Slashdot Mirror
Farscape Frelling Cancelled
Mukaikubo writes "The Sci-Fi Channel has decided to cancel their second largest show, Farscape. Because networks respond better to phone calls and snail-mail letters than a mass e-mail campaign and there is contact info on a fan-run Message Board. Time is of the essence, as the Network wants to tear down props at the end of next week. Help save one of the best science fiction shows on TV today!" Other articles can be found here and the chat log is online too.
I'm sure they'll show reruns for years on SciFi, and failing that there is always alt.binaries.tv.farscape. But it would really be a shame if no new content was created.
The future isn't what it used to be.
Well, it's a sad thing to write, but maybe they just make more profit with other series of lower quality? It's like when the Babylon 5 spin-offs where killed... Here's a good statement from JMS about this.
The analogy I can find, is to Fast Food: Low-quality stuff for the masses (but it's practical and I'm enjoying it sometimes). Guaranteed profit. The stuff I consider high-quality, is a matter of taste. So the market is limited and profits not guaranteed. If you would run a restaurant for a living, what would you offer?
Sad, though.
Excellence: Moderate (mostly affected by comments on your karma)
They are canceling it because it is too expensive to create. It is much cheaper to put together dreck like John Edwards, or show old B horor movies that will draw a far smaller audience, than it is to be creative.
I am also with the people who have commented that season 4 wasn't worth the time I spent watching it.
That's just my opinion, yours is yours.
-Rusty
You never know...
Farscape is, of course, a space show, so I saw this coming. It was surprising that it stayed on the schedule this season, but not surprising that its stay of execution was only temporary.
And now, for a small question from me... What is the point of a science fiction channel without science fiction?
I always thought John Edwards belonged on the comedy channel.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
At times like this when it appears a trend is forming to cancel highly-rated shows like Farscape and Witchblade on cable, you have to wonder if there was a network study somewhere which claimed that Sci Fi was "out" or "on the want" and everyone is trying to get ahead of the curve. TV execs always seem to be trying to get ahead of the curve (rather than sticking with what works), which seems to leave us with fewer and fewer old, popular, and unique shows and more and more shows stamped from the same cloth.
I don't think petitions, letters, nor phone calls will do any good.
As Ben put it, "They're taking a chainsaw to Moya next week" meaning that the sets are scheduled to be destroyed within a matter of days.
Yeah, maybe letters and phone calls will make them spend the money to rebuild the sets, but I probably wouldn't hold my breath. They would have folded the sets if there was a chance the show was going to be picked up again (as they did with "Crusade"'s sets [even though they never did pick up this series]). I think it's best we wish Brian Henson et al the best of luck on their new endeavors instead of spending our energy on such a longshot. The best we could hope for is for a final episode or movie, but I doubt this as well
Gnuyen
But what is "frelling"?
There is no good sci-fi on at the moment. I see Enterprise and its just more "wild west cowboys in space" crap.
no sig.
I never got into the show, but understand why other people did. It's a decent show and probably should continue.
There is always hope. HBO has a rather good record of picking up shows of meritable creative content that do not get network/cable support from the cronies that run them. Maybe you could redirect or cc your support mail there.
Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.
Urrghh... what a way to wake up on a Saturday. Farscape is one of the few shows that I make time to watch.
I'm not usually surprised when a series is cancelled - either it obviously bites, or no-one is watching. Neither seems to be true of Farscape. In fact, I'm so mystified by this, I've spent my Saturday morning writing a letter to the Sci Fi channel in the U.S... I know, I know, I've been extremely polite (just expressing my sincere shock) and I realise that they will probably just bin it along with the thousands of other "fan" letters, but I had to do it.
I've never done that for a TV show before. So maybe that will mean something to the less cynical slashdot readers.
I urge everyone who is upset about this to send a fax to Sci-Fi Network. I found the this link to a free online fax service from the parent article.
Free Online Fax
Sci-Fi's fax number is +1-212-413-6531.
I would say yes save the show. However, I dont' like that show. It's too much like Star Trek, which I hate. I mean, I'm a geek just like the rest of you, but this is one area of geekdom I just don't get. When I watch Star Trek I just can't help but feel I'm watching an afternoon soap opera, except everyone is wearing an alien costume or a space ship uniform. Changing the setting doesn't make a show any better. I don't watch scifi channel anymore anyway. Wait... I don't watch TV anymore really. Go ahead and cancel all the shows you want.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
In those cases, they killed off shows that you had to think ( gasp ) to enjoy.. and replaced with mindless garbage. Sign of the times i guess.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Look at what the networks have killed in the past 6 months (of note):
Dark Angel (FOX: news to me, but axed in May, had ok ratings!)
