Assignment X » Fringe

Interview: J.J. Abrams talks FRINGE finale and some STAR TREK

ABBIE BERNSTEIN — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:24:13 +0000

Interview: J.J. Abrams talks FRINGE finale and some STAR TREK

After five seasons of complicated familial bonds, inter-dimensional travel, suspended animation and a bunch of generally strange events, Walter (John Noble), Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Olivia (Anna Torv) wrap up their story on the two-hour series FRINGE finale on Fox, Friday night at 8.

Executive producer J.J. Abrams, who co-created FRINGE with fellow e.p.s Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, stopped by a party thrown by Fox for the Television Critics Association to give his thoughts on the show’s close – and answer a couple of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS questions while he was there.

ASSIGNMENT X: After directing the second new STAR TREK film, have you given any thought to the third one?

J.J. ABRAMS: No, not yet. I’m sure that the studio would love that to be a possibility, but it’s up to the audience.

AX: Do you have a story for it?

ABRAMS: Oh, yeah, but nothing I can talk about. It’s just ideas.

AX: You reportedly once said something to the effect that if you had pitched FRINGE science fiction, it never would have been picked up as a series. What’s the art of pitching science fiction?

ABRAMS: Pitching is always a weird, difficult thing. At the very beginning, you just need to make sure that you have a handle on the characters and the potential of those characters. If you know what you want is really, really weird stuff, keep it to yourself [laughs].

AX: You’ve been occupied with launching other series, including PERSON OF INTEREST and REVOLUTION, and making movies for awhile. Did you come back to FRINGE to get a little more hands-on for the finale?

ABRAMS: No, I didn’t really, but I didn’t need to, because [executive producer] Joel Wyman is such an accomplished show runner that for me, the script was so emotional and the story’s so good and he’s directing it himself. What I love about what Joel has done [as show runner] is, there’s a wild and wonderful and I think emotional inevitability to it, and I think at the same time, it’s like the ambition of the show is always to be tricky and twisted and weird and also deeply emotional, and while of course not every episode hits all of those buttons, I think enough of them did that makes this something that I’m insanely proud to be part of. And I think the finale does that on all cylinders, which is exciting.

AX: Are you sorry to say goodbye to FRINGE, or do you feel that it’s ending in a good place?

ABRAMS: Both. I feel like it’s a show that got to play out as it should have, which is a very rare thing, especially for a show that had middling ratings. I think for the network to keep the show on is a testament to their wonderful commitment to a show that they actually loved, and I will never forget that. It’s a very rare thing.

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Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Interview with J.J. Abrams on the FRINGE finale and STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

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Exclusive Interview: FRINGE star Seth Gabel talks ALLEGIANCE, his work on FRINGE and ARROW

ABBIE BERNSTEIN — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:45:16 +0000

Exclusive Interview: FRINGE star Seth Gabel talks ALLEGIANCE, his work on FRINGE and ARROW

In the film ALLEGIANCE, which opened theatrically last week in New York and this weekend in Los Angeles and Austin and is available on VOD, Seth Gabel stars as National Guard Lieutenant Danny Sefton.

It’s 2003 and National Guard companies, much to their surprise (and often dismay), are being shipped to active combat in Iraq. Sefton has gotten himself reassigned so that he won’t have to ship out with the company, but when one of his men goes AWOL, he finds himself grappling with a huge moral crisis, to say nothing of physical danger.

Florida-born Gabel spent several seasons on Fox’s FRINGE as Fringe Division novice Lincoln Lee, as well as his more experience alternate universe self. The actor has also just shot an episode of the CW’s ARROW as the villainous Vertigo.

Over the phone, he discusses all of these projects.

ASSIGNMENT X: How did you become involved with ALLEGIANCE?

SETH GABEL: I got a call from [ALLEGIANCE writer/director] Mike Connors and [producer] Sean Mullin asking for me, so I read the script and had a meeting with them and was immediately intrigued by how authentic the film they were representing was. Both of them had been in the National Guard and in the military and all of the producers of the film had been, so this film was almost entirely produced and developed by veterans of wars. And so it was very apparent that we were going to be telling a very truthful, honest story that was going to show a war that we’ve seen depicted many ways and many times, over and over again, in a way that was just completely authentic. It was completely unexpected in 2003-4 for the National Guard to be called up to go toIraq. The only precedent for when that had been done before was when the draft was in place. So it was more understandable at that time. But there being a dearth of soldiers to fight wars in 2003, it called up people who had no intention of ever [going into combat].

