Es wurde natürlich keine Mini Serie angekündigt.
Das hier sind die ersten Berichte von der San Diego ComicCon:
wg just called and relayed over the phone (in bits and pieces unfortunately -- poor thing was trying to listen and talk at the same time) but

1) Lani came up first and said in response to a question about FS's future (I don't think the questions was directly about the rumor) that "we don't know yet."

2) Then Ben got asked specifically about the rumor and said that when he saw the rumor on the 'net, he called Brian in London to ask what he should say if he's asked. Brian's response was to say "nothing." But Ben then went on to say that Henson was firmly committed to putting FS back on the air. ... at which point there were very loud cheers from the crowd

3) Then Ricky spoke up and said that all of what's been happening is directly because of the noise the fans have been making ("it's because of you") ... and then the panel very graciously applauded the fans

So, that's a VERY rough report ... stay tuned for more...

just a clarification...logging in from Skiffy's booth to do this btw...Lani spoke proactively, not in reply to a question. he said, loosely quoted, "and before anyone asks, we don't know."

Ben did make a very entertaining comment in reply to a question about what the folks would do if the decision was made to film in Hollywood versus Australia, he said paraphrase quoted, "if they decide to film in Iceland, we're there." he then went on to comment that the preference would be Australia, of course, because of the synergy, et al.

we'll recap later as i'm hogging the computer here.

xxoo and thanks to Skiffy for the free net connection.
Wheeeew. Because I had to wade through the 100+ posts to find out if anyone else had posted an eyewitness report, I lost about 10 minutes I coulda spent writing one. Now, I only have a few minutes to spill because I have a dinner reservation.

The initial report was essentially a thumbnail. I attended both the Farscape and Henson panel and there was no announcement of a mini-series--or anything else--as the IGN report claimed.

So, in that respect, the rumor was bogus.

What Ben was told and what he said was essentially the company line for the last 10 months: They'd love to do more Farscape someday.

No new "news". The only thing Ben said that was slightly different was a mention that when the company is bought back by the Henson's, it will give them more freedom to pursue projects they want to do--a possible acknowledgement of the constraints they were under-- and collect the money to do something.

Money is the issue. Always has been. (this was said)

Other things have already been reported. They were very supportive of fan efforts and very encouraging, but had nothing specific to report.

No video was shown. There was no moderator. They just immediately took questions after Lani made his "we know nothing." statement.

Ben has a gig coming up for the History Channel. Sounds non-fiction. He's flying to Europe tomorrow. It's about ancient battles and he is going to the sites to host it.

Jonathan Hardy (Rygel) appears to work a lot. He rattled off several roles he's done in Oz.

No one asked mentioned specific projects except that Wayne said he and Simcoe are going to take the band seriously.

My impression was that nothing is imminent in terms of announcement.

The Henson panel was about a film coming up called "Mirrormask". Lisa Henson was there. She appears to run the film division. What struck me about the project was its budget--$4 million !!! They are producing this movie on a shoestring. It has no muppets and it is a mix of live-action and CGI.

When asked about other projects they have in development, she mentioned a few projects, but Farscape was not one of them.

Afterthought edit: The turn-out was excellent. I've gone to Farscape panels before at this con and this was the biggest. I would say that 80-90% of the seats were full.

I also attended the Battlestar Galactica panel and they also had a good turnout. The complaining fans were there, but they were a small minority. The panel and Ron Moore did a good job of handling the one and only "complaint question" they got and selling the project, IMO. I wasn't a BG fan, but I liked what I heard and saw. They had a short film of clips.
FMD-Thread
News-Meldung
Fotos vom Donnerstag
Fotos vom Farscape-Panel

Ich werde mich jetzt mal nicht zu Spekulationen hinreissen lassen. In dem oben verlinkten Thread gibt's genug davon.

Nachtrag:
noch mehr Fotos vom Freitag
und eine kleine Nachricht von Claudia Black


Und noch ein Nachtrag:
Bei IGN gibt es jetzt auch einen Artikel zur ComicCon (sorry, kein Link, müsst ihr selber suchen ):

Farscape Update from San Diego Comic-Con
Not a confirmation but not a denial, either.

July 18, 2003 - With speculation running rampant about a possible announcement regarding a Farscape mini-series, fans of the series packed a panel for the series at the San Diego Comic-Con, hopeful for some news of the series' future. While no direct announcements regarding the story posted on IGN FilmForce earlier this week were made, stars of the show were hopeful that the series had some kind of future.

Stars of the series, cancelled almost a year ago by Sci-Fi Channel, applauded the commitment of the fans and their efforts to get the series back on the air. When specifically asked about the story, Ben Browder, who played astronaut John Crichton on the series, relayed that he had called Executive Producer Brian Henson in London when he heard the news and was told to say nothing. No confirmation, no denial, just stay mum on the subject while reiterating Henson Co.'s commitment to the series. But if there is a mini-series or a new series, Browder plans to be there, even if "they film it in Iceland," the actor joked. Actor Lani Tupu, best known as Crais and the voice of Pilot, summed up all of the information they had on the subject when he said "before anyone asks, we don't know."

While there was nothing definite to be said at the convention, the lack of a denial has led to speculation about just where a mini-series might wind up. As reported earlier in the week, Sci-Fi Channel currently has no knowledge of a new Farscape project. Another possible home that has been speculated by fans is Henson's former partner in the Odyssey Channel, Hallmark. Now sole owners of the re-branded Hallmark Channel, representatives from the network have assured IGN FilmForce that the network is not involved with any Henson project, including Farscape.

According to a number of industry sources, it's unlikely that any deal to broadcast a mini-series or even a 5th season could be made without including the previous 4 seasons in the package. If that's the case, the Farscape fans, also known as Scapers, may have to wait a while: a representative from Sci-Fi Channel has confirmed that the network has the exclusive U.S. rights to the series until March of 2005.

Another theory would have Henson producing the mini-series as a way to launch the series for syndication in Fall of 2004. While this might be a little bit of wishful thinking on the part of the fans, it does have some potential. Even though Sci-Fi owns the series until early '05, Henson can still pre-sell the series for U.S. syndication prior to that. The costs of re-building the sets and working out deals with the cast and crew, estimated at one point by Producer David Kemper as being around $14 million, could be justified if the pre-sales to stations in the U.S. are good.

Meanwhile, the Scapers continue to keep the faith. The main hub of the Save Farscape campaign, www.savefarscape.com, has reportedly raised over $100,000 for their efforts to keep the series in the public eye with more donations coming in all the time. New viewers are finding the series, thanks to stories about the cancellation in the press and episode being released on home video and DVD. Sci-Fi Channel continues to run the series in the U.S. on Sunday nights, exposing some new fans to the series for the first time. Entire sites on peer-to-peer file sharing programs are devoted to the series, helping fans access episodes they might have missed. A convention devoted solely to the series, ScaperCon, is set for the first weekend of August in Chicago.

Not bad for a series that only a limited number of people got to see during its first run. More on the story as it develops at IGN FilmForce.

-- KJB
Nur eine Sache:
"With speculation running rampant about a possible announcement regarding a Farscape mini-series"
Es ist natürlich sehr bequem für eine Website, erst ein Gerücht in die Welt zu setzen, es ein paar Tage wirken zu lassen, und dann breitgrinsend einen Follow-Up-Artikel über das Nichtzutreffen dieser "wildumsichgreifenden Spekulationen" zu schreiben.