Lost, & Found, in Space: 'Farscape'

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"STAR TREK" FANS ARE used to their aliens looking pretty human; sometimes all it took was a set of pointy ears.

The cult series "Farscape" (1999-2003) took the opposite tack: Co-creator Brian Henson wanted "the 'Star Wars' bar on a weekly basis," as he says in a commentary track on "Farscape: The Complete Series Megaset" ($149.95). Luckily, he'd just taken over his dad, Jim Henson's, Creature Shop, which meant two of the series' lead characters and many of the guest aliens were actually state-of-the-art animatronics.

The main character, though, is the all-too-human John Crichton, a goofy hunk astronaut who's accidentally shot through a wormhole and ends up on the living ship Moya with a crew of escaped prisoners. They evade the black-leather-clad Peacekeepers, but not before Crichton accidentally kills the brother of their evil goateed leader, Crais, who goes into full revenge mode before eventually becoming an ally.

Despite a too-hip sensibility (with episode titles like "We're So Screwed"), much of the series is a special effects-laden take on classic themes and archetypes. There's the Earth hero in a strange land conceit, and fantasy fans will notice the Moya's alien crew literally includes a warrior, a priest and a thief. Combine that with a setting in the galaxy's "Uncharted Territories" and you're all set for 88 episodes.

Those 88 episodes (29 of which have commentary tracks) on 26 discs inexplicably do not include a subtitle option, but do include 15 hours of bonus stuff such as the spoiler-filled "Farscape Undressed," a catch-up special originally designed to entice new viewers into watching the third-season premiere. The "Listening In" featurettes with the series composer are pure filler, but the cast interviews are fascinating — it turns out a Shakespeare background is a good prep for doing epic sci-fi.

Though they don't call "Trek" out by name, the co-creators wryly note that it was a conscious decision to keep "technobabble" out of their epic: "Don't explain it, just do it."

Written by Express contributor Paul Stelter
Photo courtesy Foundry Communication