Watch Fringe Online With English Subtitles
Madelyn Westfall
Lemme think: the leaked version had a temp music track, while this has the full Giacchino, they took out a bunch of scenes right after one of the suspects gets apprehended and added in some new scenes to explain things better... J.J. and the other writers rattled off a list. When the transcript comes out, I'll put it up.
i actually kinda rather liked anna torv's performance. i thought she was pretty adept at alternating between "sweet, lovelorn, and aggrieved" and "tough, all-business, government agent girl." maybe not as much as, say, kristen bell was on veronica mars, but veronica had a more quippy character than torv needed to play.
and besides, i don't think jj abrams does quippy all that well. his shows have humor, yeah, but most of the really funny stuff seems to be from a release in tension (like ben on lost dropping some unexpected line in the face of ratcheted-up danger), rather than some sort of rapid-fire, witty exchange between a group of characters. which is why i had more of a problem with joshua jackson's character than torv's--he was trying to pull off the quick, quippy, xander-on-buffy-esque banter with lines that weren't really all that funny.
Alap, I'm not saying I needed quippiness from Torv. I just don't know that she had as much screen presence as I would have liked.
Then again, I felt that way about Jennifer Garner at the start of Alias, and pretty much continued to feel that way for much of the series' run, with the obvious (and rather large) exceptions of the fight scenes and the undercover stuff. (I just never found her work as Sydney-being-Sydney all that interesting.)
Looking forward to Fringe mainly for Reddick so this "review" does not excite me too much. But the Lost news is fantastic. Hopefully Reddick and Nestor Carbonell will have expanded roles this season. Not sure if this predicition has been made yet: Abaddon is grown up Walt.
So Giacchino's working on this too? That makes me more interested, considering he's the best music-maker on tv, but I hope his work on Lost doesn't get stretched out because of it.
@Alap - that's a good point, Abrams and the writers he associates with don't do quippy, but I've always seen that as a strong point. Humor just seems much more natural and satisfying.
I saw the leaked pilot a few weeks ago, if you're a Lance Reddick fan (especially from The Wire), there's not a whole lot he does in the pilot to get you excited. It's not that he's bad - his performance is fine, he just doesn't have much to do outside of what is, in the pilot, a pretty stereotypical role.
The only scene that I even remember jumping out a bit is the one in which he explains some of the crazy stuff going on in the world. (hope that's not too spoilery). But I've got faith that as the show goes on, he should be more involved, much like Mitch Pileggi's character in the X-Files.
I agree -- it's not a bad pilot, but it didn't wow me. The ingredients are all there, but I don't think they pop.
The only that really caught my attention is the character of John Noble. He provided some much-needed humor.
Nobody needs to worry about Lance Reddick, I guarantee by the end of the season, assuming the show doesn't get canceled, that he's the character that the audience and writers like more than anybody else and he'll get the more interesting stories because of that.
I also think Anna Torv was good. The writers are facing that problem that every network show does which is how they make an interesting lead character without making them a drug addict or asshole. But hey, she did do one kinda shady thing during the pilot.
Overall, based on the pilot you've seen, do you think Anna Torv deserves the role, or do you think nepotism could be involved? I doubt Rupert Murdoch would particularly care what his niece does, but one has to wonder whether she has become a more valuable commodity out of the perception that she may be connected to Murdoch.
Okay, here's Bryan Burk, and then J.J. Abrams, on the differences between the leaked pilot and the one we saw:
BRYAN BURK: And some of the things we shot after the fact when we went to series for pickups is we added an interrogation scene which helped bridge the story of how they were able to capture (a bad guy) and continue on in their investigation, and we felt that the show needed that, and we added something at the end of the show that we didn't have time to shoot originally when we were in Toronto. There's little things that really helped work the show out. And also our composer, Michael Giacchino, didn't get a chance to finish his score, so what leaked online was a lot of temp music.
J.J. ABRAMS: We also cut like five minutes from the show before the interrogation scenes in there. The ending wasn't done yet, so it was about tightening and moving some moments here and there.
I was underwhelmed by the pilot, which I didn't see on the internet but based on what I'm reading here sounds like it was the "leaked" version.
