Farscape-The Archives (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Introduction Interviews-Cast & Crew Featurette-Numerous Alternative Version-Season 2 Premiere
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	?
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Ben Browder Claudia Black Virginia Hey Anthony Simcoe Jonathan Hardy
Case	Slip Case
RPI	$144.95	Music	None Given

     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. 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. Also included in the box set is this three disc set consisting entirely of extras. There are copious extras on the various seasons but a whole raft of other stuff is included here. Some of what was included here was on previous releases of the various seasons.

     Fans of this show will love this treasure trove.

Video

     The video quality is decent but not restored like the rest of the series.

     The feature is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. The picture was fairly soft throughout, reminiscent of used VHS quality mostly. There is some mild grain at times and occasional minor MPEG artefacts. The colour is a bit dull. There was the usual collection of artefacts like colour bleeding, edge enhancement, etc., as you would expect from unrestored archival material.

     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 good.

     This DVD set contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack which is nothing special but good enough for this sort of material. 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.

     The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

     The menu was functional but unexciting including music.

Disc 1

Farscape Undressed (43:58)

     A crash course in Farscape for the uninitiated. Was obviously a precursor to Season 3 being shown and features most of the cast. Really probably only of interest to big fans.

'Listen In' with composer Guy Gross (9:17, 11:20, 9:48, 10:47, 10:31, 8:34, 11:12, 8:58, 7:06, 8:03, 9:21,9:08)

     Featurettes for 12 specific episodes hosted by the composer. He discusses his music, styles used and his process. He talks about and shows specific scenes. Interesting but probably a little more than most will want as there is about 2 hours of content here.

Character Profiles (10:11, 9:35, 10:58, 9:20, 11:28)

     Each of the main actors and actresses talk about their characters. John Crichton, Aeryn Sun, Ka D'Ago, Moya & Pilot & Zhaan.

Villains (15:07)

     Featurette on the three main villains of the show, Scorpius, Crais & Grayza. The actors discuss their characters and sample scenes are shown.

Disc 2

Behind the Scenes Interviews (29:15, 22:04, 20:48, 29:10, 23:30, 16:50, 4:18)

     More natural interviews than the character profiles. They talk about their characters, the story, shooting issues, challenges and tell anecdotes. The interviews are with Anthony Simcoe (Ka D'Ago), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), Jonathan Hardy (Voice of Rygel), Rebecca Riggs (Grayza), Lani John Tupu (Crais & Voice of Pilot), David Franklin (Capt Braca) & Paul Goddard (Stark). There is lots of material here, over two hours.

Video Profiles (19:33 & 12:04)

     Profiles of creator Rockne S O'Bannon & Executive Producer/Director David Kemper. They discuss the show, it's development, complexity, the characters and other issues.

'Zhaan Forever' with Virginia Hey (30:01)

     Featurette on the character Zhaan covering her motivations, sexuality, challenges and the various Director's views.

Disc 3

Re: Union - The Original Season 2 Premiere (43:59)

     One of the best extras is the original planned premiere for season 2, which was later replaced by another episode and then this episode was recut and became the eight episode of Season 2, Dream a Little Dream. Great to have this original cut.

Farscape in the Raw : Re:Union (8:58)

     Comparison of the theatrical cut and director's cut of the above episode.

Behind the Scenes Interviews (35:25, 27:09, 5:21, 24:16, 17:53)

     More natural interviews than the character profiles. The talk about their characters, the story, shooting issues, challenges and tell anecdotes. The interviews are with Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun), Anthony Simcoe (Ka D'Ago), Ben Browder (John Crichton), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius) & Gigi Edgley.

5.1 Music Clip (10:39)

     In 5.1 obviously, this is a clip of soundtrack music with scenes from the show.

Australian Creature Shop (9:08)

     Featurette about the Henson creature shop set up in Australia to support the show.

Make-up Tests (6:49)

     Screen tests of makeup for Ka D'Ago and Zhaan.

    This seems to be the only release available globally of this material.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall