Customer Reviews

Fringe: The Complete First Season

5 star:		(205)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I have dual suggestions for anyone thinking of trying FRINGE. First, definitely watch it. Second, be very, very patient. The show eventually gets very, very good, but it takes a very long time to get there. I have a theory as to why that is. FOX has a tendency to micro manage many of its shows. DOLLHOUSE is an example. After Joss Whedon brought them his initial pilot, they nixed it and asked for a new one, and then dictated that the first several episodes be standalone episodes. And guess what. In the sixth episode DOLLHOUSE became one of the best shows on TV, with multiple delicious plot twists. The weakest part of the series? The first five stand alone episodes. I have not heard similar things about FRINGE, but given that the first half of the season tends to be almost all stand alone episodes and that they are far and away the weakest part of the show, I suspect more FOX interference. FRINGE has been compared to THE X-FILES in many ways, but one way that they are dissimilar is that THE X-FILES standalone episodes were far superior to FRINGE's standalone episodes. So the viewer has to be patient for the payoff for watching the show to come to fruition. But the payoff does finally come. About halfway through the series a "mythology" arc emerges in a most satisfying way, resulting in a string of deeply satisfying and exciting episodes in the second half of the season. At the end of the first year, it hasn't yet quite become a great show, but it shows all the potential of becoming one. But perhaps only if FOX will get out of the way and let them get on with the story.

The show also suffered from internal problems, the main one being casting. I came to like Anna Torv in the lead role of Agent Olivia Dunham, but she remained in many ways the show's weak link. Many fans noted that her American accent (Torv is Australian) often faded and especially early in the show her Aussie accent would briefly creep in. She isn't a bad actress, but neither is she - comparing the show once again to THE X-FILES - Gillian Anderson, who was by any accounting a brilliant actress. When I watch FRINGE, I often wonder just what the show would be like with a stronger actress in the lead role. I also have not yet become sold on Joshua Jackson as Peter Bishop, but this may be far more of a problem with the writers fully integrating him into the show. (Though the season ends with a great, great twist involving Peter that explains a lot of the background on Walter's story.) Other than being Walter's son, his role in the greater scheme of things hasn't really become clear, though perhaps the writers envision a more crucial role in Season Two. Lance Reddick is a powerful physical presence, but is another actor who has perhaps been under utilized at this point.

Which leaves John Noble as Walter Bishop. Is there a more delightful supporting character on TV? He steals just about every scene he is in as the delightfully idiosyncratic and marvelously insane genius Walter Bishop. Walter is both a wonderfully written character and brilliantly portrayed by Noble. Sci-fi series do not as a rule get much recognition by the Emmys, but I would love to see Noble get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama. Many of the great moments of the show's first season revolve around Walter. And there are so many fine Walter moments that some go unnoticed. Among my favorites was in the show's penultimate episode where the crew is assembled in Walter's Harvard lab and someone says they need to turn the lights out. Walter gleefully tells them all to hold on and he claps his hands, demonstrating that he has "the Clapper" installed in the lab. But what makes the scene so funny is a very subtle bit of business. Walter has been passing out cookies and has one of his own. To be able to clap, he has set his own cookie down on the derrière of the corpse he has been examining and that is laying immediately in front of him. So while Walter is clapping his cookie is on this dead guy's rear end. Typical Walter. Not least because of Walter's penchant for blending the investigation of the most grotesque phenomena with food. Icky disfigured corpse? Nothing like that to get Walter to think about food!

The best thing about FRINGE is that it got better as it went along. This is a great sign for Season Two. I blame FOX for the slow first half of the season. Maybe I'm wrong in doing that, but we know for a fact that FOX messed up the first half of DOLLHOUSE, and they've been known to interfere with the development of other shows. The fact is this: executive producers and their writers know more about how to do a great show than network executives do. Maybe they feel that they need to earn their salaries by "crafting" the new series, but generally what they do is mess things up. You hire someone like J. J. Abrams or Joss Whedon to do a series, just get out of the way and let them do what they inevitably do better than you do.

