The much beloved Farscape series has been available on DVD in many iterations, from the Starburst series of episodes to a complete series box set. Now, that box set has been given a nice HD upgrade for the Blu-ray collector. But if you already own the DVD box set, is the Blu-ray worth the upgrade? That really depends on how much of a fan you truly are. The film elements, which were all shot on 35mm, have been given a new HD upgrade from the DVD resulting in better color and a slightly sharper picture (the HD masters also came from video elements instead of the original film masters). Unfortunately, I still found the picture to be a bit soft throughout the series (and take note that seasons 1-3 were shot and are presented in a 1.33 aspect ratio, giving you the black bars on either side of the TV screen, while season 4 was shot in a 1.78 widescreen ratio). What is worth the upgrade is the new DTS 5.1 audio. Wow! For a TV series, the sound is pretty awesome with great use of the surrounds and sub-woofer while keeping the dialogue clearly front and center. If anything blew me away about this set, it was the audio. As for the extras, there are a lot (including 31 audio commentaries over the course of 88 episodes) … but all of them have been ported over from the DVDs, and most of those were either produced for the DVDs or during the time of the show’s production, so they don’t look nearly as good as the episodes themselves. There is one new exclusive-to-Blu-ray extra, a 36-minute documentary called “Memories of Moya: An Epic Journey Explored,” which features interviews with an assortment of cast and crew members. The one benefit of the Blu-ray format is that these extras are now included on the disks with the episodes they reference instead of having to be put on two separate bonus disks as they were with the DVD set. The set comes packaged in a study cardboard sleeve with each season consisting of 5 disks. For hardcore fans, the upgrade is a no-brainer, but if you already own the DVD set you’ll have to weigh the pros and cons of the pricey upgrade (and still no The Peacekeeper Wars which is licensed by a different company). The seasons are available separately as well. To help you decide, here are a list of extras featured on the set:
Season 1
- Disk 1 — Audio commentaries (episode number in parenthesis) featuring Ben Browder, Brian Henson, Rockne S. O’Bannon (1), Claudia Black, Anthony Simcoe (2), Virginia Hey and Brian Henson (3), Ben Browder, Claudia Black (4), Ben Browder, Rowan Woods (5)
- Disk 2 — Rockne S. O’Bannon, Anthony Simcoe (6), Ben Browder, Claudia Black (9) & Rockne S. O’Bannon, David Kemper (9)
- Disk 3 — “When Bad Things Happen to a Good Show” with Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Rockne S. O’Bannon, David Kemper (14: “Jeremiah Crichton” — this is one of those commentaries you often don’t hear as cast and producers talk about everything wrong with an episode)
- Disk 4 — Ben Browder, Claudia Black (16, 19)
- Disk 5 — Anthony Simcoe (21), Ben Browder, Claudia Black & Rockne S. O’Bannon (22)
Bonus Features: Making of a Space Opera; In the Beginning: A Look Back with Brian Henson (with references to season 4 and beyond); Farscape in the Raw: Director’s Cut Scenes for ‘The Flax’ and ‘Through the Looking Glass.’
Season 2
- Disk 1 — Claudia Black, Ian Watson (4), Ben Browder, Claudia Black (5)
Bonus Features: Deleted scenes for ‘Mind the Baby’, ‘Taking the Stone’ and ‘Crackers Don’t Matter'; Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘The Way We Weren’t’
- Disk 2 — Deleted scenes for ‘Dream a Little Dream'; “Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘My Three Crichtons'”
- Disk 3 — Rowan Woods, Richard Manning (15)
Bonus Features: Deleted scenes for ‘Look at the Princess Part I: A Kiss is But a Kiss’ and ‘Look at the Princess Part III: The Maltese Crichton’
- Disk 4 — Ben Browder, Claudia Black (17)
Bonus Features: Deleted scenes for ‘The Locket’ and ‘Liars, Guns and Money Part II: With Friends Like These…'; Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘The Locket’
- Disk 5 — Ben Browder, Claudia Black, David Kemper (22)
Bonus Features: Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘Die Me, Dichotomy'; Season 2 Bloopers; Farscape in the Raw: Director’s Cut Scenes; Re:Union (the alternate season two premiere that was recut and aired later in the season); Farscape Undressed (a crash course primer for new viewers who may intend to watch season three, hosted by Ben Browder); Wayne Pygram (Scorpius) Interview; David Franklin (Braca) Interview. (Both Pygram and Franklin interviews reference seasons 3 and 4.)
Season 3
- Disk 1 — Claudia Black (4)
Bonus Features: Deleted scenes for ‘Season of Death'; TV promos for ‘Season of Death’ and ‘Suns and Lovers’
- Disk 2 — Guy Gross (5), Ben Browder, Tony Tilse (7), Lani Tupu, Peter Andrikidis (10)
Bonus Features: Deleted scenes for ‘Thanks for Sharing’ and ‘Losing Time'; Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘Eat Me'; TV promos for the five episodes
- Disk 3 — Deleted scenes for ‘Incubator’ and ‘Scratch ‘n Sniff'; TV promos for the five episodes
- Disk 4 — Claudia Black & Rowan Woods, Justin Monjo (17);
Bonus Features: Deleted scenes for four episodes; Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘Revenging Angel’
- Disk 5 — Rockne S. O’Bannon, David Kemper (21), Ben Browder, Claudia Black (22)
Bonus Features: Deleted scenes and TV promos for the two episodes; Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘Into the Lion’s Den Part II: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’
Season 4
- Disk 1 — Deleted scenes for three episodes; Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘Crichton Kicks’
- Disk 2 — Ben Browder, Claudia Black (7)
Bonus Features: Deleted scenes for ‘Natural Election’ and ‘A Prefect Murder'; Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘John Quixote’
- Disk 3 — Ben Browder, Claudia Black, David Kemper (12)
Bonus Features: Deleted scenes for four episodes; Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘Terra Firma’
- Disk 4 — Deleted scenes for three episodes
- Disk 5 — Ben Browder, Claudia Black, David Kemper (22)
Bonus Features: Memories of Moya; Deleted scenes for ‘Bad Timing'; Listening In with Composer Guy Gross: ‘Bad Timing'; Farscape: The Story So Far; From the Archives: On the Last Day – Farscape Wrap Speech from David Kemper; Inside Farscape: Save Farscape; Inside Farscape: Villains; Inside Farscape: Season 4 Visual Effects; Video Profile: Rockne S. O’Bannon; Video Profile: David Kemper
A&E Home Entertainment provided a copy of Farscape: The Complete Series on Blu-ray for review purposes.
Photo Credit: The Jim Henson Company
Some posts that may be related to this:
