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--in Dolby Digital 5.1) as if 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.
Box Set 4 includes four episodes, another gallery of conceptual art, and video profiles of everyone's favourite Hynerian Dominar, Rygel, as well as a profile of Moya the living Leviathan transport ship and her pilot. The episodes are: "Durka Returns", in which the crew meet the beautiful Chiana for the first time, as well as Rygel's old tormentor, Captain Durka; "A Human Reaction", where Crichton finally gets back to Earth but with unfortunate results for the rest of Moya's crew; "Through the Looking Glass" in which the crew and Moya are thrown into a dimensional schism inhabited by a strange creature; and "A Bug's Life", in which an intelligent virus is released on the ship after an encounter with Peacekeepers. --Mark Walker
Special Features
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital English
Dolby Digital
Contents And Scene Index
Two Video Profiles
Gallery Of Artwork
PC Screen Saver
See all Reviews
(5 customer reviews)
![Farscape 1.3 [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51R6ZA2WTAL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Farscape 1.2 [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513Q65B0P4L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Farscape 1.1 [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GBYQ91GAL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Farscape 1.5 [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5198HV7JJ5L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Farscape 2.1 [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T8PRV4RXL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
