Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars
by Brian Henson
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DVD details
Actor: Anthony Simcoe, Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Gigi Edgley, Wayne PygramDirector: Brian Henson
Brand: IVE
Producer: Brian Henson
Producer: Andrew Prowse
Producer: David Kemper
Writer: David Kemper
Producer: Deborah Peart
Producer: Lesley Parker
Writer: Rockne S. O'Bannon
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 182 minutes
Published: 2005-01-01
DVD Release Date: 2005-01-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars
DVD Review: One of the truly great series gets a well-conceived wrap up
Summary: 5 Stars
Warning: Spoilers ahoy!
When FARSCAPE was cancelled after Season Four and one of the great cliffhangers in TV history (John Crichton and Aeryn Sun becoming engaged to marry, but immediately afterwards being turned into a pile of crystallized pellets by a mysterious aircraft that flew over their boat), fans of the show responded with outrage. Had there not been a renewal of the series, or a mini-series, or even a feature length film to wrap up the loose ends of the series, it would surely have gone down as the least satisfying series finale in history. The demand was there, especially after the audience for the show actually grew after its cancellation (so much so that in a Summer of 2004 TV Guide poll of the top cult shows of all time, FARSCAPE surprisingly managed a #4 ranking, immediately behind BUFFY, THE X-FILES, and, of course, STAR TREK). So, when it was announced that there would be a mini-series, FARSCAPE: THE PEACEKEEPER WARS, to wrap up the series, the news was greeted with ecstasy by fans of the show.
So how'd they do? Overall, pretty well. Let me start with one of the few negatives: this is pretty clearly a mini-series into which most of the ideas of what would have been the fifth season was stuffed. There is through much of it a rushed feeling, as if they had to cover too much narrative in too brief of a time. This is especially true at the beginning. In a Season Five, the recreation and reconstitution of Aeryn and John, which took up only the first few minutes of the mini-series, would have been the subject of at least a couple of episodes. And Aeryn's brief hesitation to marry John in the mini-series would have taken up perhaps half of Season Five. In other words, the mini-series suffers slightly from a lack of room and the luxury of taking their time in unrolling the narrative.
What THE PEACEKEEPER WARS does not suffer from is a surfeit of ideas. After all, they are stuffing an entire season's story arc into four hours instead of twenty-two. As a result, we get a rich, fast-moving, idea-laden epic that manages to resolve all of the major plot lines of the series, while at the same time keeping sufficient openness for feature length film or spin off television series. I do miss the patient, slowly developing moments (remember the scene from Season Two when John is trying to talk to Aeryn after having narrowly avoided getting married to the princess, Aeryn doing dips on a bench in the background refusing to talk to him, then slowly, silently stopping her exercising, walking slowly to him and holding up the vial that contains the liquid that, when applied to the tip of the tongues, allows two people to know if they are genetically compatible, their applying it to their tongues, then kissing, then the long, long delay followed by Aeryn's turning poker faced around, and then finally a smile breaking out on her face?-this mini-series simply does not have the luxury for an exquisite moment like that). But these guys are on borrowed time; they have a story to tell, and they tell it quickly and they tell it well.
