Customer Reviews

Farscape - The Complete Fourth Season

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Now that word has arrived that we have the concluding mini-series (and thanks to all of my fellow 'scape fans for writing to Sci-Fi channel without which this would never have happened), I decided to take the plunge and buy season 4 to refresh my memory of what happened to Crichton and his merry band of pransters. Man what a great season. For those that need to know, this boxed is only different in one way from the individual two disc sets with season 4 episodes. It's cheaper. No other extra features besides a nice little box to put them inside. A pity I was hoping for something extra but, hey, with gas prices I'm happy I could save a few bucks. There are a number of strong episodes this season (and only one or two that I thought was absolutely lame)

In "Crichton Kicks" we are introduced to a new recurring character Sikozu as she crashes into the ship Crichton has taken refuge on in order to escape pirates interested in harvesting Leviathans. He's just about gotten his mathematical formula ready to go when she destroys part of it and they have to team up to stay alive. "What Was Lost" is an outstanding two part episode where Crichton hooks up with his buddies and sees Scorpious humiliated by a peacekeeper named Grayza who has delusions of grandeur. Finally Crichton finds Aeryn on Moya with her new friend Scorpious. It seems Scorpi saved her life and, as such, Crichton has a new shipmate.

The trilogy of"Unrealized Reality", "Kansas" and "Terra Firma" finds Crichton and the rest of Moya's crew traveling to Earth but at the wrong time. Eventually, they find the right time but, unfortunately, their timing leaves something to be desired. The concluding three part episode "We're so Screwed" takes the series in an entirely new direction with Crichton mastering much of the wormhole information that's been locked in his head. It seems the Scarrans have taken Aeryn hostage in hopes of using her as bait to get him to give up the wormhole technology so the Scarrans can rule the known universe. Finally, we get the coda for season four (and the set up for the mini-series). "Bad Timing" ties directly into the preceding three episodes concluding the story arc with Crichton learning that the Scarrans may try to invade Earth. Crichton's only choice is to try and close the portal to Earth but will he ever be able to get back?

Picture quality is outstanding on each disc with a sharp, crisp high definition transfer. The 5.1 soundmix takes full advantage of the format and the sound has tremendous presence. The extras are numerous with the second and third season bloopers, interviews with cast, deleted scenes, set, prop and costume galleries, early make-up tests (which is really quite fascinating). Each indvidual box comes with a booklet with character histories, season four overviews, episodes synopsis and interesting photos. Special featurettes include "Cool Farscape Facts", "On the Last Day" where we get behind the scenes footage for the season four wrap session,"The Story So Far" which gives a brief update on the series to season four, "Villains", the usual "Alien Encounters" bits and "Farscape Trailers".

All in all another exceptional season. I do miss the commentary tracks. While they didn't have to be on every single episode, I would have enjoyed them on "Bad Timing" and the "We're So Screwed" trilogy. I suppose you can't have everything but I am quite happy that "Farscape" is returning even if only in a limited capacity. A pity that Sci-Fi blundered and cancelled it making us wait this long for the resolution but, hey, at least we have it.

The fourth, and ultimately final, season of Farscape saw astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) and Aeryn (Claudia Black) end up together as the seeds of what will be an uneasy alliance between Crichton and Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) are planted when Scorpius saves Aeryn's life. War begins to brew as the reptillian-esque Scarrans now seek the wormhole technology Crichton knows to rule the universe, no matter the cost. The series finale, appropriately entitled "Bad Timing", ends on a heck of a cliffhanger and both Crichton and Aeryn are blasted to bits, leading way to the recent, and outstanding, mini-series Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. While the fourth season of Farscape wasn't the best the series had to offer, it was still exceptional sci-fi TV that continued to soar in new and innovative directions. In the end however, despite suffering the untimely fate of cancellation, Farscape did what shows like Babylon 5 and the various Star Trek series' couldn't do: continue to be original, intelligent, and just plain amazing, even while facing the inevitable threat of cancellation. And by the time the Peacekeeper Wars are over, one can't pray for a better way to send off this supremely original and fantastic series.

Season four came out the way I would have liked it to; Great. Episodes like Kansas and Terra Firma really set a bar in the way the series can throw twists at you. Aside from those two, most of the other episodes are great, especially the latter half of the season. Some episodes, IMO, were really lame like "Coup by Clam" and "A Perfect Murder", but they are easily negated by the relentless perfection that consumed most of the other episodes.

Fans of the series are sure to love the final four, which in a way sort of mirrors the final four of season three. I won't spoil anything, but the end of the series leaves fan wanting A LOT more. Cliffhangers can be deadly, especially one of this magnitude. Once you finally catch up on all 88 episodes, watch the mini-series on October 17-18, it's sure not to dissapoint.

