Fringe fenzy heats up with pre-reviews

The Battalion offers a spoiler-laden review of this Thursday’s Fringe episode, which focuses on how and why Walter Bishop (John Noble) crossed over to the other universe to kidnap that universe’s Peter Bishop in a scheme to replace his own dead son.

The review gives the episode a 3-out-of-4 favorable rating, so if you don’t want to see spoiler details don’t read the review.

I’m looking forward to the episode and don’t mind spending a few electrons gushing over the show.

Fringe is one of the most imaginable re-imaginings of a hodge-podge of science fiction cliches I have seen in a long time. I think the show is campy, lovable, cool, neo-scientific, and just plain interesting in all sorts of ways.

But I’m tired of playing the Observer Game. I’d like to know more about them without having to squint at every scene trying to see when one appears.

And are they going to bring back Observer Boy? Is that storyline done?

Is it Thursday yet?

Fringe getting all musical on us

MovieWeb talks with John Noble in a runup to the restart of Fringe‘s second season as the show is coming off hiatus this week.

There are so many spoilers in the article I don’t want to quote any of it, but John has some very interesting things to say about the musical. Apparently everyone is going to sing (except maybe Peter?). I look forward to seeing the episode. I HOPE real life doesn’t intrude on my schedule.

John Noble gets to explore aspects of Walter Bishop that have so far only been glimpsed. We’re going to find out the whole backstory (or at least a huge chunk of it) on Peter, how he came to be in this universe as opposed to that universe.

Fringe will be back in just a few days.

Fringe and Avatar on the radar

So “Avatar” only came away with three Oscars and Fringe has been renewed for a third season.

Already pundits and Time magazine are trying to explain why “Avatar” didn’t win “Best Picture”. Supposedly, science fiction just can’t seem to get a break from the Academy, they say.

Funny — “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” didn’t seem to have any problems in 2003. After all, Peter Jackson would have had to commit high treason or some other capital crime to avoid getting that award.

I didn’t see “The Hurt Locker”. I’m not interested in anti-war propaganda (nor pro-war propaganda), although I think it’s interesting that numerous Iraq- and Afghanistan-experienced soldiers have decried the movie’s completely inaccurate portrayal of how bomb removal specialists operate.

Maybe science fiction won a “Best Movie” award after all.

Technically, “The Lord of the Rings” is a fantasy story, not a science fiction story — but who in Hollywood really knows the difference? There was probably as much science and technology that went into producing the LoTR film trilogy as any major science fiction franchise.

For what it’s worth, I would also include “Ben Hur”, “Around The World In 80 Days”, and “Gladiator” in the list of Science Fiction and Fantasy movies that won “Best Picture”. You don’t have to agree with me. I’m just saying I would include those movies in the genre category.

I don’t care if “Avatar” got best picture. If James Cameron produces two more movies within the next 4 years, the third one may prove to be as much a shoe-in as “The Return of the King” was.

I’m much more pleased to read that Fringe has been renewed for a third season. I’m glad to see that Fox hasn’t forgotten that it is supposedly an experimental channel.

Besides, genre television shows seem to be the favored mascots of networks this week. Maybe that will change next week.

Fringe gets a recurring villain

The Hollywood Reporter says Sebastian Roche will play a recurring villain on Fox’s hit drama Fringe. Roche’s character is a soldier from the alternate dimension where William Bell has apparently trapped himself.

The storyline has settled down a bit as viewers now understand that all the bizarre scientific experiments covered or hinted at in first season episodes were developed to prepare a defense against an invasion from an alternate reality. Now the writers will have to shift their focus from setting up the landscape to fleshing out the characters and convincing the audience that the story is something worth caring about.

J.J. Abrams is the talent behind Fringe but his involvement with the show seems to be diminishing. Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, John Noble, and Lance Reddick lead an ensemble cast that includes a cow.

Twin Peaks was never this bizarre. I hope Fringe lasts more than two seasons.

Fringe 2nd Season premier teaser

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog posting to share the following video with you. IT DOES SPOIL THE SHOW so if you don’t want to know what happens in the 2nd season premier, DO NOT WATCH IT.

Fringe stars Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Anna Torv, and Lance Reddick. Fringe airs on Fox Broadcasting each Thursday at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (and Pacific).

You’re welcome to join our Fringe forum discussion at SF-Fandom.

Fringe fall season about to start

Fringe made the colver of EW as we get ready for the second season. The article quotes Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop on the show) as saying: “I hope they don’t put us (Peter and Olivia, played by Anna Torv) together. That would be so conventional. What’s interesting about this show is that in many ways, Olivia has the masculine role, and the two guys are the women. She carries the gun, they sit around and talk. I think that’s pretty cool.”

Hm. I wonder if those words will come back to haunt him. Years down the road, things you say and do that seem cool at the time have a way of making you look dated and wussy. I laughed pretty hard when reading that AOL retrospective on the 111 wussiest songs of all time. Yeah, I liked a lot of them and, yeah, they are pretty wussy.

You have to remember the future before it happens when you’re in the entertainment business, or so it seems to me.

Anyway, Anna Torv looks pretty hot on that cover — completely out of character for agent Olivia Dunham, who is supposed to be a no-nonsense Federal agent (not that they cannot look sexy — it’s just not the image of the character they built up in the first season).

The accompanying video covers the cover shoot (can I say that? Well, I did).

Fringe’s season second hits the airwaves on Thursday, September 17, 2009. Please join us in our Fringe Forum Discussion at SF-Fandom.

Here is a little teaser from Fox Broadcasting:

TV Guide talks with J.J. Abrams and Joshua Jackson about Fringe

I cannot embed these videos so I can only provide you with links to the TV Guide Web site.

First, Joshua Jackson talks about the second half of the first season. He has a little upcoming reunion (on Fringe with a Dawson’s Creek co-star).

Next, J.J. Abrams promises answers to questions about Fringe in the second half of the season (echoing what Jackson said in his interview).

Dr. William Bell will not appear in the next four episodes but Abrams says we will meet him. Abrams also remains “mum” on Peter Bishop’s origin. And there are a couple of questions about the Star Trek movie and Lost.

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SF-Fandom is a fan-run moderated Web discussion community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. Founded in 2001, SF-Fandom is part of the Xenite.Org Network of science fiction and fantasy Web sites.

Fringe fans, get ready for “Bound”

Fringe returns to first-run episodes tonight (Tuesday, January 20) with a new episode called “Bound”. Here are a couple of videos I found online.

I have really enjoyed this show. John Noble, who plays the half-crazed but brilliant scientist Walter Bishop (the expert in “fringe science”, from which the show derives its name), steals just about every scene he is in. The other actors are very good, but he outshines the entire ensemble.

This first video focuses on Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop) and Anna Torv (Agent Olivia Dunham) for the most part.

This video is a clip from a late night show where they set up a great line from John Noble after an exchange between Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv.

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SF-Fandom is a fan-run moderated Web discussion community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. Founded in 2001, SF-Fandom is part of the Xenite.Org Network of science fiction and fantasy Web sites.