Farscape Season Four and Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars Review (Major Spoilers)
Also reviews for Farscape: The Archives, The Dark Crystal, A Muppets Christmas: Letters To Santa: Extended Edition, Star Trek: First Contact, and the latest two episodes of Futurama.
Futurama "That Darn Katz!"
One of the best things about having Futurama back is the fact that they address stuff that happened in the movies, such as Nibbler's cover being blown. I liked te resolution to this one and everyone rolling their eyes at Wernstrom for insisting the sun had to go in the "right" direction. And fess up: you secretly think cats are plotting to take over the world too. ****.
Futurama "A Clockwork Origin"
You'd figure that doing an episode about a current event such as the idiotic debate over evolution (didn't we settle this is the early Nineteenth Century?) would be stupid but the episode managed to make it plausible as well as put a fresh spin on the topic. LOVED the Professor wanting to live on a different planet when the creationist "scientist" used his final proof of the missing link to justify his sky monster. Speaking of monsters how awesome was the cameo from the Flying Spagetti Monster? He blessed this episode with his noodley appendage. ****.
Farscape: The Complete Season Four
Oh, this will have you tearing your hair out by the last scene. If the miniseries had never been made I might have been driven insane. The series' premature cancellation by the buttwipes at the Sci-Fi Channel was probably the most unjust series cancellation since the original Star Trek went off the air. And yes, the series went out on a huge cliffhanger. It was resolved by the miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (also available on DVD).
Good year of Farscape, if not quite up to season's two and three's snuff. This was the year Scorpius became a part of the crew of Moya and Crichton (in what is probably the biggest surprise twist of the year) actually returned to Earth. Two characters introduced at the tail end of last year (Noranti played by Melissa Jaffer and Commandant Grayza played by Rebecca Riggs) became recurring and we were introduced to Raelee Hill as Sikozu. And finally the love story of John Crichton and Aeryn Sun reaches it's maddening apex. This was a REALLY good year.
Best episodes of the year are the wacky season premiere (Crichton Kicks), the return of Aeryn and Scorpius to Moya (Promises), the two-part return to Earth (Kansas/Terra Firma), the nightmarish A Constellation Of Doubt, the three part climax to the season (We're So Screwed Parts I, II, and III) and the series finale which has us howling at the unfairness of the show's cancelation (Bad Timing).
No real bad episodes of the year (outside of the lame Twice Shy) but there ARE two mediocre ones: Lava's A Many Splendored Thing and A Prefect Murder. Season Overall: ****1/2.
Crichton Kicks: My personal pick for best Crichton episode. The look on his face as he calmly drinks while pointing a gun at Sikozu is one of the coolest hero moments of all time. Even Captain Picard and The Doctor were rarely this cool. I love the addition of the DRD 1812 too. ****1/2.
What Was Lost Part I: Sacrifice: I was never a fan of this two-parter even if it's technically well put together. I would probably have REALLY bad feelings toward Grayza's rape of Crichton if he hadn't gotten spectacular revenge by the end of the season. Scorpius on a dog lease however is golden. ***.
What Was Lost Part II: Resurrection: I was kind of sad Jool left the series but she never quite clicked with the rest of the cast. ***.
Lava's A Many Splendored Thing: Not crazy about the episode but the body armor they introduced should have last until the end of the season. **1/2.
Promises: Seeing Aeryn in the Scorpius make-up was great (as were Crichton's fantasies of Scorpy hurting Aeryn) and Scorpius asking for asylum aboard Moya was awesome. I missed Harvey for the most of the rest of the season but since Scorpius is in practically every episode this year, he wasn't needed. ****1/2.
Natural Election: Two things jump out at me here, besides D'Argo becoming Captain of Moya: 1. This was the beginning of the Crichton druggie saga in which we begin to question his common sense and for the first time root against him (the writer's provided a FABULOUS fake-out explanation at the end of the season). 2. Sikozu voting for Scorpius as Captain of Moya. I'm sorry, that's just hilarious and Pilot's reaction was priceless. ****.
John Quixote: Nice to see Zhaan, Stark and Crais again but I prefer the episode written by Ben Browder last year (Green Eyed Monster) to this one. This was a little too wacky (and for this show, THAT is saying something). ***1/2.
I Shrink, Therefore I Am: This reminded me of Deep Space Nine's One Little Ship. That was a great episode and this compared very favorably to that one. ***1/2.
A Prefect Murder: The first half of the episode was a bit boring to be honest. Still, the puppetry is great and by the time we got to the bugs coming out of the side of that guy's head and Crichton and Aeryn pointing guns at each other I warmed up to the episode a little bit. ***.
Coup By Clam: This episode is outright disgusting but for some reason it makes me laugh. Seeing Scorpius downing those mollusks was gag inducing as was Rygel biting off the doctor's nose. But the episode is so fun, I am smiling while being revolted. ****.
Unrealized Reality: This was a cool episode even if it was a bit hard to follow in places (Virginia Hey, Paul Goddard and Crais cameo again here, Crais and Zhaan for the very last time). John Bach as Einstien was very cool and creepy too. ****.
Kansas: Loved it. SO much greatness: Rygel getting addicted to Halloween candy and scaring kids out of it, the only three words D'Argo knows in English, The Finger as a greeting and the psychotic cop. Also great was Scorpius kissing Braca. That sound you heard is thousands of Mr. Burns/Smithers 'shippers punching the air. Also hilarious was Aeryn's disdain for the little girl in the Sesame Street/ Kermit the Frog alphabet sketch which is probably Sesame Street's best segment ever. Weirdly awesome cliffhanger too. I LOVE this episode. *****.
Terra Firma: We're on Earth for reals? Yowza! Loved all of the alien's reactions to Earth and the fact that Crichton was actually growing to hate the place. This was superb. "Merry Frelling Christmas!" *****.
Twice Shy: Lame episode with an awesome ending. It reminds me of a cross between Enterprise's Bound (which was equally awful) and Red Dwarf's original Polymorph episode (which was a hundred times better). The last scene where you find out that Crichton's idiotic drug habit was a HUGE mislead was SO awesome though that I'm adding an extra star to the episode just because it shows how on the ball and ahead of the audience Crichton always is. **1/2.
Mental As Anything: Love how this episode has you second-guessing D'Argo for the first time in years. Good ending. And the scenes of Crichton in The Box kicked all kinds of butt. ***1/2.
Bringing Home The Beacon: This episode sets up the rest of the season and Crichton's mission of getting Aeryn back. Pretty good. ***1/2.
A Constellation Of Doubt: Imagine Earth FINALLY being visited by friendly extra-terrestrials. And young Eliot recording the footage to help scared people understand that they aren't a threat. Then imagine a Fox News-style tabloid got a hold of the footage, recut it to make the aliens seem crazy and got a panel of fake experts to declare how superior humanity was. And Crichton having to watch the whole thing knowing this huge insult to the people in his life he cared about most probably had to watch and endure it too. I am convinced that if aliens ever DO land on Earth, Fox News will produced a special like this almost verbatim. It's SO nightmarish because it's SO plausible and shows how if there IS intelligent life out there and they meet us, they will probably lose interest VERY quickly. By the end of the season you completely understand why Crichton appears to betray Earth to Scorpius and shockingly, come to agree with the decision. Best episode of the season. *****.
Prayer: Good callback to Unrealized Reality. The scenes of Aeryn being tortured are nearly unbearable to watch. We love the character so much and this point and to see her violated like this REALLY hurts. Powerful episode. ***1/2.
We're So Screwed Part I: Fetal Attraction: The end has the best (and funniest) cliffhanger of the season where a resurrected Harvey (wackier than ever) drives Crichton crazy by insisting they go back to rescue Scorpius. ****1/2.
We're So Screwed Part II: Hot To Katratzi: Loved the action set pieces and also loved the scene of Crichton jumping on the table at the peace conference and acting crazy because you saw that Aeryn was enjoying herself too. Loved the return and explained significance of the flower Scorpius was smelling at the end of Incubator too. Stark returning (as a villain!) was a great surprise too as was Scorpius claiming to Emporer Staleek to be a Scarran spy. ****1/2.