So definitely watch this show. Be patient. It starts off OK, but about halfway through the season it will really start to kick tail. I think there is some core weakness in the cast, but not to the degree that it cripples the show. Best of all, this show really feels like it is going somewhere special. Make sure you are along for the ride.

I have dual suggestions for anyone thinking of trying FRINGE. First, definitely watch it. Second, be very, very patient. The show eventually gets very, very good, but it takes a very long time to get there. I have a theory as to why that is. FOX has a tendency to micro manage many of its shows. DOLLHOUSE is an example. After Joss Whedon brought them his initial pilot, they nixed it and asked for a new one, and then dictated that the first several episodes be standalone episodes. And guess what. In the sixth episode DOLLHOUSE became one of the best shows on TV, with multiple delicious plot twists. The weakest part of the series? The first five stand alone episodes. I have not heard similar things about FRINGE, but given that the first half of the season tends to be almost all stand alone episodes and that they are far and away the weakest part of the show, I suspect more FOX interference. FRINGE has been compared to THE X-FILES in many ways, but one way that they are dissimilar is that THE X-FILES standalone episodes were far superior to FRINGE's standalone episodes. So the viewer has to be patient for the payoff for watching the show to come to fruition. But the payoff does finally come. About halfway through the series a "mythology" arc emerges in a most satisfying way, resulting in a string of deeply satisfying and exciting episodes in the second half of the season. At the end of the first year, it hasn't yet quite become a great show, but it shows all the potential of becoming one. But perhaps only if FOX will get out of the way and let them get on with the story.

The show also suffered from internal problems, the main one being casting. I came to like Anna Torv in the lead role of Agent Olivia Dunham, but she remained in many ways the show's weak link. Many fans noted that her American accent (Torv is Australian) often faded and especially early in the show her Aussie accent would briefly creep in. She isn't a bad actress, but neither is she - comparing the show once again to THE X-FILES - Gillian Anderson, who was by any accounting a brilliant actress. When I watch FRINGE, I often wonder just what the show would be like with a stronger actress in the lead role. I also have not yet become sold on Joshua Jackson as Peter Bishop, but this may be far more of a problem with the writers fully integrating him into the show. (Though the season ends with a great, great twist involving Peter that explains a lot of the background on Walter's story.) Other than being Walter's son, his role in the greater scheme of things hasn't really become clear, though perhaps the writers envision a more crucial role in Season Two. Lance Reddick is a powerful physical presence, but is another actor who has perhaps been under utilized at this point.

Which leaves John Noble as Walter Bishop. Is there a more delightful supporting character on TV? He steals just about every scene he is in as the delightfully idiosyncratic and marvelously insane genius Walter Bishop. Walter is both a wonderfully written character and brilliantly portrayed by Noble. Sci-fi series do not as a rule get much recognition by the Emmys, but I would love to see Noble get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama. Many of the great moments of the show's first season revolve around Walter. And there are so many fine Walter moments that some go unnoticed. Among my favorites was in the show's penultimate episode where the crew is assembled in Walter's Harvard lab and someone says they need to turn the lights out. Walter gleefully tells them all to hold on and he claps his hands, demonstrating that he has "the Clapper" installed in the lab. But what makes the scene so funny is a very subtle bit of business. Walter has been passing out cookies and has one of his own. To be able to clap, he has set his own cookie down on the derrière of the corpse he has been examining and that is laying immediately in front of him. So while Walter is clapping his cookie is on this dead guy's rear end. Typical Walter. Not least because of Walter's penchant for blending the investigation of the most grotesque phenomena with food. Icky disfigured corpse? Nothing like that to get Walter to think about food!

The best thing about FRINGE is that it got better as it went along. This is a great sign for Season Two. I blame FOX for the slow first half of the season. Maybe I'm wrong in doing that, but we know for a fact that FOX messed up the first half of DOLLHOUSE, and they've been known to interfere with the development of other shows. The fact is this: executive producers and their writers know more about how to do a great show than network executives do. Maybe they feel that they need to earn their salaries by "crafting" the new series, but generally what they do is mess things up. You hire someone like J. J. Abrams or Joss Whedon to do a series, just get out of the way and let them do what they inevitably do better than you do.

