Farscape Season 2 (2000)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Series Created by Rockne S. O'Bannon
Starring Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Virginia Hey, Anthony Simcoe, Gigi Edgley, Wayne Pygram, Lani Tupu, Jonathan Hardy

Features:

• Deleted scenes
  
• Running audio commentary on select episodes, including actors Black and director Ian Watson
  
• Farscape Dictionary
  
• Actor bios
  
• Character profiles
  
• Aliens featurette
  
• Weapon and ship info
  
• Conceptual drawings
  

Released by ADV
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Fans of the show will want it, others can rent.

When Farscape debuted in 1999, it rapidly gained a massive following, chiefly due to being one of the few sci-fi TV offerings of recent history that didn't suck like a bilge pump. Fresh, original, and clever, the series offered a refreshing shot in the arm over flailing Trek franchises of the day.

Season 2 expands on one of the most sinister bad guys of recent sci-fi entertainment in Scorpius (Pygram), who has a "mental clone" piggy-backing inside Crichton's (Browder) head via a neural implant. Through an uncomfortable deal with Crais (Tupu), the crew have removed the Peacekeeper captain from their trail by handing him control of Moya's gunship offspring Talyn. With Scorpius picking up where Crais left off, the cat-and-mouse game begins anew, and the misfit crew of the Leviathan Moya are off and running. Adding to their troubles are rumors that might lead D'Argo (Simcoe) to his long-lost son, and a sideline on an alien world where Crichton finds himself turned into a statue.

Unfortunately, one of the side-effects of the run-and-gun nature of the plot in Season 2 is that the crew spends lots of time separated, creating concurrent story arcs happening in multiple locations. By spreading the cast so thin, the writers dilute one of the things that makes the show really sing...namely, the chemistry and interplay between the various crew members of Moya. Splitting them into smaller units allows for greater development of the individual characters' personalities and backstories, but this just isn't as compelling to watch as the the rapid-fire interplay between the crew as a unit together.

Despite this, there are still several compelling episodes, including "Won't Get Fooled Again," wherein Crichton finds himself miraculously back home; the three-parter "Liars, Guns, and Money," an excellent heist story as the crew attempt to steal enough money to buy D'argo's son from slavers; and the series finale "Die Me, Dichotomy." Overall, I feel Season 2 is weaker than Season 1, but still good television. The biggest drawback to Season 2 is the Scorpius story...the implant in Crichton's head is a plot device that the writing crew seem to fall back on too often.

As far as bonus features go, this set is pretty much in line with the previous season's monster box. First up, there are the commentaries. For "Crackers Don't Matter," Black is on hand to eat crackers and assail director Watson with questions. The other commentary on the set is for "Won't Get Fooled Again" and features executive producer Richard Manning and director Rowan Woods. The set also comes with information on the various alien races and the encounters that the crew has with them. There's also concept art scattered throughout the discs.

Also of use is the ongoing "Farscape Dictionary" feature, which defines words used on the show. Of special note is that one disc has strictly curses and insults to offer. The actor bios and character profiles are short text-on-screen bits, but useful enough I guess. There also some deleted scenes, although these are like most deleted scenes you find on DVD--nice for posterity, but that's about it. Other text on screen bits--even shorter this time--involve info on the ships and weapons.

The bonus features are as extensive as one might get with a Star Trek box, though I'd like to see commentaries on more episodes and perhaps some more featurettes. A lot of this is text-on-screen only, which is nice enough and better than nothing, but maybe if the series gets a new lease on life then ADV will dip again into the pool and give us a more Mongo-worthy edition. Fans of the show are certain to want this set though more casual sci-fi fans might want to rent a disc or two to check out the top episodes and proceed from there.