Negative Comments - what is wrong with Farscape !!

[Browncoat Serenity]

I don't know if this topic was covered before ?? :run:

As you can tell by my handle I started off firstly as a firefly fan but recently I've gotten into Farscape and it's a damn good show. It's so clever, has its own unique style and so good that I've started wondering why this show hasn't done better :et2:
:cry2:
So what is wrong with it , films like Starwars brings in huge bulks of cash all the time, and Babylon 5 became an international sucess shown in over 100 countries around the globe
Farscape - Some people will say they never heard of it, and others might say :
'isn't that like Startrek? '
so why is it that few people know this show Farscape ?
:eye:

:pissed:
Firstly I think the Farscape world is rather deep, there are many characters and some episodes are complex. A show like Enterprise you can sit down and watch almost any epsiode and you'll understand what's been happening for the past 30 episodes almost immediately , Farscape isn't like this there are lots of sub-plots with the show, characters evolve and change, and there are many many cool aliens and ideas. Farscape starts out pretty regular , but if you have patience to and pay attention to the details it develops into a Fantastic show. It then becomes a gorgeous, mind-blowing series with the best aliens ever shown on TV, but the show requires viewers to pay attention.
:frontrow:

:director:


Secondly I must address the issue of availability of the show, with stuff like StarTrek and so forth you can go to almost any shop or any nation and find some place with StarTrek material. I've heard there are still many Farscape fans who haven't seen an entire Season, and in Europe and Australia it's even harder to get these.
:pi:

:erp:

Of course I still think it's a wonderful show with fantastic scripts, characters and fx and I'm hoping to get more of the episodes. If you want to watch a sci-fi show with aliens then Farscape is simply the best. Cool ships, laser pistols , drama , horror, suspense, great stories and crazy alien creations.
:franky: :evil: :cubist: :boo: :crow: :borg: :gangster: :pumpkin:

:wb: :charge: :monkey: :boom:

Just wondering what others thought on why the show hasn't done as well as others did ?

[Darth Buddha]

Oh, this has been covered a bit here and a bit there... the flames in response being a bit less each month. Viewer accessibility (i.e. how easy it is to pick up) is a big issue, with show accessibilitty being the second, as far as I am concerned. In combination, they are killer... imagine the potential fan facing: I have to see a lot of this show to get this show, and I can't see this show!

[mfa96]

Farscape did last 4 years (yes we were gypped out of a 5th)- pretty good for a show no one watched. Star Trek TOS only lasted 3. Enterprise might not make it to 4 complete. Babylon 5, if memory serves, struggled to get five seasons (and was the last a full season?) Firefly (which I also enjoy), only lasted 11 episodes, and countless others that lasted a short time as well.

True we all wanted a fifth season- but hey, we get our show back in 17 days! While I would love a season 5, 6, and 7- like Star Trek TNG, DS9, and Voyager- give it some time...after all, it toook them 20 years or so to get them- tahnkfully we haven't had to wait that long- and won't have to wait that long after the mini.

The King is dead! Long live the King! Farscape does and will fly again! :charge:

[matt_boy]

Firstly I think the Farscape world is rather deep, there are many characters and some episodes are complex. A show like Enterprise you can sit down and watch almost any epsiode and you'll understand what's been happening for the past 30 episodes almost immediately , Farscape isn't like this there are lots of sub-plots with the show, ...... but the show requires viewers to pay attention.
You answered your own question. The things that make it great are also it's greatest liablity as a show.

[FrelledProwler]

Browncoat_S found the icons button! :D

[lai]

On the topic of accessibility and gaining a future audience ala Star Trek, does anybody know the business of whether Farscape could become syndicated and run on channels that in themselves have bigger audiences? If it weren't for DVD, I still wouldn't have seen the show (and it would have been my loss, that's for sure).

[Darth Buddha]

The syndication rights are currently held by Scifi.

I'm sure there is somebody here who can update WHEN we THINK those syndication rights will revert to Henson to do with them as they please.

[Greybeard]

The syndication rights are currently held by Scifi.

I'm sure there is somebody here who can update WHEN we THINK those syndication rights will revert to Henson to do with them as they please.


Unless they're renewed, Sci-Fi's exclusive U.S. rerun rights on Seasons 1-4 expire next March (two years after the initial broadcast of "Bad Timing"). I don't know how long they have exclusive U.S. rerun rights to the mini-series, hopefully no more than one year from the initial broadcasts.

[vacantlook]

Babylon 5, if memory serves, struggled to get five seasons (and was the last a full season?)