So definitely watch this show. Be patient. It starts off OK, but about halfway through the season it will really start to kick tail. I think there is some core weakness in the cast, but not to the degree that it cripples the show. Best of all, this show really feels like it is going somewhere special. Make sure you are along for the ride.

Brainchild of JJ Abrams, this show is loaded with all the vitamins a good series needs: an exciting and innovative plot, along with well-scripted characters. Some episodes are a bit of a fill-out but the overall plot, much like the show Lost, is very interesting and has one at the edge of their seat. Anna Torv is a bit of a newcomer without much experience, but portrays her character very well. John Noble does a cracking job as the somewhat looney Einstein-inspired Dr Walter Bishop. The biggest surprise is Joshua Jackson who's getting a bit of a fresh start in his career with this show. He does an excellent job as the intelligent Peter Bishop, son of Walter Bishop. Another brilliant choice actor-wise is Lance Reddick, known from The Wire (which by the way probably is the best show in TV history).
The main plot? Well, strange incidents are occuring, perpetrated by a mysterious terrorist group using the world as their experiment lab. The events are investigated by the characters named above. As the story unfolds, the motives of this terrorist group start to emerge and the question rises: Who is the real enemy?
Scripted and created by the same guys who wrote the new Star Trek film, this show is the new Lost. It has been picked up for a season 2, and will probably go beyond that. Brilliant stuff.

If you're looking at this, I assume you already have interest in this unique show, so I will focus this review on the blu-ray release. First things first, the cover has a cool reflective casing, with two different images. Nice touch considering the content of the show itself. It has the usual flip type case for multiple discs that we've seen in sets like Die Hard and Blade Runner. I actually prefer the flip cases to smaller individual cases. Also has multiple images on the CD's, the cover and the inside, nice touch. That's about it for cosmetics.

There is over 7 hours of bonus features including the bd-live content. BD-live is a very cool feature to have, even if you aren't utilizing it now, you might be in the near future and it includes a single insert with instructions on how to get started.

Special features exclusive on blu-ray include Fringe Pattern Analysis: Take a Closer Look at 6 select scenes with the experts. These are actually really nice, as they focus on select scenes, instead of just some broad behind the scenes generalization that you usually get as an "extra". And also additional writer/production commentary available through bd-live.

Some other goodies:

Featurettes on the show's creation, casting, the real science behind it and a great look at the special effects.
There is the feature of Fringe: Deciphering the Scene Sidebars on every episode, this is an interesting add-on. I thought it was cool.
Disected Files and Unaired scenes are here. Alot of extras involved in indiviual episodes, which I thought was great and any fan of the show will like, as I'm sure we all have our favorites and our "not-so-favorites."

I give this blu-ray set a enthusiastic thumbs up for all the extras. It's appreciated. I'm a fan of behind the scenes info and if you are as well, you'll enjoy this set.

Now, for the look. I have a blu-ray player (PS3) and an HDTV and all I can say, is beautiful. If you want to see what its capable of...this is it. The colors practically bleed off of the screen.

This is the best blu-ray package I've received since the Blade Runner release.

No it isn't the X-Files as another reviewer brought up, but that has already been done. This is a unique show with twisted plot lines and stories. I personally love this new show. I think it is different but not so far out there as one might think. The characters are so different from each other yet have so much in common that you're never really sure what is going to happen. I hope this show stays around for a long time. Hope Season One DVD will be released as soon as possible.

People are going to compare this show to The X-Files. While superficially the comparison is reasonable, it fails on the whole premise of what is happening in each Fringe episode. The emphasis of the X-Files was the paranormal, the emphasis of Fringe is fringe science. I have only seen 6 episodes (more on that later), but Fringe presents things that are not really not too bizarre to actually be discounted only on their "face validity".

I actually worked with several DARPA programs between 1999 and 2005 as both an adviser and a principal investigator. When I first attended a DARPA program meeting I thought I was entering a science fiction convention. I was totally amazed at what was being funded, and how "fringe" much of it was (go to the DARPA website and peruse the programs). In 2002, at a meeting with a DARPA director in an attempt to determine if I wanted to join the agency as a program director I was actually told "Next week we are going to demonstrate teleportation". Of course, my jaw dropped and was finally assured that this wasn't Star Trek and that they were ONLY going to teletransport one atom. But, this is DARPA.

