DVD Movie Review #157 Farscape + Mini Series

Hello all and welcome to the newest of my TV and movie reviews. This time I am covering the series Farscape and the sequel mini-series the Peacekeeper wars. This was a four season series that was one of the Syfy channels halmark shows back when it was Sci-fi. This show was my replacement for when my copy of Star-Trek the Last Generation turned out messed up. I managed to cheaply get the new release of this on blu-ray and had been watching it over the last 5 months.

John is a astronaut working for the Australian space agency and he has developed a very special space craft that is supposed to glide through space without any of those other pesky problems that most space craft have. Unfortunately a freak accident happens and he is sucked through a wormhole and pooped him out in the middle of a prison break. He is quickly taken aboard the living ship and its cast of escaped convicts who want nothing more than to return home.

This is the premise that pretty much resonates throughout the four seasons and culminates in the mini series with final resolution. We see the cast change the enemies change cut pretty much everything and everyone remains the same.

This show had a lot of cool stuff to make it shine. The first is that the cast of characters were very unique and I have to give kudos to the writers in this regard as the cast keeps you coming back for more. The Jim Henson company again shines in this series with lots of cool puppetry, animatronics and makeup. You get to see many original alien designs that look very realistic and as the series goes on and even more so for the mini series the effects and makeup keep getting better. The acting on this show also is done to the point where the characters are executed correctly and this adds to the tension created throughout the series. 

There are two aspects to this show that I find as the major detractors and they are both to do with the writing. The first is that very few of the characters maintain any real likability. They are all self centered assholes who are ready at a moment's notice to stab each other in the back. Yes, the characters do grow and evolve into ok "people" by the end of the series yet this takes nearly forever and there are some characters that you still feel can't be trusted even at the end. This constant tension and anger makes your enjoyment of the show difficult at best. 

The other problem is that the story is very very odd and disjointed. There are plenty of times where you are lost in the plot and don't understand where you are or what is happening like an rpg that was so open that you get lost. The other oddity is that the stories go waaay off the deep end such as having some stories such as cartoon versions of the characters trying to kill one another or a weir alice in wonderland motif. You never know where you are or what the characters are up to at any time. The mini-series was a good ender and it wraps up the story well but it doesn't tie up all the craziness or even explain what goes on.  

In the end this is a fun yet disjointed series that I is a poor substitute for Star Trek. Here's to the next generation. 

Rating:     6/10 

The first of the editions I have is the complete series on Blu Ray. You can get pricing here.

The other edition is the Peacekeeper Wars mini-series DVD. You can get pricing here.