Farscape Double DVD Box Set 3.3 - DVDs 3.5 and 3.6 Kult-TV: KLT81913. 183 minutes. Price: £19.99 (UK) Stars: Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simco, Wayne Pygram, Gigi Edgley, Paul Goddard & Lani Tupi.

Check out websites: www.contender.com, www.kult-tv.co.uk, www.farscape.com, www.henson.com.  

My erstwhile publisher is thinking I’m spoilt cos I’ve got the DVD player - albeit on my computer - and he hasn’t. At least for the present, so I might as well be savouring these goodies from Kult-TV (many thanks, chaps).  

This box set contains 2 DVD disks which breaks down into 4 episodes from everyone’s favourite Uncharted Territories SF TV series, ‘Farscape’, plus extras - although these are confined to 3.6. Considering that both these DVDs are bound to be available separately, I do find it odd that the extras couldn’t have been divided between the two DVDs.

I mean, if you only want to look at productions stills, an interview with Paul ‘Stark’ Goddard and some out-takes then why go for both? Presumably that’s why there’s a boxset although the logic seems a little wacky. While we’re on about the extras, it would make a lot of sense to ditto film titles referred to in the actors’ background so the titles don’t run into the text.

As with all these kinds of extras, it’s nice to see production stills as well as fashion design. One can only hope that someone will draw them all up into a picture book some day so they can be admired off-monitor.   As to the episodes we have here. DVD 3.5 contains the two episodes, ‘Incubator’ and ‘Meltdown’.  

‘Incubator’ is really the early history of Scorpius as he attempts to persuade a neural clone of Crichton to give him the key to wormhole technology. The ‘b’ story accompanying this shows the current problems with wormhole transportation that literally liquidifies any who attempt to use. One of Scorpius’ scientists arrives on Moya and attempts to persuade Pilot and Moya to provide sanctuary for her and an escape into space free from the Peacemakers sans the current crew.

The blend of these two stories together shows an interesting contrast of ideals. There’s some sympathy for Scorpius wanting to stop the Scarrans from developing wormhole space travel but one can also understand the Crichton neural clone’s reasoning that replacing one danger with another danger isn’t much of a solution either.   ‘Meltdown’ follows Talyn as it is drawn into a sun with the other Crichton, Aryn Sun, Crais, Stark and Rygel left trying to sort out repairs.

Actually, Rygel doesn’t do much more than eat, vomit and fart. A gas leak from Talyn is having an effect on all of them. Crais becomes frustratingly megalomaniac especially when he can no longer control Talyn. As to Crichton and Sun, well, this has to be one of the more erotic episodes I’ve seen. In an interview, Claudia Black says she would never do nude scenes.

With episodes as hot as this, clothes are not an issue. It’s no wonder she’s a favourite of ‘Farscape’ fans. In many respects, Stark becomes the hero of the hour when he takes on the pilot control but becomes crazed when he needs to rescue Sierjna from Mu-Quillus, an energy-lizard-like creature who draws leviathans in to their destruction.

This is an incredibly tight episode giving all the actors something significant to do. There are definitely no passengers...well, maybe Rygel but he was compulsively eating all the ships rations.  

DVD 3.6 contains two episodes, ‘Scratch ‘N’ Sniff’ and ‘Infinite Possibilities Part 1: Daedalus Demands’.   For those who missed the late night BBC broadcast, getting ‘Scratch ‘N’ Sniff’ is a must if you want to see this episode. Pilot, fed up with Crichton and D’Argo’s bickering, forces them off-ship for 10 days. Chiana and Jool accompany them down to a pleasure planet where they should all have some fun. Well sort of. The boys get drugged and robbed and fall in with a supposed helper called Raxil.

The girls get invited to a private party where they become the victims to a host who steals a brain fluid from them for ultimate ecstasy drug, Freslin. The story rotates around their rescue as Crichton explains what has happened after their second day of Moya. The emotional intensity of this episode is made deliberately jerky between events to convey what is going on which the producers happily classify as experimenting with the format.

The strength of this episode shows the unique chemistry of these characters and how they interact. Nothing of their personalities is generic. If Aryn Sun had been included it would have been pretty obvious that the plot would have been radically different.

Great fun seeing the results of them all getting stoned with a sharp reminder at the end that there are no human ethics being played here.  

‘Infinite Possibilities Part 1: Daedalus Demands’ has the return of the ‘Jack’ alien who wants to know who’s been abusing the wormhole technology. Since it is Crichton’s module being used, he blames the Earthman.

Quite why he appears on Talyn and not Moya isn’t explained although might have some heads wondering if ‘Jack’ can tell the difference between the original and the clone or is it the other way around. Instead, they seek out Furlow, the engineer from Season One’s episode, ‘Till The Blood Runs Clear’ and find she’s being tortured by the Charrids who want her knowledge since she’s figured out the device to maintain body stability travelling through the wormhole.

With a Scarran dreadnought on its way and drained the knowledge from Furlow’s computer, they have to stop the information spreading. It isn’t helped that both Talyn and Crais have been blinded in a solar flare and Stark is trying to help navigate the former. ‘Jack’ having been told about Harvey, the Scorpius neural clone, decides it has to be irradiated from Crichton’s mind before they take care of the Scarrans. The only problem is, he fails.

It is Harvey who is left in charge of Crichton’s mind and...well, you’ll have to wait for the next DVD release to see what happens next. I often wonder about the logistics of spreading double episodes over two DVDs or videos rather than have them on the same release but to jumble the order would also have been foolish for continuity.

If you’ve caught the original TV release you know what to expect. This is a great episode with everyone fully involved in their own way. We even see an even nastier side of Rygel albeit justified in a way. Not for the squeamish, this roller-coaster picks up the pace of the action that’ll have you gagging for more.

GF Willmetts