What changed

Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars

Comparing version 5 (21 October 2026, 14:16 UTC, imported from the content file) with version 5 (21 October 2026, 14:16 UTC, imported from the content file).

The text is identical between these two versions; the change was to the references or the provenance, not to what the page says.

1. Format: Two-part television miniseries (per Wikipedia contributors)
2. Director: Brian Henson
3. Writers: Rockne S. O'Bannon and David Kemper
4. Producer: The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment
5. Network: Sci-Fi Channel (US) (per Wikipedia contributors)
6. Part 1 aired: 17 October 2004 (per Wikipedia contributors)
7. Part 2 aired: 18 October 2004 (per Wikipedia contributors)
8. Running time: 182 minutes
9. In place of: A fifth season (per The Companion)
10. What it is
11. Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars is a 2004 military science fiction television miniseries directed by Brian Henson and written by Rockne S. O'Bannon and David Kemper. According to Wikipedia contributors, it was produced by The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment for the Sci-Fi Channel, and ran for a total of 182 minutes. According to SYFY Wire, it is a four-hour, two-episode event series that premiered in 2004 and was titled The Peacekeeper Wars.
12. The series on which it is based, Farscape, was canceled before it could finish telling its story, and ended on a cliffhanger; this miniseries exists to finish the story in place of the fifth season that had been announced and was never made.
13. The story
14. The miniseries is set in the wake of the Season 4 finale cliffhanger and concerns the war between the Peacekeepers and the Scarran Empire. It opens far from the water world where John Crichton and Aeryn Sun have been crystallised, with a Peacekeeper fleet under Scorpius fighting a Scarran fleet under Emperor Staleek.
15. The war will be fought over John Crichton, whose mind contains the knowledge to turn wormholes into weapons of mass destruction, and both sides want him for that reason. The water world where Crichton and Aeryn lie is the last outpost of the Eidelons, an empathic race whose abilities once encouraged peace and whose homeworld of Arnessk was made uninhabitable 12,000 cycles earlier.
16. SYFY Wire notes that the ending of the miniseries is admittedly a bit rushed because there is so much material to get through in just four hours.
17. The cancellation
18. Wikipedia contributors record that the same source attributes the decision to cost concerns, noting that viewership had fallen during the fourth season. Wikipedia contributors state that Wikipedia further points out that EM.TV & Merchandising AG had purchased The Jim Henson Company in 2000 and that the company was in serious financial trouble by 2002.
19. The Companion, quoting co-creator Rockne S. O'Bannon, gives a different account: it reports that the Sci-Fi Channel raised cancellation as a negotiating ploy over the Season 5 licensing fee, and that the new German owners of The Jim Henson Company accepted it; O'Bannon states that the cancellation was a business decision rather than a creative one. According to Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia and The Companion therefore disagree on what drove the cancellation.
20. The "Save Farscape" DVD featurette relates that Henson, Kemper and Ben Browder broke the news of the cancellation in an online chat, and within hours supporters had launched an effort to save the series or move it elsewhere. SYFY Wire reports that demolition of the show's sets was put on hold while those involved awaited word on a possible renewal or concluding event.
21. The fourth season finale "Bad Timing" ended with Crichton and Aeryn shattered into pieces and a "To Be Continued" card, even though the people finishing the episode already knew the series had been canceled. According to Den of Geek, the "To Be Continued" ending was kept because the writers and director chose to air the episode as written rather than rewrite it once cancellation was known.
22. The campaign
23. Den of Geek reports that, driven by an energetic fan campaign, the Sci-Fi Channel greenlit a two-part miniseries to settle the cliffhanger and bring closure to the show's main storylines. Wikipedia states that Henson and others credit the fan campaign with Farscape's return. Wikipedia also notes that European investors approached Brian Henson with offers of funding once the fan campaign drew public notice.
24. Brian Henson later secured the rights to Farscape, paving the way for the three-hour miniseries, which he himself directed.
25. Making it
26. Wikipedia contributors record that production of the miniseries ran from December 2003 to March 2004. Wikipedia contributors state that David Kemper served as executive producer and Guy Gross composed the theme music.
27. The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment produced the miniseries for the Sci-Fi Channel. Henson labels the three hours as episodes 4.23–4.26, whereas the New South Wales Film Office describes it as a 2 × 2 hour telemovie. Den of Geek reports that the miniseries brought back the series' leads along with other key characters for a farewell story.
28. In May 2004 the Sci-Fi Channel announced it would run the two-episode conclusion. The miniseries was also scheduled for broadcast in the UK on Sky1 on 16 and 23 January 2005 and by Five on 8 March.
29. According to Wikipedia contributors, Lionsgate issued Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars on DVD in the US and The Contender Entertainment Group released it in the UK; the US edition merges both parts into a three-hour film, while the UK two-disc set presents one segment per disc. Alive distributed a German region-free Blu-ray of the miniseries in 2014, branding it "Farscape: Season Five- The Peacekeeper Wars".
30. On 19 March 2019, the twentieth anniversary of Farscape, all four seasons and the miniseries were made available on Amazon Prime Video in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavian countries. GateWorld reported the miniseries had been remastered in HD for the Amazon Prime Video release.
31. The two parts
32. According to Wikipedia, the miniseries consists of two episodes.
33. Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, Part 1 (first aired 17 October 2004).
34. Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, Part 2 (first aired 18 October 2004).
35. According to YouTube (Farscape), both parts are on this page because the rights holder published them on its official Farscape YouTube channel as a single full-movie upload, and the same channel hosts the full Peacekeeper Wars miniseries.
36. The Peacekeeper Wars, Part 1 The first part of the miniseries as published by the rights holder, from the start of the upload.
37. The Peacekeeper Wars, Part 2 The second part of the miniseries as published by the rights holder, from the start of the upload.
38. Reception
39. Wikipedia states that the miniseries drew smaller audiences than most prior Sci-Fi Channel miniseries and failed to mark a meaningful gain. On 14 July 2005, the miniseries earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special. It took the Saturn Award for Best Television Presentation in 2004.

Back to the page · Suggest a change