Anyway, Fringe presents DARPAesque things in a rather amusing manner and provides reasonable scientific explanation (obviously set for normal US TV viewer consumption) for what is going on. Dr. Bishop is the perfect character to pull this off. Even when I was thinking that this was getting too "Outer Limits" his jovial explanation made me say "why not, maybe?"

So, I consider Fringe to be an excellent series and I hope that it continues for at least as long as the X-Files. My only regret is that I didn't "find" the series until it was well past episode 10 in real time, and I found it on [...]. My hope is that FOX will find a way to get me caught up in some manner before the end of the season. Otherwise I will have to resort to buying the DVD collection and hope that I can view the final episodes before the start of the new season.

This show really rates 5 stars.

you can't mention Fringe without at least mentioning The X-Files in passing- since Fringe is this generation's version of The X-Files. Fringe borrows the same abnormal and paranormal themes.

that being said, since TXF is now history, I look at Fringe as "the next best thing" in terms of suspense, intrigue, and the paranormal being broadcast these days on TV. Beyond any doubt, Fringe is one of the best produced shows currently on TV b/c the writing is so clever and we (the audience) actually care about the characters and the struggles they go through.

The cast could not be better: John Noble is superb, and Anna Torv and Josh Jackson have good chemistry together (much like Scully and Mulder).

Producer JJ Abrams (Lost, Alias, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible 3) has another winner on his hands with Fringe.

* Highly recommended *

The acting is top notch. Every single actor does a superb job. The plots are pretty far out there but that's the point. It's science fantasy taken to television extremes.

Unlike many shows today this one actually reaches resolutions and doesn't leave you hanging every single episode. There is a developing back story and a surprise season finale with a very special guest which all leaves you hanging every so slightly in anticipation of next season.

It's a fun show and so long as you don't make the stupid mistake of trying to compare it to X-File or any other show of that genre you'll really enjoy it. Pay particular attention to the quality of the acting.

The first episode of this show was barely watchable. I did not watch this show again until about half way through the series. Much to my surprise, I noticed that it had vastly improved and showed potential for the future. Unlike many tv shows today, this does not have a major film star in the lead. Assuming the show could get a major film star, the acting would probably be stronger. Assuming the show can't get a major film star, then the actors they've got aren't worth changing. They are basically doing the job. Anna Torv as the FBI agent and Joshua Jackson, as the mad scientist's son, are fine. Jackson reminds me a great deal of a young William Peterson (Gus Grissom in CSI), the way he was back in his TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA and MANHUNTER acting days. If Jackson continues to develop that resemblance, he probably has a lock on this show.

The best actor is John Noble, who plays Walter Bishop, the insane scientist who has been locked up in a mental institution for years. The government now needs Walter Bishop because there are many strange things happening and he is the only person who may be able to figure it out. If you remove this character/actor from the show, it would be like driving a stake through its heart. He is critical to it. He is also the only character with humor so far and these shows need comic relief in order to succeed.

As I've come to grasp the essence of the show, leading edge scientific experiments have led to certain people being able to bend the dimensions of the universe, such as space, time, etc., Odd things are happening all over, which were at one time beyond the rules of physics. One can only hope to fight these rips in the fabric of the physics of the universe by using the most brilliant scientist one can find. Ergo, the use of Walter Bishop. Walter must be tended because he is NOT recovered from his mental break. Thus, his son must babysit him plus an FBI agent must remain on top of the two of them constantly.

The things which keep happening in the present day continue to get weirder and weirder and by the end of the show one is ready for some really big event. The show delivers and leaves you waiting for season two. I think this has very strong promise.

When I first viewed the pilot,I thought the hype was misleading, but after seeing bigger hype in the weeks to follow, I watched another episode and I was blown away!!! This is a very well put together series(and cast) with intense storylines and special effects! If you dug X-Files,Millenium,& Supernatural, then you'll really dig this series(which seems to be filmed close to home as I live in Mass but it's filmed in N.Y.) and it definitely has longevity in its future! Enjoy or you won't know what your missing!!!!!