Futurama (FOX: weak ratings)
A couple days ago:
Witchblade (TNT: had strong ratings!)
Farscape (Sci-Fi: good ratings?)
(I'm sure I'm missing a biggie in all this. X-Files, Ally McBeal, Family Guy, etc. don't count...)
I'd understand the cancellations if the ratings were weak, and new programming was so much more promising but:
Derivative spinoffs: CSI:Miami, Law & Order:
Cop shows, cop shows, cops shows
doc shows, doc shows, doc shows
Another boring lawyer show from David E. Kelley
New soon-2-be-DOA show from the other lucky producer...
And the rest being f**king lame-assed "reality" shows I don't watch. How the f**k do loser shows like Big Brother2, Amazing Race2, and The Mole2 manage to get timeslots??? Yeah, they're cheap to produce, but they get sh*tty ratings.
I just don't get it. There a quite a few new shows coming out this fall, and most of them have LOSER stamped on them. Why kick out a promising show to stick in a sure loser?
The only thing new that looks like it has promise is Firefly. But I would have killed something other than Dark Angel... (Birds Of Prey looks promising too.)
Is it that our demographic (and thus, entertainment preferences) is too old and not desirable anymore? Do good shows cost too much? Do networks make more money on sh*t reality shows?
Am I missing a possible trend? (Economic recession putting content companies out of business? 9/11 makes people want mindless, "wholesome", patriotic, hero themed shows?)
Its a conspiracy, I tell you! And the handwriting is on the wall. Get ready to say goodbye to Buffy, Stargate SG1 (a Sci-Fi channel property), Angel, Smallville, Enterprise(?), South Park, Son of the Beach,
I can't say its all bad. I watch way too much TV. I'd like to feel confident that there will be something watchable in a couple of years, but it doesn't look good (for me, for us?)...
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
Since so many people seem to be asking, Farscape was scifi's highest, or second highest show depending on who you ask. Unrealized Reality (Season 4, Episode 12) pulled a 1.5, which is pretty unheard of for this network.
Unfortunately, it's also their most expensive show to create, but what the hell else do they have? They killed b5:lotr (And no, not THAT lotr), they killed lexx, Stargate's coming to a conclusion after this season.... They're going to have dead zone and johnathon edwards when at the end of this year.
JMS said scifi wants to get away from "those space shows", when they killed the b5 spinoff. I haven't figure out who's irrational bias this is, they're the scifi channel for christ sake, ut if I ever identify the person responsible, rest assured that I will provide contact info.
Because networks respond better to phone calls and snail-mail letters than a mass e-mail campaign and there is contact info on a fan-run Message Board.
/. editor's scalpel.
Huh? I'm hoping this is due to a
mstyne: real name, no gimmicks
Demographically, for an example, Mole 2 was holding its own against AI in the 18-34 demos for that time slot. If people that advertisers want to sell to are watching, that's good enough.
Then again, NBC Executives have twice cancelled ratings-wise successes that followed Friends (Inside Schwartz was ranked in the top 15 at year's end, believe it, or not), because they pulled in only a 30 share rather than carry the 60 share of the Ross/Rachel crew.
SFC's tactics seems to make it unprofitable for another network to hop in and save the show, or else toss in money to rebuilt the sets. Slash and burn, anyone?
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
I'm sorry for those people that enjoy Farscape, but I could never get into it.
I could never get into it. It just seemed like Days of Our Lives in spaceships. It had that same dark, dreary lighting and slow pace that is so typical of soap operas. Even the character summaries from the show's web page sound like a soap opera:
Chiana's happiest when she has the opportunity to show off her scoundrel skills; she's a thief, a liar, a seductress and a drama queen.
I'll take Enterprise any day. The story line is inspirational. The recurring characters are admirable. The production values are top-notch. The special effects are beyond reproach. And each episode stands on its own and does not require that you watch the show serially from the pilot up to the current episode to understand what is going on -- though, taken together, it tells a larger story.
