Farscape Season Two Review (Major Spoilers)
Also reviews for the latest episodes of Doctor Who, Futurama, and The Boondocks as well as five Stephen King novels (Dreamcatcher, From A Buick 8, Carrie, The Dead Zone and Under The Dome).
Doctor Who "The Lodger"
Delightful episode. You just want to SMACK the Doctor for his cluelessness but as the same time cheer his football skills. The climax was exciting and unrequited love was fulfilled. Amy also had some great moments this episode and the cliffhanger involving the Rip in the Universe, Amy, and her wedding ring gives me great hope that perhaps Rory isn't forgotten after all. ****1/2.
Futurama "Proposition Infinity"
I'm not gonna lie. I don't like this episode. It takes a dump on the sweet Amy/Kif romance. But at the same time I don't exactly hate it either. I have to wonder if The Simpsons' My Big Fat Geek Wedding would have been better received if Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel had gotten back at the end. Probably not, since that episode was so awful but that would have (like Amy and Kif's reunion here) have mitigated the damage to one episode.
Not loving this, but not hating it either. **1/2.
Futurama "The Duh-Vinci Cade"
Really? A Who Wants To Be A Millionaire parody? Got any Titanic jokes you want to throw out there as long as we are hitting these phenomena at the height of their popularity? The Da Vinci Code parody faired better (even though it was cooler on American Dad) and I really like what an affirmation this was for the character of Fry (as well as Leela sticking up for his) who despite being stupid has zero malice in his heart. So, yeah, after a rocky start I wound up enjoying the episode. It's good the show returned. ****.
The Boondocks "The Story Of Lando Freeman"
Lame episode. I enjoyed some of it (the shout-out to Smokin' With Cigarettes, Billy Dee William's cameo, and the talk show parody) but the episode suffers from the dreaded reset button. **1/2.
The Boondocks "Lovely Ebony Brown"
I was bored with this. It was good to hear Gine Torres' voice but she did much better work on Justice League Unlimited. Some of that is the script which tries SO hard to subvert the stereotypes of crazy relationships that it makes it boring. ***.
Farscape: The Complete Season Two
John Crichton is going crazy.
When last we saw our hero he was drifting in space with his Luxan ally and friend D'Argo while the true love of his life, former Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun is just out of reach of rescueing them. Big Bad Scorpius had tortured Crichton in his Aurora Chair for his hidden knowledge of wormholes and unbeknownst to John put a chip in his head containing a mental duplicate of the half-Scarran self, who is slowly and surely driving Crichton absolutely insane.
Season Two is Farscape's best season. Easily. I have a feeling if there HAD been a fifth season it would have topped it (the abridged version of season five, the mini-series The Peacekeeper Wars was fabulous) but the series itself never quite topped it. Scorpius is given mucho screen-time (he is made a series regular in the third season) as has former arch-enemy turned reluctant ally Captain Bailar Crais. Even the delightfully bonkers Stark (played hammily by Paul Goddard) is given a big role by the end of the season. And the steamy romance between John and Aeryn is just starting to heat up.
The best episodes of the year are the one where the entire crew goes crazy (Crackers Don't Matter), the watershed Aeryn and Pilot flashback episode (The Way We Weren't), and seven of the last eight episodes of the year (Won't Get Fooled Again, The Locket, A Clockwork Nebari, Liars, Guns and Money: Parts I, II, and III and Die Me, Dichotomy which has the distinction of being the best season finale [and perhaps EPISODE] of the entire series.)
Not too many low points this year although the Chiana spotlight Taking The Stone is incredibly lame. I'm also not fond of the D'Argo spotlight Vitas Mortis, the gross introduction of the great Budong concept (Home On The Remains), and the "serious" episode that's VERY hard to take seriously (My Three Crichtons). Season Overall: *****.
Re:Union: The uncut "lost" season premiere is located on the third disc of the set. The episode was eventually recut into the episode Dream A Little Dream but I actually think it works better in it's original form. The added scenes between Zhaan and Pilot are welcome and the epilogue reveals Zhaan is commiting herself to the priesthood again, a fact that makes her otherwise bizarre behavior in Mind The Baby make sense (I was bewildered by her craziness until I saw this episode). ****.