AX: What were some of the more challenging aspects of making ALLEGIANCE?

GABEL: The most challenging thing was really wanting to depict the characters as authentically as possible. Fortunately, because [there were] veterans who were involved with the shoot, I was able to consult with them, talk with them. We had a one-to-two-week-long rehearsal process, and we were also able to have a boot camp. And the boot camp was great because we were able to bond with the other actors. It was so helpful for me, because my character ends up getting alienated from the group because they’re all supposed to go off toIraq, but I’ve figured out a way to stay back and get out of going. And so they all resent me for that. What was so great was, we were able to establish a relationship in the boot camp together, and then when we started shooting, I became alienated from that process and was no longer a part of that group. So it was interesting during lunch – everyone would be hanging out together, enjoying their time with each other, and from time to time, we’d break character and I’d enjoy myself with them, but there was a real sense of me no longer being part of the bond that was created initially, and that was so helpful for shooting.

AX: You have some pretty intense physical fight scenes in the film. Did you study combat in acting school? Have you done this kind of thing before?

GABEL: Yeah, at NYU, I took a class called Stage Combat, where you would do a lot of rolls [rolling over]. My wife and I would always joke [about it], because whenever you do stage combat stuff, the big thing you’re working on is rolls, because you need to learn how to fall in a way that’s not going to break your neck. So I had that kind of training. Usually when you do fights, you tend to throw yourself into them completely, but at the same time, keep enough of your rational self in mind that you’re not going to hurt yourself or anyone else. There was a good fight director on that shoot, in that scene in particular. Pablo [Schreiber] and I would get together and practice the moves for the stunts for about a week or two, so we felt pretty comfortable and on the day, we were able to go for it.

AX: Was it very easy to get into Danny’s mindset, or did you have some moments where you were thinking, ‘I really wouldn’t do that, so how do I psych myself into making this emotional switch here’?

GABEL: I felt like Danny and I met in the middle pretty well. I really tried to understand for myself what decisions I might make. If I’m an officer in a military unit, I’m responsible for people who serve under me and are all of a sudden being called to go to Iraq, while at the same time, I’m starting a family, I have all these other prospects going on for me at home. If I had the situation and the ability to stay back and not go, what decision would I make? I really could relate to that struggle and the character is very resourceful, and I took on the abilities that he had that I have as well, and [tried] to really see how I could serve my men, and if I did go over with them, perhaps save some lives. So it’s a real quandary to figure out where my loyalties lie. Is it with the family that I’m creating at home or the family [within the unit]?

AX: There are a lot of different sides to Danny’s character. When we meet him, he’s doing a wheeler-dealer thing …

GABEL: Yeah, the big thing was that Sefton was incredibly resourceful and knew how to be strategic with people. I think he would see himself as someone who didn’t manipulate people, but he allowed himself to be strategic with people. What’s fun about that scene where you see him acquire Gore-Tex for the unit, perhaps in a way that’s not completely honest, was my good friend Jason Lew, who’s a brilliant writer and actor, got to play the part of Sergeant Kraft, and we had so much history together and went to college together. So when we shot that scene, we had a lot of fun.

AX: You’re also coming up on ARROW as Vertigo. Have you played a supervillain before?

GABEL: I had never played a supervillain. It was so much fun to do.

AX: Do you get a cool costume?

GABEL: Yeah. I have a very cool costume. They were very collaborative in the creation of the costume and in the character. I had some say in what we developed and created, and ultimately, it was one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had playing a role on TV.

AX: And are you going to return on FRINGE before it ends?

GABEL: I’m not allowed to say one way or the other.

AX: Do you have any feelings about FRINGE coming to an end?

