a seven-foot-tall Luxan warrior, Zhaan, a blue-skinned Delvian priestess, and the diminutive slug-like Rygel, the Henson Creature Shop's proudest creation. Another humanoid (and potential love interest), formidable-yet-sexy Peacekeepr Aeryn Sun, joins soon after. In episode 2, "Throne for a Loss", Rygel's devious side is developed further as he gets the crew into trouble when he "borrows" a crystal crucial to the operation of the ship and is kidnapped by some unpleasant characters. --Mark Walker
Synopsis
Episodes 'Premier' and 'Throne For A Loss'.
