Blu-ray Review: Farscape: The Complete Series

STUDIO: Cinedigm | CREATOR: Rockne S. O’Bannon | CAST: Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simcoe, Lani John Tupu, Jonathan Hardy, Gigi Edgley
BLU-RAY DATE: 11/5/2013 | PRICE: Blu-ray $149.95, DVD $129.95
BONUSES: 16-page mini comic book, documentary, commentaries, featurettes, more
SPECS: NR | 68 hrs. + | Science fiction adventure | widescreen | DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 | English subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Program | Audio | Video | Overall

Only two years after the Blu-ray and DVD release of Farscape: The Complete Series by New Video and A&E comes Farscape: The Complete Series – 15th Anniversary Edition from Cinedigm, the distributor that now handles the New Video library.

Like the former release, the Blu-ray of the 15th Anniversary Blu-ray Edition includes 20 discs featuring all 88 episodes from the Jim Henson Company-produced show’s four-season run, along with a galaxy of bonus features. Featurettes, documentaries, deleted and alternate scenes, video profiles, galleries, some 30 audio commentaries—there’re a lot of extras here. But, again, it was all on the earlier edition that can still be found online though it appears to be officially out of print.

So, what’s new in the new Farscape collection? The cover, for starters. Gone is the former cover featuring shots of dramatically-posed stars Ben Crowder and Claudia Black, replaced with a far more “cosmic-looking” rendering of the sentient, organic spacecraft “Moya” emerging from the glowing corona of a wormhole. It’s definitely a cooler image than the one on the A&E cover.

Also new is the 16-page mini comic book “Backyard Barbecue,” written and illustrated by Ramon Perez. A prequel to the series wrap-up “The Peacekeeper Wars” (which has never been included on any of the complete Farscape collections as it is owned by another company), it’s a fun and colorful albeit brief comic that will definitely appeal to Farscape completists who need to justify picking up the new edition to their loved ones and/or accountants. The comic also includes images from producer The Jim Henson Company’s archive and an exclusive interview with executive producer Brian Henson who reflects on the show and its legacy.

Buy or Rent Farscape: Complete Series – 15th Anniversary Edition
DVD | Blu-ray