Title: Farscape – Season 4 Premiere
Episodes “Crichton Kicks” and “What Was Lost Part 1: Sacrifice”
Stars: Ben Browder, Claudia Black,
Anthony Simcoe, Gigi Edgley, Jonathan Hardy, Lani John Tupu, Wayne Pygram,
Raelee Hill, Melissa Jaffer, and Rebecca Riggs
“Crichton Kicks” Gust Stars: Peter
Whittle and Bob Nisevic
“What Was Lost: Part 1: Sacrifice”
Guest Stars: Tammy Macintosh, David Franklin, Steve Le Marquand, Elizabeth
Alexander, and Kim De Lury
“Crichton Kicks” Writer: David
Kemper
“What Was Lost: Part 1: Sacrifice”
Writer: Justin Monjo
“Crichton Kicks” Director: Andrew
Prowse
“What Was Lost: Part 1: Sacrifice”
Director: Rowan Woods
Executive Producers: David Kemper,
Brian Henson, Richard Manning, Robert Halmi, Jr., and Juliet Blake
Running Time: 45 minutes each without
commercials/1 hour each with commercials
Media: Sci-Fi Channel Original Series
Fourth Season Premiere (NTSC VHS Screener)
“Crichton Kicks” Premiere: Friday,
June 7, 2002, at 10pm (ET/PT)
“What Was Lost: Part 1: Sacrifice”
Premiere: Friday, June 14, 2002, at 10pm (ET/PT)
Network: The Sci-Fi Channel (Check your
local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: PG 14
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
The best “space opera” on
television returns for a fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel with a double dose
of “Farscape,” which will premiere on Friday, June 7,
2002, at 10pm (ET/PT) with the premiere episode “Crichton Kicks”
after the sixth season premiere of “Stargate: SG-1” at 9pm. Another new fourth season episode of “Farscape” entitled “What Was Lost:
Part 1: Sacrifice” will air the following week on Friday, June 14, 2002, at 10pm (ET/PT).
Crichton
Kicks Short Synopsis
Continuing his work on wormhole theory
and technology, Crichton (Ben Browder) has been eking out an existence aboard
Elack – an old, dying Leviathan. His quiet existence is shattered when a
female alien, Sikozu (Raelee Hill) boards the ship with a squad of Grudek
mercenaries intent on harvesting Elack’s neural tissue. When Crichton fights
to protect his new home, the Grudeks sick a vicious and deadly alien canine
called the Brindz Hound after him.
“Crichton
Kicks” Review
I have to state that as much of a fan I
am of “Farscape,” I had no idea what was going on and was not even sure if
what I was seeing was happening at all or if it was in Crichton’s mind. The
confusion stems from the setting, a dying Leviathan with a decrepit Pilot. I
thought it was “Moya” at first and then began to ask myself what the heck
happened? The various flashes into Crichton’s subconscious where he encounters
a pregnant Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), which made me wonder even more whether
what I was seeing was real at all didn’t help either. Well, perhaps that is
the intended effect and the fourth season premiere is certainly nothing like I
expected. Crichton is running around almost half crazed looking like “Grizzly
Adams” while the Grudeks systematically take the valuable biological parts of
the ship like whale hunters. The Brindz Hound is a pretty cool looking beast,
but the most interesting character introduced is Sikozu, who is both sexy and
unearthly. She can regenerate a lost limb and appears to defy the laws of
gravity, but she looks no less human than any of the other humanoid aliens, such
as “Jool.” In fact, she looks more human than Jool. This episode is a
strange choice to open up the series’ fourth season because it completely
disarms the viewer’s expectations, but despite that confusion “Crichton
Kicks” is still great “Farscape” with intriguing characters, excellent
effects, and a good if somewhat convoluted story.
“What
Was Lost: Part 1: Sacrifice” Short Synopsis
Crichton, Chiana, and Rygel are
reunited with D’Argo and Jool at an archaeological site run by Jool’s
people, the Interions. The purpose of the dig is to find a missing probe that
might reverse the planet’s dangerous atmospheric conditions. Peacekeepers led
by the evil Grayza land and capture the crew, and Crichton finds himself unable
to fight back, mysteriously compelled to do Grayza’s bidding.
Review
This is “Farscape” the way I like
it with intriguing possibilities, a weird alien, and unforeseen twists and turns
for the characters. I was still somewhat stunned by the somewhat unorthodox
season opener and seeing Crichton’s former shipmates appear out of nowhere
threw me off balance as well. It is never made entirely clear how they even
found him, but the episode moves at a quick pace taking us to an alien world
that might have more significance to Crichton than he ever expected. If fear
giving away spoilers that could ruin the enjoyment of the episode so let me just
say that there is more to Grayza’s command abilities than meets the eye and
expect some interesting character shifts as the series develops. The cliffhanger
ending will leave fans in deep anticipation to see how things will work
themselves out.
An
Overall Review Of What I Saw
Season four of Farscape is being shot
in widescreen and will also be presented in widescreen as well when the episodes
broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel. I cannot say what the exact aspect ratio will
be because the screener presented a (1.33:1) presentation of the first two
season’s episodes, but I would guess that the television presentation will
probably be a letterboxed (1.85:1) or (1.78:1) aspect ratio. Previous seasons
were shot and presented in the (1.33:1) aspect ratio the series was shot so
I’m looking forward to seeing how the fourth season of “Farscape” will
look since the show is already a theatrical quality program.
While I did find the opening a bit
confusing, it was never the less very entertaining and I’m sure things will
begin to gel together nicely as the story arc takes form for season four. As an
aside I have been referring to the block of first run episodes of “Stargate
SG-1” and “Farscape” under the name “Friday Prime,” but with a line up
this fantastic Sci-Fi has dubbed this new night of quality science fiction
action and adventure programming “Sci-Fi Fridays.”
“Farscape: Season Four” will
premiere on Friday, June 7, 2002, at 10pm (ET/PT) with “Crichton Kicks” and
another episode entitled “What Was Lost: Part 1: Sacrifice” will follow a
week later on Friday, June 14, 2002, at 10pm (ET/PT) after
first run episodes of “Stargate SG-1” season six.
© Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.