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Television Media

Farscape Fans Produce Commercial 369

Posted by CowboyNeal from the take-the-power-back dept.
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."
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Farscape Fans Produce Commercial More

Farscape Fans Produce Commercial

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  • Yikes! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Overand ( 590318 )
    I've seen this commercial, and if anything, it will convince Sci-Fi that Farscape fans are a bunch of untalented fan-boys (and girls) that smell bad, and don't know how to make a commercial. It's... bad.

    On the other hand, Farscape is so great that it's taking up 13 gigs of my hard drive... ::blinks innocently::

    • Re:Yikes! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Robotech_Master ( 14247 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:01AM (#4730166) Homepage Journal
      I dunno...I'd characterize the commercial as "quirky," but not necessarily bad. And in the end, it really doesn't matter how good or bad the commercial is; the important thing is that it's getting aired and getting publicity for the campaign. These people aren't giving up, and if it gets me more episodes of the show, I have to say more power to them. This thing has gone farther than any save-our-show campaign I can recall...it's going to be interesting to see where it ends.
      • I haven't seen the commercial, nor have I watched Farscape since the first season, but I wrote Scifi.com when I heard they were cancelling the show. Why? At Dragon*Con this year (I'm pretty sure it's the largest science fiction / fantasy convention in the world), Farscape had an insanely large following. D*C had to make a special category for Farscape in the costume contest because there were so many people showing up dressed as Farscape characters.

        If nothing else can be said for it, this show has one devoted audience. Maybe some of the main actors wanted to leave or maybe it's one of those "the numbers never lie" situations. But nonetheless, to have Scifi toss it away seems like a bad idea.

    • Re:Yikes! (Score:4, Funny)

      by kingkade ( 584184 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:01AM (#4730167)
      I've seen this commercial, and if anything, it will convince Sci-Fi that Farscape fans are a bunch of untalented fan-boys (and girls) that smell bad...

      Have that new smell-o-vision, huh?

    • Re:Yikes! (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by enneff ( 135842 )
      The guy who says "I'm so and so and I build robots for a living," looks like the biggest dickhead ever. He makes me want to never, ever watch Farscape - ever. He makes me associate Farscape with idiocy and social ineptitude.

    • I really didn't care for some of the later stuff on earth, but I really liked the earlier shows.

  • with this much support (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    with these many people willing to strongly support it, it makes one wonder why the show is in danger of being cancelled in the first place.
    • Because farscape is an extremely expensive series to produce. Although Scifi gets lots of viewers for farscape, they can make more money, producing a cheap, low-quality show which attracts half the audience. Unfortunately, with this strategy, we get a lot of boring cheap television, which no one really likes, rather than exciting visually stunning television, that everyone likes (or at least a large group of people).
    • with these many people willing to strongly support it, it makes one wonder why the show is in danger of being cancelled in the first place

      Let me draw you an analogy. There are (or were) lots of companies trying to make Linux products. The problem was that although many people love Linux, a very small minority are willing to actually pay for it. Like that games company whose name escapes me just now... there was a lot of clamour on /. for Linux ports of games, but at the end of the day, everyone bought the Windows version and dual-booted, so the company went bust.

      There's a poster in this topic who says he has 13G of FarScape on his HD, that's how much he loves it. Umm, no, if he loved it he would have bought the DVDs. People like him in fact killed the show.

      (FWIW, I thought FarScape was utter rubbish, but I have plenty of channels so I am counting myself as a neutral observer here).
      • "There's a poster in this topic who says he has 13G of FarScape on his HD, that's how much he loves it. Umm, no, if he loved it he would have bought the DVDs. People like him in fact killed the show."

        sounds like you are working for the entertainment industry. haven't you heard? p2p file trading helps to increase the popularity of shows like farscape and push up sales and viewing audience. i've got 20gigs of farscape and own 3 of the dvd packs with a total of 12 episodes bought and paid for, and i'd like to buy more. just can't do it today.

