quote:Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester: I was on the fence about Fringe for the first few episodes but thought it got better as it went along. It never gets mindblowingly good or anything, but worth watching I'd say. I haven't watched the second season.
Yeah, I have to say that Fringe really picks up in quality as the series goes on. I'd take a bit further than EDE in my praise and say the last few episodes really are pretty damn terrific. I'd say its the second best sci-fi television show in ages (after Lost).
For me it beats X-Files hands down, but while I liked X-Files I was never a major devotee (of course, when it was out was during my early formative teen years, so I was distracted to say the least).
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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We've been watching the "Bridge" these last few weeks. The pilot was fantastic, the second episode a little disturbing and the third one was a head scratcher. I really have no Idea where it's developing to, but it's sure been interesting.
From: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada | Registered: Sep 2004
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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Episode 3.1, "The Heir Apparent."
Quite blatantly sing "Anastasia" as a blueprint, the third season opener packs enough twists and turns to transcend its derivative origins. Barbara Bain has one of her best roles as the feeble, blind old "princess", Peter Graves has fun as an unctuous con man, and, unusually, Martin Landau's big scene actually involves him shedding his disguise. Greg Morris and Peter Lupus deliberatly let themselves be put in solitary confinement, the toolkit for their escape cleverly disguised as a pair of eyeglasses worn by Lupus. Alexander Singer, one of the show's best regular directors, brings a lot of style to this episode, and Lalo Schifrin, who composed the iconic theme music, does the whole score for this episode, one of his most memorable.
The next episode is a slow 2-parter involving boxers and the mob, not one of my favorites, so next I'll be skipping ahead to Episode 3.4, "The Mercenaries."
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I just watched a pretty good documentary called, "The Botany of Desire".
Adapted from the book of the same name name by journalist Michael Pollan, it examined the phenomenon of how, throughout history, humans have engaged in nearly symbiotic relationships with certain plants. It suggests that because these plants satisfy certain base human desires, we have created environments where they would not only be guaranteed survival, but evolutionary triumph over other plants.
The four plants examined in this film (and the corresponding desire which they are said to satisfy) were the apple representing sweetness, the tulip - beauty, marijuana - intoxication, and the potato - control (that is to say, control over our own fate at the hands of the elements).
It was a very interesting film and although I didn't agree with all of Pollan's conclusions, it's worth a rent if just for the wealth of historical tidbits (ex: the role of the potato in bringing about the Industrial Revolution; how the tulip nearly destroyed the economy of the Netherlands; etc.).
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Registered: Feb 2008
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid:
quote:Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester: I was on the fence about Fringe for the first few episodes but thought it got better as it went along. It never gets mindblowingly good or anything, but worth watching I'd say. I haven't watched the second season.
Yeah, I have to say that Fringe really picks up in quality as the series goes on. I'd take a bit further than EDE in my praise and say the last few episodes really are pretty damn terrific. I'd say its the second best sci-fi television show in ages (after Lost).
For me it beats X-Files hands down, but while I liked X-Files I was never a major devotee (of course, when it was out was during my early formative teen years, so I was distracted to say the least).
I just watched a couple of second season episodes online, and they were pretty fanastic!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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OK. It sounds like Fringe gets better so I will forge on with it. Might pop back in with a review when I finish the season.
Re: The X-Files - I think it really was pretty fantastic back in it's day. But by "back in it's day" I only mean the first 4 or 5 seasons - when the show started to get bogged down in all that alien-conspiracy crap and the at-first-cool-but-very-quickly-annoying "Cancer Man" became the unstoppable Big Bad of the show I soon lost interest. Never saw the last couple of seasons.
But those first few seasons really were excellent and the chemistry between Anderson and Duchovny was like few other things on TV. It WAS the show! Great characters played by great actors. Something I think Fringe is seriously lacking in so far. The female lead is OK if a bit bland, Pacey is just kinda there and the "funny" crazy antics of the old man (shades of Starman/boy) have annoyed me since the first episode. Whereas Scully and Mulder crackled in every scene they were in together.
Something else that I liked about The X-Files compared to Fringe (so far) is that the former mixed up it's monsters of the week a lot more. One episode could be something mythical like a werewolf or a vampire, another something sci-fi like an alien or a technological terror, another something creepy and scary like a serial killer or a haunted house, and so on.
Whereas in Fringe it's been the same villain and plot every episode - Mad scientist creates some sort of sci-fi weapon which he/she either accidentally or intentionally kills people with. Heroes find out how to counteract the weapon using some sort of knowledge from Pacey's Dad. Shadowy company lurks in the background. The end.
It hasn't been a very good start but you guys like it and it's been picked up for a third season so it must do something right down the line. I'm off to watch some more now.
From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
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Yeah the lack of variety plotwise in the early episodes kind of bugged me too, and a lot of the pseudo-science in those episodes seemed goofy beyond belief. You get some more variety as more bits of the overall mythology get introduced.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Yeah, I agree. I almost feel like they were holding back on the really great stuff in order to build tension towards the end of the season. Nothing wrong if that if they had better scenarios in the beginning.
