Fringe

[Gerald Tarrant]

Just finished watching the premier.

First impressions: X-Files with JJ Abrams producing. Very nice production values. Also it looks like there's some decent conspiracy stuff to be unraveled.

Spoiler Dr Bishop (one of the people Agent Dunham recruits to cure her partner) shared research and a lab with the founder and current head of a very successful company "Mega-Dynamics". Dr. Bishop has a criminal past. And I suspect that Mega-Dynamics had a hand in disseminating some of Bishop's less ethical ideas.

I'm not sure what to think yet. But if JJ Abrams sticks to the same game plan as Lost (i.e. a defined story that will end, instead of lasting for as long as the ratings hold out) it may stay more coherent than later series X-Files were.

So anyone else catch this? What are your thoughts?

[Ohma]

About 15 minutes into it, some of the cinematography is really pretentious which is rather turning me off so far.

[The Cooler King]

I liked what I saw. Nice and creepy (especially the opening sequence on the plane), characters seem reasonably intelligent (for TV, at least), and a damn good conspiracy setup. My only problems so far:

Identical twins? Come on! I was hoping for something a little more esoteric, given the subject matter. Cloning, teleportation, something. Of course, there may BE something more to it all, something to be revealed, but that hackneyed bit stuck in my craw. Also, I knew something was up with her boyfriend, as soon as they showed him answering his phone. Unavoidable cliches, I suppose, but it detracts from the show, I think.

[Darth Ruinus]

Stuck in your craw?

That's the first time I hear that expression.

[Styphon]

Haven't seen the show yet, but there's something that's been bugging me in the ads for it that those of you that have watched may be able to help me with: "when science becomes a threat..."

Is the show nearly as luddite as the commercials are making it sound?

[loomer]

Haven't seen the show yet, but there's something that's been bugging me in the ads for it that those of you that have watched may be able to help me with: "when science becomes a threat..."

Is the show nearly as luddite as the commercials are making it sound?

Oh, god, no. It's more a focus on the negative impacts of rogue scientists. Which is solved through (ugh) psuedoscience. There's no real 'ALL SCIENCE IS BAD, BURN THE MACHINES' deal going on.

[nickolay1]

I'm looking forward to the season. I was perpetually laughing as it got more and more ridiculous by the second.

[weemadando]

But if JJ Abrams sticks to the same game plan as Lost (i.e. a defined story that will end, instead of lasting for as long as the ratings hold out) it may stay more coherent than later series X-Files were.

What the fuck are you talking about JJ Abrams is the most rambling, uncontrolled, insane, shitty producer currently under contract. Even fucking Felicity had insane retconning and directionless writing. Alias and Lost just confirm what a fucking whackjob he is. He needs to be given a brief like UK television - here's 6 episodes. That's all you get. Because everything he touches turns to never-ending nonsense.

[Shroom Man 777]

To be fair, I enjoyed Lost. It's so nuts!

[Admiral Valdemar]

What the fuck are you talking about JJ Abrams is the most rambling, uncontrolled, insane, shitty producer currently under contract. Even fucking Felicity had insane retconning and directionless writing. Alias and Lost just confirm what a fucking whackjob he is. He needs to be given a brief like UK television - here's 6 episodes. That's all you get. Because everything he touches turns to never-ending nonsense.

Woah, now hold on there. Lost has plenty of fine episodes, though I never cared for Alias. The reason it is so overly long and full of filler is because the studio wanted to milk the cash cow. Lost was only ever meant to be three, maybe four seasons, but the studio execs saw how the pilot went and ordered it be seven or so. This is why the seasons are cut down in size now, because they can't think up any more filler to sate the studio execs and allow for several 20-24 episode seasons.

To be fair, most American series suffer this. If you want concise, substance to your art, then you give them six episodes as you say. It worked for Ultraviolet and Spooks. It will work for others.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I saw it last night, thought it was great fun.

Son: Okay, he wants to stick a magnet in your skull, give you a lethal overdose of LSD, and dump you in a sensory deprivation tank.

Father: Not want to, but I can.