    • I've heard the opinion that it isn't really in danger of being canceled. The argument behind it is that Sci-Fi feels that they are paying far too much for each episode, and that the calue of the episodes is inflated. By canceling it, they've shown that they are willing to stop carrying the show if the price per episode isn't lowered. I personally think that this isn't too unlikely, and while it could mean that a season could be delayed a year or so, it makes sense for Sci-Fi to do this.

  • I hope it works (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Russellkhan ( 570824 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @02:57AM (#4730156)
    Farscape is/was a great show.

    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)
    • Pfft. Farscape may not have detox gel, but it had plenty of steamy scenes involving Claudia Black, Virginia Hey, and Gigi Edgley (one can only assume that Raelee Hill isn't far behind).

      Say what you will about Farscape, but it didn't lack sex appeal.

  • Wow (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MacAndrew ( 463832 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:01AM (#4730162) Homepage
    I'd like to see this -- what, no link? -- and have to wonder how Star Trek TOS would have done if it had had *this* kind of rabid support.

    But then, how much does Sci Fi care what its hardcore geeks think? There was an interesting article in the Times on how terribly inaccurate the advertising world's obsession with the 25 to 34 demographic is. And it is what the advertisers want, or think they want, that drives commercial programming. (Maybe Farscape should move to HBO -- might even get me to subscribe.)
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • A-ha, they do in fact have a link to the commercial itself [mac.com] -- hosted at mac.com, I note with pride. (Yeah, I dropped my account like most people when they started to charge, but still.)

      Gee, I'm glad these people are all Farscape, but what does this prove? Also, I suspect they didn't write their own lines other than the [insert name here].

      I repeat my earlier "insightful +5" assertion that Farscape rocks [slashdot.org]. It is a professional, cool, well-written alternative to the ST rut and the Star Wars commercial nightmare. And is has real characters people care about. Don't we all want to see the Scarrans whupped?

  • Why was the show canceled? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by joshua404 ( 590829 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:01AM (#4730163)
    I've seen and read so much from so many fans of this show all over the net, that I keep asking myself - if they have this large and loyal a following, why was this show canceled? What were the ratings like? What was Sci-Fi's reasoning? I don't exactly see a plethora of good original programming on that channel, so why kill off one of the few successes?

    • To put it bluntly, it was canceled because it really began to stink. I mean really. The first two-and-a-half seasons were outstanding, but things really took a dive after that.

      As much as it pains me to admit it-- I used to be such a gianormous fan-- it's a good time for Farscape to go.

    • Re:Why was the show canceled? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Robotech_Master ( 14247 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:13AM (#4730232) Homepage Journal
      There are several reasons given, depending on who you ask and when. Among the big ones are:

      Too expensive: The show costs an awful lot to produce, as SF shows tend to, and apparently Sci-Fi's in a bit of a money crunch. The high production cost wouldn't be so bad, except...

      They don't own the show; Henson does, as part of the production agreement (though they each finance half the show's cost). Which means SFC doesn't get the back-end income from syndication and DVD/video and such to recoup their costs. Adding to the problem is the fact that...

      The show's fandom isn't expanding: Farscape is keeping the fans it has, but it's not causing more people to come to watch the show. See, that's the problem with shows that build up a lot of backstory...if you haven't watched the first four seasons, you have no idea what's going on. (This problem has been noted in other mega-arc-based shows, such as Andromeda.) SFC wants shows that suck more people in (and get them watching SFC). And finally, it's been said that...

      SFC is supposedly moving away from "space-based" shows and heading more toward the "paranormal," in keeping with the latest fads/trends in the TV people are watching. Which makes you wonder why they even bother calling themselves "sci-fi," but there you go.

      • SFC is supposedly moving away from "space-based" shows and heading more toward the "paranormal," in keeping with the latest fads/trends in the TV people are watching. Which makes you wonder why they even bother calling themselves "sci-fi," but there you go.
        I thought the whole paranormal craze tanked with the last few seasons of X-Files? I've been in Europe for a while so I'm out of touch with what's going on back home though, so I could be wrong.