Mind The Baby: This season premiere which reveals the fate of Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo was pretty awesome, if not perfect. The stuff between John and Crais was golden and I love how the situation with Crais and Talyn went from bad to worse. ****.
Vitas Mortis: Kind of a snore. Although the fact that the Luxan high priestess is played by Melissa Jaffer (Noranti) is pretty interesting. **1/2.
Taking The Stone: Two bad episodes in a row is a bad sign that thankfully didn't amount to anything seriously wrong with the series. That leader of the skater-punk kids is the most annoying sci-fi adolescent since the original Star Trek's "Bonk, Bonk, On The Head" Kid in the episode "Miri". And yes, I'm including Wesley Crusher. *.
Crackers Don't Matter: One of the reasons Farscape is such a great show is that it can go from terrifying and disturbing to outright hilarious in the space of seconds (and vice versa). D'Argo nearly killing Rygel was SUCH a harrowing scene and you realize for the first time, how actually small and borderline helpless Rygel is, which makes the scene all of more horrifying. Also great was John Crichton's "Human beings... are Su-PERE-rior" shtick as well as him being grossed out that the face mask Zhaan put on him was made of puke. ****1/2.
The Way We Weren't: Another reason Farscape is such a great show is that tiny moments from earlier episodes that you didn't pay much heed to can be revealed to have greater significance later on (see Crichton's "You can be more" from the pilot which pays off surprisingly and handsomely here). This was a great episode for both Aeryn and Pilot and I love the fact that their bond is made stronger, only because it is so violently ripped apart. *****.
Picture If You Will: We never got any closure on Maldis, did we? I think a fifth season could have sent to character out in style, but for the last of his two appearances, he doesn't go out too badly here. ***1/2.
Home On The Remains: The second Chiana spotlight this year is another miss (although not quite as big a misfire as Taking The Stone). Fortunately for Chiana, her last spotlight of the year, A Clockwork Nebari, was an instant classic. **1/2.
Dream A Little Dream: The idea of a planet full of lawyers is a great sci-fi concept but the bookends of the episode featuring Crichton and Zhaan replaced two much better scenes that were in the original episode, Re:Uinion. So marks off for that. ***1/2.
Out Of Their Minds: Body swapping episodes are kind of a stale sci-fi trope but leave it to this show to completely complicate the entire concept and make it seem fresh again. A good episode. ***1/2.
Look At The Princess Part I: A Kiss Is But A Kiss: I was never a fan of this trilogy of episodes but it's better than I remembered it. The first part is still the weakest however and things don't start getting hot until Scorpius shows up in the next episode. The episode is notable for showing the series' first full-fledged Scarran and revealing Scorpius is half-Scarran/half-Sebecean in part two. ***
Look At The Princess Part II: I Do, I Think: Better but not perfect. It doesn't help that we don't care about the guest cast of characters. Whenever they're involved in their political machinations, we keep wanting for the action to get back to Crichton and Scorpy. Great cliffhanger though. ***1/2.
Look At The Princess Part III: The Maltese Crichton: Best of the three parts because it most heavily features Scorpius. The episode also introduces the idea that because of the chip in his head (which has yet to be revealed to the audience) Crichton is unable to kill him. Loved the Statue-John getting his head chopped off. ****. Three Part Average: ***1/2.
My Three Crichtons: It's hard to take this episode seriously with the goofy make-up jobs. Plus, evolved Crichton has an annoyingly funny voice due to the false teeth Ben Browder is forced to wear. **1/2.
Beware Of Dog: This episode is funny! That little critter makes me laugh and is adorable. I was so sad he died at the end and I loved the crew's reaction to him (especially Aeryn's) the entire episode. ***1/2.
Won't Get Fooled Again: A classic, with more and more disturbing and hilarious images, and Crichton going completely mental. Anthony Simcoe steals the show as Gary and Crichton's increasingly erratic reactions are a pure delight. And when the episode gets deadly serious with Crichton reliving his mother's death Ben Browder delivers the good. Fantastic episode. *****.
The Locket: This episode is a fan-favorite and it's easy to see why. The love-story between Aeryn and John is EPIC and this is the first sci-fi aging episode I've seen with beautifully convincing make-up. It's also great to see Stark again and this starts his closeness to Zhaan. And unbelievably great episode. *****.
The Ugly Truth: You loved Rashomon! That's not how I remembered it. ***.
