Farscape Vol. 2
ADV Films
Cast: Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Virginai Hey, Anthony Simcoe
Extras: Commentary Track, Video Profile, Screensave, Image Gallery
Rating:
Just like in their previous ’Farscape’ release, ADV Films is once again delivering two episodes of the SciFi Channel TV series in a well-rounded package that will certainly satisfy fans of this acclaimed series.
ADV Films is presenting the two 50-minute episodes ’Exodus From Genesis’ and ’Throne For A Loss’ on a dual-layer DVD on this release. It has become obvious with the studio’s prior releases already, that ADV Films is very conscious about the quality of the presentation of their material and using a dual-layer disc for this release once again underscores this notion. The image quality is superb and without any flaws. The fullframe transfer is absolutely clean and without any speckles or blemishes. Colors are saturated, creating the right atmosphere for this enchanting and colorful space soap opera. Blacks are very deep, giving the image a lot of visual depth, making ’Farscape’ a splendid experience to watch. But also the compression of the material on this disc is meticulous and entirely without flaws. There is not a hint of compression artifacting, not a sign of edge-enhancement, and no other digital artifact that would hamper the pleasure. ’Farscape’ is a prime example how great contemporary television productions can look on DVD, and it creates an image that is far significantly more detailed than any of the garble coming down your cable or DSS channels.
But the fun doesn’t stop with the image. ’Farscape’ comes with a full-blown 5.1 channel Dolby Digital audio track that is just as magnificent. Making very aggressive use of the surround channels – just the way you would expect in a space opera – this audio track is a pleasure to listen to. It is very dynamic and has an extremely good frequency response. The brightest sounds and the lowest basses are all nicely reproduced, creating a voluminous mix that is powerful and perfectly matches the film.
Both episodes are also complemented by a commentary track – ’Exodus From Genesis’ features one by Brian Henson and Virginia Hey, ’Throne For A Loss’ comes with a commentary by Ben Browder and Claudia Black. Additional footage, an image gallery, a screensaver and weblinks are also part of this well-rounded release.
Accessing the separate episodes is a little weird as no direct episode selection menu entry is available, but it can be done from the Chapter Selections menu.
At $24.98, the price for only two episodes of a TV series may sound a little steep, but given this release’s overall quality, I think it is well worth the money. Why I personally prefer full season boxed releases of TV series, the good presentation and a DVD that is technically without flaws makes ’Farscape’ a must-own release for every serious fan of the series.
