You may have noticed that there’s been no film review for the past couple of weeks, that’s because we just haven’t been to the cinema!! Basically, there hasn’t been a film that we’ve all decided is a must see…plus the fact that one of our group became a Dad & I’ve been on call, so the cinema had to put on the back burner!!
Having said that, it doesn’t mean that I’ve been sitting in twiddling my thumbs (as if with a little one!!)…nope their have been a few new TV shows starting in the past few weeks, one if which being the latest offering from Lost creator J.J Abrams called Fringe. I’ve also started watching Burn Notice - more about that in a later post!!
Anyway, back to Fringe - What do you think? I have to be honest & say I’m not sure if I’m enjoying as much as I thought I would!! I love the idea/concept of it, its a bit like X-Files, but it really sounds quite interesting….A female FBI agent who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena, which has been named ‘The Pattern.’ In the 1st pilot episode, FBI Agent Olivia Dunham finds herself caught up in an investigation that thrusts her into the path of weird goings on. To begin with, a plane lands on auto-pilot with all passengers & crew dead from some unexplained reaction that causes the victims organs etc to solidify. She enlists the only man that she thinks can help her – an old Scientist called Walter Bishop, who was locked away for going a bit mad, to get him released she needs the help of his son – Peter Bishop (played by Joshua Jackson). They then work out what the cause is & find the cure..which she needs to save her partner who is also infected with the disease!! This is all fine, especially when at the end we find out the her partner is infact involved in somehow spreading the disease!! We learn about the possible corrupt major company behind these weird goings on called – ‘Massive Corp’ or something!! Again, this is all fine, even the 2nd episode is pretty good, touching on the types of experimental science Walter Bishop carried out for the Government back in the day….trying to breed humans that they ‘grow’ to their peak age ready for war etc!! This experiment has been recreated today, but cannot be stopped and they are killing innocent people in order to purlong/cure the victims premature ageing!!
Again, nothig wron with all the above, in fact I found it all very interesting – will they, wont they figure out what’s going on etc before its too late!! The parts I have a problem with, is it seems they are goingto throw in weird/odd ball experiments in the middle of the episode to assist them solve the mystery!! In the 1st episode Walter convinces the FBI Agent to be drugged up high on LSD, submerged in a water tank in order to communicate with her partner through brian waves, whilst he lies in a coma!! This weeks episode, they try to figure out where the killers are holding their victims, by removing the eye of one of them getting hold of a special imaging camera (from ‘Massive Corp??), plugging the camera into a monitor & by taking pictures of the eye they can see her final images….a bridge, which they put into the FBI database, loctae & even figure out what building it was viewed from just by the angle!! WOW
I suppose, this is all possible, but I get the feeling that is just shoe-horned in, done really quickly…a bit like: Quick I’ve had an idea, if we do this, then we’ll find out this & hey presto there’s the answer we were all looking for…..plus its seems when this happens everyone seems to know exactly what to do & even understand the science behind it!!
Maybe I’m just being picky & you may not agree, but I’d be interested to know your thoughts……It’s definately no Lost, but I’ll continue to watch it as I’m sure there’s some twist involved – like its all the Police/Governments doing….’You don’t know what you’re getting into’ kinda thing!!
Overall mark for 2 episodes – 7/10 so far!!
Oh by the way – anyone else notice that the incidental/dramatic music sounds exactly the same as that used in Lost?? No – just me again then…..
UPDATE: After watching this weeks episode, I think Mr Abrams must have read my website & agreed with me that the ‘science experiments’ in the middle if the episodes were a little rushed & pointless…..This week, I felt, the idea of ‘re-wiring’ the chaps brain, so that the signals he were receiving were transferred to words rather than pictures, was a good one!! Ok, so the concept may be a little out there, but I honestly thought that this week the whole scenerio was better explained, with more time & care to involve the other characters…rather than rushing through it!! In fact it was rather clever & actually quite pivotal to the episode & in my opinion made this the best episode so far….so much so I’m really rather looking forward to next weeks!!