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Farscape Season 2, Vol. 1

Farscape Season 2, Vol. 1

List Price: $39.98
Your Price: $35.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I started with these, now I'm hooked!
Review: I'd seen bits of Farscape season one and at a glance equated it to every other syndicated sci-fi drama (Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, and the like). Then I rented this one on a whim, and ...WOW am I hooked. This show is what Star Trek Voyager should have been. A show that explores the unknown should be surprising, fascinating and dangerous. Farscape pulls it off in spades (by comparison current Star Trek looks wimpy and new Star Wars, badly written).

To me, these are the episodes that get the show rolling in the right direction. Farscape at it's best shows off Crichton's reactions to the bizarre environment he's become trapped in, and this is where he really starts to loose his marbles. The addition of Scorpius is inspired. From here on the episodes improve dramatically.

Watch the Best of Season One to get updated (The very first episode and season one's finale are a must to know what's going on, and DNA Mad Scientist is very cool), but Season two is where Farscape takes off.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fun story, weak direction
Review: I'm very glad that the new season of Farscape is available on DVD. As mentioned in an earlier review, there are few sci-fi series on television and we have to be appreciative of what we get. Still, I can't help wishing Farscape was even better.

Most disappointing in this set is "Crackers". Other reviewers liked it and it's clear the Farscape people think it's great because it's the only episode that they give a commentary track too. But the episode is trite, trotting out every cliche from every "they all go mad" episode of every tv series including even the "tilt the camera" trick that was so overused on the original Star Trek.

In the commentary track the director explains how he tells the actors "to not act, just relax". Ben is so relaxed in this episode that Crichton looks like he's about to fall asleep in every scene. Rigel is excellent but you would think the human actors would be able to match his performance.

There are scenes, particularly between Ben and the ever lovely Ms Black, that work well but there are way too many others that look like first walkthroughs.

And what happened to Virginia? I'm going to have to find a fan site to catch up on the gossip. I have no idea why Pa'u Zhaan is so under-utilized so far this season.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Farscape is awesome!!!!
Review: If you didn't have a chance to see this on the sci fi channel, or if you did and now want to see it again and again, get this! Farscape is the best schi fi show ever. Imagine star treck but more innovative, more serious, with a better sense of humor and more interesting topics and plots, and - most of all - for ADULTS! The characters are great and the situations they get into even better. Watch it and love it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Unseen Footage???
Review: Love this show! I buy the VHS tapes to see more of the episodes. Season 1 tapes included unseen footage, but this set didn't. VERY disappointed! Can we get it elsewhere?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Now that's more like it!
Review: No, "Farscape" is not yet being put into full season sets, but this is a vast improvement. As the plan goes now, a new 2-disc set will be released each month, with 4-5 episodes on each. And that's much better than only 2 episodes, every few months, as we've previously been getting.

"Farscape" is, bar none, the best science-fiction on TV. It's daring, bold, insane, whimsical, scary, and fun...and also has one of the most complex, involving, and brilliant mythologies of any sci-fi out there, including some fascinating stuff about wormholes.

With that said, on to the episode reviews...

"Mind the Baby" is an excellent season-opener that picks up from the season finale with a punch, and leads the show into its new direction for the new year. Its only weakness is the fact that it was not originally meant to be the season-opener, but the second episode. The first one was aired later in the season, and turned into a flashback episode, where we find out what happened. Therefore, some of the aspects of the previous season finale cliffhanger are strangely resolved without an explanation...Although that explanation will be given later in the season, in the episode, "Dream a Little Dream."

The next 2 episodes, unfortunately, are not the best "Farscape" has to offer. "Taking the Stone" and "Vitas Mortis" are both rather slow, unexciting episodes. Although each focuses on a different character and provides some great, sometimes crucial, character development, the actual stories don't pack the right amount of punch. That is not to say that they are not worth watching. Just they are not as good as they should have been.

The fourth episode of the set, however, is the crown jewel of the 4, and completely makes up for the minor weaknesses of "Mind the Baby" and the more serious ones of the other two. "Crackers Don't Matter" is an utterly brilliant, demented, hilarious, black comedy that strikes a perfect balance between the dark and the funny. It is one of the best episodes the show has ever done. It's impossible to describe the episode without giving it away, but, suffice it to say, it is brillant on every level: character-wise, plot-wise, comedy-wise, drama-wise...Very few shows can produce an episode that can make you laugh till it hurts, and cringe, also. It also greatly benefits from being an episode with a stand-alone plot which also speaks a great deal aobut the characters, and foreshadows the major story arc of the year, something that won't come completely into focus and be fully revealed until much later in the year, in the ingenious "Won't Get Fooled Again," which will take away its crown as the best episode up to that point.

What is great about "Farscape" is how it always manages to top itself. Therefore, "Crackers Don't Matter" was the best episode for a while, until "Won't Get Fooled Again" took its place, which was then taken by the season finale, "Die Me Dichotomy." And that doesn't even factor in the two brilliant trilogies: "Look at the Princess" and "Liars, Guns, and Money." Wow, you people who have never seen this season before are in for a real treat...!!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great show, but not the best showing
Review: Now - I love Farscape. I came into the show late in the game, but it has quickly joined my list of classics...a show not to be missed and now, after it's cancellation, to be mourned.

Knowing this, I must say that this set is not Farscape's best showing. So, if a new fan - don't start here....actually, start in Season 1, episode 1. It's imperative!

