Fringe discussion

[JasonEvans]

For those of you interested in this much-hyped new show, the pilot airs tonight.

Here is an early review from the NYTimes. It is fairly encouraging.

--Jason "I look forward to the discussion tomorrow, after we have seen the show" Evans

[CathyCA]

The people melted to death on a plane? That's too scary for me. I won't be watching. I like for my airplane experiences to be warm and fuzzy. I don't need this scary scenario entering my mind.

[edensquad]

There is also a nice review in this a.m.'s USA Today (don't know how to link, sorry).

[Jumbo]

There is also a nice review in this a.m.'s USA Today (don't know how to link, sorry).

You can do it two ways. You can always post the URL. Or, you can highlight a word, click on the icon tha tlooks like a globe, and copy and paste the URL there.

[killerleft]

Thanks for the link, Jason. I'm always ready to try a new sci-fi show.

[ohioguy2]

The people melted to death on a plane? That's too scary for me. I won't be watching. I like for my airplane experiences to be warm and fuzzy. I don't need this scary scenario entering my mind.

Sounds like their experience was very warm. I am recording this to watch later. Sounds like my kind of show. I am also recording BBC America's Primeval--really like those Brit's sense of humor.

[JasonEvans]

Does Chris Carter get royalties on this because it sure as heck felt like an XFiles knock-off. It was XFiles minus the aliens but with a much bigger special effects budget.

The whole thing felt like they were trying too hard. Even the graphics identifying the cities they were in were screaming, "look at how cool I am!!"

It needs work. There is something there, but it really needs some work.

--Jason "much more in the AM" Evans

[2535Miles]

The whole thing felt like they were trying too hard. Even the graphics identifying the cities they were in were screaming, "look at how cool I am!!"

It needs work. There is something there, but it really needs some work.

I concur.

--Jason "much more in the AM" Evans

Excellent. Let's make some LSD.

[freshmanjs]

Does Chris Carter get royalties on this because it sure as heck felt like an XFiles knock-off. It was XFiles minus the aliens but with a much bigger special effects budget.

The whole thing felt like they were trying too hard. Even the graphics identifying the cities they were in were screaming, "look at how cool I am!!"

It needs work. There is something there, but it really needs some work.

--Jason "much more in the AM" Evans

I liked it. I agree with your take, but i think i'm more positive. it showed a lot of potential. i am reminded of the early days of sd-6 recruiting. i like that we aren't quite sure who's on what side. the twist was good.

it was a bit slow in the middle, and maybe somewhat overstyled.

but, i'll keep watching.

[Jfrosh]

I think I'll watch again. Agree with everyone, very x-files like. Also slow in the middle, I actually fell asleep but thanks to DVR caught what I missed this morning.

[BlueDevilBaby]

I thought the exact same about X-files, but I could not really pay attention as my visiting parents talked throughout the entire program. I finally quit watching. Will try again after they leave.

[Jmac1970]

My wife and I liked it as well. It did slow down a bit in spots but I became quite fond of the crazy old scientist. I think that is has the potential to be interesting as the season progresses.

We both noted that in several places right before commercial, the music was almost identical to Lost when something dramatic happens. I suppose that is the influence of J.J.

[2535Miles]

We both noted that in several places right before commercial, the music was almost identical to Lost when something dramatic happens. I suppose that is the influence of J.J.

Very "Losty" indeed. I shut my eyes at one point and couldn't tell the difference.

Seriously, I thought this was a decent pilot. It setup a lot of different avenues to explore, tried to get viewers emotionally involved with a love interest, and also raised some questions about the main characters' past. I agree with everyone here that there seems to be some great potential, now we just have to see how it adds up.

A few points (SPOILER):
- I could do without the scene on the couch, eating food with a cow.
- I'm not sure if Mark Valley will have more of a role, but I was pleased with his performance so far. Perhaps making the transition from lawyer to FBI agent isn't such a stretch.

[pfrduke]

SPOILER ALERT, SPOILER ALERT!

I agree that it has potential, but I'm a little less sanguine on its chances than some of the other folks here.

Some pretty preposterous things happened last night, and I'm not just talking about see-through skin. Anybody else curious as to how a (mid-level) government agent commandeered the resources to do all of the following in about 48-72 hours: (1) fly to/from Baghdad; (2) gather millions of dollars of equipment, chemicals, materials, etc in the basement of a university; (3) get a mentally unstable person within shouting distance of said dangerous chemicals and sharp implements, etc. Weird sci-fi stuff I can suspend disbelief on. Limitless government resources and efficiency that violates all laws of space and time (especially when the government is involved) is a little too much to be believed.

