Fringe Pilot Screening at (and near) Comic-Con

News via TVWeek that the Comic-Con veteran Warner Bros. (and not FOX, whose Comic-Con schedule has left some wondering where's the Fringe) will be deftly handling the Fringe marketing at Comic-Con with a panel and multiple screenings of the pilot.

--Warner Bros. Television will present panels for seven shows: “Chuck,” “Fringe,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Smallville,” “Supernatural,” “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and “The Big Bang Theory.”

The studio is planning two on-site screenings of the “Fringe” pilot, as well as two off-site screenings at the UA Horton Plaza Theater. It will continue its tradition of handing out free tote bags at its massive booth on the floor of the convention, and its animation division will hold a major bash on July 25

As for which pilot attendees will be shown--the rough cut leaked screener or a more polished final or near final cut of the pilot--we'll just have to wait and see.

Fringe Ads: Imagine The Impossibilities

Mysterious flash ads for Fringe have begun appearing online. According to The Hollywood Reporter:

[The ads are] placed on Web sites outside of the usual entertainment hubs to catch viewers attention in unique locations. Users on such sites as Automobile.com and recipe site FamilyOven.com will see mysterious ads encouraging them to "Imagine the Impossibilities."

"They will be very quick sort of messages, leading people to nondescript Web sites that will ultimately lead them back to 'Fringe,' " [Laurel] Bernard (senior vp marketing at Fox) said.

The ads don't specifically mention Fringe, but they do take you the ImagineTheImpossiblities.com website.

One very interesting tidbit about the ads...

The film strips that drop down have printing on the bottom; some sort of date, and the words "Drs Bell & Bishop" - most likely referring to Dr. Walter Bishop, the institutionalized father of Peter Bishop, and Dr. William Bell, the founder of Massive Dynamics.

Fringe Radio Spots - Find The Pattern

The following radio ads will begin airing today, kicking off FOX's media barrage to promote Fringe:



According to The Hollywood Reporter:

The campaign will feature cryptic messages that encourage fans to search on the Internet for more information. Fans of Abrams' hit ABC drama "Lost" and last year's theatrical release "Cloverfield" are familiar with the tactic, so much so that Abrams' name is incorporated into the radio ads as a clue.
...
"Our radio goal was definitely to not say 'Fringe,' " said Laurel Bernard, senior vp marketing at Fox. "We didn't want them to sound in any way like a traditional radio spot. We wanted them to be disruptive and a little mysterious sounding."
...
The Fox network is hoping listeners will piece together these mysterious fragments and realize there is indeed a pattern -- one that leads straight to the network's tentpole fall series "Fringe."

A possible website for the embedded "Find The Pattern" message may be FindThePattern.com. It is currently not active yet, but that may change later today.

Fringe: Expand Your Consciousness

When you select the leaf image (braille #5) on either the Fox.com/Fringe or ImagineTheImpossibilities.com sites, a weird sound is played. By isolating the sound, and playing it backwards, a hidden message is revealed - Expand Your Consciousness!

Thanks to Pwn Master Paladin for noticing the strange sound.

You can hear the original and reversed sound below.

Original (Download MP3):


Reversed (Download MP3):

Fringe: Imagine the Impossibilities

A new official website for Fringe is online. I found it as a sponsored link during Google a search for Fringe:

Google Sponsored Links

What is The Fringe?
Are you a part of “The Pattern?”
Find Out Now!
www.ImageTheImpossibilities.com

As for the site's contents, it would appear to be the same as http://www.fox.com/fringe/, so nothing new there, yet. One positive to note, from my end at least, is the flash seems to load faster on the new site. We'll keep watch.

Of Fringe ARG's, Bad Robot, Experiences & Expectations and Massive Dynamics

In a nutshell, Massive Dynamics may or may not be the bad guys. Formerly Prometheus Corp. according to early script reviewers, Massive Dynamics is a multi-billion dollar high-tech company that exists in the Fringe universe. Massive Dynamics was founded by Dr. William Bell (former partner of Dr. Walter Bishop).

Massive Dynamics' slogan is:

What do we do? . . . What don't we do.

Reviewers of the leaked pilot (without getting too specific) paint Massive Dynamics as a manufacturer of modern miracles, a shadowy, mysterious, all-powerful corporation and secretive defense contractor with hidden agendas, connections to "the pattern", etc.

What makes Massive Dynamics of special interest to online fans of Fringe is Bad Robot's track record of using fictional business entities--The Hanso Foundation and Tagurato Corp. for example--as vehicles to blur the line between reality and the fictions of the Lost and Cloverfield universes. Although often referred to as Alternate Reality Games, or ARGs, what Bad Robot has done with the web doesn't quite meet the definition of ARG since they've yet to award anyone a prize. Instead, Bad Robot has treated the internet as a bridge between universes by casting the internet, our internet, to play itself in these fictional alternate realities.

Is there an ARExperience planned for Fringe? Will JJ Abrams & Co. (and FOX) surprise the fans a full fledged ARG? Has the Fringe universe already hatched a website or video or posting just waiting to be found? It's anyone's guess, but Abrams fans experienced in the art of finding online portals to Bad Robot's television and movie productions will tell you that Massive Dynamics is a good place to start looking.

