THE BBC INTERVIEWS DAVID FRANKLIN

February 25, 2003 There's a new interview David Franklin up on the BBC's Farscape site. You can either read the interview or get it via RealPlayer video clips. Here's an excerpt from the interview:

Tell us how you got the role as Braca?

It was very short notice actually. I went in the day before they started shooting Braca. I think there was some change of cast, because I went in and talked to a director the day before, and then I was on the set the next day. I thought it was for a show called Fire Escape. I imagined I’d look pretty good in a fireman’s helmet. Turned out it was for a show called Farscape. I learnt that pretty quickly. I catch on. 

Click Here to read or listen to the rest of the interview

Thank you to Bazza for sending this to me!

THE ILLUSTRATED SEASON FOUR COMPANION

UPDATED February 18, 2002: Thanks to the author, Paul Simpson, we now have a great outline of the new Illustrated Season Four Companion, which will be released by Titan on May 30th. Click here to read what Mr. Simpson has to say about the book. 

FARSCAPE MAGAZINE TO CEASE PUBLICATION

February 14, 2003: Sadly, the rumor we published here back in November is true - Farscape Magazine will cease publication after Issue #12. At the time of the first article, the publisher denied the rumor [click here for the original article] but yesterday they confirmed that the oversized issue 12 will be their last. 

USA AND UK DVD NEWS

February 22, 2003: There will be several new DVD releases in both region one (USA & Canada) and region two (UK and most of Europe) over the next months. Click Here to see what's coming up in your area of the world.

UPDATED March 3, 2003: Contender has released the details of the second Season Four DVD Click Here to read about it.

NEW MAGAZINE ARTICLES

February 20, 2003: Issue #160 of TV Zone (the one with Angel on the cover) has a complete guide to Season One, with Season Two coming next month. 

In the April 2003 issue, SciFi, the SciFi Channel's official magazine, has a good article titled "Farscape Farewell." Cast and crew give us some thoughts on Farscape and its cancellation. Click here to continue.

SCIFI'S FEBRUARY RATINGS HIGHEST EVER 

February 26, 2003: This month gave the SciFi Channel its highest February ratings to date. The source for the article is the SciFi Channel, and they give virtually all the credit to Stargate SG-1. Click Here to read the complete article

DAVID FRANKLIN AT CONVENTIONS

UPDATED February 18, 2002: David Franklin, Farscape's Captain Braca, will be appearing at two conventions in March in the USA. On March 7-9 he'll be appearing at Galaxy Con 1 with Raelee Hill, Lani Tupu, Jonathan Hardy, Ricky Manning, Bianca Chiminello and Keith DeCandido. Then on March 28-30, he'll be appearing at Creation Entertainment's Grand Slam in Pasadena, CA. Click Here for more information about these conventions and up to date convention news.

TRADING CARD NEWS

UPDATE February 15, 2002 The signers for the autograph cards is announced along with the ULTIMATE CASE TOPPER! Click here to continue.

February 14, 2002: There's hope for another set of cards following the Season Four set, and if it works out as planned, it's going to be a doozy! 

We also have some new images from the Season Four set courtesy of Rittenhouse Archives Click here to continue.

FRIENDLY SKIES?

February 13, 2003: Last autumn, United Airlines was showing episodes of Farscape on it's flights to the Far East and Europe.  [Click here to read that article.] They're showing SciFi programming once again, but this time it's Stargate SG-1 and The Dead Zone. United isn't giving these shows any of the great promotion they gave Farscape in their inflight magazine, though.

Thanks to Lainydoo for passing this along!

RERUNS ON SCIFI

February 17, 2002: It appears that the SciFi channel is ready to start taking advantage of their ownership to re-run rights for Farscape. According to their schedulebot, they'll be showing Premier on March 31st at 12:00 am. Since the schedule for April is yet to be posted, it's unclear whether this is a one-off or if they'll be going through the whole series.

SAY WHAT?

February 9, 2003: According to an article in issue #102 of Dreamwatch magazine, the SciFi Channel rejected J. Michael Straczynski's proposed new series Polaris because they deemed it "too science fiction-y." Mr. Straczynsk reveals that instead, "...they went for a project about intergalactic vampires called Bloodsuckers." 

CLAUDIA INTERVIEW ON OZ TV

February 6, 2003: Erpgirl very kindly transcribed an outstanding interview with Claudia Black on Morning with Kerrie-Ann, an Australian TV Show. To read the transcript on the SciFi BB, click here.

2003 FANFIC AWARDS 

November 18, 2002: The 2003 Farscape FanFiction Awards are open for business. The process for nominating authors and fiction has changed a bit this year, so be sure to click here to read the rules and check out the categories.

