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Sci-Fi Media Television

Sci Fi Confirms Forthcoming Farscape Miniseries 345

Posted by simoniker from the return-of-the-prodigal dept.
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.
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Sci Fi Confirms Forthcoming Farscape Miniseries More

Sci Fi Confirms Forthcoming Farscape Miniseries

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  • Trends (Score:5, Interesting)

    by WormholeFiend ( 674934 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:52PM (#8771782)
    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.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Yup Yup Yup (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:05PM (#8771924) Homepage Journal
      And I think it's for the better too... Sci-Fi Mini Series.

      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.)

      • Until Farscape, that was true for me too.... But only a couple of Farscape episodes even came close to that (namely, the ones that tried to be cute).

      • Re:Yup Yup Yup (Score:3, Insightful)

        by vsprintf ( 579676 )

        A quick story, with no commitment to continuity, would work for me, and I'd possibly get back to watching more of it.

        Then you're obviously not a Farscape fan. The series was all about "continuity". Viewers weren't subjected to spending 30 minutes of each hour being brought up to speed about the plot, and the story is what made the series. People with short attention spans will not appreciate Farscape. People who don't care about what happened to John and Aeyrn have no heart. *Sniffle*

    • Re:Trends (Score:5, Insightful)

      by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:07PM (#8771941) Journal
      I've been thinking about this lately, having been watching some of the Anime on Adult Swim. I'm not a huge Anime freak or anything, but anyways..

      The (better) animes really are sort of a miniseries format, even if they have a few seasons worth of episodes. It would seem to me that the creative force behind them spells out the plot for the entire series - or at least knows how it's going to begin and end - and the series as a whole becomes more cohesive and watchable.

      American animated series' tend to be open ended. No end is planned, so they can just go on forever and ever.

      For instance, Trigun. I realize that this was taken from a comic, and the series follows the comic, but the series flows. The characters evolve from the first episode til' the last. Compare to something like the Batman series (which also comes from a comic), each episode is completely independent of the last.

      I guess both have advantages/disadvantages. If you miss a few episodes of Trigun, you run the risk of not knowing what the fuck is going on, especially if they were key episodes.. If you miss Batman, big deal.

      Anyways, back to the 'real' sci-fi.. I'd love to see more vision put into it on TV, rather than having a series finale which was pulled from some hacks ass. "Capt Kirk and Picard travel thrrough time to ummmm tell Spock how to get Janeway pregnant so they can ummmm.. Klingons, lets think.. How about prevent a Klingon war? Sounds good lets shoot it and go home"

      Ie; A plan - beginning and end - for Voyager would have made it a watchable show. Instead they just toss characters in here and there and the rest of the typical bulldink. I didnt watch the finale, but I'll bet hard cash that the day was saved with some cockamamie time traveling.

      • Re:Trends (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Golias ( 176380 )
        Actually, I would count Trigun among those that could have been even shorter. The 13-episode anime shows like "Serial Experiments Lain", "Haibane Renmei", and "Kino's Journey" seem to have found the sweet-spot between the rushed feel of 6-hour "OVA" shows, and 26-episode sagas which almost always have at least a few filler "monster of the week" type episodes. The one possible exception being Cowboy Bebop.

        Well, the secret's out now... I'm a big ol' anime nerd.

      • Re:Trends (Score:3, Insightful)

        by ericdano ( 113424 )
        A lot of Anime shows have very good story lines. I think they are really underrated. I just got done watching "Lost Universe". I really enjoyed it. Currently watching Berserk. Very strange but.....good. Other favorites are Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop,

        Farscape I enjoyed as well. Good stories mostly. I would love to see them bring it back. I also have been enjoying Andromedia. It has gotten interesting in the new season. Hercules (with Kevin S. again) was a great series as well. However, if you've run out of go

        • Re:Trends (Score:3, Insightful)

          by TLSPRWR ( 711680 )
          Farscape ended up being put out way past the expiration date. The first/second seasons, maybe even third were great, but then the plots got weirder and more confusing. Granted, it was still humorous and fun to watch, but.. it was lacking.

          Sliders is another example of a TV show gone bad. The first, second were completely awesome. Third started sending it down the drain. Then Sci-Fi picked up the series from Fox and completely ruined it with Seasons 4 and 5. It was still okay to watch, but Season 5 was almo

        • Re:Trends (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Bendebecker ( 633126 )
          You should also check out Rouroni Kenshin - wandering samarui - great anime. Also you might want to check out Lupin the 3rd - its a late 70's tv series but some of the main characters seem almost identitical (not visually) to the ones in Cowboy Bebop. Soem people like it even though it is old and kinda of more kiddie-ish than Bebop.

      • Re:Trends (Score:3, Interesting)

        by superflippy ( 442879 )
        It's not just Anime, but many Japanese TV series have a planned expiration date. They're sort of like extra-long mini-series. For example, I saw one about a boy whose girlfriend shrank to 6" high. It was a fun teen drama that lasted about 8 or ten episodes. Long enough to get to have a decent story arc, not so long that the gimmick got old. After it was over, they ported a couple of the most popular actors into a new 8-10 episode teen drama series with an entirely new story.

        • Re:Trends (Score:3, Interesting)

          by sparrow_hawk ( 552508 )
          I'm not entirely sure it's just Japanese TV -- I seem to recall Neil Gaiman mentioning on his site that most British series have a certain planned run, and then the most popular get revived periodically. I'm pretty sure TV shows in Latin America are the same way. (No twenty-year runs for spanish soap operas -- one season and they're done.) Our seven-plus-year 26-episodes-a-year shows are really the other end of the spectrum from this, but I suspect it's easier and cheaper to have a certain cast rehash ol

    • Re:Trends (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      >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...

      Dunno why, but while I was reading this sentence I thought "Enterprise" (a.k.a. "Star Trek Enterprise").

    • Re:Trends (Score:5, Interesting)

      by TobiasTheCommie ( 768719 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:10PM (#8771986) Homepage
      Contrary to most series, Farscape did already have a tight plot, with fresh stories. Like Babylon 5 Farscape have a continous ARC, and if you don't follow the series you will get lost. This makes it hard for people to get into the middle of the series. But it keeps me happy. So yes, mini series are usually interesting, with good stories. But i would rather have a series with good plot, good arc, and good storie, than a mini series. Just because i get more with a series.

      • Re:Trends (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Good thing the actors involved in Farscape are not good enough to have already gotten roles in other TV and film projects, or this new mini-series would be impossible.

        A good lesson for sci-fi creators everywhere there: hire good writers, skimp on the actors.

        • Re:Trends (Score:5, Informative)

          by dnahelix ( 598670 ) <slashdotispieceofshit@shithome.com> on Monday April 05, 2004 @03:12PM (#8772649)
          I know you're just trying to be a Troll, but you've just come across as Stupid.

          Several of the actors have had other roles, which is suprising considering the relatively short timespan between Farscape being cancelled and the big push to start a mini-series.

          Ben Browder (John Crichton) has been in an episode of CSI: Miami, played Lee Majors in Behind the Camerea; The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels' (which was pretty campy but entertaining, especially with Dan Castallaneta), and a major roll as Sam Moss in the film A Killer Within which is in post-production.

          Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun) is the character Lady Briana in the game Lords of Everquest

          Anthony Simcoe (Ka D'Argo) plays the character Scott Seaton in the two part TV movie Marking Time. He has also had a role in BlackJack, another TV movie.

          Gigi Edgley (Chiana) has played the character in Liz Kempson in BlackJack, a TV movie, which has turned into a TV movie series. She has played the same roll on BlackJack: In the Money, BlackJack: Ace Point Game, and BlackJack: Sweet Science (which is currently still filming)

          Lani John Tupu (Captain Crais/Voice of Pilot) has played the character Sharky Garcia in the movie Liquid Bridge, also the character Chief Finau on the TV show Revelations.