Yes, season five of Babylon 5 was a full 22-episode season.

[sny]

Oh, this has been covered a bit here and a bit there... the flames in response being a bit less each month.

Don't recall anyone flaming anyone who stated their dislikes of the show reasonably... Maybe I was in bed for those threads or something. Big difference between Browncoat Serenity's balanced post and someone who comes trouncing in and says the entire show is horrible, we're all idiots for liking it, and there's not one redeeming quality...

We haven't had a pisher visit in a long time, have we?

Just wondering what others thought on why the show hasn't done as well as others did ?

In one sense, I agree that it's a "drawback" of sorts that Farscape requires a lot of its viewers. Like actual mental processes, a half-decent memory, and something of a commitment to watching regularly. A lot of television doesn't do this. Being "deep" and richly detailed is a double-edged sword. It may put off some casual viewers who don't want to have to put in any work to be entertained. But on the other hand, if the viewer puts in a smidgen of effort, that is paid back a hundredfold. There is no other show that has prompted my coworkers and I to talk about an episode for, literally, days on end, wondering what's going to happen next. The "pro" of being so rich and being able to excite such reactions in fans is that fans tend to be more proactive, active and loyal. Newbies are a tad harder to convert, but the converted stay converted.

But the main drawback I saw was the availability. For a "flagship" show, SciFi often didn't treat the show very well. Long midseason breaks, long summer breaks, shuffling time slots, promotion that could have been better, two parent companies that really didn't have extra cash to spare for promotion, all those things hurt the show. SciFi itself wasn't available in a lot of areas at one point, for that matter. The show was treated even worse (from what I hear) in Australia, where they played havoc with the schedule and it was often off the air. The "bias" of network execs against expensive sci-fi shows didn't help, either. Network execs like cheap fare with huge profit margins for being even moderately successful.

And measuring "success" is a dodgy thing. If you're talking Nielsens, I think Farscape didn't do "as well as others" simply because the ratings system is broken and it isn't even close to accurate. The system is skewed against certain channels. 5000 Nielsen boxes in the entire country. That's what largely determines what we get to see. In a nation of 280 million plus people.

The way I measure success is a bit different. Despite being on a non-mainstream cable channel that is not by any means available nationwide, the show lasted four years, spawned a following passionate enough to campaign for its return and large enough to actually help make something happen. I like Enterprise, but somehow, I can't see Enterprise inspiring fans to go purchase the cover ad on trade magazines, or mounting their own nationwide television advertising campaign, or a lot of the other things this campaign pioneered or put their own flair on. If I heard tomorrow that there would never be new Enterprise, I don't think I would care enough to seek out the nearest fan campaign and start doing something. Farscape made me do that.

And as far as DVD sales, indications are that Farscape is doing fine in DVD sales. You mentioned Babylon 5. The first season box set of both series were released within about a month of one another. The Amazon sales rank for Farscape is 7,679. Babylon 5... 7,546. This despite the fact that Babylon 5's first season is selling for over $40 less than Farscape's. (Incidentally, there are much, much better deals on the Farscape boxsets than Amazon's. I'm just using Amazon because it displays ranks and is a popular webshop. I imagine the sales rank would be a lot higher if they were selling Farscape at DeepDiscountDVD prices...)

This also doesn't take into account that many Farscape fans either did not expect a season boxset or couldn't wait for a boxset and purchased individual volumes, or folks who sampled the series with a Best of Season One Boxset. All the DVD distributors seemed eager to do the releases. Considering Babylon 5 has had a lot more time and the benefit of syndication to build up its audience at this point, the fact that the season one boxsets hang in there pretty close makes me think Farscape isn't doing too shabby.

And just for the sheer silliness, the final authority... Googlefight.

http://www.googlefight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=Farscape&q2=%22other+shows%22&B1=Make+a+fight%21&compare=1&langue=us

Seriously, though, I think you've pretty well hit the nail on the head, and that Farscape hasn't done too badly at all, considering some of the things (some show-related, others network and parent company-related) that hampered its ability to reach the audience numbers of say, Survivor.

And welcome to the board!

[Digger]

We haven't had a pisher visit in a long time, have we? I think pisher may have sponaneously combusted when he found out we were getting a miniseries.

personally, the only problem I have with Farscape is that I haven't seen a new episode in 18 months. Only 17 more days to go. Today I am calm. Tomorrow when the calandar rolls over to October I freak.