We're So Screwed Part III: La Bomba: I laughed at loud at the Scarran staring at the nuclear bomb with "Hi There" written on it just before it blew. Great moments between Scorpius and Crichton where Crichton uses the opportunity to get out of his wormhole debt. I also especially liked how Crichton bitterly implied Grayza raped him because that's exactly what happened and I'm glad they didn't shy away from using that word. *****.
Bad Timing: You know if it weren't for the last 90 seconds this would have been a satisfying series finale. But this is Farscape and you don't always get what you want. Thankfully the miniseries resolved the HUGE cliffhanger. Best scene was Crichton's goodbye to Jack on the phone, from the moon. I had a lump in my throat as I realized Crichton would NEVER return to Earth. ****1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Crichton Kicks: The extended scene with wild man Crichton and Sikozu was only mildly diverting but it's the scene between Braca and Scorpius that is the main attraction. Knowing what we know now from how the season progressed I really appreciated the bit of theater they put on for Grayza. Only beef: I wish we had seen ALL of the extra scenes shown in the Previously On Farscape segment of What Was Lost: Part I because we never saw them all in a previous episode. Sometimes, I think an extended cut of this particular episode would have been best. ****.
Deleted Scene For What Was Lost Part I: Sacrifice: Some good character development for D'Argo. I'm a bit sad this was cut. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Promises: All right, but not many stand-outs. These include scenes of Crichton confronting Scorpius, D'Argo insulting Noranti's gross tea, Sikozu making a nuisance of herself, first to Crichton and D'Argo and then to Chiana, and finally a brief scene between Crichton and Aeryn in her Scorpius get-up. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Natural Election: The girl talk scene between Aeryn and Chiana was a wise cut but I really enjoyed the scene of Noranti eating the plant, particularly John's reaction. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For A Prefect Murder: Two scenes between Sikozu and her Prefect-Elect boyfriend. The first one is a complete snooze but I'm kinda bummed they trimmed the second one: it had a good explanation for the crazy-making, mind control bugs. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Kansas: Three deleted scenes. The last one between Ma and Pa Crichton was frankly, an extremely wise cut. It's nice, but I don't feel the actual story is about them. Besides, it doesn't move the episode forth one iota. The first two scenes involve the nosy neighbor Dot, and are MUCH better. Dot reminds me of Mrs. Steve on Pee-Wee's Playhouse. The first scene with John was cute but it was the one with the cop where she complains about getting "the finger" that should have been in the episode. ***.
Deleted Scenes For Terra Firma: Okay, these were awesome. The scene between Grayza and Braca was PACKED with new information and the scene with Rygel commenting on Christmas and Earth's food was golden. But it's the extended version of the teaser that really wowed me. *****.
Deleted Scenes For Twice Shy: I wasn't too crazy about the scene of Aeryn freaking out but I like the extended tag with Chiana. ***1/2.
Deleted Scene For Mental As Anything: A brief flashback between D'Argo and Lo'Lan. ***.
Deleted Scene For Bringing Home The Beacon: An extended scene of Chiana bargaining with the masseuse. Meh. **1/2.
Deleted Scenes For A Constellation Of Doubt: Extended scenes of most of the interviews Bobby films throughout the episode. There are two scenes for Aeryn (one involving Christmas and the other Aeryn making a tuna sandwich), an extended scene of Chiana in the bathroom, a scene with Noranti discussing medicines, and a scene of Crichton talking about all of his problems to his sister. The best scenes are the two involving Sikozu, first about Earth's history and the second about the few good things about Earth. This deleted scenes segment is notable for including the last scenes Gigi Edgely, Claudia Black and Ben Browder ever filmed for Farscape (not including the miniseries). ****1/2.
Deleted Scene For We're So Screwed Part II: Hot To Katratzi: This is an extended scene between Sikozu and the Kalish. ***.
Deleted Scenes For Bad Timing: The scene between Crichton and Aeryn was cute but I REALLY liked the extended scene between Scorpius, Braca and Sikozu in which Scorpius tells Braca he gets to keep the command he earned. ***1/2.
Farscape: The Story So Far: A half-hour recap that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel to hype season four's premiere. It's a lot like those Lost recaps. It describes all of the major points of the story (although I wish they had focused a bit more on Zhaan, Pilot, Stark and Crais) and then shows upcoming scenes from season four. Pretty spiffy. ****.
From The Archives: The Last Day - Farscape Wrap Speech By David Kemper: David Kemper sounds MAD. And he had every right to be. I will NEVER forget his "We didn't do anything wrong". One of the most unjust cancellations in TV history. Wow! *****.
Farscape: The Archives
This is a two-disc special feature set exclusively avaible only with the Complete Series set of Farscape. Pretty nifty features. It includes the rare Farscape Undressed, never before avaible on DVD. My favorite features are the "Listening In" With Guy Gross segments in which the series music composer discusses the score behind various episodes. Set overall: ****.
Farscape Undressed:
This is a rarely seen recap special available for the first time on DVD. It original aired on Sci-Fi as a lead in to the third season premiere. It's hosted by Ben Browder (in a suit!) and Claudia Black with plenty of playful banter. Also cool is the fact that Pilot and Rygel have small cameos. Pretty spiffy. ****1/2.
"Listening In" With Composer Guy Gross:
These are short interviews with Farscape composer Guy Gross as he shows how he wrote the music for specific episodes. For those of us interesting in the process of composing music, these are a treat. Overall: ****.
The Way We Weren't: Gross dicusses his first episode scoring the series. ***1/2.
My Three Crichtons: The thing I found most interesting about this was Gross explaining how it was important not to hold the oboe notes on the keyboard too long and to allow "breathing room" for a more natural sound. I also liked him explaining which instruments sounded more and less natural when done as a solo on the keyboard synthesizer. ****.
The Locket: I love the syrupy, romantic nature of the soundtrack for this episode. ****.
Die Me, Dichotomy: Few things I noticed here: 1. I like how Guy notes that he doesn't make the soundtrack too alien because he's doing it for the audience. 2. I love that they got a singer to sing Aeryn's funeral song in latin. 3. I find it VERY interesting that Guy says that because of their contradictory natures, none of the characters on Farscape have a specific theme which is almost unheard of in a show like this. Fortunately Scorpius does have a trademark SOUND played when he's scheming but it's kind of weird that he doesn't have his own specific musical cue. ****1/2.
Eat Me: I love that Gross played a whole bunch of exotic intruments to SOUND like an orchestra especially because he didn't really know how to play any of them. The music that resulted was quite unsettling. ****.
Revenging Angel: Interesting how hard Guy says it was to channel the music of Carl Stalling. The old Looney Tunes had fantastic music but it's always sounded so effortless that's it a bit of a surprise that it turned out to be so difficult it was for a guy on synthesizers and a computer. ****.
The Choice: I was fascinated to hear Gross talking about how a lot of times he doesn't create music that would sound good on it's own and is not made for soundtrack listening. His first priority is matching the music to the pictures and dialogue on-screen. ***1/2.
Into The Lion's Den Part II: Wolf In Sheep's Clothing: The 20 man choir Gross hired for the episode sounded fantastic. Interestingly, this particular episode is quite different from The Choice musically in that Gross says it WOULD sound awesome on a soundtrack. ****1/2.
Crichton Kicks: Loved the 1812 overture and the fact that Gross seamlessly blended the synthetic stuff with the orchestral piece they licensed to make the music sound great. ****1/2.
John Quixote: Lots of different musical styles in this episode including opera. ***1/2.
Terra Firma: Guy notes the repetitive nature of the score which portrays Crichton's uneasiness throughout the whole episode. I also like that Guy used drums for Crichton's Power Walk at the end even though he rarely uses them in that fashion. ****1/2.
Bad Timing: Gross discusses scoring the last episode. I REALLY wish he had talked about writing the music for the ultra-tragic ending as that was the best part of the music. ***1/2.
