Some people go overboard with their critiques. When they don't like a show they will go on to say that everything about it was bad and that is simply not true. While I didn't like this show, I'd like to give a non-exaggerated opinion on it here.
Just like everybody else, I expected to get the same experience from Fringe that I got from the X-Files 15 years ago and I trusted J J Abrams was the man to deliver it. I wanted to like it, in some sense, I tried to force myself into liking it, just to prove to myself I wasn't too old for this kind of story, but it didn't happen.
Most of the people involved in the making of this show did everything to make it happen. The production was generous, the camera work and special effects were excellent, the directors tried their best to infuse the scenes with the right atmosphere but all of this in vain because of terrible writing. Some reviewers put blame on the actors, but I don't see what else they could have done with the script they were given. What a shame. I never cease to wonder how producers are ready to put so much money into every aspect of a show/film but fail to pay for a decent writer.
1st problem - the paranormal: Yes, the phenomena you'll see in the show are ludicrous. They are nowhere near 'fringe' science - they are well outside of it. While this fact severely reduces the sense of mystery in the stories, I don't think that's the biggest problem. It's the reactions of the characters to the phenomena that nail the show. There is no voice of reason, no doubters - no Scully - anywhere in the couple of episodes I saw. There is no ambiguity, no confusion. FBI agents believe the most outrageous claims with little or no resistance. The things the characters see in the show should shatter their world-views but instead their reactions are a mild surprise at most. Can't relate to any of those people.
2nd problem - the normal: The golden rule of science fiction writing is that it's alright to write about something that is impossible, but it's bad to put in something that is improbable. I'm OK with the translucent skin and recovering images from the optical nerves and what not but I can't accept the main character coming out of LSD trance completely lucid and everybody believing what she's saying. I can't believe her boss refused to get her a court order to speak with an incarcerated scientist but he let her fly to Iraq to get the scientist's son so she could do the same... and on and on...
I'm afraid in this case J J Abrams lost his sense of judgment about plots. I hope he recovers.
Just like everybody else, I expected to get the same experience from Fringe that I got from the X-Files 15 years ago and I trusted J J Abrams was the man to deliver it. I wanted to like it, in some sense, I tried to force myself into liking it, just to prove to myself I wasn't too old for this kind of story, but it didn't happen.
Most of the people involved in the making of this show did everything to make it happen. The production was generous, the camera work and special effects were excellent, the directors tried their best to infuse the scenes with the right atmosphere but all of this in vain because of terrible writing. Some reviewers put blame on the actors, but I don't see what else they could have done with the script they were given. What a shame. I never cease to wonder how producers are ready to put so much money into every aspect of a show/film but fail to pay for a decent writer.
1st problem - the paranormal: Yes, the phenomena you'll see in the show are ludicrous. They are nowhere near 'fringe' science - they are well outside of it. While this fact severely reduces the sense of mystery in the stories, I don't think that's the biggest problem. It's the reactions of the characters to the phenomena that nail the show. There is no voice of reason, no doubters - no Scully - anywhere in the couple of episodes I saw. There is no ambiguity, no confusion. FBI agents believe the most outrageous claims with little or no resistance. The things the characters see in the show should shatter their world-views but instead their reactions are a mild surprise at most. Can't relate to any of those people.
2nd problem - the normal: The golden rule of science fiction writing is that it's alright to write about something that is impossible, but it's bad to put in something that is improbable. I'm OK with the translucent skin and recovering images from the optical nerves and what not but I can't accept the main character coming out of LSD trance completely lucid and everybody believing what she's saying. I can't believe her boss refused to get her a court order to speak with an incarcerated scientist but he let her fly to Iraq to get the scientist's son so she could do the same... and on and on...
I'm afraid in this case J J Abrams lost his sense of judgment about plots. I hope he recovers.