I understand why SCI-FI cancelled - Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004) Discussion

[–] EbonAvatar 20 years ago

I highly doubt that anyone at the SciFi Channel is that smart. I think the reason that they started to rerun Farscape is simply cause they have absolutely nothing better. I mean, what the hell is Scare Tactics??!!

If you saw my dead dog, you'd be in love with it too.

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[–] craney0001 20 years ago

they needed the room on friday nites for tremors the series...man that was crap. I can understand that the show was costing alot though, the production values for that show were amazing, but to cancel it even though they were most likely gonna finish it the next season...that was just a slap in the face to everyone involved. Oh well, now they have more money to make horrible horrible sci-fi movies or new epsiodes of stargate, which I'm sorry has just run out of steam. I used to love that show but the stories don't go anywhere anymore...but that's a subject for another board.

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[–] bllrghtz 11 years ago

Well said, craney0001 - Completely agree.

They cancelled it because they didn't want to spend the dosh, when (in their opinion) their viewers will watch any ol' cr@p that's put in front of them. Better to vomit out another dozen embarrassingly stupid 'ghost' shows, or (somehow, even worse) 'squatch' shows.

They are cheap, mercenary people that care nothing for art or their audience. Sci-fi channel is probably the worst channel on the air. Just... Garbage.

Sadly, this seems to be the lot of all good sci-fi... Not enough audience to score ridiculously high profit margins, so.... Cancelled. Just like Firefly.

We'll get good sci-fi when the soulless suits in charge accept making slightly less money. Meaning... Never, basically.

People that think "the market" provides good outcomes for anyone other than 1% of the country aren't really thinking at all.

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[–] jberning 10 years ago

Yea I agree with both. And like Craney said I think the worst aspect was that they cancelled it when season 5 was planned to be the final season at the time. Wish they could have told them that they neded to wrap it up and they were not going to get anymore. Maybe we could have gotten all of the storylines wrapped up, like the Nebari threat/resistance, along with the Peacekeeper/Scarran conflict.

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[–] The-Merovingian 12 years ago

<i> I highly doubt that anyone at the SciFi Channel is that smart </i>

Agreed. When SciFi Channel makes a decision, it's usually a bad one.

I heard that the series was cancelled due to its incredibly high production cost.

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[–] cariad_21 20 years ago

I agree, I started watching right in the end scenes of the last episode of Season 3 (when John and Aeryn are having that big arguement about going or staying!) and was hooked!!

Cariad

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[–] SabaceanBabe 20 years ago

Yup. I started watching with Crichton Kicks (premiere of season 4) and was intrigued enough to go out the next day and rent the best of season 1 so I could catch up on backstory.

To say one can't get into an ongoing story is simply ridiculous. Look at 24. Look at Buffy and Angel. Look at the frelling daytime soaps.

Skiffy, and most of the other channels/networks, have to stop underestimating the intelligence of their viewers.

I'm just sayin'.

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[–] gbr1976 20 years ago

I agree. I didn't even know about the show until a friend of mine showed me a few episodes from season 1-2. Like you I was intrigued, and was able to get into the storyline without too much confusion. I didn't get to see any new episodes until the first airing of Kansas, but I followed it from that point to the finale.

I was even able to record all of the episodes from Premire all the way to Unrealized Realities when Skiffy showed reruns Sunday through Thursday, and then just on Sundays. Now I have the season 1-2 box sets, am buying the season 4 DVD's as they are released, and will get the season 3 box set when it comes out.

So Skiffy saying that there weren't any new viewers is dren.

"Rygel is a bloated gasbag, and who's gonna shell out for that?"

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[–] sitbackny 20 years ago

This is how I got hooked to Farscape & Babylon 5
by playing catch up with marathon & reruns.
I have not watch ANYTHING on SciFi since they can'd FARSCAPE
Are you guys listening. I hope so.
I would stay on for Friday nights after Farscape.
This mini will probably just be a wrap up for the fans
At least we will get that much.

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[–] Point Dexter 20 years ago

It is true. Sci-fi cancelled Farscape because it wasn't attracting a lot of new viewers (note: by 'a lot' I mean serious numbers here, not just 'me and my mates'). Despite being one Sci-Fi's highest rated shows it was dumped because it was difficult for new viewers to catch onto, and it was too expensive to justify that. The reruns, on the other hand, are much cheaper and they can pimp them for a few extra dollars I'm sure.

The trouble is, even though most of us could jump into Farscape midway and figure out what was going on, not everyone could. Unlike other shows, Farscape did not go out of it's way to help people keep up with the action week after week, and as most of you know, the typical TV viewer doesn't want to have to think about these things. While soap operas have a lot of exposition to remind the audience about what's happened already, Farscape didn't. I liked that in a series, but Sci-Fi didn't.

