Fringe Preview 207: Of Human Action

Here is the preview for the next Fringe episode - "Of Human Action" - which airs November 12 on FOX.

Head over to the FringeTelevision YouTube channel to watch it in full HD.

Screenshots of the video are available at FringeFiles.com

Fringe Episode 206: Earthling

Fringe Division takes on a puzzling investigation where victims are inexplicably disintegrating into ash. The shadowy case casts light on Special Agent Phillip Broyles' past and leads the team to the possibility of foreign Fringe Science. Emotions run high as the alarming events stack up and revealing personal details emerge about the leader of the Fringe Division.

Discuss the episode here in the comments.

How did you rate "Earthling"?

Tonight On Fringe: Earthling

Fringe is back tonight with an all-new episode, thanks to the Yankees winning the World Series in 6. Here are some sneak peek clips from tonight's episode "Earthling" to hold you over.

Fringeday also means it's time for another LIVE Fringe chat from 9:00 PM to 12:00 PM ET, if you want to talk with other Fringe fans during or after the show. We'll try to get there a little early if anyone has questions they want answered.

To join the chat, visit the Fringe chat room, enter your name or a nickname, and join the fun! (please don't use the default mib_xxxxx nickname!)

To discuss this or any other Fringe episode, head over to the Fringe Episodes section!

How would you rate "Earthling"

Vote To Nominate Fringe For People's Choice Award 2010

Voting has begun to determine the nominees for a People's Choice Award. Fringe has been pre-selected in the "Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show" category.

Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv have also been pre-nominated in the Favorite TV Drama Actor/Actress categories.

The top five nominees in each category will be revealed at the People's Choice Awards annual press conference on November 10, 2009. Only those announced on November 10th have the chance to win a People's Choice Award on January 6th, 2010.

Of course you should vote for Fringe, and I'll also be voting for Dollhouse, Heroes, and Lost - but I'm not sure who to cast my fifth vote for. Any suggestions? What are you top 5 favorite sci-fi shows?

New Promo For Fringe 206 "Earthling"

Here is the new promo for Fringe episode 206: "Earthling", which returns November 5th (if the World Series doesn't go to a game 7)

Screenshots for this Fringe commercial can been seen at FringeFiles.com

New Fringe Commercial With Trent Reznor

Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive first look at the new Fringe commercial featuring music from Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The commercial will be shown tonight during American League Champion Series game. EW reports that Reznor was excited to collaborate with J.J. Abrams:

So, how did the freaky drama series secure the services of Reznor? After Fox’s marketing department showed the Fringe producers a version of the promo that used “Zero-Sum,” series exec producer Jeff Pinkner simply asked a nearby Reznor acquaintance—that’d be co-creator J.J. Abrams—if the NIN musician might be interested in a collaboration. One email later, Reznor was on the case. “We offered him compensation, and he said, ‘No, no, I just want to have fun and be part of something cool,’” says Pinkner, adding: “How often do you get the chance to work with somebody like that?”

Reznor revamped his Nine Inch Nails song “Zero-Sum” in his mobile studio while on tour, adding lines of dialogue from Fringe’s William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) over the music. He even came up with the idea of “embedding” one of the show’s glyphs in the music (see below).

Pinkner also suggested that Reznor may end up on the show at some point:

“If he wants to come act on the show, that’s not tit for tat—that’s an open invitation, and we made that known to him,” says Pinkner. Any ideas on what he may play? “Well, his head would probably end up exploding,” deadpans Pinkner. “There’d be some uncomfortable biology in there one way or another.”

Here is an exclusive look at the hidden Fringe butterfly glyph, which can be seen by analyzing the audio using a spectrogram:

Tonight On Fringe: Major League Baseball

There will be no Fringe tonight, due to the American League Champion Series extending to a fifth game. Anticipating this might happen, the episode originally scheduled for tonight would have been a repeat of A New Day In The Old Town, which if you haven't seen, you can watch online in our Fringe episodes section, on Hulu, or on Fox.com.

However, you may want to watch tonight anyways, because you never know where or when The Observer might show up (he has been spotted at MLB games in the past). Plus there will be a new Fringe commercial featuring music by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.

Secrets Of Fringe: Episodes 201 - 203

Fringe executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman discuss: Olivia's super hearing, Sam Weiss, Communicating with the other side, colonel Gordon, the Observer, Nina & Broyles (Shoyles), and Peter & Olivia.

* Thanks to fringeobsessed for finding this!

Episode Review: Dream Logic

Hello fellow afringionados; it's good to be back. After last week's almost-perfect foray into Fringe's growing mythology (Momentum Deferred), this week's episode was a fine example of the things that are worrying me in Season 2.