          Wayne Pygram (Scorpius) has played Col. Langdon in the TV movie Heroes' Mountain.

          Tammy McIntosh (Jool) has played Melissa on the TV series Jeopardy and also the character Charlotte Beaumont on the TV series All Saints

          Mellisa Jaffer (Noranti) has played Gwen Walston on the TV sereis Snobs

          David Franklin (Braca) was the Maitre D' in The Matrix Reloaded (bet you didn't know that)

          Kent McCord (Jack Crichton) was in the movie Run Ronnie Run!

          This is what these actors have been doing since Farscape, it doesn't even touch the huge list of work from before. Several of the actors whe played smaller roles in Farscape have also been appearing in various things. So stop being an idiot.

    • Re:Trends (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Bendebecker ( 633126 )
      Battlestar Galatica is becoming a series (oh, the humanity!). The dune ones are probably only miniseries because Herbert is dead. The rest are mostly just ABC/NBC two part movies that Sci-fi got the rights to air. Farscape is on miniseries probably becuase they didn't want to risk the investment of an entire season - sort of testing the waters. I really hope they bring it back. It deserved at least proper last season at least to wrap up all the dangling threads, if for nothing else because it supposedly sav
      • Plus it wil be the onl network with a rising number of male viewers between the ages of 18-34. appealing to a demographic that everyone is losing would not only eb a good long term investment on thier part but also generate publicity - 'hey watch sci-fi they are the only ones who play shows for ppl our age'...
      • Hehehehe you spoke of a business descion and "long run" in the same post.

      • Re:Trends (Score:3, Insightful)

        by vsprintf ( 579676 )

        Farscape is on miniseries probably becuase they didn't want to risk the investment of an entire season - sort of testing the waters.

        Farscape has already tested the waters. When SciFi cancelled it, they caught hell from the viewers. Perhaps the SciFi Channel is just trying to put science fiction back in their programming?

        A sacrifice for fans will get them a huge amount of respect that would probably pay off with higher viewership of the channel in general in the long run.

        It certainly won't be any sa

  • Power of the people (Score:5, Interesting)

    by neomagi ( 576884 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:53PM (#8771790)
    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.

  • oh, almost as good. (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    but I thought it said ministries. finally would've been a religion I could relate to.

  • Yeah right (Score:4, Interesting)

    by fahrvergnugen ( 228539 ) <fahrv@@@hotmail...com> on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:54PM (#8771802) Homepage
    Nice pipe dream, but since the series wasn't cancelled due to lack of interest, I doubt it'll happen.

  • Full series return unlikely (Score:5, Interesting)

    by curtlewis ( 662976 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:55PM (#8771806)
    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)

    • Re:Full series return unlikely (Score:5, Interesting)

      by BlacKat ( 114545 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:00PM (#8771869)
      Just a note, but the season finale ending was exactly the same as it would of been had they gone on to shoot season five.

      The even left the "To Be Continued" part on the end despite the fact that Sci-Fi cancelled the show.

      Personally, I am very happy they are going to at least finish the story. After watching 88 episodes I would really like to know how it all ends. :)

      If there is enough interest, who knows, maybe it will make a comeback. Either as another miniseries, or as a full- or half-season.

      Lets just hope the production quality of this miniseries meets or exceeds the quality of the previous four seasons. It would be a shame if they cut corners now and made it less then it could of been. :)

      • Re:Full series return unlikely (Score:5, Informative)

        by kannibal_klown ( 531544 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:48PM (#8772442)
        Yeh, but you obviously don't know the backstory...

        SciFi was on the fence about having one more season. After going back and forth, they told the writers and cast they had their final answer: there WOULD be another season.

