Slashdot Mirror
Farscape Finale Tonight
Sim9 writes "Just a reminder that Farscape, the critically acclaimed sci-fi television show, is having its *series* finale Friday night! Showing times are 8PM and 12AM ET/PT (7PM and 11PM Central) on SciFi Channel. Catch this great show one last time before it's gone!" Thanks to everyone involved in producing this show. One of my favorites. All I have left on Sci Fi now is SG1.
This show is one of the best running series I have ever seen. And it saddens me that I have almost no reason to watch SCI-FI other than mcguyver... I mean who watches that dumb show with the 90210 actress anyways.
I will miss you! -DNA
Slashdot Eds Link Anonymous Posts With Logged Posts
They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
I Hate \.
It's a pity that even their commercials make it look like this is a series wrap-up instead of what it is, which is a season-finale cliffhanger. I'm hoping that a brave network like Showtime or TNT will pick it up and resurrect it. The show simply deserves to be seen.
Goodbye Family Guy, goodbye Firefly, goodbye Firefly...
Hello Hot or Not TV show and American Idol...
bah
If you're upset at SciFi for canceling the show now, just wait until you see tonight's episode.
Completely unsatisfying, it's cliffhanger that will probably never be resolved.
Here's to hoping UPN ends up picking up the show for a fifth season.
The future isn't what it used to be.
That they'd rather put up money for shows like Tremors: The Series instead of Farscape. I mean.. it's Tremors for crying out loud!
Farscape is the only reason why I have a subscription to cable TV.
Where is the spoiler? ;)
Ahh, the wonders of SVCD, Usenet and the BBC.
...posting cowardly...
No spoilers, but to make your viewing experience more enjoyable, turn the TV (or your brain) off for the last.. oh.. 60 seconds.
Unless they cut the last 60 seconds in the US version to give closure.
Can anyone who watches this tonight (No Sci-Fi in Canada) confirm that there is "To Be Continued" at the end? It's in the UK version, but there were suggestions it could have been edited out but they ran out of time at the BBC.
SciFi is rerunning the entire series from the start beginning March 31, 4 or 5 days a week at midnight.
Sleep good, type bad!
Save Farscape!
Sikozu is TV's hottest alien. Without her, television would be devoid of all enjoyment. =(
While I may not have seen very many episodes, this has always been a great show and will be missed by many geeks out there.
Remember, a TV series is not like a movie. A series lives and dies as much with the characters and the writing as it does with the plot and overall concept. You may think the idea is silly, or even stupid, but that doesn't necessarily mean the show as a whole isn't worth watching. Anyone cynical enough can take the plot to any movie or series, twist it around, and make it sound like crap.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
I've been watching Farscape since the very first episode, and I will truly miss it. There are too few truly ground-breaking television shows on these days.
Yep, pretty much all that's left is Star Gate SG-1.
No matter where you go... there you are.
Saddam: (dejectedly) *sigh*
IraqiGeek: Dude, you look really depressed. Are you okay?
Saddam: I guess so. Recent events. You know. I'm very worried.
IraqiGeek: Yeah, I hear ya...
Saddam: I mean, what if this really is the last night I have to grind my citizens into the dust?
IraqiGeek: (*incredulous*) *huh*? (thinking to himself) At least you'll be gone in time for me catch the last episode of "Farscape"...
Call me an optimist, but I think the Save Farscape campaign has the ability to bring this thing back. Most likely not on Sci-Fi, but maybe something like showtime. I'd subscribe to showtime for Farscape.
One of the best quotes I can remember about Farscape was something along the lines of "Farscape is a 5-season novel, and we won't rest until we get to find out what happens at the end." That makes this more than a "we want more" campaign. We want the resolution!
I have heard rumors of a Farscape movie. Can anyone post any info on that?
For the record, I never watched farscape until a few weeks ago, now I'm watching it from the beginning, and I think it is a wonderful series. I haven't yet done anything to help the campaign, although I'm thinking about it. I did hang up one of the posters on my door. (his one)
Get Firefox!
Farewell, Farscape. Maybe SciFi will pick up Enterprise eventually (what, with its falling ratings on UPN and all).
If it wasn't for MST3K, there would be no reason to turn to SciFi anymore.
-Valiss
Please don't bother to post links to the save farscape petitions. Anyone that cares knows about them and the rest of know that online petitions don't work for anything anyway.
At least we still have MST3K, oh wait that's gone too. So, yea, Tremors...
Hey, Dune! yea! Sci-fi has become the 'watch us for a good miniseries once and a while' channel!
Brought to you by the Artificial Idea Factory.
This is the high quality programming they are replacing it with:
Bigfoot on the Loose!
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
I've seen the episode and I can honestly say that SciFi should have left the show with Episode 21 which actually tied up things reasonably well.
This Episode 22 will really piss people off and SciFi will be dealing with very angry fans for a few weeks. Hopefully that anger will lead to constructive results like renewing the show on SciFi or another channel.
Where the Music Matters
I first ponied up the bucks for extended cable to watch the SciFi channel and Farscape rivetted me. I kept watching, even as my cable cost went from 25 USD/m to 41. The final straw was when the cable company moved four of the five cable channels I watched to their digital package at 51 USD/m. I couldn't afford that change, and missed the entire third season. Finally, I moved to a different apartment, where satellite became viable (it faced south) and for 24 USD/m, I was once again following the adventures of John Crichton and crew. And then the cancellation was announced...
A month from now I'll be cancelling the satellite, after I catch the season I missed in re-runs. Forget "Tremours". Forget the half-baked, half-replacements. Good-bye Vivendi and SciFi. I'll let someonelse pay for your remaining tripe. Who's with me?
I thought that Sci-Fi said the ratings were fine, they just weren't *growing* enough to justify the high cost of production.
I had a sucky sig.
"All I have left on Sci Fi now is SG1."
you say that like its a good thing.
Sorry SG1 just annoys me. Its like any other non sci-fi show wraped up in sci-fi dressings.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
With a failing (failed?) ratings system, there is no way to tell which shows are actually grabbing viewers attention.
