Fringe - Comic-Con Report
MikeM
Posted Jul 28th 2008 5:18PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
fringe panel
By the time the Fringe panel started, I wasn't the only one who was
exhausted. This was one of the final television panels of the day,
with the exception, I believe, of MythBusters -- a panel I regret
having to miss but, since I literally hadn't eaten anything but two
Clif Bars all day, I had no choice. Otherwise you would have heard
about the guy who passed out in Room 6B.
Since I'd already seen the Fringe pilot, I considered not attending
the panel. I think a lot of people felt the same way, as Ballroom 20
wasn't even full for it. I'm glad I did attend, however, because it
was interesting to hear what people wanted to ask of J. J. Abrams.
In attendance: J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burke, Jeff Pinkner, Roberto Orci,
Anna Torv, Josh Jackson and John Noble.
Things kicked off with a view of the trailer for the series. Several
times over the previous few days, the network was screening the pilot
in its entirety. I already caught the pilot once before, and Kristin
reported on it as well, so I didn't think there was much sense in
going to see it again.
What Abrams wanted to accomplish with this show was something where
there really weren't concrete rules to follow, such as the complex
mythology of Lost or Alias. Shows like The Twilight Zone and The X-
Files were ones that inspired him to write Fringe. You can hop into
this show at any point and not be lost in what's happening, as there
won't be much in the way of a continuous storyline that one needs to
follow, though there will be "something" there.
Abrams went on to credit the excellent writing staff he has (besides
himself), a member of the X-Files writing team and one of Joss
Whedon's brothers (who also co-wrote Dr. Horrible).
One of the attendees brought up the presence of viral marketing for
the show, to which Abrams really didn't have much to say other than
saying Orci was "the conspiracy theorist of the group." They played
with that one a few times during the panel.
Another question brought to the panelists was whether or not the
leaked Fringe pilot was accidental or a clever marketing ploy to drum
up interest in the show. Abrams very seriously said that the leaked
pilot was definitely not intentional.
Now, let me say something about the moderator, TV Week's Joe Adalian.
While any of the other moderators throughout the 'Con were introduced
quickly by name and perhaps one "claim to fame," Adalian was brought
on with a reading of his resume -- something I couldn't help but
assume he'd requested or demanded himself. Then, at this point of the
questioning, he decides to ask the group some of the strangest and
unfunniest questions. I'm not even going to get into them, because
then I'd be wasting your time as well.
Anyway, some other highlights:
* On a possible Fringe comic book: Abrams: Yes.
* Just as was done in Alias, with the fly-throughs of the letters
of locations to build into clues to a larger puzzle, the "glitches" in-
between scenes of Fringe will contain clues to a bigger puzzle, and
this time Abrams says he'll do something with it. He was careful to
say that this is only something considered "for fun" and will not be
required to enjoy or understand the show.
* Abrams was asked how much of the show he has "fleshed out"
before leaving for a new project, which got a lot of laughs. He
answered that he has what he calls an "internal ending" to the show --
an overall direction he wants to take the show, though not necessarily
a way the show will come to an end. He doesn't have a set amount of
years he sees the show being able to run and just lets it take its
course, though on that internal ending course he has set.
* When asked what the group thought of internet feedback, Pinkner
said he found such feedback not only helpful, but necessary.
* They will be "diving into the mythology (of the show) early,"
which kinda confused me, as wouldn't that mean there's a plot to
follow and one might become lost not following along the whole way?
* SPOILER: Valley's character will come back in some form later in
the series.
* An attendee asked Abrams why Greg Grunberg wasn't in the pilot,
as he seems to be in so many other of his shows. Abrams said that he
isn't planned to appear, though he was initially supposed to be in the
Star Trek movie but wasn't able to.
* A Cloverfield sequel may or may not happen, but it has come up.
He has an idea for something related to Cloverfield in a movie, though
doesn't want to call it a sequel.
* Finally Abrams was asked about the lack of Star Trek movie
presence at Comic-Con, and he was very bummed about not having
anything to give people. The movie has about 1300 VFX scenes, with
only about 70 completed, none really of which could make up a trailer
yet.
Rob Jensen
<Michae...@vzw.blackberry.net> wrote:
Yeah, I'm responding to a post from nine months ago, but I'm going
through a lot of older still-marked posts that I forgot I hadn't read.
And this one stuck out:
>What Abrams wanted to accomplish with this show was something where
>there really weren't concrete rules to follow, such as the complex
>mythology of Lost or Alias. Shows like The Twilight Zone and The X-
>Files were ones that inspired him to write Fringe. You can hop into
>this show at any point and not be lost in what's happening, as there
>won't be much in the way of a continuous storyline that one needs to
>follow . . .
Earth to JJ Abrams: Liar, liar, pants on fire.
One more thing: regarding the tombstone whose name we're supposed to
be surprised about -- I bet it's inscribed "Olive Dunham."
-- Rob
Pete B
Shut...@aol.com says...
>
> One more thing: regarding the tombstone whose name we're supposed to
> be surprised about -- I bet it's inscribed "Olive Dunham."
>
>
You lose ;)
Rob Jensen
wrote:
Only because I figured that the tombstone was going to read "Peter
Bishop" a couple of weeks back when they first told us to look for the
tombstone and I was just hoping for something less predictable.
And got it with the episode's final shot -- although I've been reading
Ex Machina since the first issue and in retrospect should have been a
little more jaded. ;)
-- Rob