        So they changed the script around a little and set it up for a cliffhanger. They made it look like 2 of the main (well, face it, THE 2 main characters) die in a weird kind of weapon blast that turns them into dried matter (like a banana after being frozen by liquid nitrogen, then shattered). This weird thing probably means they're alive, but just transported or whatever.

        THEN, AFTER they wrapped everything up, shot the last scene, edited the film, added the sound track, etc, SciFi dropped the bombshell. "We changed our minds. Sorry about the inconvenience."

        They immediately cut funding and VERY shortly after started tearing down the sets.

        This gave them no choice but to air what they filmed. Though I would have liked it better than they just used a pair of scissors and cut out the last 10 seconds.
    • Seems to me that since Pilot now has all John's wormhole knowledge, they'll just go back in time and stop it from ever happening.

    • Re:Full series return unlikely (Score:5, Informative)

      by TobiasTheCommie ( 768719 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:15PM (#8772038) Homepage
      Ever heard of Babylon 5? Want to know how many times that series returned from cancelation? 4 times. After season 1 it was canceled. After season 2 it was canceled. After season 3 it was canceled. After season 4 it was canceled. It made it all 5 seasons, JMS never wanted more, actually, he wanted exactly 5 seasons. Thats what he got. So YES shows have recovered from cancelation. Also take a like at Saturday Night Live. That have been canceled And the star trek franchice. what about that?

      • Re:Full series return unlikely (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Jahf ( 21968 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @03:43PM (#8772953) Journal
        My understanding is you're basically right, but he was at one point told that he'd only get 4 seasons and so had to cut the Shadow War content down significantly, then when the ratings justified the 5th season after the 4th season was almost done finishing he got to take time to finish various aspects in the last season.

        If so then he got his 5 seasons, but not the 5 seasons he -wanted-.

        That explanation made sense to me because after over 3 years of build up the Shadow War seemed to end -awefully- quickly and easily. But as with all SciFi show mythos it could be incorrect.
        • That's definately correct, it was believed almost up until the last minute that the series would be cancelled after the 4th season. There was enough time to film a new season 4 closing episode, but that was it (the season 5 closer was originally slated as the season 4 closer, which is why it has Ivanova).

          As I recall, the 5th season only got made because a cable station (TNN maybe? Can't remember) picked up the show for its last season, which meant substantial pay cuts for the cast members (cable rates ar

    • 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.

      I thought the fellow who shot them said something about them being 'condensed' or some such. There were the two piles of dust (and the engagement ring) left were they stood. I figure you just add water and shake. And what luck! They were in a boat on a lake.

      I'm eager to see the series return too, but if it does, then that means I'll

    • Re:Full series return unlikely (Score:5, Interesting)

      by canajin56 ( 660655 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:30PM (#8772203)
      I agree it won't come back, but not for that reason. The reason it won't come back is because it will be OVER. The next season of Farscape was going to be the LAST. It got cancled, and the miniseries is taking its place to wrap everything up. The writers have finished the series they wanted to make. Everything must end.

    • > Do shows ever really recover from cancellation?
      > Sure, there's some convulsions before rigamortis
      > sets in, but rarely is there a rebirth, if ever.

      well, there was star trek. :)

      or was that a really REALLY long "convulsion"?

  • Move On to Firefly !!! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rqqrtnb ( 753156 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:55PM (#8771812)
    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.

    • Re:Move On to Firefly !!! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jdray ( 645332 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:59PM (#8771854) Homepage Journal
      Real people? Real spaceship? Um, were they using a real warp drive to get around the galaxy?

    • Farscape is about a hunk surrounded by hot babes ...

      Why do you think I started watching it? Then I realized how good the writing was

    • Re:Move On to Firefly !!! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by FrostedWheat ( 172733 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:08PM (#8771957)
      No!!!

      Support both! Both shows are getting a new lease of life, both shows are really really good and a million times better than anything else on TV at the moment.
    • Firefly is already returning, atleast for a movie. Though you may not like farscape, i do. Farscape has a far better arc than firefly. this is also because firefly never really got the chance, thanks FOX. But i have found Farscape to be better than all Joss Wheedon shows. Mainly because its more arc driven.
    • Maybe, but there is a Firefly movie in the works. It's called Senerity [imdb.com] at the moment at least.