I like science fiction, but I'd hardly call myself a "fan". Some of what passes for popular in the sci fi community doesn't register at all with me, and in fact I'd often write off as just not very good.
Unfortunately I'd have to put Farscape in that column. I caught an episode or two and just didn't find it all that interesting. I'd guess that someone, somewhere decided that a show that lacks whatever elements make scifi popular to those people who don't count themselves as part of the sci fi fanbase.
I think that like any genre the true fans always have a greater level of appreciation for things that will never register with most people. Some things (Star Wars, Alien, Close Encounters, Blade Runner, etc) have an attraction that makes them attractive outside the genre's base. I don't think that Farscape was one of them.
And this is true of lots of genres of books, movies, music, or any other creative endeavor. It drives the fans batty, of course, because inevitably they are insulted when something they thought was a good representation of the genre gets cut because it just isn't popular with non fans.
What surprises me is that as many scifi fans as there are that they haven't started doing their own low-budget scifi films direct to video. The Born Again types have been doing this for a while now, making movies based on Revelations. Its pretty big in the Christian community but doesn't even register on Hollywood's radar.
Money only sorta.
The problem is that Farscape had an involved story (unlike other TV shows). That's what made it good. But you needed to see all the episodes to make any sense of what was happening.
Combine that with expensive, high quality production and the most incompetent marketing department in history and you have a huge money hole.
They needed world wide distribution to make their money back, but their God damn incompetent marketing dept. couldn't understand that you have to treat a program like this differently than Bonanza.
They wouldn't let outside networks get season 1 & season 2 episodes without which the series made no sense!
100% incompetent marking.
100%
One, everyone is right in that the Show was less linear in the 4th season and had more single episode bubbles. I think the reason is cause SciFi wanted another Star Trek and not another Babylon 5. They needed a show that they can show in ANY order in the reruns and not have to worry about keeping the story arc going. One of the reason Star Trek is so popular is cause with its overall single episode ways, they can be rerun like mad and anyone, not even star trek fans can see an episode and get into it and not worry about why, who, when.. I LOVE babylon 5 but i have to admit, if i watch the reruns, its much harder if i wasnt already aware of the series plot.
As for why it was canceled? Face it people. Scifi and USA Networks isnt Paramount with its huge cash reserves. It takes money. While Paramount can keep up with the costs, SCiFi cant. All those CGI effects, costumes, salaries, Puppets, etc..all cost money.
I hate it. I wish they didnt cancel it. But SciFi can actually make MORE money rerunning POPULAR scifi shows and have fans watch then make a new series or new season.
Think about it. They get money for the commercials and stuff for simply reruning a show that was already made or has already paid for it self.So instead of spending money on it, they can start making money. I think they simply figured 88 epsiodes are enough backlog to show reruns and have the fans keep coming back out of nastalgia.
sad sad. Witchblade is canceled too!! Cause its TNT. Sad. Cause a cable TV isnt as big as Paramount or not enough money..original and great shows get cancled.
Witchblade,
First wave,
etc..
now..Frascape.
Caitlin Kiernan, the horror and fantasy writer, has a long comment on the cancellation of Farscape along with contact information and actions to take, including contacts for the advertisers on the show. She doesn't have links to individual days, so read the journal and look for the entry for Saturday, September 07, 2002.t mlÂÂ
http://www.caitlin-r-kiernan.com/journal.h
Actually, I thought they were going to end it either the end of this season (No, the season has NOT ended yet, no matter what sci fi wants you to think - It's only HALF over - SciFi Wants to spread it out a little, since they may only get one season) or add one more season depending on viewer demand. Then they were going to do an SG-1 Movie which would set the stage for Atlantis. Infinity will have no impact on the stargate universe - it'll be a standalone, unbearable kiddie show. Not like the kinds we had when we were younger like G I Joe or Transformers or whatnot, but more like power rangers and the new transformers.. the cartoons that just reak of "Lesson of the week" type stuff.
The phone number given is for a woman named Bonnie Hammer. Unfortunately her voicemailbox is full. Does anyone have the number of anyone it would be appropriate to call?
i think it's about time for a cable channel that's entirely programmed by the viewers, kinda like a slashdot channel.
yeah, it wouldn't have much original programming, but i imagine it would be the best mix of reruns and syndicated shows available. and with this crowd, a lot of sci-fi and classic thinking-person's shows (ooh! a channel that would show "The Prisoner" would get my vote)
maybe with enough karma-minded contributing viewers, it would have enough clout and advertisers to afford to get some original shows produced...
