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Farscape to Return? Is Sci-Fi Channel Redeemed?
Cyno01 writes "I was just watching Firefly and switching to Taken during commercials (i'm a thief i know), and I caught a commercial for Sci-Fi 2003. It looks like there's going to be a few new actual sci-fi shows, and some not. Tremors: The Series, Children of Dune and another talkshow-esq looking thing called The Dream Team with Annabelle and Michael. Also it looks like Stargate: SG1 and yes, Farscape, are still alive and kicking."
Nooo lord please no.... I am puring kerosene in my eyes now.
Putp
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Why no link directly to the latest farscape news? Or perhaps the Cancellation FAQ and get some real facts!
/. no doubt ;)
A novel concept for
That Sci-Fi was going to air the last few episodes of Season 4 somewhere in 2003. If this is what the original poster saw, then this is a non-event.
What would be really interesting, and my question for Santa Claus this year, is that SciFi is going for another Season of Farscape, and perhaps even more. I know, it costs a lot of money, but it's damn well the best (Sci Fi) series I've ever seen...
Exactly. Just because they are still promoting the final episodes of the series does not mean that it is now back in production. They are simply trying to squeeze what they can out of the rest of their investment by promoting the last of the season.
*mumbles something about a Slashdot story based off of some guy's malinformed impression of a TV commercial he saw as he was swapping back and forth between two shows*
A small clip from the SCIFI-FAQ:
Additionally, in past seasons, Farscape had built upon its lead-in program (i.e., had more viewers than the program preceding it - a standard industry indicator of a show's success). For example, during the summer of 2001, Farscape increased 44% in ratings and 51% in households over its lead-in, The Invisible Man. However, this past summer, Farscape lost 29% of its lead-in program in terms of ratings, and 27% in households.
Based on this FarScape lost market share when SciFi cancelled I-Man. Two great campy shows work better than one.
I guess I can not understand network programming.
PS: When you go to the FarScape page... A pop-up about the cancelation appears. My guess it is still cancelled.
I was at Animal Logic last week and asked our producer if she'd heard anything different from Andrew (one of the exec producers) - nada. It's all winding down - on Thursday we hit a local pub for the VFX wrap party then that's it :-(
Anyway, at this point I'm rooting for Firefly ;-)
Farscape is far from a Star Trek rip-off. It may lift some elements of the classic science-fiction shows, but it's usually done as an homage or even a slightly under-the-belt punch. Star Trek was made fun of several times on the show.
How do I know you've never actually watched Farscape?
1. Star Trek is in a nice clean universe where everything turns out fine at the end of the episode. Crewmen wearing certain shirts die or when that practice stopped death became an almost avoided subject.
Farscape is in a dirty, grimy universe where everything is out to get you. Major characters die. Enemies become friends... or at least necessary to trust them for a while.
2. Star Trek deals with holographic sentience, space-time anomolies/fluxuations, omnipresent alien beings, transwarp confibulators, blah blah blah
Farscape deals with manslaughter, death of loved ones, bounty hunters, torture, s&m, farts, piss, sexuality, emotional pain, intense love, uncomfortable situations, insanity, drug use, outright murder, seduction, loss of life on a massive scale, weapons of mass destruction, spirituality and many other more 'human' topics.
3. Star Trek uses a little bit of makeup on every single alien actor. Thus a universe of bipeds all roughly the same body type.
Farscape uses this method along with elaborate makeup/costumes and 'muppets' which are used to bring to life non-bipedal alien life forms or short stumpy annoying stab-you-in-the-back crew members whose farts cause a helium-like effect to those that inhale it.
4. Star Trek's crew is composed of mostly a bunch of stuffy, by-the-book Federation employees who are all good folk working towards the good of the universe.
Farscape's crew is composed mostly of a bunch of escaped prisoners along with a bumbling <injoke>erpling</injoke> astronaut, former antagonists, and rejects of the universe. It takes serious time and shared experiences for bonds to solidify enough that trust can be built. Everyone is looking out for number one.
5. Star Trek is straight science-fiction historically with a political or social message to bring to the masses while having a heavy focus on the technology.
Farscape is a dark comedy and a tragic love story that happens in a science-fiction setting.
I could go on and on about how Farscape has innovated in the realm of television science-fiction and how it is different than Star Trek, but I won't.