  • What is farscape's appeal? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by TwistedSquare ( 650445 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:56PM (#8771826) Homepage
    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.

    • Re:What is farscape's appeal? (Score:5, Informative)

      by jdray ( 645332 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:12PM (#8772002) Homepage Journal
      It's a fair question.

      If you only saw an episode here and there, you'd probably find it disjointed and hard to follow. Farscape was a serial rather than a series, in that the story continued from week to week, and changes in the characters relationships (or mortality) were developed over time and maintained. Dialog in one show referred to events in others. This is in direct contrast to shows like Star Trek, where you could re-run episodes in all sort of order and no one really cared (Borg episodes notwithstanding).

      The other thing that attracted me to Farscape was the dry wit and the pure humanity of the hero (John Crichton). He screwed up on several occasions and had to figure his way out of jams. Or maybe something didn't go the way it "should have," and plans were shot. No phasers from space or transporters to get them out of trouble. Occasionally fistfights broke out, often among the main characters.

      This isn't to say that the show was all violence. Romance showed up a lot, and the bounds of friendships were tested (some failed, some didn't). Many times, characters weren't either "bad guys" or "good guys," but just had their own way of getting through life. The character of Scorpius was played brilliantly as one who is evil on so many levels that you can't keep track of them all, but in certain situations can be trusted to be true to his word. Others, like Chiana (what a babe), were good at heart but sometimes did bad things. I'm reminded of Jessica Rabbit ("I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way.")

      So, if you have a chance, watch Farscape for several episodes in a row. It starts to make sense after a while, and then you're addicted.

      • Many times, characters weren't either "bad guys" or "good guys," but just had their own way of getting through life.

        This was really attractive to me in watching the show. I knew I *really, really* liked Farscape when several main characters mutilated another character in order to further their own, selfish goals.

        Its not that the characters are good or evil, its that they're human and have their own reasons and ambitions which they follow as the plot moves along. The characters and their relationship

      • One of my favorite aspects of the show was the scale... in Star Trek, it's up the crew of a single ship to Save The Galaxy As We Know It on a weekly basis. Other sci-fi space operas (Babylon 5, Adromeda) have a similar scale: heros out saving the universe. On Farscape, half the time the crew is struggling to find food, find material to repair Moya after they got her busted up in a previous episode, or just trying to escape whoever is chasing them now. Granted, as the show developed, there were bigger fish
      • Don't forget that farscape could be pretty hilarious too.

        I know I will never forget the bodyswitching episode. Sun and John have switched bodies. At one point John, now in Sun's (on a personal note: very nice) body is working alone and looks down - at this point any and all men knows what is about to happen. Anyways he looks around, opens his shirt and gets a nice fondle and sighs *ohh mama* . About two seconds later he is caught by Sun (in John's body). His excuse: "Come on, they are there!" .

        Yeah, bes

    • Re:What is farscape's appeal? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sammy baby ( 14909 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:16PM (#8772053) Journal
      Farscape is one of those shows that's very difficult to break into because of its highly seralized nature. That is to say, the plotline is very involved, and trying to break into it is very difficult. ("Who is that guy? Why are they all looking at each other uncomfortably? Why the musical sting?") It got to the point where the "previously, on Farscape" section at the beginning of every episode packed in more story than most of the actual episode.

      With that in mind, Farscape rewarded loyal viewers with a story that was incredibly involved and detailed (think: Babylon 5), coupled with character interactions that seemed effortlessly natural (think: completely unlike Babylon 5). I first started watching partway through season two. I'd just sorta left the TV on the Sci Fi channel (a mistake I very rarely make these days), and the conversation between my wife and I just sorta drifted off as we watched an episode called "The Way We Weren't," [scifi.com] which remains my favorite episode to this day. It was about shame, and betrayal, and forgiveness: most importantly, it was about these things in a way which seemed to assume the best about its audience, rather than the worst. My wife, who generally dislikes space-opera style sci-fi, became a rabid viewer, as did I.