*shrug*
it's an idea. not my best...
- Entertaining Bits from the Ancient Kernel Tree
I hate to say that I agree completely. Occasionally season 3 had a weird episode here and there ("Scratch & Sniff," "Revenging Angel") but also some really over-the-top good stuff. The "Daedalus Demands"/"Icarus Abides" saga that started way back in "Eat Me" was some really amazing television.
But Season 4 has just blown, hitting what I think was its low point with "John Quixote."
But I'm easy. If they would throw me a bone with something as good as "The Flax" or "Crackers Don't Matter," I'd be right back in front of my tee vee.
(God, I'm a geek. Quoting all these episode titles, I sound like Comic Book guy. Time to go soak up some real life.)
Frill. They are the SciFi channel! Space shows are they're bread and butter!
The problem with television is that relatively new emerging networks (Fox is another example) is their history:
Hmmm... Lots of traditional businesses follow a similar path now that I think of it...
Solution?
I swear by MacOS X. Although I use to swear *at* MacOS 9...
John Edward -- All fiction and no science.
Real science fiction fans deride the use of Sci-Fi as a moniker, I guess it is becoming obvious why. Soap operas in space are not science fiction, 900 number reject asshole "psychics" that scam old people are not science fiction.
Science fiction is about expanding the way we thing about the present, by showing us probable or possible futures, based on the science and technology we currently have. It only barely encompasses the "supernatural", only insofar as the "supernatural" is just science we do not yet understand, which, by definition isn't really supernatural.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
In other cost-cutting measures, Stargate SG1 will be canceled, but replaced with a spin-off series called "Wormhole eXtreme". Also, the network is considering breathing new life into the old BBC series "Doctor Who". Rumour has it that the renewed "Doctor Who" series would hold fairly true to its earlier incarnation, and less like the movie-length "pilot" episode that was produced a number of years ago. An anonymous inside source tells us, "we think the die-hard Who fans will like it: sets will wobble."
proof, n. A demonstration that a conclusion is implied by certain premises and axioms.
My theory for the past 10 years has been that there is an inevitable tendency for any given TV network or channel to become exactly like all the others. New, focused channels may pop up, or old ones may refocus, but those are momentary spikes, and the general direction will remain unchanged.
Remember when MTV actually had music? Or when VH1 did? Now they both mostly have crappy reality shows and cheesy documentaries.
Remember when TNN was The Nashville Network? Even if you weren't a country fan, you had to respect the attention they gave to their target demographic, with "Dukes of Hazzard" and "Dallas" marathons, NASCAR, outdoor shows, and the Grand Ol' Opry. The first bad sign was when they started showing Star Trek. Nashville? Huh? Now they're the "National Network," and last time I checked there were no fishing shows or overalls in sight.
CNN used to be all news; now it's mostly talk shows that are vaguely news-related. Fox and WB used to be hip and edgy, and now they could give CBS a strong challenge for the snooze market most nights. Heck, even the Weather Channel has shows now!
And soon we'll all pine for the days when Sci-Fi actually had science fiction. I'll go out on a limb and predict that they'll soon change their name to "SF," then shortly thereafter start pretending that it stands for something completely different, like -- I don't know -- "Serious Favorites: The Best Shows Everybody Likes!"
When we were told we'd have 500 channels of programming, nobody ever bothered to mention that they'd all be showing reruns of Law & Order and Friends.
I attended WorldCon, in which some of the executives of the SciFi channel were at a panel.
They gave no clue that they were cancelling Farscape, but it was clear that the relationship with Farscape was different then many of their other shows. Basically a number of their shows are produced by either themselves or by a sister company under Vivendi Universal, but Farscape is not.
Thus they have very few rights to Farscape, basically first broadcast rights. They may have decided that they needed more rights or control to the properties that they do broadcast then what Farscape was offering. Think about it, with the Dune miniseries, they own it completely. They get money from every DVD, every overseas sale, etc.
This adds up, and may be what makes them believe they'll make more money producing their own or their sister companies shows then continuing to promote Farscape which owns all such subsidiary rights.
BTW, re: the comments about starting in January being a bad sign, the executives also said in the panel that they don't try to do new stuff in the fall like the other networks. Instead, they counter-program, and thus introduce new mini-series and events in December when most networks are doing their first reruns, and introduce new shows in January and Summer when the momentum for network shows is down.