There are about 5000 families participating in ratings surveys at any given time. A fraction of those have subscription TV. A fraction of that fraction watch a niche network such as SciFi. I've heard that 6 families in the entire survey could have saved Farscape.
Unless these stations stop using a ratings system designed for national broadcast networks, expect more bad decisions.
Farscape R.I.P.
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
Space: The Imagination Station in Canada is running the finale next week.
Farscape's last episode is tonight? Thanks for spoiling it for me.
BTW, The Lone Gunmen are dead!
The petition is good, writting sponsers saying you'll by there product(and doing so) is even better.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It's on UPN Wednesday night at 8:00.
Slashdot Eds Link Anonymous Posts With Logged Posts
They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
I Hate \.
Yeah, great series.
Though a little repetitive lately.
I wonder when he'll discover his mission after he changed places with a starship captain. Boy, it's been some 20 episodes in this role.
Next time I want him to get a woman role again!
Their behavior is incomprehensible. They kill Farscape, and pick up Tracker. Tracker? Tracker?
.
I really wanted to like a show staring both Adrian Paul and Geraint Wyn Davies. But damn, Wyn Davies hasn't been in anything this bad since Bionic Showdown
And then, what's this John Edwards and "The Dream Team" crap? What does that have to do with SciFi? Just what is their mission statement? To make the world think that SciFi fans are drooling morons with no taste and no ability to separate fact from fiction?
It's somewhat hilarious that TNN has better SciFi than the SciFi channel these days. My TV used to be programmed to skip over TNN, back when it was "The Nashville Network". Now it looks like it's trading places with SciFi. I guess there's a "law of conversation of preprogrammed channels" or something.
'I am a full-blooded Luxan, and ladies, I have so much cash in my pocket that I can assure you that the three of us will crawl out of here on our hands and knees come sunrise tomorrow morning. I've been arrested for saying exactly the same thing on four different planets.' D'Argo
'I don't think Pilot's in a Leviathan for Dummies mood right now..' Crichton
I may be small but allow me to remind you that only serves to put me at castration level.' Rygel
Scorpius: Kill her! Then we can have some pizza and some margarita shooters. Kill her John! Do it..Do it..
John: (laughing) Nobody has margaritas with pizza!
Back in the 80's I participated in a Nielsen (sp?) survey.
I have yet to hear of ONE other person who has been asked to participate. It is such a tiny fraction of viewers that a decent representation is impossible.
Any Slashdotters who have participated, please post.
Thanks
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
While I wasn't a huge Farscape fan, I thought it was a relatively good show - in fact anything that doesn't attempt to tag "SciFi" to things like Buffy or Roswell is good, IMO. Especially if it involves space ships, aliens with attitudes and... uh, chicks.
But if the SciFi channel is dropping things like Farscape at the expense of doing more miniseries like Dune, Riverworld and Galactica, more power to them, I say. At least there will still be stuff to watch and look forward to, unlike the rest of TV.
...saturday morning MST3K? Granted it's not as good as it once was, but it's still hilarious and better than any Saturday morning cartoon nowadays. (What the hell did they do Transformers, He-Man, and TMNT?!?)
Rock!
I have a lot of friends who just love Farscape, but for some reason it has never appealed to me. It has high production value, and apparently it also has a good story (which is, after all, the only important thing.) But I just never got into it. Maybe it's a guy thing.
Good vs. Evil was such a cool, campy program. I miss it. It's not a guy thing, though! Remember, God was a woman.
Honestly this Frelling sucks.. I like CmdrTaco only have one other reason to watch SciFi now and that is SG-1.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
Uturama. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I love SciFi but have never watched Farscape before. Living in Australia, I 've heard plenty about it from various SciFi people and sources over the years. I literaly just watched the first episode of FS last night. I am downloading them to my PC one at a time and have watched the first ep of the first season so far. (I am fully up to date with Sopranos, Six Feet Under and West wing eps and was looking for something new to get into. Here in Oz we are way behind in all these series so downloading eps via net is the only real way to avoid being at the mercy of Australian network TV who decide when / if at all / we get to see these shows.) At this point in my FS viewing career, it feels kinda weird to know that even if I watch every epsiode, I will be left "hanging" at the very last. Maybe by the time I get watch them all, someone will have picked it up and made more. Cheers Tim... PS - I loved the first ep by the way. Now to sit back and watch number two and three back to back.
"I thought that Sci-Fi said the ratings were fine, they just weren't *growing* enough to justify the high cost of production. "
... oh I don't know the word ... it could capture an audience and grow. But in it's current state, you really have to invest more time than most ppl are willing to in order to be rewarded.
It's a valid point. No idea if it's true or not, but I can see that happening. Farscape was probably a victim of it's own ambition. Make a show too involved, and you lose the ability to grow your audience. Frankly, the show's too weird for newcomers.
I just started watching the "We're So Screwed" trilogy from my Replay. (Sniff sniff damn SonicBlue.) BORING. Down right boring. I could see myself enjoying it more if I understood the importance of one of the characters. And here I am, the type of guy easily gets into new shows.
If the show had taken a step back and tried not to be too
Know what bothers me, though? This is the type of thing that could drive series DVD sales. I'm spending $100 a month for DS9 on DVD. It earned my fandom and now they're getting loads of cash from me. Wouldn't it be cool if Farscape went off the air, but continued making straight to DVD eps?
"Derp de derp."
Farscape didn't fail; it got excellent ratings, considering that it was on an obscure genre cable channel, and considering it had almost no promotion or support from the Sci Fi Network, and that it was not on the air at all for six months every year, with hardly any repeat airings, etc. Sci Fi Network is to blame, not Farscape. They prefer cheap and nasty shows that do nothing to build the network long term, but make their quarterly reports look good. Classic short term thinking.
For those of you feeling a little frustrated, here is a list of Farscape swear-words. Ideal if you ever meet a Sci-Fi executive.