KARLSWEB INTERVIEWS DAVE ELSEY

Karlsweb Exclusive

January 26, 2003: Creature Shop Creative Supervisor and Creature Designer Dave Elsey graciously answered Four Questions for Karlsweb's AmyJ. Click Here to read what he has to say. 

RERUNS?

February 6, 2003: SciFi's schedulebot has an episode of Farscape listed for Monday, March 31 at 12:00 am (ET). Unlike all the Season Four listings on their schedule, this one is not listed as LBX (Letterbox) which means that a) they forgot to add "LBX" to the listing, b) the whole listing is an error, or c) they're going to start having Farscape reruns at midnight once Season Four finishes.

ACTION FIGURE NEWS

February 6, 2003: Karlsweb Newscape has learned directly from Toy Vault that, sadly, the next issue of the Farscape Reunited series of action figures has been suspended.

UPDATE: In addition to the news about the Reunited series of figures, Toy Vault's spokesman also told us that although the Aeryn Commando figure is still a go for now, they reserve the right to cancel if their pre-production orders are less than 1/3 of the production run. Click Here to continue.

Now for the good news: The new D'Argo cold cast statue is just about ready to roll from Toy Vault! To see some pictures of this fantastic piece of work Click Here. 

FAREWELL TO FARSCAPE

February 3, 2003: Starlog Magazine has a super interview this month with Farscape creator Rockne S. O'Bannon. Mr. O'Bannon gives us the inside scoop on events leading up to and following SciFi's cancellation. Click Here to continue. 

NEW GUESTS AT GALLIFREY ONE CONVENTION

February 11, 2003:  but I just received an email that Gallifrey One XIV has added David Franklin to its list of guests. The convention takes place this coming weekend, February 14-17 in Los Angeles, CA. Also on their roster will be Virginia Hey and Marv Wolfman, the author of the Farscape Comic. They are hoping to have another guest - a major cast member - so keep checking their website for more information. UPDATE: Unfortunatiel, The "major cast member" the convention staff was working with didn't work out.

TV GUIDE INSIDER

January 29, 2003: Bonnie Hammer speaks again. In an article about the Battlestar Galactica remake, Ms. Hammer says, "What was wonderful about Farscape, in its day, was that it was fresh," she continues. "It was a different kind of space opera, and it didn't feel like any other space opera that was out there. What we need to do here is reinvent it yet again." Click Here to read the article. 

Season Four Trading Cards

January 23, 2002: We have loads of new information on the next set of trading cards from Rittenhouse Archives. Click Here to learn all about the newest set due to arrive at the end of April.

ACTION FIGURE UPDATE

January 27, 2003: Karlsweb has just learned directly from Toy Vault that the Officer Aeryn Sun action figure is still in the works and is in the final pre-production stage. Click Here for more information and several more pictures.

Toy Vault's first two figures in the Farscape Reunited line are finished and ready to roll. There are some great images on the Newscape Action Figures page.

Additionally, Toy Vault told us that they were recently awarded the rights to do Farscape plush and are currently working on a Rygel plush prototype!

TWICE SHY RATINGS 

January 29, 2003: Save Farscape has posted the ratings for Twice Shy. They've bounced back to up to where they were for Kansas! Click Here to see how Farscape compared to the rest of Friday's shows. The Dream Team's rating is worth a chuckle. 

FARSCAPE ON VARIETY COVER

January 22, 2002: The Monday February 3 edition of the weekly trade magazine Variety will feature a Farscape cover! It's an ad purchased by a group of fans of Farscape. Click Here to see what the cover will look like.

EBAY AUCTION FOR SAVE FARSCAPE

February 7, 2003: Check out a fantastic way to help the Save Farscape campaign and get your fix of chocolate at the same time. Click on the photo for a larger version of Claudia at the Burbank convention last November. The auction ended on February 13th.

SEASON FOUR EPISODE TITLES

January 23, 2002: Karlsweb has the episode titles for the final three episodes of Season Four. In case you're not reading "spoilers" I've put them in the Farscape Schedule box. Click Here to see what they are. For more information, check out the Karlsweb Spoiler Page.

Thanks to AnnaMaria for passing this along!

SEASON THREE DVDS

January 23, 2002: According to an ADV press release, the third season of region one Farscape DVDs will be available beginning on April 8. This will be a DVD-only release, the first time that ADV has not included VHS volumes with one of their releases.

Click Here to read the Press Release.

FARSCAPE BOBBLEHEADS 

January 20, 2003: Rittenhouse Archives has just announced their Farscape Bobbleheads will be available in April.  Click Here for more information.

REGION 2 SEASON 4 DVD NEWS

January 9, 2003: The first of the region 2 (Europe, Japan) Season Four DVDs is due for release on February 24. It will include the episodes Crichton Kicks, What Was Lost, parts 1 & 2, Lava's a Many Splendored Thing and Promises. 