GABEL: Well, I’m so happy that it’s ending this way. I think people realize that that show was so close to cancellation so many times and really didn’t deserve to be, but just the way that we run the numbers and statistics these days, and the way that we monitor and count how people are watching the show, is not quite up to the reality of how people view shows nowadays, especially a show that is tech-savvy. The audience of FRINGE is very tech-savvy, so they’re going to watch it in ways that aren’t always reflected in the ratings. To have this final season of thirteen episodes I think is a really good sign that networks are paying attention, they care about the quality of shows that are on TV and they’re willing to reward a loyal fan base with what they deserve, which is a satisfactory ending to a great story.

AX: Back to ALLEGIANCE, do you have a favorite scene?

GABEL: I had a lot of fun in the scenes where I was being interrogated by Pablo and Malik [Yoba] and Dominic [Fumusa]. We were able to improvise a lot during those scenes and Mike gave us a lot of time to into the scenes and yell at each other and improvise before “Action” or “Cut” was ever called, so we were able to do a series of takes where we just let ourselves get into heated arguments, say the lines that were written, [improvise] when it felt appropriate, and ultimately we got some really great stuff on film.

AX: Do you feel that that ALLEGIANCE has timely qualities as well as being a depiction of something that a lot of people went through at that time?

GABEL: Definitely. What makes ALLEGIANCE different from other war films is that it is a completely authentic experience told by veterans of war who’ve experienced the dilemmas that you’ll see in the film. That’s one of our most recent wars and the way people are nowadays is absolutely the same. We have a country that faces very [diverse] challenges, and to understand what’s going on in the mind of a person who is fighting on our behalf and really having a real sense of what their experience is and what they’re going through gives us a sense of what the stakes are when we make the choice to go to war.

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Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Exclusive interview with Seth Gabel on FRINGE, ALLEGIANCE and ARROW

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “Anomaly XB-6783746”

CARL CORTEZ — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:38:04 +0000

TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “Anomaly XB-6783746”

Stars: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown
Writer: David Fury
Director: Jeffrey Hunt
Network: Fox, airs Friday nights
Original Telecast: December 21, 2012

As FRINGE concludes its last episode of 2012 before it heads into the final three episodes of the series in January, the show continues its up and down ride through the season long arc of the humans versus the Observers.

It’s been a challenging season, and at times, a rather boring one too. Without the benefit of too many standalone episodes, the ongoing threat vacillates between ominous to non-existent.

It’s hard to get a grip on the Observers being a threat when they can’t shut down a small group of rebels who used to spearhead the FRINGE division – especially when the Observers have an advantage because they calculate multiple scenarios in their head and teleport. It’s a flaw that is as frustrating as it is ridiculous.

“Anomaly XB-6783746” focuses on the FRINGE team finding another piece of their puzzle – a young anomaly, a child Observer (Rowan Longworth) who holds the key to stopping the Observers for good.

The episode meanders a bit, as Nina (Blair Brown) tries to help Olivia (Anna Torv), Peter (Joshua Jackson), Walter (John Noble) and Astrid (Jasika Nicole) communicate with the young Observer who should not exist (and was scheduled to be destroyed).

The episode also features Captain Windmark (Michael Kopsa) who realizes Nina is a traitor and begins to interrogate all her employees to find out what she’s up to. Windmark also learns that the Child Observer has been found. Nina doesn’t give anything up, and kills herself before he can extract information from her.

What should have been a huge emotional whopper with Nina’s death, is rendered bittersweet and a little disconnected, particularly with the future storyline and the lack of Nina throughout Season 5. It’s necessary, yet not well played.

Somewhat Dark Walter rears his early head throughout and it’s great to see Noble play this quasi-soulless version of Walter again, though, again, it feels like a near replay of the arc of Peter losing his soul due to Observer tech. With 13-episodes, it’s not a good time to repeat yourself.

I’m still not sure where everything is leading, and I’m excited to see the final three episodes, but moving the story forward into the future and doing a season long arc has in many ways stifled the shows usually top notch credibility and creativity. It’s an incredibly entertaining series, but it finally settled on a direction that sadly didn’t work as well as they probably thought it would when they originally pitched this concept.

