Fringe

[Gary Seven]

Season One is drawing to a close, but no word on renewal yet.

[Gary Seven]

From the Sci Fi Wire:

4/8/09

More Fringe: Leonard Nimoy to guest-star, and you'll never guess his role

SPOILER ALERT: As if there weren't enough Fringe news today, now comes news that Star Trek Leonard Nimoy will guest-star on the Fox sci-fi show as none other than the mysterious William Bell, former partner of Walter Bishop (John Noble) and founder of the mysterious Massive Dynamic, according to Fringe Television.

The site based its report on an anonymous source on the show, who confirmed that Nimoy will join the cast in the show's first-season's finale, "There's More Than One of Everything," airing May 12.

This will mark Nimoy's third collaboration with Fringe co-creators Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman this year: He'll also appear in Star Trek, which the duo wrote and which was directed by Fringe co-creator J.J. Abrams. Nimoy may also voice the Fallen in this summer's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which Orci and Kurtzman also wrote.

scifiwire.com/2009/04/more-fringe-leonard-nimoy.php

[CRAMBAM]

I couldn't even get through the first episode of this show. I just didn't like it.

I hear it's a lot like X Files, but I never got into that one either. I was just bored.

Glad to see Nimoy take a new acting gig. Maybe he enjoyed working on Trek enough to want to unretire from acting.

I hope so, even if I won't be watching this one.

Who knows? Maybe there's room for him in ST12?

[Gary Seven]

Apr 9, 2009 9:53:06 GMT -5 CRAMBAM said:

I couldn't even get through the first episode of this show. I just didn't like it.

I hear it's a lot like X Files, but I never got into that one either. I was just bored.

Glad to see Nimoy take a new acting gig. Maybe he enjoyed working on Trek enough to want to unretire from acting.

I hope so, even if I won't be watching this one.

Who knows? Maybe there's room for him in ST12?

How could you have not liked The X-Files? They did some good, at times even great, work.

Fringe is similar to The X-Files, but with its own rather unique style.

[CRAMBAM]

I just never got into X Files. I have no doubt they did good work. Too many people have liked the show. It just didn't appeal to me whenever I tuned in. Some shows are like that.

[CRAMBAM]

It's funny reading back on this thread. It's true I couldn't get through the first episode, but after some hounding by multiple people, I gave it another try.

It turns out that once they got through the initial storyline and got into the multiverse concept, the show got very good. I've been caught up for some time now.

[TrekBeatTK]

It's odd, for me the series did start to get better, but when it took the major jump "over there" at the end of season 2, for a long time it was acting as if there were only 2 universes, which is not what season one set up. It's oddly the same nonsensical multiverse theory that Kurtzman and Orci put into the new Star Trek movie, they just didn't have tons of canon to worry about wiping out. And notice, they didn't alter much even this season when Peter's existence was wiped out.

I though the series dragged a lot in season 3 alternating between the 2 universes. I just don't care nearly as much about alternate versions of people. Imagine if TOS did "Mirror Mirror" every other episode. Even DS9 went back to that well one too many times.

At this point Fringe is a series that I watch regularly, but not enthusiastically. I find for some reason that I'm only half engaged during it.

-TK

[CRAMBAM]

You could argue that there ARE more than two universes now, since Peter has clearly been involved with 2 more.

So far, we've seen four universes.

At the same time though, there's another irony. It's also arguable that Peter wiped himself from the timeline, which would be the exact OPPOSITE of what they argued in Trek, despite the fact that in Trek, while there are many universes, each universe has a distinct timeline that can be altered.

[CRAMBAM]

Apparently despite poor ratings and high cost, the chances of a 5th season of Fringe have gone up. Not sure why, but I'm glad, since I do like the show.

[TrekBeatTK]

I think it's pretty clear that if there is a season 5, it will be the last. Fox wants its fans to feel okay with how it ends, probably due to all the backlash that they got for cancelling Firefly, Dollhouse, Lone Gunmen, etc.

Perhaps with Terra Nova gone, the money spent there will go to helping Fringe close out its run. I have a feeling the network was never going to bring back both and just decided Fringe had more of a following.

-TK

[CRAMBAM]

Somehow I don't think Fox will allocate Terra Nova funds to Fringe.

I think Fringe is doing well. Hopefully it'll be a full season order and they'll get a proper finale.

When you give a show 4 seasons, you clearly believe in it. It's tough to close it out without that 5th and final season run.

Seems like the right thing to do.

[Mel]

I thought about giving this show a look, but I'm four seasons behind?!? I'll catch it in reruns.

[CRAMBAM]

Do they even DO reruns like that anymore? You might be best off with netflix, or huluplus. Not free, but at least you have control.

[Mel]

Do they even DO reruns like that anymore? You might be best off with netflix, or huluplus. Not free, but at least you have control.

You're no doubt right. Those kind of reruns are probably long gone. I can do Netflix. someday. I may as well wait until the show is completely over, to see it start to finish.

[CRAMBAM]

Why not make it a summer project? I think that's how I caught up last year.

[gavin1701]

www.tvline.com/2012/03/fringe-first-look-best-walter-promo-ever/

[CRAMBAM]

Spoilers






Fringe this week hit a new ratings low. I guess it's not shocking. The Freak of the Week kind of sucked.

But I did like the furthering of the main plot. It the Observer is to be believed, then Orci seems to have a different attitude about time travel with these franchises.

Peter IS in his home universe, and his removal from the timeline is what caused the changes.

Not sure how Peter's removal could affect the lives of people in Olivia's family years before she met him, but it happened.

It's interesting. In Star Trek, Orci blatantly insisted on the modern science for time travel, which contradicts Star Trek canon. He argued that you can't erase a timeline--you can only create a new universe.

Of course, the movie did nothing to support that.

But on Fringe, a franchise with NO rules on time travel, he treats it the way Trek treated it for decades until Abrams got his hands on it.

[gavin1701]

I agree on the Star Trek points. The only way they could rectify Trek and still remain in canon would be to establish that a black hole sends someone to a different universe since nobody has ever time travelled through a black hole before the rules are open to negotiation.

However, you're wrong saying Orci is contradicting himself. He has very little, if nothing, to do with the show creatively. All the calls are Wyman and Pinkner. He co-created the show. Just like JJ Abrams with Lost, they leave all the shots to people they trust. I doubt Orci has had any time nor bothers much with TV anymore -- why would you when you are getting hefty pay cheques for writing movies!

I didn't mind the freak of the week. They tend to do this well on Fringe. It's not just a monster for the sake of it. They always approach it as: what does this tell us about our characters, what do they learn being on this case? In this instance the case mirrored the personal life of Olivia perfectly and she had to make a decision, love or her "real" memories?

[CRAMBAM]

I don't always mind the freak of the week, but THIS week, it didn't work for me. Plus, they do tend to get too much screen time.

I don't know how much he does on the TV shows he's involved with. No clue.

[gavin1701]

I've seen people thank and congratulate him on recent seasons of Fringe at Trekmovie, and he's said he can't take the credit because he doesn't make those decisions. Although I think he and JJ influenced the casting of William Bell.

[gavin1701]

Another thing to note is that Walternate and Elizabeth both thought this wasn't their Peter. After what the Observer told Peter, it actually is their son!

[CRAMBAM]

True. What's interesting there is in this timeline, Peter died, so what about the body?

Would it have disappeared with the return of this version of Peter?

[gavin1701]

If they even recovered a body. He drown in a frozen lake.

[CRAMBAM]

It's a lake, not an ocean. I can't imagine them not finding a body

[CRAMBAM]

I liked last night's Fringe a lot better than the previous week. The freak of the week wasn't that bad, and an interesting followup to a previous episode.

SPOILER








Where I'm very curious is where they are going with the main plot, which is what will they do about the main timeline?

Why didn't Peter talk with Walter about it? The meeting with the Observer is pretty big. Will there be any attempt to try to restore the timeline? How will Walter react? Will he even believe Peter? If he does, would he do something about it? Will he want to remember his "true" life?

Are there others that remember the old timeline besides Olivia?

If Peter's child, who is now no longer conceived, is a big deal, will there be consequences?

[gavin1701]

Peter has already told Walter that it's his universe, at least that's what I gathered from the episode.

Firstly Walter called Peter "son" for the first time. It was a funny line "Have you found his genitals son?" Earlier in the episode he did say that Peter wasn't his Peter, but the closest he'll ever get, meaning he knows this Peter is from the parallel earth.

Secondly he had no objections at all to Peter and Olivia being together, and previous to this he told Peter it was wrong.

I have a feeling now Olivia has the memories and Peter knows it's his universe, there won't be any attempt to "fix" things. Whatever Peter did in the machine to bring the universes together it involved sacrificing himself from the timeline. A quick fix would take the drama out of that sacrifice.

Everything and everyone is where it should be, barring their memories, except for Henry (the son). The Observer seemed to imply that Peter had a child with the wrong Olivia, so I'm convinced the future of the two worlds rests in a future offspring Peter and this Olivia could have.

I've just read in a couple of weeks time they are having their annual trippy 19th episode set 25 years in the future.

[CRAMBAM]

I didn't get that impression.

I caught those lines. I didn't realize that it was the FIRST time this Walter called Peter his son. But THIS Peter is an alternate Peter in every way to him. He came from another universe, so even before Peter was erased, he was not Walter's real son.

When Walter said, "that's the closest I'll ever get," that would have been a true statement with or without the Peter erasure.

I would think that at some point, they would at least have to discuss fixing the timeline, or at least mention that they have no intention to do so.

[gavin1701]

I would suspect that the only reason Peter would consider fixing the timeline would be if this Olivia died. After all his real motive for wanting to go back was to return to his Olivia. To him, this Walter is the same Walter he left after he came out of his shell, and in the other timeline Peter missed out on a life with Walter when he was a teenager due to his incarceration in a mental institute.

When I saw Walter bring the presents out, I also got the feeling that it was because he knew Peter was here to stay and all had been disclosed offscreen between episodes.

[CRAMBAM]

Yes and no. Keep in mind, this Walter is denied some very happy years with this Peter. It would be a shame if they simply ignore these things.

Peter finding out that he was always home is a major revelation. We should see more with that.

[CRAMBAM]

Very good Fringe last night, with an interesting surprise.

The changed timeline is definitely having some big effects on the lives of the main characters in both universes, so I'm not so sure a restoration isn't for the best.

Maybe from PETER'S point of view, things are good enough, but a lot of people may disagree, including Bolivia.