-- Herder of Cats
The SCIFI web page for FarScape has no mention of a cancellation, and in fact they are touting new epsisodes in January. They are also touting the new FarScape video game.
On top of that, SCIFI doesn't seem (from my brief research and the recollection of the credits) to have anything to do with production, they seem merely to purchase the show for "broadcast". What I understand is that Jim Henson Productions owns the show (characters, plots, elements, etc). So if JH owns the show, why would SCIFI cancelling the show cause JH and the production company to tear down sets when apparently the show runs on several other channels/stations in other countries (like BBC2 in England, FoxTel in Australia, etc).
While SCIFI has a history of cancelling good shows, and I can't completely discount this as rumor/hoax the story just doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and there is no press release or the like that I can find on a credible site.
If you do believe that the story is true and SCIFI is indeed cancelling FarScape, then I suggest that along with your letters/calls/emails/faxes to the SCIFI headquarters, that you also write/contact the programming managers at some other stations, just in case.
HBO comes to mind, they are a major force in commercial-free original series, and they currently lack a SciFi based show. In order to compete with Odyssey 5 and Jeremiah on ShowTime (don't they also show SG-1?), HBO might very well be willing to pick up FarScape along with the installed viewer base. A letter writing campaign to them might better scure the future of FarScape in the event of cancellation by SciFi Network and cesssation of production by Henson, et al.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
no text
Well, people who are stupid enough to actually buy the stuff they see in the commercials are probably a better target group than those who don't and even use DVRs to skip them.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
One could easily surmise that the true audiences for these more thoughtful shows has already largely abandoned TV for the internet and games. Therefore the delivery media is out of sync with the potential audience.
One thing that the TV execs would rather fight than admit is that trying to chop the world up into geographical bits won't work any more. As soon as something is broadcast anywhere in the world it is likely to be available for download from some source or other.
I reread my original post and was embarassed to see the title with the word "that" where the word "who" should have been. Let the snickering begin...
Tonight I was checking Fark.com literally as I was about to go out the door and saw that we'd been cancelled... my jaw just *dropped*. I couldn't believe it, the show was literally our lives for the last three years...
The mood at the party was pretty good, a lot of sadness - I mean sci-fi broke the news the DAY before the wrap party, everyone was still reeling. We'd all known that season 5 was an on-paper "lock" but we knew there was a chance it might not happen. But overall people were in a cool state of mind, nothing like this had ever been done in Sydney before and it's been a hell of a ride. Everyone involved with the show is so happy to have been a part of it, for me it was my first job in the industry after quitting the IT world, and even when it got tough I'm so grateful to have gotten the opportunity, and I've made a lot of good friends to boot.
Brain Henson explained that it had almost made it to at least 13 eps for season 5 but in the end he just couldn't sell it. Man, I'm numb (of course that could be the after effects of the party) It turned out to be a damn good party though, the gag reel had been hastily re-cut to include some nice moments in light of the news, but it went down well - Anthony Simcoe as D'Argo and Wayne Pygram as Scorpious bring the house down every year with their totally in-character bloopers, this year was no expection. I know the show was not to everyone's taste, hell sometimes I didn't go to the screenings myself, but it's a great offbeat show, and if you liked it enough; as Ben Browder, David Kemper and Richard Manning explained in the chat, send (polite!) letters to sci-fi, or call, and let them know.
Ok drunken ramble mod /off going to go watch the sun come up :-)
Don't be a moron; RTFA. All this news is courtesy of Ben Browder and 2 of the show's producers in an official chat. In fact, there were unsubstantiated rumors flying around several days prior to this -- but now they've been confirmed.
If I understand the idea behind television series correctly, The producers of the programming make a bit of money off of the original run (more if the ratings are really good and the show really brings in the advertising) which is all well and good. But don't they end up making more money *long term* if their shows end up in syndication after the series has been around for a few (3 or 4?) seasons.
You are correct. That is why Network TV production companies are producing them, not independent production companies. Network TV does not care that there is no "resale" value to reality TV. And reality TV does not carry over debt into future seasons like a regularly produced program. The payoff is instant good ratings AND they are sort of counting on the FORMAT of the reality show to continue, even though the contestants don't. And when the ratings tank, chuck the format. Finally, "reality" TV takes maybe 1/10 of the cost of a regular drama/comedy. Thus those programs produce more money for the network. Who cares if they are getting less audience and lower advertiser dollars, if its more profitable than a drama/comedy?