Plus, this also fits in with the current death of spacebound sci-fi. Apart from Star Trek, can anyone name a current sci-fi series that takes place in space? Or anywhere other than Earth for that matter? It seems space isn't fashionable anymore.

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[–] hypernode1 20 years ago

It took me a bit to get into Farscape, frankly I think I felt like Crickton must of just after flying out of the wormhole. One of the things that really seprated it from the pack was how truly alien it was. It was a strange view when I first caught it in Season 2. It was the character of Rygel that actually got me into the show.
The death of Space-bound sci-fi also fits with the rise of so-called reality TV, where there is no need for expensive sets, special effects, actors, scriptwriters, a large crew, etc. Cheaper to shoot on earth as earth. That said I am also ticked off that there will be no more Odyssey 5, that was a show that I liked as well. Very different and now very dead.

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[–] cyberleadr337 20 years ago

Andromeda and Doctor Who will be back soon.

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[–] EnderTheXenocide 20 years ago

I love farscape I've been following it since season 1 except for part of seasons 2 and 3, and i was exceedingly disappointed when it was cancelled. however if they can't show any further episodes of farscape i would like to see scifi take that failed fox show firefly.

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[–] aertistx 20 years ago

I heard Joss Whedon was okayed to turn that show into a feature film. It's in preproduction now.. I think

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[–] Aqua_sentinel 20 years ago

Isn't Joss Whedon working on Serinity right now? (I hope the movie will be as good as the ill-fated, prematurly-cancelled, Fox series.)

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[–] Scaper-X 20 years ago

Very, very simple and classic explanation. Farscape's ratings were sliding each season while its budget grew each season. This spells doom for any series, regardless of quality.

Television is first and foremost a business.
-- Scaper-X

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[–] cyberleadr337 20 years ago

Actually the ratings really didn't slip all that much, and in fact there were more households watching 4th season than 3rd season. Don't believe me, go to this site.

http://www.scaper.com/sacc/farscaperatings.doc

the real reason that sci-fi was unhappy with the ratings was not because they dropped, but because they were not higher than the show that was on immediately before farscape, in this case it was SG-1 which brought with it a network sized fan base who apparently didn't all stick around for Farscape. I can't blame them of course because it could be hard for the casual viewer to jump in in the middle, or maybe some only want one hour of sci-fi at a time. It's just unfortunate they chose the wrong hour.

--Come on Ace, we have work to do.

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] mkdewaters 20 years ago

Hey GreatMovieCritic4ever, you are jumping to a conclusion that this story is taking place after the final show. They could do this mini as one that is taking place earlier. So, no need for the re-animation of dead characters.

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[–] Aikoman 20 years ago

Funny, I never got the impression that they were killed at the end of the series. If they had been kileed, they most likely would have been blown up, shown corpes for emotional context, or somthing. The fact that they were shot with a weapon that reduced them to little crystals seemed like an openeing to bring them back. i sighted in a previous post the old Star Trek ep. where the crew are ruduced to little cubes of salt, only to be reconstituted later. The crystal reduction is probably just a capture and transport kind of thing. And based on the miniturization episode in S.4, I don't think it is far fetched for the Farscpae universe.

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[–] paulstafford_uk 20 years ago

Aikoman has a good point. The dive bombing pilot at the end actually says something, and you'll have to excuse me not remembering exactly what, that does suggest that they were being neutralized for capture rather than killed. I'm assuming that was the intention especially as at time of filming/writing the cast and crew were expecting a Season 5 and Farscape wouldn't work without those characters.

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] alondria_redfurn 20 years ago

everyone seems to have forgotten that the cast and crew were fully expecting to go into a fifth season of the show. They were told that it would run all the way through to the end of season five even before four went into production. Then Sci Fi pulled the plug the day after season four finished filming.

For those asking peacekeeper war takes place six months after the end of season four if the rumours are right.

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[–] keyglow-2 20 years ago

Actually, if memory serves, the series itself had been renewed after season three for two more seasons. It was with this understanding that the writers wrote the season four cliff hanger of Crichton and Aeryn getting jellied. They had every intention of continuing the series. (the "To Be Continued" subtitled would probably be evidence of that) In fact, it was not until the penultimate day of shooting that scifi channel dropped this huge bomb. Otherwise, had they been given any real notice, they would probably have rewritten the end in such a way that resolved issues instead of raising more.
As for the mini, I do believe it was written to tie up loose ends, so in all likelihood, it picks up right where the series left off.
I think the guys at Farscape have a lot of class though, because at the end of the season four cliffhanger, AFTER the "to be continued" tile, they slated another tile that basically thanked skiffy and the fans for all their generosity and support. They really did make a dignified and gracious exit in an otherwise cr@ppy situation. Props to them.

as for good tv that gets canned... this is a fact of life. Firefly, My So Called Life and Sports Night are three excellent shows with superb acting and exquisite writing that all got shafted before they had a moment to make a global impact. This is a sad side effect of an "immediate gratification" culture whose values system feeds from "bigger, faster, louder, funnier NOW"

As much as the whole cancellation thing sucks, and wreaks of foul play, I think we should be at least thankful that Farscape had as many seasons as it did.