A Clockwork Nebari: Return episode for the Nebari is a doozy. These guys had the potential too be as Big of Bads as the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans but unfortunately the fifth season never happened. Crichton's surfer-dude persona is absolutely adorable and funny and he gets the best scenes with a double-crossing Rygel. I wish the Nerri plot had been resolved but I'm guessing The Peacekeeper Wars was already filled to the brim as-is. ****1/2.
Liars, Guns And Money Part I: A Not So Simple Plan: This episode had great make-up (the spider-lady Natira is absolutely gorgeous) and Wayne Pygram is a delight as Scorpius, here taking his leather visage to it's natural sexual bondage conclusion. Cliffhanger's a bit weak but other than that the episode is perfect. ****1/2.
Liars, Guns And Money Part II: With Friends Like These: SUPER rewarding episode for people who have been watching the show from the beginning as we see the returns of some fan-favorite characters and rogues. Awesome cliffhanger too. *****.
Liars, Guns And Money Part III: Plan B: If Die Me, Dichotomy wasn't so awesome, I'd gladly consider this action-packed outing the season finale. Everything builds to a head and pays off wonderfully. Fantastic episode. *****. Three Part Average: *****.
Die Me, Dichotomy: Perhaps the greatest episode of the series ever. It features romance, betrayal, loss, despair, and the death of a major character, which while not permanent DID have major repercussions. The cliffhanger was probably the best the series ever delivered where Scorpius condemns John to live knowing he killed his true love. Also great is Hugh-Keays Burne as Grunchlk in a hilarious and disturbingly gross performance. The puppetry was excellent this episode too. Outstanding episode that directly sets up season three. *****.
Deleted Scenes For Mind The Baby: I could take or leave the D'Argo/Chiana scene but the stuff between him, Crichton and Aeryn was interesting. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Taking The Stone: Kind of a snooze. **.
Deleted Scenes For Crackers Don't Matter: Love, love, LOVE this scene. Unfortunately Wayne Pygram seems to be doing a slightly different voice for Scorpius here but I have to think if they HAD included it in the episode they could have redubbed his voice. ****1/2.
Deleted Scene For Dream A Little Dream: The original beginning and ending of "Re:Union". I actually prefer the Re:Union cut to Dream A Little Dream but it's clear that they had to change the beginning and end for continuity purposes. ****.
Deleted Scene For Look At The Princess Part I: A Kiss Is But A Kiss: I liked this. I think the thing that's best about it is that Virginia Hey obviously does NOT have a good singing voice and that's likely why this was cut. Still, I think Buffy's Once More, With Feeling proved that non-professionally singing actors can often inbibe their voices with a vulnerability that would surely not be present in someone who knew how to sing professionally. If they DID cut this because her voice isn't perfect, it was a mistake. If it was simply for time I could understand it. ****.
Deleted Scenes For Look At The Princess Part III: The Maltese Crichton: The scene with Rygel, Chiana and D'Argo was a bit interesting (although I find it hard to believe Chiana could actually think Aeryn was the one who cut off Crichton's head) but the scene with Aeryn and that annoying guy got on my nerves. ***.
Deleted Scene For The Locket: Cute scene between Old Crichton and Aeryn's grand-daughter. ****.
Deleted Scene For Liars, Guns And Money Part II: With Friends Like These...: I'm glad this scene was cut. It's a REALLY interesting scene, and I kind of dig it, but it makes D'Argo look kind of schizo to blame everything on John and then insist no-one else try to help him save Jothee. Also includes a deleted scene for Part III: Plan B where Chiana suspects the pirate of treachery. Both scenes together: ****.
Farscape In The Raw- Director's Cut Scenes:
More early footage with a broadcast comparison. Neat. Overall: ****.
Re:Union: It was interesting how much more footage from Family Ties the episode was originally going to have. ****.
Mind The Baby: Cool early effects shots for Talyn. I also liked the other version of a crazy John kissing Crais. ****1/2.
Vitas Mortis: I never realized that a different actress than Melissa Jaffer played the young Luxan lady. Jaffer's voice was obviously dubbed over her's. ***1/2.
Taking The Stone: Man, that kid is the most annoying sci-fi kid in decades. Also of note: in the original cut of the episode it's revealed that D'Argo and Zhaan were originally going to be behind the supernatural shenanigans that freaked out Rygel. I think the ambiguous way the episode actually played out was better. ****.
