Oh man, I have such fond memories of watching Farscape on TV years ago. When I saw the first promo spots for it back in ’99, I thought it looked like a joke. Space Muppet cable sci-fi series. Yeah, it seemed pretty lame. I wouldn’t be caught dead watching it. And then I visited my parents one afternoon and caught them well into an episode which they refused to switch off, despite my loudest protest. So, I sat through it with them. And I was hooked. I’ve been a fan since then.

I’m ecstatic that A&E is bringing The Jim Henson Company‘s Farscape to Blu-ray in November but skeptical of the presentation of the episodes. The press release, which you can read in full over at TVShowsonDVD.com, states that “this definitive collection – optimized for HD from the European PAL masters – the highest quality available source elements – delivers the most optimal viewing experience for the series” but neglects to specify the resolution of their HD presentation. Could these discs possibly be 720p or 1080i? A&E has released some pretty solid transfers of old TV shows in the past and I have no reason to doubt they’ll do the best job possible here. I’m just concerned that the source elements, most of which likely involve special effects that were created at a much lower resolution for standard definition broadcasts, will need to be up-scaled to HD. I don’t want to see another Highlander: The Series fiasco but I’m afraid that might just come to pass, once these discs get into the hands of the fans. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen. I’ll keep you updated with any info I dig up regarding the tech specs of the discs.

Special Features:

• 20 Blu-ray discs featuring 88 complete and unedited episodes from the four-season run (1999-2003), remastered from the highest quality source material available
• Collectible packaging featuring all-new series artwork
• 29 Episode Commentaries, including “Premiere” with Rockne S. O’Bannon, Brian Henson and Ben Browder; “Jeremiah Crichton” with Claudia Black, Producer/Writer David Kemper, Browder and O’Bannon; “Bone to Be Wild” with Anthony Simcoe; “Relativity” with Lani Tupu (Crais/Voice of Pilot) and Director Peter Andrikidis; and, “Bad Timing” which features Browder, Black and Kemper discussing the series’ final episode.
• A BRAND-NEW documentary – Memories of Moya: An Epic Journey Explored featuring revealing new interviews with the cast and creators.
• Multiple featurettes and documentaries including “In the Beginning: A Look Back with Brian Henson”; “Making of a Space Opera” and “Inside Farscape: Save Farscape,” on which fans, cast and crew discuss the fate of their beloved series.
• Multiple video profiles featuring archival clips and cast/crew discussing their characters and roles on Farscape.
• Over 90 minutes of deleted scenes.
• Slideshows and archival photo galleries, including character concepts and promo photos.
• Production design galleries featuring screenshots, rough drafts and concept slide shows.
• Behind-the-Scenes interviews with Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simcoe, Virginia Hey, Gigi Edgley, Paul Goddard (Stark), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius) and more.
• Original TV promos and trailers

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