And since you brought up Enterprise, I go to Trekweb every now and then, since I would like to give ENT one more chance. It's hard, though. I've never seen so much bitching and moaning. And their show is still in production! It's audience is 2 or 3 times what Farscape's was, but if/when ENT gets cancelled I can't imagine that they would do 1/10th of what we did to save Farscape. I guess that just goes back to something else you said. For those willing to invest a little of themselves in the show in terms of paying attention and watching regularly, no show I've ever seen has ever given back so much. It was always as if the writers/directors/actors knew what would push our buttons and constantly strove to push them.

[Selena]

The only thing I can find wrong with Farscape is that it's not still in production. (not referring to the mini I'm talking about season episodes).

[CeRell]

I suspect one reason is the market is small for a series on SciFi...a show that was never truely promoted...not like Taken or Battlestar G. There are so many other channels to watch..

2ndly, it's the explorative factor. Off the wall eps, like Revenging Angel, or Scratch n Sniff likely put people off. For others it was the fact that two of the main characters were muppets. (Myself, I was put off at first by the idea, but tuned in anyway) This show takes a dedicated viewer with an open mind.

3rdly, it could be at Aeryn isn't a blue eyed, blond haired model-dumb bimbo that couldn't act her way off the toilet.

Considering each character is layered with a back history that flavors their current behaviors, it truely takes a few eps to get in sync. The greatness of Farscape is underneath the surface. Most shows of today only have that surface. The populace doesn't know TV can be more.

[Dangermousie]

I agree that complexity, or off-the-wallness of the show can put people off. My first ep (DWTB) made me fall in love with the show, but it also made me severely confused. I had no idea what was going on! If I wasn't so struck by the angst, I might have given up. FS really makes you invest time in it. The second ep I ever saw was JQ. I turned it on right when they were in "Zhaan's" tent. The camera angles and the sheer bizarreness made me go: "whaaaaaaa?" Now, it's one of my all time favorites, but then I was taken aback, to say the least. Or imagine someone whose first episode is WGFA or similar. They would be incredibly confused.

I think FS is a hard show to get into: it requires concentration, regular watching (you have to know what went on before to get the current stuff). In this way, it's more like a 19th century serialized novel, then a regular TV series: if you just picked up a No 20 or No 12 of Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" at random, you'd be pretty confused. But put together it all makes perfect sense. Ditto with FS. It takes an effort, but once you do it keeps your attention and doesn't let go!

[Darth Buddha]

The number of episodes that a newbie could watch, understand easily, and hopefully get hooked was clearly a weakness.

More stand alone episodes such as My Three Crichtons, DNA Mad Scientist, A Human Reaction, and the like, would probably have helped Farscape to reach more fans. Coincidentally, those were among the best shows in terms of science fiction and philosohpical questions. Questions adressed with a sensibility far more gritty and real than Gene Roddenberry's pink sunglassed view.

[Browncoat Serenity]

Yes, those are some fantastic points everyone

I was considering that Farscape should try to add German/Spanish soundrack on the DVD to help to reach a global audience, also there could be a 'Best-of Farscape DVD' like shows such as SG1 Startrek have done
Farscape has much happening, it would be cool to try and sum-up what has happened for newbies & could also help others understand the show better

http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?p=570173#post570173

I started another thread on this idea

[AnnieBW]

One word - "syndication". Most of the shows mentioned were shown in syndication, either as first runs like ST:TNG, ST:DS9 and B5, or as part of a network, like Buffy, Stargate, or ST:VOY. Skiffy never allowed Farscape to be syndicated. Many people don't have Skiffy on their cable systems, or have to move up to extended basic for it.

[grapeshot]

I agree that Farscape required a lot of effort on the part of the viewer to follow along. But those people who recognized how special the show is did put in the effort. I don't know that a lack of promotion on the part of SciFi was exactly the problem. I thought that the mainstream audiences were unlikely to tune into SciFi in the first place. Let's face it, most mainstream -- and even some hardcore genre fans -- don't really consider the SciFi Channel as something to pay attention to. SciFi has created a reputation as a channel with cheesy monster movies, and by far MOST of their fare has been pretty bad. They may have improved some of their offerings in the past 3 or 4 years, but people still remember SciFi as the monster show network, or the network where old scifi shows go to die. When a mainstream audience member sits down to surf channels, SciFi is not likely to be the place they're going to end up at. I mean, you guys have all 'scaped people, right? How many of them upon discovering Farscape say something along the lines of "why haven't I seen this before?" (That's what I said when I discovered it.) Well, they hadn't seen it before because it's been where they least expected it to be.

