Farscape Fans Produce Commercial 369
angst writes "Farscape fans have come together and produced a commercial called 'I am Farscape'. In the hopes of bringing more media and consumer awareness that the fans of this show are not happy that it is being cancelled. So far it will be aired in 24 cities nation wide. Look for it the week of Nov. 24th if you are in the list."
I hope it works (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean think about it, Enterprise gets funding and Farscape is a far better show (I know, I know, Farscape doesn't have detox gel)
This has been done before (Score:4, Interesting)
how it will be saved (Score:5, Interesting)
It's very ironic (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd love to hear about (I'll never see it unless someone puts it online, since I don't own a TV, nor do I want one) MORE protest work on TV. It's about time that the "little guys/gals" claimed their piece of the television pie. Nowadays, it seems that 90% of the content on TV is dictated by the Fortune 500 companies...
Does anyone know of any other efforts to produce true 'grassroots' commercials like this?
Personally, I would love to see a grassroots commercial that advocates re-opening the Federal case against MS. But hey, that's 'cuz I'm one of those evil Unix lovers your mom warned you about.
Is there a 'grassroots marketing forum' anywhere?
The Story So Far... (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally I think Vivendi-Universal/Sci-Fi Channel has sorely miscalculated the resolve of the highly technical and intelligent Farscape fanbase. Despite the explosion of tech industry careers at all levels and the susequent rise in demand for genre programming no one has really provided quality television for them. The watchable genre shows can be counted on one hand. Of them Farscape was the most consistently daring and well written, appealing to wide (by sci-fi standards) demographic. I don't think Vivendi and company realized exactly how attached this fairly ignored market segment felt to that show. The longer they hold out, the more foolish they look.
Didn't follow the link, eh? (Score:3, Interesting)
Commercials.. (Score:4, Interesting)
I hope that people find more innovative ways of trying to revive their old shows that quickly become cancelled because of the niche audience's problem with weekly viewing.
I personally think the old spider man needs some new episodes, but is that going to happen? NO. If i made a commercial would anyone care? No.
Maybe slashdot, but i think anything that goes away that was once nerdy and "unique"(same as the rest of those nerdy shows) is front line head page just to rally even more support to a lost cause.
My advice, save the time, farscape didnt cut it. wait for the next show you like to come out and watch it get cancelled.
Babylon 5 showed me that it doesn't matter how insanely popular a show is, it won't last.
[cxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Re:Why was the show canceled? (Score:4, Interesting)
And your right-on about the kind of shows that build up so much back story in their early seasons. Again, Stargate does a shitload of this as well. Which is something I just can't understand since it recently moved to the Sci-Fi channel at the start of its 6th season. (As a side note, Season 7 is also underway)
So perhaps your idea of too-much-backstory-loses viewers-who-watch-later-seasons idea isn't really much of a factor.
Another good point you made is that the sci-fi channel is turning to a paranormal-horror flick channel. I got my overdose of that from watching the x-files and it gets very wornout after a while. (by no means am i knocking the x-files, it's just...well...it really drug out)
It's sad, really sad to see that happen. Remember Sliders?
Granted it never was quite the same after the professor left, when Wade got replaced by a Rambo-babe, and and Quinn dropped out. The only guy left standing is Rembrandt. I really dug that show, but it should have died, considering 3/4's of their orginial cast was gone.
VR-5, Babylon 5, TNG, Viper(hey, i liked it), Earth: Final Conflict, Adromida, (and other great shows that i'm missing) should all be reborn via re-runs and put into a mega-block spot on one channel.
Since i'm going hidiously off-topic with my idealist rants, I may as well add my thoughts on the "network-no-one-thought-could-be-so-good"....
TNN certinally turned my head, airing old TNG episodes at least once a day, and 4 back to back episodes on sunday nights. Did any of you see that HILAROUS (and pretty outragious TNN commercial they'd air during the show?
The one with the klingon woman and the exec asking the other if he'd do her. That one really cought my attention, I can't remember when i laughhed that hard at a commerical. In any case, need to get back on topic:
The level of outcry for Farscape's return is inspring to hear about. Alot of people here on slashdot sneer about it, but hey, they're putting hard-earned fan money towards a show that they loved, and their entitled to doing it. There's a certian respect in that, and I'd be the first one to sign a patition and donate some money if my favorite sci-fi show was dying too.
Re:Expletive Deleted (Score:3, Interesting)
If you care so much about those things, start a campaign. Maybe take a few pages from the Save Farscape campaigns books and follow their lead.
Meanwhile, don't diss other people for putting their passion to good use. Is this as important as those other things? No. Does that give you the right to complain that people are wasting their time on it? No - it's their time, not yours.
That's the whole point of America. It's meant to be a free country -- which means We choose what We want to do.
Re:Commercials.. (Score:2, Interesting)
True, but at least B5 was allowed to play to a logical ending point. (well, sort of logical...)
Farscape is already gone (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Only fools would pass on picking up this show (Score:3, Interesting)
So, I think you're comparing apples-to-oranges when you say, "Even Babylon 5 didn't inspire loyalty on the same level".
Speaking of which, I just got my B5 DVDs in the mail for season 1. I'm going to see if I can get some decent video-editing software and create that 3-hour "all you need to know about season 1" tape that I've been threatening. It's basically:
Midnight on the Firing Line -- Large chunks
Soul Hunter -- A bit, mostly intro
Born to the Purple, Infection, The Parliament of Dreams -- A few scenes
Mind War -- Intro of bester
The War Prayer -- Bits
And The Sky Full Of Stars -- Some of the war
Deathwalker -- Ending
Believers -- Bits
Survivors -- Bits
By Any Means Necessary -- None, I think
Signs and Portents -- 30 min or so
TKO, Grail, Eyes, Legacies -- None, I think
A Voice in the Wilderness part 1 & 2 -- Bits
Babylon Squared -- Bits about B4
The Quality of Mercy -- Bits
Chrysalis -- 30 min or so
I can edit that down to 5 hours easily, 3 hours if I'm very, very harsh about cutting out stuff that is amazingly cool and interesting, but not part of the B5 story arc.
When I do, I'm going to get all of my friends who keep saying "I'd love to watch, but I don't have time" and strap them to chairs for 3 hours
Adbusters [Re:It's very ironic] (Score:3, Interesting)
Adbusters [adbusters.org] is what you want. They have professionally produced -- i.e. really good directors/writers, even some from the ad industry -- uncommercials [adbusters.org]. They'll send you a broadcast quality tape if you buy the air time.