I think it safe to say we can guess as to precisely when in the production the creators of “Farscape” learned about the cancellation. It was when they were preparing the credits for the episode that just aired. “We’re So Screwed, Part 1” (the subtitle being “Fetal Attraction.”)
As are we all. The previous season of “Farscape” was exceptionally dodgy. Meandering plots that didn’t seem to go anywhere, combined with a seeming obsession over bodily functions. It was getting more painful to watch than a last-season episode of “Lexx,” which is saying something. Then this season started out with a bang and has just gone from strength to strength.
I’m guessing “Supergirl” and “Farscape” fans can sympathize. They’re both enjoying storylines that most say are some of the best they’ve seen in a while, while feeling that the plug was prematurely pulled. When something is creatively weak and goes away, it’s a mercy killing. When something is creatively strong and is yanked in spite of that, it’s just kind of depressing.
PAD
• 
Tell me about it. I’m still very upset about Firefly.
Umm… methinks that by “the previous season” you mean the beginning of this season, season four. (Was Granny there? Then the odds are pretty good it was season four–her first episode was the last one of season three, “Dog With Two Bones”.)
Regardless, the second half of the season has been much improved over the first half. And as for the name… just wait ’till you see what the finale’s called.
As is most often the case, Peter, I’m with ya there!!
In a related story, yesterday I received my copy of the latest ‘Entertainment Weekly’. Emblazoned in bold white letters over a cover photo of Sarah Michelle Gellar fetchingly eschewing underwear and the zipper of a leather shirt, are the words: ‘Buffy Quits’.
‘Supergirl’. ‘Farscape’. ‘Firefly’. ‘Young Justice’. ‘Buffy…’. Chuck Jones. Sept. 11, 2001. Columbia. The looming prospect of World War III ( or at the very least, II.V ) .
So far, I’m none too thrilled with the new century.
>>just wait ’till you see what the finale’s called.<<
Oh, I can just imagine. “Frell You, Sci-Fi”??
;^)
Hooper
“Dren Happens”??
Hooper
Tell me about it. I’m still bitter about MST3K. One of these days, I will learn to let go.
It’s called “Bad Timing.”
But rest assured that, like Supergirl, it probably won’t be the last you see of Farscape.
Hooper. I put Buffy under the catergory of mercy killing.
I know Peter liked this last episode but personally I hated it. Not only did it fail on continuity from previous episodes in failed on continuity within the episode itself. (First andrew thinks the design on the knife is just a design but he can later read the words that are on it?)
Also I’d like to point out Andrew didn’t open the seal. The harbringers did when they cut spike open. Which leads me to the question why did the First need Andrew to do it in the first place? Was he really the only person who could have gotten that knife?
Joss is infamous for changing Buffy’s strength level to suit the needs of the story, he used to be able to get away with it a lot more, but really it’s a sign of lazy writing. And with all the other problems that have been showing up in the show it just gets magnified. It needs to go away and a lot of the writing staff needs to take refresher courses in plotting.
Well, there’s something to be said for going out on the top of the game/with a bang.
I agree that Farscape had been uhm, “reaching” for a bit, so I’m glad that they can end the show with a suitable high-octane storyline. Same with Buffy. (There’s only so many apocalypses that you can end a season with before you become blase about it. Ah, she’ll get through it. Even when she died, we knew she’d be resurrected on the UPN.)
My buddy likened the situation to DragonBall Z villains- each baddie is bigger and stronger than the last- “how can our heroes possibly beat this guy/get out of this situation?” So the writers have to struggle to come up with something to top the last season. If the heroes get through the season’s final battle, it just makes it harder for the writers next season to write something suitably well.
