Farscape didn't start airing in Canada until last year when YTV picked up some of the first season. I started watching the show because I heard it was good, but when YTV stopped airing the show, I didn't feel it was a big loss. There was always something missing from the show, but I could never put my finger on it. The "Space" network in Canada picked up the entire first season, but by then I had lost interest in the show and was watching too many other shows so I didn't finish watching the rest of the first season. Oops...that was a mistake.
As I popped in the first disc of the second season I was completely lost. There's a new member of the crew (Chiana/Gigi Edgley) and obviously a lot has happened since episode 10 when I stopped watching. The show has matured nicely; the characters seem more refined, the sets look nicer and the stories have some depth. Yes, I regret not watching the rest of the first season and I'm seriously considering renting or buying the episodes I missed.
Episodes
"Mind The Baby"
The living ship, Moya, has lost her child, Talyn. To find him, she must return to the asteroid field controlled by evil commander Scorpius. Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo rejoin their shipmates aboard Moya with Crais as hostage, but there is a new danger. Talyn attacks his mother, demanding the return of Crais, the only master the child ship has known...
"Vita Mortis"
On a cold, menacing planet, D'Argo agrees to help an ancient holy woman, Nilaam, perform the Luxan ritual of death. During the ritual, Nilamm senses great strength in D'Argo and she harnesses it instead to become young and beautiful. D'Argo is in love, but above, the living ship Moya begins to rapidly age and die...
"Taking The Stone"
Distraught over the death of her brother, Chiana escapes to a royal cemetery planet and joins a twisted gang of young aliens. Crichton and Aeryn try to intercede, but Chiana insists on following the gang's daredevil behavior, which includes jumping into a deep rocky chasm. Correct shouting creates a sonic net to cushion the fall, but many jumpers die as they "take the stone."
"Crackers Don't Matter"
A shopping trio brings a load of crackers and a small blind alien, Traltixx. Traltixx says he can make Moya undetectable, if the crew changes course and goes to his planet. En route, the crew becomes strangely paranoid and even violent. Is it the light from the Five Pulsars they are passing or is Traltixx trying to hijack Moya?!!
Video
Wow...
The video on these discs impressed me a lot. Obviously running a site like this I've seen a lot of TV product and this release from ADV Films really stands out. The colors of the ship, the characters, their costumes...everything stands out on the transfer. Much better than what I saw broadcast on TV. On my Sony Wega TV I have multiple video settings, and I modified one of them to make video noise & compression artifacts stand out. This release is so darn clean, even my poor video settings couldn't bring out flaws. The only thing keeping it from a 10 was a handful of dust specs.
I should also point out that all the chapters are appropriately flagged so you can jump past the title sequence or to commercial breaks. There are 8 chapters for each episode, and once you're done watching the first episode, the second automatically plays (very nice).
Audio
No complaints here. Sporting a Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround track, this is a nice sounding release. Although I thought the rear speakers could have used a little more of a workout, they are used for some nice back-to-front panning effects. Maybe I was expecting more ambient ship sounds.
There aren't any subtitles to select, but Closed Captioning is provided for the hearing impaired.
ADV Films has included a bunch of extras on here that should be standard on TV releases. Good job ADV!
ADV Trailers
(Disc 1) Zone of the Enders, Evangelion, Super Atragon, Dai-Guard. (Disc 2) Andromeda, Spriggan, Gasaraki, The Devil Lady. I was wondering why the Andromeda trailer that appears when the first disc is inserted wasn't also included in the Trailers section. It's different from the trailer found on disc 2.
Alien Encounters
A nice feature that offers a bit of info on any aliens that the group meet in an episode. The aliens featured are: "Nilamm" (Disc 1), "Molnon" and "Traltixx" (Disc 2). There's a screen or two of text and a short video sequence from the encounter.
Actor Biography - Ben Browder
5 text screens about the actor. Found on Disc 1.
Character Backstory - Commander John Crichton
3 screens on the character played by ben Browder. Found on Disc 1.
Conceptual Drawings
There are 8 stills on the first disc and 7 on the second. Conceptual drawings of characters and costumes.
Farscape Dictionary: Alien Slang
"What the heck are they talking about?!?" 12 alien slang terms and definitions.
Deleted Scenes
4 deleted scenes; 2 from "Mind the Baby" and 1 each from "Taking the Stone" and "Crackers Don't Matter."
Commentary - "Crackers Don't Matter"
Claudia Black (Aeryn) and Director Ian Watson talk during "Crackers Don't Matter." This isn't really a screen-specific commentary track as they're usually covering technical aspects of acting and directing, but occasionally mention something that relates to action in the episode. I was expecting a little more from the track, but it's still entertaining.
Easter Eggs - DVD Credits
To view the DVD credits, go to the "Extras" screen and press up to highlight the star. This is on both disc 1 and 2.
Summary
Since I'm not all that interested in Anime titles, this is the first time I've been exposed to an ADV Films release. I'm very, very impressed and I find myself looking forward to some of their other releases (Andromeda for one...). I'm impressed by the little things; from the "disc art" screen that shows up when I hit stop on my Sony DVD player, to being able to play both episodes on a disc at once and lovely disc art. With a suggested retail price of $39.98, and lots of online stores carrying it for $27.99 (), this is nice way to spend over 4 hours (including the extras and commentary).
