Readers who saw my review of Farscape Season 2 Collection 1 will recall that I found it a disappointment, with the stories lacking the punch of the fourth-season episodes that I had seen without knowing the backstory. Season 2 Collection 2 shows an improvement over the opening episodes of the season, but overall Farscape in this season feels like a fairly ordinary science-fiction show. It's one that has great costumes, sets, and alien creatures, to be sure, so visually it's quite pleasing, but in terms of storytelling it's just not where it could be.

Seven episodes are presented here. The first one is "Dream a Little Dream," the reworked season premiere (which is available in its original form on the Season 2 Collection 1 DVD), in which Zhaan recalls what really happened when Moya left Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo behind at the Gammak Base. It's not bad, but it seems to me that it would have worked a lot better if it had been shown in its originally planned spot.

The weakest point of this collection is in the next two episodes, "Out of Their Minds" and "My Three Crichtons," which take on hackneyed science fiction plots that have been done before elsewhere, and better. "Out of Their Minds" has the crew experience a bizarre body-swap when an alien weapon blasts Moya and shifts their minds into different bodies. Of course, the real trick here is to get the actors to perform as a different character; when it works well (as in the Stargate SG-1 episode that swapped O'Neill and Teal'c) it is lots of fun, but here it's handled indifferently well. Some of the "swaps" (like D'Argo and Pilot) are handled nicely on both sides, but most of the others are awkward. Considering that the plot is really just an excuse for doing the swap, this means that the episode is fairly weak overall.

"My Three Crichtons" is simply bad. Crichton is sucked into an energy orb, and when he's spat out again, he's accompanied by "evolved" and "devolved" versions of himself. Even apart from the absolutely cringe-inducing misunderstanding of evolution that's displayed here, it's an idea that (alas) has been used before, and usually badly, come to think of it. What were they thinking to come up with this plot?

Fortunately, the next three episodes form a passable story arc. "Look at the Princess" is formed by three parts, "A Kiss Is But a Kiss," "I Do, I Think," and "The Maltese Crichton." Here, the crew get drawn into a complex power struggle as Crichton is faced with the choice of marrying an alien princess or getting handed over to Scorpius. The Scarrans come into play here, and we see their antagonism to the Peacekeepers and to the half-Scarran Scorpius.

It's worth noting that the "Previously on Farscape" segment that we get for the last of these episodes is a perfect example of the disconnect I'm feeling here. When the events are summarized dramatically in a brief clip like this, the story feels exciting and intriguing... even though the episodes themselves didn't feel that way. The stories feel too drawn-out, perhaps a bit too melodramatic at times (certainly the relationship between Crichton and Aeryn seems awkwardly handled), with the viewer being handed all the pieces of the story one by one, with no gaps to fill in. In contrast, the dramatic summaries do what the episodes ought to do: make the viewer work to connect the dots and realize how they're relevant to the events that are about to unfold.

The set concludes with a fairly conventional stand-alone episode, "Beware of Dog," in which the crew try to save D'Argo's life when he's poisoned by a strange parasite. All in all, this set has some better and some worse episodes than Season 2 Collection 1, but overall has a higher level of entertainment than the early-season episodes.

The DVD

Farscape Starburst Edition: Season 2 Collection 1 presents the seven episodes over two DVDs, each one double-sided. The discs are packaged in a slim single-wide keepcase.

Video

The image quality here continues to be quite satisfactory. The print is clean, with good colors and contrast. At times the image looks a bit soft in longer-distance shots, but the close-ups always look nicely sharp. The episodes appear in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Audio

The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack offers a clean, clear, and usually quite immersive listening experience.

Extras

The first three sides (1A, 1B, and 2A) each contain some episodes and a selection of special features. On each side, we get text "Cool Farscape Facts" and "Farscape Chronicles," with information about the making of the episodes, as well as information on the alien characters in "Alien Encounters." Deleted scenes are also included, running to a total of seven minutes.

Side 2B contains the rest of the special features. The main feature is a hefty 35-minute interview with Virginia Hey (Zhaan), which will be enjoyed by any serious Farscape fan. Segments from two first-season episodes, "Flax" and "Through the Looking Glass," are presented in the "Director's Cut Scenes" section, to illustrate the production process.

For more minor features, we get an 11-minute featurette with composer Guy Gross, talking about his work on "My Three Crichtons," as well as a fairly lame 6-minute set of bloopers and a "Farspeak Game." Text biographies of Anthony Simcoe and Virginia Hey are also included, along with text backstories for their characters. Finally, the disc is filled out with an "alien races multimedia glossary" and a set of ADV previews.

Final thoughts

Farscape Starburst Edition: Season 2 Collection 2 isn't bad, but for me at least, the glamor has worn off Farscape. It has its good moments, but it doesn't come together nearly as well as I'd have hoped. I'll give this a "rent it" recommendation, as it's worth seeing once if you've been enjoying the series so far.