Crackers Don't Matter: Not much to report here. Pretty much the same as the episode, sans effects. Interesting that Trall'tix's threat to conquer the galaxy wasn't in the director's cut. ***1/2.
Picture If You Will: Some of the green screen scenes look unintentially comical without the visual effects. It was also neat to see the climax in Maldis's head without all of the trippy camera effects. ****.
The Way We Weren't: We get to see Pilot's entire body here! (Briefly, at least). ****1/2.
Home On The Remains: That alien's hand dissolving was obviously a practical effect but it was cool seeing an uneditted version of it. ***1/2.
Season 2 Bloopers: The best ones involved the puppets. I was also fond of the one where D'Argo lost his tentacle. ****.
DVD Menus: Awesome! Featuring a cool shot of Scorpius as well as a bunch of awesome scenes from Liars, Guns and Money. ****1/2.
Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
I wasn't sold on this book until about halfway through and then it started getting REALLY addictive. I loved the characters (especially the doomed Beaver) and the last third of the book was a non-stop rollercoaster climax that I was on the edge of my seat four. I also liked the shout-out to It (better than I liked the book It, itself) and thought Colonel Kurtz was one of King's better non-Dark Tower related villains. Good book. ****.
From A Buick 8 by Stephen King
This was a GREAT read and short enough that you can get through it relatively quickly when compared to some of King's longer books. It's kind of cool the way that people who have read some of King's other stuff probably have a better idea of the mystery of the Buick than the characters do. REALLY cool book. ****1/2.
Carrie By Stephen King
I can see why the horrifying book is so popular by it has a VERY nasty streak in it that's missing from King's later books (despite how gory they can get). Carrie is a very sympathetic character and Margerate White is the stuff of nightmares. I also really liked the format for the book with excerts from newspaper articles and books on both the massacre and telekinesis. I appreciated them because they let you know that a WHOLE bunch of people died up front and prepared you for the worst. By the way the book ending with Sue Snell getting her period was pure poetic genius and probably the cleverest thing about the book. ***.
The Dead Zone By Stephen King
Cool book with a very sympathetic hero (psychic Johnny Smith) and hissable baddie (Greg Stillson). The entire book hinges on the question of, if you could go back in time would you assassinate Hitler and runs with the premise. This book is unlike other Stephen King books in that the climax and ending are kind of boring while it's the middle part of the book with George Bannerman and the serial killer that is so interesting. Greg Stillson IS a really good villain but unfortunately the stuff related to him, but not actually about him is kind of lame. Good (not great book). ***1/2.
Under The Dome by Stephen King
This is one of those books that you can't possibly see how the characters can buy their way out of a situation, and count page numbers because you can't believe they'd be able to resolve everything satisfactorily with 30 pages left (out of 1070). King manages it but just barely.
It's a good book and I enjoyed it most when it focused on the kids Scarecrow Joe McClatchy, Norrie Calvert and Benny Drake. Unfortunately, it also has one of King's worst villains of all time in Big Jim Rennie who instead of finding him a villain I love to hate, think of him as the most loathesome villain since Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix. I never bought for a SECOND that anyone would believe a word out of his mouth even though I already KNEW he was an allegroy for Dick Cheney. I just want him to go away. I also think King has done more interesting heroes than Barbie and Julia Shumway.
Good things? King handles the gigantic cast admirably and makes all of the characters except the Rennies plausible, even at their worst. I also like how because of the left-wing political nature of the book, King made one of the biggest heroes a staunch Republican (probably in an attempt to deflect criticisms of bias. Unfortunately, Julia Shumway doesn't act like any Republican I'VE ever met. That's not a slam on Republicans, it's just that everything she says and does (with the exception of turning up her nose at looters) doesn't jibe with what Republicans do (and even then she eventually relents.) Again, I'm not saying this as a slam on conservatives. I don't personally LIKE Republicans but there are certainly some attractive ideas in conservatism that could easily be shown as positive. Look, at Ned Flanders from the first eight seasons of The Simpsons for an example of a character who is both a Republican and has many positive traits. King doesn't even TRY for that.