See my journal, I write things there
After 21:00 EST on Friday, March 21 I no longer have a reason to tune in the Sci-Fi channel. I refuse to watch a once good network degenerate into a goofy "Reality Channel" as they seem to be headed. I wonder if I can have my cable system unsubscribe me from a free channel??
Jaime
Buzzing the information Superhighway at Warp speed
hrm.. I got modded as redundant.. I have yet to see another link to that site.. /me shruggs...
You are right there are several ideas on that site that are very interesting. The drive to create comercials a few months ago was pretty amazing. I stayed up one night to catch the one broadcast in Seattle.
Str8Dog
using System.Darkside; public
Nielsen and TiVo should team up, or Nielsen and TiVo should figure out a way to come together and find out what REAL people are watching.
Let's face it, if you own a TiVo, you like TV more than the regular joe, and MAYBE good shows like this (and Firefly, F'n FOX) wouldn't be cancelled so quickly.
Tell me I'm not the first to come up with this.
P.S.
SAVE FIREFLY!!!!!!!!
It's sad to see yet another great show go.
Although, I won't miss the fourth season of Lexx, the third season was good. I feel a similar way about farscape... It used to be a lot better in the beginning. And when Stark was around.
I've been pondering getting the DS9 DVDs. DS9 seemed to be the best of the Star Trek series because of a more contiuning story that you sorta had to follow, because it was competing with Babylon 5 at the time.
DS9 you could kinda pick up mid way though. Babylon 5 you could kinda pick up, but was a whole lot more interesting if you caught it from the beginning.
Farscape is just...out there. You really need to watch from the begining or at least watch the recap episodes to have a clue about what the frell is going on and why you should care...
I'm going to go back in my box and will think within the limits of my box: MS Sucks Linux Good I read too much Slashdot.
i'd like to see gigi edgley in star trek enterprise as a green oprion girl.
when religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, governments will resort to real opiates.
SG1 is lowbrow and unartistic, like most scifi fare. Farscape speaks in color and metaphor. Star Trek and its ilk will never do that; they're simply geared towards a less complex cognitive process.
Promote civility: mod down any post starting with 'ummm'.
Is it just me, or is SciFi (with a few notable exceptions such as Farscape) a fairly big diappointment? They're getting rid of Farscape, but not crap like Beyond Belief and Crossing Over with whatever-that-fraud's-name is?
Anyone remember the end of Married... with Children and how you could tell that it was obviously not intended to be the show's conclusion but (like Farscape) a season-ender? And as far as I can remember it was for similar reasons: the show was popular but not the "direction" the channel (Fox in this case) wanted to go. Forget the fact that Married... with Children and The Simpsons helped put Fox on the map. But then Aaron Spelling came along and Fox decided to try and become like the other Big Three.
Sad when a media outlet is doing good product but thinks that by De-flavoring their shows will help them become a Mainstream channel. I mean, isn't that why people don't watch the big channels? That they are all derivative and generic?
What is music when you despise all sound?
Your next. >:\
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/farscape/swearing/
This sig intentionally left blank.
Am I the only one who thought that Farscape was good when it started and then began going downhill?
Wow did anyone else see that. Some really great exposure there for the movement.
-You may license this sig for only $6.99.
Farscape needed to be wrapped up. It would be better that it end at season 5 as they agreed, at a nice convenient stopping point. Basically quit while everyone was having a good time. I'm going to watch it tonight, but it sounds like I won't like the ending.
Oh yeah, Sci-Fi is completely butchering Battlestar Galactica. They're calling it a "re-imagining". I'll have to wait and see, but little if anything is carrying over to the Sci-Fi joint. They should have let Richard Hatch have a go at it.
The party's over
Hmm, well, the really big news is that the European folks with access to BBC2 have already seen the finale... some weeks ago. And the ending was quite spectacular... :)
I'm really going to miss those monday evenings, filled with another exciting episode of Farscape.
Moya, take care of your crew !
It could be the best writing, acting, and production ever seen on SciFi (or anywhere), but it is *replacing* Farscape. Fluck em.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
Oh come on! You can't have a season cliffhanger at the end of a series!
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
I can't believe that ending... argghhhh
I just finished watching and The show closed with these fateful words...
Let's hope they're not just stringing us along!
-- If it weren't for the voices in my head, I'd go insane from loneliness. -Me, Myself and I
Its not the last show!!!! Its to be continued! We've all been decieved! I'm decieved and happy about it!
Well, that sucked.
"To Be Continued" my ass.
What the hell ever happened to a happy ending? Oh, right gotta set it up for the movie...
You're right. The show was more expensive then any other show on their network. They figure that people will watch Scifi whether it's Farscape or some dumb SciFi movie, so why pay a lot?
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
OK, so I've been hearing that it would be the normal cliffhanger episode...
But then things seemed to wrap up pretty nicely anyway...
But then OMG!!!
And then "to be continued" comes on? They surely could have removed that if it's really the end, no?
And then "thanks to the crew, etc. for four years" comes on...
So, WHAT THE HELL???
Oppsie, they are already on cable. So they may be moving it to a webcast? HBO? sort of a trade for SG1?
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Spoiler!
Well, I thought it was a very good ending to the series. He got to say bye to his daddy. Earth is safe. The baby is gonna be born. They're engaged. Pilot survived. Everybody is happy. What else would be necessary for an incredible ending for an incredible series.
What's that you say? Kill them off? uh... ok!
Karma: NaN
If there ever was any doubt as to the creativity and talent of the Farscape writers let it now be put to rest.
Farscape is the KING
Last show was a season ending cliff hanger.. then the thing was cancelled so no 'next season'.
TNT promised to revive it too.. no dice....
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Will this low-cal f-word substitute find its way into the geek lexicon, like rtfm and grok? Anybody remember other alien profanities from Farscape?
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
I didn't just cancel the cable - I severed the cord leading to my house and ripped it out of the ground! I don't want that them connected to my TV in any way. I'm going to tie it in a noose and send it to the head of Sci Fi who canceled my reason for living. ;o)
Does this mean a Movie, or Spin off?
"I don't like SG 1. It annoys me." This gets modded up to +5 Insightful? What am I missing here?
