FarscapeWeekly
eZine
¤ ¤ 26-Jul-02 ¤ ¤
updated 27 June 02
For easier reading, use the bookmarks below:
Site News
Farscape News
Did you know?
Quote of the Week
Free Cool Stuff
Recurring Characters
Repeat Performers
The Score
Upcoming Episodes
Ratings
- IMPORTANT - PLEASE
READ! -
WebSeed is leaving the hosting business as of Friday, July 26.
I have identified my new hosting company but have yet to begin
moving content over to my new host. Needless to say, there will
be some period of time where, frankly, there's not going to be
much up on the site. Over time I'll get everything back up there,
and with fewer ads and screen-clutter, too. I think you'll like
it.
The eZine will continue to be published in plain text and HTML
formats, weekly whenever possible.
Because of the change in hosts, you'll notice a lack of links to
the FarscapeWeekly.com site in this issue. I'm not sure what the
new links will be. The domain, "www.farscapeweekly.com"
WILL continue, but I'm planning to use more descriptive names
than the old "article1011.html" convention that WebSeed
used. Please bear with me!
Note: all on-site links have been restored, so click away!
NEW CONTENT ON SITE:
The site still should be available through Friday, July 26; I
recently posted mini-reviews of:
What Was Lost, part 2:Resurrection
Lava's a Many Splendored Thing
Promises
Natural Election
And I also had a
chance to update "Care to Sing
Along?"
with info for "Lava's a Many Splendored Thing." If you
can get to the home page, the articles will still be up; give it
a try if you are so inclined!
Subscribers
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and your confidentiality is guaranteed.
For a glimpse at the site's history through March 2002, take a look the eMail Update Archive and see how far we've come.
For comments, questions, or submissions, eMail jhedman@alum.mit.edu.
Farscape has been nominated for its first Emmy Award... for Best Costuming, for the "Into the Lion's Den, part 2" episode. Click here for a complete list of all the nominees. It's a shame they were shut out of the special effects and makeup categories. We can be philosophical, though: we know they'll get at least two more shots at them.
Richard Simms over at TV Guide's Insider column was a bit miffed about the way things worked out, though. Check out his article, Emmy snubs FARSCAPE.
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Convention news... Virginia Hey will be attending the fan-run "Scape..er, Whater" Con/Convergence, which is this upcoming weekend, July 26-28. If you're in the Cincinnati, OH, area, it's not too late!
Virginia
will also be appearing at the official Creation-run con
in New York City November 29 and 30, according to an email just
received from Creation. Click here for
Creation's Convention Calendar.
FYI, the News & Updates page at the SCIFI Channel's Farscape page lists convention appearances by actor, but it hasn't been updated in ages.
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A couple of Ben Browder interviews cropped up online this week.
First, a little backstory. A while ago, back in April when we were deep into the hiatus and feeling miserable, dedicated Charlotte, NC Scaper RygelXIV, Tim Miner, was agitated because of the lack of PR that the SCIFI Channel was generating for Farscape. MediaSavant (FarscapeWeekly's TV guru Diane Denesowicz) challenged him to do something productive instead of just whining about it, and so he did. He got in touch with a local entertainment reporter, and convinced her to do a story interviewing Ben Browder, who grew up in Charlotte.
That's when things kind of stalled, since the reporter couldn't get anything out of SCIFI's media relations people. Tim posted about his frustrations on the SCIFI bboard, and I just happened to see his post. We exchanged emails, and I was able to send along the names of my contacts at Henson Co, who arrange and approve all interviews with the cast.
So, a short couple of months later, Tim opened his Sunday paper to find a four-color spread of John Crichton accompanying the interview on the front page of the Entertainment section, with "Who's Who" and other Farscape-related articles inside as well. Here's the interview; alas, they didn't post the photos and other columns on the web. Still, this interview is indispensible for any Ben Browder fan, containing such trivia as the name of his high school football team.
Big kudos to Tim for making this happen!
The second interview is from KnoxNews; thanks to Bill Porter for posting a link over on alt.tv.farscape. In this one, Ben waxes nostalgic about Knoxville, and talks a little about what it's like for him to write an episode as well as star in it. As usual, good insights into the workings of this terrific actor's mind.
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SciFi Hobby sent out their eZine today, which featured news of their FARSCAPE Season 3 trading card sets. Originally, they weren't planning on including any costume cards, but apparently enough people complained that they've rethought that decision. Check out their website for details; the cards will be released Oct 2.
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Did you know...
There
has been a tremendous amount of head scratching, discussion, and
speculation regarding Aeryn's "suspended"
pregnancy. It sounds very "science fiction",
doesn't it, having an embryo in stasis?
