The premiere episode of the Season 1 aired on March 1999 on Australia’s Nine Network and Canada’s YTV channels literally and aptly titled ‘Premiere’. Written by Rockne S. O’Bannon and directed by Andrew Prowse, the first episode was met by lukewarm reception by reviewers. Some reviewers couldn’t avoid from drawing comparisons to other previously aired Sci-fi TV series, especially the Star Trek.
Farscape is entirely filmed and produced in Australia with mostly Australian and New Zealand actors. The series was originally planned to run for five seasons starting with the premiere episode ‘Premiere’ in March 1999. Halfway through the fourth season, on September 20, 2000, the Sci-Fi Channel announced that it would withdraw funding of the fifth and final season. Thus, the remaining 11 episodes of the 4th season would be the last. The final episode ‘Bad Timing,’ was aired on March 10, 2003, officially wrapping up prematurely the series. The final episode of the 4th season seemed to give a hint to the fans that an ominous end is in the offing.
A lot of speculations abound as to the real reasons of the abrupt cancellation of the series. Although the Sci-Fi (now known as Syfy) officials claimed that the series was too costly to renew its contract with the producers. The sudden cancellation of Farscape’s 5th and final season came to the heels of sagging viewers rating in its third season, the network officials claimed. Many fans of the series criticized the decision and subsequently mounted a campaign in an effort to save the series, hoping the Syfy officials would reconsider its decision and air the final season as planned. The fans were even hopeful and implored that the show be transferred to another network if possible.
There had been a lot of axed series in the past before Farscape and the usual reasons given by TV networks for canceling such shows were mounting costs and declining ratings. The disappointing ratings of Farscape in the ratings board failed to convince the fans who were not appeased by the network’s decision to can the series.
The Scapers even made their own research trying to unravel the mystery of their favorite show’s untimely death. They were surprised to discover later that the network issued a conflicting report against the show’s ratings during its full four seasons. They posted their arguments on the show’s own webpage based on what they had learned from their own research. The network answered each of the questions and arguments put up by the fans on its FAQ section.
True enough, the network was not really telling the truth and admitted that there had been no rising costs between the two last seasons as they alleged earlier. The elaborate comparisons of ratings between seasons had been taken up and discussed online between fans and the network. They further found out that the network had been dishonest in their claim about the premature canning of the series as revealed by Juliet Blake, President of Jim Henson company, the producer of the show. The Syfy channel was asking for additional airing rights beyond what was agreed in the contract contrary to their previous claim, which of rising production costs.