What concerns me is the network deliberately choosing shows that do not get great market share, but generate desirable net profit. That means more crappy shows, less people watching TV, but networks keeping them because they make more money than a drama/comedy.
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
(blink)
The want the sci-fi channel to get away from those space shows.
Ah.
I can see it from a managers point of view though. Make a sci-fi show that requires almost no special effects, and it will be a lot more profitable that one with a lot of expensive special effects.
I bet "Crossing over" bring them a bundle of cash.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Yeah it's dumb. You have to spend money to make money. But it's the way business works these days. Investors see everything in terms of the quarterly bottom line. This was true even when the economy was booming and is doubly true now. The company I work for has been profitable for 8 quarters straight, has a huge amount of cash, and no long-term debt. And yet we have to jump through hoops to justify even tiny expenditures -- even ones that would obviously save us money in the long term.
The cash issue explains a lot of stuff at SciFi that had me puzzled. Their unwillingness to show Farscape episodes that supposedly had already been paid for. Their sudden disappearance of other shows because of "poor ratings". (Ratings that are poorer than the "Tales From the Crypt" reruns they used as filler?) I'm afraid the bottom line is this: SciFi's strategy of becomming a first-run entertainment provider is dead, and it's back to reruns of other networks' shows.
Brings to mind another point....I remember everyone saying oh Kelly from survivor or Colleen who made that horrid The Animal movie with Rob Schnieder are going to be house hold words.....for MAYBE one month after the show. Now where are they? Only thing memorable for me was that a local radio station intern here actually banged Jenna from survior. It even made the radio(not the banging, but the story)! I don't remember much else. Don't even ask me about Survior 3 and 4. Fear Factor blows too. Fear Factor is a radio intern stunt blown up by 10.
Gorkman
Heh. I went on the farscape IRC channel with questions, and was TAUNTED.
I like farscape, I've found that the farscape fans generally suck.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Um, why do they want to 'straighten the cash breaks'. Queensalnd has been a gold mine for the production companies and, most importantly everyone one that brings back money into the economy. To lose Farscape is a misfortune, but to lose all the other shows seems more than a little careless.
Vivendi is the owner of Henson productions (producers of Farscape) and MP3.com in addition to other media properties. A quick googling indicates that they have been suffering financial difficulties, and are on the brink of bankruptcy. The rumor is, even with the 2-season deal that obligates Henson to the 5th season, they won't be able to produce it for the price of the original contract. Sci-Fi cannot afford the new price for the ratings the show drives, so as a result, they told Henson to stop the 5th season. So, even though I'm sending my letter to Sci-Fi channel, I doubt there will likely be a resolution unless Sci-Fi wants to buy Henson on the cheap in lieu of suing over the contract obligation. The actors in the show are more tenured and are probably driving costs to a certain extent. Furthermore, its unlikely to be picked up by another network who may be willing to pay more, due to the Henson obligation to Sci-Fi channel for the 5th season (Sci-Fi wants their eps at the original price if Vivendi picks up the pieces, or another company buys out Henson).
Error: PANTS NOT FOUND. Press <F1> to continue.
Actually, Enterprise is the methadone, it helps to eke things out till the real hard stuff becomes available again. I was pleasently suprised with Enterprise, if they weren't going to make a series out of Galaxy Quest, Enterprise was ok for trek. However, that only marked time until the next series of Farscape.
Buffy is at least getting Ripper as a substitute. And Buffy's been on a downhill slide through season 6, so a wrap-up in 7 might no be a bad idea.
...but what the hell else do they have?
Well, at least they're doing a good job of the Dune series, although anything is better than Dino De Laurentis (sp?) and David Lynch's version (that got cut to hell to make it 'viable' for cinema).
But I wonder how many more they'll do, there are plenty of books after Dune Messiah, plus the excellent Prelude to Dune series.
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
There's a heavy western/civil war feel (supposedly it's all inspired by The Killer Angels and Stagecoach), but it's not just old adventure stories in SF drag (anyone notice the similarity between Balance of Terror and The Enemy Below?). It's something new and original, and I'm looking forward to it a lot more than I ever did a Farscape ep.
This fan site has more info than does the official site, including a lot of good stills.