I know this because Tyler knows this.
I am a geek. I have a home computer network, a website, more friends that I know through email than in person and I make my living administering a network.
I also volunteer at a local food bank, have helped build three houses with Habitat, worked as an independent poll watcher here in Florida and sponsor two children in Peru.
I have a wife, two kids a house and parents that are older and need my help.
Yet, with all of this, I can find the time to try and save what I believe to be intelligent television, even if it will help someone else earn a living.
I even have time to watch some Star Trek once in a while...
But maybe you're right and a TV show can't be saved...
How come Slashdot never gets Slashdotted?
heh. You think cancelling one little show is bad? DirecTV decided to change their program guide a little bit and removed some channels from the basic-channel package that I have. Yep. They completely removed SciFi channel and expect me to pay like $6 per month just to get my channel back.
What's WORSE is that they did this EARLIER THIS WEEK!!! Just in time so I couldn't watch the third part of Children of Dune or the season/series finales.
What great timing, eh?
Karma: NaN
I don't want to be a nagging bitch or anything, but I'm going to sound like one anyway.
And I'm going to add the disclaimer that Stargate SG-1 is my 'entertainment' (pretty broad classification right there) of all time, so thank you Allah for Kazaa.
My TV broke about a week ago; I have never been more productive. You're not gonna believe this, but I actually went to the fucking library and got a book and I read it! It's fucking awesome!
Last night I went out and got pasted with my friends. I wasn't thinking "damn, I missed Smackdown. damn, I missed the Daily Show. damn, I missed Adult Swim." I was thinking "mmmmmm, Bacardi Silver O3..."
Please, after the Farscape finale, just try putting the TV away for a week. You can bring it back out if you don't think a TV-less lifestyle is for you, but please, just try it. I can't even replace my TV because I don't have a job... but when I finally do get a job, I'm gonna skip buying a new one, because it's no longer needed.
Book in question is "Linked: the New Science of Networks" in case anyone was curious...
[o]_O
WWW.Savefarscape.com
if you want "No More Hiroshimas" then I say "You First. No More Pearl Harbors."
For those of you on the west coast that haven't gotten to see the finale yet, start popping the popcorn and crack open a cold one (or 12). It's a frelling fitting end to an incredible series.
After it was over, I hit the farscape website and it looks like they're planning on trying to continue the show with a movie, an anime project and possibly a series with another network. Let's cross our fingers because this was quite possibly the most best show on television over the last four years. Never have I seen a show with such dynamic characters and a writing team willing to take extreme risks with their "formula".
I hope everybody involved in the show is proud. They deserve to be.
But... what about Battlestar Galactia? Looks worth waiting for. Dune series? I actually liked it.
Sci Fi may have canceled this show, but they've still got stuff going for it.
And, some day, there will be another show.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
Two jokes of shows.
There is not a single actor in SG1.
And Tremors is for Morons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_U.S._Election_c
I thought it said Fartscape.
-1 juvenile
Sci-Fi flashed this on the screen at the end. Bear in mind, they CANCELLED the show on the final day of shooting the season finale:
"The SciFi Channel thanks the cast and crew of Farscape for four great years."
Bastards. Sci-Fi, you are truly dead to me.
But not only did I get to see the finale episode tonight, I saw it in one of the better ways possible. Before it ran, there was a panel with Virginia Hey and Lani Tupu. And no, they have no idea what's going to happen with the series.
Virginia talked about the makeup: 3-5 hours, the only way she can handle it is to ignore it, and it has caused some health problems. She likes hugging people, and that blue got over everyone, to the point where they once made her wear a "NO HUGGING" sign. She did shave her head and eyebrows for the part. She also talked about when she got her work visa paperwork back from the INS, she was totally floored to see her job described as an "alien of extraordinary ability". Turns out that was just the standard INS lingo. (Just looked at her site... she was that girl in that Mad Max movie?!)
Anyhow, the cliffhanger ending wasn't exactly a nice thing to do to the viewers, what with the series being cancelled. But at least it seems to have tied up a lot of loose ends before leaving a few new ones.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
I'm done with them. That's just too wrong! The even left the "To be continued"!!! How could they leave the "To be continued"? I can't figure any reason to get hooked on another show only to let them do that to me again. Assuming they actually decide to start showing science fiction again. Anyway, who's with me?
Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.
the bunny suits were a nice touch!
-buf
Because science fiction fans tend to be a discriminating group who will hold a grudge for an absurdly long time. I've actually met people who are still mad at NBC for cancelling the original Star Trek.
"I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
"Decepticons FOREVER!!!" - Ravage
..out.
I'm not watching shit on that network now. No Tremors (not that I'd watch that garbage anyhow), no Dune: The next Generation, no BattlestarGalactica, Nothing. Fuck them sideways with a bandsaw (yes that's my personal catch phrase). I've Locked Out SciFi channel on my cable box. noone who even visits my house can flip to that channel by ACCIDENT even.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
yea -- you can get the entire first season or the best of first season on DVD
This is probably due in no small fact that there isn't enough good science fiction out there.
People like Science Fiction. When something comes out (Like Farscape) that's good quality, and it's cancelled in it's 4th season by a bad cliffhanger, people get pissed.
So now we're stuck with more "Everyone love Raymond" and "Friends." Not to say I hate these shows, but they aren't as interesting and thought-prevoking as a good Scifi.
Someday when Science Fiction is accepted by the industry, we'll get what we want. Until then, don't blame SciFi fans of being loud when the one good show is cancelled.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
Farscape is a flagship show for The Jim Henson Company. We are proud of its achievements over the past four years, which have included international critical recognition, three Saturn Awards, and a recent Emmy nomination. As always, your show of support is a true inspiration for our company and has been integral to our success.
Although SCI FI Channel has chosen not to pick up a fifth season, The Jim Henson Company is in active development on a new Farscape film, an anime project and is currently discussing syndication of this highly acclaimed series. We are eager to move forward with the Farscape creative team in developing new projects that will resonate with our overwhelmingly loyal fan base.