It will really get awesome when one of the recurring antagonist of season one starts to show up (David Robert Jones played by the awesome Jared Harris, who is also on Mad Men). He does an excellent job at being an incredibly dynamic character creating all kinds of problems while not falling into too many cliches or villains / antagonists. By the end of the season, he's morphed into this incredibly awesome character.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Episode 3.4, "The Mercenaries"
Everybody involved in this episode seems to be having a ball, both in front of the camera and behind it. In a rare villainous role, Pernell Roberts plays the leader of a band of soldiers of fortune (among his goons are Vic Tayback and Bo Svenson) who is ultimately undone by his own greed. Loyalty or lack thereof is a big theme in this episode, with Peter Graves and Barbara Bain posing as sleazy gunrunners loyal to no one, including themselves. This episode marks the directing debut of Paul Krasny, who had been the series' lead film editor during the first two seasons, and he dives in with gusto, bathing the screen in atmospheric lighting and bizarre camera angles, and creating one of the series' most memorable visuals in the imagery of flowing melted gold. Unfortunately, due to his promotion to post-production supervisor, Krasny didn't have the time to direct any more Season Three episodes.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Episode 3.5, "The Execution"
One of the series' starkest and most disturbing episodes, in which the IMF kidnaps a hired killer (Luke Askew) working for a powerful mobster (Vincent Gardenia), and makes the killer believe he's going to the gas chamber unless he turns stool pigeon. Proving once and for all that she wasn't just a pretty face, Barbara Bain has one of her least glamorous and most memorable roles as the killer's hard-boiled lawyer. Director Alexander Singer shows his versatility by setting aside the warm, ornate visuals of "The Heir Apparent" for a chilly, no-frills look. This would also be writers' William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter's last IM script to be filmed and broadcast. After two seasons as the series' head writers, they were promoted to showrunners, which resulted in a few great episodes but a lot of hurt on the part of the show's hard-working crew, and the final spark that exploded these writers' already-volatile relationship with the series' creator and executive producer, Bruce Geller. But in my opinion at least, Woodfield and Balter's early exit during the third season was a blessing in disguise, which I'll elaborate on as the IM reviews continue in order of original broadcasting.
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Just want to pop in and say that I'm just over half-way through the first season of Fringe now and enjoying it a lot more! So, thanks to all those who told me to stick with it!
I think I accidentally spoiled myself to something that happens in the last episode of this season though so that's a bit annoying.
Hope there are some other surprises coming up to um, surprise me.
From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2003
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Woodfield & Balter are credited as producers, but this episode actually passed through a total of THREE showrunner teams -- W&B, interim producer Robert Thompson, and eventual full-time producer Stanley Kallis. Amazingly, the behind-the-scenes strife doesn't show in the finished product at all! And much of the credit for that must go to Sutton Roley, one of the most inventive and dynamic prime time TV directors of his time. Theodore Bikel, in a rare TV appearance, plays the villain, and Paul Stevens excels in the double role of a beloved Cardinal and a goverment-puppet impostor.
The production problems do show on the following string of episodes which, for various reasons, I don't regard as worth discussing. But THEN comes the real prime cuts.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3.13, "The Mind of Stefan Miklos"
Writer Paul Playdon, still in his twenties at the time, came up with an astonishingly complex yet perfectly executed script that Robert Thompson hungrily snapped up. But it was Stanley Kallis who made Playdon the show's script consultant and head writer, which would result in what I consider the best era of MI ever. As for the episode itself, Robert Butler directs stylishsly but unobstrusively so as to not obscure the all-important details that dovetail perfectly as the IMF works hard to win a game of wills against Stefan Miklos (Steve Ihnat), an enemy agent with one of the world's sharpest minds. Trainspotters will also savor the appearances of a pre-stardom Ed Asner, Outer Limits Control Voice Vic Perrin, and "The Brain That Wouldn't Die"'s leading man, Jason Evers.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3.14, "The Test Case"
Sutton Roley strikes again, enlivening a rather formulaic and claustrophobic story -- in which Martin Landau takes the place of a human germ warfare guinea pig -- with dazzling camerawork, quick cuts, and monochromatic red filters. Accordingly to Roley, Bruce Geller found the end result fascinating but confusing, but decided it didn't matter as long as it was good.
I generally prefer the international intrigue episodes to the organized crime episodes, but this casino-themed episode is brisk enough to make the grade. Even the blackjack and roulette scenes are visually dynamic, thanks to the then-new "snorkel-cam." Greg Morris has an edge-of-your-seat long-distance safecracking sequence, Martin Landau's vocal mimicry skills get a workout, and Barbara Bain enjoys herself as a beautiful but heartless gambler.
Well, I did a complete 180 on this show and ended up really enjoying it! I even came to like all of the characters which is something I really was not expecting to happen after their blandy-mcblanderson starts.
It's funny I compared it to The X-Files earlier because I discovered that the things I like about the two shows are completely the opposite.
My favourite episodes of The X-Files were those that dispensed with whatever the stupid alien-goo-kidnapping-sisters-conspiracy-thing was that formed the spine of the plot for it's entire run and just concentrated on telling weird/creepy stories about the monster/alien/ghost/serial-killer/whatever of the week.
Whereas in Fringe I'm completely hooked on the underlying plot of the show about alternate realities and science gone bad and shadowy corporations and all the rest. I love having the feeling that we've barely scratched the surface of where these writers/producers are wanting to take us with this show too.
Obviously after Lost we know that JJ Abrams has long-range goals in mind when he creates a show and I really get that feeling with this one too.
I'm gonna see if any of my local shops have season 2 on DVD yet so I can catch up with the rest of you guys.
So thanks again to those who told me to stick with it. I was *this* close to quitting it after those dull first few episodes but I'm really glad I didn't now.
From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2003
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Right now? BalconyTV London (BalconyTV Dublin has some great new bands performing, as well)
In the DVD player is a movie called Little Ashes that we tried to watch a couple of nights ago but just couldn't finish. We'd made it about halfway through before we decided that either it was really boring, or we were just really tired.
Registered: Dec 2006
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