FRINGE continues to be one of the most fascinating shows on television, I just wish they would have went into a different direction and not unhinged the show’s final breaths by jumping ahead in time, demystifying the Observers to nothing more than your standard issue bad guys and dealing with a world that doesn’t hold the same warm place that the previous worlds FRINGE has created.

Points for taking chances, points taken away for losing its way hard after a promising first batch of Season 5 episodes.

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Article: TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “Anomaly XB-6783746”

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Interview: FRINGE showrunner J.H. Wyman on Season 5 and the end

ABBIE BERNSTEIN — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 18:51:48 +0000

Interview: FRINGE showrunner J.H. Wyman on Season 5 and the end

FRINGE is now in its fifth and final season on Fox, Fridays at 9 PM. For the first four seasons of the show, created by J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, eccentric scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble), his son Peter (Joshua Jackson) and FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) investigated strange phenomenon, including an alternate universe where Peter had come from and where there were alternate versions of Olivia and Walter. During this time, Peter and his father, once estranged, grow close and Peter and Olivia fall in love.

In Season 5, it’s 2036, Walter, Peter and Olivia have been trapped in amber for twenty-one years and wake up to confront a world that’s been taken over by the Observers.

At a press event for FRINGE, executive producer/show runner J.H. Wyman talks about where the series is going in its final episodes and where it has been.

ASSIGNMENT X: When in the life of FRINGE did you and the other creative powers that be come up with the idea for what you would do in fifth season?

J.H. WYMAN: Well, [fellow executive producers] Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner and myself came up with [Season 4] Episode 19 [entitled "Letters of Transit"], and we are sort of in a tricky position because we had talked about this being a possibility. But we understood that the [ratings] numbers were what they were. We had faith that we were going to be renewed, but we wanted the concept to sort of say, well, how could we get this thing platformed and do a backdoor pilot for what some of the ideas and thoughts were we wanted to do for the fifth season. So we actually used the spot, which we traditionally used for the one off the beaten path – Episode 19, we consistently always did things that were off the track, so we ended up by using that spot for a backdoor pilot [for Season 5], which is what it was. So the idea of what the big movements are in the story that we’re going to tell this year, that’s how it came about.

AX: One of the things that people frequently say about FRINGE is how much viewers love the family dynamic between the characters. In Season 4, you started out with nobody knowing who the heck Peter was, and then going in a large arc to get Peter back in, to get Olivia back into who we knew her as being, and to get the relationship back. Had that always been the plan, or had you planned something else and then sort of went, “Oh, we need to get everybody back into the family relationship”?

WYMAN: Some of the themes that we were dealing with were impact and I was interested [in], you are responsible for your own future and you are responsible for where you stand with your interpersonal relationships and that life is defined by the connections that we make. I really believe that. So I was really interested in saying, “Okay, well, how can things become better?” And just to demonstrate, ‘What impact do you have on others? If you were gone, if you were erased from time and you didn’t happen, would people be different? Did you make a difference in people’s lives? Did they make a difference in your life? What would happen if the people that you loved and were closest to just disappeared and never existed? Would you be a different person? What influence did they have on you?’ All these things are really interesting to me and to my colleagues, so it was basically what I wanted to talk about. So when Peter starts to come back, you realize it’s about relationship-building. Walter’s still the same Walter because Peter starts to bring that out in him, and that’s what my point was, that it doesn’t really matter – if you try, you invest and you show up, you can have very rich relationships and you can make a difference, and that’s what I was so infatuated with talking about.

AX: One of the odder things that occurred on the show was Anna Torv essentially playing Leonard Nimoy, when William Bell essentially possessed Olivia Dunham …

WYMAN: You know, what a funny end to that story is, imagine writing “And then William Bell goes into Anna.”

JOSHUA JACKSON: I don’t remember it being phrased like that.

WYMAN: It would have to be moved to cable. But here’s the thing. We send in the script and we’re expecting for Anna to call back and go, “Have you lost your minds? You want me to play William Bell? How am I going to do that? How does one go about doing that?” Not a peep. So everything you saw was completely her, completely just embracing it. I was looking at the phone [after Torv read the script] going, “It’s going to ring. It’s going to ring.” But it didn’t ring. She did a great job.

AX: What can you say about the Peter and Olivia relationship in Season 5?