The paradox, of course, is that it couldn't have aired anywhere else, either. Fox, the network that first considered developing Farscape, would've canceled it after 5 or 6 episodes -- as indeed they've done to almost all of their other new shows. Farscape was certainly too far out of the mainstream for one of the big networks. And there aren't too many other cable channels where Farscape would've been a good fit.

As for syndication, well that market is nothing like it used to be. I'd be very surprised if Farscape gets into syndication.

[sny]

SciFi has created a reputation as a channel with cheesy monster movies, and by far MOST of their fare has been pretty bad. They may have improved some of their offerings in the past 3 or 4 years, but people still remember SciFi as the monster show network, or the network where old scifi shows go to die. When a mainstream audience member sits down to surf channels, SciFi is not likely to be the place they're going to end up at.

And the thing is, SciFi really did little (that I could see) to counter that image. In fact, after the cancellation, they seemed to (ugh) embrace it. They seemed to be promoting the idea of "Hey, the trashier the better!" You would think they would have been promoting the bejeezus out of this rich, eyecatching, obviously high production value show to say "Hey! See? We're not all Octopus 3 and MST3K!". And, well, they didn't, really. Instead, they rarely promoted it off-network, put it in the Friday evening "death slot" for much of its run, when most of their target audience was likely going out, and at one point, took it off the air for a midseason break (might have even been without reruns, I can't recall) of... what? Seven months, wasn't it?

Grant you, I imagine a great deal of the lack of off-network promotion can be attributed to the fact that they couldn't really afford it. Their parent company was losing money hand over fist and dying a slow death, but the scheduling that almost assured you were going to put off anyone who could remotely be considered a "casual" viewer... that was bad decision-making as far as I can tell. HBO can get away with that sort of thing for The Sopranos, because it's a high-profile subscription channel, and they have more than one draw for subscribers. SciFi... not so much. If Farscape had been promoted on all fronts like the BSG mini... I imagine things would have been very different.


Well, they hadn't seen it before because it's been where they least expected it to be.

Yup. Or on a channel they didn't receive in the first place.


The paradox, of course, is that it couldn't have aired anywhere else, either. Fox, the network that first considered developing Farscape, would've canceled it after 5 or 6 episodes -- as indeed they've done to almost all of their other new shows. Farscape was certainly too far out of the mainstream for one of the big networks. And there aren't too many other cable channels where Farscape would've been a good fit.

I definitely agree there. For all its blunders, SciFi is just about the only place I can see Farscape lasting, in retrospect. Fox would have probably wanted to "meddle" too much, and would have gotten a twitchy finger if the ratings hadn't been what they deemed up to snuff. They don't seem to give shows a chance like they used to when they were an up and coming poor man's network that mostly showed "When Animals Attack!" and such. Still makes me want to weep (or gnash my teeth) when I see how many opportunities they missed to promote themselves and the show, though.


As for syndication, well that market is nothing like it used to be. I'd be very surprised if Farscape gets into syndication.

Oh, I don't know about that. Syndication has changed over the years, for sure, but cable channels have proven they can have success with rerunning old eps of certain shows, even genre shows. Star Trek TNG, Law and Order, CSI, Monk, all of those have had good runs (from what little I understand about the tv biz) on what I would consider more mainstream cable channels. Angel has done so, as well. Charmed also comes to mind. Angel was even rerun in story-arc order, which shows some respect for a program with not as many standalone shows. You never know what might happen, especially when it comes to the whims of the entertainment industry, but with the mini, even if there is no more Farscape to come, (and I hope there is), that makes the show a more attractive, complete package for syndication. And heaven knows the fans have made it pretty clear that there's an audience for the show. With the 88 eps alone, I would have been surprised. With the mini, I wouldn't be so surprised.

[tedbragg1]

What Went Wrong with Farscape?

Arriving too early. Ahead of its time, not concept-wise, but bad timing.

FS hit the scene when we had a LOT of bad sci-fi shows on tv. Okay, maybe not bad, but very sub-par material. I recall skipping FS the first time I saw the ads because I thought it'd be another stinker like Precinct 32, or Time Trax, or boring like B5 (to me, at least).

The field was crowded with stinkers.

That'd be number one. If it'd arrived a year & a half later, I think things would've been much different. The bad taste left in everyone's craw from all the crap would've been forgotten.

Being stuck on Sci-Fi was like the Muppet skit where the janitor was waxing the floor -- he nailed his shoes in place so he wouldn't slip down.