Granted, Farscape doesn’t deal with those kind of supervillain issues Buffy does, but still the point remains. At first, everyone wanted to go home and get away from the PKs and Crais. Now he’s gone, replaced by Scorpius. His badness was slightly deflated, and now Grazya. There’s a slight watering down of the overriding agenda. D’Argo’s already accomplished his lifegoals (find son, kill bro-in-law), Zhaan’s dead, atoned for her actions, Chiana- well she’s just along for the ride (in more ways than one 😉 heh) Aeryn- well she’s just with Crichton. And Crichton- he wanted to get home. He’s gotten home (twice, really) and has the means to return, but the writers added the new agenda of protecting Earth, which is all fine and good. Rygel- occasionally he’ll bìŧçh about not being home yet- but why haven’t they dumped him off there? (not that I’m complaining- I love the dren he says LOL- have you seen those Hershey’s Chocolate tshirts with various slogans? I think they should make one that says “How illegal is this dren?”) Sikozu- she kind of wanted to go home, but now she’s following Scorpy around like a lovesick puppy.
I read an interview with CCH Pounder, (she plays a detective on THE SHIELD) and she hit the nail on the head with this: she predicts the show will be a 5 year show, otherwise “if that Vic [the corrupt cop that stars in the show] doesn’t get felled by then, then we are just a bunch of stupid people!”
eddie
FA was the best ep of the season so far. But wait until you see the start of “Hot to Katrazi”. I was shocked at just HOW they got in there.
Problem with seeing everything a week before you, though, is that it ends a week earlier. 🙁
Ah well, WSS 3 tommorrow.
And they found out about the cancellation when they were finishing filming on 4-22. The title was added in post production (And the idiots of the BBC censored it. Dren-brains that they are)
Let’s see…Farscape, Supergirl, Young Justice, Firefly, soon Buffy, no new Sopranos for a while…
It’s a bad time for things that I like…
ah well…change can’t always be for the worst, can it?
My question is this:
Was I the only one cheering when Harvey came back?
I dig Harvey.
JLK
Personally, at the end of the episode, I was laughing and mumbling “son of a bìŧçh!” repeatedly. I’m really going to be sad when Farscape is gone…
Hi there. I’m only a recent a fan of you Mr. Peter David, and actually more of your Sir Apropos books than anything else (wonderful series keep it coming).
Mark Alessi had some semi-kind words for you recently in an interview or somesucch thing:
“That whole thing with Peter David … c’mon, give me a break. I’m really smart. I think I’m smarter than Jemas will ever be. And I can’t outwrite Peter David. Peter David’s an excellent writer. He writes novels, he writes comics … I can’t always agree with his subject matter, but he’s superior.”
here’s the address for the full article:
http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0303/02/markalessiindex.htm
PAD,
Sorry to hear about Farscape, but I never really got a chance to watch it. Maybe it’ll come out on DVD and then I can catch the first season. It sounds good, anyway.
There is a lot of good TV series that have been cancelled, I agree. But here’s a thought that might cheer everybody up: PAD! Have you ever considered making STAR TREK: NEW FRONTIER into a syndicated TV show? Rick Berman has said that there will always be a ‘Trek series as long as there is some new *take* on it, or a fresh idea. The character of Mac Calhoun is pretty far removed from that of Jean-Luc Picard. Please consider it.
P.S. Just like John DiBello, I really miss Mystery Science Theatre 3000! Anybody know where to order it on DVD (besides ebay)?
TAP
I know this is completely off topic but I’m curious as to whether or not PAD watches Six Feet Under. Last night was a bizarre and rather disappointing begining to the new season and I’d be interested in reading ideas on the topic.
I figure Alessi saying nice things about PAD is pretty much the final nail in the coffin of PAD’s Marvel career.
PAD doesn’t own New Frontier and has no ability to get a series made. (If he had such an ability, surely we would have been spared Nemesis)…That being said, I feel that given virtual set technology, the number of outlets available (UPN, CBS, MTV, TNN, and so forth), that Paramount is blind and foolish for not doing Trek Mini-series for sweeps periods to test out new crews/concepts…Fans have been clamoring for a Sulu series…why not do a 3 night mini-series featuring him and whoever. New Frontier is an obvious choice for such a treatment, as is perhaps the upcoming Gorkon series. And if the ratings are good, and the demand is there, you follow it up with more mini’s or go to series.
Firefly frankly deserved it’s fate. While the final episodes started showing the potential and promise of the series, it’s first episodes were awful. You can’t start with awful in today’s TV enviroment, unless you’re a Star Trek show, in which case you can go 7 years on potential.
Tell me about it. I’m still bitter about MST3K. One of these days, I will learn to let go.
