Pretty much a big old shrug in the commercial quality department. Considering the people who produced it were denied the right (by Henson) to use any logos, music, show footage, or anything else show-related in producing it, they had to go with what they could.
The point isn't for the commercial itself to draw in new viewers. The point is for the fact that it was produced, and aired, to generate enough buzz that people will check out the show. This is called Using Your Assets, and as a way to subvert the big corporate advertising market, especially when Sci Fi won't advertise the show themselves, it's pretty ingenious.
Erm. Well, that would signal a Mr.-Burns-style brilliant and devious mind behind the Sci Fi channel. I doubt that very much; Barry Diller ("I don't like space shows, despite being head of the science fiction channel") hasn't given any indication he's got the smarts to do anything except make deals for cheap to produce parapsychobabble melodrama.
Sad truth is that (a) Sci Fi Channel is pretty low on money (b) Henson is very low on money (c) EM TV, Henson's parent company, is in court over how badly they've mismanaged their money and (d) Farscape costs a lot of money to produce.
Where Sci Fi frelled up (to use a Farscape-ism) was in making and publicizing a 2-season deal, and then backing out of the second season - with an attempt to do so surreptitiously. Yes, I do think it is at least as likely Sci Fi will renew the show as it is that another network will buy it. That's not because I think they engineered this whole groundswell, though. It's because if the advertisers want to fund it, Sci Fi - with its stranglehold on syndication *and* future production rights - will be the path of least resistance for getting it back on the air.
Slashdot Mirror
Pretty much a big old shrug in the commercial quality department. Considering the people who produced it were denied the right (by Henson) to use any logos, music, show footage, or anything else show-related in producing it, they had to go with what they could.
The point isn't for the commercial itself to draw in new viewers. The point is for the fact that it was produced, and aired, to generate enough buzz that people will check out the show. This is called Using Your Assets, and as a way to subvert the big corporate advertising market, especially when Sci Fi won't advertise the show themselves, it's pretty ingenious.
Sad truth is that (a) Sci Fi Channel is pretty low on money (b) Henson is very low on money (c) EM TV, Henson's parent company, is in court over how badly they've mismanaged their money and (d) Farscape costs a lot of money to produce.
Where Sci Fi frelled up (to use a Farscape-ism) was in making and publicizing a 2-season deal, and then backing out of the second season - with an attempt to do so surreptitiously. Yes, I do think it is at least as likely Sci Fi will renew the show as it is that another network will buy it. That's not because I think they engineered this whole groundswell, though. It's because if the advertisers want to fund it, Sci Fi - with its stranglehold on syndication *and* future production rights - will be the path of least resistance for getting it back on the air.