"Director: Tony Tilse"

• Wolf Creek (The Complete First Series) (DVD) | DVD | (10/10/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Eureka Entertainment to release WOLF CREEK, the complete first series of the slick and tense psychological drama as seen on Fox UK, on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time in the UK on 6 October 2016. Murderous psychopath Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) returns in Wolf Creek, an epic 6-part continuation of the international horror film sensation of the same name. Mick still prowls the Australian Outback, brutally murdering any tourists unfortunate enough to cross his path, and having a ripper of a time doing it. It's business as usual for Mick when he comes across the Thorogood family, on holiday to experience the outdoors, enjoy the open road, and help their 19-year-old daughter Eve (Lucy Fry) overcome her addiction to painkillers. Mick targets the family and a bloody massacre ensues, but this time, things are different. Eve survives (barely) and manages to escape. After recovering from her injuries, Eve sets out on a cross country mission of vengeance, determined to hunt down Mick Taylor and end his killing spree once and for all. The hunter has become the hunted. Highly cinematic in style and filled with all the bloody violence and dark humour that made the original film a sensation, Wolf Creek is a horror series like no other, and is not to be missed. First shown on Fox UK in August / September 2016, the 6-part mini-series will be available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD as a 2-disc Blu-ray set and a 2-disc DVD set, two days after the series finale has aired on Fox UK.

• Farscape 3.1 | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  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, cosy world of Star Trek. On the DVD: with a number of key personnel changes on the horizon, these first five 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? Aware that no one is going to be able to start Season Three without knowing a lot of background, sensibly the main extra is a 45-minute "Farscape Undressed" documentary, hosted by Ben Browder and Claudia Black, which introduces all the key characters and themes of the show and sets up the backstory for the new season. There are "Info Pods" on Aeryn (with interview) and Zhaan, an interview with new series composer Guy Gross, some text trivia pieces, plus a gallery. There's also a bonus sampler disc of the pilot episode, though if you really want to keep up you'd better start but not stop there. --Mark Walker

• Wolf Creek (The Complete First Series) Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (10/10/2016) from £11.35   |  Saving you £13.64 (120.18%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Eureka Entertainment to release WOLF CREEK, the complete first series of the slick and tense psychological drama as seen on Fox UK, on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time in the UK on 6 October 2016. Murderous psychopath Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) returns in Wolf Creek, an epic 6-part continuation of the international horror film sensation of the same name. Mick still prowls the Australian Outback, brutally murdering any tourists unfortunate enough to cross his path, and having a ripper of a time doing it. It's business as usual for Mick when he comes across the Thorogood family, on holiday to experience the outdoors, enjoy the open road, and help their 19-year-old daughter Eve (Lucy Fry) overcome her addiction to painkillers. Mick targets the family and a bloody massacre ensues, but this time, things are different. Eve survives (barely) and manages to escape. After recovering from her injuries, Eve sets out on a cross country mission of vengeance, determined to hunt down Mick Taylor and end his killing spree once and for all. The hunter has become the hunted. Highly cinematic in style and filled with all the bloody violence and dark humour that made the original film a sensation, Wolf Creek is a horror series like no other, and is not to be missed. First shown on Fox UK in August / September 2016, the 6-part mini-series will be available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD as a 2-disc Blu-ray set and a 2-disc DVD set, two days after the series finale has aired on Fox UK.

• Farscape - The Complete Season 3 (Blu Ray) | Blu Ray | (08/10/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  It's clear right from the opening episodes of its third series that Farscape has finally developed into a grown-up show. There's a new self-confidence and a new maturity here that's entirely welcome after the often wildly erratic tone of the second series. The production design and high-quality effects work remain true to the show's original quirky style, although both the look and the more adult-themed scripts have become progressively darker. Season 3 is the year when the Wormhole story arc takes precedence, as the interactions between John Crichton and his nemesis Scorpius become ever more complicated (involving various different clones, real or "neural", of both antagonists). It's also the year that some major characters die, new ones are introduced and Crichton (well, one version of him anyway) and Aeryn finally consummate their relationship. Moya's crew endure a vertiginous emotional roller-coaster ride when powerful issues of love, loyalty and sacrifice loom large. They must also face their sternest challenge yet as the series' biggest story arc reaches an explosive climax aboard Scorpius' Command Carrier. Anyone who has not followed Farscape extremely closely from the very beginning of Series 1 will be utterly baffled by the convoluted plotting and complex character interactions. But for fans, this is the show's most rewarding year. --Mark Walker