      • Re:Why was the show canceled? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by NetGyver ( 201322 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @06:31AM (#4730756) Journal
        Damn, that was best most well thought out post I have ever seen on slashdot. Seriously, this is no joke. I saw bits and pieces of farscape after Stargate SG-1 was over, and it seemed a bit weird to me and I never got into it enough to keep current with the show.

        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:Why was the show canceled? (Score:4, Informative)

        by spectecjr ( 31235 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @06:56AM (#4730824) Homepage
        There are several reasons given, depending on who you ask and when. Among the big ones are

        These are all the reasons given by SciFi.

        They also have all been - to greater or lesser extents - debunked.

        For example - too expensive? SG1's budget was increased for their 7th season, and is way more than that of Farscape.

        ($2.5MM for SG1 vs. $750K for Farscape, per episode)

        Simon
      • Ugh. Paranormal. Yawn.

        Possibly my least-favorite genre, although anything to do with massive conspiracy theorys comes a close second.

        The first few seasons of X-Files was pretty good, but I stopped watching when it started getting really wierd.
      • The paranormal and the sop opera stuff is why I have not turned on Sci-Fi in about 3-4 years. Even Farscape is a bit of a strech to me. This is why I did not like B5. In those to shows, I can't sit down and watch it and understand it like I can Enterprise and ST:TNG. If I wanted a soap opera I would not be working 9 to 5! :)

        The Paranormal stuff just does not interest me and, in my opinion, a great amount of normal folks. Personally I watched more Sci-Fi when they were all about repeats. Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, The HORRID Glactica 1980 (yeah it sucks, but at least it's not Kolchak the Night Stalker)....good Sci-Fi I grew up with. Even Trek replays were better then what's on now. To me, the paranormal is NOT Sci-Fi. What science is there in Ghosts? We don't even have proof Ghosts exist! I know I know, Warp Drive doesn't exist either, but you know, it might exist. Anyone can see that it could possibly happen. They said we'd never break the sound barrier yet we now have fighter aircraft and passenger aircraft capable of doing just that. They say we will never be able to travel faster then light, but I do believe it will happen (maybe not in my lifetime, but it will happen). Sci-Fi needs to drive Science. Faster then light travel should be a goal of ours if we ever want to see anything outside of our solar system. How does paranormal Sci-Fi drive science? It doesn't. At least not near as much as Star Trek and other shows do. Only thing paranormal Sci-FI does is reduce Sci-Fi's cost to produce shows. Not near as many effects are needed for these types of shows. That's why they are going that direction. It has nothing to do with what's popular.

    • Re:Why was the show canceled? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DarkZero ( 516460 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:51AM (#4730349)
      I've seen and read so much from so many fans of this show all over the net, that I keep asking myself - if they have this large and loyal a following, why was this show canceled? What were the ratings like? What was Sci-Fi's reasoning?

      Simple economics. The show was expensive to produce, so it needed a large audience in order to justify its existence. Its audience began to decrease, so it started bleeding huge amounts of money every week, and with a budget that high, it probably wouldn't have taken very long for the show to hit the point where it would have to do extremely well on a consistent basis for one or two full seasons just to become profitable again.

      But even though that's their reason for doing it, it's still a very stupid reason. As Matt Roush from TV Guide pointed out, Farscape was the only thing that ever got the Sci-Fi Channel any national exposure in the entire history of the channel, and it got it quite a bit of national exposure too. Farscape was the only reason that the Sci-Fi Channel was ever mentioned in TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, and all of the other national entertainment magazines, and it also got them exposure for their other shows because they from "the channel that brought us Farscape".

      It's just a simple, familiar matter of someone basing a decision on nothing but raw statistics and not thinking about all of the other elements involved.
    • I used to be a rabid farscape fan... the show was absolutely awesome and I wouldn't miss it for anything.... Until season 3... they started the touchy feely crap, the show no longer "felt" like farscape. and what finally did it for me was the fact that the new show count and production schedule was cut in half... what the hell is that? I like reruns of a show I realllly like. but when you see 4 rerusn between each new show... screw that.
      • I did not have so much of a problem with Season 3 as Season 4. I really like this show, but it seemed like in this last season that the plots would be really contrived. It also seemed like they could not keep a character's attitude the same from episode to episode.

