Fringe Comic-Con Preview Night Screening

Comic-Con 2008 kicked off their "preview night" on Wednesday, with the first official public preview of the FRINGE pilot. The screening was introduced by a pre-taped J.J. Abrams. He congratulated the crowd on seeing the "first not illegal, unleaked, evil internet screening". The pilot clocked in at 81 minutes and 30 seconds, to which Abrams joked "may be 30 seconds too long". After the screening, cards were handed out to remind people to attend the FRINGE session on Saturday to get their first scavenger hunt clue. Thanks to PostLarval at Unfiction for the photo!

Fringe Hotel Keys at Comic-Con

FRINGE room keys are available at participating San Diego hotels for Comic-con. Peter Sciretta from SlashFilm reports:

Just checked in to my hotel and San Diego and was handed a hotel key with the Watchmen logo on it. Turns out, this is just one of eight comic con branded hotel keys which are available at participating Comic Con hotels. The keys include Watchmen, Terminator Salvation, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Chuck, Wonder Woman, Fringe, The Big Bang Theory and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Fringe Scavenger Hunt Begins At Comic-Con

A scavenger hunt is set to start immediately after the Fringe panel at Comic-Con.

The LA Times has an exclusive sneak peek at the first clue, which will be sent to everyone who has registered at the SearchForThePattern.com website.

The first clue reveals the starting point of the hunt - Booth #4129 - where Fox Atomic/Fox Atomic Comics will be stationed.

Similar to The Dark Night scavenger hunt from last year's Comic-con, the clues will likely lead to various locations around San Diego. The prize is rumored to be a trip to NYC for the FRINGE premiere.

If anyone is going to Comic-Con, please email us your clues along the way! And definitely be on the lookout for cows!

Fringe Targets Casual and Dedicated Viewers

The deadBolt's Jordan Riefe interviews the writers/executive producers/co-creators of Fringe: J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. In the interview JJ expands a bit on the question of Fringe's accessibility and supposes that fans of Alias and Lost have reason to watch Fringe.

Q: If it’s possible to say, "Okay, Lost is over here, Alias is here," where is Fringe in that?

J.J. ABRAMS: Fringe feels a part of the same universe as those shows, although it’s obviously its own thing and very different. So I feel like it’s someone who’s a fan of those show will likely find something that they like in Fringe, but they’re not specifically thematically connected or through character.

...

Q: Lost is famous for adding more mysteries, more unsolved questions and not going back to solve the other ones it takes awhile for it. Is Fringe going to be constructed that way too with another mystery on top of another one?

J.J. ABRAMS: Yes, and no. I mean, I think that the show - it’s very important to the three of us that Fringe be a show that people can watch either religiously or casually. It’s something that Alias and Lost I don’t think necessarily have in their back pocket. Those are shows that you really need to watch every episode to kind of track. Fringe is a show that if you watch every episode you’ll be rewarded with details and specific movements of character and story. But you don’t have to. This show is going to have a much more accessible way in. And I think the stuff that’s going to be scary and crazy and creepy and weird, there’ll be a beginning, middle, and end. So there’s a procedural element to the show that I’m actually thrilled to play with, because I’ve never done a show that’s a procedural based show. So it was important for the three of us that the show not be exclusionary, that if you do a series where by episode six if you didn’t catch the first five you’re screwed. Our goal was to mitigate that, which I think the other two shows - which I am honored to be a part of - kind of made their names being these sort of oblique kind of Byzantine experiences.

Read the full interview here.

FringeDivision.com - The Official Forum of the Fringe Creative Team

We would like to welcome FringeDivision.com, the official forum of the FRINGE Creative Team. FringeDivision is sponsored by J.J. Abrams himself, so it will have inside access to writers, directors, and stars of the show. Brought to you by the same team who created The Fuselage (the official forum of the LOST creative team).

From the announcement:

Thanks to the insane awesomeness that is JJ, Burky and Bad Robot - FRINGE fans now have a place to interact with each other AND with members of the Creative Team AND (hopefully) actors from the show. That place is FRINGE DIVISION — the Official Site for the Creative Team Behind FRINGE
...
J.R. Orci, one of those writer/producer guys for FRINGE, has already been breaking in his Q&A forum on the threaded board, and a few more VIPs should start appearing over the next couple of weeks.

Will the Fringe Pilot be Remote Free TV?

