FRINGE on FOX - Page 3

Yeah, I also agree. If you have problems with Noble, it's just too bad for you, as he's fun as hell to watch. It was a good episode overall. And I like those little snippets of info, like knowing there was another team before them.

So, concerning the last image, it's really just 3 guys in bed? I was wondering if I was too tired and I'd missed some connection to Jackson's character.

I thought it was the same rapid-aging guy, showing that he'd been bred in a tube more than once (and Massive Dynamics, presumably, are the ones continuing the research). Which, if you wanted to posit a crazy theorem, is how Peter was born. But that would be crazy.

Or would it.

Well here are my thoughts, wanted to wait till the second episode to make a decision.
I like it and will watch it.
I like the actors and the mad scientist.
I like the concept.
I like the way the city/place is in 3D when they show where things are happening.

I don't like when they try to make a show about supernatural things and make everything else unrealistic. Such as the past episode when this non attractive, creepy guy goes right into bars and picks up models and takes them back to hotels and warehouses.
A car doesnt work for 17 years and then its on the road, takes some time to prep a care back to working condition.
This is top secret stuff and they are working out of a lab at a college?

Dude, they were whores

Jackson was a little better, but Torv is still an unflavored rice cake. Someone tell me why she's original or interesting.

The serial killer story wasn't very memorable, either, and I didn't buy the magic retina camera shit for a second. And why the hell did his hair turn gray at the end? I guess pituitary juice boogies itself all the way up dead hair filaments somehow. So much disbelief to suspend.

I do really like Noble, and the intro was great. I just can't shake the feeling that this is X-Files for dummies, though.

Because X-Files was for the highbrow crowd? X-Files fans seem to forget how ungodly bad their bad episodes were.

It's still decent, I'll still keep watching for a while. I really dislike the fake arm Massive Dynamics lady so that actress must be doing a good job. She's the only one that I feel any real emotion towards at this point.

The "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" foreshadowing was laid on WAY too thick. That was like first 10 minutes of the show and I told my wife "Well, looks like he'll be singing to his dad to close the episode".

They may not have all been winners, but I never saw a magic retina camera in an X-Files episode.

Yeah, X-Files was all about believability.

A more believable scene from yesterday's episode:

Generic FBI Lady #213: "We need to catch this guy, seriously! I'm not losing him twice"

Jackson: "Hey, everything is under control! CALM DOWN!"

Weird Science: "There's only one way to solve the case... Jules Verne's magic retina camera."

Jackson: "Wait a second! Jules Verne is fictional. Smooth move, Einstein - there's no such thing as a magic retina camera."

Weird Science: "When did you lose your sense of imagination?"

Jackson: "During my brief stint at M.I.T. - I am quite smart, despite my good looks."

Generic FBI Lady #213: "I'm not going to lose this guy... again! Where can we find this magic retina camera, doctor?"

Weird Science: "It just so happens I know exactly where to find it."

Weird Science pulls down his pants and squats.

Jackson: "CALM DOWN!"

Weird Science rolls up his sleeve and plunges his arm deep inside of his rectum. After rooting around in his colon for a minute, he pulls out a fully-formed magic retina camera and hands it to Generic FBI Lady #213.

Generic FBI Lady #213: Alright, let's get to work.

Jackson: "I have an I.Q. of 160."

The X-Files comparison is totally off, in my opinion. The underlying premise of X-Files was "crazy impossible shit that occurs naturally but that we don't understand." Therefore, no explanation necessary. The premise of Fringe is "crazy impossible shit that these mad scientists invent." So they give it a pop superscience explanation. It's not any lazier than X-Files, it's just the different premises requiring different approaches to the crazy impossible shit.

Some of the issues people are bringing up are weird. The show doesn't have anything supernatural going on since it's all science based. Also, of course the eye camera stuff is unbelievable because that's the whole point of the show! Crazy wacked out shit that's only in sci-fi books being created in real-life.

