"Fringe", and How It Does or Does Not Relate to Star Trek XI

[Samuel T. Cogley]

So, did anyone else catch "Fringe" last night?

I felt obligated to watch it, given that it is the brainchild of Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman. (And also because I humiliated myself by wearing a giant sombrero in front of those same gentlemen just a little over a month ago.)

I have to admit, I was underwhelmed. It felt like a rehash of other similar shows, and I alternated between being bored and just having that been there, done that feeling.

It wasn't bad, mind you. But it didn't feel infused with life and energy like so many of Abrams' other projects (in my opinion, obviously. So chill out, Abrams haters).

While there may not be much of a nexus between the two projects, I did feel a tad less excited about Star Trek XI after watching "Fringe."

Thoughts?

Remember, this is meant to discuss "Fringe" as it relates to Star Trek XI, not simply to discuss "Fringe". There are other forums for that.

 

[shapeshifter]

Didn't watch it for fear of coming to the same conclusion you have.

 

[TK421]

Fringe was just terrible. Cliched, dull, uninspired and lots of talking heads. If I didn't know better I'd say Brannon Braga wrote it.

However, Kurtzman and Orci have written some really great stuff in the past so I can only hope that this was a blip.

I think Fringe was the result of a combination of things.

1. Orci and Kurtzman have too much on their plate writing other stuff to give it proper attention.

2. They were coasting because they've become so big now the people around them are no longer giving proper constructive feedback.

I hope Star Trek didn't suffer because of their workload.

 

[Akiraprise]

Maybe Fringe suffered because Star Trek is so awesome.

 

[JohnChod]

I thought that the whole 95 minutes was validated by the line about how horrible the butterscotch pudding was! That was brilliant.

 

[HIj'Qa]

I tuned in and tuned out 10 minutes later. Just Dull, cliched.

 

[T'Cal]

I liked the crazy doctor but the rest were lacking. The dialog was good sometimes but others it was really awkward or flat. I'm not writing it off. I'll watch a few more episodes and see where it goes before I make a decision. When I watch the pilot for TNG, I thank God I didn't see it in first run otherwise I wouldn't have continued. I jumped in later and saw many of the first season episodes in rerun. I'll make a real effort to give Fringe a chance, though.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

...When I watch the pilot for TNG, I thank God I didn't see it in first run otherwise I wouldn't have continued. I jumped in later and saw many of the first season episodes in rerun. I'll make a real effort to give Fringe a chance, though.

Excellent point. I've often found TV pilots to be lacking in the quality that some series eventually find . TNG's Farpoint and even The Naked Now are a great example of that.

I'm not saying Fringe will necessarily become a great show, but while its pilot was not "knock your socks off" type of episode, I saw some things in it that will probably make me give it a chance and a few more looks.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Didn't watch as I will wait for DVDs. If we're looking at previous works by these people to judge how Trek XI will be, I love LOST, found Alias silly, and I thought Mission Impossible III and Transformers were shit. I'm trying to be optimistic though about TXI.

 

[Steven Of Nine]

Fringe was perfectly decent as a Pilot. Noble made the show good.
Watch an episode that isn't a Pilot, and then make your decision.

 

[Starbreaker]

I thought it was okay. I'm going to watch episode two... I'm a Lost fan (to a major degree), so I trust Abrams. I think this is just some extra junk that's in his contract to produce.

 

[T'Cal]

I've seen only a few episodes of Lost's first season and enjoyed them but didn't get into the second for some reason. Never saw Alias. Thoroughly enjoyed M:I:III and Transformers. And, as I posted above, the jury is still out on Fringe. No doubt, I'll be there on opening night for ST:XI. Probably the night before at the midnight show if that's offered. Screw work! This is the future we're talking about!!

 

[Mark 2000]

"Fringe" a sign of things to come?

First of all, let me say I like the idea of a Trek reboot. The rebootier the better.

Second, I don't have too much against JJ Abrams as Lost is one of my fav shows and I enjoyed most episodes others haven't, but after watching Fringe I'm extremely worried. Especially since Kurtzman and Orci cocreated the show. It was so... not bad... but just meh. I mean, mad scientists and their disenchanted sons who realize dad's not such a bad guy after all, meaningless lead character fan service, and a mystery/conspiracy I just would like them to tell me the answer to so I don't have to watch for 5 seasons or more.

How many times are these guys going to make meh - The Island, Transformers, Fringe - before we start understanding these guy make stereotypical Hollywood dreck? And we're expected to like this new Star Trek? Gosh, I hope I'm wrong, but I'm preparing for a pretty standard unidimentional bad guy from nowhere against loose canon good guy with an attitude with some time travel nonsense thrown in for no reason. Then someone has a revelation about themselves or something and we call it "an action movie with depth".

 

[number6]

Re: "Fringe" a sign of things to come?

If the new Trek film is as good as Fringe, I'll be pretty happy.

 

[EyalM]

Re: "Fringe" a sign of things to come?

They also did Mission Imposible 3, which I thought was the best of the bunch.
Transformars was juvenile, and The Island was OK.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

Re: "Fringe" a sign of things to come?

What a great idea for a thread!

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Re: "Fringe" a sign of things to come?

I keep looking around for my post from yesterday. It's like I'm in a parallel universe or thread or something.

[Chekov]It's ... GONE!!![/Chekov]

 

[Akiraprise]

Re: "Fringe" a sign of things to come?

I merged both Fringe threads together.

 

[Wonderlust King]

Does anyone else realize "Fringe" is the exact same show as the X-files?

 

[Sector 7]

If the new Trek film is as good as Fringe, I'll be pretty happy.

Agreed. I actually liked Fringe. Perhaps I'm no longer as jaded as I used to be. My mom (stroke victim who lives with me) had a hard time following it, but did so for my sake.
I liked Lost, Transformers... didn't watch MI:III because of nutcase actor/owner Cruise .. saw Alias a couple times, liked it OK.