All that said, I could barely put the book down because I wanted to see what happened next. I'm PRETTY sure the book doesn't deserve four and a half stars but I'm giving it that anyways because it's so readable. ****1/2.
Doctor Who "The Lodger"
Delightful episode. You just want to SMACK the Doctor for his cluelessness but as the same time cheer his football skills. The climax was exciting and unrequited love was fulfilled. Amy also had some great moments this episode and the cliffhanger involving the Rip in the Universe, Amy, and her wedding ring gives me great hope that perhaps Rory isn't forgotten after all. ****1/2.
Futurama "Proposition Infinity"
I'm not gonna lie. I don't like this episode. It takes a dump on the sweet Amy/Kif romance. But at the same time I don't exactly hate it either. I have to wonder if The Simpsons' My Big Fat Geek Wedding would have been better received if Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel had gotten back at the end. Probably not, since that episode was so awful but that would have (like Amy and Kif's reunion here) have mitigated the damage to one episode.
Not loving this, but not hating it either. **1/2.
Futurama "The Duh-Vinci Cade"
Really? A Who Wants To Be A Millionaire parody? Got any Titanic jokes you want to throw out there as long as we are hitting these phenomena at the height of their popularity? The Da Vinci Code parody faired better (even though it was cooler on American Dad) and I really like what an affirmation this was for the character of Fry (as well as Leela sticking up for his) who despite being stupid has zero malice in his heart. So, yeah, after a rocky start I wound up enjoying the episode. It's good the show returned. ****.
The Boondocks "The Story Of Lando Freeman"
Lame episode. I enjoyed some of it (the shout-out to Smokin' With Cigarettes, Billy Dee William's cameo, and the talk show parody) but the episode suffers from the dreaded reset button. **1/2.
The Boondocks "Lovely Ebony Brown"
I was bored with this. It was good to hear Gine Torres' voice but she did much better work on Justice League Unlimited. Some of that is the script which tries SO hard to subvert the stereotypes of crazy relationships that it makes it boring. ***.
Farscape: The Complete Season Two
John Crichton is going crazy.
When last we saw our hero he was drifting in space with his Luxan ally and friend D'Argo while the true love of his life, former Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun is just out of reach of rescueing them. Big Bad Scorpius had tortured Crichton in his Aurora Chair for his hidden knowledge of wormholes and unbeknownst to John put a chip in his head containing a mental duplicate of the half-Scarran self, who is slowly and surely driving Crichton absolutely insane.
Season Two is Farscape's best season. Easily. I have a feeling if there HAD been a fifth season it would have topped it (the abridged version of season five, the mini-series The Peacekeeper Wars was fabulous) but the series itself never quite topped it. Scorpius is given mucho screen-time (he is made a series regular in the third season) as has former arch-enemy turned reluctant ally Captain Bailar Crais. Even the delightfully bonkers Stark (played hammily by Paul Goddard) is given a big role by the end of the season. And the steamy romance between John and Aeryn is just starting to heat up.
The best episodes of the year are the one where the entire crew goes crazy (Crackers Don't Matter), the watershed Aeryn and Pilot flashback episode (The Way We Weren't), and seven of the last eight episodes of the year (Won't Get Fooled Again, The Locket, A Clockwork Nebari, Liars, Guns and Money: Parts I, II, and III and Die Me, Dichotomy which has the distinction of being the best season finale [and perhaps EPISODE] of the entire series.)
Not too many low points this year although the Chiana spotlight Taking The Stone is incredibly lame. I'm also not fond of the D'Argo spotlight Vitas Mortis, the gross introduction of the great Budong concept (Home On The Remains), and the "serious" episode that's VERY hard to take seriously (My Three Crichtons). Season Overall: *****.
Re:Union: The uncut "lost" season premiere is located on the third disc of the set. The episode was eventually recut into the episode Dream A Little Dream but I actually think it works better in it's original form. The added scenes between Zhaan and Pilot are welcome and the epilogue reveals Zhaan is commiting herself to the priesthood again, a fact that makes her otherwise bizarre behavior in Mind The Baby make sense (I was bewildered by her craziness until I saw this episode). ****.
Mind The Baby: This season premiere which reveals the fate of Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo was pretty awesome, if not perfect. The stuff between John and Crais was golden and I love how the situation with Crais and Talyn went from bad to worse. ****.