Also, the three guys shown at the end were all the same as the serial killer (gotta love HD). I'm in the camp believing that Pacey is a clone as well.

A special FBI group investigates bizarre and seemingly inexplicable events, some of which may be tied to a global conspiracy. You really think they're not comparable?

At the base, yes, but the approach is different. Also, the X-Files' metaplot sucked ass, and only those standalone episode were good. I'm waiting here to see how it goes, but from the start, with what they call the Pattern, they includes there cases into their metaplot.

It's becoming more like X-Files meets MacGyver. Or perhaps MacGruber.

To me, this is a monster of the week show. I don't even think I care about the conspiracy or the overlying arc of the story. It's good but it's nothing to get obsessed about.

Well, obviously the shows share some DNA. But in terms of your criticisms of the way the show handles unreal occurrences, no. This show's mysteries come from an entirely different place, narratively, than those of the X-Files. There, you could just say, "Wow, that was some weird shit. What do you think, scientist-lady?" "Dunno. Can't explain it." The end. The premise of this show doesn't allow you to get away with that.

I found the Pilot laughably bad, and didn't like the second episode much better. Alas, I won't be watching this one anymore. Abrams, you let me down, sir.

The only thing I found enjoyable at all was Noble's performance, though it's not enough to keep me interested.

That said, this is still way better than 99% of the TV out there. I guess you can't make a LOST every time out.

Hey, I like this show, but that was still damn funny.

And for me, this approach is part of the problem. So far, their attempts to explain these phenomena aren't cutting mustard. They're just taking one opaque phenomena and explaining it by introducing an equally opaque plot widget (brain USB hubs, magic retina cameras, and so forth). What's worse is that they're not even weaving them into the story very well.

The approach has a different flavor, I'll give you that, but if you explain the plot to anyone at work and the first words out of their mouth aren't "Oh, so it's like X-Files," I'll be shocked.

This reminds me of the Norm MacDonald bit where he talks about the Camel cigarette mascot: "You actually have to hunt for the camel because the logo looks so much like a cock." I actually have to hunt for the differences between Fringe and X-Files.

I may give this one more episode, I thought last night was a step backwards from the Pilot. I found myself laughing at Anna Torv's performance, and much of the dialogue. The whole storyline of this guy abducting women and extracting body parts to preserve youth felt unoriginal and uninspired. Afterwards I felt like I had watched a bad episode of the X-Files that didn't have Mulder and Scully.

There's something to be said for designing a show that allows you to be completely nonspecific about weird-goings on, true. But that show's been done. And maybe it's years of reading Grant Morrison comics, but wacky superscience doesn't rub me the wrong way. I do agree that Fringe has some narrative problems, though--last night's episode featured some nakedly obvious setup (the aforementioned singing, and the "look at that bridge" scene).

If you describe it the way you did, sure. But I suspect that the real interests of Fringe are in the "mad scientist" genre. They've wrapped that in a procedural, but if I described the show as "An insane mad scientist's work is being used in a global plot by his former partner, and now he's been released from an asylum to use his knowledge to help the FBI unravel the conspiracy," not many people are going to go right to the X-Files.

I wish this were a more accurate description of Fringe, because the Mad Scientist is the only thing keeping me watching. Had they structured the show around the lunatic scientist who uses whacked-out devices to solve seemingly impossible crimes, I'd be championing this along with everyone else, even with some of the the story problems.

It's the new Fringe drinking game! Every time the word theoretically is used you get to do a shot. You'll be under the table within 10 minutes of any episode. If any of Noble's ex-co-worker buddies show up in the story you'll be dead within 15.

I liked this week's episode better than the opener. I thought it flowed better, had a better story, acting, etc. I really liked how they didn't show the baby being born and instead used the faces of the doctors and nurses to show the impact. The doc throwing up and the nurse screaming was awesome. The fact that my wife almost hurled herself (and now says she won't watch any more episodes) shows the scene was a winner.