The redeeming feature of this set is the episode "Crackers Don't Matter." It *might* be my favorite Farscape episode of all time. The paranoia/hysteria are hysterical and chilling....and it sets up the Scorpius arc for the remainder of the season. This episode, at least, is not to be missed!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Season 2 Premiere Episodes "Mind the Baby"/"Vitas Mortis"
Review: Orignally, Farscape's Season 2 Premiere episode was one called "Re: Union". However, it was decided before the second season aired that the second episode they had filmed, "Mind the Baby", would make a more appropriate season premiere (they aired "Re: Union" later in the season as "Dream a Little Dream", with a few new scenes to make it a story in flashback).
"Mind the Baby" was certainly much better suited to be the season premiere episode. It picks up after Crichton and D'Argo have been rescued from floating in space by Aeryn (where they were left at the end of Season 1). They are hiding from the Peacekeepers at an abandoned mining facility on an asteroid. Aeryn makes supplies runs in her Prowler, but is secretly rendevouzing with someone on these trips. In the meantime, the rest of Moya's crew is trying to find Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo, and so is Scorpius and his command carrier. They will all collide in a good episode, though one that is a bit rushed in its plot.
"Vitas Mortis", the second episode on the tape, is a very mediocre episode about D'Argo's encounter with a Luxan holy woman on a planet. She will manipulate D'Argo into helping her, but these actions will put Moya in danger. Really, this episode is good for a one time see, but is not very interesting and rather boring. This is one of the few Farscape episodes that was not really that great.
So you've got one good episode and one mediocre episode on this first volume. But "Mind the Baby" is an essential episode to see, so you can't miss this volume.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great DVD!
Review: Received this DVD on Saturday so spent the day with John, Aeryn, D'Argo, Zhan, Chi and Rigel. What a wonderful surprise to get 4 episodes instead of the 2 I was expecting! Can't wait for the next DVD release.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A rather disorienting start to Season 2 of "Farscape"
Review: Season 1 of "Farscape" ended with as many cliffhangers as they could cram into the season finale. We had Crichton (Ben Browder) and D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) floating in space; Moya new born baby boy turns out to have built-in Peacekeeper technology, which thrills Captain Crais (Lani John Tupu); Aeryn (Claudia Black) in a Prowler hiding from Scorpius (Wayne Pygram); and Moya starbursts away with Zhaan (Virginia Hey), Chiana (Gigi Edgley), and Rigel. To be fair, there was no "To Be Continued" announcement for that season finale, probably because the fate of the show was still up in the air, but with the "Farscape" crew scattered to the winds of space there was a sense of anticipation as to how they were going to get out of their respective messes.

That is why "Mind the Baby" is such a great disappointment. When I started watching the episode I thought I had the wrong one in the machine because suddenly Crichton and D'Argo are no longer in space. They must have saved a small fortune not having to do the special effects to show how this happened, but it comes across as a cheat to me. It really go the whole episode off on the wrong foot for me and every new revelation as to how things would be different in Season 2 ended up being met with skepticism. I liked the second episode, "Vitas Mortis" a lot better, which is rather ironic because the story has absolutely nothing to do with any of the new plot elements that were just established. D'Argo meets up with another Luxan, a Orican (holy woman) named Nilaam, who wants him to attend to her death. However, their association has unexpected consequences, both for the two Luxans and for Moya. This look at Luxan culture is rather brief, but it does give D'Argo some new depth to go along with the dark skin colors he picked up floating around in space between the first two seasons. After all the new information thrown at us in the previous episode, a character study of one of Moya's crew other than Crichton stands us in good stead.

Chiana takes center stage in "Taking the Stone," when she is driven by grief to visit a Royal Cemetary planet where she joins a group of decadent youngsters who engage in ritualistic jumping off of cliffs to test death. The group is led by Molon (Anthony Hayes), who has even more disdain for the visitors than he does for his own people. Meanwhile, Crichton is trying to convince Chiana not to "take the stone." This episode reminds me of the "Star Trek" episode "Miri," although Chaina provides it with much more emotional depth. "Crackers Don't Matter" is one of those episodes where the characters are driven semi-insane by alien forces and the actors get to cut loose (the cunning Pilot was my favorite). Behind it all is Traltixx (Danny Adcock), who was called in to help make Moya undetectable to sensors and instead is making her walls glow. However, it is only the fourth episode of the second season, so why would the cast need a change of pace episode already?

The DVD extras are pretty much a mixed bag, especially after the above average batch of additives from the first season set. There is a character backstory on John Crichton and an actor biography of Ben Browder, but they are both text pages that you have to flip through rather than filmed featurettes; they are also rather brief. There is a commentary track on "Crackers Don't Matter," which is mostly actress Claudia Black interviewing director Ian Watson about his craft in general. There are several deleted scenes just for something different this time around and more pages offering a look at the alien encounter with Nilaam and some conceptual drawings, including nice costume drawings for Nilamm. Finally, there is the Farscape Dictionary of alien slang so you can know what "blez," "frodank," and "loomas" mean. So these end up being rather average episodes of "Farscape," although obvious the season premiere is setting the stage for what is to come. I am sure we all had our problems with some of the new directions the show is taking at this point (Talon's choice for the big "honor" totally rubs me the wrong way), but judgment should be reserved until we see what the show does with them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great show
Review: This is an incredible series. It has alot of things different from your standard Sci Fi fare. Try it you cant go wrong!

SAVE FARSCAPE!


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