Also included in this volume will be an interview with Anthony Simcoe, a featurette titled "The Story So Farscape..." a gallery of stills and some deleted scenes.

This volume is available for preorder from Black Star or from Amazon.com.uk. These are Region 2 items so before you order, make sure your player is capable of playing them. To learn more than you ever wanted to know about the region encoding system, click here.

As was reported here back in November, the second volume will be out on April 7, 2003 and contain the next 5 episodes: Natural Election, John Quixote, I Shrink Therefore I Am, A Prefect Murder and Coup by Clam. 

The third, fourth and fifth volumes will follow on May 19th, June 30th and August 11th.

RICKY MANNING INTERVIEW ON BBC SITE

 promised last week, there's a great interview with Ricky Manning on the BBC's website. Here's a little excerpt from the interview: 

Easy? On Farscape? Ha. And again, ha.

You want them to have an "easy" relationship? Just between us, is that what you're really saying here, Ann? Well... let me put it this way... be careful what you wish for...

Click Here to read the rest of the interview.

SAVE FARSCAPE ON FOX AFFILIATES?

January 20, 2003: The Save Farscape website reports the possibility of the Save Farscape being covered on all the FOX affiliates around the country. Click Here for more information.

RIVAL BIDDERS INTERESTED IN VIVENDI

January 20, 2003: Liberty Media Corp. , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.  and General Electric Co.'s NBC each have expressed interest in exploring a purchase of at least some of Vivendi Universal SA's (V, news) U.S. entertainment assets, and Vivendi has renewed talks with investor Marvin Davis about his multibillion-dollar offer for the properties, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported. Click Here to continue. 

BIANCA CHIMINELLO TO ATTEND GALAXY CON 

January 20, 2003: We just received word from the Galaxy Con I staff that Bianca Chiminello (Jenavian Chatto from the Look at the Princess trilogy) will be attending the convention! Expect news about additional guests soon.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

January 18, 2003: Entertainment Weekly Magazine has a double issue this week and Farscape gets several mentions. Since there are spoilers in the blurbs, I'll link to the Karlsweb Spoiler Page for the descriptions.

MORE WINTER HIGHLIGHTS
MARCH 21: Farscape unveils its series finale on SciFi

WHAT TO WATCH
Friday, January 24 Click Here to read what they have to say about Twice Shy

and then, since this is a double issue
for Friday, January 31: 
Farscape: Click Here for their description

Thanks to E B for passing this along!

SAVE FARSCAPE POSTS RATINGS FOR KANSAS

January 14, 2003: From the Save Farscape BB: "Courtesy of a reliable source, we have the national ratings for last Friday's lineup on the Sci-Fi Channel." They're not good, but they're not terrible, either. Click Here to see how we did. 

MATT ROUSH AGAIN OUR CHAMPION!

January 14, 2003: Once again, Matt Roush of TV Guide has spoken out for Farscape. In his Q&A column, Ask Matt,  he's answered a letter asking if the cancellation and Bonnie Hammer's response makes sense. To read what Mr. Roush had to say, Click Here.

Thanks once again to E B for passing along a super link!

TRANSCRIPT OF DAVID KEMPER'S CHAT

January 9, 2003: The chat this evening became a two-fer with Ben Browder dropping in to chat as well. I'm sure you'd rather read what they said than anything I have to say so...to read a transcript of the chat, Click Here

FARSCAPE SEASON FOUR TRADING CARDS

January 7, 2003: Rittenhouse has just announced some of the goodies that will be available this coming April in the Farscape Season Four set. It looks like this set will be the best yet with original art created by Virginia Hey and much more. Click Here to continue.

NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS

January 16, 2003: Want to read what the Salt Lake City Weekly has to say about The Dream Team? Among other things:

"Like psychotherapy and Crossing Over With John Edward, dream interpretation is absolute bullshit rife with moneymaking potential. So, it’s only fitting that The Dream Team With Annabelle & Michael (weeknights; debuts Monday, Jan. 20, 9 p.m.) is the Sci-Fi Channel’s new lead-in to corpse whisperer Edward."

Click Here to read the entire article.

WAYNE PYGRAM INTERVIEW

January 13, 2003: We just received notice from the nice folks at the BBC website that they've put up a new interview with Wayne Pygram. And next week, they'll have an interview with Ricky Manning! ("He's a very funny man") Here's an excerpt from Wayne's interview:

Click Here to continue. You can either read a text version of the interview or watch video clips on RealPlayer.