Actually, the exclusive rights deal -- if Skiffy had agreed to a syndie deal, FS would've been seen on more channels, more eyeballs and certainly more fans.

Kinda reminds me of the CrossGen Comics. They had some of the best books out there, but nobody who didn't haunt a comicshop knew of them. When they did discover CG's titles, they'd go ape and loved them.

ADV ain't helping by keeping the price of the DVD sets so dang high. I can get a full season of ALIAS for $49 at Wally-World...shoot! I can get B5's sets for around $60 there, but ADV can't get into the world's largest retailer.

Bad timing, not-so-good network deal and lousy pricing and availability for the DVDs. THAT'S what went "wrong" with Farscape.

[motz7d]

For all of its flaws, I still think Farscape is the best Sci-Fi show ever created. I am a huge Star Wars/Star Trek/All things dork fan, but after watching Farscape for the past few months, I've come to find that the show really draws you in. The fact that you can't really watch it out of context makes the show so much more appealing. The problem is that if you are turned off by one or two episodes you don't understand what you are missing out on.
Of all the people I know that have watched Farscape and not continued to watch it (I don't actually know anyone who said it sucks) is that they lost interest. How they lost interest I don't know because this show is eating my life (which is fine). October 18th is going to be bittersweet.

[blue]

"there could be a 'Best-of Farscape DVD' like shows such as SG1 Startrek have done
Farscape has much happening, it would be cool to try and sum-up what has happened for newbies"

By the way Browncoat Serenity, there IS a best of Farscape (first season) set that has premiere, DNA Mad Scientist, Human Reaction, Nerve, Hidden Memory, and Family Ties on three disks. And there was a show called Farscape Undressed that was broadcast a few times before the third season, where Ben and Claudia talked about the plot and characters with clips of episodes, to bring new people to the third season. I wish they would release it on DVD.

[Mike@Pilots Chamber]

Hmm... what went wrong with Farscape? Dunno.

I've only really got the experience of a UK-goer. On the BBC, we don't get many science fiction shows. In fact, I don't think we get any now. Back then, Farscape was something great. Yes, there were a few others, but it was mainly Star Trek (which I could never get into), Battlestar Galactica (which I admit to enjoying when I first discovered it at the age of 15-ish) and Sliders, which evoked fond memories of Quantum Leap (which were unfortunately unfulfilled).

Enter Farscape. I get the chance to watch a science fiction program from the beginning. It looks pretty cool - it pulls out the special effects I want to watch rather than the old-70s-we're-on-a-bike-in-front-of-a-dodgy-blue-screen effect. It's not cheesy, or camp (though I probably won't be saying that in 10-20 years time). It has a love plot but isn't soppy or puppy-eyed about it. It has a plot. Good God, it has a plot! It has sinister evil people. It has characters, each with motives who don't always work together. It has aliens which LOOK alien, rather than random-person-in-a-metal-looking-suit-number-63. It doesn't act like the viewer is dumb. It doesn't have a plot every week where it's necessary to explain some random physics.

Considering my experience of science fiction prior to this (the above, Quantum Leap, Star Wars, Stargate and Red Dwarf) this was definitely the best.

However, I occasionally talked to some people I knew about it, and nobody liked it! My girlfriend always got in from college after it finished (considering she went to a college in a different city). One of my friends didn't like the fact that it used, in her words, "the worst-looking muppets" and thought D'Argo was a Klingon rip-off. Another thought the twinned-Crichton story was a direct rip-off of one that had been used in Star Trek (where a character gets cloned, one goes off on one ship and the other goes off on another - I don't know, I don't watch Star Trek).

But enough of that.

Perhaps, for some reason, everyone was far too keen to jump on Farscape's bad points, or make some up of their own. But here in the UK I believe it was received well by most people.

There is also the way it was handled by the BBC which contributed - both in a good and bad way. The BBC showed MOST of the episodes in order (a few were out of place in the first season), at 6:45pm on a Monday, as tradition dictated. A few episodes were repeated on Sunday mornings, I think, but these stopped roughly half-way through the first season (I think Sci-Fi UK picked up the rights to show the episodes - and repeats - then, but BBC still held rights for first-screenings).

Farscape - as happens with most things on BBC, except EastEnders - frequently also had to be taken off some weeks for the sports that the BBC shows (it is annoying to have your favourite show interrupted for a few weeks for snooker, bowls, tennis or another sport you have no interest in) but we in the UK are used to that. I don't believe that would have hurt it. The BBC officially Did A Good Thing (tm) though when they screened the second season directly after they finished showing the first. Them somehow managing to air the final four episodes for both seasons 2 and 3, and the final half of season 4, was also strangely satisfying.