Finally all of Farscape in complete season boxes! And right after the 3rd season announcement! They are probably looking on Sci-Fi miniseries release.

After ADV got me with the 1st season's separate DVDs (which I bought for ridicules prices, then sold for almost nothing) I refused to buy it one DVD by one. Waiting was painful. ADV kept denying complete boxes plans, but who was going to believe them?

Now it's over... When miniseries DVD will be on sale :)?

Unfortunately, this is the last season of Farscape, but it was excellent! The best part about having the DVD's is that you don't fall prey to the poor release cycle for the TV show from Sci-Fi.
This season deals mainly with John's return to Earth and closer interaction with the Scarrens. As I stated in the title - incredibly fast-paced. Each episode is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat!

I love this show, it is the best show on tv today even in reruns, thank god it is coming back on some local channels this fall. To bad it was cancelled, but the good news is there is talk about bringing it to the big screen, that would be cool. The stories and characters were all amazing, the special effects were awesome. I think it is still better than just about anything else on tv right now, stargate sg1 is a close second. Battlestar galactica is being billed as the best space series on tv, in my opinion it is not even close. Ican't believe sci-fi channel let this go, can we say dumdasses.
Well in any case all the seasons were great. The only thing that I wish was that the complete seasons 2,3,4 were truly complete and had the deleted scenes already edited back in like in the complete season 1. Other than that all is good.

I'm a big farscape fan, this came fast and made for a great christmas. Try watching any farscape, you'll be hooked

It is a pity that Sci-Fi took lessons from Fox on how to kill a show. This season was even better than the third and I was looking forward to the fifth with bated breath. Too bad another great Sci-Fi show was executed.

I'm always shocked when people have not heard of this series. It had the unfortunate effect on me of making everything else not quite good enough. The acting, Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Gigi Edgley (and everyone else in Australia) is fantastic. The design is mind blowing and the stories individually and over the whole arc are so amazing. At first I thought I would be thrown out of the story by the animatronic characters( Jim Hensons creations)-- just thought they would make it too young and hard to suspend disbelief, but the guy who voiced Rygel -- can't remember his name but he really sold it. I stopped looking at a puppetty thing and was totally engaged in his character. This isn't really a fourth season review, this is the whole shebang. Get it. Eat it.

While Season 4 definitely had it's exciting, fun Farscape moments, and still added to this fantastic series as a whole, as compared to the other seasons, it only rated 3-stars for me.

I know I will be branded the scourge of the Earth for the this review. But I've watched every Farscape episode and I've got to tell you that Season 4 was a huge disappointment for me. In that, the majority of the focus was on John and Aeryn to the near exclusion of the remaining characters. Everyone but John and Aeryn simply stopped evolving to an appreciable degree.

Instead of the storylines being tributaries meandering through the lives of all the characters, there was only one steady flow raging through the lives of John and Aeryn. Quite frankly, it got very old, very quickly for me. Season 4 consisted of: Tune in next week to see John pining for Aeryn or Aeryn pining for John. Tune in next week to see John looking for wormholes or Earth. After 21 episodes, I was over hearing about the lovesick John/Aeryn, and even sicker of those frelling wormholes.

We never got to know more about D'Argo or visit the Luxan home world. We never got know more about Rygel or visit the Hynerian home world. And that goes for all of the other characters too. The series ended with the Peacekeeper Wars, yet we barely got to see the animus that brewed between the factions. Apparently there was a whole universe of interesting storylines out there but we rarely got to see any of them. Why?

Because for some reason, the PTB thought we needed to see show after show of "John loves Aeryn (and vice versa)" and "John/Scorpious love wormholes". Reminiscent of wasting three entire episodes (during the first season) on the absurd "Princess loves John, demands to marry him, and suddenly the battle-hardened Farscape crew who have escaped from everywhere else are not even bothering with an exit strategy." Yes, I can see how these stories would be more interesting than powerful, warring factions plotting to destroy each other, along with any other species who get in their way.

Sorry folks, I cannot drink the Farscape kool-aid for Season 4. It was a huge let down for me considering it was the last season of the series. It was stagnate and missed an opportunity for the fans really enjoy ALL of the characters, including Pilot, in more than just supportive by-product roles.

I put on hiatus viewing my other sci-fi shows so I could devote my time to viewing all of the Farscape episodes. It was a refreshing relief to get back to watching Stargate Atlantis, in which the action storylines drive the show instead of the passions of one or two specific characters. Although, Rodney is quickly becoming the Crichton "all about me" focus of Atlantis...which is slightly bothersome. But I'll save that critique for another day.