Zap2it has a thorough piece on Fringe. It doesn't hurt that they've read the script (or at least an early version of it), but they also seem well versed in how a script should read, and sufficiently objective about it (just my read, but there's a lot of jealousy out there when it comes to JJ Abrams' success).
The article opens with the news that's being reported far and wide as of today, "FOX will announce its 2008-09 schedule at its upfront presentation to advertisers on Thursday (May 15)," along with this telling insight, "But fans have already been anticipating Dollhouse and Fringe for months." Telling in that it tells me that the author of the piece, Daniel Fienberg, reads the Internet (which is more than can be said for most "connected" reporters). A few excerpts of Fienberg's first impressions:
Created by J.J. Abrams with frequent cohorts Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, Fringe is expected to have a place on the fall schedule, launching with a two-hour pilot believed to be budgeted in the $10-million range and directed by Alex Graves (Journeyman). The cast of the X-Files-esque drama is led by relative newcomer Anna Torv -- hoping to catch a little of the magic Abrams gave to Keri Russell, Jennifer Garner and Evangeline Lilly -- but includes familiar faces including Joshua Jackson (Pacey!!!), John Noble (Denethor!!!) and Lance Reddick.
...Keeping in mind that between rewrites, casting and directing choices original pilot scripts can be as different from the eventual pilot as night and day, here are a few first impressions [having read the script]:
When something disturbing, unexplainable and just a bit icky happens to the passengers on an international flight, FBI Agent Olivia Warren (Torv) begins an investigation that leads her to Dr. Walter Bishop (Noble), a renegade scientist whose unorthodox experiments into fringe phenomena led arrests and eventually institutionalization. Warren can only get Bishop out with the help of his estranged son Peter (Jackson), a young man with a genius IQ, but questionable morals and motivation. The son isn't ready to reconcile with his father, the father isn't ready to be reintegrated into the outside world and Olivia isn't ready to serve as babysitter, but the form an unlikely team. How does the airplane tragedy relate to The Pattern, a race of unexplained occurrences sweeping the world? And what does any of this have to do with the mysterious Prometheus Corporation, one of the world's most forward-thinking companies? And what do we make of Broyles (Reddick), the head of the Homeland Security's newly formed Fringe Division?
...The script has an X-Files meets Altered States meets Alias vibe that's immediately familiar and comfortable. The actual plot of the pilot could probably have fit into a standard hour, but Abrams and Company are making the effort to give the material a global scale and the script plants at least a half-dozen potential running mysteries that will allow Fringe to have both serialized elements and also freak-of-the-week plots. ...
For FOX, the best thing about Fringe -- other than getting into the J.J. Abrams business, of course -- is that the series has the potential to partner with almost any established show on its schedule, ...
...read more.
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