I mostly thought it to be a slick-looking but overly expository and clumsily written X-Files knock-off. Wasn't invested an iota in the over-arching scheme and thought it took way, way too long to establish that there even was an over-arching scheme. Emotionally it left me really cold as well. There's really no reason on Earth beyond myopic network/TV producer logic for Jackson's character to even be on the show as he doesn't really *do* anything (based on existing evidence) beyond sarcastically translate Noble's brilliant ramblings. The whole thing reeks of ageism if you want to know the truth, as though the idea of pretty young FBI agent working with 60-something eccentric character doesn't generate enough sexual chemistry so throw in Pacey just to raise the pulse a bit.
Noble's character was the highpoint for me but they seem to shrug off the whole "crazy" business when it's convenient as well as the fact that the guy (allegedly) was involved in the death of a colleague years ago (hence being in an institution). Also his background in "psuedo-science" is the sort of hazy, vague whatever works for this week gimmick that I suspect will bail the writers out of a lot of plot holes. Just lazy, lazy writing across the board and the truth is it really could have been tightened to alleviate these issues.
Also I could of sworn I recognized the Boston skyline during some of the exterior shots (specifically a daytime chase scene) so either they did some beautiful CGI work or I don't recognize my former home city anymore.
"Alan Sepinwall said...
That suggests I have any interest in spending money to watch another Chris Carter-produced X-Files story, which I really, really don't."
Alan, I'm quite curious why not. You said you have an interest in watching an X-Files clone, but not the (probably last) installment of the original (I'm betting the movie won't make enough money to justify a sequel, and I expect that although the actors seem excited about revisiting their famous roles once, another time would likely be turned down). I was a huge XF fan, a bigger fan of that than virtually any other popular media. Of course, that probably has more to do with it coming along at the right time in my life than the show itself, but...
I've also been getting a kick out of the A.V. Club's revisitings of the XF, Buffy, My So-Called Life and Newsradio this summer, and watching along as they progress. It's been especially interesting to go back to season 1 of the XF, to see where the seeds of both success and failure were planted.
I expect that I'll also quite enjoy Fringe, as I get a kick out of most supernaturally-themed and sci-fi themed shows (though there have been some God-awful stinkers made), and have appreciated Abrams' other work.
As someone who often agrees with your opinions and always respects them, I'd love it if you could take a few minutes to explain your lack of interest in the new XF movie.
thanks :)
As major tech companies step up efforts to curb extremist content on their platforms, far-right white extremists continue to find ways to spread violent messages and attract sympathizers on the internet.
In September, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released its framework for countering terrorism and targeted violence, which states that online space appears essential to the recent growth of white supremacists, in particular.
In September, Facebook said it banned more than 200 white supremacist organizations from its platform. Other major tech companies, including Twitter and YouTube, say they have achieved similar success through enforcing a set of standards for policing content.
Josh Lipowsky, a senior researcher with the New York-based Counter Extremism Project, told VOA that more pressure is also needed on fringe sites to make sure they meet their responsibility of thwarting supremacist propaganda on their platforms.
Missing the theatre already? We definitely are. Nothing compares to the buzz of the curtain rising and the act one opener. But, in these unprecedented times, unchartered waters, there are ways we can keep our spirits up, and theatre is still an available way to do so.
There are lots of ways to experience theatre online, including free productions and paid streaming services (though many have free trials you can make the most of before making your mind up). Obviously, we hope this is only a temporary solution until shows are back up and running, so here are just some of the ways we'll be keeping occupied from home.
BroadwayHD is a great start for easy streaming of recent plays and musicals from the other side of the pond. For just $9 a month (after a 7-day free trial), you have access to filmed productions such as Kinky Boots, 42nd Street, An American in Paris, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, plus classics like Oklahoma, Putting It Together, and Jerry Springer: The Opera. It has an easy-to-use interface, streams in crystal clear HD, and you can even gift subscriptions to put a smile on someone's face. From January 2021, BroadwayHD have partnered with the Royal Shakespeare Company to offer a series of Shakespeare plays. So far, plays include King Lear, Macbeth and Hamlet. Check out all the Shakespeare plays you can watch on BroadwayHD.
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