        I guess what it felt like to me was a patchwork of stories: As if they had seperate teams writing the various plots, completely blind to each other, and then stitched them together at the last minute. Obviously, this isn't the case, but you know what I mean.

  • This has been done before (Score:4, Interesting)

    by packeteer ( 566398 ) <packeteer@sub d i m e n s i o n . com> on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:01AM (#4730164)
    with mixed sucess... i know freaks and geeks fans tried to get it back on but they werent successful... does anyone know of any shows that did comeback this way?

    • Re:This has been done before (Score:5, Informative)

      by Minna Kirai ( 624281 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:09AM (#4730211)
      Now I feel really old. Kids today... no attention to history.

      Heard of Star Trek? The campaign [trekplace.com] that ressurected the cancelled original series is what inspires all of these latter-day fan-intervention imitators.
    • Star Trek. Once and Again, for a time. Roswell, for an additional season on another network. Forever Knight, which was revived twice after it was cancelled after both its first and second seasons. I'm pretty sure Buffy the Vampire Slayer was, because tons of mail was sent to UPN urging them to pick it up after The WB dropped it after its fifth season. And I'm also pretty sure that the Freaks and Geeks campaign sort of worked... weren't previously unaired episodes aired after the campaign, completing the first season?

      This is done every time a show is cancelled. The difference is that only the shows with a truly dedicated fanbase survive. Farscape might have that.
      • Good examples except one: Buffy the Vampire Slayer was dropped because Mutant Enemy wanted more money per episode than the WB was willing to pay - UPN picked it up before any groundswell of fandom had a chance to build up. No fan intervention necessary. UPN felt that they needed more than one franchise show (Enterprise), so they were willing to pay the green necessary. The WB, on the other hand, still had Angel to keep a lot of Buffy fans watching, Smallville getting a following, and had Birds of Prey in their sights (a WB property via DC, as is Smallville) - I think they figured BoP would meet their "hot fighting chick(s)" requirement.

  • really, now.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by nostromo_42 ( 130573 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:02AM (#4730170)
    In many of those cities, the ad may air only once, and it may be in the middle of the night on an undisclosed channel.

    would it take that much extra work for them to specify which channel, or at least which network it's an affiliate of? i'm a little skeptical of the claim that "it doesn't matter what channel", since the mainstream media isn't exactly going to rush out headline stories about this unless people see it.
    • I agree that it would be nice of them to list channels and times (harder) that they've bought for the spot.

      You are dead wrong on the fact that the "mainstream media isn't exactly going to rush out headline stories about this unless people see it." CNN - which we can all agree here is about as mainstream as you can get, right - has already aired two 'lengthy' stories on the fan response to the show being cancelled. This was done when there were websites first popping up and the letter-writing campaigns were just getting started. If I recall correctly, there were stories in many other places as well. So, it stands to reason, that fans caring enough to produce (even supposedly amatuerish) commercials for *any* television series will be news. It really is groundbreaking in the history of television if you think about it.

      Still, I'm skeptical the show will be granted an extended lifetime for other reasons....
    • bah, it amazes me how many people know absolutely nothing about ad insertion...

      Yes they bought 1 Ad slot on one channel at the cheapest time slot. what that does is shovew them into the "auto fill" pool. you notice the Ad's for cable tv? or that local station? Those are filler ad's to fill up spots that were not sold. if one paid customer get's sold on that channel in a contract that specifies that they dont care when they get aired and autofill is ok... they will be airing like crazy on every network they have 1 spot on.

      It's a stroke of genius on the part of the person that though of buying their ad'space that way.. and the funniest part.... Sci-Fi is a tier 3 channel and is almsot one of the cheapest to buy ad' insertion on.. and cince they are cable... just buy the ad' space from a cable company... flip Sci-fi the bird.

