| | Farscape Season 1, Vol. 5 - DNA Mad Scientist/They've Got a Secret
Wonderful episodes, wish this DVD had commentaries
"DNA Mad Scientist" is one of the best of the early Farscape episodes. "They've got a Secret" is also good, and gives information about one of the characters that is important for later episodes in the series. This is a wonderful scifi series, much better than Star Trek, which has gotten tired and boring in its latest incarnations. Farscape mixes humor, drama, romance, action, great stories and characters into a very satisfying whole, and takes on some of the great human themes and problems that go beyond genre, as the best scifi does. My only real complaint is that I loved the commentaries on the first three DVDs in this series, and I Wish we could have them back on future DVDs--please! Or maybe an extra of outtakes and bloopers.
It's No Secret, One of these episodes is really bad.
As you can tell from my title, one of these episodes does not impress me at all.P>"DNA Mad Scientist" features one of the best Henson creations of the series with Namtar, who is the title character of this episode. Basically, he is a fully realized Alien Species complete with backward knees (like the rear legs of dogs or horses).
/lt>P>The storyline is pretty straightforward. Namtar is collecting DNA from a variety of Species and offeres the Moya crew a complete map of the galaxy in exchange for one of Pilot's arms. D'Argo, Rygel, ; Zhaan go behind Aeryn ; John's back to collect the arm (with Pilot screaming in agony, this is one of the most shocking scenes in Farscape history). With the DNA collected from the arm, Namtar then infects Aeryn and she begins to transform. P>Although you can probably guess how it will turn out, there is an interesting surprise that's revealed at the end of the show about the origins of Namtar. The Special Effects are once again top notch, especially the scene with the map of the planets floating in Namtar's office. Overall, this is a fine episode and one of the better ones from the pre-Chiana days.
/lt>P>"They've Got A Secret" is simply the most boring episode of Farscape ever produced. Unfortunately, this episode cannot be ignored because it began two of the most important running plots in the series. The first one deals with D'Argo as he was accidentally cast out of Moya during the teaser. He is recovered, but his mind is drifting and we get to know something important about his past. His "secret" does manage to produce a tender scene with Zhaan, but that's about it.
/lt>P>Moya also has a "secret" and while it's Revelation is somewhat interesting, the time it takes to get there may have you fast forwarding the DVD to get to that point. Basically, we have a twenty minute show stretched into fifty minutes with one long, pointless scene after another with The Crew guessing as to what is wrong with D'Argo ; Moya. I swear to the Lord above that one scene alone with John ; Aeryn conversing about "what is going on", time itself comes to a stop. P>I know that many 'scapers will disagree with me about my review of this episode. And all I can say is that I call 'em like I see 'em. This could've easily been a thirty minute show with room to spare and we wouldn't have missed a thing.
/lt>P>Ken
The bad side and the good side of the Farscape crew
Volume 5 of Season 1 of "Farscape" offers up an interesting counterpoint between two episodes that show the characters at their worst and at their best as crewmates. In "DNA Mad Scientist" D'Argo, Zhaan and Rygel barely Blink before they cut off one of Pilot's arms in order to trade it for a crystal that will show them how to get home and avoid the Peacekeepers. At that point they turn on each other in the great tradition of "Treasure of the Sierra Madre." Meanwhile, the titular mad scientist turns Aeryn into an intergalactic guinea pig in one of those plotlines I hate where playing with DNA has characters evolving/devolving with the greatest of ease, leaving it to Crichton to restore sanity and order to our dysfunctional little family.
/lt>P>"They've Got a Secret" keeps us guessing as to who exactly they turns out to be in this episode, which has long-range implications for the series. In a previous episode we had been teased with the idea that D'Argo has not revealed the true reason that he was imprisoned by the Peacekeeper. Yes, we find out what his deep dark secret is in this episode--it proves to be very deep and very dark--and, no, you never would have seen this one coming. Certainly we see a different side of D'Argo in this episode, turning the blustering warrior into a much more sympathetic figure.
/lt>P>I am not surprised but Crichton, the only human character on "Farscape," turns out to be the least interesting one of the bunch. Part of the reason for this is that he is so busy saving the day in episode after episode that his character development consists of nothing more than making pop culture references and Missing Earth. In this particular volume it is D'Argo who clearly grows the most as a character. Having lauded these DVDs for the tag-team commentary on the first three discs, I would add my voice to the chorus of those who are bitterly disappointed that the practice does not extend to the entire series. This DVD series started off setting the standards for being fan-friendly and now it is fairly pedestrian. Now we have the irony that just as the episodes were getting a lot better, we lose the commentary and insights from the cast and crew.
Buy Farscape Season 1 Vol 5 at Amazon.com
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