12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A nice follow up to the absolutely glorious Season 3, April 6, 2006
This review is from: Farscape - Season 4, Collection 1 (Starburst Edition) (DVD)
The bad news about Season Four of FARSCAPE is that it wasn't as good as Season Three, but that is absolutely not a reflection on Season Four's quality. Season Three of FARSCAPE is not merely the best of FARSCAPE's four seasons, but one of the finest seasons of any show in the history of television. I'm not sure that any show took as many risks as these guys did that season and the remarkable thing is that so many of the risks succeeded. The whole arc of the inadvertent creation of two utterly identical John Crichton's and their separate fates--one to get paired with Aeryn Sun on Talyn where they would consummate their romance before his death, the other to be separated from Aeryn and to have to deal with her grief upon returning to Moya and her dilemma that the man she loved was both dead and yet still alive--was without parallel in both television and film. In my opinion that season is one of the highlights of the history of television. Season Four, on the other hand, is merely outstanding, a first rate season, but inevitably a bit of a disappointment compared with what before. It is like Babe Ruth hitting 54 home runs in 1928 after hitting 60 in 1927.
Nonetheless, Season Four starts off somewhat anticlimactically after the fireworks of Season Three. The season ended with everything in chaos. Talyn and Crais were dead (though the actor who played Crais, Lani John Tupu, continued on the show as the voice of Pilot), Scorpius's worm hole project utterly destroyed, and the surviving John's romance with Aeryn seemingly unable to continue because of the enormous conflicts she has undergone. Season Four also starts off by introducing several new characters or at least establishing them as permanent ones. The final episode of Season Three found a mysterious old woman on Moya who seemingly came from nowhere, whose name we later learn is Utu-Noranti Pralatong. In the first episode of Season Four we meet Sikozu, played by the beautiful Raelee Hill (though her make up isn't completely flattering to her), a remarkably intelligent woman whose many unique physical skills and overall agenda is only gradually revealed throughout the season and the subsequent mini-series. Commandant Grayza was introduced at the end of Season Three, but she returns in Season Four as not only the major antagonist of the crew of Moya but of Scorpius as well.
The episodes making up this set are probably the weakest of Season Four. None are actually bad, but most of the highlights take place in the last two-thirds of the season. The first episode, "Crichton Kicks," which takes place on a different, dying Leviathan, is a good start to the year, but isn't as good as what went before or what would come later. The two-parter "What Was Lost" was a good sequence that once again was not as strong as the arcs that preceded or followed it. In these episodes we do bid farewell to Jool, which pleased me simply because I couldn't abide her screaming (literally--her screams could melt solid metal) or her unfortunate hair prosthetic. In this two-parter Grayza apparently kills Scorpius.
The biggest event of the end of Season Three was the "coin toss" that decided that Aeryn was going to leave Moya. Of course, no one had any illusions about whether she would return, only when. The final episodes in this set deal with her return to Moya, suffering from the overheating to which Peacekeepers are susceptible, with a fugitive she had promised to protect for having saved her life: Scorpius. Her time away from Moya has led Aeryn, who is pregnant, to reconsider her feelings for John (and allowed healing over the fate of the other John) and she lets John know that she is open to renewing their romance. Interestingly, John's response is to get a drug from the Old Woman that numbs his feelings for Aeryn, though his motives for doing so are not revealed until later in the season. Meanwhile, all we know is that John refuses to get back with Aeryn.
Season Four as a whole is a very strong one, though most fans of the show understandably find it somewhat disappointing following the sustained brilliance of Seasons Two and Three. In fact, it is very nearly as good as Season Two, the brilliance of Season Three causing it to suffer by comparison. Still, there is no point where this isn't a first rate show, which made its cancellation following the end of the season all that more difficult to comprehend.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crichton Kicks indeed!, June 23, 2006
This review is from: Farscape - Season 4, Collection 1 (Starburst Edition) (DVD)
What I love about Season 4, especially the first four episodes, is that John Crichton finally gives the UT the proverbial finger. For most of his time in on Moya, he's running, hiding, getting his @ss handed to him, and wondering "why can't we all just get along?" Having to survive alone on a dying Leviathan like Robinson Crusoe teaches him a few things. The most important seems to be that the universe is not a nice place and it never will be. From that point on, John Crichton is out for himself.
And I love it.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love John Crichton in his hippy free love days, too. The most interesting aspect of Farscape to me is watching John's journey from wide-eyed, gee whiz kid into the shoot first, ask questions later guy he becomes. Season 4 just ushers in another (the last?) leg of the wild ride.
Season 4 is a bit of a bumpy ride. While there isn't a single episode in this season I don't adore, the storytelling gets a bit muddled in the middle. That said, the first few episodes, up to Promises and Aeryn's return to Moya, are amazing. Abso-frelling-lutely amazing.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Series, July 25, 2006
This review is from: Farscape - Season 4, Collection 1 (Starburst Edition) (DVD)
Seasons 3 and 4 are my favorite of this show. I can't wait to finish collecting them all.
This show definitely put a spin on sci-fi. It's fun and it's entertaining. If you are a true sci-fi fan you'll love this show.
Give it a try (rent) before you buy!
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