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Sci Fi Confirms Forthcoming Farscape Miniseries
Albinus writes "The Sci Fi Channel has decided to continue the Farscape series in the form of a miniseries, according to a short article on SciFi.com. Apparently, 'The four-hour miniseries picks up where the cliffhanger series finale left off and will reunite John Crichton (Ben Browder), Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) and the rest of the Moya crew.' Hopefully this will generate a renewed interest in the show and bring it back permanently." We reported on earlier rumors to this effect late last year.
This was announced in the second BiMonSciFiCon in January.
... I think it simply lacked a certain Captain Tightpants ... that would've made things more interesting.
Looks like there's a trend starting to develop here.
And I think it's for the better too... Sci-Fi Mini Series.
The Dune ones, the new Battlestar Galactica, for example, and now this Farscape one.
I think it's a good way to keep stories fresh and entertaining, with a tight plot, compared to some season-long space operas that drag on way past their expiry date...
I'm all in favor of this format.
the cast are keeping their 2017 diaries free.
(Joke taken from Tachyon TV)
If the series is actually picked back up, it could prove inspirations for all the other shows that were cancelled, but are still fighting to get back on the air. the save farscape crew did a good job of trying to rally support.
but I thought it said ministries. finally would've been a religion I could relate to.
I'd say you are indeed the only one
Nice pipe dream, but since the series wasn't cancelled due to lack of interest, I doubt it'll happen.
Even Jesus hates listening to Creed.
Do shows ever really recover from cancellation? Sure, there's some convulsions before rigamortis sets in, but rarely is there a rebirth, if ever.
Now, if it WERE to happen, I'd be immensely happy. I'm a big fan of Farscape. The humor is priceless ("Bill Gates can't guarantee Windows, what makes you think you can guarantee my safety?").
I look forward to the miniseries eagerly and I must admit I wonder how they'll write themselves out of the series finale where Crighton and Sun were literally vaporized.
(grabs popcorn)
Firefly next, please.
At risk of getting modded down as off topic here or as a troll (he says with a straight face), let me suggest that all you Farscape fans out there get behind Firefly!!! Farscape is about a hunk surrounded by hot babes and puppets flying around in the gut of some kind of space-creepy. Firefly is about a real group of people with guns, no aliens, bonding for that warm family feeling in a hunk-of-junk honest-to-god spaceship that let's you go aaahhh... at the end of the ep. Much more satisfying.
I think with farscape you have to focus on the costumes, sets, and just all in all the diversity of the colors and ideas and from that it becomes quite satisfying although I did see a couple episodes that didn't seem that great but for the most part I think the series was ALOT more unique the any of the other "starship" tv series these days...
Can anyone explain what makes them like the show? I've caught bits before but I couldn't see much in the characters or visuals that was particularly good or new. This is not meant to be a flame - loads of people seem to like it but I can't see why.
I need something like a Nearscape, as my eyesight is not what it was when I was still a young man, gadding about in my salad days.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
This is the first "right" thing Sci-Fi has done since cancelling Farscape. Every other series they've brought on like Mad Mad House or whatever it is, is crud. Hopefully this is a sign that Sci-Fi is learning from it's past mistakes, but I doubt it.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It won't be so hard to move on - the alien just says he will prepare them for 'naturalization' which I assume means breaking them down into little balls of their most basic atomic components. Oh - and how exactly they are writing a 22 episode season's worth of story in 4 hours (when each episode is 1 hour anyway) is beyond me. I adore every episode of Farscape - I'd hate to see it watered down.
Also, I had a feeling that Chrichton and Aeryn weren't dead at the series finale. Any theories though on how they're coming back?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but they completely destroyed all the sets etc. when they cancelled the series - so are they now going to rebuild it all to make this miniseries? Now there's a lack of forward planning if ever I heard one.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
The show wasn't cancelled for poor ratings (it was one of thier highest rated shows), Sci-fi just decided that with it's very high production costs about to increase, it would be best to turn to some cheaper programming.
If you can get ratings with cheap crap like Scare Tactics (come on, I could produce that show for 5 bucks an episode), then why shell out 3 million an episode for some quality programming?
I imagine this miniseries would have to get some pretty spectacular ratings to sway Sci-Fi on this.
Life is sweet. The world is suddenly a beautiful place.
