Review of Farscape: Season 5 The Peacekeeper Wars

Introduction

The last we saw of John Crichton and the pregnant Aeryn Sun was of the pair sat in a boat in the middle of an ocean. Seconds later they disappeared under a hail of fire and that was the end of Farscape. A sharp intake of breath, the realisation that that was it and then a stirring anger that led to on-line fan pressure for the return of this cult TV series. And so, maybe for the last time, here we go again…

The first part opens with the tricky plot problem of how to show the two main protagonists survive an obvious death at the end of the last series. It appears that John and Aeryn were crystallised rather than obliterated and it`s down to Rygel to swim around the ocean floor eating all the crystal remains of the duo. A nice bit of technological-know-how-that-Geordie-LaForge-would-kill-for later and John and Aeryn are back, albeit sans baby which now sits developing within Rygel due to an oversight by those performing the medical miracle.

Elsewhere in the galaxy Scorpius attacks a Scarran convoy, which triggers an inter-galactic war. Whilst in a winning position following his initial surprise attack, Scorpius telepathically learns that Crichton is still alive and removes his Carrier Command from the battle in an attempt to capture the human and glean the knowledge he has been hunting for a long time: the secret of wormhole weapons. It doesn`t take long for the Scarrans to find out about Crichton`s survival either, and a race to be the first to gain the vital battle advantage starts.

Thus begins an epic tale of heroism, love, betrayal and death with a number of twists and large action filled battles both in space and on the ground.

Video

Stunning picture quality in an anamorphic 1.78:1 aspect ratio, but then this is effectively hot off the press. The CGI is also very impressive with big battles on par with the best of Babylon 5.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that positively leaps from the speakers, lots of big battle noises to immerse yourself in. A word too for composer Guy Gross, who has orchestrally scored the soundtrack rather than play with a bank of synthesisers.

Features

Nicely animated & scored menus.

The Battle Behind The Wars - Behind the scenes documentary on the making of the mini-series. Cast and crew pay tribute to the legion of fan who effectively forced the return of Farscape and the real end of the story.

Infopods - Background info on all the major characters that allows anyone coming into this blind to catch up on what has happened to each of them and what their motivations are. There are also short interviews and gallery photos for Ben Browder (Crichton), Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun), Anthony Simcoe (D`Argo) and Gigi Edgley (Chiana)

Behind The Scenes Interviews - short interviews with David Kemper, Andrew Prowse and Brian Henson

Deleted Scenes - 14 short scenes that are untreated so quality is below that of the finished article. Nothing in these scenes really adds to the overall story and allowed the reduction of the running time by around 15 minutes.

Gallery - small number of photos of prosthetics and on-set shots.

Trailer - good trailer that hints at the epic nature of the story told in The Peacekeeper Wars

DVD-ROM Material - selection of wallpaper for your PC

Conclusion

I can remember being absolutely gutted by the end of Farscape and the abrupt ending of a story I`d become immersed in. Farscape was an extraordinary sci-fi series that drew you in with exciting yet surreal storylines. I was never geeky about this series in the way of the fans so lampooned in Galaxy Quest, but I made sure never to miss this series when it was transmitted on the beeb.

A mini-series return can inevitably go one of two ways - it can excite the fans and take the story to a satisfactory conclusion or it can be a damp squib that makes everyone wonder what all the fuss was about. Thankfully, it`s very much the former in this case as we get an epic story that never sits still, constantly moving at a fast pace as storyline and action merge to give you a thrilling and spectacular climax to the story so far.

Virtually a full ensemble cast made it back for this follow-up and the ease of acting together during a long-term series shows as everything seems to flow really smoothly and seamlessly. One of the nice things about Farscape was the level of humour and jokes made by Crichton that no-one else could possibly comprehend seeing as how they were aliens with this first exposure to the human race. This returns with a vengeance over these two episodes and works really well as Crichton lets fly thick and fast, in between lots of snogging and gun fights obviously.

The more surreal side of the humour were the scenes between Crichton and the clone of Scorpius that would take part in Crichton`s mind. Completely random settings and crazy dialogue that showed the battle for Crichton`s mind, this could and possibly did confuse the hell out of anyone who came into this series blind. There are a few of those encounters here as this particular plotline winds up satisfactorily.
The action quotient is racked up in this mini-series too as our intrepid gang find themselves in the middle of a galactic war that Babylon 5 would be proud of. Epic space battles and claustrophobic ground battles are the order of the day and the various effects teams do themselves proud. Some of the effects are a bit too CGI, but that`s forgivable in the grand scheme of things as it all looks and feels very impressive - which is the important thing.

The script and acting are top notch, the ensemble cast giving it their all for those who kept the flame alive during their absence. There are arrivals, departures, new allegiances and betrayals all through this epic tale and it all works incredibly well.

The mini-series would have been enough, but the extras on this set make it a must. Arriving in two separate cases and a sturdy cardboard box, the two discs could easily have fitted into a single DVD case. In this case though, it seems apt for the packaging as it is clearly well designed with good and differing artwork across both cases. Clearly the distributors are aiming for a high-quality quotient rather than just a quick buck, and that allied with the overall quality on screen make this a must-buy for any Farscape fans and an attractive distraction for any fans of good sci-fi who haven`t managed to see this yet (there must be some…).

Just buy it…