Behind The Scenes Interviews:
Behind the scenes interview with Anthony Simcoe, Wayne Pygram, Lani Tupu, Paul Goddard, David Franklin and Rebecca Riggs in which they discuss their characters. Overall: ****.
Anthony Simcoe (D'Argo): I loved Anthony talking about the make-up and D'Argo's ship as well as the reaction to The Way We Weren't. I also had no idea Scratch 'N' Sniff was originally structured in a more linear fashion. ***1/2.
Wayne Pygram (Scorpius): Unlike Pygram I liked Scorpius aboard Moya in season four just because it was so unexpected. I like how Wayne notes that Scorpius probably only relates to Crichton so well because they are both singular entities in that part of the galaxy. ****.
Jonathan Hardy (Voice Of Rygel): Jonathan Hardy has the world's awesomest eyebrows. Sam Donaldson only WISHES he had eyebrows that great. Hardy has some REALLY fascinating insights into Rygel, especially for a role he merely dubs the voice over for. For instance, it's only because we see Rygel as human that we think of him as a glutton. A cow eats as much as Rygel does, but since it's a different species we don't say boo about it. Rygel on the other hand, is recognizable to the audience as having human qualities so that's why we notice it. ****1/2.
Rebecca Riggs (Commandant Grayza): Frankly, Riggs has some pretty bizarre and weird ideas about her character, but that's to be expected. There aren't a whole lot of women rapists in fiction and I'd imagine the idea is a pretty hard idea to wrap your brain around, even if you played the character for over a year. **1/2.
Lani John Tupu (Crais And Voice Of Pilot): Tupu is such a quiet and unassuming man, that you immediately know how he channels Pilot but Crais is a bit of a shock. Great stuff. ****.
David Franklin (Braca): Franklin's a bit cheeky. He reminds me of a much less manic David Tennant. ***1/2.
Paul Goddard (Stark): Glad to see this brief interview (which is the only cast interview in The Archives that takes place on the set of the show). Pretty sure this was new to DVD and I was always bummed there was never an interview with Goddard on the ADV Starburst Editions. ****.
Video Profile: Creator/Executive Producer/Writer Rockne S. O'Bannon: O'Bannon discusses the differences between Farscape and his previous two series (Alien Nation, SeaQuest DSV). ***1/2.
Video Profile: Executive Producer/Writer David Kemper: Kemper talks about the chaos of season one. ***1/2.
Zhaan Forever With Virginia Hey: Hey reveals for the first time publicly why she chose to leave Farscape: the make-up was making her incredibly sick. When I first saw this interview I was shocked. I didn't know this. ****.
DVD Menus: Worst DVD Menus in Farscape history. Not only are they mute, they are completely still. I understand why they didn't want to go out on what was essentially two bonus discs but I'd think they at least want to give us SOMETHING cool. *.
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars
Wonderful series finale. I loved every minute of it and it seems MUCH shorter than it actually is. I wish there HAD been a Farscape Season Five but this somewhat abridged version was pretty darn cool on it's own.
It was great to see all of our favorite characters again. The movie was especially good for Rygel and Stark (the latter of which had many hilarious scenes). The resolution to the cliffhanger the series left us on was awesome too.
I'm glad that the ending felt so definite. Not to say everything was wrapped out (we were cheated out of Chiana and Nerri) because the ending left room for more, but we've never gotten a Farscape ending quite so satisfying. If there IS more Farscape in the future they can pick up where the series left off but if there isn't I'll be satisfied with the ending we got.
It was great to see small roles from some of the show's most memorable guest cast including Grunchlk, Jothee, Einstein, Notranti, Braca and in an amusing role Jool of the Jungle (who plays a wild jungle girl version of herself). If the stuff between Crichton and Aeryn was a bit sappy going into the ending, at least after four years I felt it was earned. Someone just tuning into this fresh may not agree but Farscape fans have been waiting for a happy ending with Crichton and Aeryn for too long.
Some very funny stuff here too. Funniest scene had to be Crichton using Scorpius as a human shield during a huge laser gun fight.
SO glad that there was a full orchestra for this special. Guy Gross makes full use of it and it only makes you realize how tinny the music on the series itself actually sounded.
I cried at the death of D'Argo who went out in a completely heroic manner. If I had any complaints, it's that the epilogue was too brief and I would have liked to have gotten last scenes for Rygel, Pilot and Scorpius. But honestly, it's not too big of a deal. The miniseries was a fitful end to a series that ended way before it's time. Outstanding. *****.
The Battle Behind The Wars: Cool documentary behind the making of the miniseries. *****.
Conceptual Art Gallery: A still gallery of some of the designs of the series. ****.
Storyboards: Storyboards for one the miniseries' space battle / action set pieces. ****.
Spacecraft Gallery: Still CGI models and final shots of the alien ships. ***1/2.
Prop Gallery: MASSIVE look at the weapons and props. It was amazing how much stuff they brought back from the miniseries including Zhaan's room's dressings and the Orville Roedenbacher popcorn box Cricton brought back to Earth from Terra Firma/ A Constellation Of Doubt. ****1/2.
DVD Menus: Awesome. Both: *****.
DVD Menu Disc 1: Fully animated with different footage for both the set-up and scene selection screen. Gorgeous. Best menus on Farscape history. *****.
DVD Menu Disc 2: Another fully animated menu! It's not QUITE as great as Disc 1 but that's to be expected since there are no language or scene selections on the bonus disc. ****1/2.
Inside Farscape:
Save Farscape: I REALLY wish they had updated this special to let everyone know that the Save Farscape campaign WAS successful and resulted in a miniseries. This contained interviews with Claudia Black, Gigi Edgely, Wayne Pygram, Anthony Simcoe, Lani Tupu, Rebecca Riggs and Jonathan Hardy (who posseses the world's most awesome eyebrows.) ***1/2.
Villains: A look at the subjective nature of the Farscape baddies. Profiles of Crais, Scorpius and Grayza. I kind of wish they had delved into some of Farscape's scarier bad guys like Durka, Natira, Maldis or the Scarrens. ***1/2.
Season 4 Visual Effects: With blocking shots and final footage and commentary by the visual effects designers. ****.
DVD Menus: The first menu to have scenes featuring every single one of the major players of the season. Nice. ****1/2.
Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal
You have to give Jim Henson points for trying. Easily, the most ambituous project the Jim Henson Company ever attempted until Farscape, this fantasy movie, the first film to be made entirely using puppets and no live actors is a decidedly mixed bag. It hasn't aged as well as Labyrinth has and it's slow-moving nature is a real contrast to modern productions designed for kids. The Puppetry was impressive for it's time but after Dinosaurs and Farscape you realize how far the technology had to go. If this had been made a few years later it's possible the puppetry would have been convincingly realistic but as it stands, it's kind of awkward looking.
The story is all right but I have to admit it uses every fantasy cliche in the book. I hate to compare this to Farscape again, but Farscape subverted the sci-fi genre time and again while The Dark Crystal plays it completely safe. I can cut it some slack, since it's the first Henson project of this kind but Labyrinth did a better job of turning expectations on their head only a couple of years later.
The musical score was very cool and the non-puppet special effects were pretty good too.
I can't help wonder that if that long rumored sequel gets off the ground if it will be as slow and ponderous as this. Kids could barely keep from fidgiting during this in the eighties (it was a box office disappointment) and I'd hate to think what today's MTV generation would think of a movie with this tone. All that said, I hope there IS a sequel because the world the movie created was interesting enough, (not to mention the ending abrupt enough) that I'd like an update. ****.
Isolated Music Score: An audio track of Trevor Jones' music score during the movie. Cool. ****.
The World Of "The Dark Crystal": This is a vintage, made-for-TV, hour-long, documentary on the making of the film that includes interviews with Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Brian Froud and others. This is quite an in-depth look at the picture that gave me a new appreciation for it. The featurette is a bit dry but it's interesting none-the-less. Excellent. ****1/2.
