Farscape - Season 4, Collection 5

Rating:
Summary: Bad Timing...!?
Review: This review focuses on and contains spoilers for the series finale "Bad Timing". If you've not seen the episode yet, you've been warned.

So I'm a little late with my commenting on the end of Farscape as a regular series (Bad move Sci-Fi). I only just yesterday was able to see the series finale, when the Sci-Fi channel re-aired the episode in its buildup to the very highly anticipated Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars miniseries (dare I say it's even more anticipated than the first Star Trek movie?????).
All I know is, given the manner in which the cast and crew of Farscape were given the shaft, they handled closing out the series in a surprisingly effective, very Farscape manner.
Watching as Crichton and the others worked to close the wormhole leading back to Earth before the Scarran's could get there was stunning. As John proposed to Aeryn after finding out they're going to have a baby, I was in tears. As the mysterious alien ship flew overhead and shattered the two of them into a pile of crystals, I was stunned. As the fateful words "To Be Continued" came on screen, I was speechless.
In every way, this episode is the perfect example of what Farscape always did best. Namely, taking the viewer on a ride that would run them through the entire range of emotional responses.
While it was definitely a premature end for this remarkable series, had the powers that be not seen fit to grace us with "The Peacekeeper Wars", I could not think of a more effective...more Farscape way to bring it to a close.

Rating:
Summary: The original run of "Farscape" comes to a too early end
Review: With "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars" premiering on the Sci-Fi Channel on October 17th my timing was pretty good for finishing the fourth and final season of "Farscape" on DVD. After seeing John Crichton (Ben Browder) and Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) in the trailer talking about "unfinished business," the 5th and final collection for Season 4 explains exactly what they are talking about (in fact, that clip comes from the series final first run episode).

But before the cliffhanger finale we have the three-part "We're So Screwed," which begins with Moya's crew attempting to rescue the pregnant Aeryn from the Scarrans and then escalates into something bigger and better. Episode 19, "Part 1: Fetal Attraction" (Written by David Peckinpah, Aired February 28, 2003) has Scorpius playing the front man in the rescue attempt at a Scarran Border Station when the ship holding Aeryn is docked. Rygel pretends to have the deadly disease Hynerian dermapholiica, forcing the station's medical officer to order a lockdown. But when the pretense is about to be broken, Utu-Noranti Pralatong makes the disease real, which is another threat to Aeryn and her fetus. So Jenek decides to transplant the fetus into Chiana, who is immune to the disease because she is a Nebari. This is not exactly the sort of complication we need this close to the end.

Episode 20, "Part 2: Hot to Katratzi" (Written by Carleton Eastlake, Aired March 7, 2003) has Moya's crew heading for the secret Scarran base because when they rescued Aeryn they ended up leaving Scorpius behind and he has all that wormhole information in his head. As if that were not enough of a problem when they get to Katratzi they find Commandant Grayza in the middle of peace negotiations with Staleek, the Scarran Emperor. Crichton shows up and declares he has come to sell knowledge of the wormhole to the highest bidder and that he is wearing a nuclear bomb that will explode if he gets hurt or worse. Meanwhile, his crewmates are trying to save Scorpius, or kill him, before he breaks. Exciting, huh?

Episode 21, "Part 3: La Bomba" (Written by Mark Saraceni, Aired March 14, 2003), reveals there are plans within plans within plans. Crichton has rescued Scorpius only to be betrayed, but Scorpy is not really after Crichton. He wants to use the wormhole knowledge to destroy the Scarrans and their invasion fleet, while Crichton is still walking around with a nuclear bomb that could come in handy at the right moment. I was reminded of the second season of "24" by this episode in that if you are going to make a nuclear bomb a big part of the plotline then you should not cheat and avoid having the thing go boom. There are some wonderful character moments in this one when the crew think they are once again facing death.

The final episode is entitled "Bad Timing" (Written by David Kemper, Aired March 21, 2003) not only because it takes a shot at the Science Fiction channel for canceling its signature series when clearly there was a fifth season's worth of stories needed to resolve everything, but because the usual Farscape bad luck applies to Crichton and Aeryn when they finally try to sit down and have a quiet little moment where they can deal with their relationship. Of course there are other problems. Moya's crew learns that Scorpius is working with Captain Braca, so they strand Scorpy and Sikozu in deep space so they can go back with Braca. Then there is the fact that the Scarrans are about to send their invasion fleet through a wormhole to Earth and the only hope for Crichton to collapse the wormhole and save his home planet is if his module is flown by Pilot.

"Bad Timing" could have served as the ultimate "fini" for "Farscape" given the Earth invasion plotline and a final scene between Crichton and his father, but then the very last scene gives us another "Farscape" cliffhanger at Crichton and Aeryn's expense. If I did not know we are getting a mini-series to continue the story next month then I would have been as outraged and agitated as all the other "Farscape" fans who suffered through the shock of cancellation. The four episodes on this final DVD really do focus on the Crichton-Aeryn-Scopius (fill in the blank) triangle, with everybody else left pretty much in the background (although Pilot gets a big moment for once). While "Farscape" did not have the master five-year plan of "Babylon 5" it certainly did have a sense of progression through each year, something the original "Star Trek" could not claim. This series should still be the crown jewel of the Sci Fi Channel. "Stargate SG-1" is a superb series, but you need lots of flashy aliens in a galaxy far, far away to be your signature show.