Just my two cents...

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[–] lixeira666 20 years ago

Did someone ask for this?

- Neutralize invaders for analysis.
- Acknowledged. Neutralization run... beginning.

These are the words between the "control tower" and the pilot, before he shoots (or whatever) on Aeryn and John.

It's good to know that the mini-series will be a development of this situation, not a simple remake of the series...

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[–] Havisham 20 years ago

I recently just caught the scape bug and I'm now hooked. Yes, I'm often confused, wondering what the hell is going on, but I still love the show!

I understand your beliefs that it's usually difficult for newbies to catch up but SciFi should realize that there are others like me. I just hope there's enough of us to revive ratings.

I say, burn the dog who invented ratings though. A couple of my shows [really good shows] have already been canceled because of it. I really don't want Farscape to join them in the graveyard.

Will all due respect,
H

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[–] EventHorizon333 20 years ago

I was hooked last ep of season 2. I had no idea who anyone was, no idea of anything other than what the episode presented- but I knew I loved it!

I also lucked out. I saw that ep right before they showed Farscape Undressed, and then the 3rd season premiere. But the fact is, I was hooked from that one ep on- or else I wouldn't have watched the other stuff.

Personally- If I come into a series later on in it's run- like I did with Angel and Buffy (end of Buffy's last season is when I started watching it.) I jump online and find out key points I should know.

Honestly, through "Previously on"'s, flash backs, and just how the characters interact- it is pretty easy to follow if you haven't seen it before. You just need to keep your mouth shut while watching it, and pay attention to everything that's going on.

Though I do think they should have done a "Farscape Undressed" for the start of each season... even if they had worked out only a half hour more... it would have allowed people who aren't able to really pay attention to complex story lines a chance of catching up.

"The prince is never going to come, everybody knows that; and maybe Sleeping Beauty's dead." Lestat

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[–] rassd71 20 years ago

Hell Yeah!!

Definitely one of the finest pieces of Sci Fi or TV for that matter.
I really hope they pull thier collective heads out of whereever they are and bring it back as a series.
Releasing the seasons on DVD for a reasonable price would also be nice.

Again, Hell Yeah!

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[–] JackieTurner 20 years ago

My dad is a huge Farscape fan and recently ordered all the dvds. So I decided, hey, lemme see what he goes on about. I like Sci Fi stuff, so I was intrigued to see.

God I hate that theme song...

The first few episodes were pretty good, but after awhile the show started to lose my interest. All I kept thinking was 'Woah, their production costs must be huge' because everything is all alien.

I have to say, Firefly is a better series than this. You don't see them making a Farscape movie, do you? No, just a mini-series.

There isn't any wit or humour in Farscape, and if there is, its only from Crichton and only makes me pity the poor man who just can't get a gorram clue that this isn't Earth, so he just sounds moronic and helpless.

I do though, think that it is gracious of Sci Fi to bring back the series for one last explanation. I understand that they canceled it at the end of a cliffhanger, but really, it was just getting old and dragged on.

Sorry guys.

www.serenity.com

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[–] Lord_Nyquil 20 years ago

My dear sweet confused child. Do you not understand that what makes Farscape great is the fact that it "is" very alien? I for one love the "good ole boy" act John puts on. A literal "rocket scientist" talking and acting like a corn-fed hick is hilarious and when things get violent and he puts that guise on it is extremely badass. He reminds of a great old wise sage that drinks a little too much and has a pension for "wrastling". John is a rare item these days; he's the lead character as well as the comic relief. As for Firefly...I liked it a lot. I was saddened and angered when FOX cancelled it after 11 eps. But that just goes to show that Skiffy is not alone in there stupidity. But for you to say that a show that only had 11 episodes is better than one that has been on for 4 seasons is a little premature. I will never forgive Skiffy for replacing Farscape with a ridiculous reality show. Blasphemy! If I want reality I'll go outside.

I would like to lock Fox, The WB, and Skiffy in a room together and force them to watch their reality shows until they have to chew through their own wrists to stop the pain.

-You ever get an itch that only stabbing someone can scratch?-

L.N.

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[–] dragonsheart-1 20 years ago

There isn't any wit or humour in Farscape, and if there is, its only from Crichton and only makes me pity the poor man who just can't get a gorram clue that this isn't Earth, so he just sounds moronic and helpless.

Have to disagree with you. there's a lot of wit and humor in Farscape and it's not only from Crichton. Rygel, Zan, Aeryn, Pip, D'Argo and even Pilot have great lines are are interesting characters, not the usual flat 1-D too many shows have these days.

"When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less."

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