To register to receive notification about upcoming Farscape projects click here.
this is the link to the page.
http://www.farscape.com/news/index.html
No Spoilers...so not much of a review, but more a shout out to the Commander for praising this show. I absolutely adore it, especially this possible swan song episode. If anyone is interested in aiding in the campaign to Bring Back Farscape, please visit www.savefarscape.com . Long Live Moya!
" But... what about Battlestar Galactia? Looks worth waiting for. Dune series? I actually liked it."
What about them? if I watch them, I'll get them off Usenet, so it won't benefit USA/SciFi one fucking bit. I doubt I'll bother though. Tainted goods.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Sci-Fi Channel just lost me.
How can they put "To Be Continued..." at the end of the show?
Sad sad sad day. Well, Tremors the Series next week. Woo f*ckin hoo.
Fine. Review of Children of Dune: a travesty of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune with all the subtlety of a fart at a funeral. Instead of wasting your time watching it, read the books. (Well, ok, the actress playing Ghani' was nice to look at, but otherwise ....) They age the twins about 10 years in the miniseries, which is acceptable. The guy who plays Bijaz was good. Overall, the series is a not so gentle reminder that Paul is not well cast: he strikes me as more of a football player than a supermentat with prescience. Edric and the main Scytale identity were ok. Alia was just a scenery chewer. Weniscia was Susan Sarandon's most mediocre performance since Rocky Horror. Examples of their lack of subtlety: they retime Weniscia's expulsion to coincide with Farad'n's arrival on Arrakis, thus collapsing his entire development into a few seconds. The sandtrout never manage to cover Leto entirely, and yet he survives a Coriolis storm (one wonders how he ran so fast when only his arm was integrated into the sandworm bodies). Ghanima's self-hypnosis was ignored. There were lines about Hayt's eyes kept in the series that related to his Tleilaxu eyes, even though they never mention the fact that Hayt has Tleilaxu eyes!!! But then you never hear the name Hayt - he is called Duncan throughout. They collapse the mid-novel scene in which Alia recognizes that Paul is the Preacher with the Preacher's death scene, managing somehow to motivate Alia's return upstairs for her to fall on her crysknife rather than pitch herself out the window. Mercifully, they never mention the fact that Leto is going to live 4,000 years and turn into a sandworm, so I think we can rest assured there will be no God Emperor of Dune miniseries (frankly Herbert's novels dropped precipitously in quality after Children of Dune, perhaps because of the long hiatus, and CoD itself isn't as good as Dune Messiah, being far more uneven. Chapterhouse:Dune and the other Dune book whose name escapes me were OK, but nowhere near the genuinely literary quality of the original).
Farscape 4.22: a good bit, except they should have done one of two things: either a. cut the last 127 seconds, or b. cut the line about retrieving the aliens and the "TO BE CONTINUED" and, horribile dictu, end the series on a tragic note. There's no way they'll ever resolve the cliffhanger, but maybe, just maybe they'll get a movie.
A bad adaptation of a good sequel to a great novel (Dune is a great novel by any measure) isn't as satisfying to watch as a good episode of a good TV series. Instead of wasting their money on remaking Dune poorly, and making that silly cross between the X-Files and CE3K, Taken, and making, o my God, a remake of Battlestar Galactica, and making - my fingers shake as I type this - a series out of the Tremors movies, movies so bad they make me nostalgic for Teen Wolf 2 - not to mention the "fake cross between psychics and psychoanalysis, Jon Edwards", the "silly excuse for lots of lesbian sex fantasy commercials, Dream Team", and "bad ripoff of Sixth Sense with Adrian Paul", none of which have anything to do with SF, they should have just stuck with a show that was beginning to build a strong following in a solid demographic.
There. Satisfied?
This post is not intended as flamebait.
/. make a huge deal over this show and it's demise, and I just cann understand why. I happened upon it one evening while channel surfing, and at first I thought it was hilariously bad, but then it got painful within a matter of minutes.
I seriously do not see what the big deal is with this show. It's some of the worst SciFi I have ever seen. The effects were horrible. I've seen
I am MuchTall
is the best revenge. Give the money to ADV and directly to Henson.
There are thousands of us here. If we all e-mail the Scifi channel with our outrage that Farscape has been cancelled, they might realize it is in their best interest to sign a new contract. I got this e-mail address from their site: program@www.scifi.com. I think the writers and directors for the series left it to be continued for this very possibility--an outcry from the fans. Come on everyone, we can do something about this!!!
Alas, I loved Farscape ... watched every episode and enjoyed most of them.
;)
The Lexx was also good, but rather cheezy. I have faith that Farscape will return, though.
The problem is, we geeks get the shaft while everyone else obsesses about "American Idol" or "Joe Dumb@ss" or whatever. Battlestar Galactica 2003 might be nice, however
At least I still have my TechTV!
I think "sideways with a Sawz-all" has a much better ring to it, what with the alliteration and all.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
The alien's commander (or whatever it was) told the alien in the ship, right before he shot them, to "Neutralize the invaders for analysis." Crystals generally don't make for good analysis. Plus it looked like a shell covered them. I thought they were dead until I watched the show a second time.
Good lord, Children of Dune was one of the worst movies I've ever seen*. I hope that's not what you're referring to. The money behind that movie would have been better spent painting squirrels.
*I have not been able to bring myself to see the most recent two or three Star Wars feature length merchandise promotions.
-----
SELECT CHOICE $26.99
The SELECT CHOICE package will no longer include: Sci Fi, TRIO and The National Network (TNN)
Prices changes effective after 3/17/03.
-----
The next (cheapest) package they offer is $33.99
so... Wow. Excuse me. I wouldn't have to pay $6 extra; it would be $7 extra.
And yes, local channels cost an additional $5 on top of that $33.99 price.
Karma: NaN
Virginia Hey was in Road Warrior with Mel Gibson.
Mel Gibson was in Mad Max with Lulu Pinkus.
Lulu Pinkus was in Young Einstein with Yahoo Serious.
Yahoo Serious was in Reckless Kelly with Martin Ferrero.
