Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (Beyond Home Ent) (2004)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Audio Interviews-Cast & Crew Deleted Scenes Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	175:52
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Brian Henson
Studio Distributor	Hallmark Entertain Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Ben Browder Claudia Black Anthony Simcoe Gigi Edgley Wayne Pygram Raelee Hill Melissa Jaffer Paul Goddard Tammy McIntosh David Franklin Rebecca Riggs Duncan Young Francesca Buller
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Guy Gross

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Farscape is a well loved Sci-fi television series, made in Australia in the late 1990s, early 2000s. The original four seasons of the show were released on DVD before by Universal back in 2005. This specific mini-series was previously released by Magna Pacific and more recently by Beyond as a stand alone two disc set. The whole series is now being re-released by Beyond Home Entertainment both as individual seasons and as a box set including all four seasons plus the mini-series, The Peacekeeper Wars.

     This set seems to be the same as the previously released two-disc Beyond set except that it is physically packaged with the 3-disc Farscape Archives set which will be reviewed in the near future.

     The show was cancelled after Season 4, however after fan pressure, a mini-series, The Peacekeeper Wars, was made to round out the series. This set contains the two approximately 90 minute parts of the mini-series across 2 discs. The show's plot involves a great war for the Universe between The Peacekeepers and the Scarrans. There are lots of great special effects including space battles and more.

Video

     The video quality is very good. The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout. The shadow detail was quite good. There is some mild grain at times and occasional minor MPEG artefacts. The colour is very good with no major issues to report. There was some edge enhancement from time to time but it was not overly distracting.

     There are no subtitles which is disappointing.

     The layer changes are fairly obvious.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is very good. This DVD set contains an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack which if anything is a little too obvious in the surrounds. There is lots of front separation as well. Dialogue was generally clear and easy to hear although subtitles would have been useful from time to time.

     The score by Guy Gross is suitably dramatic.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Many of the extras on this edition were also included on the Universal release.

Menu

     The menu was functional but unexciting including music.

Disc 1

Cast & Crew Interviews (3:38, 3:56, 3:33, 3:30, 3:43, 3:50, 3:54)

     Light interviews with Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simcoe, Gigi Edgley, Brian Henson, David Kemper, Andrew Prowse. Topics include the story, characters and the mini-series.

Disc 2

Deleted Scenes (13:51)

     Interesting scenes but the video quality is significantly worse. Some are deleted, others extended.

Trailer (2:00)

     Decent trailer.

    This seems to be the best stand alone release available globally of this mini-series.

    The mini-series which rounds out Farscape.

     The video quality is very good. The audio quality is very good but maybe slightly overdoes the surround effects. The extras are decent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall