Fringe - General Discussion

[Jipijapa]

To start this topic off... a latest roundup of what all the actors have been doing lately:

John Noble is going to be in an Off-Broadway revival of "The Substance of Fire," which starts in April.  He is in NYC rehearsing for it.  If you are in NYC, you should go see him!  He will also be starting filming the 2nd season of Sleepy Hollow in Wilmington NC in May.  Sheez, he has been really busy ever since Fringe went off the air. 

Lance Reddick is just... everywhere, every time you turn around.  Has anyone caught him in Intelligence?  (I tried to watch that show at the start, but it seemed too boring, although I'm told it improved somewhat...)

Seth Gabel's new show, Salem, starts on April 19 on WGN (which is some network I don't get, apparently).  He has a monster beard in this.  He is playing a sexed-up version of Cotton Mather.

Joshua Jackson will start filming episodes of "The Affair" (Showtime) in June, last I heard.  The word from the pilot footage is that he is heavily featured in the sexytimes.  (Oh, and I don't get Showtime either so I guess I will just have to experience the "The Affair" experience via Tumblr gifs.)

I don't know the status of Anna Torv's show "Open" or if it has even been picked up by HBO for reals.  I don't think it started filming yet.

Jasika Nicole still seems to be involved in Night Vale but she said on her Tumblr that she couldn't go on their live tour because "Pilot Season" which implies she is going to be going out for TV pilots.

Michael Cerveris is going to be on The Good Wife but I don't know if it's this season or next.  He'll be a recurring character.

Did I miss anyone??

 

[JodhaBai]

Anna's HBO pilot Open is currently filming in LA.    Fingers crossed it gets picked up.

[ShowsILoveToHate]

In addition to everyone that you mentioned, I love seeing the Fringe "monsters of the week" in other programs.  For example, the dude in the pilot episode who played twin brothers (the first twin was in the plane and gave himself an injection from his insulin pen) was in the HBO mini-series John Adams.  There was another MOTW who was in John Adams as well.  LOL

I forget the character that he played, but there's an actor in "Revolution" who was in Fringe...   I can't think of any more at the moment, but I love spotting them. lol

[Jipijapa]

Anyone else read Jasika Nicole's Tumblr lately?  (Do you get the same feeling that I do... that she doesn't actually want an acting career?)

[Meredith Quill]

Walter was my absolute favourite character on this show (He Rocks!). I miss him as well as the show, no matter what else John Noble does, he will always be Walter Bishop to me.

[JodhaBai]

I'm curious to what others think about Person of Interest.   I've just about lost interest in POI's current season but I seem to be in the minority with fans of the show.    

Curious what Fringe think of the show and how it compares to Fringe?   POI's mythology doesn't grab me like Fringe, Lost, Xfiles or even Alias's mythology did. 

[JodhaBai]

I follow Jasika on twitter.  Imo, she's not the easiest person to like on twitter.   Maybe because she's so opinionated but myself and and a few others I know have interacted with her on twitter and she seems to like being contradictory with fans.  I dunno.  I find her a bit full of herself. 

She's probably not like that in real life based on what I've seen of her at appearances but thats how she comes off on twitter. 

[Jipijapa]

I don't mind her being opinionated; we all have a point of view, and it's probably hard being a gay black actress in Hollywood.  I heard her tell some stories about some crappy directors on Fringe and things they said to her.  Personally, I think Astrid was underused (and ill used?) and certainly toward the end.

 

But, she seems to want it both ways, she wants her Tumblr and Twitter to be personal/private yet she also seems to want to trade off her celebrity, so...?  Yeah, it's a little confusing.  I can never tell whether she wants to be approached by fans or not.  So, I don't.

 

People can use Twitter in different ways and it's all good I suppose.  I enjoy the article links that Lance Reddick posts, they're usually quite outrageous and things you ought to know are going on in the world.  John Noble doesn't tweet much but he keeps people updated on his activities.  Joshua Jackson goes through tweet spasms where you don't hear from him for months and then suddenly he tweets up a storm, usually about sports.  Seth Gabel is a hoot.  Georgina Haig is a hoot when she does post.  There's no right or wrong way to do Twitter.

[Jipijapa]

Person of Interest was hit or miss for me this whole season.  A low point was when

Carter died and they tried to make it look like she and Reese were an item!!

  However, the Samaritan storyline, I've liked a lot, and I'm a big Root fan (I know, a lot of people hate her guts).  The finale was outstanding.  All in all, Person of Interest has a good mythology going I think... but they sometimes just go straight to boring Cases of The Week, where Fringe's Monsters of the Week were usually interesting.

 

It isn't Fringe (nothing is), but in the context of cyber-paranoia (which may not be your cup of tea), I think POI has a pretty good storyline cooking lately.  I can't wait to see what they do with it next season.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Jipijapa

[Jipijapa]

Speaking of Jasika Nicole, she just did a long podcast interview where she goes into the good and bad about working on Fringe.  (Again, she does the usual thing where she makes it out as a horrible soul killing experience but then wraps up by talking positively about her co-stars.)  Good interview.  Apparently John Noble is a saint and a unicorn.

 

http://geeknation.com/podcasts/out-of-the-blue-ep-37-jasika-nicole/

[JodhaBai]

Kevin Reilly has been let go at Fox.   I sent a tweet out yesterday thanking him for 5 seasons of Fringe

 

What's next for Fox?  They were the one network supporting genre shows.

[Meredith Quill]

As a Fringe fan, the premise of POI didn't attract me, so I've never watched it.

[Meredith Quill]

John Noble is in the latter half of S1 Sleepy Hollow, promoted to regular for S2 I think.

[Jipijapa]

The premise is definitely not in Fringe's mode, that's for sure.  There's nothing to do with science, not even anything to do with computers really.  It's more about AI (artificial intelligence) and philosophical questions about living in a surveillance state. 

[FormerMod-a1]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's run. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for character topics and other places for show-related talk.

[Chaos Theory]

This is just me; but what drew me to Fringe was a strong central female lead. Yes there are females on POI but they are most definitely not the leads.

[pagooey]

Just dropping in to welcome Tara and Dave to the cult! Good times ahead. (I suspect my avatar indicates my bias/commitment level to my favorite thing ever on teevee...)

 

So, Episode 1! Plane full of goo-people! Things that still get me, years later:

• The co-pilot's jaw-dropping...jaw, dropping off. Yeeeaaahhhguurrggh.
• The rooftop chase, and jump. Olivia, being a total badass.
• Conversely, Olivia having a quick, fierce breakdown in the back of the ambulance. Anna Torv won me over at that moment, without so much as a sound.

[Jipijapa]

Wait, Tara has only watched the pilot so far?  Um, wow, you REALLY don't know what you're in for, do you?

[Kromm]

Tara and Dave, if you are reading this, have some patience with the show.  You will begin to notice things happening with it around (if I'm recalling correctly--but its been a lot of years) Episode 5 or 6.  Before that it will suck.  Around that you'll get breadcrumbs.  

 

By the END of season 1 you won't even recognize it as the same bland monster of the week mess it seemed to start off as. The very last episode of Season 1 I'm going to be VERY careful here in talking about it.  The problem is that I fear what happens in that episode may have "leaked" into your consciousness over the years. If it somehow hasn't?  Your mind may still be blown the way the minds of all the viewers back then were. Although even if you aren't spoiled, I think it may be inherently less effective now no matter WHAT simply because to the viewers back then we knew Fringe as an initially bad-seeming show that unexpectedly got a good deal better, but we had NO idea that in the span of one season finale episode it would go epic.  And even if you have no idea HOW it does that specifically, just from hearing vague descriptions of the show's later seasons you'd at least go into viewing it having a vague pre-knowledge that it DOES turn around to something people crowed about for YEARS as epic--ergo you are at the very least not going to be shocked at the scope of the show's transformation.  You'll be spoiled on the fact that these folks have balls, even if not on how specifically they let those balls hang.  Whereas we watched it that first time having no CLUE they had balls.  The mere fact that they DID have balls was part of the shock--and that's impossible to recreate for you as a late-comer.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Kromm

[mstaken]

Do you guys own all the DVDs? If so, what are your favorite extras, features etc.?

 

I'm also eager to hear whether anyone has read the tie-in novels by Christa Faust and, if so, whether they're worth the buy! 

[Jipijapa]

I have all the Blu-Rays and my favorite special feature would have to be the "Behind the Scenes" featurettes attached to episode 3x16, "Os."  You can see Joshua Jackson suspended on a wire during the planetarium scene, John Noble taking direction on how to ring a bell for maximum dramatic effect, and lots of other things.  Also, the commentary by John Noble and Blair Brown over 2x15 "Peter" is not to be missed.

 

The Chista Faust novels are... interesting, but they seem to have rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way, particularly the Olivia-themed second novel.  The first novel is about Walter and Belly (and Nina makes an appearance) and is OK.  I think the problem is that Faust writes pulp fiction novels and brought too much of her personal style over to the books.  The pulp fiction style just doesn't really mesh with Fringe the show all that well.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Jipijapa

[Jipijapa]

Yes, it's a near-universal chorus from oldbies to newbies... "Stay with it past Season One!  It gets better!  Really!"

 

Specifically, I think the biggest changes from Season One to Two is simply that the episodes went from 50 minutes to 43.  The show calms down and gets a lot more focused, without losing any of the fun stuff that makes Season One enjoyable.

 

We'll explain Episode 121/211 when you get there.  (It's episode 121 if you're watching on Netflix, episode 211 if you're watching on DVD.)

Edited June 7, 2014 by Jipijapa

[Meredith Quill]

Initially, I gave up on it during S1 but my OH stuck with it and by S3 he convinced me to come back (as part of a deal: I'll come back to Fringe, if you watch Rome!) - we both were glad we took that deal! :D

[tomorrowgirl]

I didn't watch Fringe during its run on tv, but decided to rent the dvds from Netflix last year.  I think that there were 3 episodes on that first disc.  I was disappointed in them, and wondered if I wanted to continue with the series.  But I stuck with it and I was so glad that I did.  It really picked up and got better after the first few episodes.  By the time I was almost through with the series, I delayed in renting the last couple of discs because I didn't want to see it end.  I was sad as I watched that last episode, knowing that there would be no more.

[FormerMod-a1]

And once you (generic you) do get through the whole thing, if you haven't seem them all already, hearing the quote in this topic title just may bring tears to your eyes.

 

That said, I seem to be the oddball here.  I liked this show from the very beginning.  Yes it continued to evolve and grow but I think season 1 is a great foundation.  Even things that seem stand alone really aren't.  You just can't tell right away.  But even when I didn't know that, I liked it.  But I'm always able to just sit, enjoy and let things unfold as they will w/o worrying and or assuming things are going to go a certain way.  I'm really good at wait and see.

[Kromm]

Yes, it's a near-universal chorus from oldbies to newbies... "Stay with it past Season One!  It gets better!  Really!"

Except it's really "stay with it past the first five or six and it's gets better, and then make sure you watch the last few of Season 1 and it gets amazing (and then doesn't stop being amazing for several seasons).

 

Again, I think in a way it actually handicaps people in a DIFFERENT way knowing that.  Sure, it means they stick to it, because we tell them to.  But it also lessens the surprise factor, which was the biggest element in the end of the season (particularly the last scene--which we WON'T describe) making viewers into raving lunatic fanboys and girls.  Nobody screams "What The Fuck!" (what I literally did when I first saw it back in 2009) as loudly as people who aren't expecting needing to say that as even being a possibility.

 

And although people (rightfully) talk about John Noble's acting, it was Season 1 that won me over permanently to the Anna Torv fan club.  I read people on the Internet complaining about her acting seeming wooden back then, and shook my head, because what I saw (and it got proven out to everyone eventually I'd argue) is fierce containment.  Season 1 Olivia Dunham was deliberately acted as being very buttoned up and self-contained, and the acting was all in Torv's eyes. Her acting in those episodes should be taught in acting classes, it's that good.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Kromm

[Jipijapa]

I liked Anna Torv best when she was on screen by herself.  Not damning her with faint praise or anything, but I honestly never felt she was comfortable acting alongside other people.  I'd have to see her in other things to make that sort of judgement.  But she just became more watchable to me when she was by herself.  I honestly thought the only time she seemed really comfortable in scenes with others was when she was with John Noble (or maybe also Kirk Acevedo).

 

And she and Joshua Jackson just had no chemistry together, which made it pretty amazing that I came to care about Peter and Olivia's relationship a lot.  It was all due to the characters and what they went through together, though.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Jipijapa

[Tara Ariano]

haha, for the record, Dave still isn't watching. But I am! Here's my report on Episodes 2 through 5.

[marsman]

Not only does this show get better after Season 1, it just keeps getting better all the way (for the most part)!

 

Season 5 Episode 1 was my favorite of the series and (SHAMELESS PLUG) I submitted it for the canon not-so-long-ago. Hope you guys get around to considering it ;-)

 

Oh, and thanks for the reports Tara! Looking forward to the rest

Edited June 13, 2014 by marsman

[Kromm]

haha, for the record, Dave still isn't watching. But I am! Here's my report on Episodes 2 through 5.

I'm really going on old memories, but my recollection has always been that Ep 7 is around the break point where the show starts showing it's real potential.  So you don't have far to go.  It's a tentpole episode written by J. J. Abrams & Jeff Pinkner.

[Chaos Theory]

I just finished rewatching the 1st season on Netflix and the things I remember are how much I enjoyed the friendship between the characters from the start.  The first few episodes were a little monster of the week but once you got to about the halfway point shit began to get real.   (I actually forgot about Olivia's sister and neice.)   I did notice in the beginning Peter was there mostly as a "Really Walter!"  and to dumb down explanations for the audience but that quickly changed as his feelings for his father began to change.  I remember really liking Olivia from the start and liking the fact that she was the star of the show.  (I know the show becomes  an ensemble later in the series but I do enjoy the fact that the series had the guts to make a woman the central lead).  Fringe started as a monster of the week but as it the mythology began to become prominent I remember liking the show more and more.  (The first half of the s series took me a couple days to get through but I trucked right through the second half).  

 

Now on the the second season. 

Edited June 14, 2014 by Chaos Theory

[ShowsILoveToHate]

I'm enjoying reliving the first time of Fringe through your eyes, Tara. :)    I didn't start watching until the middle of Season 2 and I was instantly hooked.  Had to buy Season 1 and then Season 2 so I could see everything that I had missed. 

 

Fortunately for me, the first 2 episodes that I saw contained no violence per se, not much blood or guts, but lots of excellent Olivia, Walter, and Peter!  When I went back to the start I LOVED the 2-hour long pilot episode (I've watched that episode so many times I can almost recite it line for line. "I knew someone would come.... eventually...").

 

I MISS THESE PEOPLE...   um, I mean.... CHARACTERS!!!    lol

 

P.S.  Contrary to my name, Fringe is a show that I love to love. <3

[ShowsILoveToHate]

"They're selling us death!   Delicious, strawberry-flavored death!!"     "It's the makers of those toaster pastries who should be in jail; not me!"

 

I HEART Walter!!!  <3    He was like a warm, thick sweater to wrap around you on a cold winter evening.  *sigh*

[JodhaBai]

Anna's signed on to do a miniseries.  Great cast!

 

Deadline Gallipoli

 

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/national/deadline-gallipoli-miniseries-starts-shooting-in-adelaide-involving/story-fnii5yv8-1226954722110

[Chaos Theory]

Well I just finished rewatching season 2 the season where we learn the horrible horrible truth.  It is All Walter's Fault.   I love the beginning of the season where Walter is obsessed with Peter's childhood.    Hey and we finally meet William Bell.   This is the season where the shit hits the fan and...Walternate!    Welcome to the other side people.  

[AltLivia]

If any of you live near a Big Lots department store, they just did a gigantic DVD buyout. I was able to get the seasons of Fringe that I was missing for seven bucks apiece!

[BooksRule]

Wow!  I live near a couple of 'Big Lots'.  I wonder if they still have some.  I have all of 'Fringe' (Wal-Mart had a big sale right before Christmas with lots of movies and TV shows for $9.99--I got all seasons then), but I would love to see what else they have.  I want to get 'Warehouse 13' sometime. (My other 'show-to-get' would have been 'Eureka' until recently, when Barnes & Noble had a 'buy two get one free' sale--or something like that--and I filled in my missing seasons).

 

It's been a while since I watched the DVDs (I binge-watched during the Christmas holidays!), but I remember enjoying the gag reels.  I think there was one every season.  The actor playing Broyles was hilarious--when he would goof a line, he was so serious about wanting to start over that it was funny.  I think the funniest one was when Anna and Joshua were 'riding' in a car (the car was obviously stationary against a video shown on a green screen).  Anna was driving and all of a sudden Joshua opens the passenger door and gets out.  It looks like they are actually driving along at about 40 miles an hour.  He just stands there a second and then screams and flails his arms and disappears.  It's hilarious!

Edited June 19, 2014 by BooksRule

[Tara Ariano]

Here's my report on Episodes 6-10!

[Jipijapa]

So you think "The Equation" is the most interesting episode so far!  Dingdingding.  CORRECT ANSWER!  You have passed your first Fringe newbie test.   You may pass GO and collect $200.

[Tara Ariano]

phew!

[pagooey]

Hells yes, "The Equation." Such great performances! Plus if we're playing Hey, It's That Lady, there's brunette, eeevil Gillian Jacobs from "Community." Took me several years and rewatches to realize that.

And while I respect Fringe's commitment to the gaaah, gross! moments, the standout in this episode for me is when poor Walter's trying to soothe himself to sleep, trapped back in St. Claire's, and...hallucinates or imagines or possiblymaybe sees himself/another Walter come in and sit down on the foot of the bed, grimly disapproving. The show was still playing its mythology pretty close to the vest, then, but that moment was just SO unsettling and disturbing on multiple levels. Something was happening under the surface, something even weirder than the Venus Hearttrap and OldManBaby and killer butterfly MsOTW they'd been dishing up, and I was hooked. Hooked like a large-mouth bass, I tells ya.

 

Also, one of my favorite throwaway lines: "What's up, Chachi?" :)

[Jipijapa]

Well the reason why this episode worked for me (the first Fringe episode to really work, IMHO) was because it was the first time we got to see Walter as more than just a scary crazy old guy full of weirdness.  You know, we got to see his inner life.  And, it's not really a spoiler to say that the show just takes that and runs with it.  So, while you have to go through some more of those frenetic Cases of the Week in Season 1, this episode was the first glimmer of what the show would become.

 

As for Other Walter I don't think it was ever revealed exactly WHO that was, although my theory is that it's the Walter with all his brain pieces.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Jipijapa

[Jipijapa]

The Fringe gag reels were fun for the first 2-3 seasons, but then it was like they just threw a bunch of curses and giggles for the subsequent gag reels and nothing really choice.  My favorite one was Joshua Jackson hearing a loud sound (car backfire?) during a take and apparently scared that it was an actual gunshot, I guess they were filming in a dodgy area of Vancouver at night.  Then he gets embarrassed.  ("I'm all right, it's fine!  It's Chinatown!")

 

There HAS to be more than that.  I know people who observed filming during the 4th season who said there was a TON of funny stuff that happened on location when the cameras were rolling, but this never made it onto the gag reels.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Jipijapa

[mstaken]

Here's a question for you guys: What would you say were your 5-10 favorite episodes of the whole series? And how would you rank all five seasons from favorite to least favorite?!

[mstaken]

...I'll attempt to answer my own question :) 

 

Season 2 has become my favorite by a surprisingly wide margin. For me, it's the ideal blend between fun and creative cases of the week with intriguing (and not excessively convoluted!) overarching mythology. I may love Olivia more this season than any other, but the heavy focus on the Walter-Peter relationship warms my cold, cynical little heart. The characterizations and overall tone feel more established and consistent than they did in S1, but yet everything is still fresh and novel for me. S2 just happens to have a lot of my personal favorite episodes and surprisingly few that I skip. And S2 gives us the glorious Brown Betty! That alone might propel S2 to the top of my list ;) 

 

S1 comes in second for me. I have a surprisingly strong emotional attachment to it. S4 has improved significantly with repeated viewings for me, while I like S3 less than I did initially. S4 is close to earning my silver medal, actually, which I never thought I'd say when I first watched it. I haven't rewatched S5, but for now it's my least favorite of the five seasons. 

Edited June 22, 2014 by mstaken

[Kromm]

S2 is probably the best season, but the best EPISODE is the last one of S1 (which sets up S2, so that makes perfect sense if you think about it).

[Jipijapa]

I am less attached to Season 1 because I only watched it after the fact (started watching during Season 2, then caught up on Season 1 over the summer before Season 3 started).  The longer episode lengths of Season 1, I find a little hard to get through.  I'm not a fan of the John Scott arc (opening arc of the show, the first 13 episodes).  That said, Season 1 had some of the funniest and grossest stuff.

 

I'm also more attached to Season 4 than many others might be, as I never had a problem with its premise and never felt like it was "negating" what came before.  This season vastly improved after the halfway mark (once they returned to you-know-where).  Also, I think the "two worlds working together" was one of the show's more successful storylines.  And, how could you not like Lincoln Lee?

 

Season 2 would be my favorite, and also the first half of Season 3.  I felt that Season 3 went a little crazy toward the end and that the more focused storytelling of Season 4 was a welcome relief.  The last half of Season 3 had some memorable episodes and moments, but it was all so... overheated.  And there was a run of 3 or 4 episodes that just weren't much good (I'm thinking of "Reciprocity" through "Stowaway," excepting "Subject 13" which was good.)

 

Season 5, while better than it had a right to be, suffered from a lower budget and some worldbuilding vagueness.  They were down to only four writers and it showed.  But, most would agree, it ended in a good place.

 

I'll rank the show by HALF-seasons:

 

1. Last half of Season 2

2.  First half of Season 3

3.  First half of Season 2

4. Last half of Season 4

5. Last half of Season 1

6. Season 5

7. First half of Season 4

8. Last half of Season 3 (yes! shocker)

9. First half of Season 1 (which wasn't even "bad")

Edited June 22, 2014 by Jipijapa

[Chaos Theory]

Season 2 This is the season where everything begins to come into focus for the Fringe crew.  I loved the scenes where Walt was obsessed with Peter's childhood and his horror when he realized everything was his fault.  

Season 3  and season 4 run about even for me.  I loved the two universes storylines.    I am a ban of large scale stories like Fringe did and when done right they really do work for me more then episode of the week stuff that gets really boring after awhile.  

Season 5 simply because unlike many shows this one understood that it had fans that had remained loyal from the start and it was a thank you to the fans and not a fuck you like some shows are   Yes it had some world building weaknesses but they were minor flaws that I was able to look past very easily for the emotional story that it was trying tell.

Season 1 (Which isn't bad suffered from too much early on Monster of the week which I really do not care for,)  

Edited June 22, 2014 by Chaos Theory

[mstaken]

Awww...the S2 love warms my heart. I'm feeling the need for a rewatch coming on! How about your 5-10 very favorite episodes of the series? And, of course, the 5-10 episodes you'd most merrily do away with?

[Kromm]

The half season ranking actually makes sense in a way.  Admittedly Fringe did mega-arcs divided by full season, but I think like most shows in recent years between production runs that tend to split seasons up, and the way long seasons are padded, you can often see differences in how first and second halves are done.