Review of Farscape: Volumes 1.5 & 1.6 (2 disc pack)

Introduction

Farscape is probably the best sc-fi series to hit the tv screens for a long time. It`s more entertaining that the Star Trek (and related stuff) and definately funnier than Stargate.

One could describe it as a Buck Rogers for the 21st century but with excellent special effects, entertaining shory lines and less corny dialogue.

This is the 3rd box set in a series of many, the BBC are part way through the first series at the moment and the second series is currently being aired in Australia.

Video

The first two box sets had excellent video quality and this is no exception, the transfer is 4:3 which is the same ratio as the original series so nothing has been lost there. Blacks are black and whites are white are there are no terrible digital artifacts between the two.

The cgi is extremely clever and well done, better that Babylon 5 for example in that it looks more natural.

Excellent stuff.

Audio

Wow....

The first box set was one of the first dvds I ran through my av amp and it blew me away, the depth to the sound is excellent and they make good use of the 5.1 digital surround throughout the various episodes, with subtle ship noises, or rustling in the undergrowth adding nicely to the ambiance.

A definite improvement over the tv audio.

Features

Not overly feature rich by a long way as we only get some artwork stills and an interview, albeit interesting of Anthony Simcoe, who plays Ka D’Argo, the warlike and easily riled Luxan.

The dvd menus are rather nice, however - good looking and not too long that they interfere with navigation.

The reason for the lack of features is simple, this is part of a series so they put a little on each box set, makes each set a little more interesting and you end up with a fascinating glimpse into the series as a whole.

Conclusion

Yummy. Original, witty, clever, well directed, entertaining, great special effects etc etc

If you are sick of Friends and are getting desperate waiting for Balylon 5 to come out on dvd, get these now.