Farscape panel @ Comic Con!

[Jul]

Hi all!! Another comic con and we're 10 mins from the start of the Farscape panel featuring Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Brian Henson and Rockne O'Bannon - being moderated by Keith DeCandido..

the room is roughly half full at the moment and is filling as we speak..

[Jul]

and for more coverage, check out Mo Ryan's (Chicago Tribune) Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/moryan

[Jul]

and we're starting with a clip :)

[Jul]

great clip!! featuring season 1 clips. Now Panel introductions. Brian, Claudia, Ben, & Rockne. Ben's wearing a SUIT!

[kernezelda]

Woot! \o/

[Jul]

Brian's been working on Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train, Fraggle Rock the movie, & Dark Crystal.

Claud is developing a series called Inc., which has a twitter feed & website. She was also in Johnny Depp's new movie with Gore Verbinski.

Ben is goin to be working on FreezeFrame in the spring, and is working on Going Homer.

Rockne's developing a series for SyFy & is working on the Farscape comic books.

[Jul]

New Farscape DVD set will feature stuff never before on the NTSC box set - including Farscape Undressed, 29 commentaries, documentaries, 90 minutes of deleted scenes. The dvd sets (which will include season box sets and one MEGASET) will go out Nov 17th. ...

Webisodes - they're all set to make them. Rockne & Ricky Manning have been working on them. Looking for financing for the webisodes, especially in this economy. Will be set after the comics

[kernezelda]

Again, Woot! :)

[Mickie]

Thanks for posting this (Wish I were there though)

[Jul]

wish you were here too, Mickie!

Henson is looking to do short webisodes that are not necessarily linearly connected. Will be the initial launching of the next big chapter of Farscape. Ben & Claud are making body movements like they're in walkers... the continuing adventures of Crichton, Aeryn, & their son. The webisodes were written first, and then the comics were created as interstitials for that and new characters from the comics will be included in the webisodes.

? from the web: for ben & claud What did you think about working with creatures from the Henson Creature Shop?

Brian – Ben & Claud didn't actually see them, they were all still sketches.

Ben told the story of the first time he hit Rygel and also says that his children engaged in a 30 minute conversation with rygel the first time they saw him.

Claud says that the directors would always use scenes with the puppets in their reels in order to get new jobs.

? from the audience – What’s your favorite line from the show?

Rockne – “Frell” In Salt Lake City airport with family going to holiday dinner and wrote it in the airport while working on script.

Claudia – was proud to say “frell”. Yotz sounded Yiddish – figured D’Argo should be the only one to say it. She says that she's going to, “Jump on the Frell train..”

Ben – “Can I get a Hell Yeah?” call to the audience. Claud performs Ben’s favorite line with her beautiful southern accent: “Can you help me find a place to ….?”

Brian – Farscape is like an ocean… favorite part of the show is the romance between Crichton & Aeryn. Loved watching Aeryn smacking the back of Rygel’s head.

Ben says that there's one scene where you can see one Rygel puppeteer in a shot.

[Jul]

? – What was a most formative experience on Farscape? “This is why I took this job”

Claud – amazing experience. Claud says that both she and Ben figured that it was going to be a lovestory. Claud says that two years later when she gave birth to her own child she did a water birth and it wasn’t that bad. “heh, I’m tougher than Aeryn”.

Brian – it really hit home for him during the birth sequence in the PKWars. They’re gonna have a baby, aeryn’s gonna be pissed, crichton’s gonna deliver it, things are blowing up and people are shooting at them, and they’re going to get married.

Ben – The Paycheck. Pay the bills. Baby’s gonna eat today. When did you realize that this was something special? A few different times during seasons 1. First time working with Rowan Woods. DNA Mad Scientist. Turning of Crais from bad guy..

Rockne – The clip reel they showed at the beginning of this panel is something they made way back at the end of season 1 to try to get financing for S2. and it’s a credit to the aussies & creatives that made it because it looks so amazing.

? – from the audience: would you consider a spinoff series?
Brian – Not really. Looking at the next chapter, not really a spinoff. It could be pretty funny.

Ben – I’m excited about Farscape Puppet-Up. (which was something they were discussing backstage today at comic con :) ).

Greg from guinness book of world records presents to Farscape is in the next Guinness Book of World Records as The most visual effects in a TV Series. 1450 visual effects per show.

? – If you had a chance to go back in time, what episode or plot points would you change?

Claud – Would like to redo the first 6 episodes. So many people had been trying to form Aeryn (with more manly makeup, etc) that PKTech Girl was seminal for her because she really felt like she owned Aeryn and found her character.

Rockne – Crichton’s helmet in the pilot.