Never let go of MST3K.
The Rhino DVDs are available through the Info Club (mst3kinfo.com) and places like Amazon. If anyone knows a good source for home-burned DVDs of other episodes, please post away…
TAP, Farscape’s first and second seasons are now available on DVD– Season 1 is even a multi-disc box set.
Although the show has changed a great deal from Season 1, it starts off as an entertaining and above-average show and just gets better from there. I think you’ll enjoy it.
There have been wild rumors floating around for months now at the Save Farscape site (http://www.watchfarscape.com) that UPN is considering picking up Farscape this fall or next as a replacement/addition for Buffy, by the way. It’s just a rumor, but wouldn’t THAT be interesting?
Caughs farscape dvds are avaliable methinks there avaliable up to s3 in boxsets and s4 in individual sets, could be wrong though
Just watched WSS3 (La Bomba). O. M. Goodness.
The SPOILERCrighton/Harvey/Scorpius/SPOILER conversation 10 mins into the ep was worth the admission on its own. And the vast majority of the rest was sheer brilliance too.
FRELL Sci-Fi. May their executives hjave gonorrea forevermore
Scavenger, I like you idea about doing some kind of try-out Trek series, but I think budgetary concerns would probably rule that out. As Peter would no doubt confirm from his work on Space Cases, there’s a fair amount of start-up money involved in launching a space show, including sets, costumes, props and a hundred other things. If you’re doing say, 22 episodes, you can amortize those costs. If you’re doing a six-hour mini-series, the per hour cost are quite high. Ironically, to bring this back to topic, that’s the very reason Fox didn’t buy Farscape as originally intended- they only wanted a limited number of eps to start and Hensons needed to amortize the costs of putting it all together. Looking back, if Fox had indeed picked up the series, it probably would have lasted as long as Firefly…or Space Above and Beyond…or fill in name here. And not be a spoiler here NATO, but the Sci-Fi Channel has the repeat rights to the first 88 episodes for about two years following the airing of the final episode, so the clock doesn’t start counting down for another few weeks yet. And frankly, even if they don’t want it, they ain’t giving it away. As we used to say in high school, maybe I’m not going out with my old girlfriend anymore, but I don’t want anybody else going out with her either!
Once Farscape ends it’s original run, SciFi is going to repeat the current season weekly at 5 AM Saturday mornings and run the first three seasons Mon-Fri at midnight daily. It looks like they might be burning up their rerun rights as soon as they can…
Lee
I have to disagree with the general opinon of the earlier episodes of Season 4 of Farscape.
I mean, yes, there were a few episodes that were a little obessed with bodily functions…but then there were also great episodes like:
Chricton Kicks (still one of my favorites), Promises, John Quxote (great installement from Ben Browder), and prob best of all: Unrealized Reality (which got this whole current arc off to a start)
In fact, the only episode I did not like of the earlier half of Season 4 was Coup Da Clam. Did not like that one at all.
Anyway, this season hasn’t been as great as Season 3 (but its still been good), but still: its Farscape & Farscape is a great series.
Frelling sci-fi channel…
\\Was I the only one cheering when Harvey came back?
I dig Harvey.\\
I was cheering right along with you. Harvey rocks my world.
You know, I even went to the FS convention in NYC in November, and Wayne Pygram said Harvey’d be coming back. I’d just completely forgotten, till I saw the episode.
Hey, Peter…
Awhile back I remember hearing things said about why Space Cases went away…I hear a lot of the same things about SciFi and Farscape. It’s sad, it’s like watching a friend die and praying help will come soon enough, and maybe it won’t, but you have to pray it will.
Space Cases was a good show. As an adult, I watched it and told other adults they should too. I know you’ve been through this situation before; thank you for your understanding words. It’s always nice to know one of my heroes GETS it. Too bad people in suits frequently DON’T.
Look, Supergirl is my favorite comic right now, hands down. I’m a little upset about it. Not really? Why?
Because of Spyboy… and I heard a bit about a few more of his projects. Of yeah, and I have yet to read Woad to Wuin.
BTW: I think Paramount should have a five year moritorium on all things Trek. Then it’ll be almost like when the movies started… a big deal when they come back.