Farscape - Season 3, Collection 1 (Starburst Edition)

Product Description

You will never know the wonders I've seen. The journey has never been easy for lost American astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder), the escaped alien prisoners who are his friends, or their living ship, Moya, but the ride is wilder than ever this time around. Loves become deeper. Losses more tragic. With a mental clone of his nemesis, the sadistic Scorpius, tormenting his vulnerable human mind, John Crichton has everything at risk his beloved Aeryn, his own life, and his distant home planet Earth.

Praised by TV Guide as one of the 25 Top Cult Shows Ever,' Farscape is an adventure as broad and weird as the universe full of strange creatures, bizarre twists, irreverent humor, raucous action, passion, and romance! Produced in Australia with the incredible talents of Jim Henson s Creature Shop, Farscape is the fantasy-scifi-drama-romance-comedy-adventure you will always remember!

A DVD-only release including the first seven episodes of the third season and extensive special features on four DVDs, with audio presented in English 5.1 and stereo. Episodes in this collection: Season of Death, Suns and Lovers, Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I: Could a, Would a, Should a, Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part II: Wait For the Wheel, Different Destinations, Eat Me, and Thanks For Sharing. Each episode is subtitled for the hearing impaired.

System Requirements:

Running Time 350 Mins.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

love it.......2007-05-07

Farscape is tied with Red Dwarf and the Stargates as one of my favorite shows of all time. I love the starburst editions for their price and the considerably smaller shelf space compared to the previous release of Farscape on DVD. My one complaint is the cases are [...]. Most of the cases for the starburst collection have 1-3 disc hubs broken. I forget where but I eventually found the case manufacturer and was able to order repacements. The replacements were the exact size but the disc hubs had been greatly improved.

Farscape is great!.......2007-04-02

I started watching Farscape in Season 3. I watched all episodes and reruns I could get my hands on. I think they were INSANE to drop it from television.

I eventually bought the entire collection at once.

The only reason I gave this a 4 out of 5 stars, is because of the quality of the DVD. The inner clips of the box break very easily. The DVD always defaults back to subtitles between episodes, which is really annoying.

Even with the problems of the DVD, I love this set.

Farscape is excellent, Case still problematic.......2006-04-21

The Farscape episodes are excellent and deserve 5 stars.
The case however is still problematic. The Single sided disks are an improvement, but the little pieces of plastic that holds the DVDs break in transit and 2 DVDs ended rattling around in the case. Same problem with other Season 3 cases. Which is why in summary the collection only gets 4 stars.

Are Starburst Editions going to be ina BOX SET??????????????.......2006-01-16

hi
I was just wondering if the Starburst Editions of Farscape are going to be released in a mega set like the avengers or monty python DVDs
it would be great to have the greatest sci fi show in one box set with the dren load of extras that the starburst editions have

They changed the DVD format!!.......2006-01-11

I was horrified when Amazon sent me Farscape Starburst Season 3, Collection 1 in the 1 sided 4 disk DVD format. The only reason that I decided to collect Farscape is that the double sided was so cool and compact allowing it to fit into my DVD library. Now there will be a transition in the middle of the collection. I will not buy anymore Farscape collections unless they go back and redo them to the original 2 sided disk format. Very very sad.

Farscape - Season 1, Collection 3 (Starburst Edition)

Average customer rating:

Farscape is great!
And still the best science fiction show ever created!
Now on Single Sided disks
DVD Quality VERY LOW - Series and Extras Excellent!
A great set with the best episodes of Season One

Farscape - Season 1, Collection 3 (Starburst Edition)
Director: Tony Tilse , Geoff Bennett (II) , and Ian Watson (II)
Manufacturer: Adv Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007D4MDG
Release Date: 2005-03-15

Description

This must-have collection includes 8 episodes of the first season of the Jim Henson Television, Hallmark Entertainment, and Nine Networks award-winning series on 2 discs. This award-winning series, which airs on SCI FI, has been called "The Best Sci-Fi on TV," by TV Guide, and hailed as "TV's Best Space Series" by USA Today.

