Fringe (new JJ Abrams show) : Mad scientist, flesh eating virus, a cow and talks with the dead

ive been thinking about the alter-walter and it really bothers me that they'd bring that up and not have mentioned it again.... so far.

LSD MILF, yes?

― Leee, Monday, November 23, 2009

Theresa Russell!

oh yea, wow

Yeah, one thing I do hope they don't fall into is pulling the BSG thing where you introduce these awesome concepts, ones that fuck with the reality of your genre show that already has mythic elements, and never mention them again or dismiss them out of hand.

So is Fringe moving to Monday nights?

Uhh, did I miss something? SPOILER...

Charlie's back?

yeah I caught it halfway through and I was like WTF? not sure what's happening there...

it's an episode that was meant for season one

first new s2 episode is this thursday

It would be way funnier/cooler if it was an episode set in the alternate universe and they just didn't tell anybody

I'm wondering if we'll see saner, more self-assured Walter in flashback at any point. Seeing him kind of cocky with the little pieces of his brain wired in was a little disturbing.

[i]It would be way funnier/cooler if it was an episode set in the alternate universe and they just didn't tell anybody</i?
If the show had balls, they would've done this.

mh, I loved how arrogant and sneering sane Walter was, but that "our" Walter isn't going be sane again, it'll probably be alternate universe Walter.

I am kind of scared that alternate universe Walter is probably behind all the nastiness coming from that side.

Yeah, the whole Charlie thing threw me in a loop but I can't imagine that we just watched an alternate universe episode (but that isn't likely because one of the Peters is dead?).

I honestly can't remember a Peter gravestone episode or the double Walter episode but according to this thread it did happen... I need a Fringe recap youtube I guess.

Walter has regrown a backbone AND has a conscience! Things are going to keep going well.

oh, asterixpaws.

"World Tolerance Initiative"

i'm always confused when dudes that look like father mulcahey always turn out to be nazis.

Is this where I cop to having paged through some of the Fringe comics before I decided they were not good and non-canon? Walter's dad being nazi defector made me think of what they could do with backstory.

Hell yeah! Nazi scientists! This is more like it!

Actually, Walter's Dad Comics could fit in quite well with issues of Atomic Robo

aw... saw that coming but still... aw...

not a bad episode, but def. tainted by how slowly this season has been developing.

was this on tonight?!

on hiatus until april :/

last thursday

For those who are really, REALLY into Anna Torv:

http://annatorv.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=127

hey now

:)

apparently, ribs are on the menu for dinner

apparently boner

http://i37.tinypic.com/a4t001.jpg

can't wait for this to return

So this got better, then? Posters around the first few episodes seemed generally down on it, and I skipped the rest of the thread to avoid spoilers. I'm looking for a decent tv show to keep myself distracted and can't really afford The Wire, will this fit the bill?

yes, it only got better + I watch too much tv and this is one of the few dramas where most all of the characters interest me.
this is basically a creative detective/mad science show with great effects and enough fun action parts so there isn't much to lose by watching this.

second season is miles better than the first, im glad i got back into it

TBH I think the standalone/freak-of-the-week episodes are rarely worth watching, though Walter's antics are almost always amusing. The mythology arcs are a lot better, especially towards the end of season 1, though season 2 seems to have ignored some pretty big developments.

Sounds like it could be worth taking a chance, then...mazon has the 1st season bluray for $25, why not.

Xp, do you value episodes with ongoing story arcs as worthy? I can settle with most of the standalone episodes as valuable just because they are entertaining. Similarly, x-files had plenty of standalone episodes that were amusing.

IMO Fringe is better than these other detective type shows: CSI, Mentalist, Lie to Me and Bones.

do you only* value

I gave up on this show -- the monster-only episodes have been really weak. The April/May episodes of the first season were pretty great, though.

I like it a lot--the mythology is interesting but doesn't dominate or make the stand-alones seem annoying or pointless. Walter is my favorite current TV character--nice that they made him a bit of a monster in his past.

Bones pwnz (Bwnz pwnz?), but it's working in an entirely different direction than Fringe works in (the whodunnit is the least important thing in Bones, in which the meat of the series is in the relationship and chemistry between the two leads), so comparing these two shows doesn't accomplish much imo.

The comparison to other procedurals is interesting, though honestly, at least CSI/L&O manage the genre better than Fringe does its paranormal/supernatural spin on the procedural.

I don't mind standalone episodes per se, just that the ones Fringe offers are so dull. They're not frightening, they're not gripping; they're pedestrian and boring.

Could not disagree with you more, the average Fringe episode is about 10000x more gripping than any given L&O/CSI episode.

Got a copy locally since I was bored and the weather scuppered my plans to go into the city this evening. I actually liked the pilot! It pushes all my X-Files/Millennium buttons. Not GREAT tv, but solidly entertaining, and Ye Steward of Gondor is awesome. (Also, Warren Ellis really should be getting some kind of royalties from this show; I get kind of a watered-down Planetary/Global Frequency vibe from this).

Also, I like that Massive Dynamic's billboads are seemingly done by the same ad agency that handles the Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems account.

Ok, into episode 2, and a) didn't the X-Files do this (ok, half of it, with a gland-eating serial killer) and b) AGH GINGIVAL VIOLENCE DO NOT WANT

Ok, this seems to be picking up with episode six- they're using the random-person-experimented-on-by-sinister-forces thing way too much, but the intro was fantastically nasty (surprised they got away with it on network TV, even with CSI and such raising the bar for TV gore) and there have been some wonderful Walter moments ("Opium: fantastic stuff!" *stabs meat thermometer into dude's brain*)

so uh now I will cease liveblogging a year-old tv show and resume actually watching it

Once it moves beyond the 'stand alone X-Files episode' feel, it really comes into its own. They have a great special effects crew (ie old-style gross-out stuff)...when they do gross they really do it well. And Walter has to be one of my favorite TV characters...his layers just get better and better as the show goes on.

Still liking this, but I must have missed something in the ending of "The Equation." So you have built a device capable of effecting the scientific biological transmogrification of an apple into...an apple. Brilliant. And if I am to understand the Important Science Graphics on the attached monitor, this involves wormholes somehow. Seems like rather more effort than strictly necessary.

If I remember correctly it was a certain property of the apple that changed and the guy's arm? (I missed it too but my companion pointed out what I missed). I would suggest watching that end scene again because from what I heard it more or less has to do with what happened in the first couple minutes of that episode (assuming that was the episode with the bank job at the beginning - one of the best bizarre science things of any episode)