Deleted Funeral Scenes:
Deleted Scenes: Wow! Some great stuff was left out of the movie including the Skeksis funeral pyre for the dead Emperor and one of the Mystics telling Jen about Aughra. It's kind of sad these were left out of the movie because the Jen scene was, I think, important information for the audience to know. I LOVE the Skeksis funeral. However I think the movie works better without it. I love how in the movie the Chamberlain and the General immediately going to war about who will rule seconds after the old Emperor bites it. *****.
Work Print Scenes / Original Language Work Print Scenes:
The original work print scenes where the Skeksis spoke in grunts with subtitles and Aughra was voiced by Frank Oz. I noticed quite a bit of Aughra's dialogue was changed when she got a different voice. Overall: ****.
Emperor's Deathbed: The Skeksis were originally supposed to speak in a different language with subtitles. I think they're creepier sounding in English with broken accents. ****.
The New Emperor: The Trial By Stone in original Skeksis. ****.
Aughra & Jen: Frank Oz performing Aughra. ****.
Podling Village: Cute. ***1/2.
Aughra & The Skeksis: Like the previous Aughra scene much of the dialogue was different when Frank Oz originally voiced her. ****.
Fountain Of Youth: This was the most traumatic scene for me as a kid. I had nightmares for weeks. ****.
Presenting Kira: Interesting that the Skeksis partly use their own language and partly speak English when in front of a Gelfling. ****.
Character Drawings & Profiles:
Still galleries detailing backstories for the Mystics and Skeksis not seen in the film. Informative. Overall: ****1/2.
The Ur-ru: Profiles of the Mystics. ****.
The Skeksis: The Skeksis character profiles were fascinating. Cool! *****.
Trailers:
"The Dark Crystal" American Trailer: A bit long but covers all the bases. ****1/2.
"The Dark Crystal" Teaser Trailer: Okay, this was neat. *****.
"The Dark Crystal" European Trailer: No spoken dialogue, presumably to let different countries dub the trailer in their own language. ****.
"The Storyteller": I wish the DVDs of this weren't out of print. If they weren't I'd be all over them. *****.
"Labyrinth": The theatrical trailer. ****1/2.
Talent Files: Still biographies and selected filmographies of Jim Henson, Frank Oz and Brian Froud. ****.
DVD Menu: Still and mute. **.
A Muppets Christmas: Letter To Santa Extended Edition
This was all right, but I can't help but feeling they phoned this in. The Muppets went all out a few years ago in It's A Very, Mery Muppet Christmas movie and I think this is far inferior to that and of course the wonderful The Muppet Christmas Carol. Granted, it's a special, and not a movie but the songs are all pretty forgettable. And considering that they're all written by Muppet legend Paul Williams that's almost shocking.
The special also lacked the edge that Very Merry had and it was a bit sad to see them play it so safe. The guest stars with the exception of Nathan Lane and to a lesser extent Jane Krakowski and Uma Thurman all phoned in their performances. The little girl who played Claire was sweet but kids have always worked well with the Muppets.
We finally got a speaking (or rather singing) role for Rowlf the Dog (the first since Jim Henson was alive) as well as Dr. Teeth. Considering how off a lot of the Muppets voice sound nowadays Rowlf and Dr. Teeth sound shockingly like Henson.
There were some nice bits. I loved the homoerotic comedy duo of Nathan Lane and Bobo the Bear. And Beaker's scene with the hot lady was made of all kinds of win. And the bloopers over the end credits were truly funny.
This special had some nice things going for it but overall it was merely passable. Kids today deserve better Muppet stuff. **1/2.
The Muppets Stocking Stuffer Smorgasbord: This special feature Easter Egg hunt however is fabulous. It contains deleted scenes from the special, interviews with Jane Krakowski and the girl who played Claire, interviews with Kermit The Frog, Miss Piggy and Gonzo and Fozzie Bear as well as a musical photo montage. VERY cool. *****.
DVD Menu: Pretty. ****.
Star Trek: First Contact: Special Collector's Edition
Wrath of Khan may be higher regarded among Star Trek geeks and The Voyage Home preferred by general audiences but in my mind the best Star Trek movie ever is First Contact. HUGELY satisfying smack-down between Picard and the Borg with awesome cameos (Barclay! The EMH!) and great character moments (Troi getting drunk, Data's disturbing romance with the Borg Queen). It also has a HUGE number of great lines. My absolute favorite is "Resistance is futile!" said mockingly by Data after he betrays the Borg Queen.
I also loved the scene at the end of Cochrane meeting a familiar alien race for the first time.
Patrick Stewart delivers one of his best performances ever as Picard who becomes increasingly unhinged throughout the movie and Brent Spiner as always steals the show as Data.
The best Star Trek movie EVER and one of the best Star Trek stories of all time. *****.
Production:
Featurettes about the production of the movie. Overall: ***1/2.
The Making Of First Contact: A documentary about the making of the movie. The two things I found most interesting were the profile of Jonathan Frakes as a director and how surprisingly beautiful Alice Krige is out of Borg Queen make-up. ****.
The Art Of First Contact: This explores the designs of the Enterprise-E, the Phoenix, and the Vulcan Ship. ***.
The Story: Ironically, the story I wanted to hear more about was the epic failure of the Mad Magazine parody which foolishly based itself upon the script's first draft and therefore was nothing like the actual movie. ****.
The Missile Silo: Best part was hearing about Brent Spiner's stunt which he did VERY reluctantly because of his fear of heights. ***.
The Deflector Dish: A look at the cool spacewalk scene. ***1/2.
From "A" To "E": Detailing the construction of the new Enterprise. Spiffy. ****.
Scene Deconstruction:
Closer looks at specific special effects shots in the movie. Overall: ****1/2.
Borg Queen Assembly: I liked all of the early designs of the Borg Queen especially the spider version. ****1/2.
Escape Pod Launch: Those animatics look pretty nifty. ****1/2.
Borg Queen's Demise: This was nasty. And I mean that in the best possible way. ****.
The Star Trek Universe:
Various documentaries about Star Trek, the people behind it, and even real life inspirations. Overall: ***1/2.
Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute: A look back at the late composer who was Star Trek's best and most famous musician, specifically looking at all of the various great themes he wrote for the franchise. ****.
The Legacy Of Zefram Cochrane: An interview with James Cromwell (and some of the writers/producers) about Cromwell and his impact on the Star Trek franchise. ***1/2.
First Contact: The Possibilities: This explores the real-life search for extra-terrestrials from the organization SITA. ***1/2.
The Borg Collective:
Featurettes looking at the Borg in it's various forms. Overall: ****.
Unimatrix One: This examines the story history of the Borg in The Next Generation, First Contact, and Voyager. Also includes the extended trailer of the Borg Invasion Experience in Las Vegas. ****1/2.
The Queen: Interview with Alice Krige about her role on Star Trek. ***1/2.
The Design Matrix: Looking at the redesign for the characters when they made the transition to the big screen. ****.
Archives: Still Galleries. Overall: ****.
Storyboards: Storyboard of some of the movie's action set pieces. Overall: ****.
1930's Nightclub: The Holodeck scene with Picard as Dixon Hill. ****.
Hull Battle: The Deflector Dish space-walk scene. ****.
Hull Battle Alternate Shots: More of the Deflector Dish scene. ****.
Worf Vs. The Borg Alternate Shots: Extra scenes of Worf's confrontation with the Borg on the Deflector Dish. ****.
Photo Gallery: Still photos of pictures from the production including stuff on the set and designs, as well as some nice stills from the movie itself. ****.
Trailers:
Teaser Trailer: Awesome. *****.
Theatrical Trailer: Pretty much shows the best scenes, somehow without completely spoiling them. Unlike the teaser trailer, this one was obviously designed for Trekkies. *****.
Borg Invasion Trailer: Not without it's charms. ***1/2.
Disc 1 DVD Menu: With the Enterprise and the Defiant attacking the Borg Cube. *****.
