Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars

Outraged sci-fi geeks everywhere let out a frelling "Nooo!" when news that Farscape was prematurely cancelled on the eve of filming for its fifth and final season surfaced. Having the coveted "strong cult following" yet attracting little mainstream attention doomed the brilliant Australian show, just like so many great series before it, but it didn't make it any less awesome, quirky or intelligent. However, if you bitch loud and long enough someone eventually will listen, and Farscape fans raged, and while they weren't rewarded with the aborted fifth season, they were granted The Peacekeeper Wars to at least conclude the series correctly. Neatly and quickly sidestepping Crichton (Ben Bowder) and Aeryn's (Claudia Black) deaths at the end of season four, The Peacekeeper Wars places the series' focal point, Crichton (a human astronaut stranded far from home in a galaxy full of aliens, possessing coveted wormhole knowledge), in the long teased but finally on war between the Scarran Empire (unstoppable evil aliens) and the Peacekeepers (human-looking military fascists). All of the core ensemble characters from the last few seasons return (D'Argo, Chiana, Scorpius and the muppets too, fucking muppets!!!), and many peripheral characters also pop up, and no one is safe from being killed off. Granted, it definitely feels like they tried to squeeze half a season into the 182-minute finale (and considering how densely packed Farscape's plots are, that's saying something), but the intelligence, wittiness and pop culture referencing (witness the 2001 homage) remain as tight as ever. Fans can only hope, as hinted at in the extras, that more Farscape projects like The Peacekeeper Wars are forthcoming. Despite some art galleries and storyboards, the meatiest and only real extra comes in the form of a 30-minute-long documentary that briefly shows some behind the scenes footage of the show getting cancelled and recounts the fans' efforts to save it. But it then turns into a not too in-depth but not too shallow "making of," chronicling the trials and tribulations of creating the mini-series, the various set locations, CGI, cast interviews, etc. And while acceptable, there should have been more on the unjust cancellation and a commentary track or two. (Lions Gate)