Fringe will debut FOX's Remote Free TV concept by running only half the number of commercial minutes per episode as is typical for an hour-long program. According to the theglobeandmail.com, that equates to "50 minutes of programming in each hour-long episode." THR defines Remote Free TV as "commercial loads of about five minutes per hour, about half the usual," which, minus 60, equals 55 minutes of programming. Regardless of whose math is correct, the Fringe Pilot that was screened for the press and the version leaked online are reported from 82 to 90 minutes in length, which falls short of a theoretical two hour Remote Free premiere by at least 10 minutes, and possibly as many as 20.

In spite of rumors and confirmation that the Pilot is being tinkered with, Comic-Con's July 23 screenings consist of two 90 minute slots: 6:00–7:30 and 7:30-9:00. Does this mean Comic-Con attendees won't be seeing a Pilot tweaked to the point of being Remote Free TV friendly? Or does it mean Fringe may be Remote Free TV, but the Fringe Pilot isn't?

p.s. Don't miss Fringe at Comic-Con. See our Complete Fringe Schedule for Comic-Con 2008, and if you're not able to attend, watch this space all next week for the latest Comic-Con coverage.

Official Fringe ARG & Sweepstakes @ ExploreTheImpossibilities.com

There is a new Fringe website at ExploreTheImpossibilities.com (also SearchForThePattern.com).

The main site loops a few of the trailers, has a banner promotion for Fringe at Comic-Con 7.26.08 across the top, and at the bottom of the page the leaf, frog and apple glyphs serve as a menu of sorts.


The leaf leads to a "Clue" registration page where you provide your name, email, birth date and agree to the terms in order to:

Register to receive the first clue via email.

The clue will be sent on Saturday, July 26 at 6pm PST.

The apple leads to a "Sweepstakes" registration page where, after repeating the registration process above and agreeing to the rules, you:

Enter the sweepstakes for a chance to attend the FRINGE premiere party in New York.

The frog glyph opens the official site for Fringe on Fox.com in a new window.

So what do you think the "first clue" is all about? Is it officially an ARG for Fringe?

Fringe Television

Eagle-eyed regular readers will notice something a little different about Fringe TV. We have changed our address to FringeTelevision.com to eliminate any confusion with all the other Fringe fan sites who--naturally--found "Fringe" and "TV" too good a combination to resist when it came to what to call themselves.

Please let us know if you encounter any problems or notice any bugs as a result of the move.

p.s. More cool changes on the horizon as well.

Video of Abrams, Kurtzman & Orci on Fringe

TVWeek's TCA Navigator.

TVGuide: 'Lost' creator, JJ Abrams, can't wait to unveil his new creation, 'Fringe'!

Access Hollywood: JJ talks about his idea for "Fringe...

Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello with JJ Abrams.

The Hollywood Reporter: JJ in the scrum.

Eonline: JJ Abrams with Kristin.

JJ Abrams Wrote the FRINGE Theme Song

TVWeek has an exclusive interview with JJ Abrams:

J.J. Abrams is putting his musical stamp on another series.

The prolific writer-producer told TelevisionWeek on Monday that, yes, he has penned the theme song for "Fringe," the new Fox drama he created with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. By doing so, Mr. Abrams is following a pattern that's been in place since he first started writing for television.

Mr. Abrams' TV songwriting career began when he wrote "A New Version of You," the second of two themes used on his WB drama "Felicity." He followed that with the elecronica-inspired beats used to open "Alias." And most recently, Mr. Abrams came up with the familiar tones heard at the beginning of every episode of "Lost."

The string-heavy introduction to "Fringe" came to Mr. Abrams while he was getting ready to go to bed one night. Check out this exclusive video interview and watch him explain exactly how the "Fringe" theme was born.

Here is the FRINGE theme song from the title sequence.

Executive Producer Jeff Pinkner Explains Fringe

Newsarams.com's Bryan Cairns interviews Fringe Executive Producer Jeff Pinkner who, despite being named showrunner late in the game, gives an exceptional interview--chock-full of interesting details about the show, the characters, the actors, the team, the process. It's a must read for anyone curious about Fringe. So much so that it's bordering on spoilerish, so I've excerpted a few of the interesting bits and the link after the jump...

“The premise is that an event happens that brings FBI Agent Olivia Dunham, onto a case,” explains Executive Producer Jeff Pinkner. “In the course of it, her partner is actually injured and in an effort to try and save him, she seeks out a brilliant scientist who himself has been incarcerated in an institution for the last 17 years for various reasons. He is doing research in the fringe sciences, the very out there concepts, which of course are all very real like telekinesis and reanimation. The only way she is able to get him out of the asylum is with the help of a family member so she is forced to seek out his son Peter who has had no relationship with him over the last 20 years. He has no interest in helping but does so because he sees how emotionally invested Olivia is.

