"Actor: Ben Black"

• Farscape: Complete Season 2 (Box Set) | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  The second series of Farscape expands upon and develops the characters introduced in the ambitious first series. John Crichton's new nemesis is the deadly Scorpius, replacing Crais, who has taken the living ship Moya's offspring on a voyage into the unknown. Moya's regular crew--Aeryn, Zhaan, Chiana, D'Argo and Rygel--remain as divided and suspicious of each other as ever, yet somehow manage to pull together at times of crisis. The writers continue to exploit the show's gift for surprising as well as emotionally convincing character development, while the CGI effects, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry--courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop--continue to make Farscape the most original-looking SF show on TV. The witty scripts, peppered with postmodern pop-culture references and movie in-jokes, are also a breath of fresh air. Despite some wildly erratic shifts in tone, this is exceptional TV science fiction that continually pushes the accepted boundaries of the genre. --Mark Walker

• Funny Man | DVD | (29/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  He's cheeky & he's cruel! When Max Taylor (Benny Young) wins the ancestral home of the mysterious Mr Chance (Christopher Lee) in a hand of Poker he doesn't realise that far from ending the game has just begun. As soon as the Taylor family move into their new home Max's wife (Ingrid Lacey) and two kids are brutally dispatched one-by-one at the hands of the resident demonic jester (Tim James); an evil joker with a varied and imaginative repertoire of homicidal techniques

• Robots / Ice Age | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £18.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (31.60%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The boys from IMAX bring you two of their classic films on this fantastic double feature boxed set. Robots (Dir. Chris Wedge 2005): Rodney Copperbottom voiced by Ewan McGregor is a small town robot who has a gift for inventing things and a hope of moving beyond his quaint surroundings. He works side by side in a restaurant with his dad who is a dishwasher - literally a dishwasher. You open his chest and load in the dishes. Rodney has dreams of something greater. Armed with

• Farscape : The Ultimate Complete Collection | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £249.99

  The fantastic Farscape universe is available as a complete four season box set for the very first time on DVD! Five years ago astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) attempted to use the Earth's atmosphere to propel his ship Farscape 1 at great speeds across the solar system. He went much further though and was sucked down a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy and into the middle of a battle. He was rescued by a group of escaping prisoners and taken aboard their ship a living ship known as Moya... Imaginative daring and fun the award-winning Farscape blows other Sci-Fi shows out of the water! Season 1: 1. Premiere 2. I E.T. 3. Exodus From Genesis 4. Throne For A Loss 5. Back And Back And Back To The Future 6. Thank God It's Friday. Again. 7. PK Tech Girl 8. That Old Black Magic 9. DNA Mad Scientist 10. They've Got A Secret 11. Till All The Blood Runs Clear 12. Rhapsody In Blue 13. The Flax 14. Jeremiah Crichton 15. Durka Returns 16. A Human Reaction 17. Through The Looking Glass 18. A Bug's life 19. Nerve 20. The Hidden Memory 21. Bone To Be Wild 22. Family Ties Season 2: 1. Mind The Baby 2. Vitas Mortis 3. Taking The Stone 4. Crackers Don't Matter 5. The Way We Weren't 6. Picture If You Will 7. Home On The Remains 8. Dream A Little Dream 9. Out Of Their Minds 10. A Kiss Is But A Kiss 11. I Do I Think 12. The Maltese Crichton 13. My Three Crichtons 14. Beware of Dog 15. Won't Get Fooled Again 16. The Locket 17. The Ugly Truth 18. A Clockwork Nebari 19. A Not So Simple Plan 20. With Friends Like These... 21. Plan B 22. Die Me Dichotomy Season 3: 1. Season of Death 2. Suns and Lovers 3. Self-Inflicted Wounds (Part 1): Could'a Would'a Should'a 4. Self-Inflicted Wounds (Part 2): Wait for the Wheel 5. Different Destinations 6. Eat Me 7. Thanks for Sharing 8. Green Eyed Monster 9. Losing Time 10. Relativity 11. Incubator 12. Meltdown 13. Scratch n' Sniff 14. Infinite Possibilities (Part 1): Daedalus Demands 15. Infinite Possibilities (Part 2): Icarus Abides 16. Revenging Angel 17. The Choice 18. Fractures 19. I-Yensch You-Yensch 20. Into the Lion's Den (Part 1): Lambs to the Slaughter 21. Into the Lion's Den (Part 2): Wolf in Sheep's Clothing 22. Dog with Two Bones Season 4: 1. Crichton Kicks 2. What Was Lost (Part 1) 3. What Was Lost (Part 2) 4. Lava's A Many Splendored Thing 5. Promises 6. Natural Election 7. John Quixote 8. I Shrink Therefore I Am 9. A Prefect Murder 10. Coup By Clam 11. Unrealised Reality 12. Kansas 13. Terra Firma 14. Twice Shy 15. Mental As Anything 16. Bringing Home The Beacon 17. A Constellation Of Doubt 18. Prayer 19. We're So Screwed (Part 1) 20. We're So Screwed (Part 2) 21. We're So Screwed (Part 3) 22. Bad Timing Peackeeper Wars: The Farscape saga continues with this brand new multi-million dollar mini series. When a full-scale war is engaged by the evil Scarran Empire the Peacekeeper Alliance has but one hope: reassemble human astronaut John Crichton once sucked onto the Peacekeeper galaxy through a wormhole. Crichton's task: get the entire Peacekeeper race to safety before the last war of an era brings an end to the universe....