      Anyway, watch a few episodes with an open mind and a sense of humor, and you're likely to be surprised with where it takes you.
    • On the surface, some people tend to look at it as a rehashing of the usual "fly around, find new aliens" theme, but what makes it different are things like the incredible amount of money they throw into production, quirky stories that end up having long arc and some great characters that have developed well (even the puppets).

      The last has to be one of the real clinchers for me. They use muppets (Henson style) and animitronics and still make me care about the characters.

      They've done a great job of not tur

    • Re:What is farscape's appeal? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by metlin ( 258108 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:31PM (#8772210) Journal
      I started watching Farscape right from the first show - and one thing that appealed to me was that it had an awesome sense of humour.

      While Star Trek has a secure kind of feeling, Farscape is devoid of that. In Star Trek, you have the federation, a set of "values" and you know that they can never lose.

      Farscape has none of that - you are a bunch of renegades being hunted, you do not have a "federation" to save you and its more realistic than Star Trek would ever be - the other is ideal, while this is more plausible.

      And more than anything, Farscape comes through as being "cool" in a way that is missing in most space operas. And just when you think you have it all figured out, they do something absolutely unexpected (take off a character, introduce new plots, old enemies that join you and the like) and the story twists beautifully.

      More than anything, you do not know what is going to happen next - that thrill, combined with cheeky "earth" attitude and a sense of humour makes it one of my most favourite shows ever.

      So, there! :)
    • Well, there's everyone else reasons (plot, originality, etc).

      But mostly, I like the culture clashing. Like John relates the absurd things going on to Star Trek, Star Wars, Groundhog's Day, etc.

      Viewers probably remember (and love) the scene when a drunk Crichton starts spewing Klingon phrases at a group of hulking mercenaries. Or when asked if he understood any of the Quantum physics that were explained, he responds "Yeh, some of it. I watched a lot of Star Trek." And how "Newton... Einstein... Rosenbe

  • What is this Farscape? (Score:3, Funny)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:57PM (#8771835) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • Sci-Fi actually did something right (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Safrax ( 697056 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:58PM (#8771841) Journal
    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.
    • Mad Mad House costs like a $41.50 per episode to make. Farscape was 1.2 Million - that's why it was cancelled. Over a million bucks an episode for 800,000 viewers (That's how many typically watched a show.) The economics are what cancelled Farscape, nothing else.
    • Amen bro! I have been boycotting Sci-Fi ever since they dropped it. But I did have a relapse to watch the Battlestar Gallactica movie.
    • No, they gave tremors another season and picked the has-been series andromeda (if you haven't seen the last season or so its starting to become like Earth: final conflict and sliders were they take a good premise, run with it for about a year, then drive it into the ground). Plus scare tactics and mad house... Farscape, stargate, and a few reruns are the only things worth watching left on that channel. And if the play Taken again, I am going to vomit.

  • Not vaporized - naturalized (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bigbikkuri ( 768714 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @01:59PM (#8771858)
    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.

  • Brilliant (Score:5, Interesting)

    by NedR ( 701006 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:02PM (#8771885) Journal
    While I was upset when Sci-Fi cancelled Farscape, this is, admittedly, probably the best possible way to bring it back. Farscape was always best in blocks of three or four episodes, particularly the "We're So Screwed" arc right before the series finale. It seems like the show excelled most when Chrichton and the gang were in a seemingly impossible situation, and then the writers had three hours or so to go completely nuts. It will be interesting to see what they do with a miniseries, especially considering the title hints that things could get even messier than usual.

    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?

    • The best season for farscape was season one. When Crichton got accustomed to space and stopped acting like a cooler version of arthur dent, the series somehow changed. They should try to get it to retrun to its roots. Serious, but not too serious.