I won't go into all of the plot details. I will recount some of the things that I most enjoyed in THE PEACEKEEPER WARS. I loved the beginning, with a CGI Rygel swimming about the bottom of the lake where we witnessed the demise of John and Aeryn at the end of Season Four. I had more or less forgotten that Rygel was basically a frog, and seeing the usually immobile creep swimming about so nimbly was a lot of fun. The scene where the crew is fighting a host of enemies at the same moment that Aeryn is giving birth while continuing to blast away and getting married to John is classic FARSCAPE, taking absolutely everything way over the top. I loved how Aeryn, the former Nazi storm trooper, had softened, and experienced instant love for an infant she would never been allowed to have had she remained a Peacekeeper. I loved the final resolution of the Scorpius arc, and even felt a pang of regret when Harvey and John say goodbye for the final time. I loved Chianna's new look, having gained new eyes after suffering blindness in Season Four. I loved the fact that she and Ka D'Argo finally managed to patch things up, after she crushed him at the start of Season Three. Would they have married? Who knows, but there was clearly a desire on the part of the writers to heal things between them. I loved Ka D'Argo's death, though I detested the fact that he died. The almost jocular way he talked with John reflected how far their friendship had come from Season One, when he seemed more likely to kill John than befriend him. And after having watched John and Aeryn engage in one of the most tortured near-romances in the history of TV for four seasons, it was marvelous to see them together, comfortable with one another, content and unconflicted at finally being a couple, exalting over their new son. There was a great else besides that was great to enjoy, but these were only a few.
Apart from the rushed aspect of the series and the fact that Ka D'Argo died, there was not a great deal that I didn't like about the series. There was, however, one. At the end of Season Four, Sikozu Shanu was not clearly a good or a bad character but had the potential in Season Five (had it taken place) to evolve into either. In the mini-series she evolves into a completely reprehensible character. Her treachery was a bit of a shock. I also had serious problems with her physical appearance. Raelee Hill, who plays Sikozu Shanu, is a remarkably beautiful woman (most Americans only know what she looks like in make up, but she might be in real life the most attractive of all of the FARSCAPE women). But the hairstyle and make up they deploy on her in the mini-series was shocking. Despite having seen Raelee Hill's name in the credits, I seriously wondered whether they had a new actress was playing Sikozu Shanu. It was a bad, bad look for her. Perhaps in the course of a full season Sikozu Shanu's treason would have been developed more convincingly, but here it felt implausible and unconvincing. It was one of the few false notes in an otherwise excellent mini-series.
Now for the big question: was this up to the extremely high standards set by the series? Yes and no. Clearly it was well-conceived, and many of the individual moments were marvelous. In the end, it is the difference between having 182 minutes with which to work versus over 900 minutes. As it is, I think it is a wonderful extension of the series as a whole. I think there is also enough evidence here to indicate that Season Five would have been very good indeed.
Is there a future for FARSCAPE? Though it labored in relative obscurity during its run on TV, more and more it considered to be one of if not the finest Sci-Fi series that TV has seen. Star Ben Browder has stated a willing ness to work on either a film project or on a spin off series, though his involvement on STARGATE SG-1 obviously complicates things. My gut (which admittedly has no connection with the world of reality) tells me that we have probably seen the end of the FARSCAPE saga. Had they seriously been considering continuing the series in some fashion, I simply cannot imagine them deciding to allow the death of Ka D'Argo. Mind you, no one would be happier to see Moya and her companions exploring new corners of the universe, but I suspect that this mini-series will be the last we see of the guys. Nonetheless, I am profoundly grateful that they did this marvelous mini-series not just to wrap up the various story lines of the series, but to allow us to share some final adventures with some characters we had come to love very much. FARSCAPE is one of my favorite series ever, and I'm delighted that the powers that be allowed it to end so very well.
Finally, I want to praise Hallmark for bringing this mini-series out on such a remarkably affordable disc. I honestly feel that the full season DVD sets are criminally overpriced (there truly is no hyperbole in that statement). The outrageous price tags are absolutely not morally justifiable, and I can't conceive that they are economically justifiable, since few can afford them (if FARSCAPE is ever made available on sets that discount to around $38 a set, then this series will experience another leap in popularity). In fact, THE PEACEKEEPER WARS might be a tad under priced. We might have been better off if they had put it on an extra disc and added more special features and commentary. As it is, we have a high quality reproduction of the television mini-series with little or no special features, but with a truly outstanding price. I just wish each of the four regular seasons were comparably priced.
Description of Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars
Synopsis: Stars:Ben Browder, Claudia BlackItem Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: NR
Street Date: 01/18/05
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
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