Noble continues to be the best part of the show. I loved him nonchalantly eating popcorn while Peter tried to save the woman. And who doesn't love seat warmers in cars? No one.

The idea of what Massive Dynamics is and what they can do is very, very intriguing. They run private armies in foriegn countries, that is awesome. Are they running the Pattern or is someone/something else and they're just along for the ride? I'm sure some Internet nerd out there has already done research on the Latin words on the crest behind Reddick during the super-secret technomasons meeting. I hope we get to meet more of the folks in that meeting, could lead to some very interesting stories if their is some weird cabal trying to control the Pattern. Very Lost-like of course.

Walter eating the popcorn was amusing (pretty much everything he does is amusing, whether it be milking cows or pissing himself), but wasn't the assistant tasked with looking through the rest of the footage to find anything of importance? Should be fired for taking 5 to have a snack.

I loved how yesterday I read about how car seat warmers are cooking men's genitalia.

Kill your sperm

and then how it was in this Fringe episode about pregnancy. Anyway, I'm enjoying this show and really like Joshua Jackson in this.

Also, I think his medical history has to do with experiments on his intelligence.

Basically the plot of THE NIGHT STRANGLER.

I'm of the opinion that they'd have solved many of their story problems by eliminating the FBI character completely, and having Reddick approach Jackson in the pilot instead.

As it is, instead of seeing the events of the show through a character who's emotionally invested in his own father and in the legacy of his father's work, we're witnessing everything through the eyes of a third-party surrogate without much in the way of actual character thus far - in other words, Agent Myers, B.P.R.D.

Just my opinion, but if I were the writers I'd pull a Psycho on the viewers and kill off the FBI gal midway through season one - it'd shock the hell out of the viewers, establish an 'anything goes' level to the stakes, and give Jackson's character a reason to take center stage.

I agree on everything you just said.

As for the women being whores, they weren't, did you listed to what the first one said?

As for this comment "and I didn't buy the magic retina camera shit for a second. " that has been around for years, havent you seen the wild wild west?

It would be far better if Dunham wasn't a main character. She's an on-screen black hole. Last night had all the right elements but it just didn't pull me in. And using the chick's retinas made me roll my eyes.

"House" began its fifth season with an 8.8/14 for FOX at 8 p.m. An "NCIS" repeat earned a 6.4/10 for CBS. The premiere of "The Biggest Loser: Families," 4.9/8, put NBC in third. "Wipeout" was fourth for ABC. The CW's "90210" delivered a 2.3/4, on par with last week's episode.

FOX stayed on top at 9 p.m. with "Fringe," 8.2/13, which, with the help of its lead-in, gained about 4 million viewers over its premiere last week.

Awesome.

Good to see that the show did very well last night. I was a little worried after last week's somewhat disappointing debut. Hopefully, the good ratings will continue and FOX will order a full season.

She isn't original or interesting. But in spite of that, I really like the show so far. Pacey is Denethor's clone, right?

Everybody keeps saying "clone" about Jr, well maybe he was genetically enhanced? We know he has the high IQ, perhaps he's Bishop's version of a super soldier.

Looking back, the beds filled with clones makes sense. Dunham had talked about this "Brain Surgeon" serial killer but there had been a long stretch with no new victims. Once we know that he absolutely has to have some pituitary lovin' to survive then it would only make sense that this guy wasn't the same Brain Surgeon that Dunham had been hunting previously. Just another clone who needs to access the pituitary.

The episode was decent at best. Though the opening was great. And Noble is still kicking ass.

I hope they tighten the scripts a little more. Jackson's one liners get annoying really fast.

It has potential, I'll keep watching for now. And really, Jackson's character being "special" was telegraphed from the pilot. Walter kept asking about him, trying to check his pressure, stuff like that.

I have been watching Regenesis on Hulu which is the same vein as Fringe. Well apparently the main actor from that show had a small part on the pilot. I figured it had to be a slight nod to that show for inspiration.