WYMAN: That it’s a good one. I think that people are going to be – again, it’s a love letter. I believe in the Peter relationship with Olivia, and I wanted to make sure that it was worthy of all those people who are invested in that relationship.

AX: Is that hard to live up to after doing the episode “A Short Story About Love”?

WYMAN: [laughs] It’s actually in a weird way more of a FRACTURED FAIRYTALE romance, but in a cool way. What’s really key is what happens after they get out of the amber and what has happened. From the time they disappeared, the time they went into that amber, what happened to them? How did they get ambered? What happened to this team? Walter, William Bell – how did this happen? There’s a large story there.

AX: How did the amber get over to this universe, because up until now, it had only been a feature of the alternate universe?

WYMAN: Yeah, the amber is over there, but everybody knows the technology. September knows the technology, Walter knows, there’s a lot of ways to get it, but it’s a good technology. It was [present in our universe in Season 1], you just didn’t know it. There was a bus in Season 1, that was actually when they were trying to figure out the pattern. The bus looked like a weapon, and people thought it looked like a weapon of mass destruction, and basically, it was amber. And now we’ve explained what amber is, but the truth is, I can’t take credit for that, nobody can, because we didn’t know at the time that that was where we were going with it, but it’s kind of an example of fortunate storytelling that you could pull from the past and put into the future.

AX: How did you ultimately come up with the finale for FRINGE?

WYMAN: There have probably been three or four endings, and everybody had an idea of where we would end the show. I think this is the authentic way to do it, because it really follows this thematic, “What are we trying to say?” Again, it always goes back to what I’m trying to say with my work. I think it’s fair to say that it [FRINGE] is a living, breathing organism … And [the storytelling] isn’t flippant. It’s really, “Okay, how can I utilize the future, the past, the present to get these themes that we’re trying to demonstrate home? Being a living, breathing organism, it’s going to change and you’re going to say, “Well, I never saw that color [before] and boy, isn’t that beautiful?” I’ve always maintained that I truly believe that the show has a natural end, that it is always something that we know is right. But how that takes shape is always in flux. So when I was facing how am I going to write thirteen episodes [for Season 5] that encapsulate everything that everybody wants to see? How am I going to move people? How am I going to make them feel that, four years of their lives were invested wisely? I could only go back to what I personally as a viewer and being a huge fan of television would want. And that is so every single person that I’ve invested for four years, I want to see them get what they deserve to get. Some things may be unexpected. Some things may be expected, but I want them to feel like what they’ve got has been earned, and I don’t want unanswered questions that make me confused. I want to be able to feel like there’s a sense of closure. But at the same time, what I’m really after is to make sure that there is a feeling of hope from this, that at the end, when you’re finished watching it, you can say, “Wow, that was very moving, and I feel really good, and I feel emotional,” but the next day driving to work, you can actually say, “I think I can imagine where they’re going to be in their lives and how it would go on and that the people I fell in love with for four years, they’re going to be okay, that I can imagine and feel all right and let FRINGE go off into the ether in a way that is satisfying and bittersweet.”

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Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Interview with FRINGE executive producer J.H. Wyman

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Human Kind”

CARL CORTEZ — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:10:20 +0000

TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Human Kind”

Stars: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Georgina Haig
Writer: Alison Schapker
Director: Dennis Smith
Network: Fox, airs Friday nights
Original Telecast: December 7, 2012

I’ve wanted to like the final season of FRINGE. I think the idea of a future ruled by Observers and the Fringe team trying to take them down was always a a solid arc for the final stretch.

Yet, the fifth season of FRINGE has been painfully slow and redundant. The idea that Walter (John Noble) has to find all these missing videotapes in order to remember what September told him about stopping the Observers has really padded things.

I thought this videotape thing would have been dispatched with much quicker, considering this is a 13-episode arc, but the writers have held on to the concept way too hard. In many ways, the “Fringe Case of the Week” has been replaced by “finding the tape of the week.” It doesn’t leave much for dramatic variety, but we did get a fifth and final season, so there’s no use in complaining.