  • Awareness (Score:3, Funny)

    by faeryman ( 191366 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:02AM (#4730171) Homepage
    I walk around in leather and say I'm a Peacekeeper and try and drum up interest in the show. It doesn't work that well though..people just smack my ass, so I'm all for the new TV commercial to succeed in getting people interested.

  • how it will be saved (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Drunken Coward ( 574991 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:02AM (#4730173)
    Apparently, the only way Farscape will be saved is if UPN picks it up for season five. This will only happen if the remaining season four episodes get high ratings, which doesn't seem likely without publicity. So write to UPN and encourage non-geek friends (or those who happen to have Nielson boxes in their homes) to watch the show.
  • That just won't do... How about:

    Farscape:
    Because botox on vulcans is illogical.

  • It's very ironic (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JessLeah ( 625838 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:05AM (#4730184)
    that the first "grassroots" (as opposed to "astroturf" ;) ) protest commercial I've ever heard of involves Farscape. I've heard a lot of good things about this show-- but still, where are the "the environment is going to pot and the politicians don't care" protest commercials.. or the "drug companies are keeping patents to life-saving AIDS and cancer drugs under lock and key, while millions die" protest commercials?

    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?
    • Nowadays, it seems that 90% of the content on TV is dictated by the Fortune 500 companies...

      hate to break it to you but its about 3 companies that own 90% of it all... kinda gross...

      i wonder if one company owns more than 1% of all the web content?
      • Unfortunately, it's not really relevent what percentage of the Web is owned by any given c orporation (or set of corporations). What's relevent is what percentage of total minutes/page views of actual Web surfing time of any given body of users is spent on corporate sites.

        I have a sneaking suspicion that there are millions of people out there who wake up in the morning, read their (AOL) e-mail, go to www.cnn.com (also owned by AOL) to get their news, go off to work and read msnbc.com (Microsoft) and time.com (more AOL), occasionally dipping into si.com (yet more AOL). Then they go home and load up their copy of AOL Instant Messenger (no, not Trillian, not gAIM-- the actual real deal from AOL, complete with annoying adverts) and chat with their friends, who tell them about something they read in (insert AOL-owned magazine) today...

        And so on, and so on.

        I'm sure that somewhere in the US, there is a person who gets 95 or more percent of all the information they partake of (in media form, perhaps even including movies) from AOL/Time Warner.

        • Re:It's very ironic (Score:3, Informative)

          by packeteer ( 566398 )
          AOL/Time Warner is very bad but there are 6 coprorations that is considered to own pretty much all media the average american gets. AOL/Time Warner, Viacom, News Corp., Disney, General Electric and Bertelsmann are the companies in no order. 5 years ago it was about 10 companies and 20 years ago there was 50. You can find a list [cjr.org] of who owns what in the world of big business. Just look at the freakishly long list that is owned by only Viacom [cjr.org].

          It makes me glad i dont watch tv. Although slashdot is no suppliment for an all enclusive news source it sure fills the most time of my news reading in a day.

          • Re:It's very ironic (Score:3, Insightful)

            by JessLeah ( 625838 )
            And even sicker is that anyone who dares protest this state of affairs is branded a "communist" or a "hippie".

            This is not how capitalism is supposed to be.

            We need a sound balance of capitalism and socialism-- and a heavy dose of fairness. Unfortunately, lots of people do not have the Buddha-nature and are quite selfish and greedy. (And I'm sorry, I don't care how much of your $billions you gave away to charity, BillG, wanting/insisting upon 100% market share in every market you touch does make you "quite selfish and greedy").
    • http://www.adbusters.org

      The have tried several times to get spots on CNN and other media formats, with very little reception.

    • I don't own a TV, nor do I want one

      Followed by:

      it seems that 90% of the content on TV is dictated by the Fortune 500 companies...

      Alrighty then :-) You just picked that up from waiting at the bus-stop in front of Circuit City I bet, uh? ;-)

    • 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.