[Kodiak]

I saw it last night, thought it was great fun.

Son: Okay, he wants to stick a magnet in your skull, give you a lethal overdose of LSD, and dump you in a sensory deprivation tank.

Father: Not want to, but I can.

I too thought Fringe was an excellent show. I enjoyed the dramatic aspects, and I think this has the potential to be the next X-Files

[Zac Naloen]

Woah, now hold on there. Lost has plenty of fine episodes, though I never cared for Alias. The reason it is so overly long and full of filler is because the studio wanted to milk the cash cow. Lost was only ever meant to be three, maybe four seasons, but the studio execs saw how the pilot went and ordered it be seven or so. This is why the seasons are cut down in size now, because they can't think up any more filler to sate the studio execs and allow for several 20-24 episode seasons.

Not quite accurate, I'm sure they could come up with the filler if they had to. Problem was the ratings dropped... a lot... because no one wants to watch filler on TV that is supposed to be serial rather than episodic.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Me and my mom and my girlfriend watched it, and personally i thought it was very well done. Maw and the girlfriend liked it to. I'm not one of those "ooh art!" people who thinks everything (or anything for that matter) needs to be "deep", so the idea of just some people fighting crazy scientists doing unethical experiments on the whole world appeals to me on a comic book like level. And i say that with all due respect, i for one love comic books.

Also i must say, the idea of a rogue biotech research organization preforming illegal experiments for the hell of it really is quite novel, IMO. I'm surprised no one has really done that before. The closest thing i can recall is The Burning Zone, a show about a government agency fighting bioterrorists, which was well done. Of course it was on UPN so, obviously, it was canceled, because network exects have a gut-wrenching fear of money and success.

I'm genuinely interested in finding out who "The Pattern" are (i presume that's the name of the bad guys' organization) and what their deal is.

[CaptainChewbacca]

What was the deal with the cow? I missed that.

[Zac Naloen]

What was the deal with the cow? I missed that.

It's a good moral test subject

[18-Till-I-Die]

What was the deal with the cow? I missed that.

At first the plan was to use him as a test subject.

But Bishop is insane, so i figure he thinks it's his ex-wife or something now.


That reminds me...show of hands who here thinks Bishop went nuts cause of something "The Pattern" did to him?

[CaptainChewbacca]

I think its just as likely that he did it to himself, or just went nuts on his own. You can only read the mind of a corpse and re-animate bodies so long before something snaps.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Having the information that Dr. Bishop was working on, in effect, a super-soldier program i'm going to take a wild guess on what The Pattern is doing (granted this is pure speculation)...

I think, based on the sparse evidence they have shown, that The Pattern is attempting to mass produce some kind of super-soldiers and the weapons to arm them.

Ok in the first two episodes we see:
A sonic weapon that causes earthquakes.
Perhaps some kind of teleportation. (mentioned)
A man who "knows" all of our troop movements somehow.
A powerful biological weapon.
Artificially grown soldiers.
A device which extracts information from corpses.

This all, to me, describes the process of creating a new "warrior class" and next generation weapons for them. Right there you have information technology, psychological warfare, "surveilance" of a sort, powerful weapons, biochemical warfare, foolproof interrogation, a whole new kind of strategic transport, and cloned soldiers. That says "weapons program" to me.

[Darth Ruinus]

But, wouldn't that not be zany enough?

Also, where did that baby get the mass to grow?

[loomer]

Just watched the second episode.

It remains a 'We will cure the mistakes made by science with more science. Both sciences are pseudo-science, by the way. Oh, and that black guy was Desmond Mobay and Charlie was Miguel Alvarez so it's funny that they're working for the government.' sort of show.

[Strider]

But, wouldn't that not be zany enough?

Also, where did that baby get the mass to grow?

If we're talking about mass conservation, where the fuck did all that mass to form the gel in the city bus (Ep #3) come from? The air the gas in the canister interacted with has effectively zero density compared to anything solid, so ALL the mass of the gel must have been in the form of pressurized gas in the container. The mass of enough gel to fill a bus. The container should have weighed tons .