In the past few weeks, Peter (Joshua Jackson) has taken the unorthodox step by inserting Observer technology into his head so he can think, see and become like the Observers. His solitary goal has been to avenge the death of his daughter Etta and kill baddie and head Observer Windmark (Michael Kopsa) he directly killed her. In order to do that, he needs an advantage.

As Olivia (Anna Torv) and Walter discover, the tech in Peter’s head is making him mentally advanced but is slowly stripping him of his humanity. What Olivia is able to explain to him, is that in order to win over the Observers, they need to not lose their humanity. To win, they need to keep Etta’s memory alive in their hearts.

With that, Peter extracts the technology from his head, hopefully avoiding permanent neurological damage from this little experiment.

Olivia goes on her own little journey to discovery throughout this episode. She picks up a huge magnet waiting for her by a woman (Jill Scott) who has psychic abilities. When Olivia is abducted while bringing the magnet back (remember there’s a ransom on her), she uses the bullet Etta used to carry with her to get out of the situation alive. This is why she believes Etta will always be with them.

“The Human Kind” is an episode that gets FRINGE back on the right track. I was not a fan of them killing off Etta so early in the season and it did damage the series a bit since the show needs its supporting cast to add color and Etta was a welcome addition.

Then again, you need conflict, and revenge is a good motivator as any. With only a handful of episodes left before the series’ conclusion, FRINGE needs to get back on track pretty quickly to resolve all the things that have been set up this season and hopefully find a satisfying conclusion to the series as a whole.

Love it or hate it, Season 5 has been a challenging affair, but it’s still way more captivating and interesting than most shows on television. The fact that the show is aware that it’s ending, also allows for bigger chances to be taken too without fear of cancellation. Still, I hope the show gets moving quickly and starts to take giant steps forward to a great conclusion. It would be a shame if this season’s muddled storyline got the best of the show and torpedoed what could have been a kick-ass finale.

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Article: TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Human Kind”

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Bullet That Saved the World”

CARL CORTEZ — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 00:03:17 +0000

TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Bullet That Saved the World”

Stars: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Georgina Haig
Writer: Alison Schapker
Director: David Straiton
Network: Fox, airs Friday nights
Original Telecast: October 28, 2012

Just when I thought FRINGE was going to get too repetitive with its “let’s find the videotape of the week” storyline as Walter (John Noble) tries to reconstruct the plan to destroy the Observers and save the world, “The Bullet That Saved The World” completely changes everything.

A really solid episode that has a shocking moment toward the end that changes the fifth season of the series moving forward.

SPOILER ALERT – Do not read further if you don’t want to know the big surprise

The episode digs deeper into the Observers tendency to read minds and their attempt to desperately find the Resistance especially the remaining members of the former Fringe division.

When Walter discovers one of the keys to plan is in a subway that’s protected by the Observers, they start using remnants of former Fringe cases to help them (Walter kept samples of things in a secret basement under the lab).

Everything seems to be going according to plan, except for the big bad evil Observer ends up killing Henrietta (Georgina Haig), the daughter of Olivia (Anna Torv) and Peter (Joshua Jackson).

This is a shocking moment and actually comes way too early in the game, but the resonance is huge. In fact, I think this decision is rather smart, because it distills the Fringe Division back down to the core team. Even Broyles (Lance Reddick) shows up, and he appears to be working for the Observers, but really, he’s part of the Resistance and working undercover (he knows how to block them from hearing his thoughts too).

The “bullet” of the title refers to a bullet necklace Peter gives to Henrietta.

The Observers continue to get creepier with every new episode and the stakes are raised exponentially. It’s great to know there’s a 13-episode arc here, and it’s not going to be interrupted by random standalone episodes. It’s all meat and “The Bullet That Saved the World” is another excellent feather in the series’ cap.

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Article: TV Review – FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Bullet that Saved the World”

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Recordist”

CARL CORTEZ — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:30:17 +0000

TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Recordist”

Stars: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Georgina Haig
Writer: Graham Roland
Director: Jeff T. Thomas
Network: Fox, airs Friday nights
Original Telecast: October 12, 2012

With the introduction of the idea that Walter (John Noble) has had many of his memories erased (some of which would allow him to remember how to stop the Observers because September told him the secret), FRINGE now begins what may be a very odd little subplot for a good duration of this 13-episode series finale.

