Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars [DVD] UK

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Miniseries spin-off of the popular science fiction TV series. Following an attempt to use the Earth's atmosphere to propel Farscape 1 across the solar system, astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) found himself in the middle of a battle in a distant part of the galaxy; six years on he is still trying to return home. In the first part of this miniseries Scorpious (Wayne Pygram) and Sikozu (Raelee Hill), aboard a Peacekeeper Command Carrier, cause a war between the Scarens and Peacekeepers. In the second part, Crichton enlists the help of Einstein (John Bach) to give him the ability to build a wormhole weapon to enable the team to return home.

Created at least in part due to popular demand, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars will provide some closure to fans who were dismayed by the demise of the popular science fiction television show in 2003 and campaigned mightily to bring it back. Indeed, this mini-series (originally broadcast over two nights on the Sci-Fi Channel) will likely appeal primarily to the Farscape faithful, as the somewhat convoluted storyline may prove baffling to the uninitiated.

A brief bit of backstory explains how John Crichton, an astronaut from Earth, went through a wormhole and ended up on Moya, a living spaceship, with a motley group of aliens, including D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), Chiana (Gigi Edgley), various puppet characters (designed by the Jim Henson Company), and Aeryn (Claudia Black), Crichton's love interest, who's expecting their first child. As The Peacekeeper Wars begins, our heroes find themselves in the middle of a war-to-end-all-wars between the lizard-like, implacably evil Scarrans and their rivals, the Peacekeepers. Crichton is the lynchpin in all of this, as his knowledge of "wormhole technology" is coveted by all, including his old nemesis Scorpius (Wayne Pygram), who captured and tortured Crichton back in season 1 and with whom Crichton must now form an uneasy alliance against the Scarrans.

Over the course of the three-hour miniseries, we get lots of weird- and cool-looking aliens, some nice sets and special effects, plenty of battles, and lots of portentous talk about the fate of the universe--nothing especially original, but all presented with outstanding production values. There's drama and action, love and betrayal, tragedy and triumph, war and, ultimately, peace, with a suitably spectacular ending (and a nod to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey). With a 30-minute "making of" documentary among the DVD special features, The Peacekeeper Wars is a fitting way to end the Farscape saga.