Disc 2 DVD Menu: The Borg Cube launching the Borg Sphere above Earth. *****.
Futurama "That Darn Katz!"
One of the best things about having Futurama back is the fact that they address stuff that happened in the movies, such as Nibbler's cover being blown. I liked te resolution to this one and everyone rolling their eyes at Wernstrom for insisting the sun had to go in the "right" direction. And fess up: you secretly think cats are plotting to take over the world too. ****.
Futurama "A Clockwork Origin"
You'd figure that doing an episode about a current event such as the idiotic debate over evolution (didn't we settle this is the early Nineteenth Century?) would be stupid but the episode managed to make it plausible as well as put a fresh spin on the topic. LOVED the Professor wanting to live on a different planet when the creationist "scientist" used his final proof of the missing link to justify his sky monster. Speaking of monsters how awesome was the cameo from the Flying Spagetti Monster? He blessed this episode with his noodley appendage. ****.
Farscape: The Complete Season Four
Oh, this will have you tearing your hair out by the last scene. If the miniseries had never been made I might have been driven insane. The series' premature cancellation by the buttwipes at the Sci-Fi Channel was probably the most unjust series cancellation since the original Star Trek went off the air. And yes, the series went out on a huge cliffhanger. It was resolved by the miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (also available on DVD).
Good year of Farscape, if not quite up to season's two and three's snuff. This was the year Scorpius became a part of the crew of Moya and Crichton (in what is probably the biggest surprise twist of the year) actually returned to Earth. Two characters introduced at the tail end of last year (Noranti played by Melissa Jaffer and Commandant Grayza played by Rebecca Riggs) became recurring and we were introduced to Raelee Hill as Sikozu. And finally the love story of John Crichton and Aeryn Sun reaches it's maddening apex. This was a REALLY good year.
Best episodes of the year are the wacky season premiere (Crichton Kicks), the return of Aeryn and Scorpius to Moya (Promises), the two-part return to Earth (Kansas/Terra Firma), the nightmarish A Constellation Of Doubt, the three part climax to the season (We're So Screwed Parts I, II, and III) and the series finale which has us howling at the unfairness of the show's cancelation (Bad Timing).
No real bad episodes of the year (outside of the lame Twice Shy) but there ARE two mediocre ones: Lava's A Many Splendored Thing and A Prefect Murder. Season Overall: ****1/2.
Crichton Kicks: My personal pick for best Crichton episode. The look on his face as he calmly drinks while pointing a gun at Sikozu is one of the coolest hero moments of all time. Even Captain Picard and The Doctor were rarely this cool. I love the addition of the DRD 1812 too. ****1/2.
What Was Lost Part I: Sacrifice: I was never a fan of this two-parter even if it's technically well put together. I would probably have REALLY bad feelings toward Grayza's rape of Crichton if he hadn't gotten spectacular revenge by the end of the season. Scorpius on a dog lease however is golden. ***.
What Was Lost Part II: Resurrection: I was kind of sad Jool left the series but she never quite clicked with the rest of the cast. ***.
Lava's A Many Splendored Thing: Not crazy about the episode but the body armor they introduced should have last until the end of the season. **1/2.
Promises: Seeing Aeryn in the Scorpius make-up was great (as were Crichton's fantasies of Scorpy hurting Aeryn) and Scorpius asking for asylum aboard Moya was awesome. I missed Harvey for the most of the rest of the season but since Scorpius is in practically every episode this year, he wasn't needed. ****1/2.
Natural Election: Two things jump out at me here, besides D'Argo becoming Captain of Moya: 1. This was the beginning of the Crichton druggie saga in which we begin to question his common sense and for the first time root against him (the writer's provided a FABULOUS fake-out explanation at the end of the season). 2. Sikozu voting for Scorpius as Captain of Moya. I'm sorry, that's just hilarious and Pilot's reaction was priceless. ****.
John Quixote: Nice to see Zhaan, Stark and Crais again but I prefer the episode written by Ben Browder last year (Green Eyed Monster) to this one. This was a little too wacky (and for this show, THAT is saying something). ***1/2.
I Shrink, Therefore I Am: This reminded me of Deep Space Nine's One Little Ship. That was a great episode and this compared very favorably to that one. ***1/2.
A Prefect Murder: The first half of the episode was a bit boring to be honest. Still, the puppetry is great and by the time we got to the bugs coming out of the side of that guy's head and Crichton and Aeryn pointing guns at each other I warmed up to the episode a little bit. ***.
Coup By Clam: This episode is outright disgusting but for some reason it makes me laugh. Seeing Scorpius downing those mollusks was gag inducing as was Rygel biting off the doctor's nose. But the episode is so fun, I am smiling while being revolted. ****.
Unrealized Reality: This was a cool episode even if it was a bit hard to follow in places (Virginia Hey, Paul Goddard and Crais cameo again here, Crais and Zhaan for the very last time). John Bach as Einstien was very cool and creepy too. ****.
Kansas: Loved it. SO much greatness: Rygel getting addicted to Halloween candy and scaring kids out of it, the only three words D'Argo knows in English, The Finger as a greeting and the psychotic cop. Also great was Scorpius kissing Braca. That sound you heard is thousands of Mr. Burns/Smithers 'shippers punching the air. Also hilarious was Aeryn's disdain for the little girl in the Sesame Street/ Kermit the Frog alphabet sketch which is probably Sesame Street's best segment ever. Weirdly awesome cliffhanger too. I LOVE this episode. *****.
Terra Firma: We're on Earth for reals? Yowza! Loved all of the alien's reactions to Earth and the fact that Crichton was actually growing to hate the place. This was superb. "Merry Frelling Christmas!" *****.
Twice Shy: Lame episode with an awesome ending. It reminds me of a cross between Enterprise's Bound (which was equally awful) and Red Dwarf's original Polymorph episode (which was a hundred times better). The last scene where you find out that Crichton's idiotic drug habit was a HUGE mislead was SO awesome though that I'm adding an extra star to the episode just because it shows how on the ball and ahead of the audience Crichton always is. **1/2.
Mental As Anything: Love how this episode has you second-guessing D'Argo for the first time in years. Good ending. And the scenes of Crichton in The Box kicked all kinds of butt. ***1/2.
Bringing Home The Beacon: This episode sets up the rest of the season and Crichton's mission of getting Aeryn back. Pretty good. ***1/2.
A Constellation Of Doubt: Imagine Earth FINALLY being visited by friendly extra-terrestrials. And young Eliot recording the footage to help scared people understand that they aren't a threat. Then imagine a Fox News-style tabloid got a hold of the footage, recut it to make the aliens seem crazy and got a panel of fake experts to declare how superior humanity was. And Crichton having to watch the whole thing knowing this huge insult to the people in his life he cared about most probably had to watch and endure it too. I am convinced that if aliens ever DO land on Earth, Fox News will produced a special like this almost verbatim. It's SO nightmarish because it's SO plausible and shows how if there IS intelligent life out there and they meet us, they will probably lose interest VERY quickly. By the end of the season you completely understand why Crichton appears to betray Earth to Scorpius and shockingly, come to agree with the decision. Best episode of the season. *****.
Prayer: Good callback to Unrealized Reality. The scenes of Aeryn being tortured are nearly unbearable to watch. We love the character so much and this point and to see her violated like this REALLY hurts. Powerful episode. ***1/2.
We're So Screwed Part I: Fetal Attraction: The end has the best (and funniest) cliffhanger of the season where a resurrected Harvey (wackier than ever) drives Crichton crazy by insisting they go back to rescue Scorpius. ****1/2.
We're So Screwed Part II: Hot To Katratzi: Loved the action set pieces and also loved the scene of Crichton jumping on the table at the peace conference and acting crazy because you saw that Aeryn was enjoying herself too. Loved the return and explained significance of the flower Scorpius was smelling at the end of Incubator too. Stark returning (as a villain!) was a great surprise too as was Scorpius claiming to Emporer Staleek to be a Scarran spy. ****1/2.
