Music Videos

The first one to play was set to “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun” from Annie Get Your Gun. You can probably imagine the various vid clips that were used, and it was really well done. The second video used the theme from The Muppets. This one was hysterical and very appropriate for obvious reasons. If you’d like to see them for yourself, the creator of the videos, AnnieBW, has them posted on her website.

Opener with Brian Henson and David Kemper

One of the first things that Brian asked when he came on the stage was, “Who made that Muppet video?”  Of course, David Kemper teased him no end. “‘We can’t do Muppets! We don’t want Muppets! It’s not a kids show, we’re not gonna play to kids.’ Now he’s out here going ‘Muppets? Was that the Muppets? Who did the Muppets?’”

They asked the audience who was here last year. They wanted to know where people came from and were they also going to the New York convention. People had come from all regions of the US and from Canada, Germany, Belgium, the UK, and Australia. Quite a few fans were going to both cons.

David talked about the fact that we’ve only seen 62 of the 66 episodes, and he asked the fans what they felt at the end of the season two cliffhanger. Pain. Anger. Well, this year at the end of season three, you’ll feel completely different emotions, but they’ll be twice as strong. DK did tell us that nobody is “not working” for episode 67 (ep one of season four). The last four episodes of season three must really be something special. Throughout the whole weekend, everyone who was asked which were their favorite eps included these four. 

Officially there is no season four. They have a cliffhanger for season three, but no official four. They’re plotting and writing episodes for this non-existent season four so I guess they’re not too worried about job security. Ben is writing episode 73. They know what’s going to happen in episode 89. They know 110. Two people even know what’s going to happen in episode 132 (the last ep of season six). But officially, there’s no season four. Yet.

David Kemper said they should talk about the movie. They didn’t say much, but they’re going to try to do a movie that would be released while the show is still playing on TV.

David told the fans that they’d be seeing a blooper reel later in the day and that it had been made “frell-friendly”. It isn’t the same one that the cast and crew see at the end of the year. That’s how DK keeps his job – he has that tape well hidden! I think he was joking, but you never know.

They asked for questions from the audience and people went up to the microphones and tried to wheedle spoilers out of them. David non-answered the first question by saying that if everything were resolved, how interesting would the show be? Brian said that he’s only been involved in one show where they resolved everything. Dinosaurs. It got resolved when the meteor hit (they were really angry with Disney at the time).

We’re going to see more Sebaceans at some point. They have a non-military arm, too, and maybe we’ll see some who aren’t soldiers. The big picture is: How can Sebaceans be so similar to humans? In Family Ties Crais mentioned it and now David Kemper mentioned it again in relation to the “big picture”.

A fan from Australia asked why Farscape is so badly scheduled there. Brian Henson had a quick answer – Channel Nine – and a long answer. They had a chance to go with Channel Ten but they went with Nine instead. He said it was the worst thing they’d ever done because Nine doesn’t believe in Science Fiction, they just don’t like it, and yet they were their partners. He said that he didn’t know the channels well enough and that’s why they made the mistake. Kris Noble, the head of programming at Channel Nine, loves the show, but he doesn’t have the final say in what’s shown. Farscape is now being run on Foxkids. It’s a kids’ network, but at least the show is on the air.

Henson told us to imagine being one of the cast who’s working “God-awful” hours, five days a week (some of them even working six and seven) and it isn’t even on the air in their home town. One of the reasons they love to come to the conventions is to see and hear from people who actually watch the show. Sometimes they’re asked if it matters if people see the show as long as they know they’re doing good work. According to Brian Henson, that is “so not true”. It really matters.  

One of the audience thanked them for putting the titles on the episodes. Brian said that it was because last year at the convention the fans requested the titles. “Anything you want this year? Think about it.” Someone wanted more Crais (“mention this to Lani”) and someone else wanted the old theme (“it’s out on CD”).

Next question: what character development has Rygel had, because he’s a puppet and…Brian Henson’s, ”No puppets! We’re not making The Muppet Show” got a huge laugh. The questioner then asked if Rygel’s character hadn’t changed much because his character isn’t driven by an actor. DK said that he really is played by an actor and that’s what brings him to life. The cast, writers and directors don’t think of him as a puppet but as one of the characters on the show.  Rygel is selfish, but he’s just doing what he thinks is necessary to survive, and he’s really a good guy at heart. He keeps going until he has a crisis of conscience, then he develops a little bit. According to David Kemper, “just keep watching. You saw episode 18, right? Well, keep watching those last four episodes.”

Another fan wanted to know if the Farscape writers ever talked to the writers of other shows for ideas or to get some of their actors on the show. Brian told us that Science Fiction shows are extremely competitive. Also, they don’t want us to recognize the actors because then it seems more real. Instead of the audience thinking wow, there’s Leonard Nimoy, we’ll be thinking wow, there’s a Peacekeeper.

What do you guys look for in writers as far as style and capability? What they’re looking for on Farscape is slight madness. People who see things a little bit differently, whose ideas are a little bit off the beaten track.

It seemed like they had just started when their time on the stage was up. As an introduction to Gigi Edgely, David had the audience practice the crazy yi-yi-yi-yi from Won’t Get Fooled Again, but we didn’t even come close to Gigi’s version when she stepped out from behind the curtain.

Gigi Edgley

Gigi bounced onto the stage and did her “Chiana possessed by the energy rider” character. It really looked strange when she did it as Gigi without the Chiana makeup. She told us a little bit about her week in Mexico with Claudia – they did a lot of eating, and when they weren’t eating, they were thinking about eating.

She invited fans to give their favorite Chiana moments and rewarded them with a copy of the Australian magazine Black and White, which had a feature about Gigi. A couple of the favorites were the jump into the sonic net from Taking the Stone and the previously mentioned yelp from Won’t Get Fooled Again. 

Questions from the fans came next. The first person asked about the fire-twirling scene from Scratch ‘N’ Sniff: were the firesticks really on fire? Yep, they were. Every producer on Farscape came down to watch the filming of that. When she wanted to bring them across her body, they thought she was nuts, but she had learned to do it in college.

There was a question about the interesting Chiana/Jool relationship. “Oh”, said Gigi, “I knew that was coming!” The man who was asking the question clarified it by saying that he wanted to know about the jealousy between the two over D'Argo. Gigi answered, “And we all thought she was over him!”

The next fan asked if she’d ever had an embarrassing moment on Farscape. Yep, there was a modesty patch malfunction (i.e. the thing fell off) during Chiana’s recreating scene with D'Argo.

She talked a little bit about her makeup and a little bit about creating Chiana’s “alienness”. She said that both she and Tammy MacIntosh are method actors.

The best part of Gigi’s time on stage was the poem she wrote for the occasion and read to us. It was very much like her, cute, sweet and funny.

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