arscape's future may still be hazy, but it's possible to relive the innovative show's glory days thanks to ADV Films' release of Farscape Season One, a box set of 11 DVDs. Newcomers to the series who always wanted to find a way to get into Farscape and understand what all the fuss was about will find this box set is the way to do so. When digested sequentially, the burgeoning brilliance of the series is clear.
From the premiere episode on, Farscape hit the ground running and never looked back. With its generally well-written, action-filled episodes, good acting, truly alien-looking aliens, underlying story arc and dazzling visual effects, Farscape distinguishes itself by not looking like a typical genre space opera. The premiere and the second episode, "I, E.T." provide a solid foundation for the show and its diverse cast of characters—including the blue-skinned Delvian priest, Zhaan (Hey); the honorable warrior D'Argo (Simcoe); the former ruler of the Hynerian Empire, Rygel (Hardy); former Peacekeeper Aeryn (Black); and American astronaut John Crichton (Browder)—to grow and evolve. As the season unfolds—through complex plot-driven episodes such as "PK Tech Girl" and "They've Got a Secret" and sharply drawn characterizations in "A Human Reaction"!
and "Through a Looking Glass," and the introduction of a new nemesis, Scorpius, in "Nerve"—there is a sense of this series being one that, much like the Leviathan ship Moya and her crew, is truly is going into uncharted territories. The final four-episode arc is strong, leading into a season-finale cliffhanger.
The 11 DVDs—packaged two discs to a case, for six cases in all—are chock-full of extras. Each disc contains at least some sort of video profile of a character or some aspect of production; an image gallery and a short series of conceptual drawings; and three discs contain two episodes with both normal and audio commentary soundtracks.
Extras that feel like
a backstage pass
With 13 "Video Profile" spots, six audio commentaries and a 22-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, the extras on these DVDs easily leapfrog ahead of the anemic offerings found on some episodic box sets. All of the major characters are explored in depth—a 10-minute profile can go a long way—plus, you get concept art and image galleries on every disc. Cast and crew cooperation in making the DVDs that make up this set is evident all around, from the interviews and character profiles to the audio commentaries, which include reflections from actors Browder, Black and Simcoe.
For the most part, these extras all add value to the viewing experience. However, some of the content is more substantial than others. And there are some disappointments.
Let's start with the menu navigation interface. There's no dedicated menu option to select which episode you want to watch on a disc; insert the disc and the first episode will be the one that starts when you hit play. You can access the second episode, but only by clicking through to it via the chapter index. Also, the "Extras" menu text is too cramped, which is an issue when you come upon discs like disc 11, which has six content sections alone.
It's a great concept to include the conceptual drawings; however, each disc contains only a handful (roughly 10, give or take) of drawings, all of which are devoid of context (in most cases, it's hard to tell what they're trying to depict). There are some places where the drawings are tied to the character profile elsewhere on the disc; however, there's no indication of such, and no link from profile to concept art depicting the origins of the character's look. Likewise, the image gallery is typically tied to the video profile, but there's no indication as such. In such cases of related content, a hierarchical approach would make more sense than the template-style organization the DVDs' producers opted for instead.
Finally, while the inclusion of a whopping six audio commentaries is to be applauded, some of them stay on track better than others. For example, some of Simcoe's commentaries (such as "Bone to be Wild") are less about the action in that episode than about Farscape as a whole; by contrast, the commentary for "Back and Back and Back to the Future," with Browder and director Rowan Woods, is quite the play-by-play technical overview. Particularly fun is the repartee that gets going between Browder and Black, who pair up for commentaries on "Family Ties." (Other commentaries include: the premiere, "I, E.T." and "Thank God It's Friday ... Again.")