However, as good as the BBC was to Farscape, they still didn't have repeat rights. I doubt it would have mattered much with Farscape anyway as they would likely only show Farscape once a week anyway, as their contracts mean they have to cater for everyone and can only allot a certain amount of time (and budget) to Farscape. The repeats ended up with the Sci-Fi UK Channel (no relation to the US one, I am told) who, I believe, repeat it regularly, though it is only a minor Cable/Satellite channel.

As for video/DVD releases, every time the Farscape DVDs are in a sale (and it is quite often at HMV and Virgin) they do quite well. Rather than paying £19.99 for 4 or 5 episodes, £12.99 (or sometimes even less!) seems very reasonable.

Oh, and blue - you can get Farscape Undressed on the region 2 3.1 DVD.

[sny]

ADV ain't helping by keeping the price of the DVD sets so dang high. I can get a full season of ALIAS for $49 at Wally-World...shoot! I can get B5's sets for around $60 there, but ADV can't get into the world's largest retailer.

ADV only sets the suggested retail price and the wholesale price. Retailers are more responsible for the actual retail price. If DeepDiscoundDVD.com can sell them for less than $90 and make a decent profit (at least, I doubt they're taking a loss on the boxsets, or they would be bankrupt by now, judging from their popularity here on the boards), that indicates to me that a lot of other retailers are probably overpricing the sets for some reason. I really can't understand why Amazon, which usually is at least pretty competitive, has their Farscape season sets well over $100...

Also, keep in mind that ADV is a much smaller company, from what I understand, than say, Columbia or your other major DVD producers. They don't do the volume of some of the other DVD production companies, so I would imagine their initial cost might be higher (purchasing power and all that). And prior to Farscape, they didn't seem to do much in the way of DVDs other than anime, which was, until recently-ish, a fairly niche market. Farscape was really their first flagship non-anime product, from what I can tell. They also started producing Farscape DVDs right at a time when it hadn't yet been firmly established that season box sets of shows could be popular and profitable, hence the multiple Season One incarnations, the Best Of and the entire box set, then the rather odd straddling of the line with the "collections", and then, later, a box set. Box sets were considered risky back when the first Farscape DVDs came out.

As for Wal-Mart, that's more likely to be your local Wal-Mart's fault. Wal-mart.com yields 52 hits for Farscape, many of them DVDs, and several of the items are listed as "Only In Stores".
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/search-ng.gsp?search_constraint=0&search_query=Farscape&ics=20&ico=0

They must stock them somewhere, I guess. The onus to get the boxsets into Wal-Mart isn't all on ADV. Talk to the manager. Leave a suggestion card. Email them. Even Wal-Mart isn't likely to risk stocking somethng if they don't know about it/don't know how popular it might be. Most Wal-Marts (at least in my area) have very tiny display areas dedicated to their DVD sales within the electronics section. The CDs usually get many times more space. A third of a regular aisle is sometimes all they have. They're not about to dedicate valuable shelf space to something that isn't pretty well guaranteed to sell. And box sets take up a lot of space. I very, very rarely see a box set of any kind in my local Wal-Mart. They tend to be the more space-economical sets when I do. Farscape isn't exactly a low profile boxset. It grabs up a big hunk of shelf.

Sometimes, they have an additional rack outside the electronics, but generally, games and CDs dominate the electronics section. I notice in my neck of the woods, they tend to be stocked (especially the racks) with kiddie/teen movies and no-frills "comedy classics", primarily, that have been established as good sellers. Things that kids or teens will see and want to buy (or get Mom to buy) on impulse for around $10. Maybe if enough customers mention the Farscape sets, they would look into stocking the season sets.

Hmmm... maybe this needs to be a to-do item... Almost everyone goes to Wal-Mart.

[Otto the Mild]

1. My wife frowns at me whenever Chi'ana appears on the screen. She must have a chip in my head.

2. Too few details on how wormholes work. No matter how hard I try, my Scion xA will not open a wormhole on I-95.

3. It's not real.

4. Therefore, some producer will inevitably create a reality show out of it.

[futuro]

It's on cable/dish and I never did, never will subscribe.
Exposure on TV outside cable = 0.
Never heard of Farscape until I visited a friend after all the season 1 DVDs had come out and he let me borrow them.
I'm sad that I missed out on all the excitement when the show was current.
On the plus side - I'm now an obessed fan (in a good way). But I'll still have to go to a friend's house to see the mini-series.