Customer Reviews:

Farscape is great!.......2007-04-02

And still the best science fiction show ever created!.......2006-10-31

The stories just keep getting better and better. Very original, very intelligent and very sexy!
And Ben Browder makes for good eye candy.
If only there were more shows like this one.

Now on Single Sided disks.......2006-07-22

After many complaints, ADV has chosen to re-release all of Starburst Seasons 1 and 2 on SINGLE SIDED disks. The positive effects that come from this change are many:

1. DVD quality is No Longer low. Disks play well, no glitches, no freezes, etc.

2. The titles of the episodes are marked clearly on each disk. No need to squint and rotate the DVD as you try to read some tiny font.

3. No need to flip the disk over when you want to watch other episodes. This is mostly beneficial to the people who own DVD players that can hold multiple disks at once.

4. Disk artwork :-D

There are then, certain faults that result from the change as well, all dealing with packaging quality:

--> Disks are stored in such a way that 2 are attached to each side of the DVD case. This means that in order to get to the disk at the bottom, you first have to remove the one at the top. If this isn't annoying enough, it turns out that all of the DVD buttons that hold the top disks don't work very well. Pushing the button doesn't pop the disks out as there are other plastic pieces that hold it in place. You have to push those with your fingers in order to get a disk out, and that can get really painful. If you're not careful, you might very well break a DVD in half.

My personal solution was to go and get my own DVD cases that worked properly. Having to find multi-disk cases with identical dimensions as that of the ADV ones shouldn't be that difficult. Also try to find ones that have clippings for literature, if you want to keep one in your DVD case. This Starburst release comes with a separate page listing disk content/episode synopsis, but there's no where to adequately store it.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Having that said, the content of the Starburst itself is excellent. As you know, all of the extra features from the original releases, plus many new ones (mainly the commentaries) are included. Subtitles have finally become available, and some disks don't have those annoying ADV commercials that blighted each of the original Farscape releases.

As for the quality of the show itself, that's something I won't discuss. If you haven't made up your mind about whether you like/dislike the series, then you've probably read enough reviews to get an idea of what most audience think about Farscape. I personally feel that Starburst Collection 1.3 contains the best lot of the episodes in the first Season.

DVD Quality VERY LOW - Series and Extras Excellent!.......2005-11-09

This reveiw is more about the quality issues with the disc more so than the content of the disc. For the record ADV has added a lot of extras that is not anywhere else. Albeit many are repeated multible times on different disc of this STARBURST series release that could have been better used reducing the compression ratio. As for the quality issues, these are recorded on dual layer double sided disc and as of this writing I have had to send 3 of the 6 currently released back to be exchanged due to skipping, frame freeze, audio cracking etc. The disc were checked on 3 players and a computer and did the same on all of them. So the issue is with the quality or the lack thereof. I have contacted ADV about the quality issues and they have more the most part said ... 'Oh well.' The more pricey collection did not have these issues, but lacked many of the extras and you get what you pay for. Granted to be fair when the disc work, the video and audio quality is fine, but it is annoying to get to the middle of a show and the disc freezes up and up have to skip over 10 or more minutes to get it to play. ADV simply tried to squeeze to much into to small of a space. This collection really should have been put on 4 disc instead of 2. They did not include scene selection either, you can only choose which episode you want to see then fast forward through the tracks after that. As I said I love the show and it is a healthy 5 but this release's quality is a sickly zero.

A great set with the best episodes of Season One.......2005-10-17

Like many fans of FARSCAPE, I've only now started turning in my old recordings of the show for DVDs now that we are finally getting acceptably priced copies of the show. Although there have been other TV series that have appeared in overpriced editions-THE X-FILES springs to mind-FARSCAPE was the only one in its original edition that could be said to be prohibitively so. I'm not sure about other fans, but there was simply no way that I was able or willing to pay for a set that listed for well over a hundred dollars. One could make some complaints about the new Starburst edition-for instance, I'm still not clear on why they have to dribble these out two discs at a time, instead of releasing an entire season at once-but two things one cannot carp about: the cost and the number of extras. As to the former, I've been about to find each disc in the Starburst so far from various resellers listed on Amazon for no more than $16 apiece. As to the latter, each of the three sets making up each season is stuffed with a variety of special features. Some of the special features feel a bit like filler, but a number are substantive. In this set we get video profiles of Crais (Lani John Tupu, who also provides the voice for Pilot and therefore the only dual role performer in the series) and the two end-of-the-season newcomers, Chiana and Scorpius. The importance of the arrival of the last two can't be overemphasized, since after their debuts the show takes on the shape it holds pretty much until the end.