• Stargate S.G -1: Season 4 (Vol. 14) | DVD | (03/09/2001) from £3.00   |  Saving you £18.25 (1,048.85%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The 1994 film Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV treatment was the natural next step. In the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG-1 With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" Goa'uld--the ancient Egyptian gods who are none too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife, Sam's father literally joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative lookalikes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. On this DVD: Picking up a week after the Season Three cliff-hanger "Nemesis", the Fourth Season finds the SG team split apart to win a few "Small Victories". Providing a nice change of scenery for the show, O'Neill and Teal'c are trapped aboard a Russian submarine fending off the remaining Replicator threat. Carter meanwhile is whisked away by Thor to come up with her best "stupid idea" to save the Asgard homeworld. Then the show respectfully broaches the subject of racial tolerance found on a planet at war on "The Other Side". The material is handled superbly by guest star Rene Auberjonois (formerly Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Odo). A little comic relief is provided in "Upgrades". When Tok'ra scientist Anise/Freya (Vanessa Angel) shows off some fabled technology the team are initially cautious. But the armbands give the wearer increased strength and speed, and in no time at all Jack, Sam and Daniel are abusing them. The fun of seeing them at a local restaurant ordering multiple rare steaks gives way to practical use when it's revealed that arch-enemy Apophis is constructing a new battleship. If the Tok'ra's duplicity is off-putting to the SGC this time, it's nothing compared to seeing Anise/Freya again in "Crossroads". O'Neill notices the "sparkage" between Teal 'c and visiting Jaffa-babe Sho'nac. When she states she has a way for the Tok'ra to obtain information about the Goa'uld from her placid symbiote, it's just bound to go bad. --Paul Tonks

• Stargate SG-1 Series 3 Vol. 8 - Episodes 1-4 | DVD | (29/01/2001) from £11.17   |  Saving you £8.82 (44.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The 1994 movie Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV treatment was the natural next step. Since neither Kurt Russell nor James Spader would be able to commit, it gave the producers licence to tinker with the cast and the universe they'd explore. Replacing the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG-1 With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" Pharaonic Goa'uld--the ancient Egyptian Gods who are none too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife; Sam's father literally joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld; and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative look-a-likes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. On the DVD: To resolve the Season Two cliffhanger "Out Of Mind", General Hammond rounds up every conceivable ally to rescue the SG-1 team from Hathor's clutches and gets a much-needed field trip in the process. "Into the Fire " is actually a weak opening for the new year, but does boast some impressive visuals as Hammond and Brat'ac pilot a shuttle through an open Stargate (euphemistically called "threading the needle"). In the next episode, the team are troublingly advised that the ancient God of Evil--"Seth"--has been hiding on Earth for thousands of years. Daniel miraculously tracks him down in about five minutes through a quick surf on the Web! In "Fair Game" O'Neill is "beamed up" to his chum the Asgard Thor in the middle of Carter's promotion to Major. Thor warns him that the Goa'uld System Lords are miffed about his team thwarting Hathor in "Out of Mind". All manner of underhand trickery and subterfuge then follows at a treaty meeting between three representatives and the hapless Jack. "Legacy" on the other hand is a strange connection back to Season Two's "Holiday" when Daniel suffers a mental breakdown courtesy of scientist Ma'chello. Some unnerving imagery (slugs in the ear akin to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) makes this one of the series' darker instalments. --Paul Tonks

