TV Guide Review of Peacekeeper Wars

It's the kind of romance that can only be written in the stars: Two lovers-reconstituted froma bunch of crystals-are clinched in a passionate embrace. Then, in perfect harmony, they turn and draw their weapons to confront the enemies who seek to harm them and their unborn interspecies child.

It's family values, Farscape style.

Farscape, of course, is the witty, elegant and deliciously complex series that ran on Sci Fi Channel for four seasons until, to the horror of its many fans, it was suddenly canceled in 2002. An unsatisfying final episode aired in March 2003. After a global campaign by furiour devotees, Farscape has returned with a spectacular $20 million miniseries called The Peacekeeper Wars.

Just another cable-clogging space adventure? Not even close. Farscape: The Peackeeper Wars is a compelling and deeply satisfying cinematic experience, one that rivals some of Hollywood's best science-fiction adventures.

At the center of Farscape's universe is an old-fashioned love story, the galaxy-shaking relationship between marooned human astronaut-John Crichton, played with humor and charm by Ben Browder-and alien warrior Aeryn Sun, portrayed with kick-ass sexiness by Australian actress Claudia Black. It's their troubled passion that provides the intergalactic propellant that drives the action in this engaging epic. "Farscape is a romance," Browder says. "It's about a guy trying make a life in an alien universe." Who can't identify with that?

Farscape grew its huge fan base by giving viewers colorful, well-developed characters, and the miniseries won't disappoint. Returning are the valiant D'Argo and his sometime lover Chiana, the pint-sized Rygel, and the deliciously devious Scorpius. Each has his or her own agenda as well as suffering, misery and angst.

(Speaking of angst, Scapers need not fear that this will necessarily be the end of the line for their favorite space epic. "This [mini-series] is the end of a chapter of Farscape," says executive producer and director Brian Henson. Options for a feature film or spin-off series are under consideration he says.)

The Peackeeper Wars continues the love story between Crichton and Aeryn that was so rudely interrupted by Sci Fi Channel execs 19 months ago, a story so convincing that during filming in Australia, even the off-screen plots were often about Browder and Black and the special rapport they seem to enjoy. "Ben and I are incredible romantics," agrees Black. With working styles so exquisitely in tune, everybody just assumed something unscripted was going on.

"People were constantly asking me, 'So are you two... you know?'" says Browder, the father of two. They weren't, he says with a laugh. And just to make sure, Browder's wife, actress Francesca Buller, was along to play a ferocious Scarran war minister (yep, she's totally scaly) in the miniseries. In fact, over the life of the series, Buller has played a string of evil creatures bent on killing Crichton.

Crichton's as much a one-woman man as Browder. "I don't mind playing a philanderer," he says, "but it didn't work for Crichton. Sometimes we want our heroes to have great passion and love for a single person. There's something hugely romantic about that, and there aren't too many examples of that in modern television and film."

In The Peacekeeper Wars, that love is put through the interstellar wringer as a huge battle rages across entire star systems between the ironically named Peacekeepers and the equally vicious-and way less attractive-Scarrans. The prize? Crichton's head, filled to the brim with its knowledge of wormholes, the key to galactic domination.

But Crichton's an unwilling warrior. Like Odysseus or that guy from "Cold Mountain," all he wants is to be with his woman and his soon-to-be-born baby. (Look for the little despot Rygel as the least expected surrogate "mother" and an amusing childbirth scene.)

"What's central in the movie," says Henson, "is the prioritizing of your life. It's just taken to an extreme. Crichton has to handle a no-win problem: Do I let my family survive, or do I stop this war? That's the ultimate question: Would you be ready to sacrifice your family to save the world?"

For Farscape fans, the ultimate question is, "What's next?"