Although I love every season of FARSCAPE, the series completely matured, I believe, in this final third of the first season, with the addition of Chiana and Scorpius to the cast. Both of those characters changed the chemistry of the show dramatically and took it in entirely new directions. Chiana's arrival is somewhat disguised in "Durka Returns," as the prisoner of Nebaris and one of their most successful reclamation projects, Durka, whom they have reprogrammed to be nonviolent. Durka, we learned in a previous episode, was a torturer and notorious Sebacean who took especial delight in questioning Rygel. But it was not Durka but the feline, ultra sensual free spirit Chiana who would become a permanent member of the cast. Although the cast was superb from the beginning, Chiana brought a new dimension to the crew as the resident bad girl. It would be a long time in the series before Chiana would come to cease being primarily more concerned with herself than with the others, but she would end by becoming attached to the welfare of the whole more than to herself. No character on the series, not even former space Nazi Aeryn, would grow as much as Chiana. I'm sure the series would have been marvelously successful without the addition of Chiana, but it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun. Besides, while Virginia Hey's Zhaan was undoubtedly beautiful and sensual and Claudia Black's Aeryn was beautiful and sexy despite herself, Gigi Edgley's Chiana was always a pure, unadulterated sexpot. She always seemed to be on the verge of jumping the bones of anyone within jumping distance. She also brought a playful physicality that marked her off from the other characters.

Likewise, Scorpius brought a degree of genuine menace and creepiness that Crais never quite managed. In my opinion, Scorpius was the finest villain in the history of TV. Even the first time we see him, before he developed in a host of wonderful ways in the final three seasons, Scorpius was unforgettable. He simultaneously was part Frankenstein, part reptile, and part elegant gentleman. His costume looked both like a snakeskin and a tuxedo with tails. And while his face was haunting, he spoke with a soft, sophisticated voice that completely belied his appearance. The first time we see the cooling rods rotating into his skull we know for certain that this man is a monstrosity, yet charismatic and compelling despite that. Even had he not developed he would have been one of the medium's great villains, but what makes him so extraordinary is the way that the show's creators gave him so many new dimensions in the seasons to come, not least as they develop John's "Harvey" late in Season Two.

This set is graced with several superb episodes, including "A Human Reaction," in which John thinks he has returned to earth with his shipmates. It is an extremely important episode on several levels, not merely because it is compelling on its own, but because it represents the spot at which John is implanted with hidden knowledge about wormhole technology (which essentially provides the drive for the main structuring story arc from his appearance in Scorpius's Aurora Chair until the end of the miniseries following Season Four). We also receive further confirmation of John's feelings for Aeryn. The final two episodes are the first in what would prove to be a series of extraordinary season-ending finales that helped define FARSCAPE during its run. Three of the final four episodes have John going down to a Peacekeeper base to attempt to find a medical treatment for an injury that Aeryn has suffered and that will prove fatal if not dealt with. It is there that we find Scorpius for the first time, a restored Aeryn leading the others down to the base to rescue John, and finally the crew being dispersed as Scorpius attempts to recapture John. The final episode is one of the great images in all of FARSCAPE with John in his space suit and D'Argo holding hands against a brilliant orange planet as the season ends.

Oh, and in the other episode of the final four, we learn that Zhaan is a plant! Actually, the first alien in the history of Sci-fi was what was described as a giant carrot in THE THING FROM OUTER SPACE, which was ghost-directed by the great Howard Hawks.

FARSCAPE in its first season established that it was willing to take chances to a degree never before seen in television. Not every gamble paid off and not every episode was perfect. But when FARSCAPE succeeded, it succeeded spectacularly. By the end of the first season, it could lay claim to being one of the finest Sci-fi series in the history of television. By the end of its third season, it could with considerable justification lay claim to being the finest ever. As good as Season One was, Season Two would be much better, and then Season Three, one of the great seasons of any show in the history of the medium, would be even better than that.