Essentially, Walter recorded the information on how to stop the Observers on a series of VHS tapes that he left all around the city. It’s a scavenger hunt on an epic order – and of course, the notion that the videotapes have survived decades is a bit suspect, but at least that notion is addressed in many spots during “The Recordist.”

The third videotape is found first (not the first or second) and it leads them to a remote forest area that no one dares to tread. There, they find people who have been afflicted with a strange disease – the result of chemicals coming from a local mine.

In that mine are ingredients that our Fringe team must retrieve in order to start their annihilation of the Observers.

The interesting thing about this group of people is that they see themselves as “recordists” of the truth of what has happened to earth since the Observers took over. They have a huge archive and add to it daily. They don’t want to be found out, otherwise their work would be ruined.

This aspect of the story is classic science-fiction, as good as anything FRINGE has done, yet, I’m having a hard time getting around this whole videotape hunt which doesn’t look like it’s going to resolve itself any time soon.

Once again, Walter gets some of the best moments on the show (he smokes pot at some point). I love how Walter engages in the things you never see a character of his age partake in on a show – and how under the rug the writers sweep these moments so they play in a very subtle wink, wink way. If you’re paying attention, you get it, if you don’t, no loss either.

There’s also a big heavy element of family in this episode as we see Olivia (Anna Torv) still growing closer to her daughter Henrietta (Georgina Haig).

I’m always curious how people, who have never seen FRINGE, would react if they dropped into the middle of an episode like this. The show is so different year after year, fans embrace these changes, but casual viewers are likely scratching their heads or running to change the dial.

That’s why the series has had such a hard time gaining new viewers, but it’s wonderful that these last 13 are hand-crafted for fans only. Rarely does a network allow for this kind of folly, but I’m embracing every little morsel of this brilliant series (warts and all) before the plug is finally pulled before the year is up.

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Article Source: Assignment X
Article: TV Review – FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Recordist”

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 premiere – “Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11”

CARL CORTEZ — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:46:52 +0000

TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 premiere – “Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11”

Stars: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Georgina Haig
Writer: J.H. Wyman
Directors: Jeannot Szwarc, Miguel Sapochnik
Network: Fox, airs Friday nights
Original Telecast: October 28, 2012

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, FRINGE is one of the most ambitious and ground-breaking science-fiction series ever. It never rests on its laurels and it’s always quick to change its tone, focus and concept season by season in an attempt to tell challenging and complex stories even die-hard fans would never expect.

After Season 4, FRINGE was on the bubble and almost didn’t return for a fifth and final season, but Fox gave the series a last minute reprieve. Now the series is spinning off from the one-off “future” episode from last season “Letters of Transit” which took the team to the year 2036 where the Observers have taken over Earth and made that the focus of Season 5. The Fringe team has to save mankind from those bald-headed interlopers.

Peter (Joshua Jackson), Walter (John Noble) and Astrid (Jasika Nicole) have already been freed from a twenty year slumber in amber by Peter’s now grown daughter Henrietta (Georgina Haig). As the Season 5 premiere “Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11” begins, the team is now searching for Olivia (Anna Torv). She too was encased in amber, and after some digging, she’s freed from her slumber as well.

While the big time jump doesn’t exactly explain all that happened, what is clear is Henrietta (or Etta as they like to call her) was taken from Peter and Olivia when she was three – likely by the Observers. Their relationship went on the rocks and then the whole amber thing happened.

Meanwhile, September, the good Observer had used a device called a Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11 to fragment Walter’s brain with information on how to destroy the Observers for good.

FRINGE hits the ground-running with this Season 5 premiere and it’s a doozy. The language, tone and feel of the series has completely changed and that’s part of its charm. With this being the finale year, the series isn’t afraid to be weird and go completely out there. Anyone coming in this late in the game will be completely lost and anyone trying desperately to catch up needs to pay attention. The show never pandered, but now it’s not even pretending to try.

Exciting, fresh and filled with tons of surprises FRINGE is back and better than ever. It’s a science-fiction the way it should be – daring and original. FRINGE may have only lasted five seasons, but it has provided some of the most original television since the heyday of THE X-FILES.

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Article: TV Review – FRINGE – Season 5 premiere – “Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11”

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Breaking News: FRINGE Season 5 finale will have closure says executive producer – TCA 2012

A.C. FERRANTE — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:14:37 +0000

Breaking News: FRINGE Season 5 finale will have closure says executive producer – TCA 2012

Two weeks ago, the FRINGE actors and executive producer J.H. Wyman descended upon Comic-Con to give the scoop on FRINGE Season 5. While they were tight-lipped about giving away any major spoilers, today at the Fox Summer TCA Press Tour, executive producer spoke about how he wanted to end FRINGE Season 5 – and it won’t be open-ended.

“I’m not interested in anything open ended,” Wyman admits. “It would cause me frustration. I wouldn’t be satisfied. Here’s what’s really cool about FRINGE, and one of the things we did do right — the way we chose to tell the story, after every season there’s a closure and a new chapter. That allows us to make closure and if we wanted to or we could open it up again. One thing FRINGE has, is no shortage of ideas. There are so many jumping off points to use. Everybody’s thought about it. I wouldn’t want to pull a trip like that on our viewers. I want to reward them. I honestly sincerely feel that it’s the most miraculous fan base I’ve ever seen. I want to make sure I use every fiber of my body to deliver for them what I think is going to be satisfaction for the loyalty.”

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Article: Breaking News – FRINGE Season 5 finale will end with closure says executive producer

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TCA 2012: Fox talks about the decision to renew FRINGE for a final season

A.C. FERRANTE — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 22:30:46 +0000

TCA 2012: Fox talks about the decision to renew FRINGE for a final season

While Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly admits that the network has history of cancelling low-rated genre shows despite huge fan bases, he admitted today at the Fox Summer TCA Press Tour that he was pleased he was able to give FRINGE a final 13-episode Season 5 send-off.

“I don’t like to pull the plug on any show, and many of our failed shows have millions of fans,” says Reilly. “We have a checkered history with genre at best, because we’re one of the only networks who have consistently tried genre. FRINGE has a particular fan base and the FRINGE producers have provided a fantastic show. It’s done the job for us Fridays. We had a test pattern on Fridays [for years] and between KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL and FRINGE, we’ve won most Fridays [last year].”

Part of the success of FRINGE has come from the lift it gets from DVR usage.

“This year we had a 73 percent lift over our live numbers,” says Reilly. “If they don’t catch it live, they definitely catch it on the DVD.”

And Reilly, with a laugh, says it puts to rest the ghost of Comic-Con where people go, “Damn you Fox, you put shows on and break out hearts.”

“Hopefully we get a little cred for seeing one through that really deserved it,” admits Reilly.

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Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Fox explains the decision for renewing FRINGE for a fifth and final season

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Assignment X » Fringe

Interview: J.J. Abrams talks FRINGE finale and some STAR TREK

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Exclusive Interview: FRINGE star Seth Gabel talks ALLEGIANCE, his work on FRINGE and ARROW

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “Anomaly XB-6783746”

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Interview: FRINGE showrunner J.H. Wyman on Season 5 and the end

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Human Kind”

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Bullet That Saved the World”

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Recordist”

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 premiere – “Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11”

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Breaking News: FRINGE Season 5 finale will have closure says executive producer – TCA 2012

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TCA 2012: Fox talks about the decision to renew FRINGE for a final season

Article Source: Assignment X Article: Fox explains the decision for renewing FRINGE for a fifth and final season

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Article: Interview with J.J. Abrams on the FRINGE finale and STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

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Article: Exclusive interview with Seth Gabel on FRINGE, ALLEGIANCE and ARROW

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “Anomaly XB-6783746”

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Article: Interview with FRINGE executive producer J.H. Wyman

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Human Kind”

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: TV Review – FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Bullet that Saved the World”

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: TV Review – FRINGE – Season 5 – “The Recordist”

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: TV Review – FRINGE – Season 5 premiere – “Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11”

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Breaking News – FRINGE Season 5 finale will end with closure says executive producer

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Fox explains the decision for renewing FRINGE for a fifth and final season