Fringe works best when it's a half-breed between a serialized (think Lost) and a procedural (think Law & Order) drama. In one of these hybrid episodes, our beloved characters will tackle an individual threat while simultaneously uncovering the greater mystery and following their own personal story arcs. Yet this season, clearly, Episodes 1 and 4 grapple with the show's mythology, and just as clearly, Episodes 2, 3, and 5 featured "standalone" storylines with no larger stakes or consequences.

It's not that these standalone eps are bad--the direction this season has been top-notch every week--it's that they feel irrelevant. Maybe the show will prove me wrong, and the Colonel from Episode 2.03, for example, will turn out to be a major player in the Last Great Storm. That would be great..I love Stephen McHattie! But regardless, three out of the first five episodes of Season 2 have felt irrelevant.

In Dream Logic, our disposable villain was a brilliant sleep researcher with multiple personalities that becomes addicted to the vicarious experiences of his patient's stored dreams. Apparently, he's so addicted, he doesn't even wait for his patients to fall asleep before taking a hit of the ole neural cap. As a result, they enter a waking dream state. But can someone explain why this causes them to consistently experience waking nightmares? And then respond to them with extreme violence? When's the last time you were physically violent in your dreams?

The last-act twist revealing Dr. Nayak as the villain was a bit trite, since we all saw that coming from the character's introduction. Our patience was tested even further by the unfortunate return of Bowling Alley Yoda, Sam Weiss, who wins my vote for the worst series character. Olivia's not the only one who feels like time is wasting every time he opens his mouth. And this week, the Magic Business Card Word Jumble was hands-down my all-time least favorite part of the show.

A few other gripes. What happened to Agent Jessup? Why feature her so prominently in the season premiere? We haven't seen her since she stumbled upon a bible in Episode 2.02. And the new-viewers catch-up dialogue is getting pretty distracting, like when Walter felt the need to remind Peter that St. Claire's was the mental hospital in which he was interred. Another problem this season: characters have a new habit of telling us about their past in long monologues, which never makes for riveting television. If it's relevant information, we should see it, like we did with Peter's dream/memory at the end of the episode.

Gripes aside, I was intrigued by that scene, because it's not at all how I imagined Our Walter stealing Their Peter and bringing him across the divide between realities. Jerking him from bed? Why? Hopefully we'll revisit Peter's past soon (and not in a monologue). I also loved the humanizing scene between Olivia and Peter featuring a toothbrush.

Our next episode, Earthling, will hopefully bring us back at least tangentially to the War Between Realities. With more shapeshifters out there, and with their Ralph-Fiennes-Lookalike leader now re-embodied, shouldn't the Fringe Division be focused on finding them to the exclusion of all else?

Stray Thoughts

• Jasika Nicole rocks. Use her.
• Dr. Nayak's grad assistant, Zach Miller, was a shout-out to two of Fringe's new writers, Zach Stentz and Ashley Miller, who wrote last week's stellar episode and the upcoming adaptation of Marvel's Thor.
• Has the science been dumbed down a bit this season? It seems like most cases are being solved by force (Peter or Olivia's fists) instead of Walter's brain these days.
• I wish Olivia's business cards had spelled "Can I get a box of tissues?" instead. We miss you, Kirk.

Fringe Preview 206: Earthling

Here is the preview for the next Fringe episode - "Earthling" - which should air November 5. However, if the World Series goes to seven games, then Fringe will be postponed one more week. Fingers crossed for a Dodgers sweep!

For more information about the next three upcoming episodes, check out the Fringe Spoilers section.

Fringe Episode 205: Dream Logic

The Fringe team travels cross-country to Seattle after learning of a mysterious incident involving a man who attacked his boss because he believed he was an evil ram-horned creature. As these puzzling occurrences continue, the team tirelessly explores strange and creepy links to dreams. In pursuit of additional information, Agent Broyles has a disconcerting meeting with enigmatic Massive Dynamic executive Nina Sharp that leads the investigation in an unthinkable direction.

Discuss the episode here in the comments.

How Would You Rate "Dream Logic"

Tonight On Fringe: Dream Logic

Happy Fringeday! It's time for another LIVE Fringe chat from 9:00 PM to 12:00 PM ET, if you want to talk with other Fringe fans during or after the show. We'll try to get there a little early if anyone has questions they want answered.

To join the chat, visit the Fringe chat room, enter your name or a nickname, and join the fun! (please don't use the default mib_xxxxx nickname!)

I will be there (as FringeTelevision) along with AdamMorgan. In the past we've been joined by people from the show... you never know who might show up!

To discuss this or any other Fringe episode, head over to the Fringe Episodes section!

How Would You Rate "Dream Logic"