Martin Ferrero was in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with Kevin Bacon.
I don't remember what my original point was.
After the end, I thought for sure they we're going to post:
"Ha Ha we killed them, and they will never come back. Kiss our sci-fi ass."
heh
I liked Farscape, but man, that would have been funny, and TV history.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
No, SciFi has not changed its mind. The "To Be Continued" is simply part of the episode. The producers wanted it aired as if nothing had changed. The alien has never been seen before in Farscape--D'Argo doesn't even recognize the ship.
Good points and bad points... calling a group of devoted fans assholes was probably the worst point especially when it appears that you are also a devoted fan in another camp and wouldn't appreciate being called asshole by someone else.
Yes Farscape was typically rebroadcast. Unfortunately after the first year or so it ended up just being rebroadcast on the same night an hour after the first show, not making it easy for a larger audience to get involved. Plus since none of the episodes were available on tape/dvd you couldn't exactly run to the store and get caught up with the story arc.
People gripe and complain about "oh the story arc killed it" "it was too hard to get into if you didn't know the background", etc. You don't hear people saying that about '24' (1st season available at any blockbuster. Released almost immediately after the end of the first season.)
SciFi has moved towards lower budget projects and looking for mass appeal. Dune was a prime example of low budget. While some people threw some money into this thing they skimped on all the wrong parts. Sets and costume design were lackluster and the mix of good actor here horrible actor in the supporting role gave a very unbalanced feel. The mass hype, continual reminder of how bad Lynch's version was, and constant demand that this was going to be THE DUNE - just like the book - left some fans feeling a little betrayed when the show actually aired.
Moves like this give patrons who have watched for years a feeling of abandonment. Especially when SciFi starts running DreamTeam, ScareTactics, BraveHeart, Scream, IKWYDLS/ISKWYDLS, Halloween, etc. ---- not even close to scifi. When you alienate your fan base you lose. Even if you gain a million more viewers you lose because all of those new viewers are transitory. They have no brand loyalty because you produce nothing to be loyal to. They could care less about the merchandise you sell because to them you're filler while the football game is on commercial or because they cancelled tonights ER due to Bush speaking. In essence the channel becomes a parking lot for all the crap not shown elsewhere.
For awhile SciFi seemed to have a good run. They came out with some new and very interesting series - some did well and others stunk. In the end Farscape was the only one left and now it's gone. It got rave reviews and a solid fanbase. Unfortunately they really really dropped the ball on merchandising the product. There were millions to gain by proper merchandising. Quickly released DVD sets for special episodes and seasons, extended box sets, etc. Posters, prints, statuettes, pictures, transcripts, graphic novels. EVENTUALLY they did this. Unfortunately most of it came too late to generate either interest or profit. Timing means alot. And when a customer has to wait two years to get what they want they tend to get absent minded about why they wanted it in the first place.
There was nothing there that said "BY ME", "PAY FOR MORE SHOWS", "WE WANT A PROFIT". They wasted more advertising space pushing their own brand name then promoting product.
The toys at the store were childish (for a show whose fanbase did not consist of children). DVD's were nowhere to be found at local stores/rentals, likewise any other media that might make someone say "HMMMM that looks interesting".
I can't believe with all the money that was spent and all the talent brought to bare that they didn't have some forethought on the merchandising. I mean most of it appeared to be geared towards the 8-13 year old market, which isn't exactly the market watching the show, right?
Somehow they managed to pick up SG1 and they'll retain some of the old viewers from that and maybe keep some of the readers attention by doing specials like Dune, RiverWorld, and Children of Dune. They might keep a few others hanging waiting on Galactica. Unfortunately they're just as likely to alienate even more viewers with those shows as we can see with the mixxed reviews from Dune (I saw almost a 50/50 split on
"Do not be swept up in the momentum of mediocrity." - anon
Perhaps you will think about pledging some of that cash toward funding a fifth season of Farscape. If enough people participate, maybe it would sweeten the deal enough to get the show picked up by one of the networks.
Television that is funded purely by advertising is getting worse every year (witness the descent into "reality TV" hell). If the viewers care about having good shows to watch, it may be time that we step up and do something about it.
This is so fucking stupid. They could have done this for the last year in order to build up the viewership they claimed was lacking due to the show's serial storytelling. Start Season 1 running at 9pm Eastern and Season 3 at 12pm Eastern and enable people who want to watch the show to catch up! Market the hell out of it and BAM! Perhaps they could have enabled enough people to get up to speed to enjoy the final season blow-out while massively increasing viewership. The Sci-Fi channel's actions lead me to believe they wanted to bury this show all along.
This is one Sci-Fi fan they have pissed off and alienated - I'll lend my eyeballs to more deserving channels and, as others have already declared, I'll swipe all their programming off the Internet before I ever watch their channel again.
We want some answers and all that we get
Some kind of shit about a terrorist threat
- Ministry
Does SciFi still air MST3K reruns? If not, what the hell are they good for?
Gamera is really neat
Gamera is full of meat
We're all eating Ga Me Ra!!
Hi-keeba!
You ask, we deliver:
Some examples of critical acclaim
Feel free to look for more on your own. Critical acclaim for Farscape is not difficult to find, especially with the awards, and top ratings (for SciFi) that the show has brought in.
Do you want to help to try and SAVE FARSCAPE?!
:)
If so then go here: http://www.savefarscape.com/
Or you could go here: http://www.watchfarscape.com/
They're both actually the same site, which unfortunalty seems to be slashdotted or having other issues at the present time.
There is a lot of good stuff on the site from campaigns to get another network to pick up the show to an actual viewer funded consortium who's goal is to raise the funds to partially finance Season 5 as incentive for another network (or Sci-Fi i guess) to pick up the show.
So copy down that URL and take a look when the site is responsive once again!
Fuck you Sci Fi, and fuck you, Vivendi.
I'm enough of a Farscape geek to say, yeah, I cried at the end, and then I screamed.
As of tonight, I'm no longer a Cox digital cable subscriber.
