Fringe: "Pilot" 9/9 - Grading & Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Samurai8472]

Aragorn wrote:

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Were they going to reanimate him at the end? Or do the brain wave communication thing?

Plus there was that scene from the future episodes montage.

I think with the future episodes montage with him calling he's probably alive. Probably too important for whatever he was exposed to in the explosion.

That room they were wheeling him into looked interesting like a hadron collider or doomsday device developed by Alien Nazi!

[Aragorn]

As long as they don't fall into the same trap Threshold did, I think Fringe has a chance. With Threshold, the alien threat was growing at such an exponential rate that after only a few episodes, it was clear there was no way to stop the infection unless they had a Star Trek reset button.

[LutherSloan]

I thought it was excellent, especially for a pilot. I have found that pilots frequently separate themselves from the show, but I don't believe that it will be the same with this one.

[davejames]

I liked the main actress, and I think the dynamic between the characters has potential, but I'm afraid the writing and storyline just didn't grab me that strongly at all. Certainly not like Lost did, or Alias in the beginning.

The main problem for me was this feeling of "been there, done that" throughout. It's certainly well made and well acted, but the fact is, well... X-Files already DID these stories. Years ago. And did them really well too. Watching the previews for upcoming episodes gave me even more of that feeling.

Maybe if Abrams puts the focus more on the larger conspiracy, and throws lots of twists and turns at us, I could overlook all that. But right now it looks like the main emphasis is just going to be on the "weird case of the week." Which just isn't new enough for me.

[StreakyMac]

It was decent, but I found Olivia's romance with her guy particularly frustrating, because even at the VERY BEGINNING, you knew that it was going to come to an end one way or another. Is there some kind of unwritten television rule that states that your main character ABSOLUTELY MUST be single, so that he/she can have a "will they or won't they" tension with the opposite-gendered lead throughout the course of the series?

[Frontier]

I really liked it. And I didn't expect to in the least bit.

[Gatekeeper]

The pilot episode of Fringe didn't really impress me ... but neither did it do anything to repel me. I guess I'll DVR a few more episodes before I make up my mind.

I did like bits and pieces of the dialogue, and the twist near the end was pretty good, along with hints of whatever the "Pattern" is. However, I also found the romance to be too artificial and those big, bold name identifiers when the scene changes took place really threw me out of the story.

So, I'll give Fringe another shot or two, but if it doesn't pick up by then, I'm moving on to greener pastures.

Gatekeeper

P.S. Oh, and I gave this episode an "average" rating.

[DarKush]

Aragorn wrote:

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Is he really gone though? I guess listing him among the main cast and having him in the promo shots would be great misdirection, as opposed to the "guest star" who seems to have a lot to do in the pilot so you know he or she isn't long for the show.

Were they going to reanimate him at the end? Or do the brain wave communication thing?

Plus there was that scene from the future episodes montage.

Good points.

[SPOCKED]

Very cool show - the months of previews didn't do much for me, but I actually was glad I sat for it. Invisible skin, melting passengers, and LDS induced mind-meld... awesome in HD. Also, I was just in Boston last weekend and I think I was in that car chase

[Skywalker]

"Let's make some LSD!"

John Noble was great. I'm not too keen on the impending episodic focus of Fringe, but if it's just a first season thing where they lay out the ground rules and things become a bit more serialized in the later seasons, that'd be fine.

[LutherSloan]

It's really too early to tell if it's going to be an episodic format. I would rather think that it is going to be a mix of the episodic and longer story arcs.

[The Habs Fan]

SPOCKED wrote:

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Very cool show - the months of previews didn't do much for me, but I actually was glad I sat for it. Invisible skin, melting passengers, and LDS induced mind-meld... awesome in HD. Also, I was just in Boston last weekend and I think I was in that car chase

Except it's filmed in Toronto

[exodus]

TK421 wrote:

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I saw the pilot a few months ago. Then read they'd made changes and watched it again. I couldn't see a single change. I thought it sucked. Bad. The show would have had so much mystery if it had just started with the FBI turning up to the airport and finding this plane, and piecing it all together. But everything was blown in the opening scene. There was zero tension when the FBI showed up. The characters were all two dimensional cliches. And mostly they were talking heads. Won't be tuning in again. Doubt this show will last.

I agree.

The borrowing of ideas from so many other sci-fi type shows that influenced this one is so apparent that it holds no real mystery. The X-Files, HEROES, Altered States, LOST elements are so transparent, you knew what was going to happen in every scene way before it played out.

Very disappointing considering the hype put into it.

[Ptrope]

I enjoyed it - I had originally figured I'd watch up until Eureka came on Scifi at 9:00, but it was worth staying with the show (and Eureka repeated at midnight ). I liked Walter, esp. with the cow. And Anna Torv in her undies was, at least, relevant enough to justify it - no one gets into a sensory deprivation tank in their street clothes! My only complaint was the 3D scene titles - that was too much of a conceit, and I agree with the above post that it took one out of the scene (esp. where the camera angle changed and suddenly we were under the same title we'd just seen, as if it really existed in that world ).

As for the comments here, I really don't understand this distaste for episodic television. Sorry, but continuing story/character arcs don't automatically make a show "better" - if the story being told can be told in a single episode, I have no problem with that, as long as any reasonable ramifications from it aren't ignored or forgotten as the series progresses. As far as 'drama' goes, it's a lot more realistic - how many of us actually have a dramatic event that just goes and goes and goes, really? Life in general is a series of individual dramas - continuity, not constancy (I'm sure some people feel differently, but I'm pretty sure they're the exception rather than the rule).

[DigificWriter]

John Noble is THE MAN, and the main reason I started paying attention to this show. I watched it last night, and am definitely hooked. It reminds me of part 'Vanished', part 'Wolf Lake', and part 'Twilight Zone', with some 'Alias' and 'X-Files' thrown in for good measure.

Interesting that people are thinking this is gonna be more episodic than arc-based, 'cause I see a lot of potential for ongoing arcs.