Vitas Mortis: Kind of a snore. Although the fact that the Luxan high priestess is played by Melissa Jaffer (Noranti) is pretty interesting. **1/2.
Taking The Stone: Two bad episodes in a row is a bad sign that thankfully didn't amount to anything seriously wrong with the series. That leader of the skater-punk kids is the most annoying sci-fi adolescent since the original Star Trek's "Bonk, Bonk, On The Head" Kid in the episode "Miri". And yes, I'm including Wesley Crusher. *.
Crackers Don't Matter: One of the reasons Farscape is such a great show is that it can go from terrifying and disturbing to outright hilarious in the space of seconds (and vice versa). D'Argo nearly killing Rygel was SUCH a harrowing scene and you realize for the first time, how actually small and borderline helpless Rygel is, which makes the scene all of more horrifying. Also great was John Crichton's "Human beings... are Su-PERE-rior" shtick as well as him being grossed out that the face mask Zhaan put on him was made of puke. ****1/2.
The Way We Weren't: Another reason Farscape is such a great show is that tiny moments from earlier episodes that you didn't pay much heed to can be revealed to have greater significance later on (see Crichton's "You can be more" from the pilot which pays off surprisingly and handsomely here). This was a great episode for both Aeryn and Pilot and I love the fact that their bond is made stronger, only because it is so violently ripped apart. *****.
Picture If You Will: We never got any closure on Maldis, did we? I think a fifth season could have sent to character out in style, but for the last of his two appearances, he doesn't go out too badly here. ***1/2.
Home On The Remains: The second Chiana spotlight this year is another miss (although not quite as big a misfire as Taking The Stone). Fortunately for Chiana, her last spotlight of the year, A Clockwork Nebari, was an instant classic. **1/2.
Dream A Little Dream: The idea of a planet full of lawyers is a great sci-fi concept but the bookends of the episode featuring Crichton and Zhaan replaced two much better scenes that were in the original episode, Re:Uinion. So marks off for that. ***1/2.
Out Of Their Minds: Body swapping episodes are kind of a stale sci-fi trope but leave it to this show to completely complicate the entire concept and make it seem fresh again. A good episode. ***1/2.
Look At The Princess Part I: A Kiss Is But A Kiss: I was never a fan of this trilogy of episodes but it's better than I remembered it. The first part is still the weakest however and things don't start getting hot until Scorpius shows up in the next episode. The episode is notable for showing the series' first full-fledged Scarran and revealing Scorpius is half-Scarran/half-Sebecean in part two. ***
Look At The Princess Part II: I Do, I Think: Better but not perfect. It doesn't help that we don't care about the guest cast of characters. Whenever they're involved in their political machinations, we keep wanting for the action to get back to Crichton and Scorpy. Great cliffhanger though. ***1/2.
Look At The Princess Part III: The Maltese Crichton: Best of the three parts because it most heavily features Scorpius. The episode also introduces the idea that because of the chip in his head (which has yet to be revealed to the audience) Crichton is unable to kill him. Loved the Statue-John getting his head chopped off. ****. Three Part Average: ***1/2.
My Three Crichtons: It's hard to take this episode seriously with the goofy make-up jobs. Plus, evolved Crichton has an annoyingly funny voice due to the false teeth Ben Browder is forced to wear. **1/2.
Beware Of Dog: This episode is funny! That little critter makes me laugh and is adorable. I was so sad he died at the end and I loved the crew's reaction to him (especially Aeryn's) the entire episode. ***1/2.
Won't Get Fooled Again: A classic, with more and more disturbing and hilarious images, and Crichton going completely mental. Anthony Simcoe steals the show as Gary and Crichton's increasingly erratic reactions are a pure delight. And when the episode gets deadly serious with Crichton reliving his mother's death Ben Browder delivers the good. Fantastic episode. *****.
The Locket: This episode is a fan-favorite and it's easy to see why. The love-story between Aeryn and John is EPIC and this is the first sci-fi aging episode I've seen with beautifully convincing make-up. It's also great to see Stark again and this starts his closeness to Zhaan. And unbelievably great episode. *****.
The Ugly Truth: You loved Rashomon! That's not how I remembered it. ***.