Average customer rating:

The smart side of Sci-fi
The dead and the living trade places as Season 3 starts
What can you say. It's Farscape
Sheer genius
Farscape hits its stride

Farscape Season 3, Collection 1
Director: Tony Tilse , Ian Watson (II) , and Geoff Bennett (II)
Manufacturer: Adv Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008DDSK
Release Date: 2003-04-08

Amazon.com

It's clear from the opening episodes of its third season that Farscape has developed into a grown-up show. There's a new self-confidence and maturity here that's entirely welcome after the often wildly erratic tone of the second season. The production design and high-quality effects remain true to the show's original quirky style, although both the look and the more adult-themed scripts have become progressively darker. It's also clear that anyone who has not followed Farscape extremely closely from the very first episode of Season One will be utterly baffled by the convoluted plotting and complex character interactions. This is not the best place to begin your interstellar journey.

All the principal actors know their characters inside and out by now, and delight in showing off their many weaknesses and flaws. Refreshingly, the crew of Moya are a squabbling, bickering, selfish bunch most of the time, who somehow and against expectations manage to pull together (just) at the crucial moment. The writing has matured, too, remaining as witty as ever but equally unafraid to push both genre and censorship boundaries as villains bloodily torture their victims (usually Crichton) and the main characters become more and more obsessed with their sex lives (or lack thereof). Farscape is a whole galaxy away from the clean, cozy world of Star Trek. With a number of key personnel changes on the horizon, these first four episodes are evidence that Farscape knows where it's going even as it delights in keeping the audience guessing. Will Aeryn survive? If so, at what cost to her crewmates? What will D'Argo do when he discovers that Chiana and his son are having an affair? Can Zhaan really be dying? Just who is Neeyala? And can Crichton keep one step ahead of S&M fetishist Scorpius, various Skarrans and sundry other bloodthirsty aliens all intent upon getting into his mind, sometimes literally? Episodes include, "Season of Death," "Suns and Lovers," and the two-part "Self Inflicted Wounds." --Mark Walker

Description

"Self Inflicted Wounds, Part 1: Could'a, Would'a, Should'a" (Episode 303) While searching for a planet to heal the dying Zhaan, Moya collides and fuses with a small spacecraft, seriously injuring Moya and trapping both ships in a series of looping wormholes. Crichton and the captain of the other ship, Neeyala, soon realize that one of the ships must be sacrificed if any of them are to survive.

"Self Inflicted Wounds, Part 2: Wait for the Wheel" (Episode 304) Hoping to preserve their own ship at Moya's expense, Neeyala's crew sabotage Moya, hastening her disintegration. As the situation worsens, the only possibility of saving Moya requires that one of her crew make the ultimate sacrifice.

Customer Reviews:

The smart side of Sci-fi.......2007-01-26

The Farscape series follows in the path of the best (and most innovative) science fiction series and easily stands on its own against the giants. A great story, a great script, and very funny! Truly a winner.

The dead and the living trade places as Season 3 starts.......2003-10-30

At the end of the second season of "Farscape" John Crichton (Ben Browder) was on an operating table with the top of his skull off as Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) has interrupted the surgery to remove the neural chip from his brain and Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) was killed when she was trapped in her ejector chair that crashed into the freezing water on the planet below. Little did we know that the themes of death and seaparation were going to be so powerfully strong during the third season, the first four episodes of which are to be found on these two DVDs:

Episode 301, "Season of Death" (Written by Richard Manning, Aired March 16, 2001) has the good news that Scorpius' neural chip has finally been removed from Chrichton outweighed by the fact he can not speak, a "clone" of the personality of Scorpius remains in his mind, and Aeryn is dead awaiting a Peacekeeper's funeral. Although Moya's crew makes a series of touching farewells to Officer Sun, Zhaan (Virginia Hey) has an idea. On the one hand bringing back the leading lady of the series from the dead was a bit too easy, but on the other it is clear in retrospect that we are being set up for a series of much more permanent demises by the end of the season (Four Wormholes).