How Would The Actor's Strike Affect Fringe?

It's only been a few months since the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike ended, and now an actor's strike looms over Hollywood. In a nutshell, actors want what the writers got - a piece of the internet pie.

Fringe has a lot to lose if there is a strike:

[Networks] are puzzled over how to proceed with fall season promotions. Fox, for one, was planning to blow the doors out with barrages of Fringe buzz, but may hold back if the show's early-July production start is in jeopardy.

Fox has given Fringe a superstar schedule with a House lead-in this fall, and an American Idol lead-in this spring, but strike delay could throw everything off. House already has some episodes "in the can", ironically thanks to the WGA strike.

Comic-con would also be affected by a strike, preventing movie stars from attending and giving autographs. So while we might not get an Anna Torv or Joshua Jackson appearance in San Diego next month, JJ Abrams would still be there promoting Fringe (but not Star Trek since Paramount has already pulled out).

Fortunately, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have already come to a tentative agreement and will vote on July 7^th, which is expected to pass. While the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has not been able to reach an agreement, and their contract expires on Monday, June 30^th, they would need a 75% approval vote to strike, which is unlikely.

Fringe Forum: Better, Stronger, Faster

The forum has been upgraded in a major way. That's an actual technical upgrade ladies and gents, the likes of which not even the most experienced forum user has ever seen before. So do go here and check out the new forum, and if seeing is believing, take matters into your own hands and respond to the Roll Call.

Fringe's Official Site Updated

See: http://www.fox.com/fringe/

Added: What looks like a braille navigation menu across the bottom where you can manually select from the leaf, hand, apple, or the new frog or flower--which link to a Fringe Trailer on YouTube, and the Fringe Facebook Page.

AICN's Hercules Bullets the Fringe Pilot

Answering such diverse questions as: What’s it called? Who’s responsible? What does Fox say? The big news? What’s this about “a larger, more shocking truth?” Aim? Aquafresh? And all this is somehow tied to the plane mishap? Say. Didn’t Fox already air a series about FBI agents investigating the uncanny? Will subsequent “Fringe” episodes deal with sentient extraterrestrial crude oil, killer bees or humanoid tapeworms? Is the “Fringe” pilot as good as the “X-Files” pilot? “Twin Peaks” had FBI agents investigating weird stuff every week, didn’t it? Is the “Fringe” pilot as good as the “Twin Peaks” pilot? Is the “Fringe” pilot as good as the Abrams-directed “Alias” and “Lost” pilots? How rate you “Fringe’s” cast? Abrams didn’t direct this pilot, right? Isn’t Abrams essentially abandoning “Fringe” as he did “Alias” and “Lost”? This sounds … promising. How long before Fox cancels it?

Some spoilers, but you can read his answers here. Oh, and he gives it 4 stars as in likes it quite a bit.

Fox asks, "what’d you think?" of the leaked Fringe pilot

Odd that they would do that, unless, of course, they're the ones who did the leaking?

So, I ask -- was the Fringe pilot intentionally leaked by FOX/Warner Bros./Bad Robot?

Take the poll (to the right in the sidebar) or leave a comment.

Update: Poll closed/results: 91% believed the Fringe pilot intentionally leaked by FOX/Warner Bros./Bad Robot.

"The high quality of the Fringe download, alongside a source tag that identifies the torrent as a DVD screener, has sparked speculation over whether the pilot episode was intentionally leaked to build early buzz and hype before the show's broadcast premiere. A user on community forum Neowin wrote: 'In my opinion it's Fox themselves that use this technology to generate some talk.'" -- Underwire

"Fox was very careful with this expensive pilot, opting for private industry screenings rather than mailing out DVD screeners." -- THR

"Meanwhile, there are speculations over whether the pilot episode of Fringe was intentionally leaked by the network to create some early buzz." -- Buddy TV

"Yes, the Fringe pilot has gotten out. So, for those of you who have seen it — what’d you think?" -- Future on Fox

Sidenote: It appears FOX has deleted the post where they asked, 'what'd you think?' of the leaked Fringe pilot. It originally read:

Wanted: Little Dutch Boy

HR put it succinctly: That summer rite of passage, the annual leaking of the pilots, is upon us.

Yes, the Fringe pilot has gotten out.

So, for those of you who have seen it — what’d you think?

Fringe Schedule for Comic-Con

Ducky Does TV has posted the Warner Bros. TV Comic-Con Schedule which includes Fringe. According to Ducky's schedule, Fringe is scheduled Saturday, July 26th, 4:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. Saturday is sold out by the way.

What does all this mean? To be honest, I can't exactly say. My only experience with Comic-Con was feverishly refreshing last years live bloggers who were covering the Paramount/Abrams/Cloverfield panel. So my best guess is there will be a panel comprised of Fringe writers and/or directors and/or producers and/or stars who may have something to say, or show, or could just be there to look pretty and field a few questions about the show.