Fringe vs The X-Files
- Thread starter EmoBorg
- Start date
Fringe, because it had Walter.
Horseshit.
Walter is a senile, absent-minded old fart whose sole purpose is to lend faux mystery to an obvious wannabe series. And X-Files is what Fringe desperately wants to be.
I'll put Cigarette Smoking Man, UN Blonde and Jose Chung up against Walter any day.
Stale? Tedious? Safe?
Fringe got out before it became too bad, X-Files survived itself by several seasons and was begging people to have mercy and finally kill it.
Hey, at least it wasn't Alias with this week's hunt for Rambaldi's magic toilet seat!
One major caveat is that Fringe didn't have anything even remotely close to Ratboy (Krycek). Man, I loved to hate that asshole!
Hey, at least it wasn't Alias with this week's hunt for Rambaldi's magic toilet seat!
One major caveat is that Fringe didn't have anything even remotely close to Ratboy (Krycek). Man, I loved to hate that asshole!
I liked both shows, but comparing the two can be difficult as X-Files has been off the air for years now and Fringe just ended recently. What seemed shocking, new and exciting on The X Files back then is not so exciting anymore. Many other shows have come and gone that were similarly shocking, groundbreaking, exciting, whatever. It's hard one thing against the other. I like them both, but Fringe went out early, leaving me wanting more, whereas X-Files went on for so long that it eventually drove me away. I think they are both equally good but X-Files covered similar territory/style first and was strong right from the start, while Fringe took a bit to get really strong.
However, I will agree that Walter is more interesting and likable than Skinner, Jose Chung & CSM combined. However, Fringe had the musical episode (*cringe*) BUT Fringe does get bonus points for this scene:
Walter's Acid Trip
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-GZoNef8_c[/yt]
However, I will agree that Walter is more interesting and likable than Skinner, Jose Chung & CSM combined. However, Fringe had the musical episode (*cringe*) BUT Fringe does get bonus points for this scene:
Walter's Acid Trip
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-GZoNef8_c[/yt]
Nope. Compelling, intriguing and (something Fringe can never be) Unique.
I feel that X-Files never really went anywhere with those vast conspiracies and the looming threat of alien colonization. Fringe at least tried to... well, you know... do it. It wasn't perfect, but still they actually did it. Also the characters of Scully and Mulder became caricatures of themselves after a few successful seasons and didn't really evolve as they should have been.
But then again, that's just my opinion. I personally liked Millennium better and even that became a better show in the second season when Carter left it alone and it actually, once again, went somewhere. Of course when the third season arrived and Carter returned, everything was forced into the usual status quo. Yawn.
But then again, that's just my opinion. I personally liked Millennium better and even that became a better show in the second season when Carter left it alone and it actually, once again, went somewhere. Of course when the third season arrived and Carter returned, everything was forced into the usual status quo. Yawn.
The X-Files though, wasn't really about individual characters. It was about the stories (the -Files) and the relationships between the characters. And I agree, Walter Bishop is one of the great characters in all of sci-fi.
The writing for the Files stood out too. They could do scary, real scary, drama, whimsy, to out and out comedy and it was great at all of them. I mean "War of the Copraphages", "Small Potatos", "Early Modern Prometheus", It is no accident that this show was picked number 2 behind Star Trek for greatest T.V. cult show by T.V. Guide.
But I loved Fringe too although they had no two characters with the chemistry of Mulder and Scully though Walter and Peter were pretty good together.
Overall, like others, I gotta go with the X-Files in all areas except greatest individual character. But Fringe is certainly worthy of comparison.
I like the characters better on Fringe, and each series is about even for me on story.
I had to give both to The X-Files. As great a character as Walter is, he was one amazing character surrounded by good ones. While the X-Files had a lot of great characters, including Mulder and Scully, CSM, Kryceck, Skinner and the Lone Gunmen.
Now, I'll be honest and admit that I've only seen a couple episode beyond Season 5 of X-Files at this point, but I'm working my way through the whole show right now.
While the overall arc for TXF might not have always come together as a well as Fringe's, I'd say that the majority of TXF's individual episodes were better than Fringe's.
Now, I'll be honest and admit that I've only seen a couple episode beyond Season 5 of X-Files at this point, but I'm working my way through the whole show right now.
While the overall arc for TXF might not have always come together as a well as Fringe's, I'd say that the majority of TXF's individual episodes were better than Fringe's.
It was unique for it's time. All the other weird mystery and suspense shows like it came afterwards.
Not inherently, no. That's just one of the many reasons why X-Files is better. It set the standard.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znMAjQZH0Bg&list=PLF3EA2A4350CF2C3E[/yt]
X-Files lost me when it and it's fans took itself seriously. Fans think the show is basically like Project Bluebook and dramatizing real events. It presents skeptics as people who are immovably reluctant to accept new data, when the reverse is true...if presented with the evidence in the series, Scully wouldn't have been a skeptic! I stopped watching around season 3, after some Indian vision quest mumbo jumbo.
The Mirrorball Man said it in far less words, but the X-Files didn't invent creature of the week shows, nor did it invent the supernatural investigation genre. The Outer Limits did creature of the week shows back in the 60's.
What the X-Files did do was popularize and bring the genre into the mainstream. Before then, it was rare that a scifi type show would be watched by a wide mainstream audience and not be a Star Trek show.
Having said that, I've only seen maybe a couple seasons of the show, way back in the late 90's when I was dating a girl who was into the X-Files. It didn't grab me and make me interested the way Fringe has, probably because I found the characters dull, and it did take itself way too seriously. They tried comedy episodes, but like Enterprise, the attempt fell flat.
Now, if we compared them based on their scientific accuracy, the X-Files would probably beat out Fringe. That isn't to say the X-Files is in any way scientifically accurate, but Fringe is so far out there it is laughable. Retrieving sound waves from a pane of glass... sure... you do that!
The X-Files is not just a creature-of-the-week show. It is not just a supernatural investigation show. And both shows you mentioned were off network air for decades (The cable version of OL was a contemporary) before X-Files premiered. Like I said, unique for its time.
It is unique for the time, I agree. I simply prefer Fringe. I wish it had gained a modicum of the popularity of the X-Files, or even Lost.
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