Turns out it's not that uncommon at all, in both mammals and marsupials here on Earth. In mammals it's referred to as delayed implantation, in marsupials, it's usually embryonic diapause, but they both refer to essentially the same thing. An egg is fertilized and goes through several cycles of cellular division, until it reaches about 70-100 cells total. Then, it stops growing and develops into a "blastocyst", which remains dormant until hormonal changes trigger it to begin its growth again.
Embryonic diapause is common in kangaroos and wallabies, who can maintain embryos in that state for up two years. Another *really* interesting fact about wallabies is that they have chambered uterii, much like we have chambers in our hearts. That means they have more than one "implantation space," and even if they have "paused" embryos, they still go through their normal cycles of fertility (oestrus).
A short list of mammals that experience delayed implantation includes badgers, several species of bears, most bats, European roe deer, ferrets, wolverines, walrus, and grey seals. All of these animals, like the roos and wallabies, use delayed implantation to control when their young will be born. During periods when food and water are plentiful and the weather is favorable, there may be no delay at all. During stressful times, embryos will remain in stasis until weather conditions improve sufficiently to support mothers who are suckling their young.
Given these surprising at-home facts, it's not that far-out to think of Aeryn as being able to sustain an embryo for up to seven years. There are some -other- problems I have with this story line, chiefly, Aeryn's supposed cluelessness as to who her baby's father is, but that's a separate issue entirely.
Read more about embryonic diapause at Species -- a discussion of 'roos and wallabies; check out "Reproduction", and you can also get a glimpse of more detail than you probably want to know about breeding wallabies.
Quote of the Week:
"You know, I hate this
ship. It's messy."
--
Crichton to D'Argo, aboard Lo'la, in "Natural Election"
Free Cool Stuff
We
featured Adam Hastings' work here once before,
but he has since completely revamped his website, and so you must
go see it, again! In addition to his original brilliant Farsons,
Adam has added a set of Farsons character cards, some excellent
sketches, and one hysterical painting, "Simpscape",
which brings Moya's crew to The Simpsons' living
room couch. You gotta see this stuff -- again.
To get some insights in Adam's creative process, check out this interview from the good folks over at ScapeRoute.
Have you found some free cool stuff? Do you have some free cool stuff you'd like to share? Send an eMail!
No Recurring Characters in these past few episodes, but from the previews and other spoiler-hints I've been exposed to, I'm betting we see a boatload in "John Quixote" tonight.
Besides Melissa Jaffer we have two new Repeat Performers this week! John Adam, who played Bekhesh in "Throne for a Loss" and the "Liars, Guns, and Money" trilogy, played Raa'keel in "Lava's a Many Splendored Thing." Richard Carter, who previously provided the voice of Kabaah (the giant praying-mantis alien) in "Scratch 'n' Sniff", was Ullom in "Promises".
The Score
through "Natural Election": 51/73
Allies: 11, Enemies: 18
The Tarkans (the really nice guys from
"Lava's a Many Splendored Thing", not the ones who were
trying to steal from them) are added to the Allies list; the Hokothians
(best name I could come up with), the bad guys from
"Promises", are added to the enemies list.
Interestingly, these are enemies of Aeryn and
not Crichton -- I believe that's a first!.
Upcoming Episodes
check
local listings for airtimes
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7/26 John Quixote - new, written by Ben Browder
8/02 I Shrink Therefore I Am
8/09 TBD - new
8/16 TBD - new
8/23 Unrealized Reality - new
Titles have been announced on some other websites, but until I see them on SciFi, they're not official. If you're curious, I think the excellent webMasters at FarscapeWorld have the TV Guide-style blurbs on these episodes:
Expectations are that there will be no new episode the weekend of 8/30, Labor Day Weekend. SCIFI traditionally runs movies that entire weekend. What remains to be seen is whether 8/23 will be the last new episode until NEXT YEAR, or whether we'll get some more new episodes before then. "Unrealized Reality" will bring us up to 4.11, meaning there are 11 more new episodes in Season 4. Typically, SCIFI holds back four to show before a brief (one month) hiatus before the new season. Unfortunately, we have no idea when S5 is going to start! At any rate, that leaves SCIFI 7 episodes that they could broadcast in September, November, and next year; October and December they historically schedule mini-series and movies.
I'll do my best to get scheduling info to you as soon as possible.
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source: SCIFI Channel's schedulebot
Ratings
time series charts of first airing ratings for all 4 seasons
Updated
through "Lava's A Many Splendored Thing"
First airing ratings for all 4 seasons
Crichton Kicks 1.6
What Was Lost, pt 1 1.1
What Was Lost, pt 2 1.3
Lava's a Many Splendored Thing 1.4
(ratings are share of SciFi's total households)