The WB did the same exact thing when they cancelled Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a cliffhanger ending. First the "previously on " with a montage of the entire series, then the little "thank you" after the credits. All while royally screwing over the cast, crew, and fans of the show.
At least Buffy got to continue, so it wasn't as grave an insult. Can't say the same for Farscape.
Actually, it was a pretty simple matter, which was verified by a lot of the TV critics that loved Farscape. The ratings were good for cable, but the budget was fucking massive for cable. Thus, the show did not create a profit. The budget could've been cut, but there was a reasonable expectation that a version of Farscape with a much lower budget would be of lower quality and would lose fans, since the show wouldn't be allowed to have any real style to it any more (fewer muppets, less special effects, no big three to six episode finales with sky-high production values). That left them with a situation where they could do absolutely nothing to make the show profitable.
I used to argue that Sci-Fi was making a mistake because Farscape was what got their little network mentioned several times a year in TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, and other entertainment magazines, but now that Taken and Children of Dune have appeared not only in TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly, but also magazines like Time and Newsweek, there really isn't any reason for Sci-Fi to keep Farscape.
I agree, SG-1 is the only show left worth watching on Scifi now. I will definitely be boycotting Tremors: The Series....not just because I hate Michael Gross, but the shear idea of making that stupid fucking movie into a TV series should have gotten people fired for just suggesting it.
The reason why they will put money up for Tremors is that it will be cheap as hell.
1. Go to desert.
2. Shoot lots of upshots of people freaking and holding shotguns.
3. CG long plate shots of sand billowing and something moving underground.
One of the things I loved about Farscape is that everything was custom made for the show... after the first season, they got off of the main set (Moya the ship) quite a bit and they often used one set for one part of a story, AND THAT WAS IT. The same was true for the aliens... everyone liked the variety. But that variety was incredibly expensive.
We're spoiled. They cannot go back on the production values without jumping the shark, and they probably gave all the rest of that money to get all of the Indiana Jones movies (which anyone flipping through will watch) and mini-series features like Dune and Riverworld this year for the increased audience.
Farscape used to be it on Scifi. Now it isn't. It served them well. As usual, only the best shows die from neglect.
"HUMANS ARE SUPERIOOORRR!!" - John Crichton
(thank you overzealous Slashdot filter, for making me lessen the effect of this quote by limiting the number of capital letters I can use. God knows seeing lots of capital letters on the screen in other peoples post, letters almost a full 1/3 taller than lower case letters, always ruins my day.)
trilogy?
eight doctors (and 30 years) so far and counting.
"My parents were strict, but they never pitted me against livestock" - Doug Stanhope
You're a little confused in regards to Buffy. UPN had already picked up the rights to Buffy after a long and BITTER dispute. I look at the WB as saying "Okay, you have your show... but try to wiggle out of THIS ending!!"
Jaime
Buzzing the information Superhighway at Warp speed
Farscape really rocked my life, and this last episode is a typical Farscape season final... leaving with all the fear and doubt wether the universe will be OK and stuff ;)
:D
I just hope they can make up the movie they are planning, that might clear much things up. On the other hand, how to run a farscape movie without explaining why the frell there are at least two Scorpi's on the screen, and one is talking to John in funny environments? I'm pretty interested in that
scifi sucks
I still can't believe that thank you message at the end. Farscape was my favorite show and renewed my faith in SciFi after Sliders but they just lost all of that. The only good thing to come from this is that I won't need to spend $50/mo on cable since Farscape was the only show on any cable station that I really enjoyed.
I just finished up writing my letter to SciFi.. it ends with 'Thank *you* for four great years SciFi, I won't be tuning in any more.'
I realize this is probably flame bait but I watched it every week and every day when they reran it from the beginning. I seriously doubt the people complaining didn't watch it. They may not all have sent letters to SciFi complaining but I'm pretty sure they at least watched the show.
The ratings were good for cable, but the budget was fucking massive for cable
I was under the impression that the budget wasn't really all that high since the filming was done in Australia. I could be wrong though.. I don't know what an average cable show costs.
but now that Taken and Children of Dune have appeared not only in TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly, but also magazines like Time and Newsweek, there really isn't any reason for Sci-Fi to keep Farscape.
Funny thing about that.. I wanted to watch both of these until they cancelled Farscape. Now I'm not too interested in watching anything else SciFi has to offer.
....is one example of a bad, cheesy movie turning into a rather good television series.
I would say that's not what happens the majority of the time though.
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
I agree to some of the comments, but I'm a pretty big "Stargate SG1" fan. They had an awesome time travel episode not to long ago. Very funny "Groundhog Day" homage. And "Tracker" isn't nearly as bad as "John Edwards". If only it were legal to put a bounty on his head.
Look what happened to the The Learning Channel. "A Dating Story"? WHAT THE HELL!? You'd think it'd be about 50% PLUS documentaries. I wonder what the Science Channel is like? "Buffy's Beauty Tips for Debutantes"?
Informercials and black and white episodes of "The Outer Limits" won't keep my TV on their channels. But I do like SG1.
Frell=f-word "Frell me dead."
Dren=s-word "This smells like dren."
Hezmana=hell "What in Hezmana is going on here?"
Yotz=hell (maybe from a Hynerian point of view?)
Mivonks=balls "Do Scarrans have mivonks?"
Tralk(sp.?)=slut "They called me PK Tralk girl."
I know there's more, but that's all I can think of right now. Anyone else?
Hey Slashdot! Interview Ben "Crighton" Browder or (exec producer) David Kemper! Both have done numerous irc chats. I'm sure they wouldn't might a little slashdotting. ;-)
"I love you, will you marry me?"
O O! "
"Sure, ya big lug!"
"Oh no, we're doomed."
"Hold me tiny dancer!"
*Zap*
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
Er... I don't mean the reruns. They're premering a miniseries remake in December. It was plastered all over the Dune series last week.
I've seen no footage whatsoever, yet, but I'm kinda hoping it will be decent. SciFi can put on a decent show when it spends the cash...
