Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars

Farscape was one of the most creative, imaginative and enjoyable SF series ever to air on the Sci-Fi Channel. Detailing the adventures of astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder), who is testing a new spaceship prototype in the orbit of Earth when he gets sucked into a wormhole and winds up isolated on the far edge of the galaxy. Running for four seasons, Farscape was produced by the late Jim Henson’s company--a.k.a. the Muppet guys--under the guiding hand of his son Brian. It was a unique blend of science fiction, drama and comedy, with Crichton making often hysterically funny comments on the wild, outer-worldly goings-on through his late twentieth/early twenty-first century pop-culture prism. And the Jim Henson Company produced some truly magnificent aliens for the series that were really out of this world.

Yet despite the popularity of the series, as well as the fact that it had been renewed by the Sci-Fi channel for both the fourth and fifth seasons in advance, Farscape was cancelled shortly after its fourth season in a stunning, unexpected move by the network. The final episode ended with a major cliffhanger, with the gang aboard the living ship Moya landing on a water world, where Crichton and Aeryn (Claudia Black) were unexpectedly shot by the natives and both reduced to thousands of tiny crystals. To make matters worse, Chiana (Gigi Edgley) had been struck blind, and a growing galaxy-wide war was brewing. Yet despite the news that it had been unceremoniously dumped by the Sci-Fi Channel, Farscape’s producers had added a defiant "To Be Continued" logo at the very end of this episode.

And they lived up to their word. In fall of 2004, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars ironically premiered on the very same channel that dumped the original series. It was a three hour (with commercials, it was four hours long) mini-series that not only wrapped up the cliff-hanger, but wrapped up the entire series storyline as well. The war that had been threatened for so long between the fascist Peacekeepers and the brutal Scarran regime has finally erupted when a fleet of Peacekeeper ships under the command of Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) ambushes a Scarran convoy in the rings of a Saturn-like planet. Scorpius, one of the series’ more malevolent villains, is resigned to fighting a war that the Peacekeepers will most likely lose. Yet once Crichton and Aryen are regenerated, Scorpius--who mentally senses that Crichton lives once more--abandons his post to go back on the hunt for him. Crichton still holds the key to a super-powerful wormhole weapon in his mind--one that may tip the balance of the war in the favor of whoever has it.

The Peacekeeper Wars is a spectacular, enjoyable adventure on an epic scale. The entire original cast is back--both human and non-human. And while it would have been better to see some of the miniseries’ story revelations played out more broadly over the course of a final season, the plot twists in the miniseries are no less appreciated, and are just as shocking. Even if you’ve never seen an episode of Farscape, The Peacekeeper Wars still stands by itself as solid SF entertainment. While it may really be a love letter to the die-hard Farscape fans who demanded an ending to their beloved series, the miniseries still fills in the background information that's needed for a person who has never seen the show. The Peacekeeper Wars--with its second disc filled with extras--is very exciting, operatic and just plain fun. --SF