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy
Yes! I could only stand a few sci-fi series for a few episodes, until I got the feel of the shallow writing, (dripping with moral lessons) or lame conflict ("It would be my honor to run away screaming like a little girl from that ravenous bugblatter beast for you, Captain") That some series dragged on for years longer than they should have only, IMHO, harmed sci-fi series.
A quick story, with no commitment to continuity, would work for me, and I'd possibly get back to watching more of it. (I've felt simlarly about sitcoms, but you know how networks think, they want a season, something they can count on, drag it out for years, etc.)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
As someone who owns the entire series of DVDs that have been released so far, I can't wait for this. It would be nice to see the series resumed, and concluded. Maybe the money from the sale of the Muppets will help make this become a reality. This show was far to popular, engaging, and well written to be left the way it was. Here's hoping for a feature film as well.
Hopefully this will generate a renewed interest in the show and bring it back permanently.
Television shows are less reliable than jobs. Producers, as a matter of routine, turn their backs on audiences numbering in the millions in exchange for a short-term ratings benefit or schedule change, then sit around and gripe because creative people refuse to work on television shows.
The tremendous amounts of money invested in building a market are usually wasted by some brilliant middle manager who has absolutely no idea why people like the show that is being cancelled.
This is twice as likely when it is science fiction.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
Firefly is Gunsmoke, but set in space! Big fucking whoop. Who wants to see yet another space western? No thanks.
- Anonymous because firefly fans can give criticism but can't take it.
How much weight has Ben Browder gained since Farscape's cancellation?
Are we still in tight T-Shirt territory?
Enquiring queers want to know.
I watched Farscape almost religously from first
:D
season through to fourth , and I must say I was
quiet upset when the canned it on a cliff hanger..
But now with a mini-series coming out to pick up
the story exactly were it left off is AWESOME (yes
I did know about it before hand , but it's nice to
see a press announcement on Sci-Fi)
BTW. I thought that The Henson company picked up
the cost ??? and Sci-Fi just has the rights to
first play for another year.
Oh well none the less , this is one happy little
'scaper
There is a rule that says that the longer a series goes on, no matter how good it is, it will never gain viewers, only lose. This rule applies to shows that have a complex evolving world, like Farscape. It is because viewers cannot comprehend the series unless they have been watching from the beginning. I watched the first season of Farscape, but after trying to rejoin it after a season or two, I was completely lost. Compare that with the Star Trek series', where you could pick-up from any season and get acquanted quite quickly. The ST world was much "simpler" and didn't evolve as much (it was more like a sitcom in this aspect). The Farscape world is just far too alien (IMHO, this is what made the series awesome).
This is the downside to the fictional-story-drama genre. Babylon 5 was similar.
Thus, the prognosis for Farscape is that it is over. You cannot regain the viewers you lost unless you somehow backtrack to a point where they can rejoin. I bet this show will do GREAT in syndication, when people can easily rewatch old episodes and catch-up.
Guess that they only cut together some leftovers from the series to minimize damages.
wouldn't count on farscape being continued...
while (!asleep()) sheep++
...bring it back permanently.
Nothing is permanent in TV, except, perhaps, the commercials.
SCIFI treated Henson pretty shabbily when they were producing the original series, and backed out of the series for the 5th season when Henson wouldn't take less money for the same number of episodes delivered (as well as SCIFI insisting that they should get virtually unlimited re-run rights, which would tie up the series syndication in the USA for a long time. You know SCIFI: they'd run it in repeats until it was dead if they could do it for free.)
The fact that Henson would back up in the arms of SCIFI for the American distribution is really odd, as it was SCIFI that made such a mess of it in the first place. But I think someone needs to read the fine print: SCIFI's exclusive license to run repeats ends this fall (they had a 2 year contract.)
I'd be willing to bet my leather Scorpy suit that Henson hooked a deal for distribution in return for an extension of SCIFI's lock on the American distribution. And it means that fans are stuck with SCSFI's crappy attitude toward hard science-fiction and their decision that "Sci-Fi" means Horror-Fantasy.
So expect SCSIFI to make a big hoorah that "We're bringing this signature show back because we care about and listen to our fans." Phooey. I cancelled my extended cable because after Farscape and Firefly went off-air, there wasn't any decent Sci-Fi left to watch on SCIFI. Tremors2? Fear Factor?
