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"Farscape" (1999) More at IMDbPro »

Farscape Season 1, Vol. 5 - DNA Mad Scientist/They've Got a Secret (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: While the Farscape crew barely maintains civility in the best of times, nothing in the series prepares the viewer for the devious and ruthless response they show when the DNA mad scientist offers them a way home in exchange for a sample of their DNA... and one of Pilot's arms. They warm up by hacking off Pilot's appendage in a savage amputation and then turn on each other when it becomes apparent that Moya can only get to one of their worlds.

"They've Got a Secret" is a rather misleading title, for the secret belongs to the living ship Moya, and the crew spends the entire episode trying to find out what it is. D'Argo yanks the wrong nerve in Moya's network and shoots through the ship's bowels like a kid on a water slide. He awakens in a delusion that has him reliving his tragic past and building up to a murderous rage directed squarely at Crichton yet again. --Sean Axmaker

Farscape Season 1, Vol. 6 - Till the Blood Runs Clear/Rhapsody in Blue (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: The blood in question in "Till the Blood Runs Clear" belongs to the warrior D'Argo, and it starts to flow when he's captured by a pair of feral Bloodtrackers, mercenaries who look as lovely as their name would suggest. The obsessed Peacekeeper Captain Crais has put a bounty on the heads of D'Argo, Zhaan, and Rygel, which Crichton and Aeryn discover when they set down on a desert planet for repairs but neglect to tell their shipmates.

"Rhapsody in Blue" takes Moya and her crew to a remote Delvian outpost, where the head priestess has lured Zhaan to help her keep her madness in check, or so she says. There's something more sinister going on in this power grab, and it has something to do with Zhaan's dark, criminal past. The crew is paralyzed in self-pity and Crichton is on the verge of an emotional breakdown, but Zhaan's torment as her past comes flooding back gives this episode its punch. --Sean Axmaker

Farscape Season 1, Vol. 2 - Exodus from Genesis / Throne for a Loss (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: The second volume of episodes from the cult cable science fiction series Farscape finds the motley crew of fugitives still learning to live together, with often fractious results. A swarm of interstellar insects infiltrate Moya in "Exodus from Genesis" and crank up the heat to levels that will prove fatal to Aeryn's heat-sensitive Sebacean system. The heat wave isn't the only thing pushing already flaring tempers, however; the bugs create perfect replicas of the crew to carry out their commands, which lead to some rather interesting clashes. The episode echoes elements of Star Trek's "The Devil in the Dark" and the Next Generation episode "Evolution" (among others), then twists them to fit into the chaotic Farscape universe.

In "Throne for a Loss," the most action-packed and stylishly directed episode to date, a race of mercenary criminals called the Tavleks kidnap the imperious Rygel. Despite the temptation to leave the blustering coward behind, the crew hatches a (typically) half-cooked plan to storm the planet-side prison with the help of a dangerously addictive Tavlek power gauntlet. The adrenaline-pumping, laser-blasting weapon increases the aggressive natures of D'Argo and Aeryn to tyrannical levels but also leads to a quiet connection between the warriors as they recover from the drug's effects and compare notes on their human shipmate: "Just imagine, there's a whole race of Crichtons running around. Think how useless they must be."

Each episode includes footage unseen in the U.S. broadcasts, and the DVD features a profile of Claudia Black's character Aeryn Sun as well as commentary on each episode. Director Brian Henson and costar Virginia Hey (Zhaan) discuss the process of defining and developing their characters in the early episodes on "Exodus from Genesis" and stars Ben Browder and Claudia Black exchange playful repartee for the energetic commentary on "Throne for a Loss." --Sean Axmaker

Farscape Season 1, Vol. 4 - PK Tech Girl/That Old Black Magic (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: Farscape established itself as a darker, more volatile alternative to the relative utopian ideals of the Star Trek universe, right down to its gloomy, claustrophobic look, but nowhere is that more apparent than its journeys into the hidden pasts of its fugitive heroes. The fourth volume of episodes features a peek into the pasts of Dominar Rygel and ninth level Priestess Zhaan as they hide from the fleets of Peacekeeper soldiers in the galactic frontier known as the Uncharted Territories.

Rygel spent years imprisoned and tortured aboard the Zelbinion, the most feared Peacekeeper battleship of all time, and when they find it a drifting derelict in PK Tech Girl, his memories come back to haunt him. While he battles his demons of the past, the defenseless crew takes on a fleet of ruthless, froglike scavengers ("They spit fire? How come nobody tells me these things!") while American rocket jockey John Crichton finds romance with the a pretty Peacekeeper technician abandoned aboard the wreck (resulting in emotional fireworks from the jealous Aeryn).

That Old Black Magic pits the crew against an evil magician that has been draining the souls of his planet for years and craves the fresh minds of Moya's crew. "I feed on death," the psychic vampire cackles while pitting Crichton against his bloodthirsty nemesis, Peacekeeper Captain Crais, and only Zhaan can save him by unleashing the angry, evil former self she had spent years burying deep within her soul. --Sean Axmaker