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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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
One of the long term goals of the save farscape movement was to get another network to pick up the series. if interest were high enough in the mini-series, then maybe one of the other networks which showed interest would move and pick up the series.
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.