Farscape
Farscape (first broadcast 1999) is a science fiction television series produced in Australia by the Jim Henson Company with the backing of US cable broadcaster The Sci Fi Channel.
The show
Originally conceived in the early 1990s by Rockne S. O'Bannon, Brian Henson and writer/executive producer David Kemper under the title Space Chase, the show centers on American astronaut John Crichton (played by American actor Ben Browder), who has found himself flung through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy, where he is constantly caught in the middle of conflicts between planets, empires, and the incompatible personalities of the escaped prisoners he has taken refuge with.
Farscape is one of the new generation of science fiction TV shows, in which the main concerns are surviving in a hostile, chaotic universe and dealing with interpersonal conflicts, instead of exploration, warfare or law enforcement. See also Lexx, Red Dwarf and Firefly.
Henson has traditionally specialized in puppetry, and Farscape is no exception; two regular characters are puppets: the miniature deposed Dominar Rygel XVI of Hyneria (voiced by Johnathan Hardy) and the ship's Pilot (voiced by Lani Tupu), a multi-armed elephant-size creature physically and mentally bonded to the living Leviathan ship, Moya.
In 2002, Farscape won two Saturn Awards for Best Syndicated/Cable TV Series and Best TV Actor (Browder), as well as receiving nominations for Best TV Actress (Claudia Black as former-soldier Aeryn Sun) and Best Supporting TV Actress (Gigi Edgley as the pixieish rogue Chiana). Farscape completed production of its fourth season in September, with a fifth season contracted but with an uncertain fate.
Cancellation
In September 2002 the Sci Fi Channel, which is owned by ailing conglomerate Vivendi, unexpectedly opted to withdraw its funding of the fifth season, threatening cancellation of the popular, critically-acclaimed show. Fans have mounted a massive letter, phone, e-mail, and advertisement campaign hoping to pressure Sci-Fi into restoring the show or another, more financially solvent, network to take over.
As of October 2, 2002 no formal announcement has yet been made that the show will continue, but early plans to have the sets scrapped when production of the fourth season wrapped were quickly reversed; the sets were instead put in storage pending future decisions. In an online chat in late September, producer David Kemper recommended that fans concentrate their efforts on recruiting new viewers to boost the ratings of the final eleven episodes of the fourth season when Sci-Fi broadcasts them in early 2003.
A number of web sites have established an organized fan campaign, including:
Update
As of December 2003, the Jim Henson Company has been in production of a 4-hour miniseries, presumably to wrap up many of the threads dangling at the end of Season 4, episode 4.22 Bad Timing. Creator Rockne S. O'Bannon and Executive Producer David Kemper are writing the episodes and Brian Henson is rumored to direct.
Interestingly, the 4-hours are being refrerred to, by Henson, as episodes 4.23-4.26, though the New South Wales Film Office refers to the production as a '2 x 2 hr. Telemovie'. Production of the miniseries is expected to wrap in March 2004 and there is no indication yet, as to which American network will broadcast it, though it is likely to be broadcast in the UK on BBC2. It is highly unlikely that the American Sci Fi Channel will have any further involvement with the show or its reruns, once their license runs out at the close of the 2004-2005 season.
See the following site for further details:
Characters
Crew of Moya
- John Crichton
- Aeryn Sun
- Ka D'Argo
- Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan, deceased
- Dominar Rygel XVI
- Chiana
- Pilot
- Stark
- Jool
- Sikozu
- Noranti
- Jack Crichton
Ambiguous Allies
Enemies
- Grayza
- War Minister Akhna, Skarren
- Emperor Staleek, Skarren