I'll camp out at a friend's place for the mini-series, but I'm not going to sign up with SCIFI again until they demonstrate that they are proactive, rather than reactive.
RMW
flames > dev/null
What's with slashdot's constant coverage of T.V. shows? I know "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters" went out the window a long time ago, but why waste space here covering T.V.? Don't geeks own T.V. guides too? Or is this just some sort of "let's all close our eyes and hope real hard the show comes back" type of deal? The show is dead. Everyone owns a T.V. guide. If there was any real interest in getting people to subscribe to slashdot there would be more followup on real stories (what's that? Editors...editing submissions? That's not their job! And actually finding information? Woah now, that's way beyond them!) and less of this "look! I, too, can read the newspaper!" crap.
It's hard to know what to think about the channel. It embodies (sometimes) much of what you would like to watch if you are a science fiction/horror/fantasy fan. Yet they have made so many inexplicable moves. For example they cancel a novel award winning show in its prime. In exchange we get Tremors the Series (crap)and a lot of made for TV movies (crap).
Yet inexeplicably they revive Andromeda over Farscape? They pass on Firefly?
It really seems as if their executives are either not as in touch with the genre as they should be, or are being overruled from above. Or quite simply are just fools.
They have had so many cool shows, that they could populate their line up with them, yet often they take and mangle a shows original spirit. Sliders being a prime example. Farscape another where rather then mangle the concept they just killed it.
Sadly the alternative networks for this kind of content aren't doing much with it. Showtime being the best example as the former owners of Stargate, and current owners of Jeremiah.
Ah where do we find good quality shows these days?
Scifi.com is also announcing today that Wonderfalls has been cancelled after only four episodes. The creators are hoping to find a way to eventually distribute the remaining eps.
Similarly, Century City (about a law firm set in 2030) was also cancelled this week after four episodes. It's getting to be a real sink or swim world.
Sets are good for about 4 seasons. They were due to be rebuilt anyway.
RMW
flames > dev/null
Let's do the same for Dark Angel, okay?
A computer makes it possible to do, in half an hour, tasks which were completely unnecessary to do before.
Offtopic moderation? Puh-leeze. This poster was OBVIOUSLY making a playful Firefly-based jab at the Farscape fans.
Unfortunately I think shows of this nature are doomed at some point to face cancellation - the plot splits and forks as the seasons go by - at some point it gets to be like a D&D game gone horribly bad.
Remember the old shows that were on forever - they did something different every week but basically stayed the same. Star Trek (TOS) - Explore - find something new - this week she's green, next week blue, but Bones didn't branch off into a new career, Chekov didn't move to another ship - Kirk was always, well, Kirk.
Farscape had great 'bad guys', who then stepped out of the 'bad guy' role and were suddenly main characters in the ongoing (show-to-show, season-to-season) plot... seemed like alot of extra baggage kept getting tossed into the mix.
At least with the old shows (including Farscape in the first couple of seasons) you weren't waaaaay out in left field if you missed half a season, you could sit down and enjoy them ALL. (even out of order)
Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code...
Farscape isn't scifi, its fantasy. Star trek is scifi. Firefly was scifi. Babylon 5 was scifi. Farscape shouldn't be mistaken for a scifi show. It is fantasy, have always been, will always be. Scifi is shows that extrapolate technology in the future. Which farscape have never done. They just thought of some cool stuff you could do, its not based on anything that is plausible. It may be, but thats not the intention. Its like claiming buffy is a bad scifi show. Or angel.
Tobias Ussing http://www.nearby.dk
In the words of Homer (Simpson, not that silly Greek guy):
"Jesus, Allah, Budda, I love you all!"
This is great news. Farscape very much reinvented the idea of what a sci-fi series should be. While Firefly was nice, it was only a pale imitiation of Farscape. The character development, story arcs, and general production values were all excellent. It was (and hopefully will be!) "Star Trek" for smart people.
B5 was arguably science-fiction rather than skiffy.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
ehm, nope. Most people i talk with love farscape. Farscape is in no way "Sci-Fi for the mainstream" that would be andromeda, stargate and star trek. Farscape in contrast star trek and andromeda, have a very developed arc, with good story line throughout the series. And though the series may not require much intelligence of the viewer, name one show that does. Farscape is provocative, its new, its funny, its like nothing else. And its NOT stale.
Tobias Ussing http://www.nearby.dk
Presumably that means four episodes? And thus only three hours of Farscape goodness (in the UK, it is aired on BBC without adverts and each episode lasts 45 minutes)?
:D
Or do they genuinely mean four hours? Which would be five-and a bit episodes. Which would be better
"I think everyone is an agnostic but just doesn't know" - Frazz
Farscape isn't scifi, its fantasy. Star trek is scifi. Firefly was scifi. Babylon 5 was scifi. Farscape shouldn't be mistaken for a scifi show. It is fantasy, have always been, will always be. Scifi is shows that extrapolate technology in the future. Which farscape have never done.
Exactly. For instance, here is an illustrative example of the difference between SciFi and Fantasy:
Fantasy: "TobiasTheCommie will have carnal knowledge of a woman at some point in his life." This is just cool stuff you could do, not based on anything plausible.
Scifi: "TobiasTheCommie will die a virgin." This is careful extrapolation of current technology into the future.
We hope this was informative!
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
Now go and be a good boy and have another orgasm at the thought of Farscape returning....
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
Actually, I considered this to be one of the best SCI-FI attempts I have ever seen. Too bad it started getting weak plotlines in the last two seasons.
The general outline was "Obtain a central enemy. Over a period of time, have the enemy become an ally while obtaining a new enemy."
My overall preference for the show was that the majority of the characters had depth to them versus most of the sci-fi chaff thrown at us.
For instance, I think Scorpius is on the best fleshed out enemies I have ever seen. He is a very well done chaotic-good representation, in my opinion. In fact, they did a show letting the audience know his ultimate motivations, and why he is the way he is. The good part of this show was that none of the other characters in the show ever saw this.
They were vaporized. How do you turn that into a cliffhanger?
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Sci Fi is not bringing back Farscape because the people love it. They're bringing it back because they can make money from it. While I'm very happy about the miniseries, I don't delude myself into thinking that there will be any more. It's just not profitable enough.
If television executives cared about quality and content, we'd have a lot less crap on TV.
When they decided to cancell Farscape (on of their highest rated shows), I had to console myself to the fact that at least those poor disposed Enron executivies seemed to have found a home at SciFi.
Nice to know they can be at least somewhat rehabilitated, too.
> "The Sci Fi Channel has decided to continue
> the Farscape series in the form of a miniseries
Why?
Farscape was always a weak show: bad science, bad fiction = bad science-fiction. They'd be better off signing Joss Whedon & crew to do more episodes of Firefly - which is a REAL sf show.
No gods, no demons, and no masters. Secular Humanism!
Now I have to start watching TV again. My GPA has risen significantly since the networks started canceling all worthwhile programming and replacing it with repetitive crap and TV movies.
What are they going to do next? Start airing subtitled anime? Evangelion? Music videos on MTV? I might as well drop out *now* if that's going to happen.
Why was this modded down? It's not a troll, it's very insightful. Mods, get a clue!
Hey, that hurt. You evil hatefilled man. /me wonders if he know the answer to that one
Tobias Ussing http://www.nearby.dk
Technically, there's a distinction between science fiction and space opera, at least according to some writers in the Sci Fi genre. I once read an article written by one of Analog's regular contributors, who attempted to draw this distinction.
To the category of true science fiction belong works such as Mary Shelly's Frankenstein (the book, not the movie); to the category of space opera belong works such as Star Wars. The idea is that true sci fi has at least one science element, even if it's badly conceived science, that is integral to the plot; without it, the story doesn't work. In Frankenstein, you have the concept of reanimating dead tissue with electricity, and creating life from non-life. Space opera and its close relatives, on the other hand, could be re-cast in another genre with little or no difficulty (e.g., a western). The technology is just a replaceable prop.
Despite Gene Roddenberry selling the original Star Trek to NBC as a "wagon train to the stars," he hired real sci fi writers and told some pretty amazing stories that were genuine science fiction. Quite honestly, I saw nothing in Firefly that would classify it as genuine science fiction -- but if it's space opera, it's very competently written, proving that the term doesn't have to be a negative epithet.
Farscape was a bit uneven at times, but it did explore genuine science fictional themes at least some of the time. The rest of the time was spent on character development and dealing with plot arcs. It's pretty safe to say, though, that the story told by Farscape would fall completely apart without the underlying science concepts (wormhole travel, cerebral implants, etc.)
The miniseries is a good idea. There are some things that need to be resolved. Would I have preferred the final season in it's completeness? Sure.
... I was skeptical at first but looking at past episodes they did set it up pretty nicely). Babylon 5 -definitely- got it ... the fact that they had a time limit and planned plot is what let that show flourish.
As for bringing back the show "permanently" (as in with no end in sight purely for the sake of watching FarScape), I say no.
If I hadn't known that there was supposed to be another season and that a number of sideplots were unresolved, I actually -liked- the "cliffhanger" if it would have ended exactly where they got blasted. It is extremely rare that a show has the guts to have a tragic ending.
A series doesn't need to go on for a decade or more to be good. In fact, going on and on often ends up wasting the creativity that kept the show good at first and leads to jumping the shark. They planned one more season to tie things up but from what I understood the writers felt that the arc was almost finished.
Sopranos' creators understand this (so far at least, HBO might convince them to keep going but I don't think they should) and is ending soon. M*A*S*H* learned this though it was almost too late. Seinfeld "got it". I think SG-1 "got it", or at least RD Anderson did (Atlantis? We'll see
Sometimes an ending is a good thing. I for one still miss the creativity of FarScape (like the cartoon dream episode) and the actors, and I wish all the best for the Henson company, but I definitely don't want to see FarScape around for years past a logical conclusion and falling into the trap where every other episode is a hallucination, parody or flashback and it was starting to show those characteristics too often already (one of each category per season for a tension breaker is valid but not too much).
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
Farscape in contrast star trek and andromeda, have a very developed arc, with good story line throughout the series. And though the series may not require much intelligence of the viewer, name one show that does. Farscape is provocative, its new, its funny, its like nothing else. And its NOT stale.
Okay, but what does that have to do with whether it's for the mainstream or not?
The original Star Trek was only on for 3 seasons. Maybe not such a good comparison??
---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
Hey! I may be evil and hate-filled but... what was that third thing you said?
Now there's a comment I can agree with. Farscape = (Red Dwarf - the humor)
No gods, no demons, and no masters. Secular Humanism!
Now there's a comment I can agree with. Farscape = (Red Dwarf - the humor)
err, sorry:
Farscape = (Red Dwarf - the humor) = (Firefly - everything)
No gods, no demons, and no masters. Secular Humanism!
"The Sci Fi Channel has decided to continue the Farscape series in the form of a miniseries,
Uh, no. Henson and Hallmark decided to continue the series and got funding to produce the miniseries. That all happened last November, or at least that's when word began to leak out and was later confirmed (unofficially but with plenty of nods and winks) at the Farscape convention in Burbank. What's new is that Sci Fi will be the broadcaster for the mini, which is already in post production. The quoted line makes it sound like Sci Fi reconsidered its decision to cancel the series, which gives them way more credit than the facts warrant.
Oh, it's science fiction. Who was it that said "really advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic"? It is, however, SOFT scifi, as opposed to HARD scifi.
Hard scifi is what you said, extrapolating technology into the future. Technologies in hard scifi are usually based on real science or science theories. Really good hard scifi is often used to point out problems with upcoming technology or as satire to poke at flaws in our current society. The short story/movie "Farenheit 451" comes to mind.
Soft scifi is more fantastical (but not completely fantasy). The technology is less similar to our familiar technology and is often not based on real science. It's hard to keep believability in a story when it's pushed very far into the future or very far away in space without making it soft scifi. When you have huge distances in space or time it's less likely that the technology will have evolved into something we'd expect, thus writers have to resort to making up things instead of using real science. Farscape, being far in space, is soft scifi. So is Star Wars, being far in time AND space.
They both have their advantages and disadvantages and often apply to different fans. I enjoy both, but I think I favor soft scifi more because I like to escape from reality when I watch TV or read a book, and soft scifi is much farther from reality than hard scifi. And sometimes you will have soft scifi elements poking their way into hard scifi shows. Technomages in Bab5 are an example. Even the 'mages themselves admitted what they were doing was magic (or rather, highly advanced technology designed to emulate magic). You do not immediately categorize them as a fantasy element, however, because there is technology behind their magic. It's highly unrealistic technology, but it's tech nonetheless. It's soft scifi.
Yes, there is a fine line between soft scifi and fantasy, but there are things that are obviously fantasy and things that are obviously scifi. Harry Potter is fantasy. The Wheel of Time is fantasy, and so is the Lord of the Rings. Star Trek is scifi. Bab5 is scifi. In the middle would be, say, the Pern novels. Sure, there's scifi elements (the dragons were genetically engineered from the smaller native firelizards) but to the average reader who doesn't know the history, it reads like fantasy. Farscape may be closer to fantasy than Star Trek, but it's by no means fantasy. It's just soft.
I only watched farscape after if was cancelled in re-runs. So I got to see the entire series in a compress way. It really lost some of the magic as it went on (the first and second seasons being the best, dare I say it started really plummetting after Zaan left). And when you see an episode a day the uneveness really becomes obvious.
I hope the mini-series has the magic that the early show had, and they ridiculusness of the later episodes isn't present. It started to feel like the writers had no idea what to do so they just would set up absurd situations in the first few minutes and then have an even ore absurd solution that dragged on for the next 45 minutes. It was as you could take the segment in between the second and thrid commercial break and mix and match because it was the same stupid converstion that meandered away from the plot every episode.
So heres to a good mini-series, I think it was a little stupid the way they left the cliffhanger, as if they had setup a nice series endingm and POOF through in one last scene just to piss everyonje off at the cancellation, I hope they resolve it quickly (or start after it and make breif reference) and get on to a better story.
Valid point you make there. For the sake of argument i just said it was fantasy, because imo it leans more towards fantasy than scifi. But it is also scifi. But no to the extend seen in most other scifi shows.
Tobias Ussing http://www.nearby.dk
She can act and shes not hard to look at either.
Flame away, but is it possible, just possible mind you, that too many people were watching these shows on TiVo or like systems and not watching the commercials and that the advertisers noticed a decrease in profits for their products causing them to complain or something which in turn led to the stations pulling them?
Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
I really wanted to watch Farscape because I liked what I saw in the first few episodes, but unfortunately the time-slot mixed with the life of a college student kept me from keeping up and it was frustrating to watch episodes out of order. The same thing happened to me with Babylon 5, and Buffy. Now that I have a DVR I record things I want to see.
Once Buffy went into Syndication on FX I watched the whole series, except the last season because I couldn't bear to wade through the Network BS of reruns every other week.
-the Hun
I'm a Tasty-vore. If it's Tasty, I'll eat it.
I actually do have the entire series; it was released on a much faster timetable in England, and I was able to order them very cheaply from Bensons's World when the US dollar was doing much better against the British pound. So I had the very end of season 4 by early summer 2003.
If you want to go this route (there are other series/discs that are much cheaper in England for some reason, "The Prisoner" being an example), you'll need to make sure you have a DVD player capable of playing discs from multiple regions. I bought my DVD player with that in mind, but if you want to look into it for yourself, best place is on DVDrhelp.com.
I'm surprised the Ringworld miniseries didn't get more attention. Who cares about Farscape? Tell 'em to find an actual plot and then we'll talk.
I am happy to hear that there will be at least a little more Farscape goodness coming. Better than no new episodes at all. I hope that this may even stimulate the series going back into full blown series production. It is, by far, one of the finest, most imaginitive sci-fi series ever put onto the small screen.
actually, that wouldn't be that hard to do, would it? An alternate universe incredibly similar to the first... start fresh and do it right from the beginning. Again... or should that be at/near the same time... These quantum dimensional things can get really confusing.
/shrug. Here's to hopeing.
Now, actually happening...
EveryDNS. Use it. It works.
AC's need not reply
Once Aeryn and John are reconstituted with the clever use of purified water and an egg whisk, maybe this will end the depression that started when I saw Ben Browder as an extra on CSI Miami.
You've got to be kidding me. What started out as a funny show became a wank-a-thon for Alda and his ego.
The middle mind speaks!
Okay, I'm going a bit astray here, and while yes, the Asgard have been used as a deus ex machina on occasion, there have been other times when the Asgard have said, "Tough Luck, you're on your own" (Red Sky) or "We're sorry, but we can't take your call right now. Please leave your gate address and we'll get back to you" (Redemption); and other times, they simply figured them out on their own (Singularity).
The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
If they are going to bring back any show then I vote for Now & Again. I liked that.
In fact I'd be happy if they released the ones they did make on DVD or even VHS.
Farscape is as much SF as Star Trek or Babylon 5 (both of which are far less hard than Firefly); apparently TobiasTheCommie doesn't understand the laws of physics very well. So far, the only things about Firefly that are non-SF are River's secret powers.
Straight from the mouth of the Executive Producer, David Kemper in an address to the fans via IRC.
Farscape fans, when they're not taping or watching on TiVo, they're watching in groups.
And that plays hell with Nielsen ratings.
Long story short: the show was too popular to be accurately measured via the current rating system(s). Thus, the execs nixed it a season early. Dammit they could've waited ONE MORE season to allow the story to finish. Then Farscape woulda been over for good, without needing to damage-control a huge negative fan reaction.
I've never seen firefly, but Farscape was definately humorous! Farscape was one of the few shows where the characters actually had ATTITUDE, and often ATTITUDE PROBLEMS! And the way they made up swear words to get past the sensors, how original is THAT?! (ie. Dren, Frel)
These are from the episode KANSAS:
John: You all might want to stay out of sight. We don't want to screw up the universe more than I already have.
John (to younger John): We don't hit. We may shoot people sometimes but we don't hit.
D'Argo: Chiana has already told me a few words: Yes, No, Bite Me. That's all I need to know.
First time I actually miss a Sci-Fi series. I am pretty sure that SciFi channel now-a-days all care about the ghosts and reality show ( I HATE them). I don't whether JMS went out due to too much liberal view point of expressed in the news group. Anyway, this moves me to other things, like spending more time outside--I guess I should thank SciFi for that for turning me away from the TV for an hour a week
- People who believe other people have no right to live, got no right to live ...
We hear the aliens say "Neutralize invaders for analysis," and John and Aeryn are freeze-dried into piles of little marbles, not vaporized. I imagine we'll find out that the folks who did it have the technology to reconstitute them after the analysis. Yeah, that's far-fetched, but obviously they don't die.
The part that bothered me is that we see a few of the little marbles fall into the water. Makes me wonder if they will be (ahem) missing some of their marbles when they get put back together. Maybe they end up forgetting some things about each other.
Another odd possibility is that their pieces get mixed together and don't get quite correctly separated, so that they end up sharing memories or some such thing.
More likely the magic technology will bring them back perfectly, though.
Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Witch Hunter Robin are all one season series of 26 episodes each. FLCL is one of the best anime shows i've ever seen and its only 6 episodes... I like this because it doesn't get stale and always has a definite ending. Also makes getting the dvd set easier instead of downloading a new episode every week and buying a new boxed set every year...
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Err, we need to find out who all those 2000+ people are who have those Nielson boxes and get them to tune into the mini-series! ;-)
Shows that get bungled by execs and get shuffled into crappy timeslots get canceled... Angel, Firefly, Family Guy, Futurama... But disgusting shows glorifing sick peoples quest for an unrealistic ideal (the swan, i want a famous face) stay on the air. And you thought 'reality' dating shows were bad...
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I quit watching Farscape altogether once I found out that it was going to end in a cliffhanger that would not be resolved. Now I have to find out when that season will be aired again.
Still, The X-Files is part of the largest TV series connection I've ever seen: The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen (spinoff), Strange Luck (letter from Alex to Chance), Millennium (Frank Black on TX-F), Homicide: Life on the Street (Detective Munch), and Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Homicide: Life on the Street, and The Beat (other Det. Munch connections). The only one I've missed is the last, and that's because there was no UPN station in my area when it was on (technically there still isn't one). That's 10 shows, and would have been 11 if Picket Fences hadn't backed out.
And that's still not counting special TV movies or computer games.
Special note: the setting of all those shows also establish a show on their TVs called Homicide: Life on the Street. (An actual criminal was chased onto a location shoot and surrendered to the cast of the show, so they re-enacted it by having the show's characters chased onto a location shoot and surrendering to the characters of another show of the same name.) So a show in a show doesn't necessarily negate a crossover, though The X-Files playing on TVs in the background of Millennium is pushing it.