• Farscape Season 2 | DVD | (11/04/2011) from £22.79   |  Saving you £2.20 (9.65%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The second series of Farscape expands upon and develops the characters introduced in the ambitious first series. John Crichton's new nemesis is the deadly Scorpius, replacing Crais, who has taken the living ship Moya's offspring on a voyage into the unknown. Moya's regular crew--Aeryn, Zhaan, Chiana, D'Argo and Rygel--remain as divided and suspicious of each other as ever, yet somehow manage to pull together at times of crisis. The writers continue to exploit the show's gift for surprising as well as emotionally convincing character development, while the CGI effects, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry--courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop--continue to make Farscape the most original-looking SF show on TV. The witty scripts, peppered with postmodern pop-culture references and movie in-jokes, are also a breath of fresh air. Despite some wildly erratic shifts in tone, this is exceptional TV science fiction that continually pushes the accepted boundaries of the genre. --Mark Walker

• Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Series 2 | DVD | (17/02/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher is back! The second series of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries continues to follow the independent glamorous and unflappable leading lady detective Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis) as she sashays among the fascinating and varied sub cultures of 1920s 'between-the-wars' Melbourne. From the shadowy lanes of the city to the halls of academia from high-class brothels to haute couture she defends the innocent and juggles admirers with her usual panache all the while keeping up her delicious dance around Detective Inspector Jack Robinson. Based on the novels by Kerry Greenwood this DVD set includes all 13 episodes from the second series and a host of extras filmed on location with cast and crew.

• Farscape - The Complete Collection (Series 1-4) | Blu Ray | (14/11/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £127.99

  The classic Sci-Fi series the way it was meant to be seen - in crystal clear HD.

• Farscape - The Definitive Collection | DVD | (15/11/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  This stunning box set contains 32 discs featuring all 88 episodes of the sci-fi show from Jim Henson Productions plus 15 hours of bonus features. John Crichton is an astronaut and test pilot who during a mission of his own design is flung through a wormhole and gets lost in a galaxy far from home. He finds himself in the middle of a battle surrounded by hostile aliens soaring through space inside a glorious living space ship called Moya. He soon discovers that Moya is populated by a band of escaping alien prisoners. Hunted by the relentless Peacekeepers he allies himself with his alien fellow refugees and searches for a way home. Prepare for the adventures of Farscape with Moya's crew - Crichton Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun warrior Ka D'Argo azure priestess Zhaan spiritely thief Chiana Dominar Rygel Pilot and many others.

• Farscape 1.1 | DVD | (28/02/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  An international co-production of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, Farscape takes a visual leap beyond previous shows. Admittedly, the basic premise may be borrowed from Buck Rogers (American astronaut catapulted to far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas like the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script never takes itself too seriously (fart jokes and double-entendres pop up when you least expect them). It must have been expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds--in Dolby Digital 5.1) like every penny made it to the screen. In this handsome box set, two discs contain the first four episodes of the first season, completely uncut. In "Premiere", astronaut John Crichton is inadvertently catapulted into a parallel universe where he is taken on board the bio-mechanical ship Moya and meets the inhabitants: D'Argo, a seven-foot-tall Luxan warrior, Zhaan, a blue-skinned Delvian priestess, and the diminutive slug-like Rygel, the Henson Creature Shop's proudest creation. Another humanoid (and potential love interest), formidable-yet-sexy Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun, joins soon after. In true Buck Rogers style, Ben Browder plays Crichton as an all-American astronaut, although with a more believable sense of bewilderment; the supporting cast is a mixture of Australian and British actors, mostly disguised under heavy make-up. In episode 2, "Throne for a Loss", Rygel's devious side is developed further as he gets the crew into trouble when he "borrows" a crystal crucial to the operation of the ship and is kidnapped by some unpleasant characters. Disc Two opens with the wittily titled "Back and Back and Back to the Future", the obligatory time-travel episode, followed by "I, E.T.", in which Crichton feels the force of his earlier comment: "Boy did Spielberg get it wrong. Close Encounters, my ass." On the DVD: Disc One includes a "making of" documentary, with comments from the cast, Brian Henson and producer Rockne S. O'Bannon (the man also responsible for Alien Nation and SeaQuest), plus a profile of principal character John Crichton. Disc Two profiles Aeryn Sun and has the original trailer and DVD-ROM extras (screensaver and weblinks). --Mark Walker