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
You're not prefacing that on the butchery of the books, are you? Because outside of the books, the movie is a decent one, in its own right -- just like the Lord of the Rings series, and they mangle the books worse than the Dune series.
;)
Ok, I'll admit, Leto running across the desert like the Flash was a tad over the top.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
What's up with this, why hasn't anyone mentioned this? I can't get to savefarscape, but i don't know how i haven't heard this before
I was under the impression that the budget wasn't really all that high since the filming was done in Australia. I could be wrong though.. I don't know what an average cable show costs.
I don't know the exact numbers, but whereas shows like Enterprise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have people with a little bit of rubber on their faces and some fairly good CGI special effects, but Farscape has people in massive muppet suits, episodes where they've created and then destroyed massive sets like the season three finale arc where the in-ship lake bursts out behind Scorpius on the Commander Carrier, and much more detailed CGI, like all of the little ships that flank the Command Carriers and Scarran Strikers. So it's obviously pretty high.
Actually, now that I think about it, I think it was like $2.2 million per episode. By contrast, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a network show which films in Los Angeles and has cast members that have now had successful film careers, costs a little less than that while drawing much higher ratings due to being on a broadcast network. They've made Farscape as cheap as possible by filming it in Australia with actors that aren't well-known elsewhere, but it still came out really high.
You're a little confused in regards to Buffy. UPN had already picked up the rights to Buffy after a long and BITTER dispute.
That's what I meant by the "at least Buffy got to continue". We knew that Buffy would be continuing, so the "Thanks for five great years (even though we're discarding you because we don't like you anymore)" was just sort of insulting, rather than a full-on "Fuck you, fanboys/girls".
I look at the WB as saying "Okay, you have your show... but try to wiggle out of THIS ending!!"
Actually, that's not the case AT ALL. The Buffy seasons are planned well in advance and The WB had nothing to do with the fifth season finale. The writers and producers of the show claim that they had a pretty solid idea of the structure of the fifth and sixth seasons by around the second or third seasons. It looked like The WB was trying to screw up the show as it left, but apparently the idea had been set in stone for some time.
No, I can forgive movies for straying from their books. But I thought the Sci-Fi movie was terrible in every way except for the cinamatography. If the book never existed it would be an even worse movie because there'd be no explaining the plot at all.
The acting was horrible and so many events were un or under explained. I TiVo'd the first half of the show and watched it, not knowing that it was in two parts, while the second part was airing. When I discovered the fact, I was releived that I wouldn't have to watch the second part.
gives me visions of the goatse.cx guy. I can't exactly say the association is pleasant (unlike the Farscape babes, who definitely are).
See my journal, I write things there
OTOH, that other Sci-Fi scion, Dr Who survived by reinventing itself many times over. It was much more flexible because even the star could be changed. The format could be varied depending upon the budget. A show like Farscape isn't a to produce (their make-up budget has to be way beyond ST:Enterprise's).
Others like B5 were relatively cheap but purely because the producer knew and used every short cut and still managed to do something good. They were even rendering on Ataris!!!
See my journal, I write things there
I'm definitely not happy about the series ending so abrupbtly, but in a lot of ways I think this was a terrific season finale. It tied up the needed loose ends well.
... a tragic ending is just as valid as a happy one. Since we have enough happy endings, this provided a MUCH more memorable end. The feelings I felt at the end of the episode were as strong as the ending of a good book.
... couldn't they have edited that out? It -felt- like a series ending until that. Hell, with John "dead" as it appears at the ending, it even explains why we don't hear about him ever again.
..." blah blah ... an obvious attempt to seem gracious about the show to we fans who wanted it to continue. SciFi would have done very well to have not even mentioned it. If they were that thankful, the show would still be on. SCREW them.
Even the ending I can deal with
The only thing that killed it for me was the following:
* To be continued
* That insipid "The SciFi channel thanks
As others have mentioned, all I have left from SciFi is SG1 and originals like Children of Dune and Riverworld (I hope). SG1 will probably be gone after next season, so that's one more. I hope they at least do more originals, but lordy, they can't be THAT much cheaper than a good story-based series. Otherwise, SciFi is dead to me.
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
I guess evryone is living in LA-LA land, I went to Farscape.com right after the show ended and signed up for the notifaction when they get the ball rolling on all the Farscape stuff they want to do......
Good lord, Children of Dune was one of the worst movies I've ever seen
It's nice to know that someone else agrees with me.
::.. check out some Cell Phone Reviews
Hey all,
folks affiliated with Savefarscape.com ran a commercial for the site during the series finale. It played on the Dish Network, so those with satellite TV should have seen it. There were also some other scapers who paid $$ from their pockets to run it locally. Did anybody see it? Just some text and maybe a voiceover saying, "you can help, visit savefarscape.com and/or call 1-888-###-####". They had an 800-number set up.
Unfortunately the ISP is being slow and they were totally slashdotted. They tried to make a smooth transition to a dedicated server and the ISP didn't get it done in time. Last we heard, they were up for a microt and then a quarter-million hits sent them crashing again.
Yea, I know, I saw the ad attached to the Farscape Finale. I was kind of happy to see a remake of the old series. I will STILL steal it off USENET before I'll watch it on SciFi, given what they've done.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Can one get any of FS on DVD?
Yes, DVDs and a bunch of other merchandise is available.
::.. check out some Cell Phone Reviews
Yeah, but the "previously on Farscape" montage was FRELLING GREAT!
Want to make a difference? Send email to program@www.scifi.com. Complain. Tell them they made a huge mistake. Tell them you'll no longer be watching SciFi. Tell them.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
From what I've heard, there's no "tell cable company what I'm watching" function on the old standard cable systems. Heck, they barely had the bandwidth to send the TV signals down the cable. They almost never notice that someone is having problems with reception until they get a call from that person, or there's a system-wide outage.
The ppv systems do have at least some idea of what you're watching, since you had to pay for it somehow. (Cable thieves can keep quiet).
I know, but they are really trying hard to dump the good old analog lines for the latest-greatest (not enough bandwidth) digital cable. The digital cable - at least time warner can...
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU