It took a little while for it to really heat up, but Fringe certainly went out with a bang before it’s mid-season break. Suddenly lurching into a Lost-style time-and-space-travel mystery, the series transported an enigmatic bad guy from a German prison to an American forest and revealed that FBI agent Olivia may be more central to the Pattern than previous thought. And why was cyber-armed possible villainess Nina Sharp hanging out in London? Here are a couple of trailers for the next episode, which isn’t due until the end of January…
Archive for the 'FRINGE' Category
Here’s an excellent recap of the first series of Fringe so far, narrated by John Noble (mad scientist Walter Bishop, himself). Thanks for FringeBloggers for pointing us in the direction of this festive treat.
…in less than a minute. Who’d have thought JJ Abrams mind-bending drama series Fringe would be so easy to sum up? The secrets of The Pattern are revealed here, and all of sudden everything makes sense.
Thanks to Fringe Bloggers for unearthing this gem.
Who’s better? As Harry Hill would say, there’s only one way to find out!
[via WatchFringe]
As regular readers of this blog will know, we’re huge fans of Fringe’s Walter Bishop here at TV Spy. Last week, we promised to put together a selection of his finest moments from the series so far, but it appears that those lovely people over at Fox have beaten us to it. And so, with no further ado, we present to you two-and-a-half minutes of the finest Walterisms… Enjoy!
We know it’s just a flashy X Files rip-off, and, yes, there’s no denying it’s unbelievably silly at times, but Fringe is fast becoming our favourite new US show. For all the ludicrous leaps of faith it has demanded of us, the first few episodes have shown great style and panache – and, mercifully, humour. None of the people involved seem to be taking things too seriously and, frankly, it’s all the better for that.
Our favourite character by far is mad-as-cheese scientist Walter Bishop, played by John Noble. He gets gets all the best lines (”The only thing better than a cow is a human… unless you need milk”, etc) and steals every scene he’s in.
We will be paying proper tribute to his wit and wisdom at some yet-to-be-determined point in the future (in other words, when we can be bothered to get round to it), but in the meantime we point you in the direction of this little clip from episode six, The Cure, which airs in the US tonight and will show here in the UK on Sky 1 on Sunday 9 November, in which the great man introduces us to a chemical process we had hitherto never heard of: “Gooification“! Yes, you read right, gooification. Now if only our science teachers at school had used words like that, we might have paid more attention…
Here’s a mightily airbrushed official new photo of Heroes’ Zachary Quinto as Spock on the cover of the US magazine Entertainment Weekly, promoting next year’s much-anticipated big-budget Star Trek movie.
Directed by Lost and Fringe-maker JJ Abrams, the film stars Chris Pine (we hadn’t heard of him either, so we looked him up and found out he’s been in CSI:Miami and Six Feet Under) alongside pointy-eared Quinto, who has hinted that the latest Star Trek franchise could be the first of many.
‘It is a multiple-picture deal,’ he says. And of Spock: ‘The interesting thing is that you meet this character before you ever knew him on the television series and the other movies, so [this film is] an exploration of how he got to that point.’ Will we find out if Spock has a first name? ‘You’re going to have to wait and see!’
At the moment, Star Trek is slated for a 9 May 2009 UK release. Here’s the teaser poster and trailer…
What with Joshua Jackson recently landing back on our screens in Fringe, and Ben’s post below about James Van Der Beek landing a new TV role, it got us thinking about whatever happened to the rest of the Dawson’s Creek cast? So, to kick start TV Spy’s brand new ‘Where are they now?’ segment, here’s a quick rundown of what the former Capeside crusaders are currently up to…
Warning, this isn’t pretty - it’s the first four minutes of the second episode of JJ Abrams Fringe and it’s every bit as thrilling and terrifying as we’d hoped. Oh yes, there will be blood… Plenty of it.
Well, here you go.
Best line?
Broyles “See you tomorrow.”
Olivia “Yes, unless before then I suddenly get transported to another dimension…”
Thanks to the eagle-eyed folk over at Fringe Television, we’ve been alerted to another potential internet spin-off from the soon-to-launch-on-Sky1 Fringe. It seems that outside the HQ of sinister technology conglomerate Massive Dynamic there’s a flyer for www.glowingmonkeys.com. And if you head over to that URL you’ll find a blog that just happens to feature articles on the most exciting cases of fringe science. What a coincidence… With the eerie tagline ‘I know they’re watching from the dark’, could this site somehow be linked to the cases Olivia and co will be investigating over the coming weeks?
In other viral Fringe news, the Massive Dynamic website has finally gone live – giving us an opportunity to find out more about this global juggernaut. The website is superfriendly, revealing all the ways the company is planning to improve our lives through their pioneering research. Is Massive Dynamic too good to be true? After all, it was founded by William Bell who was a colleague of Fringe-team science guru Walter Bishop – before he was locked away for conducting some pretty unorthadox experiments on unsuspecting military types.
Curiously, you can submit an application form to become an MD team member and another page offers a teasing log-in prompt. This can mean only one thing – another Alternate Reality Game is in the offing, one that our friends as FringeBloggers reckon might permeate the actual TV series. Watch this space…
Starts Sky1, early-October
If you miss The X Files, or wish the CSIs would tackle the odd paranormal case, Fringe is for you. From the warped mind of Lost, Alias and Cloverfield creator JJ Abrams, Fringe focuses on the brave new world of fringe science, a decidedly grey area where only a thin line separates pioneering research from unethical, criminal experimentation that big business and evil conglomerates are keen to profit from.
Investigating these scientific infractions and freaks of nature are FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), troubled genius Dr Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his mixed-up son Peter (Joshua Jackson). Also mixed up in this murky world is special agent Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) - though whether Olivia and co can actually trust him is another matter as we soon learn a shadowy scientific conspiracy is at work in the world. There is a pattern linking these freaky cases and our heroes must try to crack it.
The feature-length pilot is scary, enthralling and conspiracy-packed. Crammed with more thrills and spills than your typical Hollywood blockbuster, it sets up the premise nicely, tentatively introducing us to the mysterious firm Massive Dynamic that seems somehow linked to the increasing number of instances of strange scientific phenomena.
Fringe is Sky1’s big purchase for the autumn and has received rave reviews in the States, while JJ Abrams promises that it will jump the shark early and often. We loved the pilot and early word on the next few episodes is that they’ll be equally jumpy. To get a taste of what’s to come, have a gander at this preview comic, enjoy one of the many trailers doing the rounds, or - like us - be confused at why Fox is releasing a variety of pop videos featuring clips from the show.
• Click here to read our other posts on Fringe
• Click here for more great new US shows coming to a screen near you this autumn
These great new promo posters have been uncovered by Fringe Bloggers. What are the messages radiating from Olivia’s noggin in the first shot? Things have gone rather Minority Report in the second. And why has the sky become a vortex in the third? No doubt we’ll get a few answers, and even more baffling questions, once the series launches on Sky One.
Yes, Sky1 (as they’ve taken to calling themselves these days) has confirmed it has got the rights to Fringe, JJ Abrams’ much-anticipated sci-fi thriller series starring Joshua Jackson (or Josh, as he’s taken to calling himself these days - Puff Daddy, you’ve got a lot to answer for) and newcomer Anna Torv. It’ll be appearing on your screens sometime this autumn – woo hoo! That’ll keep us going till Lost’s back.
There’s just a little over a month left until JJ Abrams’ new series Fringe hits American screens, so to keep the tension mounting Entertainment Today had a quick look at the making of the pilot episode. Cue loads of explosions, free-running and eyebrow-raising from Joshua Jackson.
Elsewhere on planet Fringe, the official website is now linking to the many bizarre YouTube vids of curious phenomena related to the series - what could it all mean? And is the mysterious Massive Dynamics company involved?
It’s from the twisted mind of JJ Abrams, has opening credits that feature the show’s title floating mysteriously in the ether, and kicks off on turbulence-ridden plane – however, the hot US drama we’re thinking of isn’t Lost.
Nope, we’re talking about Fringe, one of the most eagerly awaited series of the fall. We gave you a sneak peak a few weeks ago, but now, having seen the feature-length pilot, we can spill a few more of the show’s secrets, without revealing any of the episode’s many twists.
In a nutshell, the pilot follows Fed agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) as she investigates a bizarre apparent terrorist attack on a plane. When one of her colleagues becomes infected by whatever was behind the massacre on that jet, Dunham takes drastic action to save his life – and for that she needs screwed-up child prodigy Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) to get his estranged, mad scientist father Walter (John Noble) out of an institution.
Walter’s been locked up since one of his US army-sanctioned experiments backfired, revealing his unethical interest in messing around with mind control, talking to corpses and reanimating bodies – ie. fringe science.
To say much more about the plot would ruin an incredibly topsy-turvy ride, but suffice to say we soon encounter Fringe’s answer to Lost’s Dharma Initiative - Massive Dynamics.
The series is brimming with conspiracy theories. When Dunham is told “someone out there is experimenting - the whole world is their lab“, are we to believe it’s the military, the government, the FBI or some sinister company that’s behind the intrigue? We also learn that the incident on the plane is “part of the pattern”, an increasing number of unexplained phenomena around the world that may somehow be linked.
If this all sounds rather X-Filesy, that’s because it is. However, Fringe is grounded in science. We won’t be seeing aliens or supernatural spectres; instead Dunham and co will be investigating terrifying mutations created by humans in a laboratory.
The pilot really is a rollercoaster ride, full of action, double-crossings, great dialogue and the troubled father-son relationships we’ve seen in Lost. If the full-length series can keep up this momentum, we’re going to be very happy bunnies indeed.
No news yet on who in the UK will be buying this, but we reckon British broadcasters will be falling over themselves to get their mitts on Fringe, a new monster-budget sci-fi effort from the godlike genius that is JJ Abrams, the man who brought us Alias, Lost and Six Degrees (beginning on ITV1 next Wednesday night, fact fans).
The series, dubbed as The X Files for the new millennium by one US blogger who has seen the pilot episode, follows the adventures of an inter-agency team that is assembled to investigate a bizarre sequence of paranormal events.
The first episode, which will air in the US in August, centres on a German plane which self-lands at Boston’s Logan Airport with no signs of life on board and the windows covered in what appears to be blood.
The cast includes former Dawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson, gorgeous Australian newcomer Anna Torv, John Noble (who played the dodgy Russian consul Anatoly Markov in the last series of 24) and Lance Reddick from Lost and The Wire.
Anyway, we shan’t go on, other than to say that, as far as we’re concerned, this looks like just about the most exciting new US drama of 2008. Check out the three clips below and let us know if you agree…