We're So Screwed Part III: La Bomba: I laughed at loud at the Scarran staring at the nuclear bomb with "Hi There" written on it just before it blew. Great moments between Scorpius and Crichton where Crichton uses the opportunity to get out of his wormhole debt. I also especially liked how Crichton bitterly implied Grayza raped him because that's exactly what happened and I'm glad they didn't shy away from using that word. *****.
Bad Timing: You know if it weren't for the last 90 seconds this would have been a satisfying series finale. But this is Farscape and you don't always get what you want. Thankfully the miniseries resolved the HUGE cliffhanger. Best scene was Crichton's goodbye to Jack on the phone, from the moon. I had a lump in my throat as I realized Crichton would NEVER return to Earth. ****1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Crichton Kicks: The extended scene with wild man Crichton and Sikozu was only mildly diverting but it's the scene between Braca and Scorpius that is the main attraction. Knowing what we know now from how the season progressed I really appreciated the bit of theater they put on for Grayza. Only beef: I wish we had seen ALL of the extra scenes shown in the Previously On Farscape segment of What Was Lost: Part I because we never saw them all in a previous episode. Sometimes, I think an extended cut of this particular episode would have been best. ****.
Deleted Scene For What Was Lost Part I: Sacrifice: Some good character development for D'Argo. I'm a bit sad this was cut. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Promises: All right, but not many stand-outs. These include scenes of Crichton confronting Scorpius, D'Argo insulting Noranti's gross tea, Sikozu making a nuisance of herself, first to Crichton and D'Argo and then to Chiana, and finally a brief scene between Crichton and Aeryn in her Scorpius get-up. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Natural Election: The girl talk scene between Aeryn and Chiana was a wise cut but I really enjoyed the scene of Noranti eating the plant, particularly John's reaction. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For A Prefect Murder: Two scenes between Sikozu and her Prefect-Elect boyfriend. The first one is a complete snooze but I'm kinda bummed they trimmed the second one: it had a good explanation for the crazy-making, mind control bugs. ***1/2.
Deleted Scenes For Kansas: Three deleted scenes. The last one between Ma and Pa Crichton was frankly, an extremely wise cut. It's nice, but I don't feel the actual story is about them. Besides, it doesn't move the episode forth one iota. The first two scenes involve the nosy neighbor Dot, and are MUCH better. Dot reminds me of Mrs. Steve on Pee-Wee's Playhouse. The first scene with John was cute but it was the one with the cop where she complains about getting "the finger" that should have been in the episode. ***.
Deleted Scenes For Terra Firma: Okay, these were awesome. The scene between Grayza and Braca was PACKED with new information and the scene with Rygel commenting on Christmas and Earth's food was golden. But it's the extended version of the teaser that really wowed me. *****.
Deleted Scenes For Twice Shy: I wasn't too crazy about the scene of Aeryn freaking out but I like the extended tag with Chiana. ***1/2.
Deleted Scene For Mental As Anything: A brief flashback between D'Argo and Lo'Lan. ***.
Deleted Scene For Bringing Home The Beacon: An extended scene of Chiana bargaining with the masseuse. Meh. **1/2.
Deleted Scenes For A Constellation Of Doubt: Extended scenes of most of the interviews Bobby films throughout the episode. There are two scenes for Aeryn (one involving Christmas and the other Aeryn making a tuna sandwich), an extended scene of Chiana in the bathroom, a scene with Noranti discussing medicines, and a scene of Crichton talking about all of his problems to his sister. The best scenes are the two involving Sikozu, first about Earth's history and the second about the few good things about Earth. This deleted scenes segment is notable for including the last scenes Gigi Edgely, Claudia Black and Ben Browder ever filmed for Farscape (not including the miniseries). ****1/2.
Deleted Scene For We're So Screwed Part II: Hot To Katratzi: This is an extended scene between Sikozu and the Kalish. ***.
Deleted Scenes For Bad Timing: The scene between Crichton and Aeryn was cute but I REALLY liked the extended scene between Scorpius, Braca and Sikozu in which Scorpius tells Braca he gets to keep the command he earned. ***1/2.
Farscape: The Story So Far: A half-hour recap that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel to hype season four's premiere. It's a lot like those Lost recaps. It describes all of the major points of the story (although I wish they had focused a bit more on Zhaan, Pilot, Stark and Crais) and then shows upcoming scenes from season four. Pretty spiffy. ****.
From The Archives: The Last Day - Farscape Wrap Speech By David Kemper: David Kemper sounds MAD. And he had every right to be. I will NEVER forget his "We didn't do anything wrong". One of the most unjust cancellations in TV history. Wow! *****.
Farscape: The Archives
This is a two-disc special feature set exclusively avaible only with the Complete Series set of Farscape. Pretty nifty features. It includes the rare Farscape Undressed, never before avaible on DVD. My favorite features are the "Listening In" With Guy Gross segments in which the series music composer discusses the score behind various episodes. Set overall: ****.
Farscape Undressed:
This is a rarely seen recap special available for the first time on DVD. It original aired on Sci-Fi as a lead in to the third season premiere. It's hosted by Ben Browder (in a suit!) and Claudia Black with plenty of playful banter. Also cool is the fact that Pilot and Rygel have small cameos. Pretty spiffy. ****1/2.
"Listening In" With Composer Guy Gross:
These are short interviews with Farscape composer Guy Gross as he shows how he wrote the music for specific episodes. For those of us interesting in the process of composing music, these are a treat. Overall: ****.
The Way We Weren't: Gross dicusses his first episode scoring the series. ***1/2.
My Three Crichtons: The thing I found most interesting about this was Gross explaining how it was important not to hold the oboe notes on the keyboard too long and to allow "breathing room" for a more natural sound. I also liked him explaining which instruments sounded more and less natural when done as a solo on the keyboard synthesizer. ****.
The Locket: I love the syrupy, romantic nature of the soundtrack for this episode. ****.
Die Me, Dichotomy: Few things I noticed here: 1. I like how Guy notes that he doesn't make the soundtrack too alien because he's doing it for the audience. 2. I love that they got a singer to sing Aeryn's funeral song in latin. 3. I find it VERY interesting that Guy says that because of their contradictory natures, none of the characters on Farscape have a specific theme which is almost unheard of in a show like this. Fortunately Scorpius does have a trademark SOUND played when he's scheming but it's kind of weird that he doesn't have his own specific musical cue. ****1/2.
Eat Me: I love that Gross played a whole bunch of exotic intruments to SOUND like an orchestra especially because he didn't really know how to play any of them. The music that resulted was quite unsettling. ****.
Revenging Angel: Interesting how hard Guy says it was to channel the music of Carl Stalling. The old Looney Tunes had fantastic music but it's always sounded so effortless that's it a bit of a surprise that it turned out to be so difficult it was for a guy on synthesizers and a computer. ****.
The Choice: I was fascinated to hear Gross talking about how a lot of times he doesn't create music that would sound good on it's own and is not made for soundtrack listening. His first priority is matching the music to the pictures and dialogue on-screen. ***1/2.
Into The Lion's Den Part II: Wolf In Sheep's Clothing: The 20 man choir Gross hired for the episode sounded fantastic. Interestingly, this particular episode is quite different from The Choice musically in that Gross says it WOULD sound awesome on a soundtrack. ****1/2.
Crichton Kicks: Loved the 1812 overture and the fact that Gross seamlessly blended the synthetic stuff with the orchestral piece they licensed to make the music sound great. ****1/2.
John Quixote: Lots of different musical styles in this episode including opera. ***1/2.
Terra Firma: Guy notes the repetitive nature of the score which portrays Crichton's uneasiness throughout the whole episode. I also like that Guy used drums for Crichton's Power Walk at the end even though he rarely uses them in that fashion. ****1/2.
Bad Timing: Gross discusses scoring the last episode. I REALLY wish he had talked about writing the music for the ultra-tragic ending as that was the best part of the music. ***1/2.