• Farscape 4.2 | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Episodes 6-10 of Farscape's fourth series continue the themes set at the start of the year while concentrating on one-off adventures. John Crichton is still upset that Aeryn Sun has not confided in him about her pregnancy; Aeryn is still trying to cope with the loss of his dead copy; Chiana is trying in her lascivious way to get them back together; Scorpius and Sikozu are gradually becoming integrated into the life of the crew, and John and the others are trying to learn to trust their former arch-enemy. In "'Natural Election"', the process of choosing which of the crew shall be captain becomes more urgent when the living ship Moya is attacked by a space-dwelling plant that hangs around wormholes; "John Quixote" has Crichton and Chiana trapped in a surreal gameworld full of old friends and enemies; in "I Shrink, Therefore I Am", Crichton has to rescue his friends from bounty-hunters who have shrunk them and hidden them in their heavily-armoured bodies. Aeryn finds herself compelled to homicidal violence in "'A Prefect Murder"' and time goes wonky on her; Crichton has to get into drag and Scorpius has to vomit a lot to save their crewmates from getting caught in the cross-fire of "Coup by Clam". These are enjoyable albeit routine episodes of the most imaginative space opera ever to hit the TV screen, though they only hint at the wonders that were to come later in this final series. On the DVD: Farscape 4.2 has a wealth of special features that include two deleted scenes--one of them a touching discussion of their love lives between Aeryn and Chiana--and a text guide to swearing in the Farscape universe. There is a documentary about the special effects and a prolonged interview with Claudia Black in which she talks about how the show stretched her as an actress. It is presented in widescreen with a visual aspect ratio of 4:3 and has Dolby Digital sound. --Roz Kaveney

• Farscape 1.4 | DVD | (04/09/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  An international co-production of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, Farscape takes a visual leap beyond previous shows. Admittedly, the basic premise may be borrowed from Buck Rogers (American astronaut catapulted to far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas like the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script never takes itself too seriously (fart jokes and double-entendres pop up when you least expect them). It must have been expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds--in Dolby Digital 5.1) as if every penny made it to the screen. In true Buck Rogers style, Ben Browder plays leading man John Crichton as an all-American astronaut, although with a more believable sense of bewilderment; the supporting cast is a mixture of Australian and British actors, mostly disguised under heavy make-up.Box Set 4 includes four episodes, another gallery of conceptual art, and video profiles of everyone's favourite Hynerian Dominar, Rygel, as well as a profile of Moya the living Leviathan transport ship and her pilot. The episodes are: "Durka Returns", in which the crew meet the beautiful Chiana for the first time, as well as Rygel's old tormentor, Captain Durka; "A Human Reaction", where Crichton finally gets back to Earth but with unfortunate results for the rest of Moya's crew; "Through the Looking Glass" in which the crew and Moya are thrown into a dimensional schism inhabited by a strange creature; and "A Bug's Life", in which an intelligent virus is released on the ship after an encounter with Peacekeepers. --Mark Walker

• Farscape - The Complete Season 1 (Blu Ray) | Blu Ray | (08/10/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  An international co-production of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, Farscape takes a visual leap beyond previous shows. Admittedly, the basic premise may be borrowed from Buck Rogers (American astronaut catapulted to far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas such as the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all biomechanical curves and the script never takes itself too seriously (fart jokes and double-entendres pop up when you least expect them). It must have been expensive to make, but it certainly looks as if every penny made it to the screen. --Mark Walker