  • Commercial Will Reach Wrong Audience (Score:3, Insightful)

    by fuzdout ( 585374 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:06AM (#4730196) Journal
    Unfortunately for the FS fans, more than likely their efforts won't work and if anything cause a lot of snide and humorous jokes about their commercials on SNL, Jay leno and such. Even if simply because the lack of quality.

    It's nice that they are willing to try and make a point about their dedication but it probably will just reach the average TV viewers and NOT anyone in control of FS's life-span.

  • Only fools would pass on picking up this show (Score:5, Insightful)

    by blincoln ( 592401 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:15AM (#4730237) Homepage Journal
    Seriously, has *any* series ever gotten this kind of rabid support? Even Babylon 5 didn't inspire loyalty on the same level.

    Since I don't have cable, I never saw FarScape, but any marketing department in their right mind would kill to have fans so willing to spend their money on a given product that they'd pay for their own ads to be aired.

    If SciFi was concerned about profitability, they should have started cranking out the merchandise, because this is a bunch of people who are obviously willing to put their money where their mouths are.
    • Babylon 5's fan base was quite active and vocal, but there was no need for the sort of attention-getting that one has to go through to get a show put back on the air. For the most part, with Babylon 5 the largest problem fans had was getting syndicators to show it in a stable time-slot, and that was done market-by-market.

      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 :)

  • The Story So Far... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Soulslayer ( 21435 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:22AM (#4730263) Homepage
    Strange Horizons [strangehorizons.com] had a great write-up [strangehorizons.com] on the corporate shuffling that has killed Farscape.

    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.

  • FarStoned (Score:4, Funny)

    by Ehsan ( 606618 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:47AM (#4730340)


    I was like.. watching a show.. on the tv... and it was like boom.. and then like.. the show was gone.. and I was like hmm? it devoured devoured.. my show.. and it was a really good show and I had to watch another show and it wasn't as good..

    it's kind of..

    .. a bummer

  • A show? (Score:5, Funny)

    by jonr ( 1130 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:50AM (#4730346) Homepage Journal
    An excerpt from the pilot:
    Crais is the captain of a command carrier ship belonging to a military empire known as Peacekeepers. Peacekeepers are an oppressive, human-like species known for keeping "peace" and "stability" with the use of brutality and military cunning. One of their jobs is the assassination and imprisonment of political dissidents and trouble makers.

    Hmm... haven't I seen this somewhere else recently...
    • It's mostly centered around the predicament of John Crichton, who goes from a confused good guy lost in space, to a good guy wanting to get home, to a good guy pushed to the brink of insanity by enemies he never wanted to make, to a man pushed too far that'll do just about anything to get home, to a sort of apathetic guy who lost his way and doesn't care what happens, and finally the cynical hero type trying to get the job done.

      That's my synopsis anyway, and what I really think makes the show great. Then again, I just eat that kinda stuff up. To me it's Dirty harry, John McClain......Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 1.

    • An excerpt from the pilot: Crais is the captain of a command carrier ship belonging to a military empire known as Peacekeepers. Peacekeepers are an oppressive, human-like species known for keeping "peace" and "stability" with the use of brutality and military cunning. One of their jobs is the assassination and imprisonment of political dissidents and trouble makers.

      Hmm... haven't I seen this somewhere else recently...

      No, you're thinking of the plot where the crazed billionaire loser convinces a bunch of young poor religious fanatic losers to be suicidal mass murderers, while he hides in the far reaches of the galaxy ....

      Easy mistake to make though.

  • Their Eyes Are Bigger Than Their Airwaves... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cribcage ( 205308 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @03:58AM (#4730363) Homepage Journal
    Another show which boasts rabidly loyal fan support bites the dust. Just yesterday, Comics2Film reported rumors that the Batman-inspired "Birds Of Prey" won't be renewed by the WB network.

    These networks need some perspective. They're never going to be NBC, and they're never going to produce "Friends." The absolute best they can hope for is to attract a couple of million die-hard fans, who tune in week after week -- guaranteeing a specific demographic to sell to advertisers.