  • Rebuild it all? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Coryoth ( 254751 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:02PM (#8771889) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • The problem is. . . (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Cyberllama ( 113628 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:03PM (#8771906)
    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.

    • Re:The problem is. . . (Score:2, Interesting)

      by neomagi ( 576884 )
      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.
      • It's times like this that I wish the Nielsen's people had a box compatabile with TiVo. We were actually asked by them to be one of the families with a box (I think it's what, 2000 families?) But we had to decline because it wouldn't play nicely with TiVo. On the one hand, I'm not thrilled with the idea of someone knowing everything I watch on TV, but on the other hand I imagine it would be worth it if they'd stop cancelling the shows I like. . .
  • Life is sweet. The world is suddenly a beautiful place.

  • Probably not (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cubicledrone ( 681598 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:07PM (#8771946)
    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.

  • Downside to the Farscape world (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MobyDisk ( 75490 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:10PM (#8771978) Homepage
    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.
    • I think they lose viewers more becuase they lose orginality. you have a great premise. That's easy. Now build on it. That's hard. I started watching farscape second season, picked it up at the end of the third after I missed the first part of season 3, and didn't have much trouble. You can miss a few episodes and still get the hang of it. Same with deep space 9. I hated its first season. It sucked. Then I started watching around season 3 again and picked it up pretty quickly. Same with a lost season of star

  • Guess that they only cut together some leftovers from the series to minimize damages.

    wouldn't count on farscape being continued...

  • Nothing permanent about TV (Score:3, Funny)

    by tkg ( 455770 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:11PM (#8771993)
    ...bring it back permanently.

    Nothing is permanent in TV, except, perhaps, the commercials.

  • Amazing, but not for the reason you'd think (Score:5, Interesting)

    by webwalker ( 15831 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:11PM (#8771994) Homepage
    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

    • ...after Farscape and Firefly went off-air, there wasn't any decent Sci-Fi left to watch on SCIFI.

      Why is it that everyone says there is no good sci-fi on SciFi and yet Stargate SG1 is still going strong? Yes, I admit, there has been some off episodes but that happens to almost every series that lasts for as long as SG1 has. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but then neither is Farscape. Don't get me wrong, please, I enjoyed Farscape when it was on but I've rarely found reasons to NOT watch SG1 though

  • Sci-fi is disheartening (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Krieger ( 7750 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:12PM (#8772005) Homepage
    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.
    • This just in: Shows that suck get cancelled.

      In other news: Water is wet.

      More on OBVS, the Obvious Network, tonight at 11.
    • That's because viewers are now wise to the networks' ways. Why get attached to a new series that will be canned before your car needs an oil change? Even frig'n elections campains last longer than new shows! The only garanteed hits are campy shows like "The O.C." until the viewers get bored with characters and non-existing plot lines.

  • They were vaporized. How do you turn that into a cliffhanger?

    • I agree... they blew up the main people... how's that work? What? They were their evil twins or something?

      I just don't get it.

    • Re:Cliffhanger? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nukem1999 ( 142700 )
      I could go into detail about how the conversation between the unknown pilot and his superiors, and the behavior of the "weapon" itself, gave strong hints to the "weapon" being a teleportation device that scans the pattern of the target without the mess of actually moving matter around (and naturally destroying the originals, they already had enough doppleganger episodes), or I could just point to the big "To Be Continued..." sign.
  • 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.

  • Let it be ... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jahf ( 21968 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @02:46PM (#8772415) Journal
    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.

    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 ... 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.

    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).

  • Giving Sci Fi way too much credit (Score:5, Informative)

    by shiffman ( 118484 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @03:07PM (#8772607) Homepage
    "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 [disordered.org]. 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.

  • Is SciFi concerned about what views want, now? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by beforewisdom ( 729725 ) on Monday April 05, 2004 @09:04PM (#8775824)
    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

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