• Farscape 1.5 | DVD | (30/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise, but taking a visual and conceptual leap beyond those shows. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script, which is peppered with post-modern pop culture references and film in-jokes, never takes itself too seriously. It may be expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds--in Dolby Digital 5.1) like every penny made it to the screen. Ben Browder plays leading man John Crichton as a latter-day Buck Rogers but with an entirely believable sense of bewilderment, not to mention loss; the rest of the living ship Moya's crew also has plenty of difficult issues to deal with, allowing Farscape's writers licence to develop their characters in often unexpected ways. The result is episodic TV sci-fi that continually pushes at the accepted boundaries of the format. Box Set 5: these four episodes lead up to the climax of the show's first season. "Nerve" and "The Hidden Memory" make for a bold two-parter in which Crichton is reunited with his Peacekeeper Tech girlfriend, Gilina, and emotions are strained as he infiltrates a Peacekeeper base to find a cure for Aeryn's wound. But the story's most important function is to introduce the dreaded Scorpius, who uses his Aurora chair torture device to extract what he mistakenly believes is vital knowledge from Crichton. Scorpius, it soon becomes clear, is just not going to go away. In "Bone to be Wild" the crew is still on the run from the vengeful Scorpius and take refuge on a strange vegetation-covered asteroid where there's a deadly role-reversal of the beauty and the beast story taking place. Finally in "Family Ties" the season ends on a tense cliffhanger as Rygel plots with Scorpius, Crais intervenes unexpectedly, Moya's child turns out to be something of a handful, and Crichton and D'Argo must take a desperate gamble. Also on the disc is an interview with costume designer Terry Ryan and a profile of the Australian Creature Shop. --Mark Walker

• Stargate SG-1 - Series 10 - Vol. 1 | DVD | (13/08/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Step through the stargate with SG-1 a team of soldiers and scientists as they travel instantaneously to other planets to explore forge alliances defuse crises establish trade investigate ancient mysteries and defend Earth from such hostile forces as the Goa'uld and the Replicators. Episodes Include: 'Flesh and Blood' 'Morpheus' and 'The Pegasus Project'. Episodes: Flesh And Blood: As their battle with the Ori continues the team struggles to reunite and formulate a plan to defeat their enemy. Morpheus: On a mission to find a weapon that will defeat their powerful foe the team finds a planet whose inhabitants were killed by a mysterious illness and unwittingly fall victim to the illness themselves. The Pegasus Project: SG-1 travels to the Pegasus Galaxy and the city of Atlantis in hopes to find a clue to a weapon that can destroy the Ori. Insiders: The Team makes a pact with an old enemy to fight their common foe and the results are disastrous.

• Farscape 3.4 | DVD | (19/08/2002) from £17.98   |  Saving you £7.01 (28.10%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Well over half way through its third season and Farscape has plenty more surprises in store. This box set concludes the cliffhanger of "Infinite Possibilities" with the extraordinarily brave "Icarus Abides", in which the battle between Crichton and his Scorpius clone is resolved, but with fatal consequences. Then, in a dizzying change of pace, we return to Moya and the "other" Crichton for "Revenging Angel", part of which is a madcap Farscape take on the Road Runner cartoons, with a furious D'Argo standing in for Wiley Coyote. Matters turn sombre again as Aeryn communes with the spirits of the dead in "The Choice", but the reappearance of her mum, the vengeful Xhalax Sun, creates problems for Rygel and Stark. Across these four episodes the action seesaws between the crews of Moya and Talyn until a reluctant and painful reunion takes place in "Fractures", setting the scene for the final quartet of episodes of this enthralling season. Anyone who has not followed Farscape extremely closely from the very first episode of season one should go right back and begin at the beginning. On the DVD: four uncut episodes are accompanied by the now-familiar gallery of extras. There are "Info Pods" on D'Argo and Pilot, some deleted scenes, "Farscape Facts", Sci-Fi channel promos and a picture gallery. --Mark Walker