Behind The Scenes Interviews:
Behind the scenes interview with Anthony Simcoe, Wayne Pygram, Lani Tupu, Paul Goddard, David Franklin and Rebecca Riggs in which they discuss their characters. Overall: ****.
Anthony Simcoe (D'Argo): I loved Anthony talking about the make-up and D'Argo's ship as well as the reaction to The Way We Weren't. I also had no idea Scratch 'N' Sniff was originally structured in a more linear fashion. ***1/2.
Wayne Pygram (Scorpius): Unlike Pygram I liked Scorpius aboard Moya in season four just because it was so unexpected. I like how Wayne notes that Scorpius probably only relates to Crichton so well because they are both singular entities in that part of the galaxy. ****.
Jonathan Hardy (Voice Of Rygel): Jonathan Hardy has the world's awesomest eyebrows. Sam Donaldson only WISHES he had eyebrows that great. Hardy has some REALLY fascinating insights into Rygel, especially for a role he merely dubs the voice over for. For instance, it's only because we see Rygel as human that we think of him as a glutton. A cow eats as much as Rygel does, but since it's a different species we don't say boo about it. Rygel on the other hand, is recognizable to the audience as having human qualities so that's why we notice it. ****1/2.
Rebecca Riggs (Commandant Grayza): Frankly, Riggs has some pretty bizarre and weird ideas about her character, but that's to be expected. There aren't a whole lot of women rapists in fiction and I'd imagine the idea is a pretty hard idea to wrap your brain around, even if you played the character for over a year. **1/2.
Lani John Tupu (Crais And Voice Of Pilot): Tupu is such a quiet and unassuming man, that you immediately know how he channels Pilot but Crais is a bit of a shock. Great stuff. ****.
David Franklin (Braca): Franklin's a bit cheeky. He reminds me of a much less manic David Tennant. ***1/2.
Paul Goddard (Stark): Glad to see this brief interview (which is the only cast interview in The Archives that takes place on the set of the show). Pretty sure this was new to DVD and I was always bummed there was never an interview with Goddard on the ADV Starburst Editions. ****.
Video Profile: Creator/Executive Producer/Writer Rockne S. O'Bannon: O'Bannon discusses the differences between Farscape and his previous two series (Alien Nation, SeaQuest DSV). ***1/2.
Video Profile: Executive Producer/Writer David Kemper: Kemper talks about the chaos of season one. ***1/2.
Zhaan Forever With Virginia Hey: Hey reveals for the first time publicly why she chose to leave Farscape: the make-up was making her incredibly sick. When I first saw this interview I was shocked. I didn't know this. ****.
DVD Menus: Worst DVD Menus in Farscape history. Not only are they mute, they are completely still. I understand why they didn't want to go out on what was essentially two bonus discs but I'd think they at least want to give us SOMETHING cool. *.
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars
Wonderful series finale. I loved every minute of it and it seems MUCH shorter than it actually is. I wish there HAD been a Farscape Season Five but this somewhat abridged version was pretty darn cool on it's own.
It was great to see all of our favorite characters again. The movie was especially good for Rygel and Stark (the latter of which had many hilarious scenes). The resolution to the cliffhanger the series left us on was awesome too.
I'm glad that the ending felt so definite. Not to say everything was wrapped out (we were cheated out of Chiana and Nerri) because the ending left room for more, but we've never gotten a Farscape ending quite so satisfying. If there IS more Farscape in the future they can pick up where the series left off but if there isn't I'll be satisfied with the ending we got.
It was great to see small roles from some of the show's most memorable guest cast including Grunchlk, Jothee, Einstein, Notranti, Braca and in an amusing role Jool of the Jungle (who plays a wild jungle girl version of herself). If the stuff between Crichton and Aeryn was a bit sappy going into the ending, at least after four years I felt it was earned. Someone just tuning into this fresh may not agree but Farscape fans have been waiting for a happy ending with Crichton and Aeryn for too long.
Some very funny stuff here too. Funniest scene had to be Crichton using Scorpius as a human shield during a huge laser gun fight.
SO glad that there was a full orchestra for this special. Guy Gross makes full use of it and it only makes you realize how tinny the music on the series itself actually sounded.
I cried at the death of D'Argo who went out in a completely heroic manner. If I had any complaints, it's that the epilogue was too brief and I would have liked to have gotten last scenes for Rygel, Pilot and Scorpius. But honestly, it's not too big of a deal. The miniseries was a fitful end to a series that ended way before it's time. Outstanding. *****.
The Battle Behind The Wars: Cool documentary behind the making of the miniseries. *****.
Conceptual Art Gallery: A still gallery of some of the designs of the series. ****.
Storyboards: Storyboards for one the miniseries' space battle / action set pieces. ****.
Spacecraft Gallery: Still CGI models and final shots of the alien ships. ***1/2.
Prop Gallery: MASSIVE look at the weapons and props. It was amazing how much stuff they brought back from the miniseries including Zhaan's room's dressings and the Orville Roedenbacher popcorn box Cricton brought back to Earth from Terra Firma/ A Constellation Of Doubt. ****1/2.
DVD Menus: Awesome. Both: *****.
DVD Menu Disc 1: Fully animated with different footage for both the set-up and scene selection screen. Gorgeous. Best menus on Farscape history. *****.
DVD Menu Disc 2: Another fully animated menu! It's not QUITE as great as Disc 1 but that's to be expected since there are no language or scene selections on the bonus disc. ****1/2.
Inside Farscape:
Save Farscape: I REALLY wish they had updated this special to let everyone know that the Save Farscape campaign WAS successful and resulted in a miniseries. This contained interviews with Claudia Black, Gigi Edgely, Wayne Pygram, Anthony Simcoe, Lani Tupu, Rebecca Riggs and Jonathan Hardy (who posseses the world's most awesome eyebrows.) ***1/2.
Villains: A look at the subjective nature of the Farscape baddies. Profiles of Crais, Scorpius and Grayza. I kind of wish they had delved into some of Farscape's scarier bad guys like Durka, Natira, Maldis or the Scarrens. ***1/2.
Season 4 Visual Effects: With blocking shots and final footage and commentary by the visual effects designers. ****.
DVD Menus: The first menu to have scenes featuring every single one of the major players of the season. Nice. ****1/2.
Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal
You have to give Jim Henson points for trying. Easily, the most ambituous project the Jim Henson Company ever attempted until Farscape, this fantasy movie, the first film to be made entirely using puppets and no live actors is a decidedly mixed bag. It hasn't aged as well as Labyrinth has and it's slow-moving nature is a real contrast to modern productions designed for kids. The Puppetry was impressive for it's time but after Dinosaurs and Farscape you realize how far the technology had to go. If this had been made a few years later it's possible the puppetry would have been convincingly realistic but as it stands, it's kind of awkward looking.
The story is all right but I have to admit it uses every fantasy cliche in the book. I hate to compare this to Farscape again, but Farscape subverted the sci-fi genre time and again while The Dark Crystal plays it completely safe. I can cut it some slack, since it's the first Henson project of this kind but Labyrinth did a better job of turning expectations on their head only a couple of years later.
The musical score was very cool and the non-puppet special effects were pretty good too.
I can't help wonder that if that long rumored sequel gets off the ground if it will be as slow and ponderous as this. Kids could barely keep from fidgiting during this in the eighties (it was a box office disappointment) and I'd hate to think what today's MTV generation would think of a movie with this tone. All that said, I hope there IS a sequel because the world the movie created was interesting enough, (not to mention the ending abrupt enough) that I'd like an update. ****.
Isolated Music Score: An audio track of Trevor Jones' music score during the movie. Cool. ****.
The World Of "The Dark Crystal": This is a vintage, made-for-TV, hour-long, documentary on the making of the film that includes interviews with Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Brian Froud and others. This is quite an in-depth look at the picture that gave me a new appreciation for it. The featurette is a bit dry but it's interesting none-the-less. Excellent. ****1/2.
