Syfy's 20th Anniversary Special and the Viability of More Farscape?

[Kegg]

Greg Cox wrote:

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True. So have Browder play an older, more world-weary Crichton . . . .

Passing the torch to D'Argo Sun-Crichton, most likely.

[SiddFinch1]

Would love to see.it but sadly doubt it will happen. Perhaps in another.10 years it can get rebooted

[auntiehill]

Haven't watched the Anniversary Special yet, but have it saved to the dvr. I hoping to see some discussion of SG1, Sliders, Eureka and Warehouse 13.

[Professor Zoom]

Harvey wrote:

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True -- although Kirk wasn't quite the same action-adventure lead in the movies as he was in the series.

True. He was more interesting.

[Donald Draper]

In general I am very selective tv viewer. I usually watch one or two series at a time at most. Sometimes none at all.

So I never seen most of Sci-Fi's original series. But also because of the way they treated Sliders turned me off to the whole network. I am not talking about cast changes or quality. But their shitty scheduling!

BY the time they aired the first episodes of a new season, I believe the whole season was completed. Yet they would only air new episodes for a few weeks and than have weeks and weeks of no episodes. With maybe a single new episode in a month. Is it surprising that fans would have no idea when a new episode would air??? I decided if they can't support their own shows I am not going to bother. Most of their early shows they abandoned supporting very quickly.

[Greg Cox]

auntiehill wrote:

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Haven't watched the Anniversary Special yet, but have it saved to the dvr. I hoping to see some discussion of SG1, Sliders, Eureka and Warehouse 13.

Stargate, Eureka, and Warehouse 13 were discussed at length, complete with cast interviews. As were Farscape and BSG. Sliders was touched on, but only briefly. Ditto for The Invisible Man.

And, of course, they mentioned Sharktopus!

(Although Mansquito and the Flu Bird Horror went sadly neglected.)

[Donald Draper]

I remember being angry in the earlier years because my local cable company did not carry the Sci-Fi Channel. It was a big deal when my family went on a trip that the hotel had it. It was the first time I saw the Star Trek cartoon.

WHen I was a teenager with money to burn I actually got DirectTV just to get the Channel! Which looking back was crazy. It was mostly to see reruns of shows like The Flash. Which was really the big thing about that channel in the early years. This was before old genre shows were being released on DVD and the only way to see that old stuff at all.

[JD]

I watched this when on Monday (I think), and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a really fun look back at all of their different shows. I would have enjoyed it if they'd had some SG:A cast members though, and I was really disappointed that they completely ignored Merlin, and Doctor Who. I know DW is on BBCA now, but it did air on Syfy for four series/seasons. I also thought it was a little weird that they identified Contiuum as an import series, but not Lost Girl.

As for Farscape, I would love to see more of it in pretty much any form. I haven't gotten a chance to read the comics yet, but I plan to. From what I read about them there were some pretty interesting developments during their run.

[TemporalFlux]

I found it interesting that First Wave (3 seasons) and Lexx were not mentioned at all; not even a two second flash of the title logo. I also thought we would see something of Tripping the Rift; Sci-Fi seemed so high on it at the time.

And I did find it conspicuous that none of the BBC stuff got a mention. Sci-Fi Channel was, for a great many, their first exposure to the Russell T. Davies Doctor Who; it's where I first saw it and the only outlet I had to see it from.

In any case, I enjoyed the special. It reminded me that Sci-Fi has done a lot of good despite itself.

[tomalak301]

TemporalFlux wrote:

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I found it interesting that First Wave (3 seasons) and Lexx were not mentioned at all; not even a two second flash of the title logo. I also thought we would see something of Tripping the Rift; Sci-Fi seemed so high on it at the time.

And I did find it conspicuous that none of the BBC stuff got a mention. Sci-Fi Channel was, for a great many, their first exposure to the Russell T. Davies Doctor Who; it's where I first saw it and the only outlet I had to see it from.

In any case, I enjoyed the special. It reminded me that Sci-Fi has done a lot of good despite itself.

I forgot about First Wave and Lexx, but didn't those shows, along with Farscape, make up the original Sci-Fi Friday? It would have been nice to get even a feature on the original Friday Night Line-Up because like TGIF on ABC, the Sci-Fi Friday was a fixture for the channel for years before they acquired Friday Night Smackdown.

[TemporalFlux]

tomalak301 wrote:

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I forgot about First Wave and Lexx, but didn't those shows, along with Farscape, make up the original Sci-Fi Friday?

The very first Sci-Fi Friday line-up in March 1999 was Sliders, Farscape, Poltergeist the Legacy and First Wave. Sliders had debuted on Sci-Fi Monday nights in September 1998 (paired with Welcome to Paradox), but Sliders entered nearly six months of reruns so that the back half of Sliders season four could help premiere Sci-Fi Friday. Sliders was in the 2.0 ratings range before the reruns; it came back around 1.6 and never recovered.

It should also be noted that Sci-Fi was so confident in First Wave that it committed to co-finance 3 seasons up front; it was this commitment that led to be a factor in Sliders season six not happening. Of course, that was probably a blessing for Sliders. Sci-Fi was planning on slashing the Sliders budget further and using the production model of G vs E (i.e. skirting union rules). The unions shut G vs E down because of the method (leaving it to return and finish the remainder of its obligated episode order as Good vs Evil).

From what little I know, a Sliders season six was going to consist of the Sliders exploring only one patchwork world (the result of season five villain Geiger successfully collapsing the multiverse). This would have cut down on visual effects and set dressings and left the season somewhat like the first half of Andromeda season five. I've often wondered if Sci-Fi decided to take the Sliders cost saving model and just apply it to Andromeda that year; it seems like a big coincidence otherwise.

[Mr. Adventure]

TemporalFlux wrote:

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It should also be noted that Sci-Fi was so confident in First Wave that it committed to co-finance 3 seasons up front; it was this commitment that led to be a factor in Sliders season six not happening. Of course, that was probably a blessing for Sliders. Sci-Fi was planning on slashing the Sliders budget further and using the production model of G vs E (i.e. skirting union rules). The unions shut G vs E down because of the method (leaving it to return and finish the remainder of its obligated episode order as Good vs Evil).

Ineteresting, never heard that before. Kind of funny as I don't think First Wave is remembered too well.

[Greg Cox]

Anybody else remember THE CHRONICLE? I always thought that had potential, although I'm not surprised that they didn't mention it since it didn't last very long.

And I'd completely forgotten about LEXX . . ..

[Kirby]

Harvey wrote:

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Truth be told, Ben Browder is getting a little old for this sort of thing; he just had his fiftieth birthday on Tuesday.

Browder can easily play 10 years younger than he actually is. In Stargate, I believe the actor that played Mitchell's Dad was actually younger than Browder.

[Velocity]

I like Face Off also. It is fascinating to me to watch the creative process. Also, for a reality show, the contestants often help each other out and though they do talk about each other, I haven't seen any attempts at sabotage. The fourth season starts in January. Hot Set is good too. 2 contestants have to lead teams to build movie sets to the set theme and, as in Face Off, they are given a short amount of time to accomplish it. I enjoy the creativity.