• Farscape 4.1 | DVD | (24/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In its fourth series Farscape is as much dramatic and romantic fun as it's ever been and it's even more stylish than ever before. A pity, then, that this series is also the show's last, following its abrupt cancellation by the Sci-Fi Channel. If at times the tone seems a little lighter here than in its gloriously doom-laden predecessor, that is because its story arc is the first half of what was intended to cover two series and some of the material is clearly here for the long run. It is, for example, probably no coincidence that the priests' chant in "What Was Lost" has been part of the show's signature tune from the beginning. There are five episodes here. In "Crichton Kicks", Crichton has been a castaway for months on a senile Leviathan which is waiting its time to die. He has worked out wormhole technology, trained an orchestra of DRDs to sing the 1812 Overture, and is generally content, until his worldly resignation is shattered by the arrival of the beautiful, bossy and untrustworthy Sikozu, a bunch of aggressive butchers and a somewhat battered Chiana and Rygel. "What Was Lost Part 1: Sacrifice" takes them to an archaeological dig where they join Jool, D'Argo and the mysterious, annoying old woman Noranti and start to uncover lost secrets that change everything. In "What Was Lost Part 2: Resurrection" Crichton, drugged into bed by the seductive evil Peacekeeper Grayza, regains his self-respect by helping save yet another world. "Lava's a Many-Splendored Thing" is a puzzle episode: how to rescue an amber-encased Rygel from the bottom of a pool of lava without getting crisped or shot by renegades and how to use D'Argo's ship to rescue him when it is keyed to his DNA. Finally, "Promises" takes everyone back to Moya to find a dying Aeryn Sun and a Scorpius she has promised to protect--the issue here is how to outwit both a Peacekeeper torpedo and an extortionist with a big ship and a taste for hiding behind holograms. On the DVD: Farscape 4.1 has a very useful guide to the show's back-story as well as an interview with Anthony Simcoe ( D'Argo) and various character profiles and galleries. The deleted and extended scenes are unusually interesting--there is an exchange between Scorpius, Braca and Grayza which turns out later in the season to have been especially important. The DVD is presented in 4:3 visual aspect ratio and has Dolby Digital 5:1 sound. --Roz Kaveney

• Farscape 3.3 | DVD | (01/07/2002) from £22.96   |  Saving you £2.03 (8.10%)   |  RRP £24.99

  By now it's clear that the third season of Farscape is the show's most exciting but also the most convoluted to date. The story so far: the crew has been divided across Moya and her troublesome offspring, Talyn; Crichton is literally divided into two; and Scorpius is sometimes real (but with a Crichton clone in his head) and sometimes the neural clone "Harvey" inside Crichton's head. Confused? Better follow events closely as multiple plot strands diverge and intertwine, characters from previous seasons pop up when you least expect them, and weird stuff generally keeps on happening. The four episodes in this box set take the various story threads still further apart. "Incubator" has the real Scorpius showing his Crichton neural clone the tragic truth about his upbringing. Scarrans, it seems, are the real enemy after all. In "Meltdown", Talyn is captured by a Siren Sun and Stark becomes even more unhinged, while Chrichton and Aeryn just can't keep their hands off each other. "Scratch 'n' Sniff" provides some welcome comic relief with an episode shot like a kinky David Fincher pop video and co-starring Ben Browder's real-life wife as the incredibly annoying Raxil. Finally, the gripping and action-packed "Infinite Possibilities, Part 1: Daedalus Dreams" returns us to the season's primary story-arc: the search for wormhole technology and its potentially dire consequences. The cliffhanger ending will have you yelling at the TV for more. On the DVD: only four episodes instead of the usual five, it's true, but every one is a corker. There are a handful of extras, including more "Info Pods", some deleted scenes and fact files to round out the set. --Mark Walker