    So, "FarScape" only attracted a bunch of geeks and nerds. That's what's called a "high-saturation demographic." Sure, it's not very appealing to advertisers trying to sell basketball shoes; but for the company selling video games, or computer software, or pocket protectors...advertising on "FarScape" is money well-spent. You're pitching to an audience which might be 90% favorable to your product -- as opposed to betting on the more mixed demographics watching, say, "Trading Spaces" or "Emeril Live."

    Old marketing adage: Figure out your strength, and play it. As long as these cable channels keep trying to compete with The Big Three, they're going to keep tripping over themselves.

    crib

  • Alcoholics Anonymous (Score:3, Funny)

    by Cheese Cracker ( 615402 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @04:05AM (#4730382)
    Did someone else get the feeling of an AA meeting when you watched the I Am Farscape commercial? [mac.com]

  • coming to a grocer near you (Score:3, Funny)

    by !splut ( 512711 ) <sputNO@SPAMalum.rpi.edu> on Friday November 22, 2002 @04:06AM (#4730386) Journal
    Did anyone else interpret that headline as announcing a Farscape-sponsored commercial for fruits and veggies?

    "Farscape oranges. They're out of this world."

  • Money, and all things like it (Score:5, Funny)

    by Thenomain ( 537937 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @04:14AM (#4730411) Homepage
    Personally, I wish these people could have saved the money in advertising costs to bribe a UPN exec. From looking at the commercials, it'd have to be a lower exec, maybe a kid in the mail room, but I think the money could have been better spent.

  • Different applications of the same concept (Score:5, Insightful)

    by shivianzealot ( 621339 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @04:14AM (#4730412)
    I'm sitting here wondering why we Slashdotters aren't raising money to air our own awareness ads regarding DMCA, SSSCA, and other Bad Things. We need a geek lobby. Now.
  • All i could think of (and was hoping to see) was Xenia Seeberg [xeniaseeberg.biz] from Lexx - when she does that commercail "This is Sci-Fi"

    Jeebus this girl is hot.

  • the commercial is a success! (Score:3, Funny)

    by herrd0kt0r ( 585718 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @04:24AM (#4730433)
    this commercial has already converted one person to tune in to farscape. how?

    all i gotta say is that if that graphic designer chix0r is farscape, then _i_ wanna be farscape too!

  • Commercials.. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by [cx] ( 181186 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @04:31AM (#4730452)
    I've seen commercials for Farscape made by people who _MADE_ the show and I wasn't interested. Some fan effort is going to lack funds, and therefore lack the effects and quality of the actual commercial(s).

    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:Commercials.. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by hplasm ( 576983 )
      Babylon 5 showed me that it doesn't matter how insanely popular a show is, it won't last.

      True, but at least B5 was allowed to play to a logical ending point. (well, sort of logical...)

    • Re:Commercials.. (Score:3, Informative)

      by T.E.D. ( 34228 )
      Babylon 5 showed me that it doesn't matter how insanely popular a show is, it won't last.


      WTF are you talking about? Babylon 5 was going to be a five-year show from the start, and it ran for all 5 seasons. It ended after that not because it got canceled by network types, but because the story was over.
  • Surely the TV companies know what's making them money and what's not? If the show was as good as all these fanatics claim it was then it wouldn't be getting canned in the first place.
    • Personally I think the people who run the sci-fi channel deliberately torpedoed the show.

      They run ads for sg-1 everyday. They hardly ever run ads for farscape.

      Sg-1 is on for like 16 hours a week. Farscape?

      They put farscape in the absolute worst timeslot there is - friday night at 10pm. At that time the world is asleep or well on their way to oblivion.

      I recently polled nearly all of my non-geek friends (I'm a commercial fisherman so I have a more than a few) and not a single one of them had ever heard of farscape. But they have all heard of sg-1.

      For the commercial though, they should of hired Chiana (gigi edgley), the

      sexiest.girl.ever.

  • Nobody else sees this but me? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by The Rolling Blackout ( 556170 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @04:50AM (#4730498)
    A gang of geeks obsessed with their favorite TV show put out a broadcast-ready promo in order to keep it on the air.

