Fringe
We're sitting here watching the Fringe premiere ... (mild spoilers)
The scene titles are distracting. It's a neat quirk, but it will get old before mid-season.
We're not done with the first episode yet, but I'm pretty sure Dunham's love interest won't make it; he'll need to either die or stay in a permanent coma so that they can set up the sexual-tension-versus-survivor's-guilt they're obviously going to pursue between Dunham and Peter Bishop. Post-viewing edit: well, you could also make him the villain, I guess that works, too.
Speaking of those two, it's interesting that they at least reversed the genders of the Scully/Mulder roles ... she's the believer; he's the cynic. This show owes an incredible debt to the X-Files; all the tropes are here ... a presumably evil mega-corporation (which appears to manufacture Anakin's prosthetics), shadowy government operatives with dubious agendas, paranormal subject matter.
It's ground we've covered before, but the show is funnier than The X-Files started out, as self-aware as The X-Files later became. The two Bishops are the best characters; at the very least they get the best lines:
"... it's not an exact science, but -" "It's not EVEN science!"
"The only thing better than a cow is a human ... unless you need milk, of course; then you really need a cow."
I realize that pilots generally have a lot of work to do, but some of this episode seems really forced. Believing Bishop's lab would still exist after 17 years is the biggest stretch, and the laughs it was played for weren't worth the credibility hit, in my view. 'Speaking Walter' is the flimsiest imaginable reason for keeping Peter on the team; it would have been better to give him a background that was more directly useful. Forced or not, if the subsequent episodes deliver I can forgive it, and Anna Torv and Josh Jackson are interesting enough to watch to give it a bit more time. In the meantime, it's cool seeing Denethor in a comedic role.
The scene titles are distracting. It's a neat quirk, but it will get old before mid-season.
We're not done with the first episode yet, but I'm pretty sure Dunham's love interest won't make it; he'll need to either die or stay in a permanent coma so that they can set up the sexual-tension-versus-survivor's-guilt they're obviously going to pursue between Dunham and Peter Bishop. Post-viewing edit: well, you could also make him the villain, I guess that works, too.
Speaking of those two, it's interesting that they at least reversed the genders of the Scully/Mulder roles ... she's the believer; he's the cynic. This show owes an incredible debt to the X-Files; all the tropes are here ... a presumably evil mega-corporation (which appears to manufacture Anakin's prosthetics), shadowy government operatives with dubious agendas, paranormal subject matter.
It's ground we've covered before, but the show is funnier than The X-Files started out, as self-aware as The X-Files later became. The two Bishops are the best characters; at the very least they get the best lines:
"... it's not an exact science, but -" "It's not EVEN science!"
"The only thing better than a cow is a human ... unless you need milk, of course; then you really need a cow."
I realize that pilots generally have a lot of work to do, but some of this episode seems really forced. Believing Bishop's lab would still exist after 17 years is the biggest stretch, and the laughs it was played for weren't worth the credibility hit, in my view. 'Speaking Walter' is the flimsiest imaginable reason for keeping Peter on the team; it would have been better to give him a background that was more directly useful. Forced or not, if the subsequent episodes deliver I can forgive it, and Anna Torv and Josh Jackson are interesting enough to watch to give it a bit more time. In the meantime, it's cool seeing Denethor in a comedic role.