Episode 302, "Suns and Lovers" (Written by Justin Monjo, Aired March 23, 2001), as the title indicates, is a pun on the infamous D.H. Lawrence novel and on target because the lovers end up being Chiana (Gigi Edgley) and Jothee, son of D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe). The main plot has to do with Moya's crew heading to a Commerce Station to spend their spoils, but a violent storm of unnatural origin hits the station. This episode strikes me as more clearing of the decks in terms of stamping out D'Argo's brief period of happiness, which does not strike me as being particularly necessary, although Chiana's motivations for the betrayal are a nice character touch (3 Wormholes).

Episode 303, "Self Inflicted Wounds, Part 1: Could'a, Would'a, Should'a" (Written by David Kemper, Aired March 30, 2001) sets up a new problem for the crew when an alien vessel collides with Moya and the two ships sort of merge with each other. However, the more important concern is for Zhaan: it seems that bringing back Aeryn from the dead by performing Unity is costing the priestess her own life. Her only hope is to buried in special soil, which means finding the right sort of planet. Meanwhile, Crichton's hopes are raised by the "appearance" of the Three Stooges (4 Wormholes).

Episode 304, "Self Inflicted Wounds, Part 2: Wait for the Wheel" (Written by David Kemper, Aired April 6, 2001), picks up with Zhaan dying, Moya dying, and Pilot in a coma. Breaking away from the wormhole has not solved all of their problems. This becomes a pivotal episode in the "Farscape" series, which no doubt caught many viewers by surprise since it was only the fourth episode of the season and we have a major shake up in the cast of the series. I have to admit, I did not think this was a permanent event until I was about halfway through the third season. A memorable episode in a season that will be providing even bigger changes (5 wormholes).

These early episodes from Season 3 are transitional stories that resolve or reset many of the elements from the previous season. But they also set the stage for the two dominant themes of this third season, both of which will be brought home with some of the show's most powerful episodes.

What can you say. It's Farscape.......2003-05-10

The beginning of the third season of Farscape produced some of the best episodes of the series. To me, this is one of the most entertaining and well made science fiction series ever produced. It was extremely disappointing to find that it was cancelled. However, the DVD collections of all the seasons is something that every fan will want. Admittedly, some episodes are more interesting than others, but each tells a small part of the Farscape saga and is well worth watching. The interpersonal relationships continue to develop and we see some of the strangest aliens ever seen on a tv screen. Let's hope that someone decides to bring this series back with all the characters and story lines intact.

Sheer genius.......2003-04-30

this whole series makes me proud of the the hensons and their amazing creations.

Farscape hits its stride.......2003-03-10

With season 3 we witness the collison of the bulk of the conflicts at the end of two: Crichton fights and wins a Pyretic victory over "Harvey" the neural clone of Scorpi flitting about in his head; Someone close to the crew dies and there are some unexpected departures.

I'd have to agree that Season of Death is one of the show's strongest opening episodes. It manages to build on the established story arcs of both seasons 1 and 2. The writing became more consistent as the character's backstories finally stablized. That also gave the actor's considerably more confidence in their roles as well. The visuals are, as always stunning.

The arrival on the production staff of a number of Next Generation and DS9 vets (including Richard Manning and Naren Shanker) also brought considerable depth and experience to the production side. While staff writers like Andrew Prowse have done a terrific job with the series, the Next Gen folks provided a different perspective that allowed the conflicts and emotional attachments of the characters additional depth.

The DVD's have been improving since the season one batch. Season two still had a number of great extras and the main issue--the DVD menu--has been improved somewhat as well. My only complaint is the focus on a bit too many bottle shows during season three. I realize it's a way to save money and budget out for the bigger episodes but, well, Moya's confined space makes it a bit difficult to continue to come up with strong story ideas. Still, to their credit, the Farscape production crew, staff and actors manage to pull it off.

If you're checking out the series for the first time, I'd suggest going back to the highlight set for season one (or better yet pick up the entire boxed set) and then move forward. There's a number of loose plot ends that are tied up in both seasons 2 & 3.

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