This looks like it might be an interesting new show. I definitely plan on giving it a looksee. Hell, it has the guy who played Denethor! Cool!
Here is my review of it. I saw a Pre-Air version: http://lpjd.blogspot.com/2008/06/already-saw-fringe-and-true-blood.html
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I liked it. It reminded me of a Dark Conspiracy, CoC Modern, or Delta Green scenario.
Acting could improve, and the characterization of Dunham needs some work, but I like the concept. I'll give it a few more views before deciding.
However, I can already see the JJ Abrams Big Multi-national Company Conspiracy thing coming out. I think he might have played too much Shadowrun when he was younger.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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I thought that the pilot episode was solid, but not outstanding. It was fun to watch, and set up the premise for the series well, but it didn't reach out and grab me, and shout "This is a show you need to watch" like the first episodes of Lost, Heroes or Battlestar Galactica did. I plan on continuing to watch unless it takes a nose dive, and hope that in the first non-pilot episode or two, it kicks things up a notch.
I did love the line, "I don't want to do it, but I can do it."
I loved the line, "Is that a cow?"
I would agree with what people have said so far - good but I'll need to watch a couple more episodes to decide if I want to continue with it.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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I'm giving it two more episodes, the acting is C+/B- at best and abyssmal at times. But I LOVE the concept.
It was the pilot episode. There's often a big change for the better with the acting after the pilot once the writers and actors get a better feel for the show and their characters.
is it me or is this just a remake of the x-files? maybe that was before everyone's time...I'll still be likely to check it out, if I ever get around to watching tv
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is it me or is this just a remake of the x-files? maybe that was before everyone's time...
If the X-Files is before people's time here, I think I just need to go hop onto that iceberg and drift away already.
It's definitely a spiritual successor to The X-Files, but there are unique elements that give it it's own life.
ahhh, yes well I thought the X-files fairly recent too...I used to watch reruns of Lost in Space after school!!! /Grog-nard
I don't know..the concept isn't wowing me. From what I've heard, it's more "Luddites with guns" than people saving the world from rogue science. Maybe I'll check out the pilot again just to be sure.
I watched the pilot and have a few impressions. It's pretty much a by-the-numbers storyline with mostly mediocre acting (I couldn't really get emotionally invested in the characters). Some turn-offs:
1) The "big bad corporation out to control the world" plot element has been way overplayed over the last decade, IMO (they could have just called it "Umbrella Corp")
2) Some of the concepts were interesting, but others were rather jarring (even by the pseudo-science basis they were using for the structure)
3) I strongly dislike how 30-40 years of progress in biological and chemical science are so readily trumped by someone who has not been following the research or even continuing to advance his own (really, WTF? He uses his original lab, with only a few computers (which he would have to learn how to use) and modern medical monitors?)
4) The poorly done and lamely realized "love triangle/plot twist"
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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3) I strongly dislike how 30-40 years of progress in biological and chemical science are so readily trumped by someone who has not been following the research or even continuing to advance his own (really, WTF? He uses his original lab, with only a few computers (which he would have to learn how to use) and modern medical monitors?)
4) The poorly done and lamely realized "love triangle/plot twist"
3 - he was only out of touch for 17 years, and it makes sense to me that he would use his somewhat outdated lab equipment therefore. It could be interesting as the show progresses to see how he deals with catching up with science and computers, etc. They showed a hint of how he was out of touch when he was watching Spongebob.
4 - I guess I missed the triangle part. There certainly was the love story/plot twist, but I didn't notice a 3rd party involved.
So-so for me... It didn't WOW me, but it didn't push me away either. I'll have to watch more to make a definite assessment.
Ultradan
Anyone watch Fringe last night? Did it change your opinion yet? I'm still 50/50 about it.
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Second episode down, the acting still runs between acceptable and awful, and this time the story could not sell me. I started to consider the logistics of the protagonist's needs, and could not possibly suspend belief and enjoy. I'm giving it one more chance to improve, and then I'm removing it from the DVR To-do list. On a side note, I really like the Dr. character from the mental institution. When I saw him in the first episode I said " cool, it's Mulder's dad ". I find his 'antics', while he adjusts to 17-years-later-life, very funny, which makes the show entertaining, but he is also one of the least believable characters.
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I like the show. I'm enjoying it a lot and hope to see it go on. My biggest problem was the intravenous dose of LSD and Special K that Agent what's her name took in the first episode- under which she was able to communicate coherently and then shake the whole thing off after about 15 minutes.
But as far as the doctor being able to keep up with contemporary things in the field after 17 years, I get the impression that he was so amazingly ahead of his time that his old partner has just founded a company based around commercial exploitation of the doctor's work. No one else has come close to rivaling his insane brilliance in those 17 years. They are the Rusty Ventures to his Jonas Venture ;)
Episode two savaged my hope for the show. Episode three will decide it for me.
Episode two rehashed everything from the first show, going so far as to show visual clips. They also used exposition to reintroduce all the characters. It's the second show, man. If we can't remember who the characters were... oh man, another show that assumes its audience are muttonheads. '90 Seconds Until Fringe Returns' messages each week. Lovely, if not for that message of reminder I might have wandered off to pick berries and scratch at myself, forgetting to come back to the show.