A Clockwork Nebari: Return episode for the Nebari is a doozy. These guys had the potential too be as Big of Bads as the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans but unfortunately the fifth season never happened. Crichton's surfer-dude persona is absolutely adorable and funny and he gets the best scenes with a double-crossing Rygel. I wish the Nerri plot had been resolved but I'm guessing The Peacekeeper Wars was already filled to the brim as-is. ****1/2.
Liars, Guns And Money Part I: A Not So Simple Plan: This episode had great make-up (the spider-lady Natira is absolutely gorgeous) and Wayne Pygram is a delight as Scorpius, here taking his leather visage to it's natural sexual bondage conclusion. Cliffhanger's a bit weak but other than that the episode is perfect. ****1/2.
Liars, Guns And Money Part II: With Friends Like These: SUPER rewarding episode for people who have been watching the show from the beginning as we see the returns of some fan-favorite characters and rogues. Awesome cliffhanger too. *****.
Liars, Guns And Money Part III: Plan B: If Die Me, Dichotomy wasn't so awesome, I'd gladly consider this action-packed outing the season finale. Everything builds to a head and pays off wonderfully. Fantastic episode. *****. Three Part Average: *****.
Die Me, Dichotomy: Perhaps the greatest episode of the series ever. It features romance, betrayal, loss, despair, and the death of a major character, which while not permanent DID have major repercussions. The cliffhanger was probably the best the series ever delivered where Scorpius condemns John to live knowing he killed his true love. Also great is Hugh-Keays Burne as Grunchlk in a hilarious and disturbingly gross performance. The puppetry was excellent this episode too. Outstanding episode that directly sets up season three. *****.
Deleted Scenes For Mind The Baby: I could take or leave the D'Argo/Chiana scene but the stuff between him, Crichton and Aeryn was interesting. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Taking The Stone: Kind of a snooze. **.
Deleted Scenes For Crackers Don't Matter: Love, love, LOVE this scene. Unfortunately Wayne Pygram seems to be doing a slightly different voice for Scorpius here but I have to think if they HAD included it in the episode they could have redubbed his voice. ****1/2.
Deleted Scene For Dream A Little Dream: The original beginning and ending of "Re:Union". I actually prefer the Re:Union cut to Dream A Little Dream but it's clear that they had to change the beginning and end for continuity purposes. ****.
Deleted Scene For Look At The Princess Part I: A Kiss Is But A Kiss: I liked this. I think the thing that's best about it is that Virginia Hey obviously does NOT have a good singing voice and that's likely why this was cut. Still, I think Buffy's Once More, With Feeling proved that non-professionally singing actors can often inbibe their voices with a vulnerability that would surely not be present in someone who knew how to sing professionally. If they DID cut this because her voice isn't perfect, it was a mistake. If it was simply for time I could understand it. ****.
Deleted Scenes For Look At The Princess Part III: The Maltese Crichton: The scene with Rygel, Chiana and D'Argo was a bit interesting (although I find it hard to believe Chiana could actually think Aeryn was the one who cut off Crichton's head) but the scene with Aeryn and that annoying guy got on my nerves. ***.
Deleted Scene For The Locket: Cute scene between Old Crichton and Aeryn's grand-daughter. ****.
Deleted Scene For Liars, Guns And Money Part II: With Friends Like These...: I'm glad this scene was cut. It's a REALLY interesting scene, and I kind of dig it, but it makes D'Argo look kind of schizo to blame everything on John and then insist no-one else try to help him save Jothee. Also includes a deleted scene for Part III: Plan B where Chiana suspects the pirate of treachery. Both scenes together: ****.
Farscape In The Raw- Director's Cut Scenes:
More early footage with a broadcast comparison. Neat. Overall: ****.
Re:Union: It was interesting how much more footage from Family Ties the episode was originally going to have. ****.
Mind The Baby: Cool early effects shots for Talyn. I also liked the other version of a crazy John kissing Crais. ****1/2.
Vitas Mortis: I never realized that a different actress than Melissa Jaffer played the young Luxan lady. Jaffer's voice was obviously dubbed over her's. ***1/2.
Taking The Stone: Man, that kid is the most annoying sci-fi kid in decades. Also of note: in the original cut of the episode it's revealed that D'Argo and Zhaan were originally going to be behind the supernatural shenanigans that freaked out Rygel. I think the ambiguous way the episode actually played out was better. ****.
