Kaelah and I have been watching the first season of the science fiction / mystery TV series Fringe lately. I discovered the series a while ago myself and have now turned Kaelah on to it. As I expected, Kaelah with her analytical INTJ gaze is quicker at figuring things out than I was when I first watched Season 1. Even though she regularly squirms at the gory scenes.
When it comes to films and TV series, Kaelah is more of a series person while I am more of a film person. She likes the extensive development arcs of characters and their relationships that are only really possible over the long run of a series. I, on the other hand, have always been a cinephile admiring the works of the great directors. I rarely find myself liking the premise of a TV series enough to invest the substantial amount of time required to view the whole thing.
So, I have only ever watched a small handful of TV series in my life. Two of them are science fiction / mystery series: The X-Files and Fringe. Which, I suppose, demonstrates once again that our outlook in real life can differ utterly from our preferences in fiction. In real life, I hate conspiracy theories and pseudo-science. They and the half-educated cretins believing in them fill me with disgust. But I do love a good conspiracy theory / pseudo-science yarn in works of fiction!
Fringe, in my view, offers some of the best science fiction ever seen on television. It is also one of those series that initially require a bit of patience. The first half of the first season plays like a decent ripoff of The X-Files, well-crafted and entertaining, but nothing special to write home about yet. It is only after a dozen episodes that Fringe becomes absolutely mind-boggingly awesome. Personally, I like it even better than The X-Files. The X-Files was a great, pioneering series back in its day, but the backstory with its standard alien conspiracy fare was actually somewhat bland. The backstory of Fringe, on the other hand, is a brilliantly inventive mind twister. I don't want to spoil it for you, so I won't give any clues. Let's just say that, if you like science fiction and mystery, you really need to check out Fringe.
The main characters of the series are: Olivia Dunham, an FBI agent assigned to investigate the spread of unexplained phenomena. Walter Bishop, a former government scientist who spent 17 years in a mental institution after a lab accident in which his assistant was killed. And Peter Bishop, Walter's son, a college drop-out with an IQ of 190 and a chequered past. As you can imagine, the three of them make for an interesting ensemble. Walter, played by John Noble, is especially fun. He is the archetypical "mad scientist". After having spent nearly two decades in a mental institution, Walter suffers from partial memory loss (always a great plot device) and has acquired various quirks, such as obsessions with certain foods and irreverent commentary on sexual matters. Fringe fans make a hobby out of collecting Walter's quirky remarks, which they call "Walterisms".
Speaking of which, here is a kink reference from the series which, thankfully, justifies me writing about it here. When the Fringe team discovers ligature marks on the body of a woman who died under mysterious circumstances (exploding heads, yay!), Walter makes a quip about sexual bondage. Peter is not too happy about it, though. Well, knowing Peter, I don't think he has any objections to BDSM per se. But he is a bit prudish when it comes to his father's stories. That can be excused.
When it comes to films and TV series, Kaelah is more of a series person while I am more of a film person. She likes the extensive development arcs of characters and their relationships that are only really possible over the long run of a series. I, on the other hand, have always been a cinephile admiring the works of the great directors. I rarely find myself liking the premise of a TV series enough to invest the substantial amount of time required to view the whole thing.
So, I have only ever watched a small handful of TV series in my life. Two of them are science fiction / mystery series: The X-Files and Fringe. Which, I suppose, demonstrates once again that our outlook in real life can differ utterly from our preferences in fiction. In real life, I hate conspiracy theories and pseudo-science. They and the half-educated cretins believing in them fill me with disgust. But I do love a good conspiracy theory / pseudo-science yarn in works of fiction!
Fringe, in my view, offers some of the best science fiction ever seen on television. It is also one of those series that initially require a bit of patience. The first half of the first season plays like a decent ripoff of The X-Files, well-crafted and entertaining, but nothing special to write home about yet. It is only after a dozen episodes that Fringe becomes absolutely mind-boggingly awesome. Personally, I like it even better than The X-Files. The X-Files was a great, pioneering series back in its day, but the backstory with its standard alien conspiracy fare was actually somewhat bland. The backstory of Fringe, on the other hand, is a brilliantly inventive mind twister. I don't want to spoil it for you, so I won't give any clues. Let's just say that, if you like science fiction and mystery, you really need to check out Fringe.
The main characters of the series are: Olivia Dunham, an FBI agent assigned to investigate the spread of unexplained phenomena. Walter Bishop, a former government scientist who spent 17 years in a mental institution after a lab accident in which his assistant was killed. And Peter Bishop, Walter's son, a college drop-out with an IQ of 190 and a chequered past. As you can imagine, the three of them make for an interesting ensemble. Walter, played by John Noble, is especially fun. He is the archetypical "mad scientist". After having spent nearly two decades in a mental institution, Walter suffers from partial memory loss (always a great plot device) and has acquired various quirks, such as obsessions with certain foods and irreverent commentary on sexual matters. Fringe fans make a hobby out of collecting Walter's quirky remarks, which they call "Walterisms".
Speaking of which, here is a kink reference from the series which, thankfully, justifies me writing about it here. When the Fringe team discovers ligature marks on the body of a woman who died under mysterious circumstances (exploding heads, yay!), Walter makes a quip about sexual bondage. Peter is not too happy about it, though. Well, knowing Peter, I don't think he has any objections to BDSM per se. But he is a bit prudish when it comes to his father's stories. That can be excused.
If you are Fringe fans like Kaelah and me (or just fans of us!), don't forget to also check out our Psychic Weapon 'C' clip with Pandora Blake and Thomas Cameron, which was inspired by the series. It's available on Pandora's site Dreams of Spanking. Behind-the-scenes reports by Kaelah and Pandora can be found here and here.
5 comments:
Ludwig.
One of the very best was the original "Edge of Darkness" BBC circa 1985 original NOT Mel Gibson rubbish.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090424/
On which tv channel is that series shown?
@ vincent: Thank you for the suggestion. A mini-series is more manageable in terms of the time investment than an actual series. I will check it out sometime.
@ Donpascual: The series was originally aired on Fox TV (which is the best thing I can say about that Rupert Murdoch-owned company). I am sure a German dubbed version is / was aired on some German TV station, but I never watch dubbed versions, so I don't know which.
The first four seasons of Fringe are available for purchase on DVD. The series is currently heading into its fifth and final season, which will also be available on DVD after it has run.
@ Ludwig
Thank you for the info, I have seen Fox TV somewhere on my SAT system.
I'm looking forward to the next season and more "Walterisms". ;-)
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