Well, I dug the second episode. I'm pleased to see that it did well. I got a huge kick out of the implication that Bishop has cars and stuff hidden/lost all over the place.

Speaking of the doc, he's posting on Twitter! Some amusing one-liners have shown up, along with a few links to some "evidence" pages that show some weird full-screen video footage. Recommended reading, if you're a fan: http://twitter.com/DrWalterBishop

Also, I got the first issue of the comic, and it's mostly a flashback story detailing how Bishop and Bell met in college and began to work together. There's a backup story about two men who appear to have swapped consciousnesses, but that segment was really just a tease, it seemed.

Oh, and the other night I decided that you can add PLANETARY to the list of "it's kinda like..." comparisons... especially with the idea that the team can be swapped out/replaced (yet there are always three members?).

It may have been mentioned already, but did anyone else notice the use of Farsi in Baghdad.... correct me if I'm wrong but farsi's an Iranian language yes? And the German as I'm sure Jan and others have noticed was painfully bad pronunciation wise in the opening scene from the pilot. Minor issues, and I think the Farsi thing isn't an unintentional mistake, just confusing. Really enjoying the show so far, although I don't see it going far.

Just caught up on the first two eps. I don't dislike the show, but I'm also not excited by it either (and normally this type of show is right up my ally). I can't pinpoint what it is, but something is off. I felt like fast forwarding through a bunch of scenes, where in shows I dig I'm constantly wanting to rewind and relive the goodness. I'm hoping now that they've set up the plot, things will get more interesting.

Just watched the first episode. Thought it was amazing. Even though it was an hour and twenty minutes i was pretty gripped throughout. The acting was really good and i loved all the teases to bigger conspiracies and the over-arcing mythology. Looking forward to watching the second episode.

Just caught the first two episodes online as well and I can say I am already hooked. Damn you J.J Abrams! Now I have another frigging show I gotta commit to.

But that's a pleasurable problem to have.

"I suspect someone has continued my research" has become this show's "Are you havin' a laugh?"

The ideas are cool but the execution is a bit...clumsy.

Yeah, i think you articulated my issues with the show. I like the concept, but the show has some kinks to work out. I like Fringe enough to stick with it though.

I also wish Joshua Jackson had more to do. He seems the least developed character so far.

First off I'll say that this episode was better then last weeks. Now Walter can't possibly be behind every single case that they encounter. Just a single project has to take years and they already went through 3 of his former projects. I think at this point he can just solve the cases instead of being behind them. I also would like the cases to span more then a single episode. Sort of like Alias.

I would think that Jackson is the least developed character yet is for a reason we will probably find during sweeps. Yet he is doing well with what he's been given.

But this was yet again a great and entertaining episode. Between this and Chuck I think there are some great (albeit differing) geek hour longs this year until Lost comes back. I'm totally done with Heroes though. Terrible writing and acting. I mean I know Hayden is a little piece of just across the threshold of jail bait but the show fucking has devolved into pure crud. It wishes it were Lost or maybe even Fringe but it fails in storytelling and acting.

In some ways this very much reminds of a sorta cross between the X Files and Lost, and has so far been fantastic. Really involved thus far.

High marks in my mind.

Just saw Darin Morgan listed as a consulting producer on this - If he sticks around, I'm sold.

Yeah. I kinda had inflated hopes, I think, when the show was touted as being based on "fringe science". It's not "fringe science", it's just Star Trek mumbo jumbo. I still like the production values and the performances, but it better hit some sort of non-cliched-stride to keep my attention much longer.

I really think they need to get some kind of science adviser. Or a group of science advisers. Might help some for the writers to have someone to go to and maybe tighten things up.

And more insanity is needed. Mad scientist shit.

Didn't they directly tribute that idea to a story by H.G. Wells? THE HORROR.

Nope. It was a Jules Verne magical retina camera.

The most hilarious line of the night was when Jackson yelled "DON'T YOU DARE CHANGE THE SUBJECT!" to Walter.