However, on reflection, it was only four hours long, what else could they have done. I did enjoy this mini series, the ending was particularly good. I would like to see more of Farscape, but I doubt that that will happen.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
Review date: 2005-09-05 Rating: 6 out of 10

Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars isn't a bad mini-series but it is by no means a victorious resurrection. It plays like a rough synopsis of what might have been, combined with a final farewell. It wraps up just enough from the previous four seasons to satisfy what the fans were clamoring for the most loudly, but does so with little invention in set piece after set piece, as if the writers were checking off a list detailing all the major plot lines and featuring almost every major character that made an appearance during the series' run.

However, because Peacekeeper Wars was financed by a third party, there was a price to be paid. The conclusion came at the cost of downgrading the supporting characters, once an integral part of Farscape, into traditional and expendable sidekicks, their story arcs curtailed or abandoned in favour of those of Crichton, Aeryn, and Scorpius. Any plot threads relevant to the supporting cast are concluded in a perfunctory and unsatisfactory manner or simply dropped; some characters are changed or rewritten (even if it contradicts canon), and at least one major character does not appear at all. This is almost certainly because Peacekeeper War's private backers wanted an action-orientated mini-series concentrating on only on the main characters so that it would be understandable for those who never have seen Farscape before (and therefore easier to sell around the world), and the production has been compromised for their benefit as a result.

And though fans hoped that Peacekeeper Wars would be a new beginning for Farscape, it's lacklustre ratings (almost certainly due to numerous reviews labeling it as a 'fans only' affair) has only proved that the network was correct to cancel. Far from reviving Farscape, Peacekeeper Wars has killed it.

And the frustrating thing is, had Farscape's producers had been more willing to negotiate with the network, they could have concluded Farscape with a shortened 13 episode season or 2-3 mini-series. Instead, they relied on the fans to badger the network into buying a full season of a show that fewer and fewer people were watching. The campaign failed, and the producers had to be bailed out by a syndicate who could only provide funds for one privately-financed and thematically compromised mini-series that belittles the cast's best efforts in the previous seasons, and wasted the talents of the supporting cast.

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