[freshmanjs]

SPOILER ALERT, SPOILER ALERT!

I agree that it has potential, but I'm a little less sanguine on its chances than some of the other folks here.

Some pretty preposterous things happened last night, and I'm not just talking about see-through skin. Anybody else curious as to how a (mid-level) government agent commandeered the resources to do all of the following in about 48-72 hours: (1) fly to/from Baghdad; (2) gather millions of dollars of equipment, chemicals, materials, etc in the basement of a university; (3) get a mentally unstable person within shouting distance of said dangerous chemicals and sharp implements, etc. Weird sci-fi stuff I can suspend disbelief on. Limitless government resources and efficiency that violates all laws of space and time (especially when the government is involved) is a little too much to be believed.

were you a fan of alias? that show was completely ridiculous at every turn, but from midway through season 1 til the end of season 2 was absolutely excellent TV.

[JasonEvans]

As far as I am concerned, spoilers are a given at this point in the thread.

I agree that some of the stuff the FBI lady did was absurd.

But, my favorite "do they think we are idiots?" moment was the fact that Harvard had just thrown sheets over all the equipment in the basement but it was otherwise fully in tact at when they came in 17 years later. I was amused too at the fact that the 17 year old equipment appeared to largely be very modern computers -- and the old scientist who had been locked up for 17 years was perfectly at home using very modern computers. It is worth noting that when this guy was locked up it was 1991 and no one had even heard of the internet. Cell phones were still the size of a brief case. There was no such thing as a DVD. The pity is that I think that disconnect could have been fun an funny to exploit over time, but they brushed it off and made him fully competent and capable faar too quickly.

Mark Valley is dead and I don't think he will be back on the show. My wife commented after he died that they had 6 hours to talk to him after he was dead. Only moments later Blair Brown and her iRobot mechanical arm were ordering him to be questioned because he was only 5 hours dead.

Again, my biggest complaint was they tried too hard. They threw a ton of strange stuff at us to see what would stick. The LSD, Blair Brown's arm (amputated because of her cancer?!?!?), Mark Valley being a bad guy, using twins to make us think the guy on the plane was still alive (they should have made his look more distinctive, so we could really tell it was the same person) -- it was all just a bit too much.

I am surprised because JJ did such a great job developing the characters and the story in Lost and not getting hung up on the supernatural stuff too quickly. I feel like he is doing the exact opposite here. My wife, who is not a fan of sci-fi stories like this, was very put off by last night's Fringe and is not sure she wants to keep on watching. If they had eased us into all of it, the show could have had a wider audience, I think.

My bet is that this thing struggles a bit and is never anywhere near the hit that Lost is.

-Jason "gotta check last night's numbers now" Evans

[JasonEvans]

As I suspected, the ratings for Fringe were not great. You can read my comments on them in this post in another thread.

-Jason "the big question is how it does next week-- it is easy to do ok in week one" Evans

[pfrduke]

were you a fan of alias? that show was completely ridiculous at every turn, but from midway through season 1 til the end of season 2 was absolutely excellent TV.

I've actually never seen a single episode of Alias. But I think Jason's point regarding easing us in is right on. For example, Lost has plenty of things that defy the normal operation of space and time. But it spent so much time introducing us to the characters and the universe before taking huge leaps with things that cannot really be done (minus, maybe, the smoke monster) that it was less of a shock to the system. In Fringe, by contrast, we knew nothing about the universe of the show, and our introduction to it was this government agent and a dude in a mental hospital reconstructing what looked like 8 figures worth of a combination of 17-year-old and new state-of-the-art equipment in about 12-24 hours. I think it was just a little too outlandish for an Ep. 1. That said, I'm sure I'll watch next week's (and to be honest, I usually make it through a full season of shows unless I just absolutely can't take it). I'm hopeful it can improve.

[Lavabe]

For those of you interested in this much-hyped new show, the pilot airs tonight.

Here is an early review from the NYTimes. It is fairly encouraging.

--Jason "I look forward to the discussion tomorrow, after we have seen the show" Evans

Where was this "much-hyped?" I saw no hype at all about it. Then again, now that I think of it, I haven't been watching a lot of Fox lately (Olympics).

Maybe now that we have HD, I'll get a look at it. Thanks for the alert and review.
Cheers,
Lavabe

[Fish80]

I watched the show and I liked it (sung to the tune of I kissed a girl).

$10M budget for the pilot? That's serious money, some movies cost less than that.

The role of the cow really puzzles me. I have to watch it again to see what they ever used the cow for.