• Stargate S.G -1: Season 3 (Vol. 12) | DVD | (21/05/2001) from £5.71   |  Saving you £15.54 (349.21%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The 1994 movie Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV treatment was the natural next step. In the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG-1. With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" Goa'uld--the ancient Egyptian Gods who are none too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife, Sam's father literally joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative look-a-likes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. --Paul Tonks On this DVD: the first two episodes of this volume spotlight O'Neill. "A Hundred Days" is the three months he spends stranded on planet Edora by the fire rain of a passing asteroid belt. Then in "Shades of Grey" he appears to suffer a total personality switch when he steals technology from the Tollan and is insubordinate in the extreme. Both these are terrific concepts but are scarcely enough story to have stretched across more than one episode. A little more teamwork is required to break "New Ground" on a planet fighting a war of ideology. Finally, the storyline concerning the Harcesis child from Volume 10 elicits a "Maternal Instinct" in Daniel after the discovery of mystical planet Kheb. But ultimately his agenda only brings them more trouble. As well a trailer for the next volume, the disc includes a nine-minute interview with Michael Shanks on his character of anthropologist Dr Daniel Jackson. He reveals his acting career was inspired by Richard Dean Anderson. There's also seven minutes with production designer Richard Hudolin explaining how the on-location Stargate takes an entire day to set up. --Paul Tonks

• Farscape 1.3 | DVD | (10/07/2000) from £9.98   |  Saving you £15.01 (60.10%)   |  RRP £24.99

  An international co-production of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, Farscape takes a visual leap beyond previous shows. Admittedly, the basic premise may be borrowed from Buck Rogers (American astronaut catapulted to far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas such as the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script never takes itself too seriously (fart jokes and double-entendres pop up when you least expect them). It must have been expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds-in Dolby Digital 5.1) as if every penny made it to the screen. In true Buck Rogers style, Ben Browder plays leading man John Crichton as an all-American astronaut, although with a more believable sense of bewilderment; the supporting cast is a mixture of Australian and British actors, mostly disguised under heavy make-up.There are five more episodes from Season One on this third DVD box set. "They've Got a Secret" has D'Argo being accidentally ejected into space, as a result of which, secrets of his imprisonment are revealed. "Till the Blood Runs Clear" finds Crichton and Aeryn confronting bounty-hunters. In "The Flax", the crew get all tangled up with some Zenetan pirates. Blue-skinned Delvian priestess Zhaan meets more of her kind in "Rhapsody in Blue", but madness is the result. Finally, "Jeremiah Crichton" finds our human hero stranded on an earthly paradise where no machines will function; falling in love is just the beginning of his troubles.On the DVD: Special features here are a gallery of conceptual art and another star profile, this time of Anthony Simcoe's Luxan warrior character, D'Argo. --Mark Walker

• Farscape 2.5 | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £14.80   |  Saving you £10.19 (68.85%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The second season of Farscape expands upon and develops the characters introduced in the ambitious first season. John Crichton's new nemesis is the deadly Scorpius, replacing Crais who has taken the living ship Moya's offspring on a voyage into the unknown. Moya's regular crew--Aeryn, Zhaan, Chiana, D'Argo and Rygel--remain as divided and suspicious of each other as ever, yet somehow manage to pull together at times of crisis. The writers continue to exploit the show's gift for surprising as well as emotionally convincing character development, while the CGI effects, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry--courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop--continue to make Farscape the most original-looking sci-fi show on TV. The witty scripts, peppered with post-modern pop culture references and film in-jokes, are also a breath of fresh air. The result is episodic TV sci-fi that continually pushes at the accepted boundaries of the genre. --Mark Walker

