Farscape Interview
Interview with the Save Farscape Crew Julie Rayhanabad and Nina Lumpp from SaveFarscape.com
1. Q. Well, the reports should all be in by now. How did the 5th of Farscape go? What were you looking for and was it a success?
A. We only had peripheral involvement in the 5th of Farscape rallies, but we were very pleased by the international scope of them, particularly the Bagram, Afghanistan rally. The rally consisted of 12-15 U.S. Soldiers based in Bagram that watched the Farscape pilot and Crackers Dont Matter, made signs, and sent out letters in their free time at the Camp Cajun MWR tent. Their article and the pictures of their rally are posted on the http://www.savefarscape.com website. (On a side note, a care package is being put together for the American military troops in Afghanistan. Details can be found here.)
2. Q. So the first part of the plan to save Farscape is to make sure the ratings are through the roof for the Christmas Chain Reaction and the rest of season 4 beginning in January. Things seem to be off to a good start. The Save Farscape campaign has done more to raise awareness of the show beyond its core fan base than anything the Sci-Fi Channel has done in the entire time the show has been on. Can you give us any insight as to what you have planned for December?
A. December will probably be the busiest month of this campaign, a highlight of which will be the Two Towers/Make-A-Wish Charity Raffle. The plan is to have Save Farscape volunteers organize local fundraising raffles nationwide at theaters showing The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers during the first weekend of its release. Volunteers will hand out information on Make-A-Wish and Farscape and monies collected will be donated to the local Make-A-Wish chapters in the name of Save Farscape. Our second plan is participating in numerous national science fiction conventions and sending to selected conventions the traveling Farscape Art Show, which contains a collection of professionally made Farscape art. Thirdly, its going to be the time when the biggest push for publicizing Farscape to viewers will come, as the last half of season 4 begins on January 10th, 2003. Were working on other strategies that will be implemented during that time as well, but nothing is firm yet. Well post more information on the newer plans as we get closer to December. (Another side note, in addition to the Christmas Eve Chain Reaction there is also going to be a Farscape Recap on January 3rd from 6pm to 9pm. They will be showing the last three episodes of season 4, A Perfect Murder, Coup by Clam, and Unrealized Reality. Then the rest of season 4 will kick off on January 10th at Farscapes new timeslot, 8pm.)
3. Q. Speaking of ratings. There was a time when Sci-Fi Friday, with original series such as Invisible Man, Farscape, and Lexx, made Friday night their big ratings night. Now it looks a lot like the Sci Fi channel is moving away from original science fiction series programming in favor of low cost options including original series that deal with talking to the dead and analyzing peoples dreams along with purchasing shows from other networks such as Stargate SG1 and the X-Files. Do you have any information on what has happened to their ratings since the new programming direction and the canceling of Farscape?
A. Unfortunately, we dont have any information on what their ratings will become due to this programming decision because the Sci-Fi Channel is currently airing mostly reruns (other than Farscape), which it commonly does during the beginning of the new fall television season. We cant accurately forecast what the effects will be until December, when Sci-Fi begins airing the original mini-series "Taken", but what we can say is that currently, their ratings are lower - which we believe is a result of the reruns that are being shown at this time. According to Nielsen, during the week of October 7th, 2002 Sci-Fis weekly rating for the 25-54 year old demographic in the primetime hours was 0.5.
4. Q. Now that we have a Sci-Fi Channel that doesnt like space shows, the second part of the save Farscape plan is to find a channel that does want shows like Farscape. UPN, TNT, and Showtime have all been mentioned. The big question seems to be Sci-Fis rights to the first 4 seasons. In David Kemper's second visit to Interstellar Radios Interstellar Transmissions on September 27, 2002 he stated:
"Its just a matter of who is going to run the show. And the problem is that the SciFi Channel has re-run rights to the first four years for a little bit of time, so it doesnt make it economical. If you are a network and you want to pick up Farscape"
Do we have any idea how long a little bit of time is?
A. At this point, we have no information that tells us what that little bit of time is and Sci-Fi isnt talking. In fact, the only times they have commented during this campaign have been to announce that Farscape had been cancelled and through their recently released Farscape Cancellation FAQ. Sci-Fi has been approached numerous times by many other media outlets, including CNN Headline News, to get comments about the campaign and the cancellation and they have refused comment.
5. Q. A lot has been made about the demographics of the Farscape fans. We are professional, educated, and have a good bit of disposable income. The readers of