    WTF. We can't do the same for the politicians we support or in opposition to those bills we know will create a totalitarian state in the U.S. A.?

    WTF again. Where are our FUCKING PRIORITIES? Farscape is just a little bit less important than preserving civil liberties of American citizens, and for that matter, the peace of the rest of the world. If for no other reason than to preserve the freedom of our (possible) children, we should be exerting these efforts in favor of STOPPING NIXON-ERA FORIEGN POLICY TACTICS and electing officials who will make this planet habitable for the next two centuries at the very least.

    Thank you for your time, I'm going to bed.

    • Showing support for one's favorite show (not mine, Farscape hurts my eyes) serves mearly to make a stand.

      Showing support or opposition to political issues requires advocacy. A bunch of geeks saying "I am not a terrorist." doesn't help. Noone becomes aware of the issues involved.

      Look at Political Ads, they never tell you wtf the issues are, aside from showing support for the top 5 focus-tested party lines. In order to raise awareness and enlighten the nearly comatose masses you would need alot more than 30 seconds.

      Now let's say you ran a 3 min nationwide spot on Survivor (the total cost of which would probably require every /.ers salary for 4 months) and you make a solid presentation of the facts. The facts don't mean jack shit to most americans because they identify with being "Democrat" or "Republican" and will simply dismiss anything that doesn't appeal to them as "pinko hippy nonsense".

      I wish there was a way to stop this, but there isn't. Every day we sink deeper. I just hope I can get a job over seas before they build the wall.
    • I'm sure your computer can edit video just as well as the Farscape fans can. So where's your foreign policy commercial?

      It's easy to say 'FUCKING PRIORITIES'. How about doing something about it. they did. So can you.

      D

  • You gotta fight... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by asb ( 1909 )

    ...for your right to be entertained.

    It's good to see people still have their priorities right.

  • Possible farscape Switch ad... (Score:3, Funny)

    by whiteranger99x ( 235024 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @06:01AM (#4730665) Journal
    Here's one they [mac.com] need:

    I was watching a sci-fi show...

    and it was like...beep beep beep beep beep...

    and then...like...the entire show was gone...

    i was like..uh?

    sci-fi channel devoured it...it was a good show

    It's kind of...(long silence...) a bummer.

    I'm Ellen Feiss and I am a farscape fan!
  • I didn't think it was the great, and appearently Neilson families feel the same. Show's not making its rating targets, which means it costs more then it makes and nobody's doing this for art.

    "Gee mister advertiser, my show getting terrible rating, but all these nerds on the net promise they like it. Please pay me as if I was pulling real numbers, cause kinda weak SF shows don't pay for themselves ya know."

    Besides, I'm much more depressed about Futurama.
  • I could have sworn that I saw a commercial for a new season of farscape. I thought to myself when I saw it "it ought to calm those fanboys/fangirls down". I guess that didn't happen either.

  • Has this not been address? (Score:5, Funny)

    by McFly69 ( 603543 ) on Friday November 22, 2002 @10:28AM (#4731535) Homepage
    Here William Shatner's reponse to "Do It Yourself Media."MBR>
    William Shatner: "Get a life ... will ya, people? I mean, for cryin' out loud, it's just a TV show." [wavsource.com]

    Aired on Saturday Nigth live, late 1990's.

  • missing the point (Score:2, Insightful)

    by gumpshrimp ( 628455 )
    Many of you seem to be missing the point as to why the uproar about it being cancelled. I as well as most of you realize that all good things come to an end. But, the problem here is that Farscape was signed up for 5 seasons and got cancelled at the end of season 4 with no warning. So there will be no closure at the end of season 4. We will all be left wandering, just like at the end of every season finally. This is was pisses me off, not the it was cancelled, but there will be no closure to the long developed story line.
  • I think the commercial is a done a bit poorly, especially the audio (maybe it's better on a TV instead of as a QT?). But I had Mr HOSTBOT [mrhostbot.com] grab it for mirroring anyway.

    FinalCommercial.mov [mrhostbot.com] (934 KB).

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