Crackers Don't Matter: Not much to report here. Pretty much the same as the episode, sans effects. Interesting that Trall'tix's threat to conquer the galaxy wasn't in the director's cut. ***1/2.
Picture If You Will: Some of the green screen scenes look unintentially comical without the visual effects. It was also neat to see the climax in Maldis's head without all of the trippy camera effects. ****.
The Way We Weren't: We get to see Pilot's entire body here! (Briefly, at least). ****1/2.
Home On The Remains: That alien's hand dissolving was obviously a practical effect but it was cool seeing an uneditted version of it. ***1/2.
Season 2 Bloopers: The best ones involved the puppets. I was also fond of the one where D'Argo lost his tentacle. ****.
DVD Menus: Awesome! Featuring a cool shot of Scorpius as well as a bunch of awesome scenes from Liars, Guns and Money. ****1/2.
Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
I wasn't sold on this book until about halfway through and then it started getting REALLY addictive. I loved the characters (especially the doomed Beaver) and the last third of the book was a non-stop rollercoaster climax that I was on the edge of my seat four. I also liked the shout-out to It (better than I liked the book It, itself) and thought Colonel Kurtz was one of King's better non-Dark Tower related villains. Good book. ****.
From A Buick 8 by Stephen King
This was a GREAT read and short enough that you can get through it relatively quickly when compared to some of King's longer books. It's kind of cool the way that people who have read some of King's other stuff probably have a better idea of the mystery of the Buick than the characters do. REALLY cool book. ****1/2.
Carrie By Stephen King
I can see why the horrifying book is so popular by it has a VERY nasty streak in it that's missing from King's later books (despite how gory they can get). Carrie is a very sympathetic character and Margerate White is the stuff of nightmares. I also really liked the format for the book with excerts from newspaper articles and books on both the massacre and telekinesis. I appreciated them because they let you know that a WHOLE bunch of people died up front and prepared you for the worst. By the way the book ending with Sue Snell getting her period was pure poetic genius and probably the cleverest thing about the book. ***.
The Dead Zone By Stephen King
Cool book with a very sympathetic hero (psychic Johnny Smith) and hissable baddie (Greg Stillson). The entire book hinges on the question of, if you could go back in time would you assassinate Hitler and runs with the premise. This book is unlike other Stephen King books in that the climax and ending are kind of boring while it's the middle part of the book with George Bannerman and the serial killer that is so interesting. Greg Stillson IS a really good villain but unfortunately the stuff related to him, but not actually about him is kind of lame. Good (not great book). ***1/2.
Under The Dome by Stephen King
This is one of those books that you can't possibly see how the characters can buy their way out of a situation, and count page numbers because you can't believe they'd be able to resolve everything satisfactorily with 30 pages left (out of 1070). King manages it but just barely.
It's a good book and I enjoyed it most when it focused on the kids Scarecrow Joe McClatchy, Norrie Calvert and Benny Drake. Unfortunately, it also has one of King's worst villains of all time in Big Jim Rennie who instead of finding him a villain I love to hate, think of him as the most loathesome villain since Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix. I never bought for a SECOND that anyone would believe a word out of his mouth even though I already KNEW he was an allegroy for Dick Cheney. I just want him to go away. I also think King has done more interesting heroes than Barbie and Julia Shumway.
Good things? King handles the gigantic cast admirably and makes all of the characters except the Rennies plausible, even at their worst. I also like how because of the left-wing political nature of the book, King made one of the biggest heroes a staunch Republican (probably in an attempt to deflect criticisms of bias. Unfortunately, Julia Shumway doesn't act like any Republican I'VE ever met. That's not a slam on Republicans, it's just that everything she says and does (with the exception of turning up her nose at looters) doesn't jibe with what Republicans do (and even then she eventually relents.) Again, I'm not saying this as a slam on conservatives. I don't personally LIKE Republicans but there are certainly some attractive ideas in conservatism that could easily be shown as positive. Look, at Ned Flanders from the first eight seasons of The Simpsons for an example of a character who is both a Republican and has many positive traits. King doesn't even TRY for that.
All that said, I could barely put the book down because I wanted to see what happened next. I'm PRETTY sure the book doesn't deserve four and a half stars but I'm giving it that anyways because it's so readable. ****1/2.