Product Details

• Actors: Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simcoe, Lani John Tupu, Jonathan Hardy
• Directors: Geoff Bennett, Ian Watson, Tony Tilse
• Writers: Rockne S. O'Bannon
• Producers: Andrew Prowse, David Willis, Emily Skopov, Justin Monjo
• Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Adv Films
• DVD Release Date: November 27, 2001
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005R23R
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200,310 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Farscape Season 1, Vol. 9 - Through the Looking Glass / A Bug's Life" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FARSCAPE Continues to Shine!, March 20, 2002

By 

John Kahane "book and movie lover" (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Farscape Season 1, Vol. 9 - Through the Looking Glass / A Bug's Life (DVD)

Science fiction tv series often find it difficult to maintain a high level of quality in their first year, and while FARSCAPE has had some inconsistency in this regard, the ninth DVD of the first season of the series brings us two of the best episodes in the first season to this date.

The first episode on the DVD, "Through the Looking Glass," offers the vision of a Moya split into four different realities through the act of the Leviathan's attempting to Starburst without enough energy to make the trip successfully. Each of the realities has variances from the norm that make the situation more difficult. Crichton manages to find gateways or doorways between the realities, and attempts to bring the four Moyas back together again. But there is another force at work here, a force that is ripping gouges in the realities of the various Moyas, and perhaps this is the biggest threat of all...or not. This episode brings together some of the best characterisation and acting in the series so far, presenting as it does two marvellous "dinner on Moya" scenes - one at the beginning, one at the end - that truly frame the differences in the crew at the two different points of the story. It is an episode where Chiana truly begins to fit in on Moya (in her own way, of course), and where we get to see a different side of Rygel and the others as well.

The second episode is "A Bug's Life," the first season episode that leads into the story arc that wraps up the season which will change the lives of the characters forever. When Larraq and his fellow PK Commandos commandeer Moya to transport a single crate to the Peacekeeper Gammak base in the Uncharted Territories, Crichton and Aeryn masquerade as PKs, while D'Argo, Zhaan, and Rygel pretend to be prisoners once more. But when Rygel and Chiana's curiosity get the better of them and they open the crate, they release a virus on board that threatens the entire crew...and may cost one of Moya's crew's life. This episode is a marvellous morality play that deals with the issues of trust, and has a wonderfully paranoid feeling to it. Heck, "evil Crichton" is worth seeing this one for!

Both episodes have some extended footage here that adds to the stories in general, and "A Bug's Life" is notable in this regard, featuring a good scene between Aeryn and Larraq that explains much of the personality of our favourite female PK. Thh additional footage in "Through the Looking Glass" is also worth the effort of seeing, and provides a bit of insight into the major characters, but doesn't really enhance what we've seen to this point. What would have made this DVD really exceptional would have been a commentary version of each of these episodes, since both are psychological works that really would have been enhanced by such material. There is a nice Profile on Lani Tupu's work here, although there was less time than I would have liked to see devoted to Pilot in this, but such is life and all.

With two of the best episodes of the first season on it, this ninth FARSCAPE DVD is a good buy as each of these episodes is worth viewing more than once. A few more extras on the DVD wouldn't have hurt it, but I think that this DVD is still worth the price.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the better season 1 dvd's, August 28, 2002

By 

N. Caine (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Farscape Season 1, Vol. 9 - Through the Looking Glass / A Bug's Life (DVD)

Maybe it's just my poor timing, but I find these episodes to be ones that haven't often turned up on Scifi. They're both excellent. Without spoilers, the first one begins with the crew hilariously munching out and trashing each other while occasionally throwing food, interrupted by Moya splitting into dimensions. The dimensional shifts are handled differently than usual, which is quite interesting. In A Bug's Life, Crichton masquerades as a Peacekeeper captain in order to deal with a peacekeeper crew landing on Moya, but much else goes on, with Erin particularly good in this episode believably attracted to someone other than John. The "extra" focuses on Lani Tupu. It is terrible, like all the extras on the Farscape dvd's, but is redeemed by his talking of how he voices Pilot!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Your Father's STAR TREK, February 13, 2002

By 

Edward Lee "Trekscribbler (NCC1205)" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Farscape Season 1, Vol. 9 - Through the Looking Glass / A Bug's Life (DVD)

I've argued the point as loudly as I can across all of cyberspace: FARSCAPE has usurped the mantle of STAR TREK by producing, unarguably, the most intelligent science fiction for television ever.

A product of Hallmark Entertainment and Jim Henson Productions, FARSCAPES legion of fans grows larger and larger every year as the show, airing in the US exclusively on the Sci Fi Channel, just keeps getting better.

FARSCAPE Volume #9: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS and A BUG'S LIFE (two hourlong episodes) are pure joy to watch. Both episodes have the look and feel of a major motion picture ... they just don't have the length.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS boasts the premise of what could possibly happen should our reality split into different dimensions ... in this case, four! Our hero, Earth astronaut John Crichton (flung into parts unknown by a wormhole generated from his Farscape Project), finds passages linking the four realities together, and it's a race against time to bring the four worlds back together into one before an alien menace inadvertantly wrecks them all!

A BUG'S LIFE is a splendid morality play (similar to stories done on other science fiction shows) wherein a virus that travels from person to person creates a kind of hypnotic claustrophobia, leaving you to question who do you trust? Excellent paranoia feel to this episode makes it well worth repeat viewing.

The DVD boasts incredible sound (Dolby 5.1), a wonderful featurette on one of FARSCAPE's principals (Lani Tupu), and even includes footage previously not broadcast in the United States (due to time limitations of television).