Jackon's character wasn't funny this time 'round. Which is a shame because I laughed a good few times at his snarky interactions with pop during the pilot. At this point his 'screw you, dad' is already tired. He acts like a fifteen year old, and yet once again they kept telling us about his 190 IQ, while the show's writers seem to suffer from anything but genius.
The woman kept doing this overacting, detached, looking away from you while talking as if having a breakdown moment thing. By the third instance, it got old.
The old guy still amuses me. He's spot on, and either he's so well formed that the writer's found him hard to screw up, or the actor got involved in suggesting line changes.
I believe the show is going to follow a cookie cutter formula. Investigation over a mysterious incident, followed by interaction with Massive Dynamic so that the agents can get snowed, followed by the ol' professor at Harvard coming up with some doo-whackadoo pseudo scientific shortcut to deus ex machina out an answer. If that formula holds, it's not going to work for me on a weekly basis.
In my case, as a writer and a true fan of good screenplays and teleplays, it isn't jaded cynicism I express; rather, it's realism based on observable patterns in the show's, what I consider to be, dodgy scriptwriting craft. I expect to be entertained. That's all. What entertains us is different from person to person, so I am, of course, only speaking for myself.
I watched it last night. I loved it! I am an X-Files and Millennium fan and this show could be just as good if not better than both of them.Oooo... Millennium. Love me some Frank Black. Best Episode Ever: Somehow Satan Got Behind Me. Maybe one of the best episodes of television ever!
That was indeed a fantastic episode. Four devils in a diner or some such, right? Was that the one where some Satan worshipper goth kid got hillariously torn to shreds by a real demon in the back of a van? That remains my strongest memory of a scene from that show.
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i do miss millenium. saw the first year and then lost track. how many years did it air?
Not sure what to say about Fringe yet. Some things annoy me (ie Pituitary gland being the source of aging, which is generally wrong based on current science in the field) and other things intrigue me (impression capture from dead optic nerves, pseudo-psychic abilities, which current theories ironically could support)
I believe the show is going to follow a cookie cutter formula. Investigation over a mysterious incident, followed by interaction with Massive Dynamic so that the agents can get snowed, followed by the ol' professor at Harvard coming up with some doo-whackadoo pseudo scientific shortcut to deus ex machina out an answer. If that formula holds, it's not going to work for me on a weekly basis.
I felt the same way, and, true to form, the third episode didn't deviate from the previous cake molds.
I didn't mind the repetitious nature from the first episode to the second, mostly because I love the old guy. He's great! (I also love the shrink on Private Practice. I guess I enjoy these TV characters who are kooky.)
My favorite lines from the second show: (Paraphrased)
Walter: Now, if I only had my lab!
Agent Broyles: You do have a lab... did you forget?
Walter: (Stunned silence.) Yes! But that is great news!
The third episode, while cool in it's delivery, did nothinig new for the show, and actually seemed to lose something because now every thing can apparently be explained by some obscure Vernian belief, false scienctific "fact" or other off-the-wall speculation that can be proven to be true by Walter and his antics.
It's like CSI met PSI Factor. (I liked PSI Factor. I was huge fan.)
I don't mind a bit, or even a lot, of "fringe science"-like occurances in my TV shows. He's some shows I really enjoyed over the years:
PSI Factor
7 Days
X-Files
Nowhere Man
The Pretender
So... I like to think that I have a more than reasonable level of acceptance of shows and their "rules" of how things work in their worlds.
I like to accept. I don't need it laid out before me in each episode like Bones or CSI or Columbo. (Ooh... did I mention I like Columbo?)
But still. I like the show, but the third episode didn't leave me with bated breath to see what happens next.
I'm still on the fence about this one. As mentioned previously, the resident mad scientist really makes the show, but if the other actors and the writers don't step up, I'm going to have to set this one by the wayside.
The only other thing that makes me want to keep watching are those images they keep flashing when they go to commercial (the apple cut in half, the leaf, etc.) They'll probably factor in somehow; I just hope it isn't some silly gimmick to keep people sticking around.
I'm suprised I even made it to episode four, but the enigmatic, quirky man in black was the most enjoyable plot element the show's given me thus far.
I guess they bought me for episode five. I'll say this for it, it's walking a finer line between watch/don't watch than I'm used to. If Walter asks for a raise, the producers better give it to him, because his antics and intensity is Fringe's glue.
I expect the show can only get better.
Now the sitcom 'Til Death? That show, once one I sort of enjoyed, has gone into a irretrievable nosedive.
I adore Fringe.
The brief moments from this week's episode where Walter regained his sanity... I'm sorry but he's a scary, -evil- badass.
Just finished watching the Season Finale, Love the ending!
That Newton fellow is the type of villain that makes players fling dice over the DM screen.
I actually skipped right over Lost and came to Fringe from the perspective of Alias. It's like they took Alias, made the main character a little less sure of herself, and you get to have Rambaldi on the show! Only Rambaldi's lost his memory and he's a bit of nutcase (Walter's character is one of the high points of the show for me).
I love the way Walter's brain does association. I used to simply find it amusing, but now that I realize it's the way he processes information (perhaps because of the [spoiler]missing chunks of brain matter[/spoiler) I find myself paying more attention to the things that come to his head during their investigations.
I picked up seasons 1 - 3 of Fringe on DVD and so far i am enjoying the series a lot.
Best show on (network) TV right now. (Game of Thrones might be the best show on TV in general.)
Yup, the series will end in December. I hate that.