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Farscape Season 1, Vol. 6 - Till the Blood Runs Clear/Rhapsody in Blue

Farscape Season 1, Vol. 6 - Till the Blood Runs Clear/Rhapsody in Blue

List Price: $24.98
Your Price: $22.48
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Crichton continues to set things straight on "Farscape"
Review: This is my first trip through the "Farscape" universe and by the time I have gotten halfway through Season 1 my recurring thought is that John Crichton (Ben Browder) really needs to stop hogging the stage. Now, I understand that this earth astronaut stuck in a galaxy far, far away is our conduit into this particular science fiction realm, but I am really much more interested in the other characters on Moya. The recurring plot element at this point in the series is that every time one of the others becomes the focus point, Crichton is required to save the day.

"Till the Blood Runs Clear" has the crew discovering that bounty hunters are looking for the reward posted by Captain Crais for Zhaan, D'Argo and Rygel. This leaves Crichton and Aeryn (Claudia Black) off the hook for the time being, but they cross paths with a pair of Bloodtrackers. At this point Crichton goes into an alpha male routine as the baddest tracker in the galaxy (he is "Butch" and Aeryn is "Sundance"). This is all quite inconvenient for Crichton because while out in his spacecraft he almost created a wormhole and he needs the ship repaired before the localized phenomenon dissipates. At least in this episode Crichton and D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) have a long overdue talk, but the, ah, intense pleasure Zhaan (Virginia Hey) gets from soaking up the rays is a missed opportunity for further exploration.

The good news is that "Rhapsody in Blue" involves the crew encountering a remote Delvian outpost, but the bad news is that all of the blue skinned women there have hair. Consequently, none of them look as great as Zhaan (Virginia Hey's decision to shave her head clearly set the bar too high for the actresses playing the other Delvian women in this episode). The head priestess says she wants to help Zhaan control her madness, but, of course, she has something else in mind. Actually, everybody in this episode has something else in their mind as the Delvins play head games with the crew. "Rhapsody in Blue" is the first episode to really unravel Zhaan's past and Crichton has to deal with more than just learning about the crime for which she was imprisoned.

The obvious formula of the series at this point, to always keep Crichton center stage, is working against the evolution "Farscape." It is not surprising that the aliens are more interesting than the one "human" character." By this point viewers are clearly hooked on the series and they should be opening it up more in favor of the rest of Moya's crew. Having a poignant moment of understanding between Crichton and one of his crewmates each week becomes quite dull from all this repetition. Volume 6 of Season 1 of "Farscape" includes a look at Moya and Pilot, but, once again, the commentaries that made the first three DVDs so fan-friendly are missing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Show!
Review: This whole series is spectacular - words do not do it justice, you need to see it for yourself. If you like SciFi that is smart, witty, funny, exciting, scary, etc. and will make you think - then this series is definitely for you. Try it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Show!
Review: This whole series is spectacular - words do not do it justice, you need to see it for yourself. If you like SciFi that is smart, witty, funny, exciting, scary, etc. and will make you think - then this series is definitely for you. Try it!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Where have our extras gone?
Review: While I am a huge fan of the Farscape series, I will not be buying any more of the DVDs until they start putting more goodies on them, or putting more episodes on them. The first 2 DVDs of this series were great: actor profiles, alternate commentary tracks, storyboards, photos. I just got number #4, and it had no commentary, and over half of the D'Argo profile was compiled from things we have seen in the previous DVDs! Aaarrgh!

Other series are putting 3-6 episodes on each DVD, but we are paying the same price for only 2 episodes. Granted, the episodes are great, but that is no excuse to pilfer the pockets of the loyal fan base. Let sci-fi.com know that we want more goodies, and perhaps with enough feedback, we can get them. :)


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