• Farscape 4.4 | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The fourth volume of Farscape's fourth (and final) series does all those things that the later stages of any season should do: individual episodes play interesting games with how we think television works, while the tension of the overall story arc builds and builds. Of the individual episodes here, "Mental as Anything" is an ensemble piece for the male members of Moya's crew: D'Argo's back-story gets some sort of resolution and Scorpius puts John Crichton through hell for the best of reasons. "Bringing Home the Beacon" is rather more fun-- the women of Moya frustrate a Sebacean/Scarren peace treaty--but ends in stark tragedy. In "Constellation of Doubt", Moya picks up, and the crew obsessionally watch, a documentary from American television about their recent visit to earth: Crichton gets to see human paranoia and wishful thinking through cold, intelligent alien eyes. Finally, in "Prayer", Aeryn suffers terribly at the hands of her Scarren captors and Crichton makes a devil's bargain with Scorpius to save her. By this point the season is building to the surprises of its last episodes: Farscape was about to be cancelled, but it never lost its edge. On the DVDs: Farscape, Series 4 Vol. 4 includes a dictionary of alien slang and technical terms with illustrative clips from the show, as well as text files on the villainous Peacekeepers Braca and Grayza. The high point of the extras, though, is an interview with the wonderfully flakey Gigi Edgeley (Chiana) and a lot of deleted scenes from "Constellation of Doubt", with footage of Chiana, Aeryn and Noranti interacting with Crichton's family in bizarre and touching ways. --Roz Kaveney

• Farscape 4.5 | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This last ever sequence of Farscape episodes is as effective and powerful a climax as those of earlier seasons. The three-parter "We're So Screwed" (a title censored by the BBC in the UK) starts with "Fetal Attraction", in which the crew of Moya attempt to rescue the pregnant Aeryn Sun from her Scarren captors and end up starting a dangerous epidemic on a space station. They get Aeryn back and lose Scorpius; in "Hot to Katratzi", the necessity of saving his worst enemy--who just knows too much to be left a captive--forces John Crichton to gate-crash the Sebacean-Scarren peace conference and bluff his way to success. Seemingly betrayed by Scorpius, John snatches victory in "La Bomba", striking another deadly blow against the Scarren empire. The title of the last episode "Bad Timing" refers both to the show's cancellation--the cast and crew felt real bitterness towards the SciFi Channel over this--and to the cliff-hanger ending; the crew of Moya have to prevent a Scarren ship finding its way through the worm-hole to Earth. Farscape was perhaps the best ever television space opera and certainly the most sexy, stylish, funny and dramatic; it will be greatly missed. On the DVD: Farscape, Series 4 Part 5 presents the shows in 16:9 format with impressively loud Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The special features include a documentary about the cancellation of Farscape, in which the cast talk about their shock and grief and fans talk about the "Save Farscape" campaign. There are a couple of extended versions of scenes from these episodes and an extensive blooper reel, much of it hilarious. Also included is an illustrated glossary of terms from the Uncharted Territories and a collection of interesting facts about these last four episodes. --Roz Kaveney

• Farscape 3.5 | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £15.98   |  Saving you £9.01 (36.10%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The final four episodes of Farscape's remarkable third season prove conclusively that this is the show's best and bravest year to date. Powerful issues of love, loyalty and sacrifice remain to be resolved, but after enduring a vertiginous emotional roller-coaster ride in recent episodes, Moya's reunited crew have no time to recuperate as Crichton determinedly calls them to arms for their sternest challenge yet. Scorpius and his Wormhole research must be destroyed at any price. Thus the scene is set to conclude the series' biggest story arc in a climactic confrontation aboard the Peacekeeper Command Carrier. In "I-Yensch, You-Yensch" the plan is set in motion, as a canny Rygel bargains with Scorpius and gains his grudging respect during an unexpected and tragi-comic heist by two murderously incompetent criminals. Then the two-parter "Into the Lion's Den" takes everyone onto the Command Carrier, where Aeryn is confronted by her past, Crichton's subconscious finally releases its Wormhole secrets, and Crais persuades Talyn to do something extraordinarily noble. By the end, it's hard not to sympathise with poor put-upon Scorpius. In the final episode, "Dog with Two Bones", Moya's crew seem finally free to go their separate ways as a mysterious refugee helps Crichton confront his worst fears about Aeryn. Emotions reach a climax and remain tantalisingly unresolved at the cliffhanger ending. On the DVD: Farscape, Volume 3.5 carries all the usual gallery of extra features--including deleted scenes, "Info-Pods" on Rygel, Crais and Scorpius, "Farscape Facts", trailers and stills--plus of course four uncut episodes. --Mark Walker