Meant to write "Fancy technology exists, but is expensive, so..."
The point I wanted to make was that quite a few shows were being cancelled even though in most cases they were getting acceptably good ratings. I suspect there is a driving force for this trend. If this force is demographically driven, its likely most of the *kind* of shows we like will soon be gone and more important, these shows will not be debuted in the future.
Smallville can very well be up on the chopping block. It has good rating, but hell, so did some of the shows I mentioned that have been canned. Smallville does not get MONSTER rating, but is popular to the 18-25 viewer category, which a lot of us do not belong to anymore. If you assume that category raised on videogames and computers are less loyalty driven to a particular show, ratings can drop precipitously, and in 3 months the trigger can be pulled. *Poof*, no more Smallville. It can happen as simple as that.
I was hoping that someone out there may have a better insight to this trend, but I guess I'll have to wait a couple of years and see this trend play out.
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
Emerich wanted to do three Stargate movies. Indeed, as late as last year they were discussing a second stargate movie with the ORIGINAL CAST, completely disregarding SG-1. I think it's finally had the door shut on it.
I really like stargate, and the boxed sets of the seasons are nifty (They need a few more features, like the star trek DVD's, IMHO, but otherwise they're great). The movie is coming out in a special edition (higher bitrate, DTS, more features, etc) in October.
And in fact the creator of Firefly is Joss Whedon, who's past master of this trick. It helps that he's actually good at the violence part -- he used to make a living writing fight scenes for other people's movies.
I doubt it's a scam. The rumor has been around for every season of every orginal series on Sci-Fi. My take on the situation:
Sci-Fi is going at it ass-backwards. They're trying to appeal to the mainstream. Well, science fiction is a niche market, with few obvious exceptions like Star Trek. Sci-Fi should be trying to cater to all the sci-fi geeks. Stuff like Anime, imported shows (Dr. Who, Red Dwarf, Blake's 7), etc. Instead they follow the majors network's typical plan: Create show and if it isn't an instant hit, cancel and return to square 1. Also, instead of cowering from the major networks (the reason for the current 4 month hiatus of Farscape), they should market their shows as an alternative to the same old crap. But, that's just my opinion.
I was kind of surpised about this when I as last in Oz. Howver, I currently live in Germany and apart from a few bakers and florists there is very little open here on a Sunday.
Back to the film/tv series thing, I really don't understand why the write-offs are not permitted. You normally tax income rther than what was essentially a cost. Perhaps the state wasn't seeing enough of the post-production income before it was sent off-shore?
Real science fiction fans just relax and don't worry about it. They spend their time reading, watching, and listening to things they enjoy, be it labelled science fiction, sci-fi, sf, speculative fiction, fantasy, or children's stories.
The Sci-Fi Channel appears to please many people who identify with much of its programming and goals. What's the harm in it?
(That said, John Edwards is tripe. Ah well.)
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It's probably mostly technical.. Far easier to block 1 or 4 sets of channels than to block 45 of 70 channels -- and probably get it wrong 5%of the time (which, in a city of 1 million subscribers, would be 50K upset customers demanding corrections)
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
Why must they make all these shows? There is ton of stuff (some crap, some good) out there. Just buy the rights to broadcast it. TV Land and Nick at Night seem to be doing pretty good based on this method.
This is simple resource consolidation like any merger. I mean, c'mon, two shows back-to-back about wormholes?
Here's what's going to happen: Sam's going to figure out how the Asgard stargate enhancer works, where dialing is extended to other galaxies. When they make a connection, the MALPS is going to pick up a NASA signal on the other side. When they go to investigate, they find it's the beacon from John Chriton's shuttle, and they signal to Moyia, whereby John travels down to the surface, and travels back to Earth with SG-1. Somehow, Dargo kills Jonas and O'Neil fills him with lead.
Now, John is a member of SG-1, and with his knowledge of wormholes from the Ancients (the race who actually built the StarGates), the G'oo'ou'ould are defeated by a strike force from the Asgard, the Tokra, and the Taree.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
"Well, at least they're doing a good job of the Dune"
Wow, it doesn't look like you are kidding. I really thought they did an absolutely terrible job on that. It was alright on its own I guess, if you pretended the books didn't exist and it was some new creation. But it wasn't even close to the book(s). Except in the names of characters. The behaviors didn't really match anywhere, and the fremen looked like janitors.