RICKY MANNING TO ATTEND GALAXY CON 1

January 3, 2003: Ricky Manning will be joining Jonathan Hardy and Lani Tupu as a guest at Galaxy Con I, which will be held at BWI Airport Marriott in Baltimore, MD on March 7-9. Thanks to Phill (one of the cool folk who are running this convention) for passing along this information. Stay tuned for more updates as the date gets closer. Click Here to go to Galaxy Con I's website.

BONNIE HAMMER THRASHED BY CRITICS

January 8, 2003 From The Washington Post: Cable suits beware: TV critics have had enough of your dodging questions here at Winter TV Press Tour 2003.

Bonnie Hammer, president of the Sci Fi channel, was thrashed by the critics today when she attempted to sidestep a question about why the network was dumping the series "Farscape."

Like AMC topper Rob Sorcher the day before, perky Hammer pulled out the old "Gee I'd love to answer that one but we're here to listen to our on-air talent blather about their fabulousness, so I'm sorry I just can't possibly." The line is on the first page of the "How to Answer Those Tough Questions at the Press Tour" handbook that is required reading for cable execs.

Hammer's version went like this: "I'd be delighted to talk with you after this, rather than taking up time with the panel but . . ."

At which point, critics, who on Day 2 of the tour were already grumpy, let her have it.

"No!" they screamed at a visibly shaken Hammer.

"The bottom line was we couldn't come up with the financial deal that made sense," Hammer told them. She said that what critics might call evasiveness was really a decision by the network to "take the high road. We didn't go out to the press and tell them what was going on; we didn't feel that was appropriate, so we just very calmly just said . . . we just financially couldn't do 22 new [episodes]. We could do 13 and that's what we . . . tried very hard to do."

They ended up with only 11 more episodes.

BONNIE HAMMER SPEAKS

January 7 2003 In an article titled Farscape: Sci Fi's Murder by Numbers?, TV Guide's Insider interviews SciFi's president Bonnie Hammer. Below is an excerpt from that interview.

TV Guide Online: So, what gives? Why would you want to cancel such a rad show?

Bonnie Hammer: We never wanted to cancel it. What we were trying to do was do 13 more episodes, not 22. The ratings had softened, and it was getting increasingly expensive to produce. We just couldn't make the financial deal. But we never wanted it to end when it ended. We had all intentions of doing 13 more episodes [beyond these 11] — we wanted to keep it in '03 and end it in '03. But financially, it was just too difficult to do.

Click Here to read the rest of the interview.

CREATION POSTS PICTURES FROM BURBANK 

January 8, 2003: Check out Creation Entertainment's website - they've recently posted some outstanding photos of the Burbank Convention (including a fine one of PKBarb's foot) taken by photographer Albert Ortega. Click Here to got to Creation's website.

INTERVIEW WITH BEN BROWDER

January 5, 2003 From ZAP2it: There's a super interview with Ben by Zap2it. Below is an excerpt from that interview. 

With his Kangol bucket hat -- complete with kangaroo logo -- and Tennessee Volunteers jersey, "Farscape" star Ben Browder is dressed the part of a man caught between worlds.

This Saturday morning, he's sitting in Mel's Diner on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif., contemplating life after "Farscape." For the last four seasons, the Tennessee-born Browder -- who went to school in both North Carolina and London -- has been stationed in Sydney, Australia, working on the Sci Fi Channel series. Click Here to read the entire article.

INTERVIEW WITH LANI TUPU

January 5, 2003: Beginning on Monday, Jan 6, there will be an exclusive interview with Lani Tupu at SciFi's website. From SciFi's email: "The award- winning New Zealand actor and director LANI JOHN TUPU talks about his dual FARSCAPE roles as flamboyant antihero Captain Crais and as the voice of Pilot." Click Here from Monday to read the interview. 

And don't forget the SciFi website chat with David Kemper next Thursday, Jan. 9 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT. Click Here for more information.

STOP BELLYACHING

January 7 2003 From the What to Watch Column of Entertainment Weekly's January 10th issue: 

Season Premiere
FARSCAPE - Executive producer David Kemper has a message to Farscape fans who have been mourning the demise of their favority sci-fi drama:  "Just go ahead and watch the show.  And stop bellyaching and enjoy it, because the last 11 episodes are the best 11 episodes we've ever done."  Having watchedtonight's premiere, I can say this: It is pretty damn good.

Thanks to e b for passing this along!

SCI-FI FASTEST GROWING CABLE CHANNEL

January 6, 2003 From Media Daily News: Based on viewer ratings, the Sci Fi Channel was the fastest-growing basic cable channel in 2002. Due to the late-year airing of Steven Spielberg's miniseries Taken, Sci Fi also reached fourth in cable household ratings for the first time, above its previous-record ninth. According to Nielsen Media Research, Sci Fi has also sustained more than five consecutive weeknights of a 3 or better coverage area HH rating, the first basic cable entertainment channel to do that.