"The three of them are able to actually solve the case and during the course of it, it is revealed to her that there is actually a very specialized department of Homeland securities unit looking into a series of recent events that the government is referring to as The Pattern. These are unexplained events which seem to call into question what we understand as reality. With the help of the scientist, Walter Bishop, played by John Noble, and his son Peter, played by Joshua Jackson, the three of them set out to discover what the hell is going on.”

“Olivia is just an incredibly driven, incredibly brilliant agent with her own complicated past that we will peel back over time,” reveals Pinkner. “She is exposed to these events which seem to be taking place around the globe at more regular intervals than previously and sets out to solve these cases, if anyone is behind them, if they are simply freak natural occurrences, and at the same time, figure out her life.”

“Peter is sort of a jack of all trades. He is a brilliant person with a lot of his father’s innate intelligence but given his relationship with his Dad, he has turned his back on science and what he believes in. He has sort of lived by the seat of his pants for many years and in the process, has left a wake of disappointment with business partners and vengeful ex girlfriends.

"Peter is sort of a guy running from his own shadow, living by the seat of his pants, and cutting business deals as he globe trots. He is forced by honor and duty to join the team as well. He has one foot in and out and isn’t happy about being his father’s babysitter. Peter is understandably freaked out with the matters they are looking into but he finds a certain satisfaction in his own degree of expertise and being able to help. He has feelings for Olivia, a complicated relationship with his father, and starts to find his faith in the world as he moves along.”

“Walter is perhaps one of the most brilliant scientists known but in the name of science, and on behalf of the government back in the 70’s and the Vietnam/Cold War era, he has perhaps left a lot of harm in his wake. He has potentially damaged a lot of people and developed a lot of technologies that others may have exploited in the past. As a consequence, there either was or wasn’t a series of events that caused him to lose his mind and break down. He was found criminally guilty and put into an institution where they have done all kinds of advanced therapies to him, which have further damaged his mind. Despite all that, he’s the only person we can rely on to help us solve all these cases.”

“To be honest, Josh was one of the first people who read for us,” recalls Pinkner. “People also had Pacey in mind and Josh is not Pacey by any means. He is very much all grown up. Josh is an adult now and Pacey was an adolescent. Every other actor we auditioned, it was like ‘We need Joshua Jackson.’ Josh is perfect for the role and interestingly enough, he forced everyone to reconsider him because everyone had a little bit of a Pacey hangover. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing but actually great. The character is just not Pacey. This character is a lot darker, a lot more soulful, and Josh came in and nailed the role and convinced everyone he is Peter. He is incredibly talented and pretty much emails me every couple of days going ‘When can we get started?’ The other fantastic thing about Joshua is he is wildly intelligent, as is his character, so he just brings a depth and gravity to everything he does.”

“As for Anna Torov, the process for Olivia had gone well past the 12th hour because nobody was willing to settle. Somehow, someone discovered Anna, an Australian actress who hadn’t really worked in New York before. She was put on tape in Australia and as soon as everybody saw her audition, it was instantly ‘There’s our girl! We found her! Moving on!’”

"Fringe, unlike Alias or Lost, will have cases of the week, cases that we well get involved with and may solve at the end of each episode,” reports Pinkner. “At the same time, there will be a much larger mythology running through the whole series. What I enjoy about that is we are literally exploring a world. The show is about things much larger than itself. What I enjoy about TV is spending time with characters that grow. What is great about these shows with mythologies is that at the same time that the characters are changing, we are exploring different aspects of a real fictional universe so our canvas is very vast. We as writers and creators can explore themes or ideas that interest us. We don’t feel limited because anything that interests us we can chase down. That is really fun for me.”

To steer Fringe along, a diverse team of writers including Without A Trace’s David Goodman, The Sopranos Jason Cahill, and Gossip Girl’s Felicia Henderson have been assembled.

Read the article in its entirety at Newsarama.com.

Imagine The Impossibilities: Seahorse Glyph

A seahorse had been added as the seventh Fringe "glyph" on the ImagineTheImpossibilities.com (aka Find The Pattern) website. Hovering your mouse over the seahorse outlines a Fibonacci Spiral pattern and reveals the chemical compounds for the amino acids Histidine and Hydroxyproline.

Clicking on the seahorse displays a paragraph of braille. A few of the words are already translated for you, but you can read the full translation below.

Click to reveal the translation...

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
HAVE ADVANCED FAR BEYOND
OUR ABILITY TO CONTROL
THEM. THE ABILITY TO
GENERATE LIFE HAS TAKEN
A NEW COURSE.