Ben – Wouldn’t change anything. Not smart enough to know what thread to pull. *heh*

Final comments from the panel:
Brian – Thanks for coming. Fans have kept us alive. We are still dedicated to Farscape will continue it. Keeps television interesting.

Ben says we’re all going for drinks later after Rockne's panel. Brian’s buying. (he's just kidding).

So, there ya go! That's the end of the panel.

[kernezelda]

Thanks for reporting! I wish I was there with you. You all have fun the rest of Con!

[Nicola]

Thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!

:D

[Jul]

wish you were here too Kerne! try to come next year! :D Stars says :lizard:

[vinity]

Thanks :D

Wow sounds hopeful for more.

[Mike@Pilots Chamber]

Brian Henson buying everyone drinks?

... why am I not there...

In any case, this does sound good. This, aside from the comics, is the first concrete thing we've had on Farscape in a while. Webisodes are still on and are apparently going to lead "into the next chapter". Just needs financing...

And as someone who used to watch Fraggle Rock, maybe I should get the series on DVD before it becomes popular again.

Seeing Rygel's puppeteer head in an episode - I think that's 1x02, Throne For A Loss. You can see it in the scene as all the Tavleks enter Moya IIRC.

[uisceboo]

Thank you guys so much for sharing this with us. You and the panel guests, you keep the hope train running.

[StarsGoBlue]

The panel ended standing room only which was a FANTASTIC turnout. Ben was delicious in his dark grey suit and Claud looks as wonderful as ever. Today's line to get the exclusive Scorpius hardcover of the first comic series signed by KRAD and Rockne was a nice healthy length as well, especially considering the Farscape Boom/comics panel isn't until tomorrow. Many familiar faces in the audience and the signing line.

:love:

[BrowderChick]

I always miss the fun. :(

Sounds like a great time though. :D

[Crackers DO Matter]

thanks for posting all of this ... it makes me REALLY wish I was there !!! :) :)

[AnnK]

Thanks, as always, for keeping us up to date - and hope alive!

[Nicola]

The panel ended standing room only which was a FANTASTIC turnout.

Excellent to hear. Just excellent. :D

[SpyderDan]

New Farscape DVD set will feature stuff never before on the NTSC box set - including Farscape Undressed, 29 commentaries, documentaries, 90 minutes of deleted scenes. The dvd sets (which will include season box sets and one MEGASET) will go out Nov 17th. ...

Did they mention anything about a blu-ray set?

[Nicola]

The was an interview after the Comic Con panel with Brian, Rockne, Ben and Claudia that asked that question.

Farscape Cast Reunites (http://dvd.ign.com/articles/100/1009930p2.html)

Has there been talk of doing a Blu-ray release?

Henson: You're the first person who's asked us about that. We have had inquiries, so I'll just answer it honestly. There is a version of Farscape that is better resolution than what anybody in America has ever seen, because we shot on the British-Australian video format which is PAL, 625 lines of resolution. So it has better color resolution and better image resolution than American broadcast television. It's isn't high-def, though. It's 625 as opposed to 720 or 1080. So there is something better than what people have seen on TV. So it would bump up to high def and look better than a regular DVD, much better, but it wouldn't look as good as what people would think of as high def. So I'm not sure whether anybody will ever want to do it. If we were to do a Blu-ray release, which I think should happen at some point, it's never going to be high, high-def resolution. But it will be better than what people have seen on DVD. So at some point I'm sure we will revisit a Blu-ray release. I think I once budgeted it and I think it was something over $4 million a season to actually go back and upgrade the effects to high def. And that was when we still had the film in vaults. ... So maybe for the 20th anniversary?

[SpyderDan]

Haha jeez, I have to wait until the 20th anniversary? Ouch. Guess I'm stuck with DVD then. Thanks for the info, Nicola.

[Clarsax]

It sounds like they had fun. I wish I could have been there.

[SpyderDan]

Apologies for bumping up this old thread but it's the latest one where we got any info from the crew and I didn't want to start a new thread just for this...but...

Where the hell are the webisodes? Is it cancelled? If you go to Skiffy's website and do a search for Farscape, the first hit is about the webisode series but then you click it and you get "page not found." So has it been axed?

[Emeraldcity]

They are still on hold..........financing........
There are a bunch of discussions about it over here http://terrafirmascapers.com/index.php/board,8.0.html if you want to check them out.

[SpyderDan]

They are still on hold..........financing........
There are a bunch of discussions about it over here http://terrafirmascapers.com/index.php/board,8.0.html if you want to check them out.

Thanks, Emerald. I guess it's not looking too good right now, huh?