Farscape: The Complete Season 4

• FARSCAPE: THE COMPLETE SEASON 4 (DVD MOVIE).

The offbeat but frequently brilliant science-fiction series Farscape came to an abrupt close with its fourth season, and in typical fashion, the show ended with a bang--not your ordinary bang, mind you, but then again, nothing on Farscape was ever ordinary. The season picks up months after the crew of the living spaceship Moya are separated, and it spends most of the first five episodes bringing them together from the farthest corners of the universe; once together again, starlost human Crichton (Ben Browder) and his alien compatriots get down to the business of sewing up a vast number of story lines before the final episode. Among them: Crichton's new-found ability to suss out wormholes; an attack by bounty hunters ("I Shrink, Therefore I Am"); two trips to Earth, one to the past ("Kansas") and the other--one of the show's best episodes--to the present, where Moya's alien crew become the first extraterrestrials to meet humankind ("Terra Firma"); and a last-ditch attempt to stop a war between the show's main antagonists--the reptilian rans and the humanoid Peacekeepers--via the threat of galaxy-wide destruction (the three-part "We're So Screwed"). There's also the growing relationship between Crichton and female lead Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), which reaches a peak in the final series episode, "Bad Timing"--but ah, there's that big bang in the end. If that feels like a lot of ground to cover in 22 episodes (all of which are included on the Complete Season Four's six-disc set), it is, and the leisurely pace that marked the preceding three seasons is occasionally missed here. But the show's strengths--its clever scripting and solid performances--are still intact, and if the show's conclusion is p-inducing, fear not: series co-producer Brian Henson wrapped up the show in a four-part miniseries shortly after this season aired. The season 4 set contains three commentaries (Ben Browder and Claudia Black on "John Quixote"; they're joined by executive producer David Kemper on "Kansas" and "Bad Timing") and a wealth of featurettes that cover everything from the show's villains and effects to the outpouring of support by its fans that helped revive Farscape for its miniseries conclusion. A speech by Kemper to the cast and crew on the final day of shooting is a lovely and moving bit of video. --Paul Gaita