• Farscape: Complete Season 1 (Box Set) | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  The first series of Farscape was a revitalising tonic for TV SF. An ambitious coproduction of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape launched itself with a refreshing mix of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry to take a visual leap beyond other genre shows. The witty scripts, too, peppered with double-entendres and pop-culture references, are light years away from the staid style of Star Trek. Admittedly, the first season's basic premise is simply Buck Rogers updated (American astronaut John Crichton, played by Ben Browder, is catapulted to a far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew initially have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas like the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it all look and feel completely original. --Mark Walker

• Farscape - The Complete Season 3 | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  It's clear right from the opening episodes of its third series that Farscape has finally developed into a grown-up show. There's a new self-confidence and a new maturity here that's entirely welcome after the often wildly erratic tone of the second series. The production design and high-quality effects work remain true to the show's original quirky style, although both the look and the more adult-themed scripts have become progressively darker. Season 3 is the year when the Wormhole story arc takes precedence, as the interactions between John Crichton and his nemesis Scorpius become ever more complicated (involving various different clones, real or "neural", of both antagonists). It's also the year that some major characters die, new ones are introduced and Crichton (well, one version of him anyway) and Aeryn finally consummate their relationship. Moya's crew endure a vertiginous emotional roller-coaster ride when powerful issues of love, loyalty and sacrifice loom large. They must also face their sternest challenge yet as the series' biggest story arc reaches an explosive climax aboard Scorpius' Command Carrier. Anyone who has not followed Farscape extremely closely from the very beginning of Series 1 will be utterly baffled by the convoluted plotting and complex character interactions. But for fans, this is the show's most rewarding year. --Mark Walker

• Farscape 1.2 | DVD | (17/04/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  An international co-production of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, Farscape takes a visual leap beyond previous shows. Admittedly, the basic premise may be borrowed from Buck Rogers (American astronaut catapulted to far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas like the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script never takes itself too seriously (fart jokes and double-entendres pop up when you least expect them). It must have been expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds in Dolby Digital 5.1) like every penny made it to the screen. In true Buck Rogers style, Ben Browder plays leading man John Crichton as an all-American astronaut, although with a more believable sense of bewilderment; the supporting cast is a mixture of Australian and British actors, mostly disguised under heavy make-up.In this second box set there are five episodes spread across two discs. Although the generic Star Trek-style storylines seem a little over-familiar, the witty and fast-paced scripts help to keep things fresh. In "Exodus from Genesis" the crew of Moya are invaded by space cockroaches, who, in a suprising twist then help them fend off the Peacekeepers. "Thank God it's Friday Again" shows D'Argo finding happiness in a hippy commune where all is not what it seems; Crichton has a Matrix-style worm inserted in his navel before Rygel's bodily functions prove to be instrumental in rescuing the crew. Crichton finds love with the "PK Tech Girl", much to the consternation of Aeryn Sun, who goes into full Lt. Ripley mode and spends the episode running around with a pulse rifle under flickering strobe lighting. In "That Old Black Magic", a malevolent magician forces a confrontation between Crichton and his nemesis, Crais; Zhaan must revive her bad old ways in order to save the day. "DNA Mad Scientist" is the most original episode, with a neat twist on the Frankenstein scenario thanks to the splendid villain, Namtar; a distinctly unpleasant side to some of the characters is revealed as they bargain body parts in exchange for a map home. On the DVD: Because the first disc contains three episodes instead of the usual two, special features are limited to a trailer and some conceptual art. The second disc also has a profile of Zhaan. --Mark Walker

• Bananas In Pyjamas - Nursery Rhymes | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  In 'SingingTime' it's a nursery rhyme extravaganza at Cuddles Avenue! Sing and dance with B1 B2 the Teddies and Rat in a Hat to well loved thymes and some new favorites. Featuring Heads and Shoulders Humpty Dumpty I'm a Little Teapot Hickory Dickory Dock It's Raining. It's Pouring and many more...

• Farscape Season 3 | DVD | (11/04/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  It's clear right from the opening episodes of its third series that Farscape has finally developed into a grown-up show. There's a new self-confidence and a new maturity here that's entirely welcome after the often wildly erratic tone of the second series. The production design and high-quality effects work remain true to the show's original quirky style, although both the look and the more adult-themed scripts have become progressively darker. Season 3 is the year when the Wormhole story arc takes precedence, as the interactions between John Crichton and his nemesis Scorpius become ever more complicated (involving various different clones, real or "neural", of both antagonists). It's also the year that some major characters die, new ones are introduced and Crichton (well, one version of him anyway) and Aeryn finally consummate their relationship. Moya's crew endure a vertiginous emotional roller-coaster ride when powerful issues of love, loyalty and sacrifice loom large. They must also face their sternest challenge yet as the series' biggest story arc reaches an explosive climax aboard Scorpius' Command Carrier. Anyone who has not followed Farscape extremely closely from the very beginning of Series 1 will be utterly baffled by the convoluted plotting and complex character interactions. But for fans, this is the show's most rewarding year. --Mark Walker

• Farscape - The Complete Season 2 (Blu Ray) | Blu Ray | (08/10/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  The second series of Farscape expands upon and develops the characters introduced in the ambitious first series. John Crichton's new nemesis is the deadly Scorpius, replacing Crais, who has taken the living ship Moya's offspring on a voyage into the unknown. Moya's regular crew--Aeryn, Zhaan, Chiana, D'Argo and Rygel--remain as divided and suspicious of each other as ever, yet somehow manage to pull together at times of crisis. The writers continue to exploit the show's gift for surprising as well as emotionally convincing character development, while the CGI effects, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry--courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop--continue to make Farscape the most original-looking SF show on TV. The witty scripts, peppered with postmodern pop-culture references and movie in-jokes, are also a breath of fresh air. Despite some wildly erratic shifts in tone, this is exceptional TV science fiction that continually pushes the accepted boundaries of the genre. --Mark Walker

• Farscape: Complete Season 2 (Box Set) | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  The second series of Farscape expands upon and develops the characters introduced in the ambitious first series. John Crichton's new nemesis is the deadly Scorpius, replacing Crais, who has taken the living ship Moya's offspring on a voyage into the unknown. Moya's regular crew--Aeryn, Zhaan, Chiana, D'Argo and Rygel--remain as divided and suspicious of each other as ever, yet somehow manage to pull together at times of crisis. The writers continue to exploit the show's gift for surprising as well as emotionally convincing character development, while the CGI effects, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry--courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop--continue to make Farscape the most original-looking SF show on TV. The witty scripts, peppered with postmodern pop-culture references and movie in-jokes, are also a breath of fresh air. Despite some wildly erratic shifts in tone, this is exceptional TV science fiction that continually pushes the accepted boundaries of the genre. --Mark Walker

• Farscape : The Ultimate Complete Collection | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £249.99

  The fantastic Farscape universe is available as a complete four season box set for the very first time on DVD! Five years ago astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) attempted to use the Earth's atmosphere to propel his ship Farscape 1 at great speeds across the solar system. He went much further though and was sucked down a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy and into the middle of a battle. He was rescued by a group of escaping prisoners and taken aboard their ship a living ship known as Moya... Imaginative daring and fun the award-winning Farscape blows other Sci-Fi shows out of the water! Season 1: 1. Premiere 2. I E.T. 3. Exodus From Genesis 4. Throne For A Loss 5. Back And Back And Back To The Future 6. Thank God It's Friday. Again. 7. PK Tech Girl 8. That Old Black Magic 9. DNA Mad Scientist 10. They've Got A Secret 11. Till All The Blood Runs Clear 12. Rhapsody In Blue 13. The Flax 14. Jeremiah Crichton 15. Durka Returns 16. A Human Reaction 17. Through The Looking Glass 18. A Bug's life 19. Nerve 20. The Hidden Memory 21. Bone To Be Wild 22. Family Ties Season 2: 1. Mind The Baby 2. Vitas Mortis 3. Taking The Stone 4. Crackers Don't Matter 5. The Way We Weren't 6. Picture If You Will 7. Home On The Remains 8. Dream A Little Dream 9. Out Of Their Minds 10. A Kiss Is But A Kiss 11. I Do I Think 12. The Maltese Crichton 13. My Three Crichtons 14. Beware of Dog 15. Won't Get Fooled Again 16. The Locket 17. The Ugly Truth 18. A Clockwork Nebari 19. A Not So Simple Plan 20. With Friends Like These... 21. Plan B 22. Die Me Dichotomy Season 3: 1. Season of Death 2. Suns and Lovers 3. Self-Inflicted Wounds (Part 1): Could'a Would'a Should'a 4. Self-Inflicted Wounds (Part 2): Wait for the Wheel 5. Different Destinations 6. Eat Me 7. Thanks for Sharing 8. Green Eyed Monster 9. Losing Time 10. Relativity 11. Incubator 12. Meltdown 13. Scratch n' Sniff 14. Infinite Possibilities (Part 1): Daedalus Demands 15. Infinite Possibilities (Part 2): Icarus Abides 16. Revenging Angel 17. The Choice 18. Fractures 19. I-Yensch You-Yensch 20. Into the Lion's Den (Part 1): Lambs to the Slaughter 21. Into the Lion's Den (Part 2): Wolf in Sheep's Clothing 22. Dog with Two Bones Season 4: 1. Crichton Kicks 2. What Was Lost (Part 1) 3. What Was Lost (Part 2) 4. Lava's A Many Splendored Thing 5. Promises 6. Natural Election 7. John Quixote 8. I Shrink Therefore I Am 9. A Prefect Murder 10. Coup By Clam 11. Unrealised Reality 12. Kansas 13. Terra Firma 14. Twice Shy 15. Mental As Anything 16. Bringing Home The Beacon 17. A Constellation Of Doubt 18. Prayer 19. We're So Screwed (Part 1) 20. We're So Screwed (Part 2) 21. We're So Screwed (Part 3) 22. Bad Timing Peackeeper Wars: The Farscape saga continues with this brand new multi-million dollar mini series. When a full-scale war is engaged by the evil Scarran Empire the Peacekeeper Alliance has but one hope: reassemble human astronaut John Crichton once sucked onto the Peacekeeper galaxy through a wormhole. Crichton's task: get the entire Peacekeeper race to safety before the last war of an era brings an end to the universe....

• Farscape 4.2 | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Episodes 6-10 of Farscape's fourth series continue the themes set at the start of the year while concentrating on one-off adventures. John Crichton is still upset that Aeryn Sun has not confided in him about her pregnancy; Aeryn is still trying to cope with the loss of his dead copy; Chiana is trying in her lascivious way to get them back together; Scorpius and Sikozu are gradually becoming integrated into the life of the crew, and John and the others are trying to learn to trust their former arch-enemy. In "'Natural Election"', the process of choosing which of the crew shall be captain becomes more urgent when the living ship Moya is attacked by a space-dwelling plant that hangs around wormholes; "John Quixote" has Crichton and Chiana trapped in a surreal gameworld full of old friends and enemies; in "I Shrink, Therefore I Am", Crichton has to rescue his friends from bounty-hunters who have shrunk them and hidden them in their heavily-armoured bodies. Aeryn finds herself compelled to homicidal violence in "'A Prefect Murder"' and time goes wonky on her; Crichton has to get into drag and Scorpius has to vomit a lot to save their crewmates from getting caught in the cross-fire of "Coup by Clam". These are enjoyable albeit routine episodes of the most imaginative space opera ever to hit the TV screen, though they only hint at the wonders that were to come later in this final series. On the DVD: Farscape 4.2 has a wealth of special features that include two deleted scenes--one of them a touching discussion of their love lives between Aeryn and Chiana--and a text guide to swearing in the Farscape universe. There is a documentary about the special effects and a prolonged interview with Claudia Black in which she talks about how the show stretched her as an actress. It is presented in widescreen with a visual aspect ratio of 4:3 and has Dolby Digital sound. --Roz Kaveney

• Farscape 1.4 | DVD | (04/09/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  An international co-production of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, Farscape takes a visual leap beyond previous shows. Admittedly, the basic premise may be borrowed from Buck Rogers (American astronaut catapulted to far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas like the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script never takes itself too seriously (fart jokes and double-entendres pop up when you least expect them). It must have been expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds--in Dolby Digital 5.1) as if every penny made it to the screen. In true Buck Rogers style, Ben Browder plays leading man John Crichton as an all-American astronaut, although with a more believable sense of bewilderment; the supporting cast is a mixture of Australian and British actors, mostly disguised under heavy make-up.Box Set 4 includes four episodes, another gallery of conceptual art, and video profiles of everyone's favourite Hynerian Dominar, Rygel, as well as a profile of Moya the living Leviathan transport ship and her pilot. The episodes are: "Durka Returns", in which the crew meet the beautiful Chiana for the first time, as well as Rygel's old tormentor, Captain Durka; "A Human Reaction", where Crichton finally gets back to Earth but with unfortunate results for the rest of Moya's crew; "Through the Looking Glass" in which the crew and Moya are thrown into a dimensional schism inhabited by a strange creature; and "A Bug's Life", in which an intelligent virus is released on the ship after an encounter with Peacekeepers. --Mark Walker

• Farscape 1.5 | DVD | (30/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise, but taking a visual and conceptual leap beyond those shows. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script, which is peppered with post-modern pop culture references and film in-jokes, never takes itself too seriously. It may be expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds--in Dolby Digital 5.1) like every penny made it to the screen. Ben Browder plays leading man John Crichton as a latter-day Buck Rogers but with an entirely believable sense of bewilderment, not to mention loss; the rest of the living ship Moya's crew also has plenty of difficult issues to deal with, allowing Farscape's writers licence to develop their characters in often unexpected ways. The result is episodic TV sci-fi that continually pushes at the accepted boundaries of the format. Box Set 5: these four episodes lead up to the climax of the show's first season. "Nerve" and "The Hidden Memory" make for a bold two-parter in which Crichton is reunited with his Peacekeeper Tech girlfriend, Gilina, and emotions are strained as he infiltrates a Peacekeeper base to find a cure for Aeryn's wound. But the story's most important function is to introduce the dreaded Scorpius, who uses his Aurora chair torture device to extract what he mistakenly believes is vital knowledge from Crichton. Scorpius, it soon becomes clear, is just not going to go away. In "Bone to be Wild" the crew is still on the run from the vengeful Scorpius and take refuge on a strange vegetation-covered asteroid where there's a deadly role-reversal of the beauty and the beast story taking place. Finally in "Family Ties" the season ends on a tense cliffhanger as Rygel plots with Scorpius, Crais intervenes unexpectedly, Moya's child turns out to be something of a handful, and Crichton and D'Argo must take a desperate gamble. Also on the disc is an interview with costume designer Terry Ryan and a profile of the Australian Creature Shop. --Mark Walker