Deleted Funeral Scenes:
Deleted Scenes: Wow! Some great stuff was left out of the movie including the Skeksis funeral pyre for the dead Emperor and one of the Mystics telling Jen about Aughra. It's kind of sad these were left out of the movie because the Jen scene was, I think, important information for the audience to know. I LOVE the Skeksis funeral. However I think the movie works better without it. I love how in the movie the Chamberlain and the General immediately going to war about who will rule seconds after the old Emperor bites it. *****.
Work Print Scenes / Original Language Work Print Scenes:
The original work print scenes where the Skeksis spoke in grunts with subtitles and Aughra was voiced by Frank Oz. I noticed quite a bit of Aughra's dialogue was changed when she got a different voice. Overall: ****.
Emperor's Deathbed: The Skeksis were originally supposed to speak in a different language with subtitles. I think they're creepier sounding in English with broken accents. ****.
The New Emperor: The Trial By Stone in original Skeksis. ****.
Aughra & Jen: Frank Oz performing Aughra. ****.
Podling Village: Cute. ***1/2.
Aughra & The Skeksis: Like the previous Aughra scene much of the dialogue was different when Frank Oz originally voiced her. ****.
Fountain Of Youth: This was the most traumatic scene for me as a kid. I had nightmares for weeks. ****.
Presenting Kira: Interesting that the Skeksis partly use their own language and partly speak English when in front of a Gelfling. ****.
Character Drawings & Profiles:
Still galleries detailing backstories for the Mystics and Skeksis not seen in the film. Informative. Overall: ****1/2.
The Ur-ru: Profiles of the Mystics. ****.
The Skeksis: The Skeksis character profiles were fascinating. Cool! *****.
Trailers:
"The Dark Crystal" American Trailer: A bit long but covers all the bases. ****1/2.
"The Dark Crystal" Teaser Trailer: Okay, this was neat. *****.
"The Dark Crystal" European Trailer: No spoken dialogue, presumably to let different countries dub the trailer in their own language. ****.
"The Storyteller": I wish the DVDs of this weren't out of print. If they weren't I'd be all over them. *****.
"Labyrinth": The theatrical trailer. ****1/2.
Talent Files: Still biographies and selected filmographies of Jim Henson, Frank Oz and Brian Froud. ****.
DVD Menu: Still and mute. **.
A Muppets Christmas: Letter To Santa Extended Edition
This was all right, but I can't help but feeling they phoned this in. The Muppets went all out a few years ago in It's A Very, Mery Muppet Christmas movie and I think this is far inferior to that and of course the wonderful The Muppet Christmas Carol. Granted, it's a special, and not a movie but the songs are all pretty forgettable. And considering that they're all written by Muppet legend Paul Williams that's almost shocking.
The special also lacked the edge that Very Merry had and it was a bit sad to see them play it so safe. The guest stars with the exception of Nathan Lane and to a lesser extent Jane Krakowski and Uma Thurman all phoned in their performances. The little girl who played Claire was sweet but kids have always worked well with the Muppets.
We finally got a speaking (or rather singing) role for Rowlf the Dog (the first since Jim Henson was alive) as well as Dr. Teeth. Considering how off a lot of the Muppets voice sound nowadays Rowlf and Dr. Teeth sound shockingly like Henson.
There were some nice bits. I loved the homoerotic comedy duo of Nathan Lane and Bobo the Bear. And Beaker's scene with the hot lady was made of all kinds of win. And the bloopers over the end credits were truly funny.
This special had some nice things going for it but overall it was merely passable. Kids today deserve better Muppet stuff. **1/2.
The Muppets Stocking Stuffer Smorgasbord: This special feature Easter Egg hunt however is fabulous. It contains deleted scenes from the special, interviews with Jane Krakowski and the girl who played Claire, interviews with Kermit The Frog, Miss Piggy and Gonzo and Fozzie Bear as well as a musical photo montage. VERY cool. *****.
DVD Menu: Pretty. ****.
Star Trek: First Contact: Special Collector's Edition
Wrath of Khan may be higher regarded among Star Trek geeks and The Voyage Home preferred by general audiences but in my mind the best Star Trek movie ever is First Contact. HUGELY satisfying smack-down between Picard and the Borg with awesome cameos (Barclay! The EMH!) and great character moments (Troi getting drunk, Data's disturbing romance with the Borg Queen). It also has a HUGE number of great lines. My absolute favorite is "Resistance is futile!" said mockingly by Data after he betrays the Borg Queen.
I also loved the scene at the end of Cochrane meeting a familiar alien race for the first time.
Patrick Stewart delivers one of his best performances ever as Picard who becomes increasingly unhinged throughout the movie and Brent Spiner as always steals the show as Data.
The best Star Trek movie EVER and one of the best Star Trek stories of all time. *****.
Production:
Featurettes about the production of the movie. Overall: ***1/2.
The Making Of First Contact: A documentary about the making of the movie. The two things I found most interesting were the profile of Jonathan Frakes as a director and how surprisingly beautiful Alice Krige is out of Borg Queen make-up. ****.
The Art Of First Contact: This explores the designs of the Enterprise-E, the Phoenix, and the Vulcan Ship. ***.
The Story: Ironically, the story I wanted to hear more about was the epic failure of the Mad Magazine parody which foolishly based itself upon the script's first draft and therefore was nothing like the actual movie. ****.
The Missile Silo: Best part was hearing about Brent Spiner's stunt which he did VERY reluctantly because of his fear of heights. ***.
The Deflector Dish: A look at the cool spacewalk scene. ***1/2.
From "A" To "E": Detailing the construction of the new Enterprise. Spiffy. ****.
Scene Deconstruction:
Closer looks at specific special effects shots in the movie. Overall: ****1/2.
Borg Queen Assembly: I liked all of the early designs of the Borg Queen especially the spider version. ****1/2.
Escape Pod Launch: Those animatics look pretty nifty. ****1/2.
Borg Queen's Demise: This was nasty. And I mean that in the best possible way. ****.
The Star Trek Universe:
Various documentaries about Star Trek, the people behind it, and even real life inspirations. Overall: ***1/2.
Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute: A look back at the late composer who was Star Trek's best and most famous musician, specifically looking at all of the various great themes he wrote for the franchise. ****.
The Legacy Of Zefram Cochrane: An interview with James Cromwell (and some of the writers/producers) about Cromwell and his impact on the Star Trek franchise. ***1/2.
First Contact: The Possibilities: This explores the real-life search for extra-terrestrials from the organization SITA. ***1/2.
The Borg Collective:
Featurettes looking at the Borg in it's various forms. Overall: ****.
Unimatrix One: This examines the story history of the Borg in The Next Generation, First Contact, and Voyager. Also includes the extended trailer of the Borg Invasion Experience in Las Vegas. ****1/2.
The Queen: Interview with Alice Krige about her role on Star Trek. ***1/2.
The Design Matrix: Looking at the redesign for the characters when they made the transition to the big screen. ****.
Archives: Still Galleries. Overall: ****.
Storyboards: Storyboard of some of the movie's action set pieces. Overall: ****.
1930's Nightclub: The Holodeck scene with Picard as Dixon Hill. ****.
Hull Battle: The Deflector Dish space-walk scene. ****.
Hull Battle Alternate Shots: More of the Deflector Dish scene. ****.
Worf Vs. The Borg Alternate Shots: Extra scenes of Worf's confrontation with the Borg on the Deflector Dish. ****.
Photo Gallery: Still photos of pictures from the production including stuff on the set and designs, as well as some nice stills from the movie itself. ****.
Trailers:
Teaser Trailer: Awesome. *****.
Theatrical Trailer: Pretty much shows the best scenes, somehow without completely spoiling them. Unlike the teaser trailer, this one was obviously designed for Trekkies. *****.
Borg Invasion Trailer: Not without it's charms. ***1/2.
Disc 1 DVD Menu: With the Enterprise and the Defiant attacking the Borg Cube. *****.
Disc 2 DVD Menu: The Borg Cube launching the Borg Sphere above Earth. *****.