Not that a final alien invasion in an X-Files movie would effect the end of all of the ongoing Law & Order series. Yet consider the absence of but current reference to Eleanor Frutt's baby on the practice, born on cancelled series Gideon's Crossing.
I don't count Mulder and Scully appearing on The Simpsons; that would be silly, and would then tie into a series that ended by revealing it was all in the imagination of a single autistic child. Have fun tracing that down.
Back to the topic, I think we dodged a bullet by not having a crossover between Farscape and Stargate SG-1 (wormholes, Ancients, and Egyptian artifacts). I sure hope Sci-Fi Channel doesn't try to shoehorn one in in this wrap-up. Neither one needs the boost, unlike The Invisible Man and The Chronicle.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Interesting.
The SciFi channel
- canceled Farscape despite high ratings
- canceled The Invisible Man despite high ratings
- got rid of just about every original sci-fi show
they did
- stopped rerunning very old, interesting sci-fi
reruns they could have rerun
- did not rerun many sci-fi movies when I had
cable
- reran a bunch of stuff that had nothing to do
with science fiction
In short the sci-fi channel stopped being the sci-fi channel and stopped caring what their viewers wanted.
I wonder if the bill to let cable users pay by channel has inspired the Sci-Fi channel to consider what their viewers ( now *their* __customers ) want.
Radical concept
Steve
I loved this series, but I had to admit, that towards the end the show seemed to be running out of gas.
:)
Maybe it is better staying canceled, especially after the long amount of time that has passed.
Can the actors, writer, producers recreate the feel, look, atmosphere of the characters/show etc after all of this time?
I have seen to many failed revivals ( battlestar galactica comes to mind ).
I would rather let it sit, as is, as a work of art then bring it back to malign it.
OTOH, I also hope they try. I don't watch television anymore, but if the miniseries is half way decent I would pay to pick it up on DVD
Sun and John have switched bodies.
I'm pretty sure John's essence was in Aeryn's body and Aeryn's essence was in Rygel's body. Rygel's essence was in John's body and there was a humorous bit where Rygel in John's body needs to take a whiz but doesn't know how to do it.
If Aeryn were in John's body she would have probably known, or could figure out, how to take a whiz given that Sebations and Humans are similar physically.
I loved it because every alien didn't have a crab stuck to their head, they actually used their imaginations with the puppets and didnt 'dumb' it all down like ST does, they leave mystery's so you have a lot more variables running through your head when you sit and await the next episode.
I was cracking up for days with Crichtons " You can't handle the TRUTH episode"
#1 - the critters who shot the thingy at Aeryn &
;)
John was ordered to "collect" them, IIRC. Which
implies that they're not destroyed (maybe they're
supposed to have some kind of transporter that
takes the information and leaves the matter or some
other whizbang doodad). In short, though it may
have been a bit plot-convenient, it was planned
that way and not an afterthought for the
miniseries.
#2 - I hope they manage to bring back both Farscape
and Firefly - I don't get the hostility between
some of the fans (but I don't get the hostility
between the fans of different groups of sweaty
young men who run around with balls either).
Andromeda drives me nuts but for the sake of the
fanbase I hope it goes on (and gets better).
Firefly was particularly sad because you had great
cast chemistry but the show didn't go on long
enough to expose much of the story arc. And FOX
screwed up the story order and caused a lot of
people watching the "first" show to skip the
second.
I second the earlier comment about reality shows. I
mean, I too wish I was an investor in some of
these shows, but I have no interest in watching
them. I'm not entertained by bickering emotional
cripples and incompetent fools, I'm paid to work
with them. I don't want to "relax" with them too.
No, a cliffhanger is where an episode ends with the hero hanging from a cliff, or alternatively it's implied but not shown that they fell off it.
I won't spoiler the Farscape finale for those who haven't seen it, but there is absolutely no wiggle room. We not only saw them fall off the cliff, we saw the pavement pizza at the bottom.
Any Deus Ex Machine they use to rewind that final scene will be an insult to the viewers. Best to let it lie.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
B5 r0x0rz the b0x0rz!
If you want nice, uninterrupted, high quality streams, Real is the best choice, bar none.
I'm glad Car talk is moveing back to good old Real.